C. H. SCHNEIDER

13 GLArflTOHE Tbbbacb»

l-- OcUjbre 1979.

From Hoiuieiir VIOTOB OOEB» Fronch Teaoher In tbe Hercliant Ck)mpaii7'8 Ladies* Ctollege, eto., eto.

130 George Street, Edinburgh, 2^rd September 1879.

My dear Mr Schneider,— Whether as a much needed hdp^ to French conversation between masters and pupils, or as a stimulus to colloquial exercises between fellow-leamers, or again as a Handbook of Literary Biography, your " Biographie des Écrivains Français " is, in my opinion, as happily conceived as carefully executed, and I feel confident that it will greatly assist the pupils in acquiring a pleasant and lasting familiarity with the writers whose portraits you hâve sketched for them.

You hâve wisely avoided generalities and controversies as well as an easy display of unnecessary érudition, leaving it to the teacher to group into "schools," "classes," and "periods," the writers about whom your book will give sufficient information to serve as an introduction to the study of the history of our literature; and I believe it cannot fail to awaken in the minds of young pupils unacquainted with the subject, those powers of observation and that living interest in its study which alone ensure sound knowledge.

Let me add that I smcerely admire the unflagging industry to which this last production of yours bears évidence ; truly ** the old tree doth bear some fruit, and wishing that you may long enjoy your well-merited success, — I remain, yours very truly,