PREFACE

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The Lectures published in this work were delivered at Tulane University in 1887 and 1888. My aim was not to make a psychological study of the great authors of the nineteenth century, but to give in concise form a great many facts not to be found in the text-books on French literature. I hope that the extracts given and the literary analyses of several masterpieces will induce the students of French to read the works mentioned in thèse lectures; and for this reason, I hâve dared to call the work an introduction to contemporary French Literature. Lamartine, Hugo, and de Musset are without doubt the greatest poets of our century, and de Vigny, Gautier, and Coppée are distinguished both as poets and as prose writers, while Mérimée stands pre-eminent for the force, clearness, and conciseness of his style. A careful study of thèse seven great authors gives to the student a good knowledge of . the French literature of the nineteenth century, and enables him to understand the works of a number of writers who hâve been the disciples of thèse masters.

The first four lectures were published in New Orléans