PREFACE

and finally practîcally deserted by her husband, but who, notwithstanding, stands so firmly to the end Sur la Pente, upon ihe sUppery path, cannot be too vividly impressed upon the young of the présent génération. Her réception of her fallen husband, retuming to his home after more than four years of absence, a physical as well as a moral wreck, is worthy of ail praise. That during his protracted absence and long-continued désertion she should hâve become deeply interested in her cousin, who was so much more worthy of her love, is by no means to be reckoned against her, especially as it gave opportunity for the development of great strength and nobleness of character. This charming volume is brought to a most ingénions and happy close by the foUowing conversation between the heroine and her lover when, after the death of her husband, he was about to déclare his love:

"Yes! Roger!" said she, and her voice did not tremble; ^'I know what you are going to say to me. I guess it in advance; do not say it. I hâve buried too many dead for some time past; I need time to learn whether I am, like France, capable of résurrection." And as Roger looked at her with a questioning and suppliant air, she replied:

"Your love is among the number of the dead that I hâve buried, my poor Roger," and, lowering her voice, she added, "you know that I was doing my duty." But Roger did not despair. "I hope," said he, gently inclining his head in token of assent; *'you are French, and I am patient, for I love you."

Trusting that, as in Vol. I., the interest of the subjectmatter will materially aid the teacher in making the study of the language attractive, this little volume is affectionately dedicated to my présent and former students, in the hope that they may find in it not only a valuable aid in mastering the diffîculties of French, but also many examples of the beauties of la belle langue, and a story whose interest and high moral purpose will induce them to grant it an honorable place in the great literature of modem France.

EDWARD H. MAGILL.

SWARTHMORB COLLEGE, )

Swarthmore, Penna., 5tli mo., 1893. j

BIOGEAPHIOAL NOTICE.

HENRiirrrE Elizabeth Guizot was born în Paris on the 6tli of Aagust, 1829. She is the elde8t daughter of François Guizot, the distinguished historien and statesman, and Élisa Dillon. Mr. Guizot had by his first marriage, with Pauline de Meulan, one son, of great promise, whom he lost in 1837, at 21 years of âge. Mme. de Witt, in a sketch of her life prepared for the editor, says —

^' Little Henriette soon had a sister Pauline, and a brother, Guillaume ; then their mother died at 28, and the three children were brought up by Mme. Guizot, their grandmother. who had lost her husband on the scaffold during the Reign oi Terror. Mme. Guizot was a woman of great strength and dignity of character, and has been calied by the critic Sainte- Beuve, une mère du Désert (which is well translated by our familiar scriptural expression, ' a mother in Israël. ' — Ed. ) She directed the éducation of her grandchildren, as slie had directed that of her son, în a manner which might be characterized as austère, tempered alwa}^ by a tender dévotion and a motherly love."

She died in England, in exile, whither she had followed her son îmmediately after the révolution of '48. In 1850, soon after the retum of the family from exile, Henriette married Conrad de Witt, and her sister Pauline married his brother Comelis. Thèse young men had settled in France, and were descendants of the illustrious family of that name in HoUand. Pauline de Witt, who had done a good deal of literary work, and had been associated with her sister in the translation of Motley's '*Rise of the Dutch Republic," died in 1874, àt the âge of 42, leaving seven children, whom her sister brought up. Her husband, Gornelis de Witt, died in 1889, having left a profound impression upon ail those who had known him in the

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BIOGBAPHICAL NOTICE. 7

ers this brief and comprehensive estimate of this great man from the Edinhurgh Review, whicli said in October, *68:

*'Other statesmen hâve enjoyed far more of popularsympathy in their day, but in the depth and variety of bis literary labors, which bave enlarged the pbilosopby of histoiy, in the force and précision of bis oratory, which at one swoop oould bend an Assembly or crush a foe, and in the q^stematic consistency of bis wbole political life, Mr. Gniiot bas bad no equal, either in bis own oountry, or, as far as we know, in any otber.'*

Bom of such parents, and with the warm sympathy of her younger sister, wbo was her co-worker, and of her brother, wbose entire life was one of literary labor, bow natural that Mme. de Witt berself sbould bave now given so mnch of her maturer life to literary pursuits, the entire number of Tolumes fî-om her pen baving thus far exoeeded one hundred ! What a record ! And her literary activity still continues, one of her later articles being the opening chapters of abiographical paper upon Frédéric Oherlin (1740-1826), which appeared in the Revue Chrétienne of Paris for March of the présent year.

She began by wrîting stories for the young ; tben translations from the Englisb, especially from Macaulay and Mrs. Oliphant ; tben followed a long séries of historical sketches, among which may be named Mémoires de Madatne de Moimay (2 vols., 1868-9) ; The Lady of Latham, heing the original letters of Charlotte de la TVémoiUe^ Countess of Dertyy (1869); and one of her best known works, M, Guizot in Frivate Life^ 1787-18H,

At last, when Mr. Guizot began to grow feeble, she prepared the last four volumes of bis Histoire de la Civilisation en Europe et en France^ for which she bad constantly takcn notes during the lessons which be bad given to bis grandchildren. In the same way she prepared a bistory of England ; and tben the five volumes of a bistory of France for the young, which is largely her own work. She bas also published various romances, among which may be especially named, Sur la Pente (1889); Tout Simplement \ Un Héritage ; Derrière les Haies ; De Glaçons en Glaçons^ and Les Héroïnes de Harlem, The last three of thèse bave been