irresistibly swayed by current opinion. But the novelist, entirely
independent of his reader, is not compelled to conform himself to the
opinion of any person, or to submit to his caprices. He is absolutely
free to picture society as he sees it, and we therefore can have more
confidence in his descriptions of the customs and characters of the day.

It is precisely this view of the case that the editor of the series has
taken, and herein is the raison d'etre of this collection of great French
romances. The choice was not easy to make. That form of literature
called the romance abounds with us. France has always loved it, for
French writers exhibit a curiosity--and I may say an indiscretion--that
is almost charming in the study of customs and morals at large; a quality
that induces them to talk freely of themselves and of their neighbors,
and to set forth fearlessly both the good and the bad in human nature.
In this fascinating phase of literature, France never has produced
greater examples than of late years.

In the collection here presented to American readers will be found those
works especially which reveal the intimate side of French social life-
works in which are discussed the moral problems that affect most potently
the life of the world at large. If inquiring spirits seek to learn the
customs and manners of the France of any age, they must look for it among
her crowned romances. They need go back no farther than Ludovic Halevy,
who may be said to open the modern epoch. In the romantic school, on its
historic side, Alfred de Vigny must be looked upon as supreme. De Musset
and Anatole France may be taken as revealing authoritatively the moral
philosophy of nineteenth-century thought. I must not omit to mention the
Jacqueline of Th. Bentzon, and the "Attic " Philosopher of Emile
Souvestre, nor the, great names of Loti, Claretie, Coppe, Bazin, Bourget,
Malot, Droz, De Massa, and last, but not least, our French Dickens,