both these reviews took part in the con- In France, the principal editor of a first test, and were both said to have accepted class paper is considered entitled to gratifications of some sort; but accusa- about 30,000 francs (12007.) a year. tions of this kind are rife, and deserved- Contributors are paid at the rate of from ly carry little weight. 30 to 50 centimes (from 3d. to 5d.) a line, In the case of the political prints of and all therefore are penny-a-liners alike. Paris, a deposit (cautionnement) of about In the Journal des Débats the ordinary 100,000 francs is required, which is the remuneration for a leading article is reason why they bear a small proportion from 100 to 150 francs; and Janin's apto the rest. It appears that the leading pointments as theatrical critic (including papers have not reduced their prices in a cabriolet) amount to little less than imitation of La Presse; but almost all 15,000 francs a year. Few English ediof them have been obliged to increase tors receive 1000l. a year, and the price their bulk, which has equally reduced of occasional articles is said to be low. their profits. The stamp on each news- The chief expenses of the best English paper is a sou; the cost of distribution newspapers are, we believe, incurred in about a quarter of a sou. The O. P. paying reporters and procuring informapapers are sold at about four sous a copy; tion, to secure which on momentous ocLa Presse and Le Siècle at little more casions their outlay is quite munificent. than two; and no great space is ordi- In England, the newspapers do little narily allotted for advertisements. Com- more than embody public opinion: in pute the interest on capital, the remu- France, they dictate it. In England, the neration to writers, the cost of manage- leading or (as Canning was fond of proment, the cost of printing, &c., and it nouncing the word) leaden article is the will be seen that the regular returns of least attractive part: in France, the most most of the Paris newspapers are utterly so. In England, all topics of interest inadequate to their support. are discussed at public meetings or din These are plain statistical facts. Be-ners in France, almost the sole arena fore attempting to draw conclusions, we of discussion, when the Chambers are have a few general observations to add not sitting, is the press. Half an English to them. Their order is not material; newspaper, during the recess, is filled for if called upon, in each instance, to with prosy speeches by common-place explain whether the circumstance or state people: the peroration of De Lamartine's of things to which we call attention, be splendid address to the Slave Emancipacause or effect, we should frequently tion Society is the only specimen of have no better answer to give than that popular (not parliamentary) eloquence given by a celebrated personage, when that the French newspapers have reportasked whether the sun went round the ed for months. earth or the earth round the sun,-'Sometimes one, and sometimes the other!' Within the last ten years the French newspapers have effected a revolution, In England, the editors are always the and repeatedly overthrown ministries. principal and often the sole writers: The only instance in which our most inthe occupation absorbs the greater part fluential newspapers have combined for of their time, and compels most of them any given object within the same period, to turn day into night. They consequent- was to prevent the passing of the Poor ly mix very little in society: the voca- Law Act—and they failed; the minority tion is adopted by few, if any, who can in the House of Commons, where their live without it; and your dull cit, pert influence was necessarily most felt, being lawyer, or un-idea'd dandy, turns up his nineteen. nose at a gentleman of the press,'- In France a politician may make himprobably his equal or his superior in self known through his journal, and, when birth, education, and intelligence. In the time has come for the adoption of his France, the editor or rédacteur en chef, principles, step from it into place; in generally confines himself to the arrange- England, there is not a single instance of ment of the paper. The writers, political a journalist acquiring office by services. as well as literary, are generally very performed in that capacity. numerous. In fact, everybody who can In England, a newspaper is essentially write, does write; and a young French- the subject-matter of a commercial specuman used to be as proud of having writ-lation; in France, until very recently, it ten an effective article for a journal as a was essentially the voice of a party or an young Englishman of having made an organ of opinion. In England, a newspaper effective speech in parliament. is like old banking business or an estate. Nothing is so difficult to establish, and | by certain critics than those who do not. nothing so difficult to break down, as a But it has never been said that any critigood advertising connection, which is the cal journal in England, with the slightest test. When the Courier was at the low-pretensions to respectability, was in the est ebb in point of subscribers ten or habit of levying black-mail, in the Rob twelve years ago, it was valued at more Roy fashion, upon writers or artists of than 30,000/.; and half a million would any kind; and it is alleged, on high aube a low estimate for The Times. In thority, that the majority of the French France, no paper is worth many years' critical journals are principally supported purchase; and the loss of a popular from such a source. For example, there writer might prove fatal to the best. In is a current anecdote to the effect that England, therefore, the whole secret ser- when the celebrated singer Nourrit died, vice money at the disposal of a govern- the editor of one of the musical reviews ment would be hardly sufficient to secure waited on his successor, Duprez, and, one of the second rates; and the bare with a profusion of compliments and aponotion of buying up or bribing the thun- logies, intimated to him that Nourrit had derer,' is preposterous. In France, on invariably allowed 2000 francs a-year to the contrary, it would be easy for a gov- the review. Duprez, taken rather aback, ernment to buy up a paper, establish one, expressed his readiness to allow half that or silence one by giving the editor a sum. 'Bien, monsieur,' said the editor, place; and the hydra-head quality of the with a shrug, mais, parole d'honneur, j'y species is, perhaps, the only reason why perds mille francs.' this system of tactics is not more frequently pursued. But it would take a book to illustrate this system of exaction; and a book has The best thing that can be said of the actually been written for the express purFrench political writers is, that they pose by a man thoroughly well qualified, generally preserve a certain decency of by habits and information, to expose it in tone in their disputes. The worst thing all its modifications. Balzac's Grand that can be said of the English is, that Homme de Province à Paris presents a their language is too frequently enriched graphic delineation, a living breathing with epithets borrowed from the vocabulary of piscatory females and Mr. O'Connell, who would otherwise enjoy a monopoly. image, of talent perverted, taste vitiated, sensibility crushed, energy frittered away, generosity hardened into selfishness, and virtue gangrened into vice, by the ordinary, every-day life of journalism; and it strikes us that a brief outline of the hero's career will be the most satisfactory mode of conveying a vivid impres, sion of the state of things by which so much mischief has been wrought. What is here said applies to the political portion of the press, So far as the critical department is concerned the comparison is decidedly unfavourable to France. The spirit of camaraderie, so amusingly illustrated in M. Scribe's comedy, is, perhaps, equally active in Lucien Chardon, a young man of great both countries: as Sir Godfrey Kneller personal attractions, and cleverness acutely observed, 'one hand can do no- enough to be taken for a genius - as thing for itself, but two hands can rub Fielding says Joseph Andrews might have one another;' and when a sect or school been taken for a lord-by those who get possession of a journal, they do rub never saw one, contracts a liaison of the away at one another with a vengeance. Platonic order with the great lady of his To say the truth, we know no better native place (Madame de Bargeton, née mode of getting out of the dilemma in Louise de Negrepelisse), and they arrive which the necessity of reviewing a con- in Paris together, she to become a leader tributor's book places us, than that re- of the fashionable world, and he to glitter commended by a late editor of celebrity as a star of the first water in the literary. -to put it into the hands of another contributor in the same genre, an intimate friend, if possible; in which case, he was wont to say, it was quite superfluous to enjoin candour. Incredible as it may appear, we have also heard it stated very confidently that English authors and actors who give dinners are treated with greater indulgence They very soon experience the truth of the maxim with which James I. was wont to chase the country gentlemen from his court,- Ships which look big in a river, look very little when at sea;' and the first effect of the change of scene is to dissipate their common illusion as to one another. The provincial goddess subsides into a very ordinary mortal alongside of the De Noailles and De Grammonts, Jards gravés sur les cailloux égyptiens appelés des whilst the mute inglorious' Victor Hugo obélisques, il ne connaît pas sa langue, et je le lui or Lamartine pales his ineffectual light toire naturelle et d'antiquités, il aurait dû ne s'occuprouverai. Je dirai qu'au lieu de nous parler d'hisbefore the actual bearers of these appel-per que de l'avenir de l'Egypte, du progrès de la latives. Nay, his very good looks vanish civilisation, des moyens de rallier l'Egypte à la for want of the magic stamp of fashion; France, qui, après l'avoir conquise et perdue, peut se l'attacher encore par l'ascendant moral. Là. and the lady, taking the initiative, sum- dessus tartine patriotique, le tout entrelardé de timarily dismisses him for a battered, shat-rades sur Marseille, sur le Levant, sur notre com. tered beau of fifty, M. le Baron du Cha-merce. 11 After dinner they repair first to the telet, who, without rhyme or reason, is Mais s'il avait fait cela, que diriez-vous ? in vogue. Lucien sinks into the lowest de politique, il aurait dû s'occuper de l'art, nous peinHé bien, je dirais qu'au lieu de nous ennuyer state of destitution; his historical novel, dre le pays sous son côté pittoresque et territorial.' the Archer of Charles IX.,' is declared a-Id. vol. i. pp. 129, 130. mere drug; his collection of sonnets is received like Parson Adams' sermons by the booksellers; and he even applies for shop of the then emperor of the book-sellwork at the office of a newspaper in vain. He is received, not by the rédacteur-enchef, M. Finot, but by one Girandeau, an old soldier, who seems to fill the place of fighting editor, and this dialogue takes place: ing world of Paris, Dauriat, probably intended for Ladvocat, who, after ruining himself by his speculations, had interest enough with his authors to induce them to try and set him up again by the famous Livre des Cent-et-Un. He is here represented in the heyday of prosperity; his 'Gir. Finot est mon neveu, le seul de la famille qui shop crowded with wits, deputies, aum'ait adouci ma position Aussi quiconque cherche thors, and artists, who are keeping up an querelle à Finot, trouve-t-il le vieux Girandeau, cap-unremitting fire of repartees, whilst the itaine aux grenadiers, parti simple soldat, Sambreet-Meuse, cinq ans maître d'armes au premier de great man himself floats about like a letirailleurs, armée d'Italie! Une, deux! et le plaig. viathan :nant serait à l'ombre, ajouta-t-il en faisant le geste de se fendre. Or donc, mon petit, nous avons différents corps dans les rédacteurs. Il y a le rédacteur qui rédige et qui a sa solde, le rédacteur qui ré. dige et qui n'a rien, ce que nous appelons un volon. taire; enfin, le rédacteur qui ne rédige rien et qui n'est pas le plus bête-il ne fait pas de fautes, celui-trois mille francs d'articles et ne m'a pas rapporté là, il se donne les gants d'être un homme d'esprit, il appartient au journal, il nous paye à diner, il flâne dans les théâtres, il est très-heureux. Que voulezvous être ? 'On n'entre ici qu'avec une réputation faite! Devenez célèbre, et vous y trouverez des flots d'or. Voilà trois grands hommes de ma façon, j'ai fait trois ingrats! Nathan parle de six mille francs pour la seconde édition de son livre, qui m'a coûté mille francs. Les deux articles de Blondet, je les ai payés mille francs et un dîner de cinq cents francs.' Je ne suis pas ici pour être le marchepied des gloires à venir, mais pour gagner de l'argent et pour 'L. Chard. Mais rédacteur travaillant bien et en donner aux hommes célèbres.' partant bien payé. 'Gir. Vous voilà comme tous les conscrits qui veulent être maréchaux de France !'-vol. i. p. 93. This is certainly the correct commercial view of the question, let incipient Still Lucien struggles on manfully, poetasters groan over the declaration as cheered by the exhortations and example they will, Lucien did groan over it, for of a set of young men, who are resolved it sealed the fate of his sonnets; but he on winning their way to fame and fortune by honest industry, when, in an evil hour, be becomes acquainted with one of the minor critics, who undertakes to make him free of the corporation. This worthy is obliged to sell the new publications sent in to be reviewed, to pay for the dinner he is about to give Lucien. At the risk of exposing some of the secrets of the craft, we must give the explanation which ensues: saw this redoubtable bookseller bow down before a journalist; he heard him speak of the thousand franc articles of Blondet (Janin), and he hurries off to the theatre, bent on producing such articles without delay. Fortune favours him; the and regular critic is absent without leave; Lucien, who has fallen in love with the principal actress, is allowed to undertake whilst supper is getting ready, and makes the criticism of the piece. It is dashed off a sensation, which is the first step_towards making a fortune in France. The actress rewards him with herself and her Bah! vous ne savez pas comment cela se bâcle. establishment; and the editor eagerly Quant au Voyage en Egypt, j'ai ouvert le livre et enrols him amongst the contributors. At lu des endroits çà et là sans le couper, j'y ai découvert onze fautes de français. Je ferai une colonne the first meeting of his brethren, they are en disant que si l'auteur a appris le langage des can- at a loss for subjects:— - Et vos articles, dit Lucien en roulant vers le Palais-Royal. - Messieurs, si nous prêtions des ridicules aux | Gardons de quoi nous griser en cas de perte, et hommes vertueux de la droite ? ·1 Fais cela, mon petit, dit Lousteau, tu les connais, ils sont de ton parti, tu pourras satisfaire quelques haines intestines.' They laugh at his reluctance to praising a book one day and abusing it the next, and his mistress ridicules his prudery : - Fais de la critique, dit Coralie, amuse-toi! Est-ce que je ne suis pas ce soir en andalouse, demain ne me mettrai-je pas en bohémienne, un autre jour en homme? Fais comme moi! Donne.leur des grimaces pour leur argent, et vivons heureux.' vol. ii. p. 81. After laying aside all his scruples, however, his gains prove inadequate to his expenses, living, as he now does, in the gayest Parisian sets; but on this point, too, his friends have comfort in store for him. joue! 11 - Le conseil est bon, dit le grand inconnu.' He plays, gets drunk, and returns to his mistress without a sou. In this extremity he closes with an offer to conduct a royalist paper against his own original party (the liberal), and falls into a trap laid for him by his first mistress and the rival who has supplanted him. They delude him with visionary expectations of favours from the lady and the court, until he is fatally committed, and then persuade the minister that a calumnious article in one of the opposition papers is from his pen. Both parties now repudiate him, and the critics combine to write down Coralie, who, after presenting a really beautiful picture of female devotedness, sinks under the repeated mortifications heaped upon her, and dies. Lucien, forced into a duel with an early friend, severely wounded, and reduced to the very verge of starvation, quits Paris in the hope of being able to reach his native town on foot. About the same time, the great provincial lady gives her hand to the old beau, Du Chatelet, who is made a prefect for the successful conduct of the intrigue. The concluding situation is inimitable : 'La nuit surprit Lucien dans les plaines du Poitou. Il était résolu à bivouaquer, quand, au fond d'un ravin, il aperçut une calèche montant une côté. A l'insu du postillon, des voyageurs et d'un Valet de chambre placé sur le siége, il put se blottir derrière entre deux paquets où il s'endormit en se plaçant de manière à pouvoir résister aux secousses. This is almost as good as Lord Alvanley's description of a man who 'muddled away his fortune in paying his tradesmen's bills;' or Lord Orford's definition of timber, an excrescence on the face of the earth placed there by Providence for the payment of debts;' or Pelham's argu- Au matin, il fut réveillé par le soleil qui lui frap ment, that it was respectable to be arrest-pait les yeux, et par un bruit de voix. Il était à ed, because it showed that the party once had credit. Aphorisms of this sort generally lead to the same conclusion, and our hero is now on the very brink of a catas trophe. True, 'le petit journal rendait des services inappréciables à Lucien et à Coralie en maintenant le tailleur, la merchande de modes et la couturière, qui tous tremblaient de mécontenter un journaliste capable de tympaniser leurs établissements; the other creditors are not to be kept off, and Coralie's furniture is seized. Four thousand francs are imperatively requir ed; he can raise only the tenth part of that sum. Je vais toujours lui porter cet argent. -Autre sottise! Tu n'apaiseras rien avec quatre cents francs, il faut en avoir quatre mille. Mansle au milieu d'un cercle de curieux et de posqu'il devait être l'objet d'une accusation, il sauta tillons. Il se vit couvert de poussière, il comprit sur ses pieds, et allait parler, quand deux voyageurs, sortis de la calèche, lui coupèrent la parole: il voyait le nouveau préfet de la Charente, le comte du Chatelet et sa femme, Louise de Négrepclisse.'-vol. ii. p. 245. Madame de Girardin's comedy is based the same moral, but the interest is more upon the same views, and enforces much general, and a far greater effect has consequently been produced. The opening scene represents an elegant apartment in the suite occupied by M. Pulchard, gérant of a new journal, La Vérité, the first number of which is to appear on the morrow. He is giving a dinner to the contributors, with the exception of the The proofs of their articles are brought in and distributed amongst them whilst they are in this state, and the revel is about to recommence, when Martel is called away by a peremptory message from his danseuse. The first act closes with the following just and natural reflections from Edgar: chief, M. Martel, thus described in the list | seems, has joined the party in entire igof dramatis persona, tournure élégante, norance of its object. tenue négligée, l'air moqueur et dédaigneux, manieres d'homme distingué qui vit en mauvaise compagnie.' The partner of his bed and board, unluckily without a legitimate title to the character, is Cornélie, danseuse coryphée à l'opéra-l'air maussade et prude, tournure de femme maigre qui se croit bien faite, manières de sotte qui se croit charmante.' This fascinating creature keeps the editor in complete subjection, and it is with difficulty that he has stolen away to see how matters are going on at M. Pluchard's. The festival is at its height when he enters the draw. ing-room. Voices are heard from behind, singing: EDGAR, les regardant. Voilà donc ce pouvoir que l'on nomme journal! Un jugeur sans talent, fabricant d'ironie, In Act the second, the editor, after a few reflections on his own wasted talents, sits down in earnest to the composition of his leading article: 'Mettons-nous franchement contre le ministère, siste Some slight embarrassment is occasioned by the worthy banker's declaration in favour of strict decency and regu-thelarity of conduct on the part of all persons engaged, but the editor manages to get rid of him before the main body of writers appear on the stage. They rush in at last, a motley group in various stages of intoxication, accompanied by Edgar de Norval, the intended husband of the banker's youngest daughter, who, it FAG. Well, you little dirty puppy, you needn't bawl so-the meanest disposition, the 'Boy. Quick! Quick, Mr. Fag. FAG. Quick! Quick! you impudent jacka. napes! ain I to be commanded by you, too, you little impertinent, insolent, kitchen-bred-(Kicks him off)-The Rivals. |