12th June 1889
IX. THE "CONTES" OF M. AUGUSTIN FILON
TALES OF A HUNDRED YEARS SINCE
["CONTES DU CENTENAIRE." PAR AUGUSTIN FILON. PARIS: HACHETTE ET
CIE. ]
[137] IT was a happy thought of M. Filon to put into the mouth of an
imaginary centenarian a series of delightfully picturesque studies
which aim at the minute presentment of life in France under the old
regime, and end for the most part with the Revolution. A genial
centenarian, whose years have told happily on him, he appreciates not
only those humanities of feeling and habit which were peculiar to the
last century and passed away with it, but also that permanent
humanity which has but undergone a change of surface in the new world
of our own, wholly different though it may look. With a sympathetic
sense of life as it is always, [138] M. Filon has transplanted the
creations of his fancy into an age certainly at a greater distance
from ourselves than can be estimated by mere lapse of time, and where
a fully detailed antiquarian knowledge, used with admirable tact and
economy, is indeed serviceable in giving reality of effect to scene
and character. In truth, M. Filon's very lively antiquarianism
carries with it a genuine air of personal memory.
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