Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/171

 RECENT FOREIGN LITERATURE. 159 and c Les Mois ' ; the affair induced Coppee's philosophy of life, expressed in the two lines : Avoir le mme amour pendant toute la vie.* The letters possess an intimate charm and show Coppee in an attractive light. A collection of Bliicher's letters edited by W. von Unger is full of interest. Bliicher is one of those great men who gain the more intimately they are known. The lovableness of the man and the keen political insight of the soldier are clearly revealed through the barbarous German, barbarous notwithstanding that the difficulties of the platt- deutsch have been as far as possible smoothed away. All who came in contacfl with him loved him devotedly. The letters of Adolph von Menzel, edited by Hans Wolff, with an introduction by Oskar Bie, show a man sunk deeply in his work. He describes his surroundings with humour, and often accompanies his descriptions with caricature draw- ings. We are throughout a little reminded of Dickens. And lastly, there is Lucien Foulet's 'Corre- spondance de Voltaire (1726-29) La Bastille L'Angleterre Le retour en France/ a careful piece of work induced by Churton Collins's ' Bolingbroke, a historical study ; and Voltaire in England.' Foulet has made researches for himself and found supplementary letters. The custom that prevails so largely on the Continent of publishing books about contemporary
 * Le seul bonheur que rhomme ait peut-tre ici-bas :