admiration of him. In France he has effected a revolution in taste, and
given victory to the "Romantic School." He has had not only readers, but
imitators. Among Frenchmen, the author of "Cinq Mars" may be cited as a
tolerably successful one. Italy, in which what _we_ call "Novels" were
previously unknown, has been roused from its torpor, and has found a
worthy imitator of British talent in the author of the "Promessi Sposi."
Of the Waverley Novels, six editions have been published in Paris. Many
of them have been translated into French, German, Italian, and other
languages. To be read both on the banks of the Ganges and the Ohio; and
to be found, as is mentioned by Dr. Walsh, where perhaps no other
English book had ever come--on the very verge of civilization, on the
borders of Turkey--this is indeed a wide reign and a proud distinction;
but prouder still to be not only read, but to have subjugated, as it
were, and moulded the literary tastes of the civilized world. Voltaire
is the writer who, in his lifetime, has approached nearest to this
extent of popularity. Sovereigns courted and corresponded with him; his
own countrymen were enthusiastic in his praise; and so general was a
knowledge of the French language, that a large majority of the
well-educated throughout Europe, were familiar with his writings. But
much of this popularity was the popularity of partisanship. He served a
cause, and for such service, and not alone as the meed of genius, were
honours lavished upon him. The people of France, by whom he was almost
deified in his latter years, regarded him less as the literary marvel of
their land, than as the man once persecuted by despotism, and the ablest
assailant of those institutions which they were endeavouring to
undermine. But Voltaire, with all his popularity, has left impressed on
literature scarcely any distinguishable traces of his power. He
exhibited no marked originality of style--he founded no school--and as
for his imitators, where are they? To justify the admiration he excited,
one must consider not merely how well, but how much and how variously he