He recommends what he considers correct literature and theaters, and makes the daily incidents of life point a moral or a parallel. He is always ready to impart the wonders of science and writing to the young, and goes through life to instruct himself as well as others.

Monnier started the man many years ago, and did not touch him afterward, but others, of perhaps more cleverness than his creator, took him up and have kept him going. Thus the portrait has received a touch from many hands, and the original sketch has been considerably developed.

Prudhomme is the essence of bourgeoisie: unlearned, pretentious, kind, prudent, order loving, respectable, and reasonably religious clothed in exaggerated manner and speech. The mention of his name in any part of France brings a smile to the lips of the Gaul -where he is not absolutely ignorant. Captain Cuttle may be termed a popular creation, but not in the sense of Artemus Ward, and particularly of Joseph Prudhomme. Cuttle was made under lock and key and handed over to the public when he was completely finished. Browne and Monnier showed the first outlines of what they

did to the public in fugitive pieces through the journals, and the public helped them by stimulation and suggestion. Whilst they gave birth to the creations, the public was the nurse that gave them nourishment, stood at the cradle, rocked them into popularity, and fostered them into maturity.

Allusions to Prudhomme, and quotations of his quaint words, are frequently made, and to seize the conversational ball which flies about so nimbly in French circles, one must understand the character. He is known and appreciated down to the lower classes of society, and in this he is national. Many who are familiar with Prudhomme have never heard of Monnier. It is to some extent the same with Artemus Ward; there are Americans and Englishmen well acquainted with him who have never heard of Browne.

All of the published writings of Monnier might be contained in one small American volume, but what he attempted to do he did well. He gave realistic sketches of the bourgeoisie and conciergerie, bonnes, artists, seamstresses and the like. De Kock did the same, but with a certain degree of nastiness, from which Monnier was comparatively free. The former had some inventive faculty and weaved a story around his characters-Monnier had none; he simply described what he saw, just as a painter paints from nature. made the ways, dialect, and bad grammar of the people a close study. the people a close study. His field was not that of the knowing slang of the boulevardier, but the naïf speech of the illiterate-those who say collidor for corridor, j'avons for j'ai,

z'haricots for les haricots.

He

Artemus is unapproachable in his way, but Prudhomme is more finely drawn. One is indebted to bad orthography for a good share of his success-the other has none of this, but owes it to the twist in his phraseology and dubious grammar, aside from the success of manner and sentiment. Bad spelling is not an element in French literature, except according to the absolute requirements of art, and then in moderate measure. Page after page of it would offend the artistic taste of the Gaul, and lead to the rejection of work. clothed in such garb, however meritorious in other respects.

Pencils did more for Prudhomme than

pens. Artists like Gavarni, Gill, and particularly Cham, through pictorial journals, made the public eye familiar with his traits-always accompanied with characteristic speech. There is no comical representative of French nationality such as we have in Brother Jonathan and England has in John Bull, but what comes nearest to it is Joseph Prudhomme. The English tried to foist the frog on France in that character under the name of Johnny Crapaud-blundering into toad for frog-but the Gaul never accepted him.

The discursive, patriotic side of Prudhomme is shown in a court of justice, in one of the Monnier sketches. His portliness adds. to his self-importance, and he answers the questions of the president of the court with that voice which is always sonorous. When asked if he is related to the accused, he answers that he might be, but he is not; thereupon he prepares to enter on the subject by way of elucidation, when the president stops him, at the same time requesting him to turn to the jury, which he does with a grand bow. He begins his deposition and soon runs off into stilted, disjointed sentences about Paris, the modern Athens-the center of art and civilization, and he is recalled to the question. Another effort is attended with a like result-the judge growing impatient. At length the witness is pressed into

a corner, when it is discovered that his testimony does not bear upon the case. He is asked if he has nothing else to say. It is all -he has done his duty by enlightening justice. The court, somewhat disgusted, orders him to return to his seat, but Prudhomme in. a solemn tone, by way of conclusion, tells the gentlemen of the jury that he seizes the opportunity to assure them, and, through them, France entire, the whole of Europe and the universe, of his unbounded attachment to the king and the great and glorious institutions of the French nation. "Go to your seat," cries the president.-"To the king, to the gendarmerie," pursues Prudhomme. "Be quiet," from the president. With growing fervor, the witness continues, "All that can contribute to our happiness, the king, the constituted authorities, the gendarmerie and his august family."- Huissier, take out the witness," shouts the judge. And here the fervent witness is ejected, amidst the laughter of the audience.

It is of course impossible to do justice to Prudhomme in any other language than his own. This court scene, as here presented, gives but a pale reflection of the man.

Prudhomme exchanging amenities with the concierge as he lights his bougie or deposits his key; delivering heavy platitudes to fellowpassengers in a diligence on the scenery and

the historic events which it calls up; dining out at set dinners of the bourgeoisie where he displays gallantry to the women and heavy stale wit to all; these are the principal phases which Monnier first showed to the public. But it was not long before he passed from the hands of Monnier and became the property of caricaturists.

In time, the character underwent changes. He was first a bachelor with a cane. Now, the delineators frequently represent him with Madame Prudhomme, and an only son bearing a pretentious name, to whom he imparts his varied knowledge of men and things with paternal care and complacency.

Gavarni was the first to draw him, but his conception was not the true one-he made him too much of a gentleman. It was Cham who caught the popular idea of Prudhomme, and familiarized the people with his well-known characteristics.

Gavarni was more to France than John Leech was to England. Leech was a votary of the Horse, and whatever appertained to him; hence, was