No one succeeds in obtaining a prominent place in literature, or insurrounding himself with a faithful and steady circle of admirers drawn from the fickle masses of the public, unless he possesses originality, constant variety, and a distinct personality. moment a few readers by imitating some original feature in another; but these soon vanish and the writer remains alone and forgotten. Others, again, without belonging to any distinct group of authors, having found their standard in themselves, moralists and educators at the same time, have obtained undying recognition. Of the latter class, though little known outside of France, is Emile Souvestre, who was born in Morlaix, April 15, 1806, and died at Paris July 5, 1854. He was the son of a civil engineer, was educated at the college of Pontivy, and intended to follow his fathers career byentering the Polytechnic School. His father, however, died in 1823, and Souvestre matriculated as a law-student at Rennes. But the young students soon devoted himself entirely to literature. de Missolonghi (1828), was a pronounced failure. Disheartened and disgusted he left Paris and established himself first as a lawyer in Morlaix. Then he became proprietor of a newspaper, and was afterwards appointed a professor in Brest and in Mulhouse. In the 1836 he contributed des Deux Mondes some sketches of life in Brittany, which obtained a brilliant success. Souvestre was soon made editor of La Revuede Paris, and in consequence early found a publisher for his first novel, LEchelle de Femmes, w hich, as was the case with his second work, Riche et Pauvre, met with a very favorable reception. His reputation was now made, and between this period and his death he gave to Franceabout sixty volumes--tales, novels, essays, history, and drama.

A double purpose was always very conscious in his books: he aspired to the role of a moralist and educator, and was likewise a most impressive painter of the life, character, and morals of the inhabitants of Brittany. The most significant of his books are perhaps Les Derniers Bretons(1835-1837, 4 vols.), Pierre Landais (1843, 2 vols.), Le Foyer Breton(1844, 2 vols.), Un Philosophe sons les Toits, crowned by the Academy(1850), Confessions dun Ouvrier (1851), Recits et Souvenirs (1853),Souvenirs dun Vieillard (1854); also La Bretagne Pittoresque (1845), and, finally, Causeries Historiques et Litteraires (1854, 2 vols.) Hiscomies deserve honorable mention: Henri Hamelin, LOncle Baptiste(1842), La Parisienne, Le Mousse, etc. In 1848, Souvestre was appointed professor of the newly created school of administration, mostly devoted to popular lectures. He held this post3 tilling5 partly in Paris, partly in Switzerland.

His death, when comparatively young, left a distinct gap in the literary world. A life like his could not be extinguished without general sorrow. Although he was unduly modest, and never aspired to the role of a beacon-light in literature, always seeking to remain in obscurity, the works of Emile Souvestre must be placed in the first rank by their morality and by their instructional character. the entire respect and applause of humanity. And thus it happens that, like many others, he was only fully appreciated after his death. Even those of his confreres who did not seem to esteem him, when alive, suddenly found out that they had experienced a great loss in his demise.

They expressed it in emotional panegyrcs; contemporaneous literature discovered that virtue had flown from its bosom, and the French Academy, which had at its proper time crowned his Philosophe sons les Toits as a work contributing supremely to morals, kept his bestowed by the memory go "Prix Lambert," designed for the "families of authors who by their integrity, and by the probity of their efforts have well deserved this token from the Republique des Lettres." JOSEPH BERTRAND