d one of the few comedies of this age likely to become classical,
is the admirable _Rabagas_--a satire of the keenest on the interested
politicians, who, in France as elsewhere, take up demagogy as a trade.
M. Sardou has attempted serious work in various plays, the best of which
is, perhaps, _Patrie_, but it is not his forte. Satirical observation of
manners, and especially of the current political and social follies of
the day, is what he can do best, and in this peculiar line he has few
equals. But he is admitted to be one of the most unequal of writers. A
peculiar offspring of the Second Empire are the brilliant burlesques of
Offenbach, which owed at least part of their brilliancy to the librettos
composed for them by MM. Meilhac and Halevy. The first-named of these
had produced successful dramas as far back as 1859. The collaborateurs
did not confine themselves to furnishing words for M. Offenbach's music,
but attempted the prose drama frequently and with success, _Froufrou_
being their most important work in this way. M. Gondinet and M.
Pailleron also deserve notice as successful manufacturers of light
plays, the latter in especial having an excellent wit (_Le monde ou l'on
s'ennuie_, _Le Chevalier Trumeau_). This may also be asserted of M.
Halevy, who has latterly, in _Les Petites Cardinal_ and other
non-dramatic sketches, shown himself to even greater advantage than on
the stage. Indeed the Cardinal family may be said to be the most
striking literary creation of its kind for years.

In a different class and earlier, Joseph Autran, a poet of the school of
Lamartine, obtained a great reputation by his tragedy of _La Fille
d'Eschyle_, which procured him a seat in the Academy, and gave him the
opportunity of writing not a few volumes of polished, but not very
vigorous, poetry. M. Theodore de Banville, who has tried most paths in
literature, produced, in 1866, a short play, with the old mystery-writer
Gringoire for hero and title-giver; a play which is admirably written,
and which has kept its place on the stage. M. Francois Coppee's graceful
_Luthier de Cremone_ has already been mentioned. Another literary
dramatist, to distinguish the class from those who are playwrights first
of all, is M. Henri de Bornier, who obtained some success, in 1875, with
_La Fille de Roland_, and, in 1880, with _Les Noces d'Attila_. Both
these are good, though not consummate, specimens of the poetical drama.

[Sidenote: Classes of Ninetee