ade him acquainted with Hamelin, an engineer whose residence in the
East had suggested to him financial schemes which at once attracted
the attention of Saccard. With a view to financing these schemes
the Universal Bank was formed, and by force of advertising became
immediately successful. Emboldened by success, Saccard launched into
wild speculation, involving the bank, which ultimately became insolvent,
and so caused the ruin of thousands of depositors. The scandal was so
serious that Saccard was forced to disappear from France and to take
refuge in Belgium.

The book was intended to show the terrible effects of speculation and
fraudulent company promotion, the culpable negligence of directors, and
the impotency of the existing laws. It deals with the shady underwoods
of the financial world.

Mr. E. A. Vizetelly, in his preface to the English translation (_Money_.
London: Chatto & Windus), suggests that Zola in sketching Saccard,
that daring and unscrupulous financier, "must have bethought himself of
Mires, whose name is so closely linked to the history of Second Empire
finance. Mires, however, was a Jew, whereas Saccard was a Jew-hater, and
outwardly, at all events, a zealous Roman Catholic. In this respect he
reminds one of Bontoux, of Union General notoriety, just as Hamelin the
engineer reminds one of Feder, Bontoux's associate. Indeed, the history
of M. Zola's Universal Bank is much the history of the Union General.
The latter was solemnly blessed by the Pope, and in a like way Zola
shows us the Universal receiving the Papal benediction. Moreover, the
second object of the Union General was to undermine the financial power
of the Jews, and in the novel we find a similar purpose ascribed to
Saccard's Bank. The union, we know, was eventually crushed by the great
Israelite financiers, and this again is the fate which overtakes
the institution whose meteor-like career is traced in the pages of
_L'Argent_."

La Reve.

Written as a "passport to the Academy," this novel stands alone among
the Rougon-Macquart series for its pure, idyllic grace. Angelique,
a daughter of Sidonie Rougon (_Le Curee_), had been deserted by her
mother, and was adopted by a maker of ecclesiastical embroideries, who
with his wife lived and worked under the shadow of an ancient cathedral.
In this atmosphere the child grew to womanhood, and as she fashioned the
rich embroideries of the sacred vestments she had a vision of love and
happiness