"French Poets in Belgium."

The lecture given yesterday by M. Henri de Reguler was on "French Poets in Belgium." He spoke, briefly, as follows:

Bandelairie, who settled in Belgium in 1864, was greatly irritated by the materialism of French art, and deplored bitterly the total absence in the country of original literature. At the present time, he could not justly make that reproach, since twenty years after his unpleasant and tiresome stay in Belgium, the genius of the Flemish race began to show itself. Its poets are now reckoned among the best in Europe, and even among the best French poets. The three Belgians who best represent the ideal of this poetry are closely associated with the Symbolistic School. They are: Maurice Maeterlinck, Georges Rodembach, and Emile Verhaeven. Besides these three, there should be mentioned the celebrated novelist, Camille Lemonnier, who has written, in addition to many excellent novels, the history of symbolism in Belgium.

Belgian literature had its beginning in 1880, and this is also the period of the minor reviews, among them "La Jeune Belgique," "L'Art Moderne," "Floreal," and "Le Coq Rouge." In the work of the revival of French in Belgium, the prose writers also play a part,--besides Charles Lemonnier there were many excellent writers, who in short tales and novels told stories of Flemish life. At the outset of the symbolistic movement, the Belgian poets separated into two parties--the conservatives, who accepted the theories of the Parnassieus; and the ultra-symbolists. The dramas of Maeterlinck are the works of a true poet. He has written "Les Aveugles," "La Princess Malame," and "Pelleas et Melisande." He has also written two books on morals and metaphysics, "Le Tresor des Humble," and "La Sagesse de la Destinee."