Professor Harper's Lecture.

In his lecture before the Cercle Francaise on "Le Caractere national de la Poesie lyrique francaise" last night Professor Harper said in substance: Of all the lyrical poets who appeared before the Classical period in French literature only three, Villon, Ronsard and Du Bellais, may properly be considered great. La Fontaine stands preeminent among the poets of the Classical period. In the eighteenth century there are no French poets of exceptional ability. In the nineteenth century, however, we find three, Andre Chenier, Alfred De Musset and Victor Hugo, the greatest of all French lyrical poets. Professor Harper thinks that, with the exception of Leconte de Lisle and Jose Maria de Heredia, none of the modern French poets are satisfactory or essentially poetic.