~ * O, Alas, A Spectacle
In The Mirror ~ !
"French influence-as Mrs. Trimmer cried in alarmed accents-was rife
in the nursery. As early as 1740, a Spectacle de la Nature had been
translated successfully. Arnaud Berquin, "surnommé à juste titre
l'Ami des Enfants," published the work from which his "just
title" comes-l'Ami des Enfans-in 1782 (translated in 1783).
It was successful alike in France, in French in England and in English.
He wrote, also, Le Petit Grandisson, a sentimental tale which was
translated into English, and himself (by a pleasant irony) turned Mrs.
Trimmer's Familiar Introduction to the Knowledge of Nature into
French.
The very popular Looking Glass for the Mind was a compilation from his
works.
By him stands another Rousseauist, Mme. de Genlis; her treatise on
education, Adèle et Théodore (1782), was translated (1783) and her
Tales of the Castle (1784) were very popular in an English version
(1785). Miss Edgeworth, Barbauld and Aikin, and others were given a
French dress, and many of the quaker tales of Mary Elliott (afterwards
Mrs. Belson) were produced in both tongues simultaneously. There was
clearly, in spite of the revolution, much commerce of juvenile
ideals."
~ "The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
In 18 Volumes"
(1907-21)
Volume XI. The Period of the French Revolution.