The Blacksmith's Hammer; or, The Peasant Code: A Tale of the Grand Monarch

THE FULL SERIES OF
History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages
B y E U G E N E S U E
Consisting of the Following Works:
THE GOLD SICKLE; or, Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen . THE BRASS BELL; or, The Chariot of Death . THE IRON COLLAR; or, Faustine and Syomara . THE SILVER CROSS; or, The Carpenter of Nazareth . THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, Victoria, the Mother of the Camps . THE PONIARID'S HILT; or, Karadeucq and Ronan . THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, The Monastery of Charolles . THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, Bonaik and Septimine . THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, The Daughters of Charlemagne . THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, The Buckler Maiden . THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, The End of the World . THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, Fergan the Quarryman . THE IRON PINCERS; or, Mylio and Karvel . THE IRON TREVET; or Jocelyn the Champion. THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, Joan of Arc. THE POCKET BIBLE; or, Christian the Printer . THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, The Peasant Code . THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, The Foundation of the French Republic . THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, The Family Lebrenn .
Published Uniform With This Volume By THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO. 28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY
A Tale of the Grand Monarch
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY
DANIEL DE LEON
NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1910

Bulwer Lytton observes of fiction that, when aspiring at something higher than mere romance, it does not pervert, but elucidates the facts of the times in which the scene is placed; hence, that fiction serves to illustrate those truths which history is too often compelled to leave to the tale-teller, the dramatist and the poet. In this story, The Blacksmith's Hammer; or, The Peasant Code —the seventeenth of the charming series of Eugene Sue's historic novels, The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages —the author reaches a height in which are combined all the elements that Bulwer Lytton distributes among history, tale, drama and poetry.