New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-02-01
NJ TAME AN ACADEMIClAN.
HIS RECEPTION BY The "DlMoRTALs.'


HIS RECEPTION BY HE '1MMORTALs."
A DISTINGUISHED GATHERING At THE FRENCH
.c,ntNIy-THE NEW CoMEEs TRIBUTE To
M,p,Mr Rrc.mgR VI. TAINt's SYSTEM
Ills FrLlAL DEVOTION AND DOMESTIC HAPPINESS
a PEN PORTRAIT OF HIS PERSON AND CHARAC-
TFH--rHE SOCIAL SEASON.
iFnoM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF TUE IMBUNE''
PARIS, Jan. 16.--I wrote some days ago TO NJ
Tame, with whom | am slightly acquainted, ask
ing hun to favor me with ticket of admission 10
the Acadcmy on the day OF his reception. lac sent
Inc one by return oil post, nclosed III lnos
courteous letter. IN which he mentioned that owing
to an old aud inveterate abuse, would be opllgeo
90 stand in q queue for LOars If did not SEM
domestic or a ticket porter 20 do so for me-
The handwriting is neat and legible, with
out being "clerky." 1t has a very distinct
character of its own. and i'll England u
would not be taken for lrenchmans
autograph. but rather for an Englishmans lame,
rs matter of fact 10 not a Gaul. He is native OF
the Ardennes, and evidently OF GeTnano-f icihlSu
origin. His phvsognOmy which Is fair, phifghiatic
and contemplative. deno,es such an ancestry and
there il in everything he does the neatness and the
painstaking manner of the Fleming. Sofar as can
Judge he has but ono essentially French character
istic Ii is a robust faith in his system Of liter
arv and historical criticism in the infalhblity OF
his method, which does not happen TO be his own.
but one borrowed from the materiailst Condiac,
and in however he may change opinions on men
and events) clearly manifested determination
never to admit that he could by any possibility
ever be in the wrong.
Tame carries ia alism TO an extreme which would
have shocked Calvin the RefOrner, who made pre-
destination one of the essential articles OF his theo-
logical confession To free-will and an everything
Providence. which often comes to the aid of those
who sock to work ont their own salvation, and to
save Others who seem doomed to perdtion, he gives
no place. As the soil and climate are. so must be
the man. We in vain struggle against the " deter
minism If both. l dare say that Tame would
think the a fool who, for having been born In
stable regarded himself as a horse, albeit lis OWL
theory would warrant such conclusion
MIR. TAINE's LIMITATIONS
The new academcian has o neaI-sighted
intellect. What it sees it sees very well.
but its ken is circumscrbed TO objects
held up close TO the eyes and examined
through a diminishing glass. He has baukeriug
after philosophy. but be has never been able to at
tain a philosophical altitude, and if he did, the
weakness and the obliGuity of his vision woud not
enable him TO sec The vast panorama at his feet.
The sense OF perspective is not gwen to him. lie is
not painter of pictures, but worker Ill ornainen-
tai MOsacs. What he does is we'll and carefully
executed, and very ingeniously designed. Tane is
the qualities which constitute the true artist.
historian lie was not born, and no amount OF
patient industry will ever make him one. His
work on Lies Ougines de la France Contemporaries"
Is a collection of French bric-a-brac in which the
pieces ore neatly menaed busted and docketed.
This old curiosity museum would suggest much 10
visitor of philosophical grasp and insight, but
teach 10 lesson to tue ordinary dllettante
MODEL SON AND HUSBAND.
r.. 81 -
vered and loved. He is devoted to his
mother, with whom he invariably spends
few bours every evening when she is in
Paris. if be IS not Obliged TO go to the
theatre or TO dinner party which will not be over
before she rctiTes to rest In either Of these cases
he goes his wav to embrace the old lady, who Is
in her eighty-second year, and TO receive her
benediction without which be would not sleep
comfortably. There is no more afectionate has
band and father in the world Madame Tame mar
ried him for love- He had when she made his
acquaintance. some bright literary feathers in his
cap but ne was poor and struggling for independ-
ence and in the hours that lie did not devote to
literature he coached young men for their uni
yersiiy examinations. The passion he inspired was
approved by the father of the young lady, NJ De-
nuelle, q painter of talent. who bad made
q tOleraby good fortune a house decorator He
gave his daughter for heI marriage portion 100000
francs which seemed great fortune TO the hard
working essayist and country house al Chatillon.
near Sceaux.
Nj. and Nine. Tame, In the lifetime of M. De-
nuelle lived here in the fine weather and their Win
ter quarters were aud still in the quiet Rue Bar
bet-de-Jouey. at the end of the Faubourg ST. Ger
main, nearest to the Hotel des Inyaiides Their IN
come has been further augmented by the great ht-
erary successes of NJ. Taine and the death of Nine.
Taine's father, from whom among other thugs,
they have inherited chalet, In which
they now reside in Summer, on the
green shores of the lake OF Annecy. There is much
more philosophy and poetry in the everyday life
of Taue than in his writings He has attained
the golden mean of Horace. His temper is sweet,
his disposition obiging his habits studious and mis-
n mind highly cultivated. The has a very
warm heart and its affections he holds to DO the
sources OF all that is best und most cOnsong in
istence. That Divinity which is excluded from his
works reigns in his home. Mime. Tame is deeply
imbued with the simple Christianity of her Savoy
ard ancestors and NJ Tame feels that her unaffected
piety exerts a blessed influence himself and
bis son and daughter.
The ACADEMY UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON.
The Academys sitings have lost, since the re-
vival of liberty, much of the pquant interest which
was attached TO them when LOUIS Napoleon reigned.
He was lord Of all the material forces of the country
He was scoffed at by the literary company which
met under the dome of the Institute. Its delicate
and singing jibes told, for the Forty then included
Theirs, that man of granite soidity OF
WILL the late Dnc de Broghe, Guzot,
Mienet, Berryer, Lacordare, the Pere
Gratry. and Dupanloup, man of great motive
power and social prestige. The press was gagged.
the tribune was silent. but the tongue Of the Acad-
envy was still, so far as the Imperial authority
went an unrnly member. Ii was the