The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-02

Eat TO his friend Leon Bcnna, for the picture
which was shown al the exhit ition 81 1900
II was on the express condition that II should
not he exhibited in hi lifetime. The tio-
graphical notes preiNodto the several chap
tiers If this book carry us no further than
1858, when lline had still some forty years
TO live. We shall, therefore. he compelled
TO seek naeriaf from other sources IN order
10 complete ar out line OF his life which the
reader may Ike to see before looking AZ
zone extracts from these letters which throw
Hight on the political history Of France at a
momentous epoch, as we'll as on the devel-
opment Of the authors mind
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine was born al
= Vousiers III the Department Of Ardennes on
April 81 is2S His family originated in
the village Of Barby near Rethel one Of his
d, ancestors, Joseph Tame settled AT Rethel
in 1875, and became an alderman ard gov
ernor Of the town. For several generations
Joseph Taine's descendants lived in this
little town the life of good provincial burRh-
. ess II may interest believers in the theory
3 of herediiy TO learn that Hippolyte's great
grandfather. Pierre Taine. a highly intelli-
gent man, vas nicknamed "the Philosopher"
by his toNnsmen, and that Hippolyte's
maternal grandfather, NJ. Bezanson had
scien' ifc turn of mind, had studied mag
netiSrn and had written treatises on phil
osophy and mathematics. Even Hppolyte's
maiden auntS on the fathers side had in
herit,d a taste for abstract ideas, and from
, one Yf ls letters, we learn that his aunt
n 'Ecpefic lad advised him ar TO the drec-
ton of his metaphysical studies Hippo
lyte's father, Jean BattiSte Antoine 1alne
though ,nly country lawyer. was man
OF cultivated mind full of wit and natural
talent and the composer of verpes and
songs which are still repeated by his coun-
trymcn more than fifty years after his death.
de- lad a passionate love Of the country,
and used often to take his little son with
him when, in the coutSe Of his professional
..AAiss, 'he drove through the Ardennes
Moods. To the impressions thus made In
early childhood are reasonably placed
the keen appreciation Of the beauties of
nature and the love of forest scenery which
show themselves in Tame works and cor
rcspond'Dcr. II was also from his father
who died young. that he gained the first
rudimonte Of Latin. What Taine's mother
was 10 him will he manifest to the reader
of these letters In will that Tame wrote
in Dece mber Of 1879, a few months before
losing her, he said: IL my mother survives
me. my wife and children will remember
that For forty years she was my only friend =,
that Size afterwards shared with them the
first place in my heart, that her life has
been all devotion and tenderness. and that 4.
whatever | may have done. and whatev ar
they may do. my debt to her can never be
maid, Vol T,prfnct "a
mother" Madame Taine's younger brother.
NJ. Alexandre Be2arson, who had spent
several years in the United States, taught
his young nephew English, thus rendering
him signal service, in remembrance of
which the Notes Sur L'Angieterre were dedi-
Gated 70 this uncle
Taine's early education was given TO him
entirely by his family but a, the age Of II
he was sent to a boarding school at Rethel,
and, two years later, to tie Msthe boarding
school in Paris, the scholars Of which at =
tended the classes Of the Lycea Bourbon
; Hi mother quickly followed him 10 tho
, capital. taking a house in the Bstignolles
district No sooner had he arrived in Paris
than Hippolvtc Taine drew up a scheme Of
study which he vigorously observed
the execution OF which was made easy by
Bourbon he formed friendships with Planst
Provost Paradol and other men who were To
gain distinction, After numerous scholast io
triumphs, he took the degrees of bachelor
= es-scioncc. and bachelor e. -lettres. and
brilliantly PASSED the admission examina-
tons for The Ecole Normalc Superieure, the
, famous institution founded by Napoleon I u
the candidates for admission to which mus,
at ante no ha ch..lA,s Of a., nf lat.
flame, as We have seen, was both--but
must also sign an engagement 10 perform
ten years work in the Department of Edu-
) cation. Tame passed first among "A batch
8 Of students which included Edmond About
and Franci-que Sarccy and Edouard de
Su7knu; Provost Parado followed year
later After he had entered the Ecols
Norinale in November. 1913. Tame me,
other comrades destined to eminence
several of whom became his friends; for
example, ChaiIcmcl.Lacour. J. J. Weiss
and l. Iung Liberalism reigned at the
Ecole Nurmaln; no atmosphere could have
been more fayorabI" to the development
of mind like Tainrs Besides the worl
he was called upon to do, he here continued
a. be had done at the Lyccc Bourbon. I,
prosecute private studies in literature, his
tory and philosophy. Cma-is surprised al
the range Of these studies, when one bear
in mind that the student was but 81, II,
supplemented. for Instance, the rrgulal
oourSe OF ancient history by the history a
the races Of Egypt, Persia, India and Judea
by a work on Hebrew civilization and 10y
notes on priuitiy" languages He learned
German IN Cidcr to read Goethe IN the
Original Within the domain of philosophy
one finds among Iaine's memoranda made
al the Eoula Normale commentaries or
Spinoza. notes on the object and methot
OF philosophy, on psychology, conscious
ness. thought ia general, reason. exterior
perception, induction and memory; analysis
of Ilegels .Es,hetics; and, finally, notes OF
the theory of intelligence dated from lsio
Thls is the earliest race of the work which
for twenty years was To form The subJeo
OF his thoughts.
The preparation for the dgrtgat!on-
Me annual competition for recruiting pro
fcSsors' for faculties and secondary school
al lycecs begins at the Ecole Normal'
!. with the second year. Tame had choser
philosophy Tor his subject, and plunge
into il with ardor. Mos, Of his analyse
or works and allt horS haye been kent