The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-09

Cial mo-tneso were extremely ouuouit
to draw without either giving. mortal
offence or spelling the likeness. No
other part Of Sainte- Beuve's achieve
ment seems to Prof. Harper % oreditable,
because no other task was DO full Of temp
tation and demanded 70 much skill and
30 much sacrifice. @Ons must not ex-
pect to find In this series the msgisterisl
spirit which, however urbane was the
tone. pervades the 'Causeries du Lundf
and the 'Nouveaux Lundis.' written In the
consciousness Of aoknowledged power
The year 1870 was q critical stage In the
life Of Sainte- Beuve, as II was In the history
OF France. Among tho documents Of the
fallen Government Of Louis Philippe wal
discovereda paper on which wss recorded
sums paid to various persons In irregular
ways or for purposes underlined. and
Sainte- Beuve's name was there opposite
the entry Of q payment OF 100 francs. A
friend in q Government ofioe called his at
eention to this fact and alarmed him by in
sisting that his enemies would declare that
1t was q record OF corruption money paid
TO him. Sainte-Beuve soon was J to
make plain that the money was paid for 70
pairing q chimney In his lodgings ut the
Institute. but he protested In three news
papers that he was the object Of an I'M
fair attack and insisted upon resigning
the Government post upon which for many
years he had relied mainly for . livelihood.
In September he accepted the appoint
ment to a professorship Of French ltera-
tare at the University Of Liege, and no
received q cordial welcome from the Boil
gian Government. 1t wa at Liege that
he entered upon . new manne In the
preface Il the two volumes in which his
Liege lectures were printed In 1881 10
declares: Il may say that I am choking
with truths, and I shall tell some Of them
at least. This Is the only Satisfaction q
serious writer can have in tho latter half
Of his life. Tho course Of lectures ] re-
produce in this book will not seem to be
In accord with my customary manner
which heretofore has been that OF .
painter rather han that OF q Judge. This
time I have tried TO reproduce only juds-
ment-crihcism.' To this purpose he was
faithful throughout tho series Of the
'Causeries du Lundi.' the first OF which
appeared IN October I. 1850. He no
longer merely analysed, explained, de-
scribed; he sat in judgment. Prof. Har-
per thinks that for q time he appears TO
have been about to form Q method. If
q man presumes to express literary judg-
ments he must mako them. n woah
suppose. in Conformity to some standard
Of excellence. Readers hAve been
tempted therefore to search In Port
Royal and tho essays Of the ten years
preceding 1874 for the foundations Of q
system Of esthetics. for the origins and
elements Of . method.
Nv. .n.
Our author suggests that II it 10 true,
as Brunetisre 10 said to have averred,
that the only thing Of permanent value
left by Sainte-Bsuve was precisely his
method it should be easy to state what the
method is; but who, asks Prof. Harper,
has ever been able to do that,, -Criti-
oism in the form Of biography, inths form
Of a moral and psychological study Of
authors, Is az old rs Johnson's Lives. of
the Poets Surely Brunetiere must have
meant that Sainte-Beuve left something
besides the conservation Of this prao-
tice which he did not invent Our au-
thor for his part maintains that portrait
ure, endless portraiture. and an infinite
play Of intelligence-t this and no other
vestige Of method at all-is what can
be found In Sainte-Beuve. Even tho
practice Of physical desoription-what he
called physiological detail-was not now,
although he brought It TO perfection.
Erasmus in his portraits Of Colst and More
had approached his subjects in the same
way"
Undoubtedly sa:ntc-Eeu7s's mode Of
procedure In the second half Of his lit
erary career is biographical. He analyses
the temperaments and characters Of au-
thors as a means Of approaching their
works. To persons Who objected to this
az an unworthy way Of approach Re re-
piled: ITO understand q man, that 10 TO
say something quite different from .
pure spiritual entity, you cannot employ
too many processes or take hold Of your
object by too many ends. 30 long a. you
have not asked q certain number Of ques-
tions about an author and received the
answers you cannot be sur that you have
grasped him wholly. What did he think
in matters OF religion? How was he
affected by the spectacle Of nature' How
did he conduct himself toward women?
What was his everyday manner Of Hfe3
None Of the answers to these questions 10
to be neglected II you would Judge the
author Of a book and the book ITSELF"
Such was unquestionably the way in
which Sainte-B euve during the latter
part Of his life approached the subjects
Of his criticism. Tho author Of this book
repeats. however. that to insist that
Sainte-Beuve originated q method in
any philosophio or scientific sense IL to
falsify his whole spirit. In q humber
sense no doubt he may be said TO have
employed certain modes. Of procedure
which, however, were not original. He
thought 1t important to inquire into
the ancestry Of the mon and ONE
whom he made the subjects Of
his biographical and critical studies.
He caught eagerly at physiological
details, the effect Of color blindness
in a poet, the nature Of Pascal's halluoi-
nations, the deafness Of Rousseau, the
height and weight and oomeliness OF
Bossuet, the complexion OF Fenelon-these
things and such as these were In his eyes
matters Of consequence.
Prof. Harper also tells us that Sainte-
Beuve attached great value to an 40
q~uaintanoe with an authors fVt literary
ventures and with the earliest editions OF
an authors books. Most OF the Cause
ries du Lundi' begin with biographical