The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-09
SOME E O
s.,nte-peuve-second Notice.

In previous notoe We folloWeu oanto.
Beuve through the first thirty years oil
his life as this is depicted in the admir-.
able biography by Prof. GEORGE MCLEAN
HARPER u. B. Lippinoott Company. II
ID q fact, though not easy to comprehend
that the writer Of "Volupte' and OF the
~1ivre d'Amour' should have lived To
become the author Of the pious historic
study OF Port Royal. SO early as De-
cember, 1884, Sainte- Beuve wrote to Am.
pAre that he had taken into consideration
q study of Port Royal and its holy
hermits. In the following February g
reported to his ecclesiastical friend Barbe
tho conception cf the same purpose. II
has become traditional for the French biog
raphers of Sainte-B euve to seek in hi
smours the motive Of his new literary
ambition as well as the motive OF tina
which had preceded II. They insist that
at this juncture heartsickness at the fail.
ure OF an impossible and ~dishonorabls
,courtship moved him to withdraw
old companions and accustomed tasks
and to welcome the austerity Of the sub-
ject named. Prof. Harper for his part
contends that substantive proof OF their
assertions and i~nnuendoes can scarcely
be said to exist, and that other and
stronger : reasons for Sainte- Beuve's
change of design lie nearer hand. His
lyrical vein was thin: he had come 10
realize how thin and how deceptive.
Then again. the author OF "Voiupte'
could hardly regard himself as a promis-
ing novelist. On the other hand the day
was still far distant when he was to de-
sire himself 10 be for the rest Of his life
q writer OF detached criticisms on the
work done by other men. Scholarly
penetration. however, constructive en-
ergy and p~oetical insight, he was con-
scious Of possessing, and the desire TO
create was strong within him. He had
not yet reached the age when a merely
objective interest sufflced, and he longed
therefore to find a subject which should
correspond to his inner needs, a subject
in which he could. even IL by only indi-
rect means, involve his whole personality
We have seer that this biographer can
be severe when severity is deserved, but
he pronounces it absurd to assert. az some
have asserted. that Sainte-Beuve, ever
when he wrote Port Royal" was not a
religious man. 1T would be binding
ourselves to many important facts TO in
eist that because he was at bottom and IN
chs end an agnostic, he therefore had dur
ing no part Of his life religious hopes and
interests and ~longings for positive Chris
tian faith On the whole Prof. Harper
would say that the inner call to write
Port Royal" was In part a noble literary
ambition and in part an imperious demand
TO try the issues Of thought involved. 1t
is true also that Sainte- Beuve was tired
of Paris and Of his life there. The city
mad become q graveyard Of his old friend
ships. He was still suffering acutely
from the melancholy end OF his relations
with the Hugo family. There was sore
ness for him also in the very sight Of
Lanmenais. He was distressed by the
trend OF politics. His association with
wealthy people was making it harder than
ever for him to support himself with the
pen. even by the most ~exhausting toll.
Hscraved q change Of scene.
An opportunity for such a change
came presently. In July, 1887. he visited
Geneva. partly for the purpose OF con-
fefring with Mile. de Fontanes in regard
TO the publication Of her fathers works.
While travelling he spent several weeks
with two young poets. Juste Olivier, pro-
fessor Of history at the Academy OF
Lausanne, and his accomplished wife.
To these sympathetic acquaintance he
confded his project Of writing a history
OF Port Royal. They applauded the
scheme and suggested his giving a course
OF lectures on that subject in the academy
or embryo university Of Lausanne. Owing
to their efforts aud thee extent Of his own
reputation he soon received an official
Invitation to teach there an entire AGA
demio year. He was TO lecture three
times a week. and his salary. paid by the
State, was to be about half as much again
Sas that of a regular professor.
Prof. Harper deems It conceivable that
Port Royal" a book which embodied.
with appendices the lectures delivered
at Lausanne, will retain vitality when
sainte-Beuve's critical essays have ceased
to be read. though up to the present time
it has by no means been associa ted so
intimately with his fame. 1t appeared
In FIVE large octave volumes. containing
altogether nearly 5000 pages: Volume
I. in 1910. volumes Nv. and v. in 1850.
The choice Of subject was vindicated by
Renan in an article printed in 1880. M.
Sainte- Beuve,' he says, has just finished
his noble history Of Port Royal. Many
persons have shown surprise at the pref
erence Of the ingenious critic for a subject
which seems remote from his habitual
pTedlections, They have not remembered
the secret cords which bind together all
the applications of the human spirit,
and in particular they have formed an
insufficient idea Of NJ. Sainte- Beuve's
talent" 1t is true enough that most Of
Sainte-Beuve's acquaintance thought
him much too clever to have written
Port Royal in entire good faith. The
present biographer himself comedies that
tho work Is not such as might have been
expected from his previous career;
"a careful scrutiny, however, fails to
disclose more than a very few touches
which seem to be either insincere or
timorous.' Such precautions a are
taken to avoid offending the ~suscepti-
bilities Of the Swiss public are shown more
in the elsborateness Of the style than In
al surrender Of opinion and terminate
with the second volume. after which the
author steps out Of the lecture room and
addresses the world.
II.
With his critics he deals in one Of his
.nr>~ndtNoa fha rnoRt intareatino feature