,,critical ,,miscellanies  ,,by  ,,john 
,,morley  ,,vol4 ,,ii4  ,essay #a3      
,vauvenargues  ,london  ,,macmillan     
,,and ,,co41 ,limited  ,,new ,,york3    
,,the ,,macmillan ,,company  #aije      
,,contents ,,of ,,vol4 ,,ii4            
,,page  ,the influence of ,pascal       
#a  ,vauvenargues holds the balance     
between him and the votaries of         
,perfectibility                         
#d  ,birth1 education1 and hard life of 
,vauvenargues                   #d      
,life in ,paris1 and friendship with    
,voltaire                      #aj  ,his
 religious sentiment                    
#ab  ,his delicacy1 reserve1 and        
psychagogic quality                     
#ae  ,certain inability to appreciate   
marked originality               #ag    
,criticisms on ,molire1 ,racine1 and    
,corneille                     #ai      
,comparison with ,english aphoristic    
writers and moralists         #bj       
,character the key to his theory of     
greatness                     #be  ,his 

exaltation of spontaneous feeling1 a    
protest against ,rochefoucauld and      
,pascal                                 
#bf  ,his plea for a normal sense of    
human relation1 the same          #bh   
,his doctrine of the ,will connected    
with his doctrine of ,character         
#bi  ,antipathy to ascetic restrictions 
#cc  ,two ways of examining character3  
that followed by ,vauvenargues          
#cd  ,examples of his style             
#cf  ,the beauty of his nature to be    
read in his face                  #dj   
,transcriber's ,note3 ,footnotes have   
been moved to end of book4              
,,vauvenargues4   ,one of the most      
important phases of ,french thought in  
the great century of its illumination is
 only thoroughly intelligible1 on       
condition that in studying it we keep   
constantly in mind the eloquence1 force1
 and genius of ,pascal4 ,he was the     
greatest and most influential           
representative of that way of viewing   
human nature and its circumstances1     

which it was one of the characteristic  
glories of the eighteenth century to    
have rebelled against and rejected4     
,more than a hundred years after the    
publication of the ,penses1 ,condorcet  
thought it worth while to prepare a new 
edition of them1 with annotations1      
protesting1 not without a certain       
unwonted deference of tone1 against     
,pascal's doctrine of the base and      
desperate estate of man4 ,voltaire also 
had them reprinted with notes of his    
own1 written in the same spirit of      
vivacious deprecation1 which we may be  
sure would have been even more          
vivacious1 if ,voltaire had not         
remembered that he was speaking of the  
mightiest of all the enemies of the     
,jesuits4 ,apart from formal and        
specific dissents like these1 all the   
writers who had drunk most deeply of the
 spirit of the eighteenth century1 lived
 in a constant ferment of revolt against
 the clear-witted and vigorous thinker  
of the century before1 who had clothed  

mere theological mysteries with the     
force and importance of strongly        
entrenched propositions in a consistent 
philosophy4  ,the resplendent fervour of
 ,bossuet's declamations upon the       
nothingness of kings1 the pitifulness of
 mortal aims1 the crushing ever-ready   
grip of the hand of ,god upon the       
purpose and faculty of man1 rather      
filled the mind with exaltation than    
really depressed or humiliated it4 ,from
 ,bossuet to ,pascal is to pass from the
 solemn splendour of the church to the  
chill of the crypt4 ,besides1 ,bossuet's
 attitude was professional1 in the first
 place1 and it was purely theological1  
in the second2 so the main stream of    
thought flowed away and aside from him4 
,to ,pascal it was felt necessary that  
there should be reply and vindication1  
whether in the shape of deliberate and  
published formulas1 or in the reasoned  
convictions of the individual           
intelligence working privately4 ,a      
syllabus of the radical articles of the 

,french creed of the eighteenth century 
would consist largely of the            
contradictions of the main propositions 
of ,pascal4 ,the old theological idea of
 the fall was hard to endure1 but the   
idea of the fall was clenched by such   
general laws of human nature as         
this1--that 'men are so necessarily mad1
 that it would be to be mad by a new    
form of madness not to be mad2'--that   
man is nothing but masquerading1 lying1 
and hypocrisy1 both in what concerns    
himself and in respect of others1       
wishing not to have the truth told to   
himself1 and shrinking from telling it  
to anybody else2#a that the will1 the   
imagination1 the disorders of the body1 
the thousand concealed infirmities of   
the intelligence1 conspire to reduce our
 discovery of justice and truth to a    
process of haphazard1 in which we more  
often miss the mark than hit4#b         
,pleasure1 ambition1 industry1 are only 
means of distracting men from the       
otherwise unavoidable contemplation of  

their own misery4 ,how speak of the     
dignity of the race and its history1    
when we know that a grain of sand in    
,cromwell's bladder altered the         
destinies of a kingdom1 and that if     
,cleopatra's nose had been shorter the  
whole surface of the earth would be     
different8 ,imagine1 in a word1 'a      
number of men in chains1 and all        
condemned to death2 some of them each   
day butchered in the sight of the       
others1 while those who remain watch    
their own condition in that of their    
fellows1 and eyeing one another in      
anguish and hopelessness1 wait their    
turn2 such is the situation of man4'#c  
,it was hardly possible to push the     
tragical side of the verities of life   
beyond this1 and there was soon an      
instinctive reaction towards realities4 
,the sensations with their conditions of
 pleasure no less than of pain2 the     
intelligence with its energetic         
aptitudes for the discovery of          
protective and fruitful knowledge2 the  

affections with their large capacities  
for giving and receiving delight2 the   
spontaneous inner impulse towards action
 and endurance in the face of outward   
circumstances--all these things         
reassured men1 and restored in theory to
 them with ample interest what in       
practice they had never lost--a rational
 faith and exultation in their own      
faculties1 both of finding out truth and
 of feeling a very substantial degree of
 happiness4 ,on this side too1 as on the
 other1 speculation went to its extreme 
limit4 ,the hapless and despairing      
wretches of ,pascal were transformed by 
the votaries of perfectibility into     
bright beings not any lower than the    
angels4 ,between the two extremes there 
was one fine moralist who knew how to   
hold a just balance1 perceiving that    
language is the expression of relations 
and proportions1 that when we speak of  
virtue and genius we mean qualities that
 compared with those of mediocre souls  
deserve these high names1 that greatness

 and happiness are comparative terms1   
and that there is nothing to be said of 
the estate of man except relatively4    
,this moralist was ,vauvenargues4       
,vauvenargues was born of a good        
,provenal stock at ,aix1 in the year    
#agae4 ,he had scarcely any of that kind
 of education which is usually performed
 in school-classes1 and he was never    
able to read either ,latin or ,greek4   
,such slight knowledge as he ever got of
 the famous writers among the ancients  
was in translations4 ,of ,english       
literature1 though its influence and    
that of our institutions were then      
becoming paramount in ,france1 and      
though he had a particular esteem for   
the ,english character1 he knew only the
 writings of ,locke and ,pope1 and the  
,paradise ,lost4#d ,vauvenargues must be
 added to the list of thinkers and      
writers whose personal history shows1   
what men of letters sometimes appear to 
be in a conspiracy to make us forget1   
that for sober1 healthy1 and robust     

judgment on human nature and life1      
active and sympathetic contact with men 
in the transaction of the many affairs  
of their daily life is a better         
preparation than any amount of wholly   
meditative seclusion4 ,he is also one of
 the many who show that a weakly        
constitution of body is not incompatible
 with fine and energetic qualities of   
mind1 even if it be not actually        
friendly to them4 ,nor was feeble health
 any disqualification for the profession
 of arms4 ,as ,arms and the ,church were
 the only alternatives for persons of   
noble birth1 ,vauvenargues1 choosing the
 former1 became a subaltern in the      
,king's ,own ,regiment at the age of    
twenty 7#agce74 ,here in time he saw    
active service2 for in #agdj the death  
of ,charles ,,vi4 threw all ,europe into
 confusion1 and the ,french ,government1
 falling in with the prodigious designs 
of the ,marshal ,belle-,isle and his    
brother1 took sides against ,maria      
,theresa1 and supported the claims of   

the unhappy ,elector of ,bavaria who    
afterwards became the ,emperor ,charles 
,,vii4 ,the disasters which fell upon   
,france in consequence are well known4  
,the forces despatched to ,bavaria and  
,bohemia1 after the brief triumph of the
 capture of ,prague1 were gradually     
overwhelmed without a single great      
battle1 and it was considered a signal  
piece of good fortune when in the winter
 of #agdb-dc ,belle-,isle succeeded1    
with a loss of half his force1 in       
leading by a long circuit1 in the view  
of the enemy1 and amid the horrors of   
famine and intense frost1 some thirteen 
thousand men away from ,prague4 ,the    
,king's ,regiment took part in the      
,bohemian campaign1 and in this         
frightful march which closed it2        
,vauvenargues with the rest4  ,to       
physical sufferings during two winters  
was added the distress of losing a      
comrade to whom he was deeply attached2 
he perished in the spring of '#db under 
the hardships of the war4 ,the loge in  

which ,vauvenargues commemorates the    
virtues and the pitiful fate of his     
friend1 is too deeply marked with the   
florid and declamatory style of youth to
 be pleasing to a more ripened taste4#e 
,he complained that nobody who had read 
it observed that it was touching1 not   
remembering that even the most tender   
feeling fails to touch us1 when it has  
found stilted and turgid expression4    
,delicacy and warmth of affection were  
prominent characteristics in            
,vauvenargues4 ,perhaps if his life had 
been passed in less severe              
circumstances1 this fine susceptibility 
might have become fanciful and morbid4  
,as it was1 he loved his friends with a 
certain patient sweetness and           
equanimity1 in which there was never the
 faintest tinge of fretfulness1 caprice1
 exacting vanity1 or any of those other 
vices which betray in men that excessive
 consciousness of their own personality1
 which lies at the root of most of the  
obstacles in the way of an even and     

humane life4 ,his nature had such depth 
and quality that the perpetual          
untowardness of circumstances left no   
evil print upon him2 hardship made him  
not sour1 but patient and wise1 and     
there is no surer sign of noble temper4 
,the sufferings and bereavements of war 
were not his only trials4 ,vauvenargues 
was beset throughout the whole of his   
short life with the sordid and          
humiliating embarrassments of narrow    
means4 ,his letters to ,saint-,vincens1 
the most intimate of his friends1       
disclose the straits to which he was    
driven4 ,the nature of these straits is 
an old story all over the world1 and    
,vauvenargues did the same things that  
young men in want of money have         
generally done4 ,it cannot be said1 ,i  
fear1 that he passed along those miry   
ways without some defilement4 ,he       
bethinks him on one occasion that a rich
 neighbour has daughters4 ',why should  
,i not undertake to marry one of them   
within two years1 with a reasonable     

dowry1 if he would lend me the money ,i 
want and provided ,i should not have    
repaid it by the time fixed8'#f ,we must
 make allowance for the youth of the    
writer1 and for a different view of     
marriage and its significance from our  
own4 ,even then there remains something 
to regret4 ,poverty1 wrote              
,vauvenargues1 in a maxim smacking      
unwontedly of commonplace1 cannot debase
 strong souls1 any more than riches can 
elevate low souls4#g ,that depends4 ,if 
poverty means pinching and fretting need
 of money1 it may not debase the soul in
 any vital sense1 but it is extremely   
likely to wear away a very priceless    
kind of delicacy in a man's estimate of 
human relations and their import4       
,vauvenargues has told us what he found 
the life of the camp4 ,luxurious and    
indolent living1 neglected duties1      
discontented sighing after the delights 
of ,paris1 the exaltation of rank and   
mediocrity1 an insolent contempt for    
merit2 these were the characteristics of

 the men in high military place4 ,the   
lower officers meantime were overwhelmed
 by an expenditure that the luxury of   
their superiors introduced and          
encouraged2 and they were speedily      
driven to retire by the disorder of     
their affairs1 or by the impossibility  
of promotion1 because men of spirit     
could not long endure the sight of      
flagrant injustice1 and because those   
who labour for fame cannot tie          
themselves to a condition where there is
 nothing to be gathered but shame and   
humiliation4#h  ,to these considerations
 of an extravagant expenditure and the  
absence of every chance of promotion1   
there was added in the case of          
,vauvenargues the still more powerful   
drawback of irretrievably broken health4
 ,the winter-march from ,prague to ,egra
 had sown fatal seed4 ,his legs had been
 frost-bitten1 and before they could be 
cured he was stricken by small-pox1     
which left him disfigured and almost    
blind4 ,so after a service of nine      

years1 he quitted military life 7#agdd74
 ,he vainly solicited employment as a   
diplomatist4 ,the career was not yet    
open to the talents1 and in the memorial
 which ,vauvenargues drew up he dwelt   
less on his conduct than on his birth1  
being careful to show that he had an    
authentic ancestor who was ,governor of 
,hyres in the early part of the         
fourteenth century4#i ,but the only road
 to employment lay through the ,court4  
,the claims even of birth counted for   
nothing1 unless they were backed by     
favour among the ignoble creatures who  
haunted ,versailles4 ,for success it was
 essential to be not only high-born1 but
 a parasite as well4 ',permit me to     
assure you1 sir1' ,vauvenargues wrote   
courageously to ,amelot1 then the       
minister1 'that it is this moral        
impossibility for a gentleman1 with only
 zeal to commend him1 of ever reaching  
the ,king his master1 which causes the  
discouragement that is observed among   
the nobility of the provinces1 and which

 extinguishes all ambition4'#aj ,amelot1
 to oblige ,voltaire1 eager as usual in 
good offices for his friend1 answered   
the letters which ,vauvenargues wrote1  
and promised to lay his name before the 
,king as soon as a favourable           
opportunity should present itself4#aa   
,vauvenargues was probably enough of a  
man of the world to take fair words of  
this sort at their value1 and he had    
enough of qualities that do not belong  
to the man of the world to enable him to
 confront the disappointment with       
cheerful fortitude ',misfortune itself1'
 he had once written1 'has its charms in
 great extremities2 for this opposition 
of fortune raises a courageous mind1 and
 makes it collect all the forces that   
before were unemployed3 it is in        
indolence and littleness that virtue    
suffers1 when a timid prudence prevents 
it from rising in flight and forces it  
to creep along in bonds4'#ab ,he was    
true to the counsel which he had thus   
given years before1 and with the        

consciousness that death was rapidly    
approaching1 and that all hope of       
advancement in the ordinary way was at  
an end1 even if there were any chance of
 his life1 he persevered in his project 
of going to ,paris1 there to earn the   
fame which he instinctively felt that he
 had it in him to achieve4 ,neither     
scantiness of means nor the vehement    
protests of friends and                 
relations--always the worst foes to     
superior character on critical          
occasions--could detain him in the      
obscurity of ,provence4 ,in #agde he    
took up his quarters in ,paris in a     
humble house near the ,school of        
,medicine4 ,literature had not yet      
acquired that importance in ,france     
which it was so soon to obtain4 ,the    
,encyclopdia was still unconceived1 and 
the momentous work which that famous    
design was to accomplish1 of organising 
the philosophers and men of letters into
 an army with banners1 was still        
unexecuted4 ,voltaire1 indeed1 had      

risen1 if not to the full height of his 
reputation1 yet high enough both to     
command the admiration of people of     
quality1 and to be the recognised chief 
of the new school of literature and     
thought4 ,voltaire had been struck by a 
letter in which ,vauvenargues1 then     
unknown to him1 had sent a criticism    
comparing ,corneille disadvantageously  
with ,racine4 ,coming from a young      
officer1 the member of a profession     
which ,voltaire frankly described as    
'very noble1 in truth1 but slightly     
barbarous1' this criticism was          
peculiarly striking4 ,a great many years
 afterwards ,voltaire was surprised in  
the same way1 to find that an officer   
could write such a book as the ,flicit  
,publique of the ,marquis de            
,chastellux4 ,to ,vauvenargues he       
replied with many compliments1 and      
pointed out with a good deal of pains   
the injustice which the young critic had
 done to the great author of ,cinna4    
',it is the part of a man like you1' he 

said admirably1 'to have preferences1   
but no exclusions4'#ac ,the             
correspondence thus begun was kept up   
with ever-growing warmth and mutual     
respect4 ',if you had been born a few   
years earlier1' ,voltaire wrote to him1 
'my works would be worth all the more   
for it2 but at any rate1 even at the    
close of my career1 you confirm me in   
the path that you pursue4'#ad  ,the     
personal impression was as fascinating  
as that which had been conveyed by      
,vauvenargues' letters4 ,voltaire took  
every opportunity of visiting his       
unfortunate friend1 then each day       
drawing nearer to the grave4 ,men of    
humbler stature were equally attracted4 
',it was at this time1' says the        
light-hearted ,marmontel1 'that ,i first
 saw at home the man who had a charm for
 me beyond all the rest of the world1   
the good1 the virtuous1 the wise        
,vauvenargues4 ,cruelly used by nature  
in his body1 he was in soul one of her  
rarest masterpieces4 ,i seemed to see in

 him ,fnelon weak and suffering4 ,i     
could make a good book of his           
conversations1 if ,i had had a chance of
 collecting them4 ,you see some traces  
of it in the selection that he has left 
of his thoughts and meditations4 ,but   
all eloquent and full of feeling as he  
is in his writings1 he was even more so 
still in his conversation4'#ae          
,marmontel felt sincere grief when      
,vauvenargues died1 and in the ,epistle 
to ,voltaire expressed his sorrow in    
some fair lines4 ,they contain the happy
 phrase applied to ,vauvenargues1 'ce   
coeur stoque et tendre4'#af  ,in        
religious sentiment ,vauvenargues was   
out of the groove of his time4 ,that is 
to say1 he was not unsusceptible of     
religion4 ,accepting no dogma1 so far as
 we can judge1 and complying with no    
observances1 very faint and doubtful as 
to even the fundamentals--,god1         
immortality1 and the like--he never     
partook of the furious and bitter       
antipathy of the best men of that       

century against the church1 its creeds1 
and its book4 ,at one time1 as will be  
seen from a passage which will be quoted
 by and by1 his leanings were towards   
that vague and indefinable doctrine     
which identifies ,god with all the      
forces and their manifestations in the  
universe4 ,afterwards even this         
adumbration of a theistic explanation of
 the world seems to have passed from    
him1 and he lived1 as many other not bad
 men have lived1 with that fair working 
substitute for a religious doctrine     
which is provided in the tranquil       
search1 or the acceptance in a          
devotional spirit1 of all larger mortal 
experiences and higher human            
impressions4 ,there is a ,meditation on 
the ,faith1 including a ,prayer1 among  
his writings2 and there can be little   
doubt1 in spite of ,condorcet's         
incredible account of the circumstances 
of its composition1 that it is the      
expression of what was at the time a    
sincere feeling4#ag ,it is1 however1    

rather the straining and ecstatic       
rhapsody of one who ardently seeks      
faith1 than the calm and devout         
assurance of him who already possesses  
it4 ,vauvenargues was religious by      
temperament1 but he could not entirely  
resist the intellectual influences of   
the period4 ,the one fact delivered him 
from dogma and superstition1 and the    
other from scoffing and harsh           
unspirituality4 ,he saw that apart from 
the question of the truth or falsehood  
of its historic basis1 there was a      
balance to be struck between the        
consolations and the afflictions of the 
faith4#ah ,practically he was content to
 leave this balance unstruck1 and to    
pass by on the other side4 ,scarcely any
 of his maxims concern religion4 ,one of
 these few is worth quoting1 where he   
says3 ',the strength or weakness of our 
belief depends more on our courage than 
our light2 not all those who mock at    
auguries have more intellect than those 
who believe in them4'#ai  ,the end came 

in the spring of #agdg1 when            
,vauvenargues was no more than          
thirty-two4 ,perhaps1 in spite of his   
physical miseries1 these two years in   
,paris were the least unhappy time in   
his life4 ,he was in the great centre   
where the fame which he longed for was  
earned and liberally awarded4 ,a year of
 intercourse with so full and alert and 
brilliant a mind as ,voltaire's1 must   
have been more to one so appreciative of
 mental greatness as ,vauvenargues1 than
 many years of intercourse with         
subalterns in the ,regiment of the      
,king4 ,with death1 now known to be very
 near at hand1 he had made his account  
before4 ',to execute great things1' he  
had written in a maxim which gained the 
lively praise of ,voltaire1 'a man must 
live as though he had never to die4'#bj 
,this mood was common among the ,greeks 
and ,romans2 but the religion which     
,europe accepted in the time of its     
deepest corruption and depravation1     
retained the mark of its dismal origin  

nowhere so strongly as in the distorted 
prominence which it gave in the minds of
 its votaries to the dissolution of the 
body4 ,it was one of the first          
conditions of the ,revival of ,reason   
that the dreary memento mori and its    
hateful emblems should be deliberately  
effaced4 ',the thought of death1' said  
,vauvenargues1 'leads us astray1 because
 it makes us forget to live4' ,he did   
not understand living in the sense which
 the dissolute attach to it4 ,the       
libertinism of his regiment called no   
severe rebuke from him1 but his         
meditative temper drew him away from it 
even in his youth4 ,it is not impossible
 that if his days had not been cut      
short1 he might have impressed ,parisian
 society with ideas and a sentiment1    
that would have left to it all its      
cheerfulness1 and yet prevented that    
laxity which so fatally weakened it4    
,turgot1 the only other conspicuous man 
who could have withstood the license of 
the time1 had probably too much of that 

austerity which is in the fibre of so   
many great characters1 to make any moral
 counsels that he might have given      
widely effective4  ,vauvenargues was    
sufficiently free from all taint of the 
pedagogue or the preacher to have       
dispelled the sophisms of licence1 less 
by argument than by the gracious        
attraction of virtue in his own         
character4 ,the stock moralist1 like the
 commonplace orator of the pulpit1 fails
 to touch the hearts of men or to affect
 their lives1 for lack of delicacy1 of  
sympathy1 and of freshness2 he attempts 
to compensate for this by excess of     
emphasis1 and that more often disgusts  
us than persuades4 ,vauvenargues1 on the
 other hand1 is remarkable for delicacy 
and half-reserved tenderness4           
,everything that he has said is coloured
 and warmed with feeling for the        
infirmities of men4 ,he writes not      
merely as an analytical outsider4       
,hence1 unlike most moralists1 he is no 
satirist4 ,he had borne the burdens4    

',the looker-on1' runs one of his       
maxims1 'softly lying in a carpeted     
chamber1 inveighs against the soldier1  
who passes winter nights on the river's 
edge1 and keeps watch in silence over   
the safety of the land4'#ba             
,vauvenargues had been something very   
different from the safe and sheltered   
critic of other men's battles1 and this 
is the secret of the hold which his     
words have upon us4 ,they are real1 with
 the reality that can only come from two
 sources2 from high poetic imagination1 
which ,vauvenargues did not possess1 or 
else from experience of life acting on  
and strengthening a generous nature4    
',the cause of most books of morality   
being so insipid1' he says1 'is that    
their authors are not sincere2 is that1 
being feeble echoes of one another1 they
 could not venture to publish their own 
real maxims and private sentiments4'#bb 
,one of the secrets of his own freedom  
from this ordinary insipidity of        
moralists was his freedom also from     

their pretentiousness and insincerity4  
,besides these positive merits1 he had1 
as we have said1 the negative           
distinction of never being emphatic4    
,his sayings are nearly always moderate 
and persuasive1 alike in sentiment and  
in phrase4 ,sometimes they are almost   
tentative in the diffidence of their    
turn4 ,compared with him ,la            
,rochefoucauld's manner is hard1 and    
that of ,la ,bruyre sententious4 ,in the
 moralist who aspires to move and win   
men by their best side instead of their 
worst1 the absence of this hardness and 
the presence of a certain lambency and  
play even in the exposition of truths of
 perfect assurance1 are essential       
conditions of psychagogic quality4 ,in  
religion such law does not hold1 and the
 contagion of fanaticism is usually most
 rapidly spread by a rigorous and       
cheerless example4  ,we may notice in   
passing that ,vauvenargues has the      
defects of his qualities1 and that with 
his aversion to emphasis was bound up a 

certain inability to appreciate even    
grandeur and originality1 if they were  
too strongly and boldly marked4 ',it is 
easy to criticise an author1' he has    
said1 'but hard to estimate him4'#bc    
,this was never more unfortunately      
proved than in the remarks of           
,vauvenargues himself upon the great    
,molire4 ,there is almost a difficulty  
in forgiving a writer who can say that  
',la ,bruyre1 animated with nearly the  
same genius1 painted the crookedness of 
men with as much truth and as much force
 as ,molire2 but ,i believe that there  
is more eloquence and more elevation to 
be found in ,la ,bruyre's images4'#bd   
,without at all undervaluing ,la        
,bruyre1 one of the acutest and finest  
of writers1 we may say that this is a   
truly disastrous piece of criticism4    
,quite as unhappy is the preference     
given to ,racine over ,molire1 not      
merely for the conclusion arrived at1   
but for the reasons on which it is      
founded4 ,molire's subjects1 we read1   

are low1 his language negligent and     
incorrect1 his characters bizarre and   
eccentric4 ,racine1 on the other hand1  
takes sublime themes1 presents us with  
noble types1 and writes with simplicity 
and elegance4 ,it is not enough to      
concede to ,racine the glory of art1    
while giving to ,molire or ,corneille   
the glory of genius4 ',when people speak
 of the art of ,racine--the art which   
puts things in their place2 which       
characterises men1 their passions1      
manners1 genius2 which banishes         
obscurities1 superfluities1 false       
brilliancies2 which paints nature with  
fire1 sublimity1 and grace--what can we 
think of such art as this1 except that  
it is the genius of extraordinary men1  
and the origin of those rules that      
writers without genius embrace with so  
much zeal and so little success8'#be    
,and it is certainly true that the art  
of ,racine implied genius4 ,the defect  
of the criticism lies1 as usual1 in a   
failure to see that there is glory      

enough in both2 in the art of           
highly-finished composition and         
presentation1 and in the art of bold and
 striking creation4 ,yet ,vauvenargues  
was able to discern the secret of the   
popularity of ,molire1 and the          
foundation of the common opinion that no
 other dramatist had carried his own    
kind of art so far as ,molire had       
carried his2 'the reason is1 ,i fancy1  
that he is more natural than any of the 
others1 and this is an important lesson 
for everybody who wishes to write4'#bf  
,he did not see how nearly everything   
went in this concession1 that ,molire   
was1 above all1 natural4 ,with equal    
truth of perception he condemned the    
affectation of grandeur lent by the     
,french tragedians to classical         
personages who were in truth simple and 
natural1 as the principal defect of the 
national drama1 and the common rock on  
which their poets made shipwreck4#bg    
,let us1 however1 rejoice for the sake  
of the critical reputation of           

,vauvenargues that he was unable to read
 ,shakespeare4 ,one for whom ,molire is 
too eccentric1 grotesque1 inelegant1 was
 not likely to do much justice to the   
mightiest but most irregular of all     
dramatists4  ,a man's prepossessions in 
dramatic poetry1 supposing him to be    
cultivated enough to have any           
prepossessions1 furnish the most certain
 clue that we can get to the spirit in  
which he inwardly regards character and 
conduct4 ,the uniform and reasoned      
preference which ,vauvenargues had for  
,racine over ,molire and ,corneille1 was
 only the transfer to art of that       
balanced1 moderate1 normal1 and         
emphatically harmonious temper1 which he
 brought to the survey of human nature4 
,excess was a condition of thought1     
feeling1 and speech1 that in every form 
was disagreeable to him2 alike in the   
gloom of ,pascal's reveries1 and in the 
inflation of speech of some of the      
heroes of ,corneille4 ,he failed to     
relish even ,montaigne as he ought to   

have done1 because ,montaigne's method  
was too prolix1 his scepticism too      
universal1 his egoism too manifest1 and 
because he did not produce complete and 
artistic wholes4#bh  ,reasonableness is 
the strongest mark in ,vauvenargues'    
thinking2 balance1 evenness1 purity of  
vision1 penetration finely toned with   
indulgence4 ,he is never betrayed into  
criticism of men from the point of view 
of immutable first principles4 ,perhaps 
this was what the elder ,mirabeau meant 
when he wrote to ,vauvenargues1 who was 
his cousin3 ',you have the ,english     
genius to perfection1' and what         
,vauvenargues meant when he wrote of    
himself to ,mirabeau3 ',nobody in the   
world has a mind less ,french than      
,i4'#bi ,these international comparisons
 are among the least fruitful of        
literary amusements1 even when they     
happen not to be extremely misleading2  
as when1 for example1 ,voltaire called  
,locke the ,english ,pascal1 a          
description which can only be true on   

condition that the qualifying adjective 
is meant to strip either ,locke or      
,pascal of most of his characteristic   
traits4 ,and if we compare ,vauvenargues
 with any of our ,english aphoristic    
writers1 there is not resemblance enough
 to make the contrast instructive4 ,the 
obvious truth is that in this department
 our literature is particularly weak1   
while ,french literature is particularly
 strong in it4 ,with the exception of   
,bacon1 we have no writer of apophthegms
 of the first order2 and the difference 
between ,bacon as a moralist and ,pascal
 or ,vauvenargues1 is the difference    
between ,polonius's famous discourse to 
,laertes and the soliloquy of ,hamlet4  
,bacon's precepts refer rather to       
external conduct and worldly fortune    
than to the inner composition of        
character1 or to the 'wide1 gray1       
lampless' depths of human destiny4 ,we  
find the same national characteristic1  
though on an infinitely lower level1 in 
,franklin's oracular saws4 ,among the   

,french sages a psychological element is
 predominant1 as well as an occasional  
transcendent loftiness of feeling1 not  
to be found in ,bacon's wisest maxims1  
and from his point of view in their     
composition we could not expect to find 
them there4 ,we seek in vain amid the   
positivity of ,bacon1 or the quaint and 
timorous paradox of ,browne1 or the     
acute sobriety of ,shaftesbury1 for any 
of that poetic pensiveness which is     
strong in ,vauvenargues1 and reaches    
tragic heights in ,pascal4#cj ,addison  
may have the delicacy of ,vauvenargues1 
but it is a delicacy that wants the stir
 and warmth of feeling4 ,it seems as if 
with ,english writers poetic sentiment  
naturally sought expression in poetic   
forms1 while the ,frenchmen of nearly   
corresponding temperament were          
restrained within the limits of prose by
 reason of the vigorously prescribed    
stateliness and stiffness of their verse
 at that time4 ,a man in this country   
with the quality of ,vauvenargues1 with 

his delicacy1 tenderness1 elevation1    
would have composed lyrics4 ,we have    
undoubtedly lost much by the laxity and 
irregularity of our verse1 but as       
undoubtedly we owe to its freedom some  
of the most perfect and delightful of   
the minor figures that adorn the noble  
gallery of ,english poets4  ,it would be
 an error to explain the superiority of 
the great ,french moralists by supposing
 in them a fancy and imagination too    
defective for poetic art4 ,it was the   
circumstances of the national literature
 during the seventeenth and eighteenth  
centuries which made ,vauvenargues for  
instance a composer of aphorisms1 rather
 than a moral poet like ,pope4 ,let us  
remember some of his own most           
discriminating words4 ',who has more    
imagination1' he asks1 'than ,bossuet1  
,montaigne1 ,descartes1 ,pascal1 all of 
them great philosophers8 ,who more      
judgment and wisdom than ,racine1       
,boileau1 ,la ,fontaine1 ,molire1 all of
 them poets full of genius8 ,it is not  

true1 then1 that the ruling qualities   
exclude the others2 on the contrary1    
they suppose them4 ,i should be much    
surprised if a great poet were without  
vivid lights on philosophy1 at any rate 
moral philosophy1 and it will very      
seldom happen for a true philosopher to 
be totally devoid of imagination4'#ca   
,with imagination in the highest sense  
,vauvenargues was not largely endowed1  
but he had as much as is essential to   
reveal to one that the hard and         
sober-judging faculty is not the single1
 nor even the main element1 in a wise   
and full intelligence4 ',all my         
philosophy1' he wrote to ,mirabeau1 when
 only four or five and twenty years old1
 an age when the intellect is usually   
most exigent of supremacy1 'all my      
philosophy has its source in my         
heart4'#cb  ,in the same spirit he had  
well said that there is more cleverness 
in the world than greatness of soul1    
more people with talent than with lofty 
character4#cc ,hence some of the most   

peculiarly characteristic and impressive
 of his aphorisms2 that famous one1 for 
instance1 ',great thoughts come from the
 heart1' and the rest which hang upon   
the same idea4 ',virtuous instinct has  
no need of reason1 but supplies it4'    
',reason misleads us more often than    
nature4' ',reason does not know the     
interests of the heart4' ',perhaps we   
owe to the passions the greatest        
advantages of the intellect4' ,such     
sayings are only true on condition that 
instinct and nature and passion have    
been already moulded under the influence
 of reason2 just as this other saying1  
which won the warm admiration of        
,voltaire1 ',magnanimity owes no account
 of its motives to prudence1' is only   
true on condition that by magnanimity we
 understand a mood not out of accord    
with the loftiest kind of prudence4#cd  
,but in the eighteenth century reason   
and prudence were words current in their
 lower and narrower sense1 and thus one 
coming like ,vauvenargues to see this   

lowness and narrowness1 sought to invest
 ideas and terms that in fact only      
involved modifications of these1 with a 
significance of direct antagonism4      
,magnanimity was contrasted inimically  
with prudence1 and instinct and nature  
were made to thrust from their throne   
reason and reflection4 ,carried to its  
limit1 this tendency developed the      
speculative and social excesses of the  
great sentimental school4 ,in           
,vauvenargues it was only the moderate1 
just1 and most seasonable protest of a  
fine observer1 against the supremacy    
among ideals of a narrow1 deliberative1 
and calculating spirit4  ,his exaltation
 of virtuous instinct over reason is in 
a curious way parallel to ,burke's      
memorable exaltation over reason of     
prejudice4 ',prejudice1' said ,burke1   
'previously engages the mind in a steady
 course of wisdom and virtue1 and does  
not leave the man hesitating in the     
moment of decision1 sceptical1 puzzled1 
and unresolved4 ,prejudice renders a    

man's virtue his habit1 and not a series
 of unconnected acts2 through just      
prejudice his duty becomes a part of his
 nature4'#ce ,what ,burke designated as 
prejudice1 ,vauvenargues less           
philosophically styled virtuous         
instinct2 each meant precisely the same 
thing1 though the difference of phrase  
implied a different view of its origin  
and growth3 and the side opposite to    
each of them was the same--namely1 a    
sophisticated and over-refining         
intelligence1 narrowed to the           
consideration of particular             
circumstances as they presented         
themselves4  ,translated into the modern
 equivalent1 the heart1 nature1 instinct
 of ,vauvenargues all mean character4   
,he insisted upon spontaneous impulse as
 a condition of all greatest thought and
 action4 ,men think and work on the     
highest level when they move without    
conscious and deliberate strain after   
virtue3 when1 in other words1 their     
habitual motives1 aims1 methods1 their  

character1 in short1 naturally draw them
 into the region of what is virtuous4   
',it is by our ideas that we ennoble our
 passions or we debase them2 they rise  
high or sink low according to the man's 
soul4'#cf ,all this has ceased to be new
 to our generation1 but a hundred and   
thirty years ago1 and indeed much nearer
 to us than that1 the key to all        
nobleness was thought to be found only  
by cool balancing and prudential        
calculation4 ,a book like ,clarissa     
,harlowe shows us this prudential and   
calculating temper underneath a varnish 
of sentimentalism and fine feelings1 an 
incongruous and extremely displeasing   
combination1 particularly characteristic
 of certain sets and circles in that    
century4 ,one of the distinctions of    
,vauvenargues is that exaltation of     
sentiment did not with him cloak a      
substantial adherence to a low prudence1
 nor to that fragment of reason which   
has so constantly usurped the name and  
place of the whole4 ,he eschewed the too

 common compromise which the            
sentimentalist makes with reflection and
 calculation1 and it was this which     
saved him from being a sentimentalist4  
,that doctrine of the predominance of   
the heart over the head1 which has      
brought forth so many pernicious and    
destructive fantasies in the history of 
social thought1 represented in his case 
no more than a reaction against the     
great detractors of humanity4           
,rochefoucauld had surveyed mankind     
exclusively from the point of their vain
 and egoistic propensities1 and his     
aphorisms are profoundly true of all    
persons in whom these propensities are  
habitually supreme1 and of all the world
 in so far as these propensities happen 
to influence them4 ,pascal1 on the one  
hand1 leaving the affections and        
inclinations of a man very much on one  
side1 had directed all his efforts to   
showing the pitiful feebleness and      
incurable helplessness of man in the    
sphere of the understanding4            

,vauvenargues is thus confronted by two 
sinister pictures of humanity--the one  
of its moral meanness and littleness1   
the other of its intellectual poverty   
and impotency4 ,he turned away from both
 of them1 and found in magnanimous and  
unsophisticated feeling1 of which he was
 conscious in himself and observant in  
others1 a compensation alike for the    
selfishness of some men and the         
intellectual limitations of all men4    
,this compensation was ample enough to  
restore the human self-respect that     
,pascal and ,rochefoucauld had done     
their best to weaken4  ,the truth in    
that disparagement was indisputable so  
far as it went4 ,it was not a kind of   
truth1 however1 on which it is good for 
the world much to dwell1 and it is the  
thinkers like ,vauvenargues who build up
 and inspire high resolve4 ',scarcely   
any maxim1' runs one of his own1 'is    
true in all respects4'#cg ,we must take 
them in pairs to find out the mean      
truth2 and to understand the ways of    

men1 so far as words about men can help 
us1 we must read with appreciation not  
only ,vauvenargues1 who said that great 
thoughts come from the heart1 but ,la   
,rochefoucauld1 who called the          
intelligence the dupe of the heart1 and 
,pascal1 who saw only desperate         
creatures1 miserably perishing before   
one another's eyes in the grim dungeon  
of the universe4 ,yet it is the observer
 in the spirit of ,vauvenargues1 of whom
 we must always say that he has chosen  
the better part4 ,vauvenargues' own     
estimate was sound4 ',the ,duke of ,la  
,rochefoucauld seized to perfection the 
weak side of human nature2 maybe he knew
 its strength too2 and only contested   
the merit of so many splendid actions in
 order to unmask false wisdom4 ,whatever
 his design1 the effect seems to me     
mischievous2 his book1 filled with      
delicate invective against hypocrisy1   
even to this day turns men away from    
virtue1 by persuading them that it is   
never genuine4'#ch ,or1 as he put it    

elsewhere1 without express personal     
reference3 ',you must arouse in men the 
feeling of their prudence and strength1 
if you would raise their character2     
those who only apply themselves to bring
 out the absurdities and weaknesses of  
mankind1 enlighten the judgment of the  
public far less than they deprave its   
inclination4'#ci ,this principle was    
implied in ,goethe's excellent saying1  
that if you would improve a man1 it is  
best to begin by persuading him that he 
is already that which you would have him
 to be4  ,to talk in this way was to    
bring men out from the pits which       
cynicism on the one side1 and asceticism
 on the other1 had dug so deep for them1
 back to the warm precincts of the      
cheerful day4 ,the cynic and the ascetic
 had each looked at life through a      
microscope1 exaggerating blemishes1     
distorting proportions1 filling the eye 
with ugly and disgusting illusions4#dj  
,humanity1 as was said1 was in disgrace 
with the thinkers4 ,the maxims of       

,vauvenargues were a plea for a return  
to a healthy and normal sense of        
relations4 ',these philosophers1' he    
cried1 'are men1 yet they do not speak  
in human language2 they change all the  
ideas of things1 and misuse all their   
terms4'#da ,these are some of the most  
direct of his retorts upon ,pascal and  
,la ,rochefoucauld3  ',i have always    
felt it to be absurd for philosophers to
 fabricate a ,virtue that is            
incompatible with the nature of         
humanity1 and then after having         
pretended this1 to declare coldly that  
there is no virtue4 ,if they are        
speaking of the phantom of their        
imagination1 they may of course abandon 
or destroy it as they please1 for they  
invented it2 but true virtue--which they
 cannot be brought to call by this name1
 because it is not in conformity with   
their definitions2 which is the work of 
nature and not their own2 and which     
consists mainly in goodness and vigour  
of soul--that does not depend on their  

fancies1 and will last for ever with    
characters that cannot possibly be      
effaced4'  ',the body has its graces1   
the intellect its talents2 is the heart 
then to have nothing but vices8 ,and    
must man1 who is capable of reason1 be  
incapable of virtue8'  ',we are         
susceptible of friendship1 justice1     
humanity1 compassion1 and reason4 ,o my 
friends1 what then is virtue8'          
',disgust is no mark of health1 nor is  
appetite a disorder2 quite the reverse4 
,thus we think of the body1 but we judge
 the soul on other principles4 ,we      
suppose that a strong soul is one that  
is exempt from passions1 and as youth is
 more active and ardent than later age1 
we look on it as a time of fever1 and   
place the strength of man in his        
decay4'#db         99       99       99 
99       99  ,the theological speculator
 insists that virtue lies in a constant 
and fierce struggle between the will and
 the passions1 between man and human    
nature4  ,vauvenargues founded his whole

 theory of life on the doctrine that the
 will is not something independent of   
passions1 inclinations1 and ideas1 but  
on the contrary is a mere index moved   
and fixed by them1 as the hand of a     
clock follows the operation of the      
mechanical forces within4 ,character is 
an integral unit4 ',whether it is reason
 or passion that moves us1 it is we who 
determine ourselves2 it would be madness
 to distinguish one's thoughts and      
sentiments from one's self4444 ,no will 
in men1 which does not owe its direction
 to their temperament1 their reasoning1 
and their actual feelings4'#dc ,virtue1 
then1 is not necessarily a condition of 
strife between the will and the rest of 
our faculties and passions2 no such     
strife is possible1 for the will obeys  
the preponderant passion or idea1 or    
group of passions and ideas2 and the    
contest lies between one passion or     
group and another4 ,hence1 in right     
character there is no struggle at all1  
for the virtuous inclinations naturally 

and easily direct our will and actions2 
virtue is then independent of struggle2 
and the circumstance of our finding     
pleasure in this or that practice1 is no
 reason why both the practice and the   
pleasure should not be unimpeachably    
virtuous4  ,it is easy to see the       
connection between this theory of the   
dependence of the will1 and the         
prominence which ,vauvenargues is ever  
giving to the passions4 ,these are the  
key to the movements of the will4 ,to   
direct and shape the latter1 you must   
educate the former4 ,it was for his     
perception of this truth1 we may notice 
in passing1 that ,comte awarded to      
,vauvenargues a place in the ,positivist
 ,calendar2 'for his direct effort1 in  
spite of the universal desuetude into   
which it had fallen1 to reorganise the  
culture of the heart according to a     
better knowledge of human nature1 of    
which this noble thinker discerned the  
centre to be affective4'#dd  ,this      
theory of the will1 however1 was not    

allowed to rest here2 the activity of   
man was connected with the universal    
order4 ',what prevents the mind from    
perceiving the motive of its actions1 is
 only their infinite quickness4 ,our    
thoughts perish at the moment in which  
their effects make themselves known2    
when the action commences1 the principle
 has vanished2 the will appears1 the    
feeling is gone2 we cannot find it      
ourselves1 and so doubt if we ever had  
it4 ,but it would be an enormous defect 
to have a will without a principle2 our 
actions would be all haphazard2 the     
world would be nothing but caprice2 all 
order would be overturned4 ,it is not   
enough1 then1 to admit it to be true    
that it is reflection or sentiment that 
leads us3 we must add further that it   
would be monstrous for this to be       
otherwise4#de 444  ',the will recalls or
 suspends our ideas2 our ideas shape or 
vary the laws of the will2 the laws of  
the will are thus dependent on the laws 
of creation2 but the laws of creation   

are not foreign to ourselves1 they      
constitute our being1 and form our      
essence1 and are entirely our own1 and  
we can say boldly that we act by        
ourselves1 when we only act by them4#df 
444  ',let us recognise here1 then1 our 
profound subjection4444 ,let us rend the
 melancholy veil which hides from our   
eyes the eternal chain of the world and 
the glory of the ,creator4444 ,external 
objects form ideas in the mind1 these   
ideas form sentiments1 these sentiments 
volitions1 these volitions actions in   
ourselves and outside of ourselves4 ,so 
noble a dependence in all the parts of  
this vast universe must conduct our     
reflections to the unity of its         
principle2 this subordination makes the 
true greatness of the beings            
subordinated4 ,the excellence of man is 
in his dependence2 his subjection       
displays two marvellous images--the     
infinite power of ,god1 and the dignity 
of our own soul4444 ,man independent    
would be an object of contempt2 the     

feeling of his own imperfection would be
 his eternal torture4 ,but the same     
feeling1 when we admit his dependence1  
is the foundation of his sweetest hope2 
it reveals to him the nothingness of    
finite good1 and leads him back to his  
principle1 which insists on joining     
itself to him1 and which alone can      
satisfy his desires in the possession of
 himself4'#dg  ,vauvenargues showed his 
genuine healthiness not more by a       
plenary rejection of the doctrine of the
 incurable vileness and frenzy of man1  
than by his freedom from the boisterous 
and stupid transcendental optimism which
 has too many votaries in our time4 ,he 
would not have men told that they are   
miserable earth-gnomes1 the slaves of a 
black destiny1 but he still placed them 
a good deal lower than the angels4 ,for 
instance3 ',we are too inattentive or   
too much occupied with ourselves1 to get
 to the bottom of one another's         
characters2 whoever has watched masks at
 a ball dancing together in a friendly  

manner1 and joining hands without       
knowing who the others are1 and then    
parting the moment afterwards never to  
meet again nor ever to regret1 or be    
regretted1 can form some idea of the    
world4'#dh ,but then1 as he said        
elsewhere3 ',we can be perfectly aware  
of our imperfection1 without being      
humiliated by the sight4 ,one of the    
noblest qualities of our nature is that 
we are able so easily to dispense with  
greater perfection4'#di ,in all this we 
mark the large and rational humaneness  
of the new time1 a tolerant and kindly  
and elevating estimate of men4  ,the    
faith in the natural and simple         
operation of virtue1 without the aid of 
all sorts of valetudinarian             
restrictions1 comes out on every        
occasion4 ,the ,trappist theory of the  
conditions of virtue found no quarter   
with him4 ,mirabeau for instance        
complained of the atmosphere of the     
,court1 as fatal to the practice of     
virtue4 ,vauvenargues replied that the  

people there were doubtless no better   
than they should be1 and that vice was  
dominant4 ',so much the worse for those 
who have vices4 ,but when you are       
fortunate enough to possess virtue1 it  
is1 to my thinking1 a very noble        
ambition to lift up this same virtue in 
the bosom of corruption1 to make it     
succeed1 to place it above all1 to      
indulge and control the passions without
 reproach1 to overthrow the obstacles to
 them1 and to surrender yourself to the 
inclinations of an upright and          
magnanimous heart1 instead of combating 
or concealing them in retreat1 without  
either satisfying or vanquishing them4  
,i know nothing so weak and so vain as  
to flee before vices1 or to hate them   
without measure2 for people only hate   
them by way of reprisal because they are
 afraid of them1 or else out of         
vengeance because these vices have      
played them some sorry turn2 but a      
little loftiness of soul1 some knowledge
 of the heart1 a gentle and tranquil    

humour1 will protect you against the    
risk of being either surprised1 or      
keenly wounded by them4'#ej  ,there is a
 tolerably obvious distinction between  
two principal ways of examining         
character4 ,one is a musing1 subjective 
method of delineation1 in which the     
various shades and windings seem to     
reveal themselves with a certain        
spontaneity1 and we follow many recesses
 and depths in the heart of another1    
such as only music stirs into           
consciousness in ourselves4 ,besides    
this rarer poetic method1 there is what 
may be styled the diplomatist's method2 
it classifies characters objectively1   
according to the kinds of outer conduct 
in which they manifest themselves1 and  
according to the best ways of           
approaching and dealing with them4 ,the 
second of these describes the spirit in 
which ,vauvenargues observed men4 ,he is
 ,french1 and not ,german1 and belongs  
to the eighteenth century1 and not to   
the seventeenth or the nineteenth4 ,his 

,characters1 very little known in this  
country1 are as excellent as any work in
 this kind that we are acquainted with1 
or probably as excellent as such work   
can be4 ,they are real and natural1 yet 
while abstaining as rigorously as       
,vauvenargues everywhere does from      
grotesque and extravagant traits1 they  
avoid equally the vice of presenting the
 mere bald and sterile flats of         
character1 which he that runs may read4 
,as we have said1 he had the quality    
possessed by so few of those who write  
about men2 he watched men1 and drew from
 the life4 ,in a word1 he studied       
concrete examples and interrogated his  
own experience--the only sure guarantee 
that one writing on his themes has      
anything which it is worth our while to 
listen to4 ,among other consequences of 
this reality of their source is the     
agreeable fact that these pictures are  
free from that clever bitterness and    
easy sarcasm1 by which crude and jejune 
observers1 thinking more of their own   

wit than of what they observe1 sometimes
 gain a little reputation4 ,even the    
coxcombs1 self-duping knaves1           
simpletons1 braggarts1 and other evil or
 pitiful types whom he selects1 are     
drawn with unstrained and simple        
conformity to reality4 ,the pictures    
have no moral label pinned on to them4  
,yet ,vauvenargues took life seriously  
enough1 and it was just because he took 
it seriously1 that he had no inclination
 to air his wit or practise a verbal    
humour upon the stuff out of which      
happiness and misery are made4  ,one or 
two fragments will suffice4 ,take the   
,man of the ,world1 for instance3  ',a  
man of the world is not he who knows    
other men best1 who has most foresight  
or dexterity in affairs1 who is most    
instructed by experience and study2 he  
is neither a good manager1 nor a man of 
science1 nor a politician1 nor a skilful
 officer1 nor a painstaking magistrate4 
,he is a man who is ignorant of nothing 
but who knows nothing2 who1 doing his   

own business ill1 fancies himself very  
capable of doing that of other people2 a
 man who has much useless wit1 who has  
the art of saying flattering things     
which do not flatter1 and judicious     
things which give no information2 who   
can persuade nobody1 though he speaks   
well2 endowed with that sort of         
eloquence which can bring out trifles1  
and which annihilates great subjects2 as
 penetrating in what is ridiculous and  
external in men1 as he is blind to the  
depths of their minds4 ,one who1 afraid 
of being wearisome by reason1 is        
wearisome by his extravagances2 is      
jocose without gaiety1 and lively       
without passion4'#ea  ,or the two       
following1 the ,inconstant ,man1 and    
,lycas or the ,firm ,man3  ',such a man 
seems really to possess more than one   
character4 ,a powerful imagination makes
 his soul take the shape of all the     
objects that affect it2 he suddenly     
astonishes the world by acts of         
generosity and courage which were never 

expected of him2 the image of virtue    
inflames1 elevates1 softens1 masters his
 heart2 he receives the impression from 
the loftiest1 and he surpasses them4    
,but when his imagination has grown     
cold1 his courage droops1 his generosity
 sinks2 the vices opposed to these      
virtues take possession of his soul1 and
 after having reigned awhile supreme1   
they make way for other objects4444 ,we 
cannot say that they have a great       
nature1 or strong1 or weak1 or light2 it
 is a swift and imperious imagination   
which reigns with sovereign power over  
all their being1 which subjugates their 
genius1 and which prescribes for them in
 turn those fine actions and those      
faults1 those heights and those         
littlenesses1 those flights of          
enthusiasm and those fits of disgust1   
which we are wrong in charging either   
with hypocrisy or madness4'#eb  ',lycas 
unites with a self-reliant1 bold1 and   
impetuous nature1 a spirit of reflection
 and profundity which moderates the     

counsels of his passions1 which leads   
him by inpenetrable motives1 and makes  
him advance to his ends by many paths4  
,he is one of those long-sighted men1   
who consider the succession of events   
from afar off1 who always finish a      
design begun2 who are capable1 ,i do not
 say of dissembling either a misfortune 
or an offence1 but of rising above      
either1 instead of letting it depress   
them2 deep natures1 independent by their
 firmness in daring all and suffering   
all2 who1 whether they resist their     
inclinations out of foresight1 or       
whether1 out of pride and a secret      
consciousness of their resources1 they  
defy what is called prudence1 always1 in
 good as in evil1 cheat the acutest     
conjectures4'#ec  ,let us note that     
,vauvenargues is almost entirely free   
from that favourite trick of the        
aphoristic person1 which consists in    
forming a series of sentences1 the      
predicates being various qualifications 
of extravagance1 vanity1 and folly1 and 

the subject being ,women4 ,he resists   
this besetting temptation of the modern 
speaker of apophthegms to identify woman
 and fool4 ,on the one or two occasions 
in which he begins the maxim with the   
fatal words1 ,les femmes1 he is as      
little profound as other people who     
persist in thinking of man and woman as 
two different species4 ',women1' for    
example1 'have ordinarily more vanity   
than temperament1 and more temperament  
than virtue'--which is fairly true of   
all human beings1 and in so far as it is
 true1 describes men just as            
exactly--and no more so--as it describes
 women4 ,in truth1 ,vauvenargues felt   
too seriously about conduct and         
character to go far in this direction4  
,now and again he is content with a mere
 smartness1 as when he says3 ',there are
 some thoroughly excellent people who   
cannot get rid of their ennui except at 
the expense of society4' ,but such a    
mood is not common4 ,he is usually      
grave1 and not seldom profoundly        

weighty1 delicate without being weak1   
and subtle without obscurity2 as for    
example3  ',people teach children to    
fear and obey2 the avarice1 pride1 or   
timidity of the fathers1 instructs the  
children in economy1 arrogance1 or      
submission4 ,we stir them up to be yet  
more and more copyists1 which they are  
only too disposed to be1 as it is2      
nobody thinks of making them original1  
hardy1 independent4'  ',if instead of   
dulling the vivacity of children1 people
 did their best to raise the            
impulsiveness and movement of their     
characters1 what might we not expect    
from a fine natural temper8'  ,again3   
',the moderation of the weak is         
mediocrity4'  ',what is arrogance in the
 weak is elevation in the strong2 as the
 strength of a sick man is frenzy1 and  
that of a whole man is vigour4'  ',to   
speak imprudently and to speak boldly   
are nearly always the same thing4 ,but  
we may speak without prudence1 and still
 speak what is right2 and it is a       

mistake to fancy that a man has a       
shallow intelligence1 because the       
boldness of his character or the        
liveliness of his temper may have drawn 
from him1 in spite of himself1 some     
dangerous truth4'  ',it is a great sign 
of mediocrity always to praise          
moderately4'         99       99        
99       99       99  ,vauvenargues has 
a saying to the effect that men very    
often1 without thinking of it1 form an  
idea of their face and expression from  
the ruling sentiment of which they are  
conscious in themselves at the time4 ,he
 hints that this is perhaps the reason  
why a coxcomb always believes himself to
 be handsome4#ed ,and in a letter to    
,mirabeau1 he describes pleasantly how  
sometimes in moments of distraction he  
pictures himself with an air of         
loftiness1 of majesty1 of penetration1  
according to the idea that is occupying 
his mind1 and how if by chance he sees  
his face in the mirror1 he is nearly as 
much amazed as if he saw a ,cyclops or a

 ,tartar4#ee ,yet his nature1 if we may 
trust the portrait1 revealed itself in  
his face2 it is one of the most         
delightful to look upon1 even in the    
cold inarticulateness of an engraving1  
that the gallery of fair souls contains 
for us4 ,we may read the beauty of his  
character in the soft strength of the   
brow1 the meditative lines of mouth and 
chin1 above all1 the striking clearness1
 the self-collection1 the feminine      
solicitude1 that mingle freely and      
without eagerness or expectancy in his  
gaze1 as though he were hearkening to   
some ever-flowing inward stream of      
divine melody4 ,we think of that        
gracious touch in ,bacon's picture of   
the father of ,solomon's ,house1 that   
'he had an aspect as though he pitied   
men4' ,if we reproach ,france in the    
eighteenth century with its coarseness1 
artificiality1 shallowness1 because it  
produced such men as the rather brutish 
,duclos1 we ought to remember that this 
was also the century of ,vauvenargues1  

one of the most tender1 lofty1 cheerful1
 and delicately sober of all moralists4 
,footnote #a3 ,penses1 i4 v4 #h4        
,footnote #b3 ,ib4 i4 vi4 #af4          
,footnote #c3 ,ib4 i4 vii4 #f4          
,footnote #d3 ,m4 ,gilbert's edition of 
the ,works and ,correspondence of       
,vauvenargues 7#b vols4 ,paris3 ,furne1 
#aheg71 ii4 #acc4  ,footnote #e3 loge de
 ,p4,h4 de ,seytres4 ,o,euv4 i4         
#ada-aej4  ,footnote #f3 ,o,euv4 ii4    
#bcc4 ,see too p4 #bfg4  ,footnote #g3  
,no4 #egi1 i4 #dee4  ,footnote #h3      
,rflexions sur ,divers ,sujets1 i4 #ajd4
  ,footnote #i3 ,o,euv4 ii4 #bdi4       
,footnote #aj3 ,ib4 ii4 #bfe4  ,footnote
 #aa3 ,ib4 ii4 #bff4  ,footnote #ab3    
,conseils  un ,jeune ,homme1 i4 #abd4   
,footnote #ac3 ,o,euv4 ii4 #beb4        
,footnote #ad3 ,ib4 ii4 #bgb4  ,footnote
 #ae3 ,mmoires de ,marmontel1 vol4 i4   
#ahi4  ,footnote #af3 ,the reader of    
,marmontel's ,mmoires will remember the 
extraordinary and grotesque             
circumstances under which a younger     

brother of ,mirabeau1 7of l'ami des     
hommes1 that is7 appealed to the memory 
of ,vauvenargues4 ,see vol4 i4 #bef-bfj4
  ,footnote #ag3 ,o,euv4 i4 #bbe-bcb4   
,footnote #ah3 ,letter to               
,saint-,vincens1 ii4 #adf4  ,footnote   
#ai3 ,no4 #cah4  ,footnote #bj3         
,napoleon said on some occasion1 ',il   
faut vouloir vivre et savoir mourir4'   
,m4 ,littr prefaces the third volume of 
that heroic monument of learning and    
industry1 his ,dictionary of the ,french
 ,language1 by the words3 ',he who      
wishes to employ his life seriously     
ought always to act as if he had long to
 live1 and to govern himself as if he   
would have soon to die4'  ,footnote #ba3
 ,no4 #bbc4  ,footnote #bb3 ,no4 #cjj4  
,footnote #bc3 ,no4 #bfd4  ,footnote    
#bd3 ,rflexions ,critiques sur quelques 
,potes1 i4 #bcg4  ,footnote #be3 ,o,euv4
 i4 #bdh4  ,footnote #bf3 ,rflexions    
,critiques sur quelques ,potes1 i4 #bch4
  ,footnote #bg3 ,o,euv4 i4 #bdc4       
,footnote #bh3 ,o,euv4 i4 #bge4         

,footnote #bi3 ,correspondance4 ,o,euv4 
ii4 #aca1 #bjg4  ,footnote #cj3         
,long-winded and tortuous and difficult 
to seize as ,shaftesbury is as a whole1 
in detached sentences he shows marked   
aphoristic quality2 e4g4 ',the most     
ingenious way of becoming foolish is by 
a system2' ',the liker anything is to   
wisdom1 if it be not plainly the thing  
itself1 the more directly it becomes its
 opposite4'  ,footnote #ca3 ,no4 #bgh   
7i4 #daa74  ,footnote #cb3 ,o,euv4 ii4  
#aae4  ,footnote #cc3 ,ib4 i4 #hg4      
,footnote #cd3                          
,doch     ,zuweilen ist des ,sinns in   
einer ,sache     ,auch mehr1 als wir    
vermuthen2 und es wre     ,so unerhrt   
doch nicht1 dass uns der ,heiland       
,auf ,wegen zu sich zge1 die der ,kluge 
,von selbst nicht leicht betreten wrde4 
,nathan der ,weise1 iii4 #aj4  ,footnote
 #ce3 ,reflections on the ,french       
,revolution1 ,works 7ed4 #ahdb71 i4     
#dad4  ,footnote #cf3 ,o,euv4 ii4 #agj4 
,footnote #cg3 ,no4 #aaa4  ,footnote    

#ch3 ,o,euv4 ii4 #gd4  ,footnote #ci3   
,no4 #bhe4  ,footnote #dj3 ',a man may  
as well pretend to cure himself of love 
by viewing his mistress through the     
artificial medium of a microscope or    
prospect1 and beholding there the       
coarseness of her skin and monstrous    
disproportion of her features1 as hope  
to excite or moderate any passion by the
 artificial arguments of a ,seneca or an
 ,epictetus4'--,hume's ,essays 7xviii4  
,the ,sceptic74  ,footnote #da3 ,o,euv4 
i4 #afc4  ,footnote #db3 ,nos4 #bif-bih1
 #adh4  ,footnote #dc3 ,sur le ,libre   
,arbitre4 ,o,euv4 i4 #aii4  ,footnote   
#dd3 ,politique ,positive1 iii4 #ehi4   
,footnote #de3 ,ib4 i4 #aid4  ,footnote 
#df3 ,politique ,positive1 #bje4        
,footnote #dg3 ,ib4 #bjf1 #bjg4         
,footnote #dh3 ,no4 #ccj4  ,footnote    
#di3 ,nos4 #dfb1 #dfc4  ,footnote #ej3  
,correspondance4 ,o,euv4 ii4 #afc4      
,footnote #ea3 ,o,euv4 i4 #caj4         
,footnote #eb3 ,o,euv4 i4 #cbe4         
,footnote #ec3 ,o,euv4 i4 #cbf4         

,footnote #ed3 ,no4 #bcf4  ,footnote    
#ee3 ,o,euv4 ii4 #ahh4