,,three ,,french                        
,,moralists                      ,,and  
,,the ,,gallantry ,,of ,,france         
,,by                            ,,edmund
 ,,gosse1 ,c4,b4                        
,,officier ,,de ,,la ,l,,gion           
,d',,honneur                            
,,london                                
,,william ,,heinemann   ,,to  ,,lord    
,,ribblesdale  ,this little book1 long  
the subject of my meditation1 suddenly  
began to take shape one ,sunday morning 
when ,i was your guest at ,gisburne4 ,we
 were actually starting for church1 and 
the car was at the door1 when ,i        
announced to you that the spirit moved  
me to stay behind4 ,very well1 then1 you
 said1 with your habitual good-nature1  
we leave you to your folios4 ,my folios 
were the three volumes of one of the    
smallest of books1 the #ahmo edition of 
,vauvenargues published by ,plon in     
#ahgd4 ,in the midst of a violent       
thunderstorm1 which was like a          
declaration of war upon your golden     

,yorkshire summer1 ,i wrote my first    
pages1 and you were so sceptical1 when  
you came back1 as to my having done     
anything but watch the lightning1 that  
,i told you you would have to endure the
 responsibility of being sponsor to a   
work thus suddenly begun in all the     
agitation of the elements4 ,so1 such as 
time has proved it1 here it is4         
,,contents   ,,introduction  ,,three    
,,french ,,moralists--    ,,la          
,,rochefoucauld    ,,la ,,bruy,,re      
,,vauvenargues  ,,the ,,gallantry ,,of  
,,france  ,,bibliographical ,,note      
,,introduction  ,the object of these    
essays is to trace back to its source1  
or to some of its sources--for the soul 
of ,france is far too complex to be     
measured by one system--the spirit of   
gallantry which inspired the young      
,french officers at the beginning of the
 war4 ,we cannot examine too minutely1  
or with too reverent an enthusiasm1 the 
effort of our great ally1 and in this   
theme for our admiration there are many 

strains1 some of which present          
themselves in apparent opposition to one
 another4 ,the war has now lasted so    
long1 and has so completely altered its 
character1 that what was true of the    
temper of the soldiers of ,france in    
,november #aiad is no longer true in    
,april #aiah4 ,confidence and           
determination are still there1 there is 
no diminution in domestic intensity or  
in patriotic fervour1 but the long      
continuance of the struggle has modified
 the temper of the ,french officer1 and 
it will probably never be again what it 
was in the stress and tempest of        
sacrifice three years and a half ago1   
when the young ,french soldiers1 flushed
 with the idealisms which they had      
imbibed at ,st4 ,cyr1 rushed to battle  
like paladins1 with a pure heart1 in the
 rapture of chivalry and duty4  ,all    
that has long been wearied out1 and     
might even be forgotten1 if the letters 
and journals of a great cloud of        
witnesses were not fortunately extant4  

,the record kept by the friends of ,paul
 ,lintier and those others whom ,i am   
presently to mention1 and by innumerable
 persons to whose memory justice cannot 
here be done1 will keep fresh in the    
history of ,france the idealism of a    
splendid generation4 ,now we see1 and   
for a long time past have seen1 a       
different attitude on the fields of     
,champagne and ,picardy4 ,there is no   
feather worn now in the cap1 no white   
gloves grasp the sword2 the ,saint      
,cyrian elegance is over and done with4 
,there is no longer any declamation1 any
 emphasis1 any attaching of importance  
to form or rhetoric4 ,the fervour and   
the emotion are there still1 but they   
are kept in reserve1 they are below the 
surface1 at the bottom of the heart1 as 
,la ,rochefoucauld puts it4  ,heroism is
 now restrained by a sense of the       
prodigious length and breadth of the    
contest1 by the fact1 at last patent to 
the most unthinking1 that the war is an 
octopus which has wound its tentacles   

about every limb and every organ of the 
vitality of ,france4 ,a revelation of   
the overwhelming violence of enormous   
masses of men has broken down the       
tradition of chivalry4 ,war is now      
accepted with a sort of indifference1 as
 a part of the day's work2 pas de grands
 mots1 pas de grands gestes1 pas de     
drame6 ,the imperturbable ,french       
officer of #aiah attaches no particular 
importance to his individual gesture4   
,he concentrates his energy in another  
kind of action4  ,but the ,french race  
is by nature bellicose and amorous of   
adventure1 and more than all other      
nations has a tendency to clothe its    
patrimonial ardour of defence in        
beautiful terms and gallant attitudes4  
,this is one of the points on which the 
,british race1 with its scrupulous      
reserve1 often almost its affectation of
 self-depreciating shyness1 differs most
 widely from the ,french1 and is most in
 need of sympathetic imagination in     
dealing with a noble ally whose methods 

are not necessarily the same as ours4   
,it is difficult to fancy a young       
,english lieutenant quoting with        
rapturous approval1 as ,pierre de       
,rozires and ,henri ,lagrange did in    
,august #aiad1 the counsels which were  
given more than a hundred years ago by  
the ,prince de ,ligne3 ,let your brain  
swim with enthusiasm6 ,let honour       
electrify your heart6 ,let the holy     
flame of victory shine in your eyes6 as 
you hoist the glorious ensigns of renown
 let your souls be in like measure      
uplifted6 ,a perpetual delirium or      
intoxication is the state of mind which 
is recommended by this heart of fire1 as
 the only one becoming in a ,french     
officer who has taken up arms to defend 
his country4  ,for the young men who    
consciously adopted the maxims of the   
,prince de ,ligne as their guide at the 
opening of this war1 ,m4 ,maurice ,barrs
 has found the name of ,traditionalists4
 ,they are those who followed the       
tradition of the soldierly spirit of    

,france in its three main lines1 in its 
individualism1 in its intelligence1 in  
its enthusiasm4 ,they endeavoured1 in   
those first months of agony and hope1 to
 model their conduct on the formulas    
which their ancestors1 the great        
moralists of the past1 had laid down for
 them4 ,henri ,lagrange1 who fell at    
,montereau in ,october #aiae1 at the age
 of twenty1 was a type of hundreds of   
others4 ,this is how his temper of mind1
 as a soldier1 is described by his      
friend ,maxime ,brienne3--  ,the        
confidence of ,lagrange was no less     
extraordinary than was his spirit of    
sacrifice4 ,he possessed the superhuman 
severity which comes from being wholly  
consecrated to duty4444 ,with a         
magnificent combination of logic and of 
violence1 with a resolution to which his
 unusually lucid intelligence added a   
sort of methodical vehemence1 he        
expressed his conviction that resolute  
sacrifice was necessary if the result   
was to be a definite success4444 ,he    

declared that a soldier who1 by force of
 mind and a sentiment of honour and     
patriotism1 was able to conquer the     
instinct of fear1 should not merely     
fulfil his military duty with firmness1 
but should hurl himself on death1       
because it was only at that price that  
success could be obtained over a        
numerical majority4  ,this is a         
revelation of that individualism which  
is characteristic of the trained ,french
 character1 a quality which1 though     
partly obscured by the turn the great   
struggle has taken1 will undoubtedly    
survive and ultimately reappear4 ,it is 
derived from the admonitions of a series
 of moral teachers1 and in the wonderful
 letters which ,m4 ,maurice ,barrs has  
brought together with no less tact than 
passion in his series of volumes issued 
under the general title of ,l',ame      
,franaise et la ,guerre1 we have an     
opportunity of studying it in a great   
variety of situations4 ,this is but a   
portion1 and it may be but a small      

portion1 of the multiform energy of     
,france1 and it is capable1 of course1  
of being subjected to criticism4 ,that1 
in fact1 it has had to endure1 but it is
 no part of my business here1 nor1 if ,i
 may venture to say so1 is it the       
business of any ,englishman to criticise
 at any time1 except in pathetic        
admiration1 an attitude so beautiful1   
and marked in its self-sacrifice by so  
delicate an effusion of scrupulous good 
taste4 ,we are in presence of a field of
 those fluttering tricolor flags which  
fill the eyes of a wanderer over the    
battle-centres of the ,marne with a     
passion of tears4 ,we are in presence of
 the memorials of a chivalry that did   
not count the price1 but died joyfully  
for ,france4#a       ,footnote #a3 ,the 
poet ,lon ,guillot1 in dying1 bid his   
comrades describe him to his father and 
mother as tomb au      champ d'honneur  
et mort joyeusement pour son pays4--,les
      ,diverses ,familles ,spirituelles 
de la ,france1 pp4 #agh1 #agi4  ,there  

is not much advantage in searching for  
the germs of all this exalted sentiment 
earlier than the middle of the          
seventeenth century4 ,the malady of the 
,fronde was serious precisely because it
 revealed the complete absence1 in the  
nobles1 in the clergy1 in the common    
people1 of patriotic conviction of any  
kind4 ,cardinal's men and               
anti-cardinalists1 ,mazarin and         
,monsieur1 ,cond and                    
,plessis-,praslin1--we follow the       
bewildering turns of their fortune and  
the senseless evolution of their        
mercenaries1 without being able to trace
 any moral line of conduct1 any ethical 
aim on the part of the one or the other4
 ,it was anarchy for the sheer fun of   
anarchy's sake1 a struggle which        
pervaded the nation without ever        
contriving to be national1 a riot of    
forces directed by no intellectual or   
ethical purpose whatever4 ,the delirium 
of it all reached a culminating point in
 #afeb when the aristocratic bolshevists

 of ,cond's army routed the victorious  
king and cardinal at the ,faubourg ,st4 
,antoine4 ,this was the consummation of 
tragical absurdity2 what might pass     
muster for political reason had turned  
inside out2 and when ,mazarin fled to   
,sedan he left behind him a ,france     
which was morally1 religiously1         
intellectually1 a sucked orange4  ,out  
of the empty welter of the ,fronde there
 grew with surprising rapidity the      
conception of a central and united      
polity of ,france which has gone on     
advancing and developing1 and1 in spite 
of outrageous revolutionary earthquakes1
 persisting ever since4 ,we find ,la    
,rochefoucauld1 as a moral teacher1 with
 his sardonic smile1 actually escaping  
out of the senseless conflict1 and      
starting1 with the stigmata of the      
scuffle still on his body1 a surprising 
new theory that the things of the soul  
alone matter1 and that love of honour is
 the first of the moral virtues4 ,we see
 him1 the cynic and sensual brawler of  

#afdj1 turned within a few years into a 
model of regularity1 the anarchist      
changed into a serious citizen with a   
logical scheme of conduct1 the          
atheistical swashbuckler become the     
companion of saints and pitching his    
tent under the shadow of ,port ,royal4  
,more than do the purely religious      
teachers1 he marks the rapid            
crystallization of society in ,paris1   
and the opening of a new age of         
reflection1 of polish and of            
philosophical experiment4 ,moral        
psychology1 a science in which          
,frenchmen have ever since delighted1   
seems to begin with the stern analysis  
of amour-propre in the ,maximes4  ,it is
 obvious that my choice of three moral  
maxim-writers to exemplify the sources  
of modern ,french sentiment must be in  
some measure an arbitrary one4 ,the     
moralists of the end of the seventeenth 
century in ,france are legion1 and ,i   
would not have it supposed that ,i am   
not aware of the relative importance of 

some of them4 ,but although ,la         
,rochefoucauld and ,la ,bruyre were not 
the inventors of their respective       
methods of writing1 nor positively      
isolated in their treatment of social   
themes1 ,i do not think it is claiming  
too much for them to say that in the    
crowd of smaller figures they stand out 
large1 and with each generation larger1 
in any survey of their century4 ,in     
their own day1 ,cureau de la ,chambre1  
,coffeteau and ,senault were considered 
the first of moral philosophers1 but    
there must be few who turn over the     
pages of the ,usages des ,passions now1 
whereas the ,caractres enjoys a         
perpetual popularity4  ,the writers whom
 ,i have just named are dead1 at least  
,i presume so1 for ,i must not profess  
to have done more than touch their      
winding-sheets in the course of my      
private reading4 ,but there are two     
moralists of the period who remain      
alive1 and one of whom burns with an    
incomparable vivacity of life4 ,if ,i am

 asked why ,pascal and ,nicole have not 
been chosen among my types1 ,i can only 
answer that ,pascal1 unlike my select   
three1 has been studied so abundantly in
 ,england that by nothing short of an   
exhaustive monograph can an ,english    
critic now hope to add much to public   
apprehension of his qualities4 ,the case
 of ,nicole is different4 ,excessively  
read in ,france1 particularly during the
 eighteenth century1 and active always  
in influencing the national             
conscience--since the actual circulation
 of the ,essais de ,morale is said to   
have far exceeded that of the ,penses of
 ,pascal--,nicole has never1 in the     
accepted phrase1 contrived to cross the 
,channel1 and he is scarcely known in   
,england4 ,books and their writers have 
these fates4 ,mme de ,svign was so much 
in love with the works of ,nicole1 that 
she expressed a wish to make a soup of  
them and swallow it2 but ,i leave her to
 the enjoyment of the dainty dish4 ,as  
theologians1 too1 both ,pascal and      

,nicole stand somewhat outside my       
circle4  ,the three whom ,i have chosen 
stand out among the other moralists of  
,france by their adoption of the maxim  
as their mode of instruction4 ,when ,la 
,bruyre1 distracted with misgivings     
about his ,caractres1 had made up his   
mind to get an introduction to ,boileau1
 and to ask the advice of that mighty   
censor1 ,boileau wrote to ,racine 7,may 
#ai1 #afhg71 ,maximilian has been out to
 ,auteuil to see me and has read me     
parts of his ,theophrastus4 ,nicknames  
were the order of the day1 and the      
critic called his new friend            
,maximilian1 although his real name was 
,jean1 because he wrote ,maximes4 ,there
 is no other country than ,france where 
the maker of maxims has stamped a deep  
and permanent impression upon the       
conscience and the moral habits of the  
nation4 ,but this has been done by ,la  
,rochefoucauld1 ,la ,bruyre1            
,vauvenargues1 whom1 did it not sound   
frivolous1 we might style the three     

great ,maximilians4  ,the three         
portraits were first exhibited as a     
course of lectures at the ,royal        
,institution in ,february of this year4 
,they have been revised and considerably
 enlarged4 ,for the ,english of the     
passages translated or paraphrased ,i am
 in every case responsible4 ,the chapter
 on ,the ,gallantry of ,france appeared 
in the ,edinburgh ,review1 and ,i thank 
the editor and publisher of that        
periodical for their courteous          
permission to include it here4  ,april  
#aiah4                                  
,,la ,,rochefoucauld   ,one of the most 
gifted of the young officers who gave   
their lives for ,france at the beginning
 of the war1 ,quartermaster ,paul       
,lintier1 in the admirable notes which  
he wrote on his knee at intervals during
 the battle of the ,meuse in ,august    
#aiad1 said--  ,the imperative instinct 
for making the best you can of life1 the
 sentiment of duty1 and anxiety for the 
good opinion of others1 in a word       

honour--these are the main educators of 
the soldier under fire4 ,this is not a  
discovery1 it is simply a personal      
statement4  ,taken almost at random from
 the records of the war1 this utterance 
may serve us as well as any other to    
distinguish the attitude of the         
,frenchman in the face of violent and   
critical action from the equally brave  
and effective attitude of other races4  
,he has the habit1 not common elsewhere1
 of analyzing conduct and of stripping  
off from the contemplation of it those  
voluntary illusions which drop a curtain
 between it and truth4  ,the result of  
this habit of ruthless criticism is to  
concentrate the ,frenchman's attention1 
even to excess1 on the motives of       
conduct1 and to bring him more and more 
inevitably to regard self-love1         
self-preservation1 personal vanity in   
its various forms1 as the source of all 
our apparent virtues4 ,even when we     
appear to be most disinterested1 even   
when we are most clearly actuated by    

unselfish devotion1 by honour1 we are   
really the prey1 as ,lintier saw it1 of 
the wish to save our lives and to       
preserve the good opinion of others4    
,underneath the transports of           
patriotism1 underneath the sincerity of 
religious fervour1 the ,frenchman digs  
down and finds amour-propre at the root 
of everything4  ,this attitude or habit 
of mind is particularly shocking to all 
those who live in a state of illusion1  
and there is probably no aspect of      
,french character which is more         
difficult for the average ,englishman to
 appreciate than this tendency towards  
sceptical dissection of the motives of  
conduct4 ,yet it is quite certain that  
it is widely disseminated among those of
 our neighbours who are most prompt and 
effective in action1 and whose vigour is
 in no degree paralysed by the          
clairvoyance with which they seek for   
exact truth even in the most romantic   
and illusive spiritual circumstances4   
,to throw light on this aspect of       

,french character1 ,i propose to call   
attention to a little book1 which is    
probably well-known to my readers       
already1 but which may be regarded from 
a point of view1 as ,i venture to think1
 more instructive than that which is    
usually chosen4  ,in the year #affe     
there appeared anonymously in ,paris1 in
 all the circumstances of               
well-advertised secrecy1 a thin volume  
of ,maximes1 which were understood to   
have exercised for years past the best  
thoughts of a certain illustrious       
nobleman4 ,mme de ,sabl1 who was not    
foreign to the facts1 immediately wrote 
a review1 intended for the ,journal des 
,scavants1 in the course of which she   
said that the new book was a treatise on
 movements of the human heart which may 
be said to have remained until now      
unrecognized4 ,the book1 as every one   
knows1 was the work of the ,duke of ,la 
,rochefoucauld1 and the subject of it   
was an unmasking of the veritable       
condition of man4  ,it would be idle not

 to admit that ,la ,rochefoucauld has   
been almost exclusively regarded as the 
chief exponent of egotism among the     
great writers of ,europe4 ,he has       
become--he became during his own        
lifetime-- the bye-word for bitterness4 
,he is represented as believing that    
egotism is the primum mobile of all     
human action1 and that man is wholly the
 victim of his passions1 which lead him 
whither they will4 ,he denies all       
spirituality and sees a physical cause  
for everything we do4 ,his own words are
 quoted against him4 ,it is true that he
 says1 ,all the passions are nothing but
 divers degrees of heat or cold in the  
blood4 ,it is true that he says1 ,all   
men naturally hate one another1 and     
again1 ,our virtues are mostly vices in 
disguise4 ,yet again1 he defines the    
subject of his mordant volume in terms  
which seem to exclude all bountiful     
theories concerning the disinterested   
instincts of the human soul1 for he says
 ,amour-propre is the love of one's self

 and of all things for one's self2 it   
turns men into their own idolators1 and1
 if fortune gives them the opportunity1 
makes them the tyrants of others4444 ,it
 exists in all states of life and in all
 conditions2 it lives everywhere and it 
lives on everything2 it lives on        
nothing4 ,he does not admit that        
,christianity itself is immune from the 
ravages of this essential cankerworm1   
which adopts all disguises and slips    
from one ,protean shape into another4   
,the refinements of self-love surpass   
those of chemistry1 and the purpose of  
,la ,rochefoucauld is to resolve all our
 virtues in a crucible and to show that 
nothing remains but a poisonous deposit 
of egotism4  ,no wonder that ,la        
,rochefoucauld has been generally       
regarded as a scourge of the human race1
 a sterile critic of mankind without    
sympathy or pity4 ,it is true that his  
obstinate insistence on the universality
 of egotism produces a depressing and   
sometimes a fatiguing impression on the 

reader1 who is apt to think of him as   
,shakespeare's ,apemantus1 that few     
things loves better than to abhor       
himself4 ,but when the ,first ,lord goes
 on to add ,he's opposite to humanity1  
we feel that no phrase could less apply 
to ,la ,rochefoucauld4 ,we have1        
therefore1 immediately to revise our    
opinion of this severe dissector of the 
human heart1 and to endeavour to find   
out what lay underneath the bitterness  
of his ,maximes4 ,it is a complete      
mistake to look upon ,la ,rochefoucauld 
as a monster1 or even as a ,timon4      
,without insisting1 at all events for   
the moment1 on the plain effect of his  
career on his intellect1 but yet        
accepting the evidence that much of his 
bitterness was the result of bad health1
 sense of failure1 shyness1 foiled      
ambition1 we have to ask ourselves what 
he gave to ,french thought in exchange  
for the illusions which he so rudely    
tore away4 ,in dealing with any savage  
moralist1 we are obliged to turn from   

the abstract question3 ,why did he say  
these things8 to the realistic one4     
,what did he hope to effect by what he  
said8 ,perhaps we can start no better on
 this inquiry than to quote the ,duchess
 of ,schomberg's exclamation when she   
turned over the pages of the first      
edition--namely that this book contains 
a vast number of truths which ,i should 
have remained ignorant of all my life if
 it had not taught me to perceive them4 
,this may be applied to ,french energy1 
and we may begin to see what has been   
the active value of ,la ,rochefoucauld's
 apparently negative and repugnant      
aphorisms4  ,the ,la ,rochefoucauld whom
 we know belongs to a polite and modern 
age4 ,he is instinct with the spirit of 
society1 la bonne compagnie1 as it was  
called in the middle of the seventeenth 
century1 when a crowd of refined and    
well-trained pens competed to make of   
the delicate language of ,france a      
vehicle which could transfer from brain 
to brain the subtlest ingenuities of    

psychology4 ,he is a typical specimen of
 the ,frenchman of letters at the moment
 when literature had become the ally of 
political power and the instrument of   
social influence4 ,into this new world1 
before it had completely developed1 the 
future author of the ,maximes was       
introduced at a very early age4 ,he was 
presented to the wits and prcieuses of  
the ,htel ,rambouillet at the age of    
eighteen4 ,it is amusing to think that  
he may have seen ,voiture1 in the ,blue 
,room1 seize his lute and sing a        
,spanish song1 or have volunteered as a 
paladin in the train of ,hector1 ,king  
of ,georgia4 ,but the pedantries and    
affectations of this wonderful society  
seem to have made no immediate          
impression upon ,la ,rochefoucauld1     
whose early years were those of the     
young nobleman devoid of all apparent   
intellectual curiosity4 ,it is true that
 he says of himself that directly he    
came back from ,italy 7this was in      
#afbi1 when he was only sixteen71 ,i    

began to notice with some attention     
whatever ,i saw1 but this was1 no doubt1
 external2 he does not exhibit in his   
writings1 and in all probability did not
 feel1 the slightest interest in the    
pedantic literature of the end of ,louis
 ,,xiii4's reign4 ,he represented1      
through his youth1 the purely military  
and aristocratic element in the society 
of that age4 ,if he had died when he was
 thirty1 or at the close of the career  
of ,richelieu1 nothing would have       
distinguished him from the mob of       
violent noblemen who made the streets of
 ,paris a pandemonium4  ,to understand  
the influence of ,la ,rochefoucauld it  
is even more needful than in most       
similar cases to form a clear idea of   
his character1 and this can only be     
obtained by an outline of his remarkable
 career4 ,franois ,,vi4 ,duke of ,la    
,rochefoucauld1 as a typical ,parisian1 
was born in the ducal palace in the rue 
des ,petits-,champs1 on ,september #ae1 
#afac4 ,the family was one of the most  

noble not merely in ,france but in      
,europe1 and we do not begin to         
understand the author until we realize  
his excessive pride of birth4 ,in a     
letter he wrote to ,cardinal ,mazarin in
 #afdh he says1 ,i am in a position to  
prove that for three hundred years the  
monarchs of ,france have not disdained  
to treat us as members of their family4 
,this arrogance of race inspired the    
early part of his life to the exclusion1
 so far as we can perceive1 of any other
 stimulus to action4 ,he was content to 
be the violent and fantastic            
swashbuckler of the half-rebellious     
court of ,louis ,,xiii4 ,in late life1  
he crystallized his past into a maxim1  
,youth is a protracted intoxication2 it 
is the fever of the soul4 ,fighting and 
love-making1 petty politics and scuffle 
upon counter-scuffle--such was the life 
of the young ,french nobleman of whom   
,la ,rochefoucauld reveals himself and  
is revealed by others as the type and   
specimen4  ,la ,rochefoucauld is the    

author1 not merely of the ,maximes1 but 
of a second book which is much less     
often read4 ,this is his ,mmoires1 a    
very intelligent and rather solemn      
contribution to the fragmentary history 
of ,france in the seventeenth century4  
,it is hardly necessary to point out    
that not one of the numerous memoirs of 
this period must be taken as covering   
the whole field of which they treat4    
,each book is like a piece of a         
dissected map1 or of a series of such   
maps cut to a different scale4 ,all are 
incomplete and most of them overlap1 but
 they make up1 when carefully collated1 
an invaluable picture of the times4 ,no 
other country of ,europe produced       
anything to compare with these authentic
 fragments of the social and political  
history of ,france under ,richelieu and 
,mazarin4 ,these ,memoirs had a very    
remarkable influence on the general     
literature of ,france4 ,they turned out 
of favour the chronicles of illustrious 
lives1 the pompous and false travesties 

of history1 which the sixteenth century 
had delighted in1 and in this way they  
served to prepare for the purification  
of ,french taste4 ,the note of the best 
of them was a happy sincerity even in   
egotism1 a simplicity even in describing
 the most monstrous and grotesque       
events4 ,among this group of writers1   
,cardinal de ,retz seems to me to be    
beyond question the greatest1 but ,la   
,rochefoucauld is not to be despised in 
his capacity as the arranger of personal
 recollections4  ,we must not expect    
from these seventeenth-century          
autobiographers the sort of details     
which we demand from memoir-writers     
to-day4 ,la ,rochefoucauld1 although he 
begins in the first person1 has nothing 
which he chooses to tell us about his   
own childhood and education4 ,he was    
married1 at the age of fifteen1 to a    
high-born lady1 ,andre de ,vivonne1 but 
her he scarcely mentions4 ,by the side  
of those glittering amatory escapades of
 his on the grand scale1 with which     

,europe rang1 he seems to have pursued a
 sober married existence1 without       
upbraidings from his own conscience1 or 
curtain-lectures from his meek duchess1 
who bore him eight children4 ,la        
,rochefoucauld's ,mmoires open abruptly 
with these words3--,i spent the last    
years of the ,cardinal's administration 
in indolence1 and then he begins to     
discourse on the audacities of the ,duke
 of ,buckingham 7pleasingly spelled     
,bouquinquant7 and his attacks on the   
heart of the ,queen of ,france4 ,we     
gather that although the ,english envoy 
can have had no personal influence on   
the future moralist--since ,buckingham  
was murdered at ,portsmouth in #afbh1   
while ,la ,rochefoucauld did not come to
 court till #afcj--yet the young        
,frenchman so immensely admired what he 
heard of the ,englishman1 and so        
deliberately set himself to take him as 
a model1 that our own knowledge of      
,buckingham may be of help to us in     
reproducing an impression of ,la        

,rochefoucauld1 or rather of the ,prince
 de ,marcillac1 as he was styled until  
his father died4  ,after describing the 
court as the youth of seventeen had     
found it1 he skips five years to tell us
 how the ,queen asked him to run away   
with her to ,brussels in #afcg4 ,history
 has not known quite what to make of    
this amazing story1 of which ,la        
,rochefoucauld had the complacency to   
write more than twenty years            
afterwards--  ,however difficult and    
perilous this adventure might seem to   
me1 ,i may say that never in all my life
 have ,i enjoyed anything so much4 ,i   
was at an age 7#bd7 at which one loves  
to do extravagant and startling things1 
and ,i felt that nothing could be more  
startling or more extravagant than to   
snatch at the same time the ,queen from 
the ,king her husband1 and from the     
,cardinal de ,richelieu who was jealous1
 and ,mlle d',hautefort from the ,king  
who was in love with her4  ,he tells the
 story with inimitable gusto4 ,but he   

tells it just as an episode1 and he     
hurries on to the death of ,richelieu in
 #afdb1 as though he were conscious that
 up to his thirtieth year his own life  
had not been of much consequence4  ,even
 in that age of turbulent extravagance1 
the ,prince of ,marcillac was known1    
where he was known at all1 merely as a  
hare-brained youth who carried the      
intolerance and insolence of amatory    
youth past the confines of absurdity1   
and it is amusing to find ,balzac1 who  
was twenty years his senior1 and who was
 buried in the country1 describing      
him--surely by repute--as the type of-- 
,these gentlemen who chatter so much    
about the empire and about the          
sovereignty of ladies1 and have their   
heads so stuffed with tales and strange 
adventures1 that they grow to believe   
that they can do all that was done under
 the reign of ,amadis1 and that the     
least of their duties is to reply to a  
supplicating lady1 ,i1 who am only a    
man1 how should ,i resist the prayer of 

her to whom the ,gods themselves can    
refuse nothing8  ,we seem far from the  
sombre and mordant author of the        
,maximes1 but a complete apprehension of
 the character of ,la ,rochefoucauld    
requires the story of his adventures to 
be at least briefly indicated4 ,a chasm 
divides his early from his late history1
 and this chasm is bridged over in a    
very shadowy way by such records as we  
possess of his retirement after the     
,fronde4  ,between the death of         
,richelieu and this retirement there    
lies a period of ten years1 during which
 the future author of the ,maximes is   
swallowed up in the hurly-burly of the  
worst moment in the whole history of    
,france4 ,it is difficult from any point
 of view to form what it would be mere  
waste of time for us to attempt in this 
connection1 a clear conception of the   
chaos into which that country was       
plunged by the weakness of ,anne of     
,austria and the criminality of         
,mazarin4 ,the senseless intrigues of   

the ,fronde affect the bewildered       
student of those times as though        
this frame      ,of ,heav'n were falling
 and these elements      ,in mutiny had 
from her axle torn      ,the steadfast  
earth4  ,at first ,la ,rochefoucauld    
seems to have meant to support the cause
 of the court1 expecting to be rewarded 
for what he had done1 or been prepared  
to do for the ,queen4 ,he says in his   
,mmoires that after the death of ,louis 
,,xiii4 the ,queen-,mother gave me many 
marks of friendship and confidence2 she 
assured me several times that her honour
 was involved in my being pleased with  
her1 and that nothing in the kingdom was
 large enough to reward me for what ,i  
had done in her service4 ,that sounds   
very well1 but what it really           
illustrates is the extraordinary        
violence of aristocratic frivolity1 the 
fierce levity and insatiable frenzied   
vanity of the noble families4 ,the aims 
of ,la ,rochefoucauld1 in support of    
which he was ready to sacrifice his     

country1 were of a class that must seem 
to us now petty in the extreme4 ,he     
wanted the tabouret1 the footstool1 for 
his duchess1 in other words the right to
 be seated in presence of the members of
 the royal family4 ,he wanted the       
privilege of driving into the courtyard 
of the ,louvre without having to descend
 from his coach outside and walk in4 ,he
 demanded these honours because they    
were already possessed by the families  
of ,rohan and of ,bouillon4 ,it is      
extraordinary to consider what powerful 
effects such trumpery causes could have1
 but it is a fact that the desolating   
and cruel wars of the ,fronde largely   
depended upon jealousies of the carrosse
 and the tabouret4 ,la ,rochefoucauld's 
support of the rebellion frankly and    
openly was based upon it4  ,la          
,rochefoucauld brings the first part of 
his ,mmoires down to #afdi4 ,in the     
second part he begins again with #afdb1 
being very anxious to show1 to his own  
advantage of course1 what the conditions

 were at court after the deaths of      
,richelieu and ,louis ,,xiii41 and in   
particular to define the position of    
,mme de ,chevreuse1 the great intriguer 
and seductress of the ,french politics  
of the age4 ,the charm of this lady1 who
 was no longer young1 faded before that 
of the ,duchess of ,longueville1 one of 
the most ambitious and most unscrupulous
 women who ever lived4 ,she was the     
sister of the ,prince de ,conti1 and    
from the time when her celebrated       
relations with ,la ,rochefoucauld began1
 her influence engaged him in all the   
unplumbed chaos which led to civil war4 
,when this finally broke out1 however1  
in #afdh1 the ,duke is found once more  
on the side of the young king and his   
government1 that is to say1 of ,cardinal
 ,mazarin4  ,through the universal      
hubbub wide of stunning sounds and      
noises all confused1 we can catch with  
difficulty the accents of literature1 at
 first indeed vocal in the midst of the 
riot1 and even stimulated by it1 as     

birds are by a heavy shower of rain1 but
 soon stunned and silenced by horrors   
incompatible with the labour of the     
,muses4 ,the wars of the ,fronde made a 
sharp cut between the heroic age of     
imaginative literature and the classical
 age which presently succeeded it1 and  
offer in this respect a tolerable       
parallel to the civil wars raging in    
,england about the same time4 ,it is    
specious1 but convenient1 to discover a 
date at which a change of this kind may 
be said to occur4 ,in ,england we have  
such a date marked large for us in      
#affj2 ,french letters less obviously   
but more certainly can be said to start 
afresh in #afeb4 ,it is tolerably       
certain that in that year ,pascal1 ,retz
 and the subject of our inquiry         
simultaneously and independently began  
to write4 ,up to that time there is no  
reason to believe that ,la              
,rochefoucauld had given himself at all 
to study1 and we possess no evidence    
that up to the age of forty he was more 

interested in the existence of the      
literature of his country than was the  
idlest of the cut-throat nobility who   
swaggered in and out of the courtyard of
 the ,louvre4  ,his ,mmoires end with an
 account of the war in ,guienne in #afea
 which is more solemn and more detached 
than all the rest4 ,no one would suspect
 that the historian1 who affects the    
gravity of a ,tacitus1 was acting all   
through the events he describes with the
 levity of a full-blooded and           
unscrupulous schoolboy4 ,the most       
amazing instance of this is his         
grotesque attempt to have ,cardinal de  
,retz murdered at the ,palais de        
,justice4 ,in the course of a sort of   
romping fray he caught ,retz's head     
between the flaps of a folding door1 and
 shouted to ,coligny to come and stab   
him from behind4 ,but he himself was    
shoved away1 and the ,cardinal released4
 ,la ,rochefoucauld admits the escapade1
 without any sign of embarrassment1     
merely observing that ,retz would have  

done as much by him if he had only had  
the chance4 ,but now comes the incident 
which1 better than anything else could1 
illustrates the feverish and incongruous
 atmosphere of the ,fronde1 and the     
difficulty of following the caprices of 
its leading figures4 ,the very next day 
after this attempt to assassinate ,retz 
in a peculiarly disgraceful way1 ,la    
,rochefoucauld met the ,cardinal driving
 through the streets of ,paris in his   
coach4 ,kneeling in the street1 he      
demanded and received the episcopal     
benediction of the man whom he had tried
 to murder in an undignified scuffle a  
few hours before4 ,no animosity seems to
 have persisted between these two       
princes of the realm of ,france1 and    
this may be the moment to introduce the 
picture which ,cardinal de ,retz1 whose 
head was held in the folding door1      
painted very soon after of the volatile 
duke who had held him there to be       
stabbed from behind4 ,both writers began
 their memoirs in #afeb1 and no one has 

ever decided which is the more elegant  
of the two unique conpositions4 ,the    
conjunction between two of the greatest 
prose-writers of ,france is piquant1 and
 we cannot trace in ,retz's sketch of   
his antagonist the smallest sign of     
resentment4 ,it was not published until 
#agag1 but it has all the appearance of 
having been written sixty years earlier1
 at least1 when ,mademoiselle was seized
 with the fortunate inspiration of      
having portraits written of1 and often  
by1 the celebrated personages of the    
day4 ,this1 then1 is how ,retz saw ,la  
,rochefoucauld--  ,there has always been
 a certain je ne sais quoi in ,m4 de ,la
 ,rochefoucauld4 ,he has always ever    
since his childhood wanted to be taking 
part in some plot1 and that at a time   
when he was indifferent to small        
interests1 which have never been his    
weakness1 and when he had no experience 
of great ones1 which1 in another sense1 
have never been his strong point4 ,he   
has never had any skill in conducting   

business1 and ,i don't know why2 for he 
possessed qualities which in any other  
man would have made up for those which  
he lacked4 ,he was not longsighted      
enough1 and he did not see as a whole   
even what was within his range of       
vision4 ,but his good sense--which in   
the field of speculation was very       
good--joined to his gentleness1 his     
insinuating charm1 and his admirable    
ease of manner1 ought to have           
compensated1 more than they have done1  
for his defect of penetration4 ,he has  
always suffered from an habitual        
irresoluteness2 but ,i do not know to   
what this irresoluteness should be      
attributed4 ,he has never been a        
warrior1 though very much a soldier4 ,he
 has never1 through his own effort1     
succeeded in being a good courtier1     
though he has always intended to be one4
 ,that air of bashfulness and of shyness
 which you observe in him in social life
 has given him in matters of business an
 apologetic air4 ,he has always fancied 

that he needed to apologize2 and        
this--in conjunction with his           
',maximes1' which do not err on the side
 of too much faith in virtue1 and with  
his practice1 which has always been to  
wind up business as impatiently as he   
started it--makes me conclude that he   
would have done much better to know     
himself1 and to be content to pass1 as  
he might well have passed1 for the most 
polished courtier and the finest        
gentleman1 in private life1 which this  
age has produced4  ,we are now beginning
 to see the real author of the ,maximes1
 when1 at the age of forty1 he begins to
 peep forth from the travesty of his    
aristocratic violence and idleness4     
,whether the transformation would have  
been gradual instead of sudden is what  
can never be decided1 but we date it    
from ,july #b1 #afeb1 when he was       
dangerously wounded in a riot in the    
,faubourg ,st4 ,antoine1 at the ,picpus 
barricade1 where he was shot in the     
forehead and1 as it at first appeared1  

blinded for life4 ,according to the     
faithful ,gourville1 when ,la           
,rochefoucauld thought he would lose his
 eyesight1 he had a picture of ,madame  
de ,longueville engraved with two lines 
under it from a fashionable tragedy1 the
 ,alcyone of ,duryer--       ,that ,i   
might hold her heart and please her     
lovely eyes      ,i made my war on kings
 and would have fought the skies4  ,with
 this piece of rodomontade the old      
,rochefoucauld ceases and makes place   
for the author of the ,maximes4 ,when he
 recovered from his wound1 his spirit of
 adventure was broken4 ,he submitted to 
the cardinal1 he withdrew from ,cond1   
and in #afec1 still his head bound with 
bandages and wearing black spectacles to
 hide those clear and seductive eyes    
which ,petitot had painted1 he crept1 a 
broken man1 to his country house at     
,verteuil1 in the neighbourhood of      
,ruffec1 now in the ,charente4 ,this    
chateau1 built just two hundred years   
before that date1 still exists1 a noble 

relic of feudal ,france1 and a place of 
pilgrimage for lovers of the author of  
the ,maximes4  ,no one was ever more    
suddenly and more completely cured of a 
whole system of existence than was ,la  
,rochefoucauld by the wound which was so
 nearly fatal4 ,he said1 ,it is         
impossible for any man who has escaped  
from civil war to plunge into it again4 
,for him1 at all events1 it was         
impossible4 ,his only wish in #afec was 
to bury himself and his slow            
convalescence among his woods at        
,verteuil4 ,in this enforced seclusion1 
at the age of forty1 he turned for      
solace to literature1 which he would    
seem to have neglected hitherto4 ,we    
know nothing of his education1 which had
 probably been as primitive as that of  
any pleasure-seeking and imperious young
 nobleman of the time4 ,he went to the  
wars when he was thirteen4 ,in an       
undated letter he says that he sends    
some ,latin verses composed by a friend 
for the judgment of his unnamed         

correspondent1 but he adds1 ,i do not   
know enough ,latin to dare to give an   
opinion4 ,m4 ,henri ,regnier1 in his    
invaluable ,lexique de la langue de ,la 
,rochefoucauld 7#ahhc7 points out that  
the ,duke's evident lack of classical   
knowledge is a positive advantage to    
him1 as it throws him entirely on the   
resources of pure ,french4 ,in like     
manner we may rejoice that ,shakespeare 
had little ,latin and less ,greek4  ,it 
is tantalizing for us that we know      
almost nothing of the years1 from #afec 
to #afef1 which ,la ,rochefoucauld spent
 in severe retirement at ,verteuil4     
,what was happening to ,france was      
happening1 no doubt1 in its degree to   
him2 he was chewing the cud of remorse  
for the follies and crimes of the       
,fronde4 ,only great men should have    
great failings1 the exile wrote1 and we 
may be sure that he had by this time    
discovered1 like the rest of the world1 
that as a swashbuckler and intriguer he 
was noisy and petulant1 but on the whole

 anything but great4 ,the ,fronde left  
behind it a sense of littleness1 of     
poverty-stricken humanity1 and this     
particular frondeur had seen the mask   
drop from the features of his           
fellow-men4 ,now1 in the quiet of the   
country1 in disgrace with fortune and   
his own conscience1 he grasped a new and
 this time a dignified and suitable     
ambition4 ,he began to study reality and
 learned to distinguish truth from      
pretence4 ,this study was to make him   
one of the most eminent of ,french      
authors and a great power in the        
purification of ,french intelligence4   
,he began1 doubtless1 his career as an  
author by composing the ,mmoires1 in    
which he embodied his exasperations and 
his recriminations in language of       
studied dignity4 ,there is little here  
which betrays the future moralist1      
except the simplicity and almost        
colourless transparency of the style4   
,as containing nearly the sole certain  
evidence of ,la ,rochefoucauld's state  

of mind at the time of transition1 it is
 well1 perhaps1 to speak at this moment 
of his letters1 which were first brought
 together in #ahha4 ,they extend from   
#afcg to #afgg1 and the biographer pores
 over them in the hope of extracting    
from them some crumbs of information4   
,but to the general reader they cannot  
be recommended4 ,they are seldom        
confidential1 the writer never lets     
himself go4 ,even to his later friends1 
such as ,mme de ,sabl1 ,la              
,rochefoucauld is rarely familiar1 and  
the impression of himself in these      
graceful and sometimes vigorous epistles
 is illusive2 the writer seems for ever 
on his guard4 ,the great mass of this   
correspondence1 in which politics takes 
no part after #afec1 is singularly      
literary2 it is mainly occupied with the
 interests1 and almost with the jargon1 
of the professional author4 ,we are told
 that his affectation in society was to 
appear cold and unmoved1 and this he    
certainly contrived to do in those of   

his letters which have been preserved4  
,la ,rochefoucauld told ,mme de ,sabl   
that he depended on her for his         
knowledge of the inmost windings of the 
human heart4 ,when he returned to       
,paris1 this lady was approaching the   
age of sixty4 ,her salon competed with  
that of the ,htel de ,rambouillet and   
that of ,mlle de ,montpensier at the    
,luxembourg4 ,the ,marquise de ,sabl had
 been gay in her youth1 but when her    
young lover1 ,armentires1 was killed in 
a duel1 she turned devout4 ,she also    
turned hypochondriacal and literary4    
,according to ,tallemont des ,raux1 who 
has left a portrait of her which is     
equally ill-natured and entertaining1   
she built herself a house adjoining the 
choir of the church of ,port ,royal1 in 
the ,faubourg ,st4 ,jacques4 ,her       
friend1 the ,abb d',ailly1 who edited   
her works after her death in #afgh1     
admits that she was one of the greatest 
visionaries in the world on the chapter 
of death4 ,she herself expressed her    

hypochondria otherwise3 ,i fear death   
more than other people do1 because no   
one has ever formed so clear a          
conception of nothingness as ,i have4   
,ludicrous stories were told of her     
excessive fear of illness1 and in her   
fits of alarm she found comfort from the
 ministrations of ,antoine ,singlin1 who
 was the director of ,pascal's          
conscience4#b ,she became intimate with 
,arnauld d',andilly1 and with the rest  
of those ,jansenist authors of whom     
,racine said that their works were the  
admiration of scholars and the          
consolation of all pious persons4 ,but  
she seems to have had the cleverness to 
observe that in one respect the         
literature of ,port ,royal1 as it       
expressed itself before ,les            
,provinciales1 had the fault of being   
verbose and redundant4 ,mme4 de ,sabl   
deserves more merit than seems to have  
been given to her for her fervent       
cultivation of precise language4        
,footnote #b3 ,it was of ,singlin that  

,pascal wrote in #afed1      ,soumission
 total  ,j4,c4 et  mon directeur4  ,as  
,la ,rochefoucauld's correspondence     
throws little light on the character and
 person of its author at the time of his
 intellectual and moral conversion1 we  
turn with satisfaction to a document    
which owes its existence to a social    
amusement1 almost to a parlour game4 ,we
 have seen that ,la ,grande             
,mademoiselle1 anxious to amuse the     
friends whom she gathered round her in  
her salon at the ,luxembourg1 hit upon  
the notion of inducing her guests to    
produce written portraits of themselves4
 ,you might say all the good of yourself
 you liked1 on the understanding that   
you put in the shades as well4 ,the     
collection of these self-portraits was  
actually printed in #afei1 and is a work
 of great value and interest to         
biographer and historian4 ,it marks a   
new movement of ,french intelligence1 a 
critical excursion into psychology not  
hitherto attempted in ,france1 and some 

of the portraits are marvellously       
delicate in their conscientious         
precision4 ,here1 however1 we are not   
concerned with more than one of them1   
that which is signed with the initials  
of the ,duke of ,la ,rochefoucauld4 ,it 
is his only important composition       
produced between the ,mmoires and the   
,maximes1 and it is charmingly written1 
a portrait drawn in tones of rose-colour
 and dove-grey1 like the                
pastel-portraits of a century later4    
,he begins by describing his physical   
appearance1 but passes soon to the moral
 and social qualities4 ,it would be     
interesting to quote the whole of this  
portrait1 but we must confine ourselves 
to some brief quotations4 ,how far we   
seem from the beasts of prey which      
ranged the forests of the ,fronde1 or   
tore one another to pieces in the       
streets of ,paris1 when we follow this  
refined attempt to present the character
 of a modern and a complicated man3--   
,there is something1 says ,la           

,rochefoucauld1 at once peevish and     
proud in my appearance4 ,this makes most
 people think that ,i am contemptuous1  
but ,i am not so at all4 ,so far as my  
humour goes1 ,i am melancholy1 and ,i am
 so to such an extent that1 in the last 
three or four years1 ,i have scarcely   
been seen to laugh three or four times4 
,it seems to me nevertheless that my    
melancholy would be supportable and mild
 enough if it depended solely on my     
temperament1 but it comes so much from  
outside causes1 and what so comes fills 
my imagination to such a degree1 and    
occupies my thoughts so exclusively1    
that most of the time ,i move as in a   
dream1 and scarce listen to what ,i     
myself am saying4  ,here we have the    
disappointed courtier still brooding    
over his disgrace1 but we pass to an    
account of the relief which the new-born
 man of letters find in the cultivation 
of the intellect alone--  ,i am fond of 
general reading1 but that in which ,i   
find something to fashion the mind and  

to fortify the soul is what ,i like     
best4 ,above all it gives me an extreme 
satisfaction to read in company with an 
intelligent person1 for in this way one 
is kept constantly reflecting on what   
one reads1 and the reflections thus     
exchanged form a species of conversation
 than which no other in the world is so 
agreeable or so useful4 ,i give a sound 
opinion about works in verse and prose  
which are submitted to me1 but perhaps  
,i allow myself too much freedom in     
expressing that opinion4 ,another fault 
of mine is that ,i am sometimes too     
scrupulously delicate and too severely  
critical4 ,i do not dislike to listen to
 argument1 and sometimes ,i am glad to  
take my share in the discussion1 but ,i 
usually support my opinion with too much
 heat1 and when any one pleads an unjust
 cause in my presence1 sometimes1 in my 
zeal for logic1 ,i myself become        
exceedingly illogical4 ,my sentiments   
are virtuous1 my inclinations are       
honest1 and ,i am so intensely anxious  

to act in all things as a gentleman     
should1 that my friends cannot do me a  
greater favour than to warn me sincerely
 of my faults4 ,those who know me rather
 intimately1 and who have been so kind  
as to give me their counsels in this    
direction1 are aware that ,i have ever  
received them with all imaginable joy   
and with all the submission of mind     
which they could possibly desire4  ,all 
this1 and what remains1 show that in the
 character of ,la ,rochefoucauld action 
had abruptly receded in favour of       
analysis1 and the brutality of civil war
 in the woods had given place to the    
refinement of endless conversation by   
the fireside corner4 ,the old           
swashbuckler turned from the illusions  
of the camp to the most exquisite of    
peaceful associations1 and he regarded  
women from a totally new point of view4 
,it was the age of the salons1 and ,la  
,rochefoucauld tells us why it was that 
he became their sedulous associate4 ,he 
says1 ,when women are intelligent1 ,i   

like their conversation better than that
 of men4 ,there is a certain suavity in 
their talk which is lacking in that of  
our sex1 and it seems1 in addition1 that
 they explain themselves with more      
precision1 and give a more agreeable    
turn to what they say4 ,in other words1 
,la ,rochefoucauld had1 by #afeh1 become
 a complete1 and indeed the most        
competent and highly finished example of
 the new social intelligence which was  
to be found in ,france4 ,we must dwell  
for one rapid moment on what that new   
spirit was4  ,the seventeenth century in
 ,france1 liberated from the weight of  
internecine wars and political          
tyrannies1 had now thrown itself with   
ardour into the civilized arts1 and had1
 in particular1 developed a love of     
moral disquisition4 ,all the talk which 
presently became fashionable about      
virtue and the higher life was a        
reaction against the horrors of the     
,fronde4 ,the advance of social         
refinement was very rapid1 and1         

especially in ,paris1 there was a       
determined and intelligent movement in  
the direction of the amelioration of    
manners and a studied elegance of life4 
,m4 ,rbelliau has pointed out that it   
was precisely at this moment that a     
great number of new words1 and among    
them dlicate1 distinguer1 moraliste1    
mnagements1 finesse and many others1    
were accepted as part of the ,french    
language4 ,these served immediately to  
enrich the vocabulary of the men and    
women who were anxious to push further  
and deeper their investigations into    
psychological analysis4 ,with this      
social tendency to dissect the human    
heart and to seize its most secret      
movements1 was combined the religious   
and1 as we may put it1 protestant       
fashion of the hour1 in the spirit of   
,port ,royal4 ,to be a moralist was     
almost in itself to be a ,jansenist1 and
 we see the author of the ,maximes      
presently claiming to be1 after a       
fashion1 evangelical4  ,there is so     

little said about theology1 in the      
direct sense1 in the writings of ,la    
,rochefoucauld1 that his various ,french
 critics have given perhaps too little  
thought to his religious tendencies4    
,they have treated him as though he were
 the enemy of a pious life4 ,but if we  
examine that contention from the        
standpoint provided for us by our own   
,puritan habit of thought1 we must      
recognize that there was something      
positively pious about the bitter       
philosopher of the ,maximes4 ,he was    
trying1 let us never forget1 to discover
 a scientific form of morals1 and hardly
 enough attention has been given to the 
prominence which he gave to a searching 
analysis of conscience4 ,he found little
 to help him in the court religion of   
the age1 but he was immensely impressed 
with the ,jansenist conception of the   
frailty and worthlessness of the natural
 man4 ,hence1 his persistency in        
cultivating almost exclusively the      
society of those men and women of ,port 

,royal with whom we might suppose that  
he had very little in common4 ,but1     
quite recently1 a discovery has been    
made1 which is not only of special      
interest to us as ,englishmen1 but which
 throws a further light on the          
evangelical or puritan tendency of the  
author of the ,maximes4  ,a careful     
scholar1 ,m4 ,ernest ,jouy1 was led by a
 passage in a seventeenth-century ,,ms4 
to make investigations which seem to    
have proved that ,la ,rochefoucauld was 
acquainted with an ,english book of     
edification and even that he deigned to 
make use of it in the fashioning of his 
famous ,maximes4 ,this was ,the ,mystery
 of ,self-,deceiving1 published in #afae
 by a semi-nonconformist ,puritan       
divine1 ,daniel ,dyke1 minister of      
,coggeshall in ,essex1 and translated   
obscurely into ,french by a certain     
,vernulius4 ,of the original work       
,fuller wrote1 ,it is a book which will 
be owned for a truth while men have any 
badness in them1 and will be owned as a 

treasure whilst they have any goodness  
in them4 ,it is1 certainly1 an amazing  
thing to find that this clumsy old      
treatise of ,english divinity was       
apparently possessed as a treasure by   
the most elegant and the most sceptical 
of ,frenchmen4  ,la ,rochefoucauld may  
be conceived as saying to the practical 
divines of ,port ,royal1 ,your work is  
confused and thwarted by the vast       
prevalence of rubbish under which morals
 are concealed4 ,i will help you to     
force the people who talk so glibly of  
humanity and pity1 of rectitude and     
amiability1 to dissect the real bodies  
of egotism to which they give those     
names4 ,i put ,man in the pillory of    
self-judgment2 it is for you to deal    
evangelically with what remains of his  
temperament when he comes down out of   
the ordeal4  ,to do this1 ,la           
,rochefoucauld prepared1 with infinite  
patience and with the conscientiousness 
of a great literary artist1 his sheaf of
 ,maxim-arrows1 ready to shoot them1 one

 by one1 into the gross heart of        
amour-propre4 ,what1 then1 were the     
reflexions which1 now settled in ,paris1
 and secure from the rough world in the 
recesses of ,mme de ,sabl's salon1 the  
,duke began to fashion and to polish8 ,a
 maxim is a formula1 which comprehends  
the whole truth on a particular subject4
 ,coleridge says1 in his ,table ,talk1  
that a maxim is a conclusion upon       
observation of matters of fact2 we may  
add that it is final1 it goes as far as 
it can possibly go1 and contains the    
maximum of truth in the minimum of      
verbiage4 ,if we take some of the most  
cynical and savage maxims of ,la        
,rochefoucauld we may see that          
conciseness could proceed no further3   
for instance1 ,virtue is a rouge that   
women add to their beauty2 or ,pride    
knows no law and self-love no debt2 or  
,the pleasure of love is loving4 ,the   
ingenuity of man has not devised a mode 
of saying those particular things as    
exactly in fewer words4 ,they reach the 

maximum of conciseness1 and are         
therefore called maxims4  ,it is very   
unusual in the history of literature to 
be able to point to a man of genius as  
the positive founder of a class of work4
 ,when we look closely into the matter1 
we are sure to find that there was an   
obscure predecessor1 a torch-bearer who 
lighted up the path4 ,even ,shakespeare 
has ,marlowe in front of him1 and in    
front of ,marlowe are ,greene and       
,peele4 ,several poets were inspired by 
the story of the fall of the rebel      
angels before ,milton took up ,paradise 
,lost and seized that province as his   
own by conquest4 ,in like manner1 ,la   
,rochefoucauld seems to us in a general 
view1 and seemed indeed to his own      
,parisian contemporaries1 to have       
invented a new art in the production of 
his ,maximes4 ,but1 in truth1 he was not
 the pioneer1 and he seems to have spent
 months1 and even years1 in a sort of   
apprenticeship to two authors who have  
not survived in ,french literature as he

 has4 ,so far as we can make out1 the   
real creator of the maxim in ,french was
 ,jacques ,esprit 7#afaa-afgh71 the ,abb
 ,esprit as he was called1 although he  
was never a priest1 and had a legitimate
 wife and family4 ,he was a young man   
from ,bziers in ,provence1 who came to  
,paris under the protection of          
,chancellor ,sguier1 soon became a      
member of the ,french ,academy1 and     
enjoyed a steady social and literary    
success4  ,there seems little doubt that
 ,esprit was known early to ,la         
,rochefoucauld1 for he was familiar in  
the family of the ,duke and ,duchess of 
,longueville1 and later the governor of 
their children4 ,he enjoyed the         
confidence of the salons from an early  
date4 ,there is some reason to suppose  
that ,esprit had begun to write maxims  
before ,la ,rochefoucauld's return from 
exile1 and certainly before ,mme de     
,sabl's retreat to ,port ,royal in      
#afei4 ,it is very noticeable in ,la    
,rochefoucauld's letters to             

,esprit--most of which belong to the    
year #affj--that he treats the          
academician--who was of plebeian birth  
and not many months older than          
himself--with extreme deference4 ,the   
,duke adopts the style of a pupil to a  
master1 and he submits his sketches or  
experiments in maxim-making to ,esprit  
for a severe criticism1 which he        
accepts1 and for advice1 which he       
adopts4 ,the probability seems to be    
that ,esprit introduced the fashion for 
writing maxims to ,mme de ,sabl1 who was
 fascinated by it1 recommended it to ,la
 ,rochefoucauld1 and then pointed       
,esprit out as the acknowledged master  
of the art1 who could give invaluable   
technical advice4  ,there was a sort of 
collaboration4 ,we find ,la             
,rochefoucauld writing to ,esprit1 ,i   
shall be much obliged if you will show  
our last sentences to ,mme de ,sabl2 it 
may perhaps induce her to write some of 
her own4 ,and to the lady he writes1    
,here are all my maxims which you have  

not yet seen1 but as nothing is done for
 nothing1 ,i beg you to send me in      
return the receipt for the carrot soup  
which we had when ,commander de ,souvr  
dined at your house1 ,the three         
maximists consulted one another1        
polished up one another's sentences1 and
 suggested subjects which were first    
discussed round the dinner-table or in  
the summer parlour and then worked up1  
sometimes by all three conjointly1 to   
the highest pitch of perfection4 ,it was
 probably ,esprit by whom many of the   
original suggestions were started1      
indeed it is he who seems to have first 
laid down the formula that the mind is  
the servant and even the dupe of the    
instincts1 which both ,pascal and ,la   
,rochefoucauld were presently to expand 
in such brilliant forms4 ,but it is     
quite an error to presume1 as some      
writers have done1 that there was a kind
 of factory for maxims1 out of which    
sentences were turned which really      
belonged to no one in particular4 ,the  

,maximes of ,mme de ,sabl and those of  
the ,abb ,esprit--the latter contained  
in a ,jansenist volume called ,the      
,falsity of ,human ,virtues--were       
published independently1 but in the same
 year1 #afgh4 ,any one who has the      
patience to refer to these works may    
satisfy himself that ,mme de ,sabl1 as  
an artist1 is superior to ,esprit1 but  
immeasurably inferior to ,la            
,rochefoucauld1 who is the one          
unapproachable master of the maxim4#c   
,footnote #c3 ,a good deal of the       
prejudice which successive      critics1
 and 7very mischievously7 ,brunetire in 
particular1      have shown with regard 
to the character of ,la ,rochefoucauld1 
is due1 in my opinion1 to the influence 
of ,victor ,cousin1      who published1 
in #ahed1 a disjointed and diffuse1 but 
in      many ways brilliantly executed  
volume on ,mme de ,sabl4      ,cousin1  
who examined1 for the first time1 a vast
 array of      ,,ms4 sources1           
deliberately lowered the value of ,la   

,rochefoucauld in order to enhance the  
merit of the lady1 of      whom the     
learned academician wrote like a lover4 
,even ,esprit      was thrown into the  
scale to lighten the weight of the      
,duke's originality4 ,cousin was borne  
gaily on the stream of      his         
heroine-worship1 and others less        
profoundly acquainted      with the     
facts have let themselves be carried    
with him4 ,but      it is time that we  
should cease to imitate them in this4   
,for six or seven years the ,duke worked
 away at the polishing of his           
incomparable epigrams1 and it was not   
until ,october #bg1 #affe1 that the     
little famous book made its anonymous   
appearance4 ,the importance of the work 
was perceived immediately in the close  
circle of the salons which regulated    
literary opinion in ,paris4 ,for half a 
century past ,frenchmen had been        
regarding with jealous attention the    
causes and effects of human passion1    
culminating1 for the moment1 in the     

treatise written by ,descartes for the  
daughter of the ,queen of ,bohemia4 ,the
 ,jansenists and the ,jesuits1 the      
playwrights1 the novelists1 ,hobbes and 
,spinoza1 all pursued1 along widely     
different paths1 those illusive secrets 
of the human heart which had escaped the
 notice of earlier generations4 ,but ,la
 ,rochefoucauld reduced the desultory   
psychology of his predecessors to a     
system1 so that for us the moralizing   
tendencies of the seventeenth century in
 ,france seem to have found their final 
expression less in the sob of ,pascal's 
conscience than in the resigned ironic  
nonchalance of ,la ,rochefoucauld1 who1 
as ,voltaire so admirably says1         
dissolves every virtue in the passions  
which surround it4 ,perhaps what the    
,maximes most resembled was the then    
recently-published analysis of egotism  
in ,leviathan4 ,but the cool and        
atrocious periods of what ,sir ,leslie  
,stephen calls the unblushing egotism of
 ,hobbes have really little in common   

with the sparkling rapier-strokes of ,la
 ,rochefoucauld1 except that both these 
moralists-- who may conceivably have met
 and compared impressions in ,paris--   
combined a resolute pessimism about the 
corruption of mankind with an epicurean 
pursuit of happiness4  ,the ,maxims of  
,la ,rochefoucauld were atoms of gold   
sifted through the mesh of discussions  
at the dinner-table1 around the fire in 
winter1 under the hawthorns and lilacs  
which ,mme de ,svign describes1 in      
endless talk between two or more trained
 and intelligent persons1 along the     
course of which thought oscillated from 
extreme to extreme1 until at last the   
company dispersed1 leaving ,la          
,rochefoucauld to capture and to fix the
 essential result of all that desultory 
conversation4 ,it is not impossible for 
us to conjecture the general character  
of this brilliant and illusive talk4 ,it
 had one central aim1 more or less      
clearly perceived1 namely the desire to 
reach a ,latin standard of perfection4  

,it sought to exchange for the romantic 
barbarism which had underlain so much   
that was picturesque in the sixteenth   
century--a barbarism which had come down
 from the late ,middle ,ages1 and which 
was really a dissolution of strong      
things outworn--to exchange for this a  
preciousness of quality as against mere 
rude bulk4 ,it desired to introduce     
depth of purpose in the place of chaotic
 moral disorder1 originality in place of
 a frenzied and incoherent eccentricity1
 and to found a solid structure upon a  
basis of intellectual discipline4  ,but 
in order to carry out this fine scheme1 
and especially in order successfully to 
check that decadence which had alarmed  
the best minds in ,france1 there was a  
pioneer work to be done4 ,it was        
necessary to intensify and purify the   
light of criticism4 ,for this purpose   
the conversations of the salons         
culminated in the lapidary art of ,la   
,rochefoucauld1 who was not a creator   
like ,racine and ,molire1 like ,bossuet 

and ,fenelon1 but who prepared the way  
for these slightly later builders of    
,french literature by clearing the      
ground of shams4 ,segrais1 whose        
recollections of him are among the most 
precious which have come down to us1    
says that ,la ,rochefoucauld never      
argued4 ,he had the ,socratic manner1   
and led others on to expose and expound 
their views4 ,his custom was1 in the    
course of the endless talks about morals
 and the soul1 to conceal half of his   
own opinion1 and to show tact with an   
obstinate opponent1 so as to spare him  
the annoyance of having to yield4 ,there
 is something very like this in the     
,penses of ,pascal4 ,la ,rochefoucauld  
blames himself1 in his self-portrait1   
for arguing too fiercely1 and for being 
testy with an opponent1 but these faults
 were not perceived by other people4    
,doubtless he was aware of an inward    
impatience1 and succeeded in concealing 
it by means of that extreme politeness  
on which he prided himself4  ,the       

,maximes are shocking to persons who    
live in a state of illusion about       
themselves1 and they were so from the   
hour of their publication4 ,they roll up
 a bitter pill for human vanity4 ,when  
,mme de ,la ,fayette1 destined to look  
deeper than any other mortal into the   
soul of ,la ,rochefoucauld1 read them   
first in #affc1 in company with ,mme du 
,plessis at the ,chteau de ,fresnes1 she
 was terrified and shocked at what she  
called the corruption which they        
revealed4 ,she wrote to ,mme de ,sabl1  
who had lent her the manuscript--  ,ah1 
,madame1 how corrupt he must be in mind 
and heart to be capable of imagining    
such things6 ,i am so frightened by it  
that ,i should say1 if this were not a  
matter too serious for jest1 that such  
maxims are likely to do more to upset   
him than all the plates of soup he      
swallowed at your house the other day4  
,as the ,maximes pass from hand to hand1
 we see the spiritual ,mnads of ,port   
,royal clustering with a lovely         

frightened mien about the sinister      
author1 while he turns his beauteous    
face haughtily another way1 like young  
,apollo in the ,phrygian highlands4 ,the
 word pessimism was1 ,i believe1 unknown
 until the year #ahce1 but this is what 
,mme de ,la ,fayette and the rest of the
 ,jansenist ladies meant by corruption4 
,perhaps the most celebrated of all the 
sayings of her terrible friend is that  
which declares that ,in the misfortunes 
of our friends there is always something
 which gives us no displeasure4 ,she was
 about to learn that no one had a nobler
 practice in friendship than the cynic  
who wrote this3 ,there are good         
marriages1 but no delicious ones2 ,mme  
de ,la ,fayette's own marriage had been 
not at all delicious and not even good4 
,gratitude in the majority of men is    
simply a strong and secret wish to      
receive still greater benefits4         
,terrifying this must have been to a    
sentimental and exalted bosom1 and      
exclusive of all hope until the little  

word majority was observed1 a loophole  
offered for scared humanity to creep out
 at4  ,the design of ,la ,rochefoucauld 
was to make people ashamed of their     
egotism1 and so to help them to modify  
it4 ,he saw ,france deadened by a       
universal sycophancy1 and tyrannized    
over by a court life which made a lie of
 everything4 ,he insisted upon the value
 of individual sincerity1 but in a voice
 so harsh and bitter1 and in such       
sardonic phrases--as when he says3      
,sincerity is met with in very few      
people1 and is usually nothing but a    
delicate dissimulation to attract the   
confidence of others--that the more     
timid of his auditors shrank from him1  
as if he had been ,hamlet or ,lear4     
,when he dared to suggest that none of  
these maxims were intended to refer to  
the reader himself1 but only to all     
other persons1 he invited the reaction  
which led ,huet1 ,bishop of ,avranches1 
to appeal against the morality of the   
,maximes1 as suited only to the vices of

 wicked persons1 improborum hominum     
vitiis1 and to issue a warning against  
the too-sweeping cynicism of            
,roccapucaldius1 as he called the ,duke4
 ,this was1 perhaps1 the beginning of   
the dead-set against ,la ,rochefoucauld4
 ,it encouraged ,rousseau1 a century    
later1 to talk of ce triste livre1 and  
to declare1 in the true romantic spirit1
 that ,bad maxims are worse than bad    
acts4 ,there have always been1 and      
always will be1 people who experience a 
sort of malaise1 an ill-defined         
discomfort1 as though they sat in an    
east wind1 while they read ,la          
,rochefoucauld4 ,this is particularly   
true of ,englishmen1 who resent being   
told that ,our virtues are often only   
our vices in disguise1 and who also1 by 
the way1 are constitutionally impatient 
of the ,french genius for making what is
 ugly1 and even what is detestable1     
pleasing by the surface of style4       
,there is an element of unmercifulness  
in the candour of ,la ,rochefoucauld    

which is distressing to sentimentalists4
 ,but this was characteristic of the    
age1 which looked upon compassion as a  
frailty1 as a break-down of noble       
personal reserve4 ,he shall speak on    
this matter for himself--  ,i am little 
sensible of pity1 and if ,i had my way1 
,i would avoid it altogether4 ,at the   
same time1 there is nothing ,i would not
 do to relieve an afflicted person3 and 
,i believe as a matter of fact that one 
ought to go so far as to express        
compassion for the misfortunes of such a
 man1 since the unhappy are so stupid   
that compassion does them more good than
 anything else in the world4 ,but ,i    
also hold that one should confine one's 
self to professions of pity and be very 
careful not to feel any4 ,pity is a     
passion which is wholly useless to a    
well-constituted mind2 it can but weaken
 the heart1 and it ought to be left to  
people who1 carrying nothing out in a   
logical manner1 require passion to      
constrain them to do things4  ,he seems 

to paint himself in tones of ,prussian  
blue1 but we must really think of him as
 of a man timid1 and at the same time   
preternaturally wide-awake1 who was     
determined at all risks not to be taken 
at a disadvantage4 ,when he was an old  
man1 when much communing with ,mme de   
,la ,fayette had allayed his suspicion  
of mankind1 ,la ,rochefoucauld said to  
,mlle de ,scudery1 ,i hope that clemency
 will come into fashion1 and that we    
shall see no more men unhappy4 #d ,he   
professed to found politeness on extreme
 amour-propre1 but perhaps in a still   
closer analysis he would have discovered
 its basis in kindness of heart4 ,he    
resists the temptation to weaken his own
 pessimism1 just as in his biting       
sarcasms about love we may trace a      
tender soul still bleeding from the     
wounds which ,mme de ,longueville's     
levity had inflicted on it4#e           
,footnote #d3 ,mme de ,svign told her   
daughter that she was      sure that if 
one could peep at the ,duke and ,mme de 

,la      ,fayette when they were alone  
with the cat1 one would find      all   
the restraints of society flung aside1  
and see them      without the mask1     
their cynicism forgotten1 mingling cries
      and tears over the sorrows of the 
world4 ,but neither she nor      any    
third person would ever see their social
 discretion thus      betrayed1 and she 
concludes1 in her droll way1 ,c'est une 
vision6 ,in another letter to ,mme de   
,grignan 7,june #f1 #afgb7      she says
 of the ,duke1 ,il connat quasi aussi   
bien que moi      la tendresse          
maternelle4       ,footnote #e3 ,there  
was unquestionably a strong vein of     
tenderness running through the stoical  
character of the      ,duke1 and if we  
were more intimately acquainted with his
      private life we should probably   
see many traces of it4 ,such      traces
 exist as it is4 ,we have ,mme de       
,svign's account of      his reception  
of the news of the ,passage of the      
,rhine4 ,it      was announced to him1  

on the #agth of ,june1 #afgb1 at the    
house of ,mme de ,la ,fayette1 in the   
presence of ,mme de      ,svign1 that in
 that terrible disaster his eldest son  
had      been dangerously wounded and   
his fourth son1 the ,chevalier1         
killed4 ,the tears seemed to start out  
of the depth of his      heart1 and they
 brimmed his eyes1 although his         
self-command      prevented an outbreak 
of grief4 ,but there was a further      
complication4 ,the young ,duke of       
,longueville was also killed      at the
 ,rhine1 and he1 as a select circle of  
intimate friends      were perfectly    
aware1 was really the love-child of ,la 
,rochefoucauld4 ,mme de ,svign1 having  
given a superficial      account of the 
incident1 characteristically goes on to 
say1      ,alas6 ,i am telling a lie2   
between ourselves1 my dear1 he      does
 not feel the loss of the ,chevalier so 
much2 it is that      of the young man  
whom all the world regrets which leaves 
him      so inconsolable4 ,and again she

 says3 ,i saw the secrets of      his   
heart revealed under this cruel blow2   
and no one that ,i      have ever seen  
surpasses him in courage1 in honour1 in 
tenderness1 in balance of mind4 ,this is
 a tribute not to be      overlooked4   
,to understand the wholesome influence  
which ,la ,rochefoucauld has exercised  
on ,french character1 we must keep      
constantly in sight his hatred of       
falsehood4 ,if he is angry and sardonic1
 it is because he sees1 or thinks he    
sees1 falsehood everywhere masquerading 
as virtue4 ,his foremost duty was to    
pluck the mask from the false virtues   
which strutted everywhere through the   
society and literature of ,france4      
,voltaire recognized nothing else in ,la
 ,rochefoucauld but this sardonic       
misanthropy1 this determination to prove
 that man is guided solely by           
self-interest4 ,this ,voltaire thought  
was the seule vrit contained in the     
,maximes1 and in a measure he was right4
 ,the moralist saw amour-propre as an   

,apollyon straddling right across the   
pathway of mankind2 he saw lies flourish
 everywhere1 and proclaim themselves to 
be the truth4 ,the conscience of mankind
 was seduced or browbeaten by the       
impudency of self-love4 ,thus--  ,we    
have not the courage to say broadly that
 we ourselves have no defects1 and that 
our enemies have no good qualities2 but 
as a matter of fact that is not far from
 being what we think4  ,he believed not 
at all1 or very faintly1 in altruism4   
,he had to sweep away affected and      
therefore erroneous suppositions with   
regard to morality1 and particularly    
with regard to social motives4 ,he had  
come back to ,paris1 after his long and 
irksome exile1 with a terrible          
clear-sightedness1 and he saw that      
society had gone to pieces and that     
truth was essential to its rebuilding4  
,he was convinced--and this must be     
asserted in the face of his own apparent
 cynicism--he was convinced of the      
existence of pure virtue1 but he thought

 that amour-propre in the individual1   
and conventionality 7what was then meant
 by la coutume7 in the social order1 had
 made it almost as rare as the dodo4 ,he
 wished1 by his stringent exposure of   
the arts of lying1 to save virtue before
 it was absolutely extinct4 ,he had the 
instinct of race-preservation4#f        
,footnote #f3 ,it is possible that the  
conversation of ,mme de      ,sabl      
concentrated his thoughts on self-love4 
,a contemporary      ,,ms4 says of that 
lady1 ,elle flatte fort l'amour propre  
quand elle parle aux gens4 ,but egotism 
was a new discovery      which          
fascinated everybody in the third       
quarter of the      century4  ,let us   
turn to the few1 but profoundly         
beautiful reflections which form the    
constructive element in ,la             
,rochefoucauld's teaching4 ,his aim in  
edification is to train us to dig       
through the crust of social sham to the 
limpid truth which exists in the dark   
centre of our souls--  ,if there is a   

pure love1 he says1 exempt from all     
admixture with other passions1 it is    
that which lies hidden at the bottom of 
the heart1 and of which we ourselves are
 ignorant4  ,unlike ,mandeville1 our own
 great cynic of the eighteenth century1 
,la ,rochefoucauld1 while calling in    
question the reality of almost all      
benevolent impulses1 stopped short of   
denying the existence of virtue itself4 
,he would not have said1 as the author  
of the ,fable of the ,bees 7#agad7 did1 
that the hunting after this pulchrum et 
honestum is not much better than a      
wild-goose chase4 ,but he had a strong  
contempt for the humbugs of the world1  
and among them he placed unflinching    
optimists4 ,one of the main forms of    
humbug in his day was the legend that   
everybody acted nobly for the sake of   
other people4 ,this ,la ,rochefoucauld  
stoutly denied1 but he was not so       
excessive as his commentators in his    
condemnation of that self-love which he 
declares to be the source of all our    

moral actions4 ,he insinuates the       
possibility of an innocent and even a   
beneficial egotism4 ,he says1 ,the      
praise which is given us serves to fix  
us in the practice of virtue1 and if    
that is true1 amour-propre must be      
practically useful4 ,helvtius1 who made 
some very valuable comments on the      
,maximes a hundred years later1 pointed 
out that amour-propre is not in itself  
an evil thing1 but is a sentiment       
implanted in us all by nature1 and that 
this sentiment is transformed in every  
human being into either vice or virtue1 
so that although we are all egoists1    
some are good and some are bad4  ,la    
,rochefoucauld1 therefore1 while he     
takes a very dark view of the           
selfishness of the human race1 softens  
the shades of his picture by admitting  
that egotism may be1 and often must be1 
advantageous not merely to the          
individual but to the race4 ,and here we
 find the key to one of the oddest      
passages in his works1 that in which he 

attributes his inspiration to two       
saints1 ,st4 ,augustine and ,st4        
,epicurus6 ,he says--  ,everybody wishes
 to be happy2 that is the aim of all the
 acts of life4 ,spurious men of the     
world and spurious men of piety only    
seek for the appearance of virtue1 and  
,i believe that in matters of morality1 
,seneca was a hypocrite and ,epicurus   
was a saint4 ,i know of nothing in the  
world so beautiful as nobility of heart 
and loftiness of mind3 from these       
proceeds that perfect integrity which ,i
 set above all other qualities1 and     
which seems to me1 at my present stage  
of life1 to be of more price than a     
royal crown4 ,but ,i am not sure        
whether1 in order to live happily and as
 a man of the highest sense of honour1  
it is not better to be ,alcibiades and  
,phaedo than to be ,aristides and       
,socrates4  ,it would take us too far   
out of our path to comment on the       
relation of this epicureanism to the    
religion of ,la ,rochefoucauld's day1   

but a few words seem necessary on this  
subject4 ,he says extremely little about
 religion1 although he makes the        
necessary and perhaps not wholly        
perfunctory1 statement that he was      
orthodox4 ,but the position of a votary 
of ,st4 ,epicurus had grown difficult4  
,since the ,duke's exile1 the enmity    
between the church and the world had    
become violent1 so violent that a man of
 prominent social and intellectual      
position was bound to take one side or  
another4 ,we may note that the years    
during which the ,maximes were being    
composed were precisely those during    
which ,bossuet was thundering from the  
pulpit his anathemas against worldly    
luxury and the pride of life4 ,the      
period marked at one extremity by       
,l',amour des ,passions 7#affj7 and at  
the other by the ,grandeurs ,humains    
7#affc7 is precisely that in which the  
lapidary art of ,la ,rochefoucauld was  
most assiduous4 ,the church was         
advocating asceticism and humility with 

all its authority1 and was leading up   
towards the later phase of the fanatical
 despotism of ,louis ,,xiv4's old age1  
with all its attendant hypocrisy4 ,for  
the moment1 in the struggle1 ,la        
,rochefoucauld1 though no dvot1 would   
seem a friend of the church rather than 
a foe1 and in fact he retained the      
intimacy of ,bossuet1 in whose arms he  
died4 ,we may be sure that he guarded   
himself with delicate care from the     
charge of being what was then called a  
libertine1 that is a man openly at war  
with the theory and practice of the     
theologians4  ,it is said that ,la      
,rochefoucauld invented#g the word      
vraie1 true1 to describe the character  
of ,mme de ,la ,fayette4 ,his intimacy  
with this illustrious lady is one of the
 most beautiful episodes in the history 
of literature1 and perhaps its purest   
example of true friendship between the  
sexes4 ,the phrase we have already      
quoted shows that in #affc the two great
 writers were acquainted but not yet    

intimate4 ,marie de la ,vergne1         
,comtesse de ,la ,fayette1 was in her   
thirtieth year1 ,la ,rochefoucauld had  
completed his fiftieth when some cause  
which remains obscure drew them together
 with a tie which death alone1 after    
seventeen wonderful years of almost     
unbroken association1 was to sever4     
,there was no scandal about it1 even in 
that scandal-mongering age4 ,the astute 
,mile de ,scudery1 writing to her gossip
 ,bussy ,rabutin 7,december #f1 #afge71 
says1 ,nothing could be happier for her1
 or more dignified for him2 the fear of 
,god on either side1 and perhaps        
prudence as well1 have clipped the wings
 of love4 ,twelve years before1 when    
,mnage had repeated to her some critical
 remarks about her novel1 ,la ,princesse
 de ,montpensier1 ,mme de ,la ,fayette  
had replied1 ,i am greatly obliged to   
,m4 de la ,rochefoucauld for his        
expressions4 ,they are the result of our
 similarity of experience1 'de la belle 
sympathie qui est entre nous4'          

,footnote #g3 ,mme de ,svign seems not  
to have known this      when1 in writing
 to her daughter 7,july #ai1 #afga71 she
 claims      to have been the first to  
say vraie when she meant      sincere1  
loyal4 ,il y a longtemps que je dis que 
vous tes      vraie  ,the famous friends
 were excluded by their physical        
conditions from the activities of life4 
,mme de ,la ,fayette1 who was perhaps   
something of a hypochondriac1 tossed all
 day among the pillows of that golden   
bed with the extravagance of which the  
austerity of ,mme de ,maintenon         
upbraided her4 ,la ,rochefoucauld1      
tormented by the gout1 lay stretched at 
her side in his long chair1 and the days
 went by in endless discussion1 endless 
balancing of right and wrong1 much      
gossip1 much reading of books new and   
old1 and not a little consultation of   
artist with artist4 ,they kept their    
secrets well1 and no curiosity of       
successive critics has been able to     
discover how much of ,la ,rochefoucauld 

is hidden in the pages of ,la ,princesse
 de ,clves1 the earliest of the modern  
novels of the world1 nor how much of    
,mme de ,la ,fayette in the revised and 
re-revised text of the ,maximes4 #h ,but
 we know that she was no less sagacious 
and no less an enemy to illusion than he
 was1 and those are probably not far    
wrong who have detected a softening     
influence from her conversation on the  
late genius of ,la ,rochefoucauld4  ,in 
#afge ,mme de ,thiange presented to the 
,duke du ,maine a toy which has long ago
 disappeared1 and for the recovery of   
which ,i would gladly exchange many a   
grand composition of painting and       
sculpture4 ,it was a sort of gilded     
doll's house1 representing the interior 
of a salon4 ,over the door was written1 
,chambre des ,sublimes4 ,inside were wax
 portrait-figures of living celebrities1
 the ,duke du ,maine in one arm-chair2  
in another ,la ,rochefoucauld1 who was  
handing him some manuscript4 ,by the    
arm-chairs were standing ,bossuet1 then 

,bishop of ,condom1 and ,la             
,rochefoucauld's eldest son1 ,m4 de     
,marcillac4 ,at the other end of the    
alcove ,mme de ,la ,fayette and ,mme de 
,thiange were reading verses together4  
,outside the balustrade1 ,boileau with a
 pitchfork was preventing seven or eight
 bad poets from entering1 to the        
amusement and approval of ,racine1 who  
was already inside1 and of ,la          
,fontaine1 who was invited to come      
forward4 ,the likeness of these little  
waxen images is said to have been       
perfect1 and there can hardly be fancied
 a relic of that fine society which     
would be more valuable to us in         
re-establishing its social character4   
,we know not what became of it in the   
next generation4 ,no doubt1 the wax grew
 dusty1 and the figures lost their heads
 and hands1 and some petulant chtelaine 
doomed the ruined treasure to the       
dustbin4       ,footnote #h3 ,bussy     
,rabutin writes to ,mme de ,svign that  
he      hears that ,la ,rochefoucauld   

and ,mme de ,la ,fayette are            
preparing quelque chose de fort joli4   
,this shows that      before ,la        
,princess de ,clves was finished the    
,duke's name      was identified with   
its composition4  ,no mention of ,mme de
 ,svign is made in the inventory of the 
,chambre des ,sublimes1 and yet there is
 no one to whom we owe an exacter       
portraiture of its inmates1 nor one who 
was more worthy to animate its golden   
recesses4 ,for the last ten years of ,la
 ,rochefoucauld's life she was one of   
the closest observers of the famous     
sedentary friendship4 ,unfortunately she
 tells us nothing about the original    
publication of the ,maximes1 for his    
name does not occur in her              
correspondence before #affh1 and does   
not abound there until #afgj4 ,then we  
find her for ever at the ,duke's house1 
or meeting him at ,mme de ,la ,fayette's
 bedside4 ,he gratified her by warm and 
constant praise of ,mme de ,grignan1    
whose letters were regularly read to the

 friends by her infatuated mother4 ,it  
is vexing that ,mme de ,svign1 who might
 have spared us two or three of her     
immortal pages1 although she incessantly
 mentions and even quotes ,la           
,rochefoucauld1 generally refrains from 
describing him4 ,she and ,mme de ,la    
,fayette were his guests in the country 
on ,may #ae1 and the three wonderful    
companions walked in the harmony of     
nightingales1 hawthorns1 lilacs1        
fountains and fine weather1 or played   
with his pet white mouse4 ,such touches 
are rare1 and ,paris seems best to suit 
what ,mme de ,svign admirably calls the 
grey-brown thought of ,la               
,rochefoucauld4  ,in #afga he had a     
terrible attack of the gout1 accompanied
 by agonies moral and physical which    
filled the ladies with alarm and pity4  
,better in #afgb1 he was able to        
entertain company to hear ,corneille    
read his new tragedy of ,pulchrie in    
,january1 and ,molire his new comedy1   
,les ,femmes ,savantes1 in ,march4 ,he  

was now1 in premature old age1 the      
venerable figure in the group1 the      
benevolent ,nestor of the salons4 ,let  
his detractors remember that ,mme de    
,svign1 who knew what she was talking   
about1 wrote that he is the most lovable
 man ,i have ever known1 ,his           
sufferings1 his disenchantments and     
disappointments1 only seemed to         
accentuate his beautiful patience4 ,just
 before his fatal illness 7,january #ca1
 #afhj7 ,mme de ,svign writes again3 ,i 
have never seen a man so obliging1 nor  
more amiable in his wish to give        
pleasure by what he says4 #i ,her       
detailed and pathetic account of his    
last hours1 which closed on the night of
 ,march #af1 #afhj1 testifies to her    
deep attachment and to ,mme de ,la      
,fayette's despair4       ,footnote #i3 
,two of ,la ,fontaine's fables1         
,l',homme et son      ,image and ,les   
,lapins1 were dedicated to ,la          
,rochefoucauld      in #affh4 ,in the   
former we read3--             ,on voit  

bien o je veux venir4      ,je parle a  
tous1 et cette erreur extrme      ,est  
un mal que chacun se plat d'entretenir  
,notre me1 c'est cet homme amoureux de  
lui-mme2      ,tant de miroirs1 ce sont 
les sottises d'autrui1      ,miroirs1 de
 nos dfauts les peintres lgitimes2      
,et quant au canal1 c'est celui1        
,que chacun sait3 le livre des ,maximes4
  ,when ,mme de ,svign1 in #afge1       
received the third edition of the       
,duke's book1 which contained more than 
seventy new maxims1 she wrote1 ,some of 
them are divine2 some of them1 ,i am    
ashamed to say1 ,i don't understand4    
,probably she would have partly agreed  
with some one's criticism of them1 ,de  
l'esprit1 encore de l'esprit1 et        
toujours de l'esprit--trop d'esprit6 #aj
 ,no doubt1 ,la ,rochefoucauld has done 
his own reputation wrong by the bluster 
of his scepticism and also by the fact  
that he sometimes wraps his thoughts up 
in such a blaze of epigram that we are  
disconcerted to find1 when we analyze   

them1 that they are commonplaces4       
,contemporaries seemed to have smiled at
 the excessive subtlety into which their
 long conversations led ,mme de ,la     
,fayette and her sublime companion4 ,mme
 de ,svign describes such talks with her
 delicate irony1 and says1 ,we plunged  
into subtleties which were beyond our   
intelligence4 ,an example is the dispute
 whether ,grace is to the body what good
 sense is to the mind1 or ,grace is to  
the body what delicacy is to the mind   
should be the ultimate form of a maxim4 
,they sometimes drew the spider's thread
 so fine that it became invisible4#aa   
,footnote #aj3 ,the practice of making  
maxims1 axiomata1      encouraged the   
enlivenment of conversation by the      
introduction of topsy-turvy statements1 
such as ,constancy      is merely       
inconstancy arrested1 in the manner of  
,oscar      ,wilde and ,mr4 ,chesterton4
       ,footnote #aa3 ,la ,rochefoucauld
 was not without affectations4 ,he      
spoke airily about his manire nglige of 

writing1 whereas      no one ever took  
more pains4 ,segrais gives very         
interesting      information on this    
point3 he says that the ,duke      sent 
me from time to time what he had been   
working      on1 and he wished me to    
keep these note-books of his for        
five or six weeks1 so as to be able to  
give them my      closest attention1    
particularly with regard to the turn of 
the thoughts and the arrangement of the 
words4 ,some of      his maxims he      
altered as many as thirty times4 ,but   
when he wrote to ,esprit1 in #affj1 ,la 
,rochefoucauld      affected to regard  
his own writings as trifles thrown off  
au coin de mon feu ,the great of the    
earth have these      amiable and       
amusing weaknesses4  ,but his clearness 
of insight was immense1 and he was too  
profoundly intelligent to be a merely   
destructive or sterile force4 ,he       
builded better than he knew4 ,for       
instance1 courage1 it has been alleged1 
he denies1 and indeed he is so savage in

 his exposure of braggadocio that it    
might well be believed that he refused  
to admit that men could be brave4 ,yet  
what does he say8--  ,intrepidity is an 
extraordinary force of the soul which   
lifts it above those troubles1 disorders
 and emotions which the aspect of great 
peril would otherwise excite2 it is by  
this force that heroes maintain         
themselves in a state of equanimity1    
preserving the free use of their reason 
through the most surprising and the most
 terrible accidents4  ,this must include
 the most moving of all accidents1 those
 which call forth moral and physical    
courage in the face of national danger1 
and are rewarded by gloire1 by public   
and lasting fame4 ,and we are led on to 
a consideration of the lengthy          
reflection on the spirit in which the   
approach of death should be faced1 with 
which he closed the latest edition of   
the ,maximes1 declaring that the        
splendour of dying with a firm spirit1  
the hope of being regretted1 the desire 

to leave a fair reputation behind us1   
the assurance of being released from the
 drudgery of life and of depending no   
more on the caprices of fortune1 are    
remedies which would medicine our pain  
in approaching the dreaded goal of our  
existence4  ,we must read ,la           
,rochefoucauld closely to perceive why a
 book so searching1 and even so cruel as
 his1 has exercised on the genius of    
,france a salutary and a lasting        
influence4 ,his savage pessimism is not 
useless1 it is not a mere scorn of      
humanity and a sneer at its weaknesses4 
,it tends1 by stripping off all the     
shams of conduct and digging to the root
 of action1 to make people upright1     
candid and magnanimous on a new basis of
 truth4 ,so we come at last to see the  
significance of ,voltaire's dark saying 
of the ,maximes3 ,this book is one of   
those which have contributed most to    
form the taste of the ,french nation1   
and to give it the spirit of accuracy   
and precision4                          

,,la ,,bruy,,re   ,la ,bruyre was       
thirty-five years of age when ,la       
,rochefoucauld died1 and twenty when the
 ,maximes were published4 ,we have no   
evidence that he ever met the former1   
but he certainly read the latter1 and in
 spite of his eager denial that ,pascal 
or ,la ,rochefoucauld suggested his     
method to him--,i have followed neither 
of these paths1 he says--it is          
impossible to doubt that the example of 
the ,maximes had a great deal to do with
 the form of the ,caractres4 ,his own   
disciple1 ,brillon1 tells us of ,la     
,bruyre that1 the author of the work    
which this age has most admired was at  
least ten years writing it1 and about as
 long hesitating whether he would write 
it or not4 ,the ,caractres was finished 
in #afhg2 ,brillon's estimate takes us  
back to #affg or earlier1 and the       
brilliant success of the ,maximes dates 
from #affe4 ,every author imagines that 
he loses some dignity by being supposed 
to follow the lead of another author1   

although the entire history of          
literature is before him to show that   
the lamp of genius has always been      
handed on from hand to hand4 ,la        
,bruyre1 in particular1 was not exempt  
from this amiable weakness1 but his     
ghost needs feel no displeasure if we   
insist on connecting him with the effort
 of ,la ,rochefoucauld4  ,it is very    
amusing to see how anxious ,la ,bruyre  
is not to seem to owe anything to ,la   
,rochefoucauld4 ,he speaks of his own   
writings as less delicate than those of 
the ,duke1 and in his own opening words 
he declares that he has had no wish to  
write maxims1 which are laws in morals1 
as he has no legislative authority4 ,i  
suppose that in describing the tone of  
,la ,rochefoucauld as delicate ,la      
,bruyre really meant supercilious1 and  
deprecated any idea that he1 the typical
 bourgeois1 should seem to lay down the 
law like the architype of intellectual  
aristocracy4 ,he scoffs at the ,duke for
 making his reflections like oracles1 so

 short are they and so concise2 and he  
is quite correct when he boasts of the  
extreme variety and versatility of his  
own manner4 ,he accuses ,la             
,rochefoucauld of browbeating his       
readers into subjection to his thought2 
while1 ,la ,bruyre says1 for my part ,i 
am quite willing that my reader should  
say sometimes that ,i have not observed 
correctly1 provided that he himself will
 observe better4 ,the reader1 on the    
other hand1 must not be taken in by all 
this1 which is very characteristic of   
,la ,bruyre's timid self-confidence4    
,his reputation loses nothing by our    
discovering that he owes much to        
,montaigne and still more to ,la        
,rochefoucauld4  ,the link is clear1 in 
spite of the foliage with which ,la     
,bruyre seeks to conceal it4 ,it could  
only be from ,la ,rochefoucauld that the
 author of ,les ,caractres derived that 
sad disillusionment1 lighted up by      
flashes of savage wit1 with which he    
expresses his sense of the defects of   

human character4 ,it may often be noted 
that when ,la ,bruyre speaks of egotism1
 of the prevalence of amour-propre1 his 
pungent phrases have the very sound of  
those of his precursor4 ,the truth is   
that a strong new book is not read by a 
young man whose genius is prepared for  
its teaching1 without its image being   
stamped upon his mind4 ,la ,bruyre's own
 experience had already offered to him a
 banquet of the bitter fruit of the tree
 of knowledge of good and evil when he  
met with the ,maximes of #affe4 ,his    
conscience and his memory were prepared1
 and the truth is that a great deal of  
,la ,rochefoucauld's teaching passed    
into his veins without his knowing it4  
,this does not in the least undermine   
the reputation which justly belongs to  
,la ,bruyre as one of the most original 
writers of ,france1 or even of ,europe1 
but it links him for our intelligence   
with the other great moralist of his    
century4  ,the author of the ,maximes   
was the head of one of the great        

princely houses of ,france4 ,the author 
of the ,caractres was the type of the   
plebeian citizen of ,paris4 ,if ,la     
,rochefoucauld offers us the            
quintessence of aristocracy1 ,la ,bruyre
 is not less a specimen of the middle   
class4 ,his reputation as an honest man 
long suffered from his own joke about   
his ancestry4 ,he wrote1 ,i warn        
everybody whom it may concern1 in order 
that the world may be prepared and      
nobody be surprised1 that if ever it    
should happen that one of the mighty of 
the earth should deem me worthy of his  
care1 in other words if ,i should ever  
come into an immense fortune1 there is a
 ,godefroi de ,la ,bruyre whom all the  
chroniclers place in the list of the    
greatest nobles of ,france who followed 
,godefroi de ,bouillon to the conquest  
of the ,holy ,land4 ,when that happens1 
,i shall descend from him in the direct 
line4 ,one would think that a child     
could perceive this to be a satire at   
the profiteers of the age1 who invented 

ancestors1 and so a child would to-day1 
but in the seventeenth and even the     
eighteenth century it was not safe to be
 funny4 ,in particular1 nonsense--the   
divine charm of which we now admit--had 
not been acclimatized1 and was looked   
upon with grave displeasure4 ,it wrings 
the heart that when ,goldsmith1 in a    
purple coat1 pretended to think himself 
more attractive than the ,jessamy       
,bride1 his contemporaries severely     
censured this as an instance of his     
vanity4  ,so the fools and fops of ,la  
,bruyre's time thought or pretended to  
think that he was seriously claiming to 
be of noble birth4 ,nothing was further 
from his intention2 no ,la ,bruyre had  
taken part in the ,crusades1 any more   
than any member of ,charles ,lamb's     
family had been ,pope of ,rome4 ,the    
moralist's father1 ,louis de ,la        
,bruyre1 was ,comptroller-,general of   
,rents of the ,htel de ,ville of ,paris2
 his mother was an attorney's daughter4 
,the eldest of five1 he was born on     

,august #ag1 #afde1 in the centre of old
 ,paris1 close to the church of ,st4    
,christopher4 ,it is only of late years 
that this fact has been discovered1 and 
there are still immense blanks in the   
life of ,la ,bruyre during which he     
disappears from us altogether1 engulfed 
in the lanes of the ,cit1 not because of
 any adventurous mystery1 but simply    
because of his total lack of adventure4 
,there has scarcely lived a great man of
 letters in comparatively recent times  
about whose life there is so little to  
relate as about that of ,la ,bruyre4 ,he
 is believed to have gone to school to  
the ,fathers of the ,oratory1 but even  
that is not certain4 ,his knowledge of  
,greek is thought to prove it1 but1     
though the ,oratorians were admirable   
,hellenists1 surely ,greek could be     
learned elsewhere4  ,when he was twenty1
 he passed his examination in law in    
,orleans1 and1 coming back to ,paris1   
practised as a lawyer for eight or nine 
years4 ,he was concerned in no famous   

case1 it is supposed1 since his name is 
never mentioned in the gossip of the    
time4 ,he inherited a competence from   
his father1 and probably lived an idle  
life1 diversified by a little legal     
business of a very mediocre nature4 ,as 
his biographer says1 he grew more and   
more inclined by his temperament to a   
meditative existence4 ,when he was in   
his thirtieth year1 a crisis came4 ,by  
some means or other1 he secured a       
lucrative sinecure1 that of treasurer of
 finances at ,caen in ,normandy4 ,he    
hated the country and went down to ,caen
 on the rarest occasions possible4 ,la  
,bruyre1 a ,parisian to the marrow of   
his bones1 says1 ,provincials and fools 
are always ready to lose their temper   
and believe that one is laughing at them
 or despising them4 ,you must never     
venture on a joke1 even the mildest1    
except with well-bred1 witty people4    
,perhaps he had been trying ,godefroi de
 ,la ,bruyre off on the stolid          
inhabitants of ,caen4 ,he received a    

salary1 however1 which was far from     
being all paid away to a substitute1 and
 he rose1 in the curious social scale of
 those days1 from ,mister 7roturier7    
into ,esquire 7cuyer74 ,the court in    
,normandy was extremely angry with him  
at periodical intervals1 but apparently 
could do nothing to assert itself4 ,when
 it raged1 ,la ,bruyre was like the     
,east in ,matthew ,arnold's poem1 he    
bow'd low before the blast in patient1  
deep disdain4  ,he lived through these  
quiet years in one apartment after      
another in the heart of ,paris4 ,vigneul
 de ,marville saw him nearer heaven than
 earth in a room which a light curtain  
divided into two4 ,the wind1 always at  
the service of philosophers1 running    
ahead of visitors1 would lift this      
curtain adroitly1 and reveal the        
philosopher1 smiling with pleasure at   
the opportunity of distilling the elixir
 of his meditations into the brain and  
the heart of a listener4 ,he was always 
at work1 but his work was confined to   

meditation1 talk and study4 ,sometimes  
he left his garret1 and studied the     
court and the town from the benches of  
the public gardens1 the ,luxembourg and 
the ,tuileries4 ,there has been an      
enormous amount of speculation and      
conjecture about the central period of  
the life of ,la ,bruyre1 but we really  
have only one positive document to go   
upon4 ,during the illness of his own    
footman1 he borrowed the services of his
 brother's man1 who robbed him of money 
and clothes4 ,la ,bruyre put the case in
 the hands of the police1 who failed to 
catch the thief4 ,this is the only      
definite fact which has rewarded the    
patience of the investigators1 and we   
must build round it what we can4 ,we    
build round it his own glimpse of       
self-portraiture 7in ,des ,biens de     
,fortune7 and find the philosopher      
bending over the volume where ,plato    
discusses the spirituality of the soul1 
or measuring1 with a rapt expression1   
the infinite distance between ,saturn   

and ,jupiter4#ab       ,footnote #ab3   
,vigneul de ,marville1 to whom we owe   
some      picturesque impressions of ,la
 ,bruyre at this time of social         
obscurity1 was one of the pseudonyms of 
,bonaventure      d',argonne1 whose real
 name appears to have been ,nol         
,argonne4 ,he was a ,carthusian who     
dabbled in literature1 and      who     
towards the close of his career compiled
 a volume of      ,mlanges1 containing  
anecdotes which are often spiteful1     
but sometimes useful to the historian of
 literature4 ,he      seems to have     
visited ,la ,bruyre in the days of his  
comparative poverty1 when his mother    
kept home for the whole      family1    
first in the ,rue ,chapon1 and later in 
the ,rue des      ,grands ,augustins4   
,when he is on the point of entering his
 fortieth year1 ,la ,bruyre suddenly    
breaks out of the cloud which           
encompasses him1 and is revealed as     
professor of history to the ,duke of    
,bourbon1 and resident in the household 

of the great ,prince de ,cond4 ,there is
 no evidence to show how ,bossuet1 then 
,bishop of ,meaux1 and the most         
influential man of intellect in ,france1
 became acquainted with the discreet and
 obscure treasurer of finances2 but it  
is evident that he was struck by the    
vast learning and intelligence of this  
silent1 smiling anchorite4 ,fontenelle  
tells us that ,bossuet1 who had been    
tutor to the ,dauphin1 made a practice  
of supplying to the princes such        
persons1 meritorious in letters1 as they
 had need of4 ,in #afhd1 then1 we know  
not why nor how1 ,bossuet recommended   
,la ,bruyre as tutor to the ,house of   
,cond4 ,it is a matter of ceaseless     
wonderment1 however1 that the           
philosopher accepted and retained the   
post4 ,he possessed a sufficient though 
a modest competence already1 and he     
exchanged a life of complete            
independence for a most painful and     
trying servitude1 hung up between the   
insolence of those above and the        

impertinence of those below him4 ,the   
situation of ,la ,bruyre in the ,maison 
de ,cond was like that of ,fanny ,burney
 at the court of ,george ,,iii41 only   
worse4 ,commentators have expended      
endless ingenuity in conjecturing what  
were the reasons which induced him to   
enslave himself4  ,a careful study of   
his great book must add to our          
amazement4 ,no one ever locked himself  
up in prison with an exacter            
appreciation of the discomforts of      
captivity4 ,la ,bruyre has some remarks 
about freedom1 which plunge us in       
bewilderment4 ,liberty1 he says1 is not 
laziness3 it is a free use of one's     
time2 it is having the choice of one's  
own work and exercise4 ,to be free1 in a
 word1 is not to do nothing1 but to be  
sole judge of what one shall do or not  
do4 ,in this sense1 what a boon is      
liberty6 ,this practical freedom he     
possessed to the full1 when in ,august  
#afhd he accepted bondage to a spiteful 
monkey of a boy1 a dwarf with a huge    

head and a dreadful face1 to whom he was
 to impart1 with tears of disappointment
 and humiliation1 the rudiments of      
national history4 ,he was immediately   
responsible to the father of this infant
 phenomenon1 to ,henry ,jules1 ,duke    
d',enghien1 of whose useless talents1   
wasted genius1 imagination which was a  
torment to himself and others1          
,saint-,simon gives so copious an       
account4 ,we have to think of our       
delicate and timid ,la ,bruyre now for  
years the powerless plaything of this   
unnatural son1 cruel father1 terrible   
husband1 detestable master1 pernicious  
neighbour1 without affection1 without   
friends4  ,but after two centuries of   
canonization of the ,conds1 it has now  
become the fashion to denigrate them to 
an equal excess4 ,the traditional figure
 of the ,grand ,cond1 ,olympian and     
sublime1 has been exposed by pitiless   
documentary evidence4 ,la ,bruyre's     
latest and most learned editor1 ,m4     
,emile ,magne1 gives a terrible picture 

of the ,prince's meanness and dirtiness2
 ,harpagon in an ostler's jacket1 he    
calls him1 en souquenille4 ,but to dwell
 on all this is to forget that the great
 ,cond1 even in his ugly old age1 was   
haloed by the glory of having been the  
first soldier of the world4 ,it was a   
privilege1 even at the end1 to be       
admitted to his intimacy1 and ,i believe
 that we pity ,la ,bruyre more than he  
pitied himself4 ,it scandalizes the     
biographers that the ,prince1 on one    
occasion1 made ,la ,bruyre dance a pas  
seul before him1 twanging a tune on the 
guitar4 ,i suppose ,de ,quincey would   
have been complaisant if the ,duke of   
,wellington had asked him to whistle    
,home1 ,sweet ,home to him4 ,there is a 
limit1 after all1 to the modern theory  
of the ,dignity of ,letters4            
,valincourt says that ,all the time ,la 
,bruyre lived in the ,house of ,cond1   
everybody was always making fun of him4 
,possibly the fear of appearing pedantic
 among all these people of fashion and  

these tinselled flunkeys made him lend  
himself to ridicule4 ,they all teased   
and mocked him1 ,i suppose1 but not1 ,i 
think1 so as seriously to hurt him1 and 
now1 with his book in our hands1 the    
laugh is on his side4 ,for when we      
examine carefully we see that his       
position in the ,house of ,cond improved
 as time went on4 ,he got rid of his    
rivals1 the other tutors2 when the      
,grand ,cond died1 ,la ,bruyre got rid  
of his dreadful pupil as well4 ,we find 
him no longer prcepteur1 but gentilhomme
 de ,m4 le ,duc1--no longer1 that is1 a 
mere scholastic drudge1 but a sort of   
lord-in-waiting4 ,he had probably a     
large increase of salary1 since in #afhg
 he seems to have resigned his charge at
 ,caen4 ,instead of being pinned to the 
dark apartment in the recesses of the   
,cit1 he now revolved in ceaseless      
movement between ,chantilly and         
,fontainebleau1 ,paris and ,versailles4 
,he became a sort of confidential reader
 to the ,duke and ,duchess1 an essential

 part of the suite4 ,after the first    
years1 he had a great deal of leisure4  
,he could retire to the security of a   
handsomely furnished                    
apartment--upholstered in green--on the 
second floor of the ,htel de ,cond1     
opposite the ,luxembourg1 and he had    
another set of rooms at ,versailles4    
,the bondage became1 ,i expect1 no real 
bondage at all4  ,but why had he1 so    
long completely his own master1         
consented to become the servant even of 
famous ,royal princes8 ,i think that as 
mothers accept irksome situations for   
the support of their children1 so ,la   
,bruyre became the serf of the ,conds   
for the sake of his book4 ,for it is now
 time to reveal the fact that in this   
apparently listless1 empty life there   
was one absorbing secret interest4 ,this
 was the collection of the maxims1      
reflections1 pictures1 and what not     
which he had been quietly absorbing and 
turning into the honey of more and more 
exquisite prose ever since his early    

youth4 ,i think that ,la ,bruyre        
deliberately accepted all that might    
prove irksome in the captivity to the   
,house of ,cond for the sole sake of his
 book4 ,he needed to see more types1 and
 types of a more brilliant and effective
 kind than he could become familiar with
 in his mediocre condition4 ,he knew all
 that was to be known about the artizans
 and the shopkeepers of the ,cit2 he    
wanted to examine the rulers of society1
 and while he watched them like a       
naturalist1 they might make what        
contortions they pleased4 ,how did one  
of his contemporaries describe him8     
,when ,mnippe leaves his home1 it is for
 the purpose of studying the attitudes  
of the whole human race and of painting 
them from the life4 ,but he is not      
merely a portrait-painter1 he is an     
anatomist as well4 ,do you see that vain
 and arrogant fellow in the midst of his
 good fortune8 ,he is enchanted to think
 ,mnippe is admiring him4 ,what a       
mistake6 ,at this very moment ,mnippe is

 dissecting him and preparing him as a  
specimen for a public lecture in the    
schools4 ,not a vein1 not a fibre will  
escape him1 and from that man's heart he
 will draw the inmost springs of passion
 and expose the circulation of every    
vice4  ,it is time1 however1 to present 
the famous book in which all these      
investigations were noted1 the cabinet  
where all these butterflies and less    
beautiful insect-forms were exhibited4  
,the final title of it is ,characters2  
or1 the ,manners of this ,age4 ,it was  
published in ,january #afhh1 but1 as is 
believed1 had been begun nearly thirty  
years earlier1 and slowly finished1 the 
final revision and arrangement dating   
from #afhf and #afhg4 ,the book1 like so
 many of the world's masterpieces1 is   
short1 and a fashionable novelist of    
to-day could scribble in a fortnight as 
many words as it contains4 ,but there is
 not a careless phrase nor a hurried    
line in the whole of it4 ,i do not know 
in the range of literature a book more  

deliberately exquisite than the         
,caractres4 ,it started1 probably1 with 
the jotting down of social remarks at   
long intervals4 ,then1 ,i think1 ,la    
,bruyre1 always extremely fastidious1   
observed that the form of his writing   
was growing to resemble too much that of
 ,la ,rochefoucauld1 and so he began to 
diversify it with portraits4 ,these had 
been in fashion in ,paris for more than 
a generation1 but ,la ,bruyre invented a
 new kind of portrait4 ,he says1 on the 
very first page of the ,caractres1 you  
make a book as you make a clock2 he     
ought to have said1 ,i make my book1 for
 no other work is quite so clock-like in
 its variety of parts1 its elaborate    
mechanism1 and its air of having been   
constructed at different times1 in      
polished fragments1 which have needed   
the most workmanlike ingenuity to fit   
them together into an instrument that   
moves and1 rings4  ,what perhaps strikes
 us most1 when we put down the          
,caractres after a close re-perusal of  

one of the most readable books in all   
literature1 is its extraordinary        
sustained vitality4 ,it hums and buzzes 
in our memory long after we have turned 
the last page4 ,we may expand the       
author's own mage1 and compare it1 not  
with a clock1 but with a watchmaker's   
shop2 it is all alive with the tick-tick
 of a dozen chronometers4 ,la ,bruyre's 
observations are noted in a manner that 
is disjointed1 apparently even          
disordered1 but it was no part of his   
scheme to present his maxims in a       
system4 ,we shall find that he was      
incessantly improving his work1         
revising1 extending and weighing it4 ,he
 was one of those timid men who surprise
 us by their crafty intrepidity4 ,it was
 dangerous to publish sarcastic         
portraits of well-known influential     
people1 and there are few of these in   
the first edition1 but when the success 
of the book was once confirmed these    
were made more and more prominent4 ,it  
was not until the eighth edition1 of    

#afid1 that ,la ,bruyre ventured to     
print the following study of one of the 
most influential men of letters of that 
day4 ,fontenelle--  ,,the ,,portrait    
,,of ,,cydias  ,ascange is a sculptor1  
,hegion a bronze-founder2 schine a      
fuller1 and ,cydias a wit--that is his  
profession4 ,he has a signboard1 a      
workshop1 finished articles for sale1   
mechanics who work under him4 ,he cannot
 deliver for more than a month the      
stanzas which he has promised you1      
unless he breaks his word to ,dosithe1  
who has ordered an elegy from him4 ,he  
has an idyl on the loom2 it is for      
,crantor1 who is hurrying him1 and from 
whom he expects a handsome price4       
,prose1 verse1 which do you want8 ,he is
 equally successful with either4 ,ask   
him for letters to sympathize with a    
bereavement or to explain an absence1   
and he will undertake them4 ,if you want
 them ready-made1 you have only to enter
 his shop1 and to choose what you like4 
,he has a friend whose only duty upon   

this earth is to promise ,cydias a long 
time ahead to a certain set of people1  
and then to present him at last in their
 houses as a man of rare and exquisite  
conversation2 and1 there1 just as a     
musician sings or a lute-player touches 
his lute before the people who have     
engaged him1 ,cydias1 after having      
coughed1 and lifted the ruffle from his 
wrist1 stretched out his hand and opened
 his fingers1 begins to retail his      
quintessential thoughts and his         
sophistical arguments4444 ,he opens his 
mouth only to contradict4 ',it seems to 
me1' he gracefully says1 'that the truth
 is exactly the contrary of what you    
say1' or ',i cannot agree with your     
opinion1' or even 'that used to be my   
prepossession1 as it is yours1 but      
now----6'  ,the idol of the gossips1 the
 prettiest pedant in the world1 was thus
 paid out for his intrigues against ,la 
,bruyre in the ,french ,academy4#ac     
,footnote #ac3 ,the contemporary keys1  
which were generally      ill-informed  

and ill-forming1 said that ,cydias was  
,perrault4 ,but it is almost certain    
that ,fontenelle was      meant4 ,m4,a4 
,chassang has brought together a        
formidable list      of ,fontenelle's   
activity4 ,he wrote for ,thomas         
,corneille part      of ,psych 7#afgh7  
and of ,bellerophon 7#afgi72 for        
,donneau      le ,vis the comedy of ,la 
,comte 7#afha72 for ,beauval the        
loge on ,perrault 7#afhh72 for          
,catherine ,bernard part of      her    
tragedy of ,brutus 7#afia71 a discourse 
for the prize of      eloquence given by
 the ,french ,academy1 and signed by    
,brunel      7#afie72 and part of       
,l',analyse des infiniments petits for  
the ,marquis de l',hpital 7#afif74 ,this
 is merely part of the      work turned 
out of ,fontenelle's factory before the 
death of      ,la ,bruyre4 ,another     
candidate for the type of ,cydias is    
,fontenelle's uncle1 ,thomas ,corneille 
7#afbe-agji74  ,there was great danger1 
or so it would seem to a timid man like 

,la ,bruyre1 in affronting public       
opinion with a book so full of sarcasm  
and reproof1 so unflinching in its way  
of dealing with success1 as the         
,caractres4 ,he adopted a singular mode 
of self-protection4 ,that was the day of
 the mighty dispute between the         
,ancients and the ,moderns1 and ,la     
,bruyre1 at all events ostensibly1 took 
the highly respectable side of the      
,greeks and ,romans4 ,there had lived a 
philosopher in the fourth century       
,b4,c41 ,theophrastus1 the successor and
 elucidator of ,aristotle1 who left a   
book of ,ethical ,characters 7,greek3   
,h,thikoi charaktres71 which had been   
introduced to the ,western world by     
,casaubon at the end of the sixteenth   
century4 ,for some reason or other1 the 
greatest impression had been made by    
,theophrastus in ,england1 where there  
appeared a large number of successive   
imitations or paraphrases of his        
,characters4 ,in ,france1 on the other  
hand1 ,theophrastus was still unknown to

 the vulgar1 when ,la ,bruyre took him  
up4 ,it seems likely that his own       
collection of portraits and maxims was  
practically finished1 when1 as ,m4 ,paul
 ,morillot has put it1 he determined to 
hoist the ,greek flag as a safeguard4   
,he made a ,french translation of the   
sketches of ,theophrastus1 and he put   
this at the head of his book1 waving it 
to keep off the public1 as a lady       
unfurls her parasol at a cow whose      
intentions are uncertain4  ,the         
evidences of ,la ,bruyre's extreme      
caution are amusing4 ,he hesitated long1
 but in #afhg he submitted his ,,ms4 to 
,boileau1 who was highly encouraging1   
and to the poet-mathematician1          
,malizian1 who said1 ,this will bring   
you plenty of readers and plenty of     
enemies4 ,finally he determined to risk 
the dive1 and he took the book to       
,michallet1 the publisher1 saying as he 
did so1 ,if it is successful1 the result
 shall be your daughter's dowry1 the    
said daughter being a little child who  

was then seated on ,la ,bruyre's knee4  
,the ultimate success of the book being 
prodigious1 ,mlle ,michallet must1 by   
the time she was marriageable1 have     
become a remarkable parti1 but the story
 is not one which commends itself to the
 ,incorporated ,society of ,authors4    
,les ,caractres was published in        
,january #afhh1 and the critics1 with   
the veteran ,bussy-,rabutin at their    
head1 welcomed it with shouts of        
applause4 ,bussy frankly said1 ,it must 
be admitted that having proved the merit
 of ,theophrastus by his translation1 he
 has obscured the fame of that writer by
 what he has done next1 for he has      
penetrated1 in his own portraits1 deeper
 into the heart of man than             
,theophrastus did1 and has penetrated   
with even greater delicacy and by means 
of more exquisite language4 ,this must  
have been very gratifying from the      
survivor of the great school of         
,malherbe and ,balzac4  ,at the age of  
forty-three1 then1 previously unknown in

 the world of letters1 this shy and     
obscure gentleman-in-waiting to the     
,princes of ,cond1 rose into fame1 and  
enjoyed the admiration or the envy of   
whatever was most prominent in ,paris4  
,the public which he addressed was one  
which we may pause a moment to          
contemplate4 ,the authority of the      
,academic and noble salons was          
practically at an end1 and intellectual 
culture had spread to a somewhat wider  
circle4 ,those who governed taste had   
thrown off many affectations of a       
previous generation1 and in particular  
the curious disease of preciousness4    
,they were healthier1 soberer and       
slightly less amusing than their        
forerunners4 ,but they formed1 in the   
heart of ,paris1 the most compact body  
of general intelligence to be met with  
at that time in any part of the world4  
,they were certain1 in their little     
sphere1 of their sthetic and logical    
aims4 ,they were the flower of an       
intense civilization1 very limited1 in a

 way very simple2 so far as the adoption
 of outer impulses went1 very inactive1 
and yet within its own range energetic1 
elegant and audacious4 ,to this world   
the ,caractres was now offered1         
modestly1 as though it were a summing up
 of the moralizations of the last fifty 
years4 ,the author begins by deprecating
 the idea that he has anything new to   
impart4 ,his trick is rather subtle2 he 
concentrates our attention on the       
sayings of an ancient ,aristotelian     
philosopher1 and then1 as if to fill up 
the time1 he ventures to repeat a few   
reflexions of his own4 ,these he        
introduces with the words3 ,everything  
has been said1 and we arrive too late   
into a world of men who have been       
thinking for more than seven thousand   
years4 ,in the field of morals1 all that
 is fairest and best has been reaped    
already2 we can but glean among the     
ancients and among the cleverest of the 
moderns4 ,in this insinuating manner1 he
 leads the reader on to the perusal of  

his own part of the book1 and soon we   
become aware how cold and dry and pale  
the ,greek translation seems beside the 
rich and palpitating world of the new   
,french morality4  ,whether he perceived
 it or not--and ,i for one am convinced 
that he did perceive it--,la ,bruyre    
introduced a new thing into ,french     
literature2 he opened out1 we may almost
 say1 a new world4 ,the classical       
attitude of the great age had produced  
splendid manifestations of thought and  
form4 ,however revolutionary it pleases 
us of #aiah to be1 we cannot get away   
from the perfection of the age of       
,bossuet and ,racine and ,la ,fontaine  
and ,fnelon4 ,we come back to these     
solid and passionate writers after each 
one of our romantic excursions1 not     
entirely satisfied with them1 as our    
forefathers were1 but with a sense of   
their solid glory1 with a confidence in 
their permanent value in stimulating and
 supporting human effort4 ,they may not 
give us all that they were once presumed

 to give1 but they offer us a firm      
basis2 they are always there for the    
imagination to start from4 ,we must not 
forget1 of course1 that in #afhh in     
,paris these classics of the hour       
represented a great deal more than that2
 their prestige was untarnished4 ,they  
so completely outshone1 in cultivated   
opinion1 all else that had been produced
 since the ,christian era1 that the     
,italy of ,dante1 the ,spain of         
,cervantes1 and the ,england of         
,shakespeare did not so much as exist4  
,if the intelligence was not satisfied  
by ,descartes1 well6 there was nothing  
for it but to go back to ,plato1 and if 
,racine did not sufficiently rouse the  
passions1 they must be worked upon by   
,sophocles4 ,in all this1 the divines   
took a particularly prominent place     
because they alone presented something  
for which no definite parallel could be 
found in antiquity4 ,it was the great   
theologians of the age with whom ,la    
,bruyre chiefly competed4  ,these       

theologians were themselves artists to a
 degree which we have now a difficulty  
in realizing1 although in the           
seventeenth century the ,church of      
,england also had some great artists in 
her pulpits4 ,if ,jeremy ,taylor had    
been a ,frenchman1 the work of ,la      
,bruyre might have been different4 ,but 
the ,french orators lacked the splendour
 and oddity of the author of ,the ,great
 ,exemplar1 and we can feel that ,la    
,bruyre1 who was instinct with the need 
for colour1 was dissatisfied with the   
broad outlines and masses of character  
for which the ,french divines were      
famous2 indeed1 even ,bossuet1 to an    
,english reader fresh from ,fuller and  
,taylor1 seems with all his magnificence
 too abstract and too rhetorical4 ,la   
,bruyre determined to be less exacting  
and yet more exact2 he would sink to    
describing emotions less tremendous and 
to designing figures of more trifling   
value1 but he would paint them with a   
vivid detail hitherto unsolicited4 ,the 

consequence was that the public         
instantly responded to his appeal1 and  
we have continued to contemplate with   
reverence ,bossuet's huge historical    
outlines1 but to turn for sheer pleasure
 to ,la ,bruyre's finished etchings of  
the tulipomaniac and the collector of   
engravings4  ,everyone who approaches an
 analysis of the ,caractres is obliged  
to pause to commend the style of ,la    
,bruyre4 ,it is indeed exquisite4 ,at   
the time his book was published our own 
,john ,locke was putting together his   
famous ,thoughts on ,education1 and he  
remarked on the policy of the ,french1  
who were not thinking it beneath the    
public care to promote and reward the   
improvement of their own language4      
,polishing and enriching their tongue1  
so ,locke proceeds1 is no small business
 amongst them4 ,it is perhaps not       
extravagant to believe that in writing  
these words the ,english philosopher was
 thinking of the new ,parisian moralist4
 ,for ,la ,bruyre was a great artist1   

who understood the moral value of form  
in a degree which would peculiarly      
commend itself to the lucid mind of     
,locke4 ,he says1 early in his book1    
,among all the different expressions    
which can render a single one of our    
thoughts1 there is only one which is    
right4 ,we do not always hit upon it in 
speaking or composing2 nevertheless it  
is a fact that somewhere it exists1 and 
everything else is feeble and does not  
satisfy a man of intelligence who       
desires to be understood4 ,this search  
for the one and only perfect expression 
was an unfailing passion with ,la       
,bruyre4 ,in another place he says3 ,the
 author who only considers the taste of 
his own age is thinking more of himself 
than of his writings4 ,we ought always  
to be striving after perfection1 and    
then posterity will render us that      
justice which is sometimes refused to us
 by our contemporaries4 ,this is an     
ideal to which ,locke1 anxious to make  
disciples by his regular and sometimes  

racy use of language1 never attained4   
,la ,bruyre1 who did not address the    
passing age1 so polished his periods    
that all successive generations have    
hailed him as one of the greatest       
masters of prose4  ,voltaire's          
definition of the style of ,la ,bruyre  
is well known1 but cannot too often be  
repeated4 ,he calls it a rapid1 concise1
 nervous style1 with picturesque        
expressions1 a wholly novel use of the  
,french language1 yet with no           
infringement of its rules4 ,fortunately1
 with all his admiration of others--and 
his great chapter ,des ,ouvrages de     
l',esprit is one of the most generous   
and catholic examples of current        
criticism which we possess in all       
literature--with his modest and glowing 
appreciation of his famous predecessors1
 he did not attempt to imitate them in  
the grand manner4 ,we are able to       
perceive that ,bossuet1 who was nearly  
twenty years his senior1 to whom he owed
 his advancement in life1 whose majestic

 genius and princely prestige were so   
well adapted to dazzle ,la ,bruyre1     
remained his indefatigable patron and   
probably his closest friend4 ,but we do 
not find in ,la ,bruyre a trace of      
imitation of the great preacher whom he 
loved and honoured4 ,if we think what   
the authority of ,bossuet had come to be
 at the time when the ,caractres was    
published1 how hardly its evangelical   
science pressed upon the convictions of 
all ,frenchmen1 and particularly upon   
those of men who accepted it as         
unquestionably as did the author of that
 book1 that there should be no trace of 
,bossuet on his style is a great tribute
 to the originality of ,la ,bruyre4     
,there is no pleasure without variety1  
this same mighty ,bossuet had written in
 #afgj1 and his young friend had taken  
the axiom to heart4 ,we find him        
pursuing almost beyond the bounds of    
good taste the search for variety of    
manner4 ,he has strange sudden turns of 
thought1 startling addresses1 inversions

 which we should blame as violent1 if   
they were not so eminently successful   
that we adopt them at once1 as we do    
,shakespeare's4 ,la ,bruyre passes from 
mysterious ironies to bold and coarse   
invective1 from ornate and sublime      
reflections to phrases of a roguish     
simplicity4 ,he suddenly drops his voice
 to a shuddering whisper1 and the next  
moment is fluting like a blackbird4 ,the
 gaiety with which he mocks the         
ambitions of the rich is suddenly       
relieved by the dreadful calm with which
 he reveals the horror of their         
disappointments4 ,he is never in the    
same mood1 or adopting the same tone1   
for two pages running4 ,it is difficult 
in a translation to give an idea of the 
surprising element in his style1 but    
something of its oddity may be preserved
 in such an attempt as this--  ,there   
are creatures of ,god whom we call men1 
who have a soul which is intelligence1  
and whose whole life is spent and whose 
whole attention is centred in the sawing

 of marble4 ,this is a very simple1 a   
very little thing4 ,there are others who
 are amazed at this1 but who themselves 
are utterly useless1 and who spend their
 days in doing nothing at all4 ,this is 
a still smaller thing than sawing       
marble4  ,english prose1 which a century
 earlier had limped so far behind       
,french in clearness and conciseness1   
was rapidly catching its rival up1 and  
in the next generation was to run       
abreast with it4 ,but if we wish to see 
how far behind the best ,french writers 
our own best still were1 we need but    
compare the exquisite speed and         
elasticity of the ,caractres with the   
comparative heaviness and slowness of a 
famous ,theophrastian essay published in
 the same year1 #afhh1 namely the       
,character of a ,trimmer4 ,in the       
characteristics of a lively prose       
artist1 we shall have to confess ,la    
,bruyre nearer to ,robert ,louis        
,stevenson than to his own immediate    
contemporary1 ,lord ,halifax4  ,the     

surface of ,la ,bruyre's writing is     
crisp and parched1 but it is easy by    
careful reading to crack it1 and to     
discover the coolness1 the softness1 the
 salutary humidity which lie beneath the
 satirical crust of his irony4 ,he is   
primarily a satirist1 dealing as he says
 with the vices of the human mind and   
the subterfuges of human self-deception4
 ,he lays bare the sentiments and the   
movements of men1 exposing the          
principles which actuate their malice   
and their frailty2 he aims at showing   
that such is the native evil implanted  
in their souls that no one should any   
longer be surprised at the thousands of 
vicious or frivolous actions with which 
their lives are crowded4 ,we note him at
 first as entirely devoted to these     
painful investigations1 and we are apt  
to confound his attitude with that of   
,la ,rochefoucauld1 the weary ,titan1   
who sighs contemptuously as he holds up 
to censure the globe of human           
amour-propre4 ,but we do not begin to   

understand the attitude of ,la ,bruyre  
until we notice that there always is1 in
 the popular phrase1 more in him than   
meets the eye4 ,he is indeed a satirist1
 but not of the profound order of the   
,timons of the mind2 his satire is      
superficial1 and under it there flows a 
lenient curiosity mingled with a        
sympathy that fears to be detected4     
,there is a note of sadness1 a          
mysterious melancholy1 which frequently 
recurs in the ,caractres1 and this      
produces a constant variety in its      
appeal to the feelings4 ,we find the    
author amusing himself by detailing the 
weaknesses of his fellow-beings1 but the
 entertainment they offer him soon      
leaves him dissatisfied and sad4 ,he is 
overheard to sigh1 he is seen to shake  
his head1 as he turns his clear eyes    
away from the self-humiliation of men4  
,there is nothing of this in the hard   
superiority of ,la ,rochefoucauld1 and  
one of the most important things which  
we have to note is the advance in       

feeling which the later moralist makes1 
in spite of his extremely unpretentious 
attitude4 ,la ,bruyre attains to a      
reasoned tolerance which neither his    
immediate predecessor nor ,pascal nor   
,bossuet reached or had the least wish  
to reach4 ,in him we meet1 not commonly 
nor prominently presented1 but quite    
plainly enough1 the modern virtue of    
indulgence1 of tolerance4 ,here is a    
passage which could scarcely have been  
written by any other moralist of the    
seventeenth century3--  ,it is useless  
to fly into a passion with human beings 
because of their harshness1 their       
injustice1 their pride1 their self-love 
and their forgetfulness of others4 ,they
 are made so1 it is their nature1 and to
 be angry about it is to be angry with  
the stone for falling or with the flame 
for rising4  ,here is the voice of the  
man who had lived and who was still     
living in the house of that ,prince de  
,cond of whom ,saint ,simon said that1  
,a pernicious neighbour1 he made        

everybody miserable with whom he had to 
do4 ,i like to imagine ,la ,bruyre      
escaping from some dreadful scene where 
,henry ,jules had injured his dependants
 and insulted his familiars1 or had     
drawn out in public the worst qualities 
of his son1 incapable of affection and  
only too capable of hatred4 ,i imagine  
him escaping from the violence and      
meanness of those intolerable tyrants up
 into the asylum of his own hushed      
apartment at ,versailles2 there flinging
 himself down for a moment in the       
alcove1 on the painted bedstead1 then   
presently rising1 with a smile on his   
lips and the fright and anger gone out  
of his eyes1 and advancing to the great 
oaken bureau which displayed his faience
 and his guitar4 ,he would glance1 for  
encouragement1 at the framed portrait of
 ,bossuet which was the principal       
ornament of the wall above it1 and then1
 listening a moment to be sure that he  
was safe from disturbance1 he would     
unlock one of the three drawers1 and    

take out the little portfolio in which  
for years and years he had been storing 
up his observations upon society and his
 consolations in affliction4 ,presently1
 with infinite deliberation and most    
fastidious choice of the faultless      
phrase and single available word1 he    
would paint the ,holbein portrait of one
 of the prodigious creatures whom he had
 just seen in action1 some erratic1     
brilliant and hateful ornament of       
society such as the ,duke de ,lauzun1   
and the picture of ,straton would be    
added to his gallery3--  ,straton was   
born under two stars2 unlucky1 lucky in 
the same degree4 ,his life is a romance3
 no1 for it lacks probability4 ,he has  
had beautiful dreams1 he has bad ones3  
what am ,i saying8 people don't dream as
 he has lived4 ,no one has ever         
extracted out of a destiny more than he 
has4 ,the preposterous and the          
commonplace are equally familiar to him4
 ,he has shone1 he has suffered1 he has 
dragged along a humdrum existence3      

nothing has escaped him4444 ,he is an   
enigma1 a riddle that can probably be   
never solved4  ,la ,bruyre aimed at the 
improvement of human nature4 ,la        
,rochefoucauld had said1 ,don't be      
ridiculous--a blatant love of self is   
the only spring of your being4 ,pascal1 
less haughty but more overwhelming1 had 
said1 ,insect that you are1 doomed to   
damnation1 cease to strive against your 
own miserable impotence4 ,la ,bruyre's  
teaching was not so definite1 partly    
because his intellect was not so        
systematic as theirs1 but partly because
 he was more human than either1 human   
with more than a touch of the modern    
democratic humanity4 ,his attitude was  
the easier one implied in the sense that
 there is so much that's good in the    
worst of us1 and so much that's bad in  
the best of us that there is room1 even 
among moralists1 for an infinite        
indulgence4 ,his was1 on the whole1 and 
accounting for some fluttering of the   
nerves1 a very tranquil spirit4 ,he is  

much less formal and mechanical than ,la
 ,rochefoucauld1 and he seems to study  
men with less dependence on a theory4   
,his own statement should not be        
overlooked2 he says1 very plainly1 that 
he desired above all things to make men 
live better lives4  ,boileau said that  
the style of ,la ,bruyre was prophetic1 
and ,i do not know that any one has     
attempted to explain this rather curious
 phrase4 ,but we may adopt it in the    
light of more than two centuries which  
were unknown to ,boileau4 ,more than any
 other writer of the end of the         
seventeenth century ,la ,bruyre         
prophesied of a good time coming4 ,he   
did not speak out very plainly1 but it  
is the privilege of prophets to be      
obscure1 and their predictions are      
commonly not comprehensible until after 
the event4 ,but we may claim for ,la    
,bruyre the praise of being a great     
civilizer of ,french thought2 more than 
that1 he widened human social           
intelligence throughout ,europe4 ,he is 

the direct ancestor of the ,frenchman of
 to-day who observes closely and        
clearly1 who has the power to define    
what he sees1 and who retains the colour
 and movement of it4 ,to this day1 as   
may be amply seen in the records and    
episodes of the war1 in the             
correspondence of officers at the front1
 in the general intellectual conduct of 
the contest1 ,frenchmen rarely          
experience a difficulty in finding the  
exact word they want4 ,these men who    
arrest for our pleasure an impression1  
who rebuild before us the fabric of     
their experience1 descend in direct line
 from ,la ,bruyre4 ,it was he who taught
 their nation to seize the attitude and 
to photograph the gesture4  ,la         
,bruyre's express aim is to clarify our 
minds1 to make us think lucidly and in  
consequence speak with precision4 ,we   
have already seen what value he sets on 
the right word in the right place4 ,he  
is the enemy of all those who shamble   
along in the supposition that an        

inaccurate phrase will do well enough1  
and that any slipshod definition is     
excused by our saying1 ,oh1 you know    
what ,i mean6 ,his own style is finished
 up to the highest point1 and it is     
brightened and varied with such skill   
that the author never ceases to hold the
 attention of the reader4 ,he reaches   
the very ideal of that elegant wandering
 art of writing which the ,latins called
 sermo pedestris4 ,indeed1 he gives so  
much attention to the perfect mode of   
saying things that some critics have    
brought it as a charge against him that 
he overdoes it1 that in fact his style  
is more weighty than his subject4 ,this1
 ,i think1 is a very hasty judgment1    
founded a little1 no doubt1 upon a      
certain dread on ,la ,bruyre's part of  
being commonplace4 ,he was dealing1 as  
every moralist is bound to deal1 with   
ideas of a more or less primitive       
character1 to which sparkle and force   
must be given by illustrative examples4 
,these examples gave him his great      

chance1 and he built them up1 those     
exemplary portraits of his1 with        
infinite labour1 accumulating details to
 make a type1 and sometimes1 it is      
possible1 accumulating too many4 ,the   
result is that the ,caractres are       
sometimes a little laboured2 ,i do not  
know any other fault that can be laid to
 their charge4  ,one of the most        
important qualities of ,la ,bruyre was  
that he prepared the popular mind for   
liberty4 ,he is democratic in many ways1
 in his language1 where he often borrows
 words from the patois of the common    
people2 in his exposure of the errors of
 the ancien rgime1 its tyranny1 its     
selfishness1 its want of humanity and   
imagination2 in his hatred of wealth1   
the scandalous triumph of which had     
already reached a pitch which the next  
generation was to see outdone4 ,in all  
this1 as cannot be too often insisted   
upon1 it was essential for a reformer to
 be prudent4 ,the ,people had no voice1 
and that their interests should be      

defended was inconceivable4#ad ,in the  
next century1 after the reign of ,louis 
,,xv4 was over and speech had1 in a     
great measure1 become free1 it was not  
understood how difficult it was under   
,louis ,,xiv4 to express any criticism  
of the feudal order4 ,for instance1     
there is a long passage at the end of   
the chapter ,de la ,ville1 which        
scandalized the political reformers of  
the eighteenth century4 ,it is that     
which begins1 ,the emperors never       
triumphed in ,rome so softly1 so        
conveniently1 or even so successfully1  
against wind and rain1 dust and         
sunshine1 as the citizen of ,paris knows
 how to do as he crosses the city to-day
 in every direction4 ,how far have we   
advanced beyond the mule of our         
ancestors6 ,la ,bruyre was charged1 and 
even by ,voltaire1 with attacking the   
progress of civilization1 and with      
preferring the rude subterfuges of      
,carlovingian times to the comforts of  
#afhh4 ,but he was really making an     

appeal for thrift and modesty of        
expenditure on the part of those        
bourgeois who had suddenly become rich1 
as a satirist of our own day might      
denounce the pomp of a too successful   
shopkeeper1 without being accused of    
denying the convenience of motor-cars or
 desiring to stop the progress of       
scientific invention4       ,footnote   
#ad3 ,perhaps the earliest ,frenchman to
 have his full      attention called to 
the miseries of the poor1 was ,vauban1  
whose benevolence was an object of      
amazement to his own                    
contemporaries4 ,saint-,simon notes that
 ,patriote comme il      l'tait1 il     
avait toute sa vie t touch de la misre  
du      peuple et de toutes les         
vexations qu'il souffrait4 ,this        
would be particularly the case when     
,vauban was writing the      ,projet    
d'une dixime royale1 finished in #afih4 
,la ,bruyre was the first effective     
moralist who realized what a monstrous  
disproportion existed between the       

fortune of the rich and of the poor4#ae 
,if we read the chapter ,des ,biens de  
,fortune we may be astonished at his    
courage1 and we may see in him a direct 
precursor of the revolution which took a
 little more than a hundred years to    
gather before it broke on ,france4 ,he  
describes the great of the earth with a 
savage serenity1 and then he adds1 ,such
 people are neither relatives1 nor      
friends1 nor citizens1 nor ,christians1 
nor perhaps even men4 ,they have money4 
,there are many such maxims in the      
chapter ,de l'homme which must have set 
people's thoughts running in channels   
which had before been wholly dry4 ,la   
,bruyre was not a political reformer1   
and we must not exaggerate the influence
 of his charming book in this particular
 direction4 ,but1 as a popular          
imaginative writer1 he took a long step 
in the democratic direction4 ,frenchmen 
were already touched in their           
consciences and beginning to examine the
 state of their souls with anxiety2 but 

the teachers of the ascetic revival had 
been too uncompromising4 ,ordinary      
mortals could not hope to reach the     
ascetic ideal of ,port ,royal1 they     
could only be discouraged by the savage 
attacks on amour-propre1 while in the   
,caractres they met with a lay-preacher 
who was one of themselves1 and who did  
not disdain to encourage moral effort4  
,footnote #ae3 ,the wonderful passage in
 which ,la ,bruyre      dwells on the   
condition of the ,french peasant of his 
day      marks a crisis in the          
conscience of ,europe4 ,it occurs in the
      chapter ,de l',homme3 ,we see     
certain wild animals1 male and          
female1 scattered over the fields1      
black1 livid and scorched      by the   
sun1 fastened to the soil which they    
delve and stir      with an invincible  
obstinacy2 they have a sort of          
articulate      speech1 and when they   
stand up upon their feet1 they show a   
countenance that is human3 and in short 
they are human      beings4 ,they creep 

back at nightfall into dens1 where they 
live on black bread1 water and roots4   
,they spare the rest of      mankind the
 trouble of sowing1 ploughing and       
reaping what is      required for food1 
and accordingly they seem to deserve    
that      they should themselves not    
lack the bread which they have          
sown4 ,and in ,des ,biens de ,fortune he
 says3 ,there are      sorrows in the   
world that grip the heart1 there are men
 and      women who have nothing1 not   
even bread1 who shudder at the          
approach of winter1 who have learned the
 significance of      life1 while others
 eat fruit forced out of due season1 and
      compel the soil and the seasons to
 indulge their      fastidiousness4  ,it
 was a great advantage to ,la ,bruyre1  
and a sign of his genius1 that he was   
able to descend from the pulpit1 and    
walk about among his readers with a     
smile1 recognizing them as reasonable   
beings4 ,he is persuasive2 his          
forerunners had been denunciatory4 ,he  

may be harsh and sometimes unjust1 but  
he is never contemptuous to human       
nature4 ,he feels that he is addressing 
a wide public of intelligent men and    
women1 whom he would fortify against the
 moral tyranny of the violent and the   
rich4 ,for this purpose1 though he would
 tell them their faults1 he would not   
shut the gates of mercy in their faces4 
,but how admirably he himself puts it in
 his chapter ,des ,jugements3--  ,a man 
of talent and reputation1 if he allows  
himself to be peevish and censorious1   
scares young people1 makes them think   
evil of virtue1 and frightens them with 
the idea of an excessive reform and a   
tiresome strictness of conduct4 ,if1 on 
the other hand1 he proves easy to get on
 with1 he sets a practical lesson before
 them1 since he proves to them that a   
man can live gaily and yet laboriously1 
and can hold serious views without      
renouncing honest pleasures2 so he      
becomes an example which they find it   
possible to follow4  ,when we look round

 for an author of high importance on    
whom the influence of ,la ,bruyre was   
direct1 we find the most obvious to be  
an ,englishman1 and our own enchanting  
,mr4 ,spectator4 ,addison was born when 
,la ,bruyre was twenty-seven2 when the  
,caractres was published he was an      
undergraduate at ,queen's ,college1     
,oxford1 walking in meditation under the
 elms beside the ,cherwell4 ,addison was
 not in ,france until ,la ,bruyre had   
been some months dead2 there can have   
been no personal intercourse between    
them2 but he stayed at ,blois for over  
twelve months in #afii and #agjj1 and   
during that time he was much in company 
with the ,abb ,phlippeaux1 member of    
that family of friends who had so       
efficiently supported ,la ,bruyre's     
candidature to the ,french ,academy only
 six years before4 ,i do not think this 
fact has been noted1 but surely it is   
almost certain that in their talks about
 literature ,phlippeaux must have       
described ,la ,bruyre to ,addison8      

,another contributor to the ,spectator1 
,eustace ,budgell1 translated           
,theophrastus and knew ,la ,bruyre's    
book4 ,dr4 ,johnson mentions that the   
,french moralist is the source of       
,addison's effort1 but ,english critical
 opinion then1 and since1 has held that 
,la ,bruyre wrote without any of the    
earnestness of the moral reformer4 ,i   
have indicated1 ,i hope1 the hasty error
 contained in such a judgment4  ,there  
is one point1 however1 on which it must 
be admitted that ,addison shows himself 
much in advance of his ,french          
precursor1 or rather perhaps we should  
consider it a proof of the advantage of 
,english society under ,anne over       
,french society under ,louis ,,xiv4 ,the
 delicacy and sympathy with which women 
are treated in the ,spectator has no    
parallel in the ,caractres4 ,in that    
volume1 the chapter ,des ,femmes is     
perhaps the least agreeable to a        
sensible reader of to-day4 ,it is       
crowded with types of pretentious and   

abnormal womanhood1 which it caricatures
 very effectively4 ,addison had         
manifestly studied it1 for here we see  
the origin of his coquettes and prudes1 
with their brocade petticoat which rises
 out of the mines of ,peru1 and the     
diamond necklace out of the bowels of   
,indostan4 ,but what we miss completely 
in ,la ,bruyre is that cordial          
recognition of women as the proper      
companions of men and the organizers of 
intelligent society which is so         
admirably sustained in the ,spectator4  
,it was ,addison1 and not ,la ,bruyre1  
who broke down once for all1 and        
finally1 the monkish conception of women
 as the betrayers of the human species1 
which had lingered on so detestably from
 the ,middle ,ages4  ,the influence of  
,la ,bruyre on ,steele is apparent1 and 
may have preceded that on ,addison4 ,we 
may observe that ,steele says1 in the   
general preface to the ,tatler1 the     
elegance1 purity and correctness which  
appeared in ,mr4 ,addison's writings    

were not so much to my purpose as444 to 
rally all those singularities of human  
life1 through the different professions 
and characters in it1 which obstruct    
anything that is truly good and great1  
,the similarity of expression here is   
certainly not accidental2 ,la ,bruyre   
stood before ,steele as a model when he 
wrote1 for instance1 in #agji1 ,mr4     
,isaac ,bickerstaffs portraits of ,chloe
 and ,clarissa1 or the lucubration on   
,deference to ,public ,opinion4 ,when   
,la ,bruyre died1 ,steele was already an
 author1 and what is more1 a moralist4  
,it is impossible not to believe that he
 had been reading the ,caractres when it
 occurred to him that he might procure  
himself a most exquisite pleasure1 by   
framing ,characters of ,domestic ,life4 
,the ladies may hold it to be an excuse 
for our ,french moralist that he was a  
confirmed and impenitent bachelor4 ,he  
thought that marriage enchained a       
philosopher1 and would have said1 in the
 words of ,rudyard ,kipling1 ,he rideth 

the faster who rideth alone1 ,boileau1  
after a visit from ,la ,bruyre1 remarked
 that nature had not consented to make  
him so agreeable as he wished to be4 ,it
 seems that he was shy and gauche1 and  
that he strove to conceal these defects 
by occasional outbursts of a dreadful   
playfulness4 ,there are stories about   
his behaviour in the ,house of ,cond1   
which if they are true seem to carry    
eccentricity beyond the bounds of what  
is permitted even to a philosopher4     
,nevertheless1 contemporaries report    
that1 in spite of his plain features and
 his look of a common soldier 7a        
dreadful thing to say in the seventeenth
 century71 the ladies ran after him4 ,i 
am afraid that when they did so1 he     
repulsed them4 ,he says about love none 
of the charming things which he says    
about friendship1 such as ,to be with   
those we are fond of1 that is enough2 to
 dream1 to speak to them1 to say nothing
 to them1 to think about them1 to think 
of indifferent things1 but in their     

presence1--all is equally pleasant4 ,or 
this3 ,pure friendship has a flavour    
which is beyond the taste of those who  
are born mediocre4 ,or again4 ,there    
ought to be1 deep down in the heart1    
inexhaustible wells of sorrow in        
readiness for certain losses4 ,the      
tenderness of such thoughts as these may
 surely outweigh the dryness of the     
portraits of ,corinne and ,clarice4     
,the career of our moralist1 after the  
publication of his single book1 was a   
short one4 ,his startling success as a  
writer irresistibly pointed him out as a
 candidate for election to the ,french  
,academy1 but here he was met by the    
barbed wire of jealousy and exasperated 
vanity4 ,he had laughed at too many     
pretentious mandarins to hope to escape 
their resentment4 ,at last1 in #afic1   
but alas6 at the expense of a vast deal 
of intrigue on the part of his          
illustrious protectors1 he stormed that 
reluctant fortress4 ,in his ,reception  
,discourse1 he revenged himself on his  

enemies by firing volley after volley of
 irony into their ranks1 and the august 
body was beside itself with rage4 ,no   
pompous ,academician1 for instance1     
likes to hear1 in the solemn conclave of
 his colleagues1 that he is so          
,christian and so charitable that       
writing well may be said to be among the
 least of his qualities4 ,la ,bruyre    
summed up his attacks in a preface to   
the eighth edition of the ,caractres in 
#afid4 ,he then retired again to his    
independence as a crafty old bachelor1  
and ,saint ,simon gives us a pleasant   
snapshot of him in these latest years1 a
 very straightforward man1 capital      
company1 simple1 with nothing of the    
pedant about him1 and entirely          
disinterested4  ,he remained the man of 
one book until nearly the close of his  
life4 ,it is thought that ,bossuet1 who 
had always been his great exemplar1     
urged him to undertake a reply to the   
heresies of ,mme de ,guyon and ,fnelon1 
and that so he was dragged into that    

very painful quarrel4 ,at all events1 he
 started a series of ,dialogues on      
,quietism1 in which all the extreme     
doctrines of ,molinos and his disciples 
were examined and ridiculed4 ,on ,may   
#h1 #afif1 ,la ,bruyre dined with       
,antoine ,bossuet1 the bishop's elder   
brother2 after dinner he took out the   
,,mss4 from his pocket1 and read        
extracts to his host4 ,two days         
afterwards1 after walking in the garden 
at ,versailles1 he had a stroke1 and two
 days after that he died4 ,he had had no
 premonition of illness1 and the rumour 
went round that the ,quietists had      
poisoned him4 ,his body was exhumed1 but
 of course no trace of poison was to be 
found4 ,the ,dialogues1 revised and     
completed by the ,abb ,ellis du ,pin1   
were published the next year4 ,their    
authenticity has been obstinately       
contested1 but1 as ,i confess it seems  
to me1 without excuse4 ,both external   
and internal evidence go to prove1 ,i   
think1 that they are substantially the  

work of ,la ,bruyre1 and for those who  
are not alarmed at theological          
discussions conducted in rather a       
profane spirit1 they make very good     
reading4  ,one last word about our      
amiable author4 ,his great book remains 
eminently alive1 and wields after two   
centuries and a half a permanent        
influence4 ,when you refer to it1 you   
must not expect a logical development of
 philosophical theory4 ,we do not look  
to find a system in a book of maxims and
 portraits4 ,la ,bruyre was a moralist1 
pure and simple2 he awakened            
sensibility1 he encouraged refinement1  
and he exposed the vicious difference   
which existed around him--and which no  
one else had seemed to notice--that the 
possession of more or fewer pieces of   
money made between human beings         
otherwise equal4 ,he had a democratic   
philosophy which is sometimes that of   
,mr4 ,micawber1 ,celui-l est riche qui  
reoit plus qu'il ne consume2 celui-l est
 pauvre dont la dpense excde la recette1

 ,but he is seldom so prosy as this4    
,let us think of him as one who wished  
to turn his talent as a painter of still
 life to the benefit of his nation1 and 
who succeeded in a degree far beyond his
 own modest hopes4                      
,,vauvenargues   ,if we had been in     
,paris on a summer's day in #agdd we    
might have seen emerge from a modest    
house in the ungenteel rue du ,paon     
7,peacock ,street7 a young man of less  
than twenty-nine years of age4 ,it is   
improbable that we should have been     
attracted to him without warning1 for   
though his expression was very pleasant1
 he was not distinguished-looking1 and  
though he was uncomplaining1 his evident
 air of suffering was painful to        
witness4 ,he had the gallant bearing of 
a soldier and a certain noble elegance1 
but a shade across his forehead         
testified to the failure of his         
eyesight1 and he shambled along with    
difficulty on two lame legs4 ,if we     
followed him he would probably take us  

slowly to the ,garden of the            
,luxembourg1 where it was very unlikely 
that any one would greet him4  ,he would
 presently turn out of the fashionable  
promenade1 to contemplate the poor and  
the unfortunate4 ,sometimes he would    
stop those who seemed most wretched1 and
 would try to share their sorrows1 but  
sympathy on the part of a gentleman was 
strange1 or else there was something in 
himself which failed to express his     
tenderness1 for he complained that the  
unfortunate always turned away from him4
 ,if1 at the moment of such a repulse1  
we had addressed him1 and had           
respectfully offered him our sympathy1  
he would have struggled with his painful
 shyness1 and would have told us that he
 felt no resentment against those who   
rejected his help4 ,nothing hardened his
 heart1 and the lack of response merely 
doubled his pity4 ,he would assure us1  
with the pale smile which was the charm 
of his anmic countenance1 that those who
 were vicious were so by their          

misfortune1 not their fault1 and that of
 the worst criminals he was persuaded   
that1 if they could1 they would end     
their days in innocence4 ,with an       
exquisite and simple politeness he would
 leave us wondering a little who this   
pathetic young man1 with all the        
stigmata upon him of poverty and        
sickness bravely borne1 might be2 and   
there would be none to explain to us    
that it was the ,marquis de             
,vauvenargues1 come home a broken man   
from the wars in ,bohemia4  ,this       
inconspicuous personage1 who glided     
almost like a ghost through less than   
thirty-two years of pain and adversity1 
was not merely the greatest moralist    
that ,france produced in the course of  
the eighteenth century1 but was of all  
the world's writers perhaps the one who 
has lifted highest the banner of hope   
and joy in heroism and virtue4 ,in ,la  
,rochefoucauld we encountered a         
representative of the dominant class1   
the prince-dukes4 ,la ,bruyre was a     

typical bourgeois4 ,in our third example
 of the moral energy of ,france we meet 
with a specimen of the petite noblesse1 
the impoverished country gentlemen who  
dragged out a provincial existence in   
obscurity and ignorance1 supported by   
their pride in a long pedigree4 ,luc de 
,clapiers1 whose father was raised to   
the marquisate of ,vauvenargues in      
#agbb1 was born seven years earlier than
 that1 at ,aix in ,provence1 where his  
father was mayor4 ,it is a pleasant     
touch to be told that his father was the
 only magistrate who did not desert his 
post when ,aix was swept by the plague  
in #agbj4 ,there seems a foreshadowing  
here of his famous son's high courage4  
,but it seems also certain that there   
was no appreciation of scholarship or   
literature in the household4 ,no        
atmosphere less benevolent to learning  
can be imagined4 ,the future philosopher
 went to school at ,aix for a little    
while1 and then his weak health was made
 the excuse for cancelling what was     

perhaps looked upon as a needless       
expense4 ,he was thrown upon himself1   
and what education he secured was the   
result of his own desultory reading4    
,vauvenargues never acquired a knowledge
 of ,greek or even ,latin1#af but when  
he was about sixteen years of age he    
came across a book which absolutely     
transfigured his outlook upon the world 
and decided the course of his           
aspirations4 ,this was none less than a 
translation of the ,lives of ,plutarch1 
a work which has had a very remarkable  
moral effect on the ,frenchmen of four  
centuries4 ,we know not which this      
particular translation was1 but it would
 be pleasant to think it was that made  
by ,amyot in #aeei4 ,the effect it had  
on the temperament of ,vauvenargues must
 be told in his own words4 ,he says in a
 letter to ,mirabeau 7,march #bb1       
#agdj7--       ,footnote #af3 ,suard is 
definite as to this3 ,il est mort       
sans tre en tat de lire ,horace et      
,tacite dans leur      langue4  ,i wept 

for joy while ,i read these ',lives' of 
,plutarch4 ,no night went by but ,i had 
spent part of it in talking to          
,alcibiades1 to ,agesilas1 or to others4
 ,i walked in the streets of ,rome that 
,i might argue with the ,gracchi1 and   
when stones were flung at ,cato1 there  
was ,i to defend him4 ,you remember that
 when ,csar wished to pass a law which  
was too much in favour of the populace1 
,cato tried to prevent his doing so1 and
 put his hand on ,csar's mouth to       
prevent his speaking8 ,these modes of   
action1 so unlike our fashions of       
to-day1 made a deep impression on me4   
,he attributed to the teaching of       
,plutarch his introduction to the       
master-passions of his brief future     
existence1 namely1 his devotion to a    
sense of heroic duty and his            
determination to live up to the measure 
of his high calling4 ,in the pages of   
,plutarch he says that he discovered la 
vraie grandeur de notre me2 here was    
exposed before him a scene of life      

illustrated by virtue without limit1    
pleasure without infamy1 wit without    
affectation1 distinction without vanity1
 and vices without baseness and without 
disguise4 ,this boyish appreciation is  
worthy of our attention1 because it     
contains the future moral teaching of   
,vauvenargues as in a nutshell4 ,to our 
great regret1 it is the only positive   
record which survives of the adolescence
 of this great mind1 on whose           
development we should so gladly dwell if
 it were possible4 ,in one of his own   
beautiful phrases ,vauvenargues says1   
,the earliest days of spring have less  
charm than the budding virtue of a young
 man1 ,in his own case those earliest   
days are hopelessly sunken into         
oblivion4#ag       ,footnote #ag3 ,we   
know1 at least1 that he taught himself  
to      write on the sedulous ape       
system1 by imitating ,bossuet and       
,fnelon4 ,he must have been in several  
respects very much      like ,robert    
,louis ,stevenson4 ,his modesty led him 

to distrust      his own taste1 and it  
is worthy of notice that the            
corrections he made to please ,voltaire 
often reduce the      vigour of his     
thought in its original expression4     
,voltaire--      it is beyond conjecture
 why--cancelled the famous maxim1       
,les feux de l'aurore4  ,how harshly his
 tastes were condemned at home may be   
judged by an anecdote about his father  
which occurs in the ,essai sur quelques 
caractres3--  ,anselme was shocked that 
his son should show a taste for science4
 ,he burnt the young man's papers and   
books1 and when he learned that he had  
gone to sup with certain men of letters1
 he threatened to banish him to the     
country if he persisted in keeping bad  
company4 ',since you are fond of        
reading1' he said to him1 'why don't you
 read the history of your own family8   
,you will not find any savants there1   
but you will find men of the right sort4
 ,do you wish to be the first pedant of 
your race8'  ,there were but two        

alternatives for a lad of his class who 
had to make a living1 the ,church and   
the ,army4 ,for ,vauvenargues there     
could be no question1 he was born to be 
a soldier4 ,at the age of eighteen he   
entered the ,king's ,regiment as a      
second-lieutenant1 and he marched into  
,lombardy under the orders of that      
illustrious marshal-general1 the ,duke  
of ,villars1 now in his eighty-first    
year1 but still the unquestioned summit 
of ,french military genius4 ,the idea of
 following ,hannibal over the mountains 
filled our young philosopher with an    
enthusiasm beyond his years4 ,he took   
part in the victories of ,parma and     
,guastalla1 and he was probably with    
,villars at ,turin when that indomitable
 octogenarian died in ,june #agcd4 ,the 
,war of the ,polish ,succession         
presently sank into a mere armistice1   
and until #agcf we dimly perceive       
,vauvenargues sharing the idle and      
boring life of the officer who1 too poor
 to retire to ,paris1 vegetates in some 

deplorable frontier-garrison of         
,burgundy or ,franche ,comt4 ,we know   
that he was dissipated and idle1 for he 
tells us so1 but his confession is      
marred by no sort of priggishness1 and  
it is very important to insist that this
 greatest of moralists never exaggerated
 the capacity of ordinary human virtue4 
,he pretended to no exceptional         
loftiness in his own conduct2 he        
demanded no excessive sacrifice on the  
part of others4 ,suard speaks of the    
sweet indulgence which marked his       
relations with those with whom he lived1
 and he tells us that ,vauvenargues     
gradually rose above the frivolous      
occupations of his time of life1 without
 ever contracting1 in the development of
 serious ideas1 that austerity which    
commonly accompanies the virtues of     
youth4444 ,vauvenargues1 thrown upon the
 world directly he ceased to be a child1
 learned to know men before it occurred 
to him to judge them4 ,he saw their     
weaknesses before he had reflected on   

their duties2 and virtue1 when it       
entered his heart1 found there all      
possible dispositions to indulgence4    
,dispositions to indulgence--we linger  
on this phrase1 which has an engaging   
beauty of its own4 ,it distinguishes    
,vauvenargues at once from all the great
 ,french moralists who preceded him1    
from ,la ,rochefoucauld with his savage 
cynicism1 from ,pascal with his contempt
 of the natural man4 ,vauvenargues      
rejected the idea which had so tormented
 the great spirits of the seventeenth   
century1 that the noblest life was a    
life of mortification1 and he made no   
demand on the soul to divorce itself    
from all human interests as being things
 naturally vile and ignominious4 ,he was
 to come down to us waving an           
olive-branch1 the most amiable of all   
idealists1 an apostle of tolerance4 ,he 
says that he hated scorn of human       
things4 ,to this we must presently      
return1 but we may pause to note it     
here1 as a faint light thrown over the  

obscurity of his adolescence4  ,the     
,marquis of ,mirabeau was the cousin of 
,vauvenargues and almost exactly his    
coeval4 ,the discovery of a packet of   
letters which passed between the young  
men from the summer of #agcg to that of 
#agdj has dissipated in some measure the
 otherwise total darkness which had     
gathered around the youth of our        
philosopher4 ,mirabeau 7who was to be   
the father of the famous orator7 was a  
man of talent1 but violent1 chimerical  
and lawless1 farouche1 as he himself put
 it4 ,later he was the author of the    
redoubtable ,ami des ,hommes4 ,this     
prodigal uncle of the ,revolution1 this 
dangerous and violent physiocrate as he 
called himself1 would seem divided1 as  
pole from pole1 from the                
gently-reasoning1 the                   
benevolently-meditative ,vauvenargues4  
,nevertheless1 they are seen in warm    
relation of friendship to each other1   
and the letters exhibit their           
characteristics4 ,mirabeau shamelessly  

pours out the catalogue of his shifting 
and venal loves1 in confidences which   
,vauvenargues invariably receives with  
discretion1 unupbraiding1 but not       
volunteering any like confidence in his 
turn4 ,a single example must be quoted3 
,mirabeau1 wishing to get rid of a      
mistress of whom he is tired1 but who is
 still devoted to him1 writes her a     
letter of the most studied insolence1   
cleverly turned1 and sends a copy of it1
 with infinite fatuity1 to his friend4  
,vauvenargues replies that he has read  
out this letter at dinner to his        
fellow-officers1 who have been greatly  
diverted by its wit4 ,but1 said         
,vauvenargues1 we are sorry 7that is to 
say1 of course1 ,vauvenargues is sorry7 
for the poor girl1 who shows            
intelligence1 and who loves you4 ,could 
anything be a more indulgent1 or at the 
same time a more definite reproof8 ,the 
germ of the ,rflexions is found in this 
passing phrase1 so unexpected in a      
soldier of that time and place4  ,an    

anecdote1 preserved like a spark of     
light in the darkness of those early    
garrison years1 takes us a step further4
 ,the sentiment of compassion was       
scarcely known to the early eighteenth  
century in ,france2 it was certainly    
never extended to those unfortunate     
women who1 as ,vauvenargues puts it1    
watch for young men as evening begins to
 darken4 ,he was himself accosted on one
 occasion by a girl1 whom he allowed to 
walk by his side while he gently        
questioned her4 ,she easily told him of 
the wretched poverty which had driven   
her to vice1 and ,vauvenargues1 after   
trying to revive in her some sentiment  
of modesty1 left her with the gift of a 
little money4 ,his fellow-officers of   
the regiment greeted the incident with  
shouts of mirth3 such behaviour was     
unheard of4 ,vauvenargues replied3 ,my  
friends1 you laugh too easily4 ,i am    
sorry for these poor creatures1 obliged 
to ply such a profession to earn their  
bread4 ,the world is full of sorrows    

which wring my heart2 if we are to be   
kind only to those who deserve it1 we   
may never be called upon at all4 ,we    
must be indulgent to the weak who have  
more need of support than the virtuous2 
and we must remember that the errors of 
the unfortunate are always caused by the
 harshness of the rich4 ,m4 ,palologue1 
in a very interesting passage1 has      
remarked that we have to wait a hundred 
years before there is a repetition in   
,french literature of this peculiar     
mansutude4  ,bearing in mind this       
capacity for indulgence1 for pity1 and  
remembering how little it was conceived 
in the age he lived in1 we may look     
forward a moment to recognize that in   
his whole teaching ,vauvenargues differs
 from other moralists1 but particularly 
from his great predecessors in ,france1 
in that he has a constructive object4   
,he wishes exceedingly to help the      
unfortunate to live happily1 easily and 
profitably1 and he regards almost the   
whole human race as more or less        

unhappy4 ,his desire1 therefore1 is not1
 as that of the seventeenth-century     
moralists had been1 to put human egotism
 in the pillory and to pelt it with     
rotten eggs1 but so far as possible to  
encourage and affirm a decent1          
self-respecting egotism4 ,vauvenargues  
finds the lock of life to be rusty2 he  
touches it with the oiled feather of his
 advice1 so that the key may turn       
without resistance1 and without noise4  
,he does not profess to strive after    
perfection in conduct1 but after        
improvement1 and he is most careful     
never to recommend violent means or an  
excessive austerity2 nor does he condemn
 or scold1 even when his own humanity is
 most affronted1 but he tries to induce 
every one to make the best of his       
relations with other men during the     
fugitive and frail duration of their    
common existence4 ,if he hated          
anything--in his universal              
benignity--,vauvenargues hated a rigid  
puritanism4 ,in one place he says1 ,we  

believe no longer in witches1 and yet   
there are people who still believe in   
,calvin6  ,vauvenargues was twenty-six  
years of age when the war of the        
,austrian ,succession broke out1 and    
swept him into military action4 ,he was 
vegetating in garrison at ,metz when the
 armies of ,marshal de ,belle-,isle1 the
 gallant and thrice-unfortunate1        
streamed eastward into ,germany and     
carried our philosopher with them4 ,the 
,regiment of the ,king1 of which        
,vauvenargues was an officer1 reached   
,bohemia in ,july #agda4 ,in a night    
attack of extraordinary rapidity and    
audacity ,prague was captured1 and      
,vauvenargues took a personal part in   
this adventure1 which must have cast    
fuel on the fire of his rising military 
ambition4 ,but the conduct of war is all
 composed of startling ups and downs1   
and at the height of the successes of   
the ,french1 their luck abandoned them4 
,relieved by no reinforcements and      
pressed hard by famine1 the army of     

,belle-,isle could no longer hold       
,prague1 and on the night of ,december  
#af-ag1 #agdb1 began the retreat from   
,bohemia which is one of the most noted 
disasters of the eighteenth century4    
,nine days later1 what remained of the  
,french army arrived at ,egra1 but after
 a march through thick fog over frozen  
ground1 without food1 without shelter1  
in a chaotic frenzy of despair4         
,vauvenargues was one of those who never
 recovered from the agony of the retreat
 from ,prague4 ,both his legs were      
frost-bitten1 so that for the remainder 
of his life he was lame2 his eyesight   
was permanently impaired2 and he appears
 to have sown the seeds of the pulmonary
 disease which was to carry him off five
 years later4 ,but his tender heart     
endured what were still severer pangs   
from the sufferings and death of those  
of his companions for whom he had the   
greatest regard4 ,among these the first 
place was held by ,hippolyte de ,seyres1
 whose figure pervades the earliest     

developments of the genius of           
,vauvenargues4 ,de ,seyres was a        
lieutenant in the philosopher's         
regiment4 ,he was only eighteen years of
 age1 and ,vauvenargues felt for him the
 interest of an elder brother and the   
affection of a devoted friend4 ,we can  
trace the progress of the sentiment1 in 
which are fully revealed for the first  
time the peculiar qualities of our      
author's mind4 ,he does not conceal from
 himself the weaknesses of the character
 of ,de ,seyres1 he blames him for his  
lack of suppleness1 of simplicity of    
manner1 of self-confidence4 ,he found in
 him a proud and delicate spirit which  
exaggerated its own frailties and shrank
 morbidly from their consequences4 ,he  
was anxious that the spirit of the young
 man should not be debased by low       
associations2 he did not think the      
slightly older officers who surrounded  
,de ,seyres to be wholesome companions  
for him4 ,the lad displayed a lack of   
moral force2 he hoped to succeed less by

 his own exertions than by the favour of
 others2 he was in despair over his own 
faults without having the energy to     
correct them4 ,it is in writing about   
,de ,seyres that ,vauvenargues first    
defines his central axiom1 that the only
 sources of success are virtue1 genius  
and patience4 ,he observed the lack of  
them all in ,de ,seyres1 and his        
incapacity for expansion made his case  
the more difficult to handle4 ,son coeur
 est toujours serr1 ,vauvenargues       
exclaims4 ,but he nourished a deep and  
ever-deepening affection for this       
sensitive lad1 and became desirous1     
almost passionately desirous1 to lead   
him up to better things from out of the 
mediocrity of his present associations4 
,it appears certain to me that it was   
the study expended on the character of  
,hippolyte de ,seyres and the shock     
received by his dreadful death which    
gave the earliest expansion to the      
genius of ,vauvenargues and left their  
definite mark on his writings4 ,i do not

 know why this all-important episode    
seems to have attracted so little of the
 attention of those who have written    
about him4 ,the ,conseils  un ,jeune    
,homme1 which was evidently finished in 
#agdc1 is the earliest complete work of 
,vauvenargues which we possess2 it      
contains in embryo the whole of his     
teaching as a moralist1 and it was      
written for the guidance of young ,de   
,seyres4 ,on the other hand1 ,i think   
that ,gilbert and other editors are     
mistaken in attributing the ,discours   
sur la ,gloire to the same date and     
occasion2 it seems to me much later in  
style1 and addressed to a very different
 person4 ,the note of the address to ,de
 ,seyres is accurately given in the     
exquisite essay entitled ,love of the   
,noble ,passions4 ,but it appears that  
the edifice built up by the tender      
affection of ,vauvenargues was rased to 
the ground in ,december #agdb4 ,the     
young friend so passionately guarded1 so
 anxiously watched1 died under his eyes 

in the course of the terrible retreat   
over the icy passes of ,bohemia1 a      
victim to the united agony of famine1   
cold and fatigue4 ,vauvenargues wrote an
 loge on his young friend1 which betrays
 something of the hysterical agitation  
of his own soul4 ,here is a fragment of 
this strange document--  ,open1 ye      
formidable sepulchres6 ,solitary        
phantoms1 speak1 speak6 ,what           
unconquerable silence6 ,o sad           
abandonment6 ,o terror6 ,what hand is it
 which holds all nature paralyzed       
beneath its pressure8 ,o thou hidden and
 eternal ,being1 deign to dissipate the 
alarm in which my feeble soul is        
plunged4 ,the secret of ,thy judgments  
turns my timid heart to ice4 ,veiled in 
the recesses of ,thy being1 ,thou dost  
forge fate and time1 and life and death1
 and fear and joy1 and deceitful and    
credulous hope4 ,thou dost reign over   
the elements and over hell in revolt4   
,the smitten air shudders at ,thy voice4
 ,redoubtable judge of the dead1 take   

pity upon my despair4  ,this is a voice 
we hear1 so far as ,i remember1 nowhere 
else in the ,french literature of the   
eighteenth century4 ,there is a certain 
accent of ,bossuet in it2 it is still   
more like the note which a group of     
,english poets were striking4 ,it may   
really seem to us an extraordinary      
coincidence that the loge on ,hippolyte 
de ,seyres should belong to the very    
same year1 #agdc1 which saw the         
publication of ,blair's ,grave and      
,young's ,night ,thoughts4  ,the        
rhetorical turn of the sentences ,i have
 just read was not habitual with        
,vauvenargues2 it was in this case the  
mask worn by the intensity of his       
feeling1 but he confesses in an early   
letter1 ,i like sometimes to string big 
words together1 and to lose myself in a 
period2 ,i make a jest of it4 ,but after
 this outburst of panic grief in #agdc  
we see no more trace of such a tendency 
to eloquence4 ,he became more and more  
completely himself1 that is to say1 very

 simple intellectually1 in a pedantic   
age4 ,he adopted1 indeed1 a certain     
gravity at which we may now smile2 he   
did not approve of fairy-tales and      
fables1 on the ground that anything     
which came between direct truth and the 
receptive mind of man was a             
disadvantage4 ,the disease of our age is
 to want to make jokes about everything1
 he complains4  ,to poor ,vauvenargues  
life was not a laughing matter4 ,his    
health had been completely ruined by the
 disastrous campaigns in ,austria1 and  
by the hardships of garrison life2 and  
he was feeling more and more sharply    
that pinch of genteel poverty which is  
the hardest of all to bear4 ,but if he  
never laughed1 this martyr of the soul  
never ceased to smile4 ,his perpetual   
sufferings did not affect his gentle    
sobriety of conversation4 ,those whose  
privilege it was to see ,vauvenargues   
during these last years of his brief    
existence are united in their report of 
his magnanimity4 ,voltaire wrote1 ,i    

have always found him the most          
unfortunate of human beings and the most
 tranquil4 ,he was notable for his      
indulgent goodness1 his constant peace1 
his justice of heart1 his rectitude of  
soul4 ,his conversation1 so ,marmontel  
reports to us1 had something more       
animated1 more delicate1 than even his  
divine writings4 ,the same acute        
observer noted that in the heart of     
,vauvenargues1 when he reflected upon   
the misery of mankind1 pity took the    
place of indignation and hatred4        
,sensitive1 serene1 compassionate1      
affable1 he tried to conceal from his   
friends as much as possible his own     
pain1 and even when it was evident that 
he suffered most1 no one dared to be    
melancholy in his presence4  ,in the    
fleeting and impoverished life of       
,vauvenargues his friendships were the  
main adventure4 ,we have mentioned a    
name which is too frequently the object 
of malignity on ,english lips1 the name 
of ,voltaire4 ,no one would pretend that

 the multiform energy of this giant of  
literature did not take some unseemly   
directions and several unlovely shapes4 
,but the qualities of ,voltaire must1 in
 the eyes of any unbiassed observer1    
vastly overtop his defects4 ,if1        
however1 we wish to see ,voltaire at his
 best1 we must contemplate him in       
relation to our soldier-philosopher4 ,as
 soon as his health had recovered a     
little from the horror of the ,bohemian 
campaign1 ,vauvenargues took the step of
 writing to ,voltaire1 then a stranger1 
for his opinion on that crying question1
 the relative greatness of ,corneille   
and of ,racine1 a question to all       
,frenchmen like that between            
predestination and free-will to         
,milton's rebel angels4 ,this was       
towards the end of #agdc1 when          
,voltaire1 who had reached his fiftieth 
year1 was recognised as the first living
 historian and critic in ,france1 and   
had been recalled to court through the  
good offices of ,mme du ,chtelet4 ,it   

was1 no doubt1 at a happy moment that   
,vauvenargues' random letter arrived1   
,voltaire responded with ardour2        
,vauvenargues quickly became to him1 as 
,marmontel says1 what ,plato was to     
,socrates1 and nothing in the long life 
of ,voltaire shows him in a more        
charming light than does his devotion to
 the young friend whom he called the    
sweet hope of the remainder of my days4 
,after the death of the philosopher1    
,voltaire wrote a brief1 but invaluable1
 account of their relations1 which had  
lasted1 without a cloud1 until the death
 of ,vauvenargues4  ,he reminded        
,voltaire of ,pascal1 whose incurable   
disease was consoled by study1 but the  
elder friend noted a striking           
distinction2 the eloquence of ,pascal   
was fiery and imperious1 that of        
,vauvenargues was insinuating4 ,the     
powerful physical force of ,voltaire was
 softened by the suffering of his young 
companion1 for whom nature had poured   
out large draughts of hemlock1 and who1 

while all his body sank into            
dissolution1 preserved in spirit that   
perfect tranquillity which the pure     
alone enjoy4 ,although ,vauvenargues was
 twenty years younger than his friend1  
,voltaire succumbed to the gravity of   
his demeanour2 like the fellow-officers 
at ,arras or at ,metz1 we smile to find 
him addressing ,vauvenargues as mon pre4
 ,one of the philosopher's maxims is1   
,great thoughts proceed from the heart1 
and ,voltaire in a note has added1 ,in  
writing this1 though he knew it not1 he 
painted his own portrait4 ,he found in  
,vauvenargues the simplicity of a timid 
child1 and it seems that he had a       
difficulty in overcoming his modesty so 
far as to make him write down those     
,reflections which are now placed for   
ever among the masterpieces of ,french  
literature4 ,it is to ,voltaire that we 
owe the fact that ,vauvenargues found   
resolution enough to become an author4  
,a typical instance of the mixture of   
courage and tact in the young author is 

to be found in the attitude which he    
took up towards ,voltaire with regard to
 the ,marquise de ,pompadour1 without in
 the least offending his tempestuous    
friend4 ,that remarkable young lady1    
then still known as la petite toile1 had
 succeeded in catching the ,king's eye1 
and was soaring into the political      
heavens like a rocket1 carrying1 among  
other incongruous objects1 the genius of
 ,voltaire in her glittering train4     
,voltaire must have boasted to his young
 friend that his fortune was made4      
,vauvenargues surprisingly expresses in 
his reply the evil which must be done by
 great authors who flatter vice and     
think to conceal its corruption by      
heaping flowers over a lie4 ,the        
incident is important for us1 because it
 led ,vauvenargues1 thus disappointed in
 ,voltaire as he had been disappointed  
in ,mirabeau1 to examine into the       
sources of the low moral condition of   
the age4 ,he attributed it to le mpris  
de la gloire1 and he set himself to     

define this quality and to impress it1  
with all the force of repetition1 on the
 dulled consciences of his              
contemporaries4  ,it is extremely       
difficult1 it is well-nigh impossible1  
to find an equivalent in ,english for   
the word gloire4 ,it is a ,french       
conception1 and one to which our        
language does not readily1 or           
gracefully1 lend itself4 ,in the mind of
 ,vauvenargues the idea of gloire took  
the central place1 and we may form an   
intelligent conception of the meaning he
 stamped upon the word1 by repeating    
some of his axioms4  ,he says3 ,the     
flush of dawn is not so lovely as the   
earliest experiences of gloire4 ,gloire 
makes heroes beautiful4 ,again3 ,nothing
 is so essential as renown1 and nothing 
so surely gives renown as merit2 these  
are things that reason itself has       
united1 and why should we distinguish   
true gloire from merit1 which is the    
source of it1 and of which it is the    
proof8 ,this moral union of merit1 glory

 and renown1 in triple splendour        
revolving round each other1 was the main
 object of ,vauvenargues' contemplation1
 and he admits that the central passion 
of his life was l'amour de la gloire4   
,what1 then1 is the exact meaning of la 
,gloire1 which the dictionaries         
superficially translate by glory1--a    
very different thing8  ,vauvenargues    
starts a new conception of the value of 
self-esteem1 or rather of the desire of 
being esteemed by others4 ,the          
seventeenth century had poured its vials
 of contempt over the amour-propre of   
mankind1 and no doubt that had led to a 
corresponding decline in the energy of  
the nation4 ,pascal had severely        
ridiculed the vanity which he says is   
anchored in the heart of man1 and he    
actually mocks at the idea of a desire  
for renown2 expressing his astonishment 
that even philosophers have the fatuity 
to wish for fame4 ,vauvenargues is      
probably thinking of ,pascal when he    
says that those who dilate upon the     

inevitable nothingness of human glory   
would feel vexation if they had to      
endure the open contempt of a single    
individual4 ,men are proud of little    
things--of dancing well or even of      
skating gracefully1 or of still meaner  
accomplishments1 yet those very persons 
despise real renown4 ,but us1 he says in
 one of his noble outbursts1 but us it  
excites to labour and virtue4 ,we note1 
then1 at once that the amour-propre of  
the seventeenth century1 the sentiment  
against which we saw the most burning   
arrows of ,la ,rochefoucauld directed1  
was not the source of ,vauvenargues'    
desire of glory2 that with him renown   
was not a matter of egotistic           
satisfaction1 but of altruistic         
stimulus1 awakening in others1 by a     
happy rivalry1 sentiments of generosity 
and self-sacrifice which might redeem   
society and the dying world of ,france4 
,and this may perhaps at this point be  
observed as the centre of his action1   
namely the discovery that a wholesome   

desire for fame proceeds not from our   
self-satisfaction1 but from our profound
 sense of emptiness1 of imperfection4   
,how needful the lesson was1 no one who 
examines the social history of the first
 half of the eighteenth century can     
doubt4 ,without falling into errors of a
 ,puritanic kind1 we cannot fail to see 
that opinion and action alike had become
 soft1 irresolute1 superficial2 that    
strong views of duty and piety and      
justice were half indulged in1 half     
sneered at1 and not at all acted upon4  
,the great theologians who surrounded   
,bossuet1 the ,eagle of ,meaux1 had died
 one by one1 and had left successors who
 were partly pagan1 partly atheist4 ,art
 and literature tripped after the       
flowered skirts of the emancipated      
,duchess of ,maine4 ,looking round the  
world of ,france in #agdf1 ,vauvenargues
 could but cry1 like a preacher in the  
wilderness1 we have fallen into         
decadence1 into moral desuetude1 but he 
cried without anger1 remembering that   

still the love of gloire is the         
invisible soul of all those who are     
capable of any virtue4  ,it was a       
critical moment in the history of       
,france4 ,after the long and painful    
wars of ,louis ,,xiv4 the army had      
become unpopular2 it was the fashion to 
sneer at it4 ,the common soldiers were  
considered1 and often were1 the         
offscourings of the community4 ,the     
officers1 who had left their homes too  
soon1 in most cases1 to acquire the     
rudiments of education1 were bored with 
garrison life1 and regretted ,paris1    
which they made every excuse to regain4 
,they affected to have no curiosity     
about military science1 and to talk army
 shop was the worst of bad form4 ,those 
who were poor lived and grumbled in     
their squalor2 those who were rich gave 
themselves up to sinful extravagance4   
,there was no instinctive patriotism in 
any section of the troops4 ,what        
pleasure can a man have in being a      
soldier if he possesses neither talent  

for war1 nor the esteem of his men1 nor 
a taste for glory8 ,it is ,vauvenargues 
himself1 who had seen all classes of    
officers1 who asks that question4 ,from 
his ,rflexions of #agdf a chapter on    
,our ,armies at the ,present ,moment was
 omitted1 and not published in its      
proper sequence until long after his    
death4 ,no doubt its searching exposure 
of the rot in the military state of     
,france was the cause of this           
suppression4  ,courage1 he says in this 
deleted chapter of his book1 courage1   
which our ancestors admired as the first
 of virtues1 is now generally regarded  
as a popular error4 ,those few officers 
who still desire to see their country   
glorious1 are forced to retire into     
civil life because they cannot endure a 
condition in which there is no reward   
but shame for a man of courage and      
ambition4  ,these were prominent among  
the considerations which filled the mind
 of ,vauvenargues when1 at the age of   
twenty-nine1 he saw himself driven out  

of military life by the rapid           
aggravation of ill-health4 ,his thoughts
 turned to diplomacy4 ,he greatly       
admired the writings of ,sir ,william   
,temple1 on whom he may have partly     
modelled his own style as an essayist2  
he dreamed of becoming an ambassador of 
the same class1 known1 as ,temple was1  
by their writings no less than by their 
immortal actions4 ,but his inexorable   
bad luck followed him in this design4 ,a
 pathetic letter to the ,king remained  
unanswered1 and so did another to       
,amelot1 the ,minister for ,foreign     
,affairs4  ,after waiting a long time he
 wrote again to ,amelot1 and this second
 letter is highly characteristic of the 
temper and condition of ,vauvenargues-- 
,,monseigneur4  ,i am painfully         
distressed that the letter which ,i had 
the honour of writing to you1 as well as
 that which ,i took the liberty of      
asking you to forward to the ,king1 have
 not been able to arrest your attention4
 ,it is not1 perhaps1 surprising that a 

minister so fully occupied as you are   
should not find time to examine such    
letters2 but1 ,monseigneur1 will you    
permit me to point out to you that it is
 precisely this moral impossibility for 
a gentleman1 who has no claim but zeal1 
to reach his master1 which leads to that
 discouragement that is noticeable in   
all the country nobility1 and which     
extinguishes all emulation8  ,i have    
passed1 ,monseigneur1 my youth far from 
all worldly distractions1 in order to   
prepare myself for the species of       
employment for which it was my belief   
that my temperament designed me2 and ,i 
was bold enough to think that so        
concentrated an effort would place me at
 least on a level with those who depend 
for all their fortune upon their        
intrigues and upon their pleasures4 ,it 
overwhelms me1 ,monseigneur1 to discover
 that the confidence which ,i had based 
mainly on the love of my duty1 should be
 so disappointed4 ,my health no longer  
permitting me to continue my services in

 the war1 ,i have written to ,m4 the    
,duke de ,biron to beg him to appoint my
 successor4 ,i could not1 in a situation
 so piteous1 refrain from informing you 
of my despair4 ,pardon me1 ,monseigneur1
 if it has led me into any extravagance 
of expression4  ,i am1 etc4  ,to this   
last appeal the ,minister for ,foreign  
,affairs did respond in a brief and     
perfunctory note1 promising to find an  
occasion of bringing the talents of     
,vauvenargues to the notice of the      
,king1 but nothing resulted4            
,vauvenargues had been living in a dream
 of military glory1 and had been        
thirsting to serve his country in the   
loftiest and most responsible           
capacities4 ,his very physical          
appearance now completed the bankruptcy 
of his wishes1 for he was attacked with 
the smallpox1 which disfigured him so   
badly that1 to use his own expression1  
it prevented his soul from appearing in 
his features4 ,thus without fortune1 or 
profession1 without hope for the future1

 half-blind1 with gangrened limbs that  
tottered under his feeble body1         
,vauvenargues started on the steadily   
downward path which was to lead in less 
than four years to his grave4 ,history  
presents to us no more dolorous figure  
of physical and social failure1 nor a   
more radiant example of moral success4  
,the alternative now presented itself of
 a wretched solitude in the castle of   
his ,provenal ancestors1 or a garret1   
perhaps even more wretched1 but         
certainly far less solitary1 in ,paris4 
,in either case it would be necessary to
 relinquish all the luxuries1 all the   
comforts of life4 ,he chose to finish   
his suffering years in ,paris1 and in   
humble furnished rooms in the street of 
the ,peacock1 where he was consoled by  
the visits of ,voltaire and ,marmontel4 
,we find him settled there in ,may      
#agde1 and seven months later there     
crept into circulation an anonymous     
volume of moral essays1 which was       
absolutely ignored by the literary world

 of ,france4 ,we do not appreciate to   
the full the ,calvary which             
,vauvenargues so meekly mounted1 unless 
we realize that to all his other        
failures was added a complete disregard 
of his ideas by the literary public of  
his own day4 ,he died unknown1 save by  
two or three friends1 having never      
experienced anything but languor1       
disappointment and obscurity4 ,under the
 pseudonym of ,clazomne1 just before his
 death1 he drew a picture of his own    
fortune and character which proves that 
he had no illusion about himself1 and   
which yet contains not a murmur against 
the injustice of fate nor a breath of   
petulance or resentment4 ,let no one    
imagine1 this portrait closes1 that     
,clazomne would exchange his            
wretchedness for the prosperity of weak 
men2 fortune may sport with the wisdom  
of brave souls1 but it has no power to  
subdue their courage4  ,it is time1     
however1 to examine the actual          
compositions of our author4#ah ,until   

his friendship with ,voltaire began1    
,vauvenargues had not given much        
attention to verse1 but he now began a  
series of critical essays on the poets4 
,he says1 in the course of these        
,rflexions1 that what little he knew of 
poetry he owed to ,m4 de ,voltaire4 ,his
 remarks on this subject1 however1 are  
more independent than he would give us  
to suppose1 and they are always worthy  
of attention because they illustrate the
 moral attitude of ,vauvenargues        
himself4 ,he was not embarrassed by     
tradition in advancing along his road   
through the masterpieces of literature4 
,he was always an amateur1 never a man  
in bondage to the authorities2 he seems1
 indeed1 to have avowed a dislike for   
general reading3 ,pascal avait peu lu1  
ainsi que ,malebranche1 was his excuse4 
,in the case of ,pascal1 we may question
 the fact1 but it is recorded that when 
at last ,malebranche was persuaded to   
read ,descartes' ,trait de l'homme1 it  
excited him so violently as to bring on 

palpitation of the heart4 ,such are the 
dangers of a retarded study of the      
classics4 ,vauvenargues was no less     
inflammable4 ,he met with the tragedies 
of ,racine at a moment when the         
reputation of that poet had sunk to its 
lowest point1 and1 totally indifferent  
to the censure of the academical        
sanhedrim1 he extolled him as a         
master-anatomist of the human heart4    
,footnote #ah3 ,the writings of         
,vauvenargues exist in a      confusion 
which is not likely to be ever remedied1
 for the      bulk of his ,,mss4 were   
burned during the ,commune in ,may      
#ahga4      ,but much gratitude is owing
 to ,suard 7#ahjf7 and ,gilbert         
7#aheg7 for their pious labours4 ,a     
variorum edition might      even yet be 
attempted1 and although not complete1   
might at      least be final4  ,in      
considering the observations of         
,vauvenargues with regard to poets1 we  
must bear in mind that he and his       
contemporaries did not seek from poetry 

what we require in the twentieth        
century4 ,the critics of the early      
eighteenth century in ,france talked    
about ,homer and ,virgil1 but what they 
really admired were ,ariosto and ,pope4 
,voltaire1 the greatest of them1        
considered the pope hro-comique the     
top-stone of modern practical effort2 we
 know what astonishing feats he was     
himself guilty of in that species of    
architecture4 ,but his whole teaching   
and practice tended towards an identity 
of speech between prose and verse1 the  
prosodical pattern or ornament being the
 sole feature which distinguished the   
latter from the former4 ,his own poetry1
 when it was not fugitive or satiric1   
was mainly philosophical1 that is to    
say1 it did not stray beyond the        
confines of logic and wit4 ,at the same 
time1 ,voltaire was an energetic        
protagonist for verse1 and he did very  
much to prevent the abandonment of this 
instrument at a time when prose1 in such
 hands as those of ,montesquieu and     

,buffon1 was manifestly in the          
ascendant4 ,he earnestly recommended the
 cultivation of a form in which         
precision of thought and elegance of    
language were indispensable1 and he     
employed it in tragedies which we find  
it impossible to read1 but which        
enchanted the ear and fancy of          
,vauvenargues4  ,the taste of the age of
 ,louis ,,xv4 affected to admire        
,corneille to the disadvantage of all   
other rivals1 and ,voltaire was not far 
from blaming ,vauvenargues for his      
extreme predilection for ,racine4 ,but  
,vauvenargues1 with unexpected vivacity1
 took up the cudgels1 and accused the   
divine ,corneille of painting only the  
austere1 stern1 inflexible virtues1 and 
of falling into the affectation of      
mistaking bravado for nobility1 and     
declamation for eloquence4 ,he is       
extremely severe on the faults of the   
favourite tragedian1 and he blames      
,corneille for preferring the gigantic  
to the human1 and for ignoring the      

tender and touching simplicity of the   
,greeks4 ,it is from the point of view  
of the moralist that these strictures   
are now important2 they show us that    
,vauvenargues in his reiterated         
recommendation of virtue and military   
glory did not regard those qualities    
from the ,cornelian point of view1 which
 he looked upon as fostering a pompous  
and falsely fastueux conception of life4
 ,he blamed ,corneille's theatrical     
ferocity in terms so severe that        
,voltaire called the passage a          
detestable piece of criticism and ran   
his blue pencil through it4 ,no doubt   
the fact is that ,vauvenargues saw in   
the rhetoric of ,corneille a parody of  
his own sentiments1 carried to the verge
 of rodomontade4  ,the publications of  
,vauvenargues during his lifetime come  
under two categories4 ,his ,introduction
  la ,connaissance de l',esprit ,humain 
is a short book1 and it is also a       
fragment4 ,the author had begun to      
collect notes for it during his         

,bohemian campaign1 in #agda2 but those 
passions which are inseparable from     
youth1 and ceaseless physical infirmity1
 brought on by the war1 interrupted my  
studies1 he says4 ,voltaire has         
expressed his amazement that under such 
piteous conditions1 ,vauvenargues had   
the fortitude to pursue them at all4    
,there seems to be a change apparent in 
the object he put before him2 he set    
out1 like ,locke1 to write an essay on  
the ,human ,understanding1 but he ended 
by putting together a chain of maxims4  
,he quoted ,pascal1 who had said1 ,all  
good maxims are in the world2 we have   
only got to apply them1 but though      
,vauvenargues takes this dictum as his  
text he refutes it4 ,he says that maxims
 originally good1 in ,pascal's sense1   
may have grown sleepy in popular use1   
and may have ceased to act1 so that we  
ought to rid ourselves of conventional  
prejudice and go to the fountain-head1  
to try all spirits1 in fact1 and find   
out what spirits really are of ,god4    

,when ,vauvenargues began to reflect1 he
 was astonished at the inexactitude and 
even self-contradiction of the          
philosophical language of his day4 ,he  
was not1 and probably never would have  
become1 what we understand now as a     
philosopher4 ,he was a moralist1 pure   
and simple1 and had no more relation    
with men like ,descartes or ,berkeley   
than a rousing revivalist preacher has  
with a regius professor of ,theology4   
,the only thing which really interested 
,vauvenargues was the social duty of    
man1 and to discover what that is he    
attempted to define morals1 politics and
 religion4 ,he had an intense desire for
 clear guidance1 and he waited for the  
heavenly spark to fall4 ,he said to     
himself1 before he made it plain to     
others1 that if we are not guided by    
truth1 we fall into the pit4 ,there was 
a certain childishness in his attitude  
in this matter1 for he was inclined to  
regard abstract truth as the only one   
worthy of pursuit4 ,that he was         

advancing in breadth of view is shown by
 the fact that he cancelled in the      
second edition of his book a whimsical  
passage in which he urged people who    
were studying conchology1 to throw away 
their shells1 asking them to consider   
whether glory is but a name1 virtue all 
a mistake1 and law nothing else than a  
phantom4 ,the ,introduction is all      
written in this spirit2 it is a         
passionate appeal to the ,french nation 
to leave mean and trivial pursuits1 and 
to live for pure and passionate ideals1 
for glory gained by merit1 and as the   
reward of solid and strenuous effort4   
,vauvenargues' attitude to the ,english 
moralists has not been sufficiently     
examined4 ,so far as is known he never  
visited this country1 although he       
desired to do so4 ,in one of his letters
 he speaks of intending to consult a    
famous oculist in ,london1 but this     
project was not carried out2 his poverty
 doubtless prevented it4 ,whether he    
knew ,english is not certain1 but he    

appears to have read ,temple and ,locke1
 possibly in the original1 and a        
reference to a remarkable ,english      
contemporary appears to have hitherto   
escaped observation4 ,in the            
,introduction  la connaissance de       
l'esprit humain1 he speaks of a writer  
who has argued that private vices are   
public benefits1 and he attempts to show
 that this is a fallacy4 ,he returns1   
less definitely1 to the same line of    
thought in the ,discours sur la gloire1 
where he denies that vice has any part  
in stimulating social action4 ,it is    
strange that no one1 so far as ,i know1 
has observed this proof that            
,vauvenargues was acquainted with the   
celebrated paradox of ,bernard          
,mandeville1 whose ,fable of the ,bees  
was in #agdg continuing to cause so     
scandalous a sensation1 and was still so
 completely misunderstood4 ,there seems1
 occasionally1 a trace of the idealism  
of ,shaftesbury in the colour of        
,vauvenargues' phrase1 but on this it   

would be dangerous to insist4  ,his own 
views1 however1 were more emphatically  
defined1 and more directly urged1 in the
 other contribution to literature       
published by ,vauvenargues in his       
lifetime1 the ,rflexions sur divers     
sujets4 ,here he abandons the attempt at
 forming a philosophical system1 and    
admits that his sole object is to form  
the hearts and the manners of his       
readers4 ,perhaps the most penetrating  
of all his sentences is that in which he
 says3 ,if you possess any passion which
 you feel to be noble and generous1 be  
sure you foster it4 ,this was           
diametrically opposed to all the        
teaching of the seventeenth-century     
moralists who had preceded him1 and also
 had taught us that we should mistrust  
our passions and disdain our            
enthusiasms4 ,to see how completely     
,vauvenargues rejected the ,christian   
doctrine of the utter decrepitude and   
hopeless inherent badness of the human  
mind1 we have but to gather some of his 

sparse thoughts together4 ,he says1 in  
defiance of ,pascal and the ,jansenists1
 ,mankind is the only source of our     
happiness1 outside that there is        
nothing4 ,again1 ,as it is the heart1 in
 most people1 that doubts1 so when once 
the heart is converted1 all is done2 it 
leads them along the path to virtue4 ,he
 deprecated the constant checking and   
blaming of children which was part of   
the system of education then in vogue2  
he declared that it sapped the          
confidence of the young1 their inherent 
sense of virtue2 and he exclaimed1 ,why 
does no one dream of training children  
to be original1 bold and independent8   
,those who knew ,vauvenargues recognized
 in the purity and sweetness and        
severity of his teaching the record of  
his own conduct4 ,marmontel speaks of   
the tender veneration with which all the
 more serious of his early comrades in  
the army regarded him4 ,in his works we 
trace the result of a curious thing1    
experience superseding1 taking the place

 of1 education4 ,he observed the        
weaknesses of mankind before he had time
 to reflect upon their duties1 says a   
contemporary4 ,his mind1 although       
assaulted by such a crowd of            
disadvantages1 remained calm1 and free  
from prejudice2 remained gently         
indulgent to human weakness on the one  
hand1 rigid in allegiance to his ideal  
pursuit of la gloire on the other4 ,the 
noble movements of his mind were native1
 not acquired1 and he had not been      
hardened or exasperated by the pressure 
of a mortifying theology4 ,he does not  
take so exalted or so pitiless an       
attitude as the classic                 
seventeenth-century moralist4 ,pascal   
scourges the mass of humanity down a    
steep place into the sea2 ,vauvenargues 
takes each wanderer by the hand1 and    
leads him along the primrose path4  ,a  
singular charm in the ,french character 
lies in its gift for composite action4  
,frenchmen prefer marching towards      
victory in a body to a scattered effort 

of individual energy4 ,it was part of   
the constructive genius of ,vauvenargues
 to find the aim and joy of life in a   
combination of sentiment and action1 in 
a community of rivals amiably striving  
for the crown with fellowmen of like    
instincts and of like experience4 ,he   
was of all moralists the least solitary2
 he had spent his life as a soldier     
among soldiers1 among those who did     
their best1 in the midst of hardships1  
to live a life of pleasure without      
reflection4 ,he was no prig1 but he had 
formed the habit of giving fatherly     
counsel which was much beyond his years4
 ,he observes that the advice of old men
 is like winter sunshine that gives out 
light without warmth1 but that the words
 of a wise and genial young man may     
radiate heat and glow4 ,his own advice1 
given first to his fellow-officers1 then
 to a circle of literary friends1 then  
to ,france so long as her classic       
literature finds readers1 was identical4
 ,he hated conscientious subterfuges    

which equalize good and evil4 ,he looked
 upon gloire and vertu as the two great 
motive forces of a sane and beneficent  
life4 ,in this he was unique2 ,voltaire 
notes that ,vauvenargues soared1 in an  
age of mediocrities1 un sicle des       
petitesses1 by his refusal to adopt the 
spirit of the world4 ,he was a puritan  
of the intelligence1 and for the ideal  
of ,sully or ,villars he put up the     
ideal of ,oliver ,cromwell4  ,the moral 
grandeur and spiritual force of         
,vauvenargues' philosophy demanded in   
the disciple a constant exercise of     
energy and will4 ,faith inspired by     
effort was to be pursued through        
sacrifice to the utmost limits of       
endurance1 and with no ultimate reward  
but gloire4 ,this was1 however1         
modified1 as it is in the most strenuous
 direction of character in the          
,frenchmen of to-day1 by an illuminating
 humanity4 ,lofty as was the aim of     
,vauvenargues1 nothing could have been  
more tender than his practice4 ,we are  

told that the expression in the eyes of 
a sick animal1 the moan of a wounded    
deer in the forest1 moved him to        
compassion4 ,he carried this tolerance  
into human affairs1 for he was          
pre-eminently a human being2 the least  
of citizens has a right to the honours  
of his country4 ,he set a high moral    
value on courtesy1 and exposed1 as a    
fallacy1 the pretence that to be polite 
is to lack sincerity4 ,his disposition  
was easy-going1 although his intellect  
was such a high-flyer2 in pagan times he
 would have believed in ridiculous      
divinities rather than set himself up as
 an atheist4 ,he did not believe that   
excess of knowledge gives firmness to   
the judgment1 and he remarks that the   
opulence of learned men often leads to  
more errors than the poverty of those   
who depend on the native virtues of     
instinct and experience4 ,he has phrases
 which seem meant to condemn the        
mechanical emptiness of the modern      
,german system of kultur4  ,full of     

ardour for all that is beautiful and    
good1 tortured by disease and pinched by
 poverty1 but never allowing his        
personal misfortunes to affect his view 
of life1 or to cloud his vision of the  
trinity of heavenly lights1 mrite1      
vertu1 gloire1 ,vauvenargues pursued his
 painful life in the ,street of the     
,peacock4 ,he knew his feebleness1 but  
he refused to let it depress him2 labour
 to get gloire is not lost1 he said1 if 
it tends to make us worthy of it4 ,in   
his curious mixture of simplicity and   
acuteness1 in his gravity and ardour1 he
 was morally just like the best types   
which this great war has produced1 he is
 like ,paul ,lintier in ,france1 like   
,julian ,grenfell among ourselves1      
meeting the worst blows of fate with    
serenity and almost with ecstasy1 with  
no shadow of indignation or rebellion4  
,some posthumous reflections have let us
 into the secret that1 as the shadows   
darkened around him1 he occasionally    
gave way1 if not to despair1 yet to     

depression1 and permitted himself to    
wonder whether all his effort in the    
cause of manliness and virtue had been  
useless4 ,he had not awakened the       
sleepers in ,france2 he doubted that his
 voice would ever reach them2 he asked  
himself whether all his effort had not  
been in vain4 ,this was the natural     
inner weakness consequent on his        
physical state2 he gave no outward sign 
of it4 ,marmontel1 who watched his last 
hours with enthusiastic affection1 says 
that1 ,in his company we learned how to 
live1--and how to die4 ,he lay like     
,socrates1 surrounded by his friends1   
talking and listening to the last2 he   
astonished them by the eloquence and    
gravity of his discourse4 ,his latest   
recorded utterance was1 ,fortune may    
sport with the wisdom of those who are  
courageous1 but it has no power to bend 
their courage4 ,gently but firmly       
refusing the importunities of the       
,church1 ,vauvenargues was released from
 his life-in-death on ,may #bh1 #agdg1  

in his thirty-second year4  ,you will   
not find in the pages of ,vauvenargues a
 distinct revival of that passion for   
the very soil of ,france1 la terre      
sainte1 la douce ,france1 which inspired
 the noble ,chanson de ,roland and has  
been so strongly accentuated in the     
recent struggle for ,alsace-,lorraine4  
,but he recalled to the memory of a     
generation which had grown densely      
material the forgotten ideal of ,france 
as the champion of chivalry4 ,we must   
not forget that we possess in the       
writings of ,vauvenargues merely the    
commencements of reflection1 the first  
fruit of a life which was broken before 
its summer was complete4 ,but we find in
 his teaching1 and in that of no other  
moralist of the early eighteenth        
century1 the insistence on spiritual    
courage as the necessary opposite to    
brutal force and mere materialism4 ,he  
connected that high ambition1 that      
craving for la gloire1 with all pure and
 elevated things1 with the art and      

literature1 with the intelligence and   
beauty of the ,french creative mind4 ,he
 recommended1 in that gray hour of      
,european dulness1 a fresh ornament to  
life1 a scarlet feather1 a panache1 as  
our ,french friends say4 ,and the gay   
note that he blew from his battered     
clarion was still sounding last year in 
the heroic resistance of the forts of   
,verdun4                                
,,the ,,gallantry ,,of ,,france   ,the  
spirit displayed by the young ,french   
officers in this war deserves to be     
compared in many essential respects with
 that which is blazoned in the glorious 
,chanson de ,roland4 ,it is interesting 
to remember that during the long years  
in which the direct influence of that   
greatest of medieval epics was obscured1
 it was chiefly known through the       
paraphrase of it executed in ,german by 
the monk ,konrad in the twelfth century4
 ,many years ago1 ,gaston ,paris pointed
 out the curious fact that ,konrad      
completely modified the character of the

 ,chanson de ,roland by omitting all    
expressions of warlike devotion to la   
douce ,france1 and by concentrating the 
emotion of the poem on its religious    
sentiment4 ,but the real theme of the   
,chanson de ,roland1 as we know now1 was
 the passionate attachment of the heroes
 to the soil of ,france2 ils taient     
pousss par l'amour de la patrie1 de     
l'empereur franais leur seigneur1 de    
leur famille1 et surtout de la gloire4  
,it is a remarkable instance of ,german 
penetration that in the paraphrase of   
the ,chanson de ,roland which ,germany  
so long foisted upon ,europe1 these     
elements were successfully effaced4     
,there was a sort of poetical revenge1  
therefore1 in the attitude of those who 
answered the challenge of ,germany in   
the true spirit of ,roland and ,oliver4 
,we have seen that ,vauvenargues--to    
whose memory the mind incessantly       
reverts in contemplation of the heroes  
of this war--says in one of his         
,maximes--written nearly two centuries  

ago--,the earliest days of spring have  
less charm than the budding virtue of a 
young man4 ,no figure of #aiad          
exemplifies this quality of grace more  
surprisingly than ,jean ,allard 7who    
called himself in literature ,meus74 ,he
 was only twenty-one and a half when he 
was killed at ,pierrepont1 at the very  
beginning of the war1 but he was already
 one of the promising figures of his    
generation4 ,allard was looked upon as  
an incipient ,admirable ,crichton2 he   
was a brilliant scholar1 an adroit and  
multiform athlete1 the soul of wit and  
laughter1 the centre of a group of      
adoring admirers4 ,this sparkling poet  
was suddenly transformed by the         
declaration of war into the sternest of 
soldiers4 ,his poem1 called ,demain1    
created1 or rather expressed1 the       
patriotic passion which was             
simultaneously evoked all over ,france2 
it is really a lesser ,marseillaise4    
,not less popular1 but more elaborate   
and academic1 is ,allard's aviation     

poem1 ,plus haut toujours6--an          
extraordinary vision of the flight and  
ecstasy and tragic death of a solitary  
airman4 ,we may notice that in this1 and
 many other verses describing recent    
inventions of science1 the young ,french
 poets contrive to be very lucid and    
simple in their language1 and to avoid  
that display of technical verbiage which
 deforms too many ,english experiments  
in the same class4  ,it is not1 however1
 so much by his writings1 which are now 
collected in two1 or perhaps three1     
little volumes1 that ,allard-,meus      
strikes the imagination of a foreign    
spectator1 as by his remarkable         
attitude4 ,from the first1 this lad of  
twenty-one exemplified and taught the   
value of a chivalrous behaviour4 ,in the
 face of events1 in that corruption of  
all which could make the martial spirit 
seem noble1 that ,germany has forced    
upon the world1 this attitude of young  
,french officers at the very opening of 
the war is pathetic1 and might even lend

 itself1 if we were disposed for mirth1 
to an ironic smile4 ,but it should be   
recorded and not forgotten4 ,it was     
,allard who revived the etiquette of    
going to battle dressed as sprucely as  
for a wedding4 ,we shall do well to     
recollect the symbolic value which the  
glove holds in legends of medieval      
prowess4 ,when the dying ,roland1 under 
the pine-trees1 turns to the frontier of
 ,spain1 he offers1 as a dying soldier1 
his glove to ,god--  ,pur ses pecchiez  
deu puroftrid son guant4  ,allard-,meus 
at ,st4 ,cyr made all the young officers
 swear that they would not go into      
battle except in white gloves and with  
their kpi adorned with the casoar1 the  
red and white dress-plume4 ,ce serment1 
bien franais1 est aussi lgant que       
tmraire1 he said1 and the rest followed 
him with acclamation4 ,he was one of the
 first ,french officers to fall in      
battle1 at the head of his infantry1 and
 his mother was presented by the        
regiment with his casoar and his gloves1

 worn at the moment of his death1 on    
,august #bb1 #aiad1 and stained with his
 blood4 ,allard offers a fugitive but   
typical specimen of the splendour of    
,french sentiment in the first flush of 
its enthusiasm4  ,on ,march #bf1 #aiag1 
the ,socit des ,gens de ,lettres in     
,paris held a solemn assembly under the 
presidency of ,m4 ,pierre ,decourcelle  
to commemorate those authors who1 during
 the present war1 have fallen in the    
service of ,france4 ,touching and grave 
in the extreme was the scene1 when1     
before a crowded and throbbing audience1
 the secretary read the name of one     
young writer after another1 pausing for 
the president to respond by the words   
,mort au champ d'honneur6 ,in each case 
there followed a brief silence more     
agitating in its emotion than any       
eloquence could be4  ,the great number  
of young men of high intellectual       
promise who were killed early in this   
war is a matter for grave and painful   
reflection4 ,especially in the first    

months of the autumn of #aiad the       
holocaust was terrible4 ,there was no   
restraining the ardour of the young1 who
 sought their death in a spirit of      
delirious chivalry1 each proud to be the
 ,iphigenia or the ,jephtha's ,daughter 
of a ,france set free4 ,it has been     
noted since that the young generation1  
born about #ahij1 had been prepared for 
the crisis in a very significant way4   
,the spiritual condition of these grave 
and magnificent lads resembled nothing  
that had been seen before1 since the    
sorrows of #ahgj4 ,they gave the        
impression of being dedicated4 ,as we   
now read their letters1 their journals1 
their poems1 we are astonished at the   
high level of moral sentiment which     
actuated them all4 ,there is often even 
a species of rapturous detachment which 
seems to lift them into a higher sphere 
than that of vain mortality4 ,examples  
might be given by the sheaf1 but it     
suffices here to quote a letter from the
 youthful ,lo ,lantil1 who was killed   

early in #aiae1 in one of the obscure   
battles of ,champagne4 ,he says1 in     
writing to his parents1 shortly before  
his death1 ,all our sacrifice will be of
 sweet savour if it leads to a really   
glorious victory and brings more light  
to human souls4 ,it was this ,lo        
,lantil1 dying in his twenty-fifth year1
 whose last words were ,priez pour la   
,france1 travaillez pour la ,france1    
haussez-la6  ,a story is told by ,m4    
,henri ,bordeaux which illustrates the  
impression made by these young soldiers4
 ,a peasant of ,savoy1 while ploughing  
his fields in the autumn of #aiad1 saw  
his wife crossing to him with the local 
postman1 who had a letter in his hands4 
,he took it from them1 and put on his   
spectacles1 and read that his two sons  
had been killed in an engagement in the 
,vosges4 ,he said quietly1 ,god has     
found them ready1 and then1 slowly1 ,my 
poor wife6 and he returned to his yoke  
of oxen4 ,it would seem that the ,french
 accepted1 without reserve and without  

difficulty1 an inward discipline for    
which the world had formed little       
conception of their readiness4 ,there is
 no question now1 since all the private 
letters and diaries prove it1 that the  
generation which had just left college1 
and had hardly yet gone out into the    
world1 had formed1 unsuspected by their 
elders1 a conception of life which might
 have been called fatalistic if it had  
not been so rigorously regulated by a   
sense of duty4 ,they were singularly    
calm under a constant presentiment of   
death4 ,when the war came1 they accepted
 the fiery trial not merely with        
resignation1 but even with relief4      
,their athletic stoicism took what      
fortune offered them1 instead of        
attempting to rebel against it4 ,their  
sentiment was that a difficulty had been
 settled4 ,life had been producing upon 
their consciences a sense of            
complication1 a tangle of too many      
problems4 ,now they might1 and did1     
cheerfully relinquish the effort to     

solve them4 ,one of the most            
extraordinary features of the moral     
history of the young ,french officers in
 this war has been the abandonment of   
their will to the grace of ,god and the 
orders of the chief4 ,in the letters of 
the three noble brothers ,belmont1 who  
fell in rapid succession1 this          
apprenticeship to sacrifice is          
remarkable1 but it recurs in all the    
records4 ,god found them ready6  ,when  
all is of so inspired an order of       
feeling1 it is difficult1 it is even    
invidious1 to select4 ,but the figure of
 ,paul ,lintier1 whose journals have    
been piously collected by ,m4 ,edmond   
,haraucourt1 stands out before us with  
at least as much saliency as any other4 
,we may take him as a peculiarly lucent 
example of his illuminated class4       
,quartermaster ,lintier died on ,march  
#ae1 #aiaf1 struck by a shell1 on the   
,lorraine frontier1 at a place called   
,jeandelincourt4 ,he had not yet        
completed his twenty-third year1 for he 

was born at ,mayenne on ,may #ac1 #ahic4
 ,in considering the cases of many of   
these brilliant and sympathetic young   
,french officers1 who had already       
published or have left behind them works
 in verse and prose1 there may be a     
disposition1 in the wonderful light of  
their experience1 to exaggerate the     
positive value of their productions4    
,not all of them1 of course1 have       
contributed1 or would have contributed1 
durable additions to the store of the   
literature of ,france4 ,we see them1    
excusably1 in the rose-light of their   
sunset4 ,but1 for this very reason1 we  
are inclined to give the closer         
attention to ,paul ,lintier1 who not    
only promised well but adequately       
fulfilled that promise4 ,it seems hardly
 too much to say that the revelation of 
a prose-writer of the first class was   
brought to the world by the news of his 
death4  ,his early training predicted   
nothing of romance4 ,he was intended for
 a career in commerce1 but1 showing no  

aptitude for trade1 he dallied with     
legal studies at ,lyons1 and commenced  
author by publishing some essays in that
 city4 ,at the age of twenty he joined a
 regiment of artillery1 and seems to    
have perceived1 a year before the war1  
that the only profession he was fitted  
for was soldiering4 ,towards the close  
of ,september #aiad1 in circumstances   
which he recounts in his book1 he was   
severely wounded2 he went back to the   
front in ,july #aiae1 and1 as we have   
said1 fell fighting eight months later4 
,this is the history of a young man who 
will doubtless live in the annals of    
,french literature2 and brief as it     
seems1 it is really briefer still1 since
 all we know of ,paul ,lintier1 or are  
likely ever to know1 is what he tells us
 himself in describing what he saw and  
practised and endured between ,august #a
 and ,september #bb1 #aiad4 ,this       
wonderful book1 ,ma ,pice1 was written  
by the young gunner1 night after night1 
on his knee1 during seven weeks of      

inconceivable intensity of emotion1 and 
it is by this revelation of his genius  
that his memory will be preserved4  ,the
 style of ,paul ,lintier is one of the  
miracles of art4 ,there is no evidence  
that this youth had studied much or had 
devoted himself to any of the training  
which adequate expression commonly      
demands4 ,we know nothing about him     
until he suddenly bursts upon us1 in the
 turmoil of mobilization1 as a finished 
author4 ,what strikes a critical reader 
of ,ma ,pice1 as distinguishing it from 
other works of its class1 is a certain  
intellectual firmness most remarkable in
 a lad of ,lintier's age1 suddenly      
confronted by such a frenzy of public   
action4 ,there is no pessimism1 and no  
rhetoric1 and no touch of humour1 but an
 obsession for the truth4 ,this is      
displayed by another and an extremely   
popular recent publication1 ,en         
,campagne1 by ,m4 ,marcel ,dupont1 which
 exhibits exactly the same determination
 to exaggerate nothing and to reduce    

nothing1 but to report exactly what the 
author saw with his own eyes1 in that   
little corner of the prodigious         
battle-field in which his own regiment  
was fighting4 ,truth1 the simple        
unvarnished truth1 has been the object  
of these various writers in setting down
 their impressions1 but the result      
exemplifies the difference between what 
is1 and what is not1 durable as         
literature4 ,for this purpose1 it is    
well to turn from ,lintier's pages to   
those of the honest writers of whom     
,dupont is the type1 and then back again
 to ,lintier4 ,all evoke1 through       
intense emotion1 most moving and most   
tragic sensations1 but ,lintier1 gifted 
with some inscrutable magic1 evokes them
 in the atmosphere of beauty4  ,a       
quality of the mind of ,paul ,lintier   
which marked him out for a place above  
his fellows was the prodigious          
exactitude of his memory4 ,this was not 
merely visual1 but emotional as well4   
,not only did it retain1 with the       

precision of a photograph1 all the      
little fleeting details of the confused 
and hurried hours in which the war      
began1 but it kept a minute record of   
the oscillation of feeling4 ,those      
readers who take a pleasure in the      
technical parts of writing may enjoy an 
analysis of certain pages in ,ma ,pice1 
for instance1 the wonderful description 
of an alerte at #b ,a4,m4 above the     
village of ,tailly-sur-,meuse 7pp4 #aca1
 #acb74 ,with the vigorous              
picturesqueness of these sentences we   
may compare the pensive quality and the 
solidity of touch which combine to form 
such a passage as the following account 
of a watch at ,azannes 7,august #ad1    
#aiad73--,la nuit est claire1 raye par  
les feux des projecteurs de ,verdun qui 
font des barres d'or dans le ciel2      
merveilleuse nuit de mi-aot1 infiniment 
constelle1 gaye d'toiles filantes qui   
laissent aprs elles de longues          
phosphorescences4  ,la lune s'est leve4 
,elle perce mal les feuillages denses   

des pruniers et le cantonnement immobile
 reste sombre4  et l1 seulement1 elle   
fait des taches jaunes sur l'herbe et   
sur les croupes des chevaux qui dorment 
debout4 ,le camarade avec qui je partage
 cette nuit de garde est tendu dans son 
manteau au pied d'un grand poirier4     
,devant moi1 la lune illumine la plaine4
 ,les prairies sont voiles de gaze      
blanche4 ,les deux armes1 tous feux     
teints1 dorment ou se guettent4         
,lintier has no disposition to make     
things out better than they were4 ,his  
account of the defeat at ,virton1 on    
,august #bb1 is grave and calm in its   
sad stoicism1 it is even harsh in its   
refusal to overlook any of the          
distressing features of the affair4 ,but
 hope rises in his heart like clear     
water in a troubled well1 and it is just
 after this melancholy set-back that the
 noble ,french spirit most vividly      
asserts itself4 ,in the very forefront  
of physical and moral misery1 quelle    
mouvante comprhension de la ,patrie     

s'est rvle  nous6 ,an army which is     
instantly and completely victorious can 
never experience the depth of this      
sentiment4 ,it is necessary to have     
fought1 to have suffered1 to have feared
 7if only for a moment7 that all was    
lost1 in order to comprehend with       
passion what the mother-country means to
 a man4 ,lying in the fog1 soaked with  
rain1 at the edge of the copses from    
which the ,german guns had ejected them1
 it was at that wretched moment that the
 full apprehension came to ,paul        
,lintier that ,france comprised for him 
all the charm of life1 all the          
affections1 all the joys of the eyes and
 the heart and the brain4 ,alors1 on    
prfre tomber1 mourir l1 parce qu'on sent
 que la ,france perdue1 ce serait pire  
que la mort4 ,this is a feeling which   
animates the darkest pages of his       
book--and many of them perforce are     
gloomy2 through all the confusion and   
doubt1 the disquietude1 the physical    
dejection1 the sense of a kind of       

blind-man's buff intolerably wearisome  
and fatiguing--through all this1 which  
the young author does not seek to       
conceal1 there runs the ceaseless bright
 thread of hope sustained by love4  ,for
 us ,english the book has a curious     
interest in its unlikeness to anything  
which an ,english lad of twenty would   
have dreamed of writing4 ,it strikes an 
,english reader1 in comparison with the 
equally gallant and hardly less         
picturesque records which some of our   
own young officers have produced1 as    
extraordinarily grown up4 ,the new      
generation which ,france sent into the  
war of defence was more simple and more 
ardent at the outset than our own       
analogous generation was4 ,it was less  
dilettante and more intellectual4 ,the  
evidences of thought1 of reasoned       
reflection carried out to its full      
extent1 of an adequate realization of   
the problems presented by life1 are     
manifest1 though in various degree1 in  
all these records of ,french officers   

killed in the months which preceded     
,christmas #aiad4 ,these ,frenchmen did 
not go out light-heartedly1 nor with a  
pathetic inability to fathom the purpose
 for which they so generously went1 but 
they had given the matter a study which 
seemed beyond their years4 ,they marched
 to the blood-baths of ,belgium and     
,lorraine with solemnity1 as though to a
 sacrament4  ,it must be remarked as an 
interesting point that this generation  
had recovered a sense of the            
spirituality of a war of national       
defence4 ,in simpler words1 it had      
recovered that honest pride which       
,france1 in certain of its              
manifestations since the war of #ahgj1  
seemed to have lamentably lost4         
,posterity will compare the serene      
simplicity of ,pguy and ,lintier with   
the restlessness and bitter             
disenchantment of the #ahhj generation1 
which arrived at manhood just when      
,france was most deeply conscious of her
 humiliation4 ,if we seek for the       

sources of this recovery of             
self-respect1 which so beautifully      
characterized ,french character at the  
immediate crisis of #aiad1 we have to   
find it1 of course1 in the essential    
elasticity of the trained ,french mind4 
,the ,frenchman likes the heroic        
attitude1 which is unwelcome to us1 and 
he adopts it instinctively1 with none of
 our national shyness and false modesty4
 ,but1 if we seek for a starting-point  
of influence1 we may probably find it in
 the writings of a soldier whose name is
 scarcely known in ,england1 but whose  
tudes sur le ,combat1 first published in
 #ahhj1 have been the text-book of the  
young ,french officer1 and were never   
being so much read as just before the   
outbreak of the war4  ,the author of    
these tudes sur le ,combat was ,colonel 
,ardent du ,picq1 who fell at the battle
 of ,longeville-les-,metz1 on ,august   
#ae1 #ahgj4 ,he had predicted the       
calamity of that war1 which he          
attributed to the mental decadence of   

the ,french army1 and to the absence of 
any adequate ,general ,staff            
organization4 ,ardent du ,picq had      
received no encouragement from within or
 from without1 and the reforms which he 
never ceased to advocate were treated as
 the dreams of an eccentric idealist4   
,he died1 unrecognized1 without having  
lived to see carried out one of the     
reforms which he had so persistently    
advocated4 ,his tongue was rough and his
 pen was dipped in acid2 the military   
critic who ridiculed the buffooneries of
 his generals and charged his           
fellow-officers with trying to get      
through their day's work with as little 
trouble to themselves as possible1 was  
not likely to carry much weight at the  
close of the ,second ,empire4 ,but the  
scattered papers of the forgotten       
,colonel ,ardent du ,picq were          
preserved1 and ten years after his death
 a portion of them was published4 ,every
 scrap which could be found of the work 
of so fruitful a military thinker was   

presently called for1 and at the moment 
of the outbreak of the present war the  
tudes sur le ,combat had become the     
text-book of every punctilious young    
officer4 ,it is still unknown how much  
of the magnificent effort of #aiad was  
not due to the shade of ,ardent du      
,picq4 ,although the name of that author
 does not occur in the pages of ,ma     
,pice1 we are constrained to believe    
that ,lintier had been1 like so many    
young men of his class1 an infatuated   
student of the tudes4 ,he had           
comprehended the essence of military    
vitality and the secret of military     
grandeur4 ,he had perceived the         
paramount importance of moral force in  
contending with formidable hostile      
organizations4 ,ardent du ,picq1 who    
possessed the skill of his nation in the
 manufacture of maxims1 laid it down    
that ,vaincre1 c'est d'tre sr de la     
victoire4 ,he assented to the statement 
that it was a spiritual and not a       
mechanical ascendancy which had gained  

battles in the past and must gain them  
in the future4 ,very interesting it is  
to note1 in the delicately scrupulous   
record of the mind and conscience of    
,paul ,lintier1 how1 side by side with  
this uplifted patriotic confidence1 the 
weakness of the flesh makes itself felt4
 ,at ,tailly1 full of the hope of coming
 battle1 waiting in the moonlit forest  
for the sound of approaching ,german    
guns1 suddenly the heroism drops from   
him1 and he murmurs the plaintive verses
 of the old poet ,joachim du ,bellay to 
the echo of ,et je mourrai peut-tre     
demain6 ,the delicate sureness with     
which he notes these changes of mood is 
admirable2 and quickly the depression   
passes3 vite notre extraordinaire       
insouciance l'emporte1 et puis1 jamais  
heure a-t-elle t plus favorable  la     
revanche8  ,in defining the particular  
principles which have actuated the      
magnificent ,french ,general ,staff in  
the present crisis1 ,lord ,haldane has  
dwelt on the fact that the ,french have 

displayed throughout that moral effect  
which comes from certainty of purpose   
and which only concentrated thought can 
give4 ,the value which the higher       
authority sets on the cultivation of    
moral enthusiasm is exemplified by the  
fact that the ,french ,ministry of ,war 
has encouraged the publication of those 
personal records1 from which we have    
here made a selection1 on the ground    
that they carry throughout the army a   
contagion of energy and courage4 ,we are
 far here from the obscure jealousy of  
thought which made a military           
representative of the ,british ,war     
,office the other day lay down the      
brilliant axiom ,a hairdresser is of    
more value to the country at war than a 
librarian6 ,such a man could not exist  
in a ,french community1 where1 at the   
very height of hostilities1 so prominent
 a military authority as ,colonel mile  
,manceau could pause to say1 ,let us    
read1 let us give much time to reading6 
,it is a curious reflection that the    

present struggle has been1 for the      
,french1 the most literary of all wars1 
the one in which the ordered expression 
of clear thought in language has been   
most carefully and consciously          
cultivated4  ,this was very far from    
being the case with the war of #ahgj1   
when the absence of literature was      
strongly felt during and after the      
crisis4 ,the old satirist of the        
,iambes1 ,auguste ,barbier1 wrote1      
immediately after the declaration of    
peace1 a poem in which he rehearsed the 
incidents of the war1 and commented on  
the absence from the list of its victims
 of a single distinguished writer4 ,he  
said--  ,la ,muse n'a pas vu tomber un  
seul pote1  and it was out of any one's 
power to refute the sinister and prosaic
 verse4 ,the contrast with #aiad is     
painful and striking4 ,in the existing  
war the holocaust of victims1 poets and 
historians1 painters and sculptors1     
musicians and architects1 has been      
heartrending1 and it can never in future

 years be pretended that the ,muses have
 this time spared us their most poignant
 sacrifices4 ,a year ago the ,revue     
,critique1 one of the most serious and  
original of the learned journals of     
,paris1 announced the losses it had     
endured4 ,it was conducted by a staff of
 forty scholars2 by the summer of #aiaf 
this number was reduced by twenty-seven2
 thirteen had been killed1 eleven       
severely wounded1 three had disappeared4
  ,many writers have asked1 and ,m4     
,maurice ,barrs prominently among them1 
what is the reason of the fact that     
intelligence has taken a front place in 
this war8 ,what has been the source of  
the spirit of self-immolation which has 
driven the intellectual and imaginative 
section of ,french youth to hold out    
both hands to catch the full downpour of
 the rain of death8 ,there is no        
precedent for it in ,french history1 and
 we may observe for ourselves how new a 
thing it was1 and how unexpected1 by    
comparing with the ardent and radiant   

letters and poems of the youngest       
generation the most patriotic           
expressions of their elders4 ,a single  
example may suffice4 ,no man of letters 
has given a nobler witness to the truth 
of his patriotism than ,colonel ,patrice
 ,mahon1 known in letters as ,art ,ro4  
,his novels1 which dealt largely with   
modern ,russian life1 in relation with  
the ,french army1 were virile and       
elevated productions1 but he was a man  
of fifty at the time of his heroic death
 at the head of his troops1 in the      
battle of ,wisembach 7,august #bb1      
#aiad71 and his tone was not that of    
such young men as ,camille ,violand and 
,marcel ,drouet4 ,to read again the     
,pingot et moi of ,art ,ro is to return 
to a book of the utmost sincerity and   
valour1 but it was published in #ahic1  
and there is no touch of the splendour  
of #aiad about it4  ,a figure which     
stands midway between the generation of 
,art ,ro and that of the adolescent     
comrades of a new ,sophocles of whom we 

shall presently speak1 is ,captain      
,e4,j4 ,dtanger1 who seems to be        
transitional1 and to share the qualities
 of both4 ,this name has1 even now1     
scarcely grown familiar to the eye and  
ear1 but it proves to have been the real
 name of mile ,nolly1 whose romances of 
modern life in the ,extreme ,east had   
been widely read just before the war4   
,nolly's earliest books1 ,hien le       
,maboul and ,la ,barque ,annamite 7but  
particularly the latter71 gave promise  
of a new ,pierre ,loti or a new ,rudyard
 ,kipling1 but totally distinct in      
manner from both4 ,dtanger was just     
thirty-four when the war broke out1 and 
he was one of its early victims1 dying  
at ,blainville-sur-l',eau on ,september 
#e4 ,he greatly distinguished himself by
 his personal bravery1 and the cross of 
the ,legion of ,honour was pinned to his
 blood-stained uniform on his last      
battle-field4 ,the tribute of a         
fellow-officer to this devoted man of   
letters may be quoted here4 ,it is an   

example of the sudden and complete      
transformation which turned artists into
 soldiers at the first sound of the     
bugle3--  mile ,nolly proved a          
magnificent soldier4 ,he had a youthful1
 blithe1 fervent and resolute soul2 he  
had the soul of a hero completely       
prepared to sacrifice himself with joy  
for his country4 ,after having served   
valiantly and brilliantly in            
,indo-,china1 and then in ,morocco1 it  
was with a radiant hope that he set out 
for the frontier of ,lorraine4 ',what   
does the life of any one of us matter8' 
he said to me just before he left4 ',all
 that is essential is that ,france      
should live1 that she should be         
victorious4'  ,marcel ,drouet1 who has  
just been mentioned1 was much younger4  
,he was a native of the invaded         
department of the ,ardennes1 and had not
 completed his twenty-sixth year when he
 was killed in the trenches of          
,consenvoye1 in the ,wovre1 when he was 
taking part in the outer defence of     

,verdun4 ,he seems to have been         
distinguished by a refinement of spirit1
 which is referred to1 in different     
terms1 by every one who has described   
him4 ,he leaves behind him a volume of  
poems1 ,l',ombre qui tourne1 and various
 essays and fragments4 ,the journal of  
the last days of his life has been      
edited by ,m4 ,maurice ,barrs1 and is a 
record of singular delicacy and courage4
 ,we see him facing the dreadful        
circumstances of the war1 made the more 
dreadful to him because the horrors are 
committed in the midst of the familiar  
scenes of his own home1 and we find him 
patiently waiting for the signal to lead
 his men into action while he holds a   
volume of ,chateaubriand open upon his  
knee4 ,the reflections of ,marcel ,drout
 differ in some respects from those of  
his most enthusiastic companions4 ,there
 is a note of tenderness in them which  
is unusual1 and which is very pathetic4 
,at the very close of his brief and     
heroic life1 the thoughts of ,drout     

reverted to the historic town in which  
he was born1 to ,sedan which still      
shuddered in his infancy at the         
recollection of the horrors of #ahgj4   
,he thought of the dead who fell on that
 melancholy field2 and then his thoughts
 turned to those dear faces which he had
 so recently left behind4 ,the following
 passage1 in its simplicity1 in its     
sweetness1 deserves to live in the      
memorial literature of the war3--  ,je  
pense  vous1 mes chers vivants1 aux     
mains des barbares en ce moment sans    
doute1 mais en le coeur de qui j'ai foi1
 tant je connais votre dvouement aux    
choses sublimes4  ,mais aussi je pense  
vous1 mon ,dieu1 qui avez voulu toutes  
ces choses pour votre plus grand gloire 
et pour l'tablissement de votre justice4
 ,tous ces malheurs1 ces tristesses1    
tout ce sang rpandu sont imposs par     
vous1 mon ,dieu1 en manire de rdemption4
 ,mais votre soleil glorieux clairera   
bientt1 j'en suis absolument certain1 la
 victoire du bon droit qui attend depuis

 prs d'un demi-sicle4 ,j'y coopre de    
toutes mes forces1 de toute mon me4 ,et 
si vous me retirez de ce monde1  ,dieu  
de bont1 permettez que ce soit pour me  
joindre  ceux qui m'out prcd dans votre 
sjour1 et dont l'affection terrestre me 
fut prcieuse4 ,c'est toute la prire     
ardente que je fais devant le soleil    
levant1 ce jour de ,toussaint que       
sillonnent dj les obus semeurs de mort1 
en cette anne #aiad qui verra rtablir la
 paix du monde1 par l'anantissement du  
peuple barbare1 et la rgnrescence de la 
nation franaise4  ,in most cases there  
rests an obscurity over the brief lives 
of these gallant young officer-authors1 
whose nature was little observed until  
the flash of battle illuminated them for
 one last brilliant moment4 ,we feel a  
strong desire1 which cannot be          
gratified1 to follow them from their    
childhood to their adolescence1 and to  
see for ourselves what impulses directed
 them into the path of heroism4 ,it is  
rarely that we can do this1 but one of  

these poets has left behind him two     
friends who have recaptured the faint   
and shrouded impressions of his early   
life4 ,the piety of ,m4 ,henri ,albert  
,besnard1 who was his intimate          
companion1 and of that practised        
narrator ,m4 ,henri ,bordeaux1 who is   
his biographer1 enable us to form a     
clearer and fuller conception of        
,camille ,violand than of any of his    
compeers4 ,born in #ahia1 he was typical
 of that latest generation of which we  
have spoken1 in whom all seemed to be   
unconsciously preparing for the great   
and critical sacrifice4 ,he was born at 
,lyons1 but was brought up in the       
,quercy1 that wild and tortured district
 just north of the ,pyrenees1 where     
nature seems to gather together all that
 she possesses of the grotesque and     
violent in landscape2 but he was        
educated at ,alenon1 and trained at     
,vouziers1 in the midst of the orchards 
of ,normandy4 ,thus both sides of       
,france1 the ,midi and the ,manche1 were

 equally known to him1 but the ceaseless
 peregrinations which he underwent1 so  
far from enlarging his horizon1 seem to 
have plunged his soul in melancholy4 ,at
 the age of twenty he struck ,m4        
,bordeaux as being the typical dracin4  
,the letters of ,camille ,violand and   
the memories of his friends present to  
us the record of a vague and uneasy     
boyhood4 ,he began quite early to       
exercise his mind in prose and verse1   
but without energy or aim4 ,he was not  
fixed in any plan of life4 ,his         
letters--for he wrote with abundance1   
and something undefined seems to have   
induced his family to keep his          
letters--are steeped in sombre and      
objectless melancholy4 ,he was tormented
 by presentiments of misfortune2 he     
indulged a kind of romantic             
valetudinarianism4 ,in the confusion of 
his spirit as he passed uneasily from   
boyhood into manhood1 the principal     
moral quality we perceive is a peevish  
irritation at the slow development of   

life4 ,he was just twenty-one when the  
death of his mother1 to whom he was     
passionately attached1 woke him out of  
this paralyzed condition1 and it is     
remarkable that1 in breaking1 like a    
moth from a chrysalis1 out of his       
network of futile and sterile sophisms1 
it was immediately on the contingency of
 war that he fixed his thoughts4 ,the   
news of his mother's death1 by a strange
 and rapid connexion of ideas1 reminded 
him of his future responsibility as an  
officer in the coming struggle4 ,he     
wrote1 in #aiac1 ,je m'effraie en       
pensant  cette responsabilit qui psera  
certainement un jour sur moi1 car je    
considre la guerre comme  peu prs       
certaine  bref dlai4  ,having once      
formed this conviction1 a complete      
revolution affected the character of the
 young ,violand4 ,his melancholy ceased2
 his uncertainty fell from him2 it      
seemed as though his soul threw off her 
fetters4 ,from the close of #aiac1 when 
the chancelleries of ,europe were still 

profoundly unconscious of the tremendous
 upheaval which was in store for them1  
this young man1 hitherto so timorous and
 irresolute1 is seen to be filled with a
 species of prophetic ecstasy3--        
,the boundless1 overflowing1 bursting   
gladness6      ,the vaporous exultation 
not to be confined6      444444444the   
animation of delight      ,which wraps  
me1 like an atmosphere of light1        
,and bears me as a cloud is borne by its
 own wind  ,this remarkable change of   
character was encouraged by the military
 discipline which now regulated his     
life1 and which he accepted with rapture
 and devotion4 ,his mother's one aim had
 been to make of ,camille a soldier and 
a ,christian1 and he became the very    
type of that combination4  ,to use a    
striking phrase of ,m4 ,henri ,bordeaux1
 the war found ,camille ,violand in a   
state of preparedness4 ,he saw it       
arrive1 not with anxiety or trepidation1
 but with solemn joy4 ,his father was   
placed in command of a brigade of       

dragoons1 and he himself1 at another    
part of the frontier line1 was given the
 rank of second lieutenant and a command
 which filled him with the pride of     
responsibility4 ,three weeks later he   
was wounded in the head at the battle of
 ,virton1 but not until he had seen the 
,germans1 after a hard fight1 retire    
before the attack of his men4 ,il a     
connu l'ivresse de la victoire3 il a vu 
fuir l'ennemi--so a friend announced it4
 ,he was taken back to the hospital at  
,limoges1 but the victory of the ,marne 
intoxicated him1 and it was found       
impossible to hold him back4 ,with a    
head still bandaged1 he made his        
appearance once more in his beloved     
regiment1 which was now fighting in the 
forest of the ,argonne1 but on the first
 occasion on which he led his men1      
,violand was wounded again1 now in the  
shoulder4 ,he was sent far back1 into   
,brittany1 to ,quimper1 where1 a second 
time1 by a subterfuge he contrived to   
escape from the hospital before his     

wound was properly healed4 ,he was      
absolutely intractable in his           
determination to get back promptly to   
the fighting line3 il tait comme a1 avec
 son air dlicat et tranquille6 ,again   
brought back1 he was set to training men
 at ,quimper4 ,but he could not endure  
the restraint1 and his nerves broke     
down4  ,it was found impossible to hold 
him back1 and on ,october #h the        
military authorities consented to his   
return to his regiment1 and with the    
permission was combined the news that he
 had been nominated for the cross of the
 ,legion of ,honour4 ,the letter in     
which he announces that fact to the     
ladies at home--mes chres ,grand'mre et 
,tante--is charming in its simplicity4  
,la croix gagne sur un champ de         
bataille1 c'est  mes yeux le plus beau  
rve qu'un jeune ,franais pt faire2 je   
regrette seulement de ne pas l'avoir    
mrite davantage2 mais l'avenir me       
permettra1 j'espre1 de justifier cette  
rcompense1 que je considre comme        

anticipe4 ,the official notification    
specifies the wounds which he had       
received and the fact that1 by the      
testimony of all who saw him under fire1
 the young lieutenant gave evidence of  
very great courage and of indomitable   
energy4 ,that he was1 by what he calls a
 queer coincidence1 the youngest officer
 of his regiment and its only member of 
the ,legion of ,honour1 afforded him an 
unaffected satisfaction4  ,from this    
time--the end of ,october #aiad--the    
letters of ,camile ,violand testify to  
the rapid development of his mind and   
character4 ,he loses a certain          
childishness which had hitherto clung to
 him1 and he expresses himself with a   
more virile sobriety4 ,nothing could    
exceed the pathos of his pictures of the
 terrible life in the ,argonne1 and we  
are made to feel how rapidly the        
suffering and the responsibility of his 
military life were bringing out all the 
deepest and most serious elements in his
 character4 ,there is a remarkable      

letter of ,january #g1 #aiae1 describing
 an engagement in which he lost several 
of his best men1 and in particular an   
experienced corporal in whose skill he  
much confided4 ,the briefest fragment   
broken from this pathetic description1  
addressed to his father1 will give a    
notion of the tone of it3--  ,j'tais    
absorb par les blesss dans mon poste de 
commandement et quand je pus me rendre  
dans la tranche o il tait1 il tombait   
dans le coma4 ,ses derniers mots avaient
 t3 ',adieu1 ma ,patrie6' ,pourtant1 il 
me reconnut  la voix1 me rpondit        
faiblement4 ,je l'assistai dans ses     
derniers moments4 ,ce fut bien rapide1  
bien simple et bien beau4 ,j'tais pour  
lui le chef1 ce qui est plus que le ,pre
 et le ,prtre runis4 ,je l'ai bien senti
 l2 quand ce fut presque fini1 je       
l'embrassai et le quittai pour retourner
 aux soucis que nous donne l'ennemi4    
,thus was this lad of three-and-twenty  
fortified and ripened by the arduous    
warfare in the ,argonne4 ,he was now    

spending what leisure the fighting gave 
him in a careful study of ,homer4 ,we   
gather that he had just finished        
re-reading the ,iliad when the end came4
 ,on ,march #d1 #aiae1 at               
,mesnil-les-,hurlus1 a ball pierced his 
heart1 splintering in its passage the   
cross of the ,legion of ,honour of which
 he was so proud4 ,in his pocket was    
found his last letter1 still unposted1  
in which he told his father of a fresh  
distinction for valour which he had just
 received1 and in the course of which1  
with a manifest presentiment of his     
approaching end1 he wrote1 ,je mourrai1 
si ,dieu veut1 en bon chrtien et en bon 
,franais4  ,it is not to be denied that 
ordinary observers were not in any      
degree prepared for the heroic devotion 
displayed by such young officers as     
these at the beginning of the war4 ,the 
general opinion in peace time was       
expressed by ,m4 ,maurice ,maeterlinck  
when he laid it down that courage1 moral
 and physical endurance 7if not         

abnegation1 forgetfulness of self1      
renunciation of all comfort1 the faculty
 of sacrifice1 the power to face death7 
belong exclusively to the most          
primitive1 the least happy1 the least   
intelligent of peoples1 those which are 
least capable of reasoning1 of taking   
danger into account4 ,it was the common 
hypothesis among moralists that1 as     
men's nerves grew more sensitive and the
 means of destruction more cruel and    
irresistible1 no human being would be   
able to support the strain of actual    
fighting4 ,it seemed inevitable that    
soldiers would rapidly become           
demoralized1 when exposed to the        
multifarious horrors of modern          
mechanical battle4 ,nothing1 therefore1 
could have been more surprising than the
 temper shown by thousands of young men1
 suddenly called up from sedentary and  
safe pursuits1 and confronted by the    
terrors of shrapnel and liquid fire and 
mines and gas1 and all the other        
horrible ingenuities of an unseen enemy 

for killing and mutilating4 ,their      
imaginations were unaccustomed to these 
terrors1 it is true1 but the higher     
faculties of the human mind asserted    
themselves1 and in the vague collective 
battle of the trenches these young      
,french officers2 despite the refinement
 and the security in which they had     
always been acustomed to exist1         
instantly reverted to the chivalrous    
attitude which their remote ancestors   
had adopted in a warfare that was       
romantic and personal in its            
individualism4  ,no doubt a not         
inconsiderable part of the serenity1    
which is so remarkably evident in the   
letters and journals of these young men1
 was due to the fact that they had      
arrived1 for the first time1 at a       
comprehension of the unity of life4     
,there is no tedious alternative of     
choice in the active military career4   
,all is regulated1 all is arranged in   
accordance with a hierarchical          
discipline1 and war becomes what        

dogmatic religion is to a weak soul that
 has been tossed about by the waves of  
doubt4 ,it must be also borne in mind   
that the incessant dread of invasion1   
especially in the neighbourhood of the  
eastern frontier1 had kept the spirits  
of those who knew that responsibility   
would fall upon them1 in a state of     
unceasing agitation4 ,it is a paralyzing
 thing to exist under a perpetual menace
 which nothing can precipitate and yet  
nothing can avert4 ,captain ,belmont1 in
 his admirable letters1 speaks much of  
the romanticism which attracted many of 
his companions1 and of the natural      
satisfaction which the declaration of   
war gave to their restless faculties4   
,the two sentiments were probably one   
and the same1 and to a poetical         
temperament that might well seem        
romantic which filled a less vivid mind 
with restlessness and languor4  ,it is  
noticeable1 too1 that when once the     
sickening suspense was removed1 and the 
path of pain and glory lay clear before 

these youthful spirits1 they grew very  
rapidly in intellectual stature4 ,they  
had found their equilibrium1 and no more
 time and force were wasted in useless  
oscillations4 ,each of them had1 at     
last1 the occasion1 and therefore the   
power1 to fill out the lines of his     
proper individuality4 ,as ,m4 ,henri    
,bordeaux excellently says1 ,l'esprit   
inquiet ne se contente de rien1 le coeur
 inapais se croit incompris4 ,but now   
these men knew their vocation1 and a    
precocious experience of life developed 
in them a temper of meditation4 ,it is  
extraordinary what an intelligent       
philosophy1 what a delicate study of    
nature1 were revealed at once in the    
writings of these heroic boys of twenty4
 ,lieutenant ,belmont1 who fought in    
,alsace1 had spent his infancy and      
adolescence in the neighbourhood of     
,grenoble1 and his memory was full of   
the rich ,dauphin valley1 with its great
 river and its eastern horizon of the   
,alps4 ,in the misery of the ,september 

nights of #aiad1 in the harshness of    
misty mornings among the ,alsatian      
pines1 his thoughts return to the       
luminous twilights of his old home under
 the great oaks of the ,isre1 and he    
expresses his nostalgia in terms of the 
most exquisite and the most unstudied   
grace4 ,here is a fragment of one of his
 letters home 7,october #aiad73--  ,les 
journes sont exquises1 tristes et ples1 
galement diffrentes des crudits de nos  
ides et des tnbres de l'hiver4          
,l'imagination a vite fait de s'envoler1
  travers cette lumire adoucie1 vers    
tous les horizons familiers de la petite
 patrie1 vers la valle de ,grenoble1    
paresseusement allonge dans ce bain de  
lger soleil1 au pied des ,alpes dj      
engourdies1 vers les terres rousses de  
,lonnes longes par les futaies          
jaunissantes o s'abritent les gibiers1  
tranquilles cette anne4  ,no doubt1 the 
reason why this war has been1 for       
,france1 so peculiarly a literary war1  
is that the mechanical life in the      

trenches1 alternately so violent and so 
sedentary1 has greatly enforced the     
habit of sustained contemplation based  
on a vivid and tragic experience4 ,this 
has encouraged1 and in many instances   
positively created1 a craving for       
literary expression1 which has found    
abundant opportunity for its exercise in
 letters1 journals1 and poems2 and what 
it has particularly developed is a form 
of literary art in which ,frenchmen     
above all other races have always       
excelled1 that analysis of feeling which
 has been defined as le travail de      
ciselure morale4 ,this moral            
carved-work1 or chasing1 as of a        
precious metal1 revealing the rarity and
 value of spiritual surfaces1 is        
characteristic of the journals of ,paul 
,lintier1 of the beauty of which we have
 already spoken4 ,his art expends itself
 in the effect of outward things on the 
soul4 ,he speaks of mysterious sights1  
half-witnessed in the gloaming1 of      
sinister noises which have to be left   

unexplained4 ,he does not shrink from a 
record of unlovely things1 of those evil
 thoughts which attend upon the rancour 
of defeat1 of the suspicion of treason  
which comes to dejected armies like a   
breath of poison-gas4 ,that portion of  
his ,souvenirs which deals with the days
 of the retreat on ,paris is written in 
a spasm of savage anger2 a whole new    
temper is instantly revealed when once  
the tide turns at ,nanteuil4 ,nature    
herself thus endorses his new mood1 as  
he writes ,there are still clouds heaped
 up to the west1 but the blue1 that     
cheers us1 is chasing them all away4    
,among the noble young poets whose      
pathetic and admirable fragments the    
piety of surviving friends has          
preserved1 it is difficult to select one
 name rather than another4 ,but in the  
rank of these ,rupert ,brookes and      
,julian ,grenfells and ,charles ,listers
 of ,france1 we may perhaps pause before
 the ardent figure of ,jacques de       
,choudens4 ,he was a ,breton1 and was   

trained for the law on the other side of
 ,france1 at ,lille4 ,he found that the 
call of the sea was irresistible1 and   
after two years at a desk in that dreary
 and dusty city1 he suddenly flung up   
his cap and would have no more of such  
drudgery4 ,to the despair of his family1
 he started on the high seas1 and       
explored the wonderland of ,haiti4      
,after various adventures1 he was about 
to return to ,france1 when the sea again
 took him by the throat1 and he         
vanished1 like ,robert ,louis           
,stevenson1 in the ,pacific4 ,having    
sailed twice round the world1 beyond the
 sunset and the baths of all the western
 stars1 a tired ,ulysses under thirty1  
,jacques de ,choudens had just come back
 to ,france when the war seized him with
 a fresh and deep enchantment4 ,he      
entered into it with a profound ardour1 
and proved himself to possess           
exceptional military qualities4 ,he was 
severely wounded on the second day of   
the battle of ,charleroi1 but slowly    

recovered1 only to be killed in an      
engagement on ,june #ac1 #aiae4 ,his    
poems1 written since war broke out1 have
 been carefully collected and published 
by his friend1 ,m4 ,charles ,torquet4   
,they are few1 and they suffer from a   
certain hardness of touch2 ,jacques de  
,choudens had1 as yet1 a deeper         
acquaintance with life than with        
literature2 but they breathe a spirit of
 high and romantic heroism4 ,let the    
sonnet called ,autre ,prire be offered  
as an example3--       ,terres1 fleuves1
 forts1  puissances occultes1           
,c'est votre me qui bat au bleu de nos  
poignets2      ,notre orgueil s'est     
enfin cabr sous les insultes      ,dont1
 depuis quarante ans1  ,france1 tu      
saignais4       ,dans le livre o        
s'apprend le plus hautain des cultes1   
,marque la page avec nos sabres pour    
signets2      ,ceins la couronne d'or   
qu'en l',an deux tu ceignais1      ,car 
c'est dans notre chair  nous que tu la  
sculptes4       ,france6 ,france6 ,bnis 

chaque arme et chaque front2      ,c'est
 d'ardeur1 non de peur1 que tremble     
l'peron4      ,nous sommes tes martyrs  
volontaires1 superbes1       ,sous      
l'aurole d'or des galons du kpi4444     
,nous allons prparer aux faucilles des  
gerbes1      ,puisqu'o tombe un soldat  
pousse un nouvel pi4  ,the poet1 shortly
 before he fell1 wrote to a friend ,nous
 travaillerons mieux aprs la victoire1  
ce que nous ferons ayant t mri par la   
fatigue et les angoisses4 ,la vie est   
bonne et belle et la guerre est une     
chose bien amusante4 ,this is the type  
of ,frenchman who fights for the love of
 fighting1 who puts above all other     
happiness the prize of military honour  
and glory won in a good cause4 ,we meet 
with it in the lyrical effusion of an   
adventurous poet like ,jacques de       
,choudens and in the straightforward    
evidence of a practised soldier like    
,captain ,hassler1 whose ,ma ,campagne  
is a record extraordinary alike for its 
courage1 for its vivacity1 and for its  

modesty4  ,the peculiar spirit of ardent
 gallantry to which we have dedicated   
these few pages is illustrated1 as will 
be observed1 by examples taken without  
exception from the first months of the  
war4 ,it would be rash to say1 without a
 careful sifting of evidence1 how much  
of this sentiment survived the days     
which preceded the battle of the ,marne4
 ,france has1 in the succession of her  
attacks up to the present hour1         
continued and confirmed the magnificent 
tradition of her courage4 ,but it is    
impossible to overlook the elements     
which have taken the romantic colour out
 of the struggle4 ,no chivalry could    
survive close experience of the vile and
 bestial cruelty of ,german methods4    
,the sad and squalid aspects of a war of
 resistance1 fought in the very bleeding
 flesh of the beloved mother-country1   
were bound to be fatal to cette bonne   
humeur bienfaisante which so            
marvellously characterized the young    
,french officers of ,august #aiad4      

,moreover1 the mere physical element of 
fatigue has been enough to quench that  
first radiant flame4 ,we find it        
deadening1 at last1 even the high spirit
 of ,paul ,lintier1 and we listen to his
 confession3 ,to sleep6 to sleep6 ,o to 
live without a thought1 in absolute     
silence4 ,to live1 after having so often
 nearly died4 ,i could sleep for days1  
and days1 and days6  ,these are         
considerations which belong to a heavier
 and a wearier time4 ,as a matter of    
history--so that in our hurrying times a
 gesture of so much beauty may not1     
because it was so ephemeral1 be         
forgotten--,i have endeavoured to catch 
a reflection of the glow which blazed in
 the hearts of young intellectual       
officers at the very beginning of the   
war4 ,if in the inevitable wear and tear
 of the interminable struggle1 this     
beauty fades into the light of common   
day1 so much the more is there need that
 we should fix it in memory1 since in a 
world which savagery and treason have   

made so hideous1 we cannot afford to let
 this jewel of pure moral beauty be     
trampled into oblivion4          breve  
et irreparabile tempus      ,omnibus est
 vitae2 sed famam extendere facti       
,hoc virtutis opus4                     
,,bibliographical ,,note   ,the writings
 of ,la ,rochefoucauld were subjected to
 accurate and detailed examination in   
the edition begun by ,gilbert in #ahfh1 
and brought to a pause at his untimely  
death in #ahgj4 ,it was completed in    
#ahhc by ,j4 ,gourdault4 ,after the     
lapse of half a century1 the short      
biography by ,gilbert1 with which this  
edition began1 naturally requires some  
revision1 and is open to several        
additions4 ,an earlier volume 7#ahfc71  
by ,e4 de ,barthlemy1 is of a more      
technical character1 but may be referred
 to with advantage by those curious     
regarding detail4 ,the ,,mss of         
,rochefoucauld still in existence--one  
of these1 known as the ,liancourt ,,ms41
 is in the ,duke's handwriting--are     

numerous1 and may still1 no doubt1      
reward investigation4 ,the best recent  
summary is that by ,j4 ,bourdeau        
7#ahie71 published in ,m4 ,jusserand's  
charming series4 ,there is not1 so far  
as ,i am aware1 any ,english biography  
of the author of the ,maximes4  ,the    
complete works of ,la ,bruyre were      
elaborately edited in three volumes     
7#ahfe-ahgh7 by ,g4 ,servois4 ,much     
curious information is to be found in   
,allaire's ,la ,bruyre dans la ,maison  
de ,cond 7#ahhg71 and an excellent      
summary in the ,life by ,m ,paul        
,morillot1 #aijd4 ,but the latest and   
fullest account of ,la ,bruyre's career 
is to be found in ,m4 ,emile ,magne's   
,preface to the selected works 7#aiad74 
,editions of ,les ,caractres are        
countless4  ,the writings of            
,vauvenargues were collected by the     
,marquis de ,portia in #agig1 by ,suard 
in #ahjf1 by ,brire in #ahba1 by        
,gilbert in #aheg1 and again in #ahgd2  
each of these editions added            

considerably to knowledge4 ,the only    
recent ,life is that by ,m ,maurice     
,palologue 7#ahij74  ,the principal     
volumes referred to in ,the ,gallantry  
of ,france are the   following3--  ,ma  
,pice ,souvenir d'un canonnier de #aiad4
 ,par ,paul ,lintier4 ,paris3           
,librairie ,plon1 #aiaf4  ,anthologie   
des crivains franais morts pour la      
,patrie4 ,par ,carlos   ,larronde4      
,prface de ,maurice ,barrs4 ,i-,,iv4    
,paris3 ,larousse4 #aiaf-aiag  ,la      
,jeunesse ,nouvelle4 ,par ,henri        
,bordeaux4 ,paris3 ,librairie ,plon     
#aiag4  ,en ,campagne 7#aiad-aiae74     
,impression d'un officier de ,lgre4 ,par
   ,marcel ,dupont4 ,paris3 ,librairie  
,plon4 #aiaf4  ,ma ,campagne de jour de 
jour4 ,par le ,capitaine ,hassler4      
,paris3   ,librairie ,plon4 #aiag4      
,,index   ,academy1 ,french1 #ia        
,addison1 at ,blois1 #hg1hh             
----compared with ,la ,bruyre1 #hg      
d',ailly1 ,abb1 #bb  ,aix in ,provence1 
#ajj  ,alenon1 #aee  ,allard1 ,jean1    

#acf-ach  ,alsace1 #afb                 
,alsace-,lorraine1 #acb  ,amelot1 #aah  
,amyot1 ,jacques1 #ii  ,anne of         
,austria1 #aa1 #ac  ,anne of ,england1  
#hh  ,apemantus1 #f  ,argonne1 the1 #aeg
  d',argonne1 ,bonaventure1 #fa n4      
,arnauld 7d',andilly71 #bb  ,augustine1 
,st41 #dc   ,barbier1 ,auguste1 #aej    
,barrs1 ,m4 ,maurice1 xiii1 xv1 #aec    
,belgium1 #adf  ,bellay1 ,joachim du1   
#adh  ,belle-,isle1 ,marshal de1        
#ajf-ajg  ,belmont1 the brothers1 #adj1 
#afa1 #afb  ,berkeley1 ,bishop1 #abe    
,besnard1 ,h ,a41 #aee  ,blair's ,grave1
 #aaj  ,blue ,room1 the1 #h  ,bohemia1  
the campaign in1 #ih1 #ajg1 #aji1 #aab  
,bohemia1 ,queen of1 #cc  ,boileau1 xix1
 #dg1 #gj1 #hb  ,bordeaux1 ,m ,henri1   
#aci1 #aeg1 #afb  ,bossuet1 ,antoine1   
#ib  ,bossuet 7,bishop71#ce1 #dd1 #dg1  
#fa1 #fb1 #gf1 #ia1 #aja n4 #aaj1 #aaf  
,bouillon1 ,godefroi de1 #eh  ,bourbon1 
,duc de1 #fa  ,brillon1 #ee  ,brooke1   
,rupert1 #aca1 #afd  ,brunetire1        
,ferdinand1 #cb n4  ,buckingham1 ,duke  

of1 #aa  ,budgell1 ,eustace1 #hh        
,burney1 ,fanny1 #fb  ,bussy-,rabutin1  
#de1 #gj   ,caen1 #ei1 #fj1 #fd         
,calvin1 #ajf  ,casaubon1 #gj  ,chambre 
des ,sublimes1 #dg  ,champagne1 #aci    
,chanson de ,roland1 #acb1 #ace         
,chateaubriand1 #aec  ,chtelet1 ,mme du1
 #aab  ,chevreuse1 ,mme de1 #ad         
,choudens1 ,jacques de1 #afd-f          
,clapiers1 ,luc de1 #ii see             
,vauvenargues  ,coleridge1 his          
,table-,talk1 #bi  ,commune1 the1 #aba  
n4  ,cond1 ,prince de 7the ,grand       
,cond71 #ai1 #fa1 #fc1 #fd  ,consenvoye1
 #aeb  ,conti1 ,prince de1 #ad          
,corneille1 ,pierre1 #abc1 #abd1 his    
,pulchrie1 #dh  ,cousin1 ,victor1 #cb   
,cromwell1 ,oliver1 #abi   ,decourcelle1
 ,m4 ,pierre1 #ach  ,descartes1 #cc1    
#abb1 #abe  ,dtanger1 ,capt ,e ,j41     
#aea1 #aeb  ,drouet1 ,marcel1 #aea-aed  
,dupont1 ,marcel1 his ,en ,campagne1    
#adc  ,duryer1 his tragedy of ,alcyone1 
#ah  ,dyke1 ,daniel1 his ,mystery of    
,self-deceiving1 #bh   ,egra1 #ajg      

d',enghien1 ,henri ,jules1 ,duc1 #fc    
,esprit1 ,jacques1 #cj-cb1 #ej n        
,fnelon1 #ce1 #ia1 #aja n4  ,fontenelle1
 #fa1 #fi n42 described as ,cydias1 #fh 
,fresnes1 ,chteau de1 #cf  ,fronde1 the1
 #ac1 #bj1 #bd  ,fuller1 ,thomas1 #bh1  
#gd   ,gilbert1 #aji  ,gourville1 #ah   
,grenfell1 ,julian1 #aca1 #afd          
,grenoble1 #afb1 #afc  ,grignan1 ,mme   
de1 #ci n1 #dh  ,guastalla1 victory at1 
#ajb  ,guienne1 #ae  ,guillot1 ,lon1 xv 
,guyon1 ,mme1 #ia   ,haldane1 ,lord1    
quoted1 #adi1 #agd  ,halifax1 ,earl of1 
#gg1 #gh  ,haraucourt1 ,m4,e41 #ada     
,hassler1 ,capt1 his ,ma ,campagne1 #aff
  d',hautefort1 ,mlle1 #aa  ,helvtius1  
#db  ,hobbes1 his ,leviathan1 #cc1 #cd  
,huet1 ,bishop of ,avranches1 #cg       
,jansenists1 #bg1 #cc1 #abg             
,jeandelincourt1 #ada  ,jesuits1 #cc    
,johnson1 ,dr41 #hh  ,jouy1 ,ernest1 #bh
   ,kipling1 ,rudyard1 #aeb1 quoted1 #ij
  ,konrad1 the monk1 #ace-f   ,la       
,bruyre1 #ee-ic2 birth and parentage1   
#eh2 ,la ,bruyre at ,chantilly1   #fd2  

contrasted with ,la ,rochefoucauld1 #eg1
 described as ,mnippe1   #fe1 in the    
,house of ,cond1 #fe1 #ij1 at           
,fontainebleau1 #fd1 ,paris1 #fd2   at  
,versailles1 #fd2 his ,caractres1       
#ee-eg2 #ff-gb1 #gf1 #gh1 #hc1 his      
,dialogues1 #ib  ,la ,bruyre1 ,louis1   
#eh  ,la ,fayette1 ,mme de1 #cf1 #cg1   
#ci1 #de1 #df1 #dh-ej  ,la ,fontaine1   
#dg2 ,fables of1 #di n  ,lagrange1      
,henri1 xiv  ,lamb1 ,charles1 #eh       
,lantil1 ,lo1 #aci  ,la ,rochefoucauld1 
,duc de1 #c-eb1 birth and descent1 #h1  
#i2 marriage1   #aj2 his ,letters1 his  
,maximes1 xvi1 #d-f1 #cc1dg1 #ea1 #eb1  
#eg1 his   ,mmoires1 #i-ag1 #ba1 #bc-be2
 his portrait by himself1 #bb-be by     
,petitot1 #ai1 by ,cardinal de ,retz1   
#ag  ,lauzun1 ,duc de1 #hj  ,la ,vergne1
 ,marie de1 see ,la ,fayette1 ,mme de   
,lille1 #afd  ,lintier1 ,paul1 #c1 #d1  
#aca1 #adj-adi1 #afc1 #afi  ,lister1    
,charles1 #afd  ,locke1 ,john1 #gd1     
#abd1 #abf  ,longeville-les-,metz1 #adg 
,longueville1 ,mme de1 #ad1 #ah1 #ci #dj

 n  ,lorraine1 #adf  ,loti1 ,pierre1    
#aeb  ,louis ,,xiii1 #h1 #i1 #ac1 #ad   
,louis ,,xiv41 #hd  ,louis ,,xv1 #hd1   
#aag1 #abc  ,luxembourg 7,palace71 #bc1 
#fd  ,lyons1 #ada1 #aee   ,mademoiselle1
 ,la ,grande1 #ag1 #bc  ,maeterlinck1   
,m41 #afj  ,magne1 ,m41 ,emile1 #fc     
,mahon1 ,col ,patrice1 #aea  ,maine1    
,duc du1 #df1dg  ,maine1 ,duchesse du1  
#aaf  ,maintenon1 ,mme de1 #df          
,malebranche1 #abb  ,malizian1 #gj      
,manceau1 ,col4 ,emile1 #adi            
,mandeville1 ,bernard1 #db1 #abf        
,marcillac1 ,prince de1 #aa1 #ab1 #dg1  
see ,la ,rochefoucauld  ,mirabeau1      
,marquis de1 #ajj1 #ajc-aje  ,molire1   
#dh   ,nolly1 mile2 see ,dtanger        
,palologue1 ,m41 #aje1 #afi  ,paris1    
,gaston1 #ace  ,parma1 ,french victory  
at1 #ajb  ,pascal1 xviii1 #bb1 #bc1 #cb1
 #cc1 #ce1 #ee1 #ha1 #aac1 #aae1 #abb1  
#abg1 #abh  ,pguy1 #adf  ,petitot1 #ai  
,phlippeaux1 ,abb1 #hg1 #hh  ,picq1     
,col4 ,ardent du #adg1 #adh             
,pierrepont1 #acf  ,pin1 ,abb ,ellis du1

 #ib  ,plessis1 ,mme du1 #cf            
,plutarch's ,lives1 #ii1 #ajj           
,pompadour1 ,mme de1 #aad  ,port ,royal1
 #bb1 #bc1 #bg1 #bh1 #cf1 #hf  ,prague1 
capture of1 #ajg   ,quercy1 #aee        
,quimper1#aeg1 #aeh   ,racine1 xix1 #ce1
 #dg1 #abb1 #abc  ,rambouillet1 ,htel   
de1 #g  ,regnier1 ,henri1 #bj  ,retz1   
,cardinal de1 #aj1 #af1 #ag  ,revue     
,critique1 #aej  ,rhine1 ,passage of    
the1 #dj n4  ,richelieu1 #aj-ab1 #ad    
,ro1 ,art1 see ,mahon  ,rousseau1       
,j4,j41 #ch  ,ruffec1 #ai   ,sabl1 ,mme 
de1 #d1 #e1 #ba1 #bc1 #bi1 #ca1 #cb4    
#cf1 #da n4  ,saint-,antoine1 ,faubourg1
 #ah  ,saint-,cyr1 #acg  ,saint-,simon1 
quoted1 #gi1 #ia  ,schomberg1 ,duchesse 
de1 #g  ,scudery1 ,mlle de1 #ci1 #de    
,sedan1 #aec  ,segrais1 #ce1 #ej n      
,sguier 7,chancellor71 #cj  ,seneca1 #dc
  ,seven ,years ,war1 #ajf  ,svign1 ,mme
 de1 #cd1 #ci n1 #dj n1 #de n1 quoted1  
#dh-ej  ,seyres1 ,hippolyte de1 #ajg-aaj
  ,shaftesbury1 ,third ,earl1 #abf      
,shakespeare1 quoted1 #f1 #cj  ,singlin1

 ,antoine1 #bb  ,socit des ,gens de     
,lettres1 #ach  ,spectator1 the1 #hh1   
#hi  ,spinoza1 #cc  ,steele1 ,sir       
,richard1 #hi  ,stephen1 ,sir ,leslie1  
#cd  ,stevenson1 ,r4,l41 #gh1 #aja1 #afe
  ,suard1 #ii1 #aba  ,sully1 #abi       
,tailly-sur-,meuse1 #adc1 #adh          
,tallemont des ,raux1 #bb  ,temple1 ,sir
 ,william1 #aah1 #abf  ,theophrastus1   
#fi-ga1 #hh  ,thiange1 ,mme de1 #df1 #dg
  ,torquet1 ,m4 ,charles1 #afe  ,turin1 
#ajb   ,valincourt1 #fd  ,vauban1       
,sebastien de1 #hd n4  ,vauvenargues1   
,marquis de1 #ig-acb2 birth and         
parentage1 #ii-aja2   described as      
,clazomne1 #aba2 serves in the ,bohemian
 campaign1 #ih1   #ajg1 #aji1 #aab1 in  
garrison at ,arras1 #aac2 in garrison at
 ,metz1 #ajf1   #aac1 in ,paris1 #abj1  
with ,villars in ,lombardy1 #ajb2 his   
loge on ,de   ,seyres1 #aji1 his        
,discours sur la ,gloire1 #aji1 his     
,introduction    la ,connaissance de    
l',esprit humain1 #abd1 his ,rflexions  
sur divers   ,sujets1 #ajd1 #aag1 #aba1 

#abg  ,verdun1 #add  ,vernulius1 #bh    
,verteuil1 #ai1 #bj1 #dh  ,vigneul de   
,marville1 #fj1 #fa n4  ,villars1       
,marshal de1 #ajb1 #abi  ,violand1      
,camille1 #aea1 #aee-afj  ,virton1      
,battle of1 #add1 #aeg  ,vivonne1 ,andre
 de1 #aj  ,voiture1 #h  ,voltaire1 #dj1 
#hd1 #aja n1 #aaa-aad1 quoted1 #cc1 #eb1
 #ge1 #abb1 #abc  ,vouziers1 #aee       
,young's ,night-,thoughts1 #aaj