Show M HENRI tagne FAIE B pi p i a life and of the hr K gret are CIA in has not read and admired tho borks of henri taine that remarkable euch nian who treats nil all literary efforts in a cold phil philosophical 0 soph ic al way as though they were machines intended to do certain classes of work and not the product of that mainspring of human T antell intelligence irence the imagination A writer has denominated taino the inventor of that powerful machine called scientific criticism a criticism immovable inexorable which in some way destroys individual liberty matins making of man the product of precise and def defined gnei factors factora from which he can under tin nn pretext disengage himself such as race epoch surroundings which classifies aud and labels all literary works like specimens anen in a museum of natural lii story which seeks above all tho the law and foi gets in its desire to bring all things thing into common this element of difference which is w felt this vibration of soul to this something which escapes and constitutes genius anil and yet taino has written hil ful poetry thus combating the very theory which lie he labors almost constantly to maintain enthusiastic admirers have declared that taine is tho the first writer of our time be that as it may lie he is a genius and an analyst of the first magui magnitude tude his power vl vf expreSs expressing im much in little is remarkable perhaps the most conspicuous example of this faculty is to be found in the normans mans where in describing themie them he speaks of them as these heroic c seekers after profitable adventures taine is a domestic man in that lie he spends all of his time at louie home but ho he can scarcely be considered an ideal husband tor for apart from the meetings at meal time ho be tees bees little of his finally mine taine is a hospitable antei entertainer and she and her ber beautiful daughter are prominent figures at most of the social events of the fashionable literary circles of palis but the great philosopher has so arranged matteis that he be is by common consent absolved from all social obligations from early morning until far into the night with lut but brief intermissions for the conati which he compels liin hin alf to take taine is immersed in his study a dingy sort of den isolated from the fam ilys apartments and richly stocked with valuable books the great writer and thinker is morbid in his dread of notoriety and would not even permit bonnat to exhibit his portrait in the salon he is perhaps the most inaccessible ces ce sible of all tho the great men of toa career is a lesson to young men of genius he did not burst like a meteor upon the literary firmament on the contrary his rise was the result of laborious and unremitting effort coupled of course with his wonderful mentality bom orn in 1830 taine as soon as he be win was j able was obliged to work not only for V his is own support but also for that of hi h 1 another to whom he exhibited up to t lie flay day 4 her death a devotion that wa was almost sublime his first work ph philo lo 10 jopho isophe francais Pran cais appeared in 1835 and ivas was followed successively and at rea intervals by la fontane fontaine fla la litterateur le voyage en italie and ile he carried when ho he felt that his future hw assured mile dennel the daughter if bf an n eminent architect two children cave ave resulted from this union which has proved a most happy one taine adores thil children dien and is very fond of cats 3 his lis iia luminer niner home homo is a magnificent estate carenge a Men thon st bernard on the lac dannehy dAn dAmu necy ecy his IV wife ife super thuds tho the vineyard and looks after all he die business details of tho the place their minter arinter home is in paris and is sumpta 11 atu ably app appointed 0 lute d |