8 INTRODUCTION 



cision of French thought and expression, of the optimism 

 and charm of French life, qualities that still remain 

 the dominant characteristics of the civilization of France. 



The intellectual growth that reached its finest flower 

 in the days of the First Empire was deeply rooted in a 

 scholarly past. Under the sheltering walls of Notre 

 Dame a colony of students rose into view in the twelfth 

 century, and soon outgrew the confines of the Island 

 of the City. Within a few decades the University of 

 Paris had assumed definite form in its present locality, 

 and its fame drew students from all quarters of the 

 civilized world. The provinces were not without their 

 schools of higher education, some of which attained 

 great distinction. But the concentration that has both 

 helped and hindered France focused in Paris the intel- 

 lectual life of the nation. Favored by the Court, sharing 

 the prestige which made and maintains the French 

 language as the medium of diplomacy, and fostered by 

 the world's approval, the higher spirit of France grew 

 apace. Never in the world's history, excepting the single 

 case of Alexandria, has one city sheltered so much of a 

 nation's intellectual greatness. Woven for centuries into 

 the fabric of the national life, it still finds expression in that 

 high civilization which is so universally admired. And its 

 appreciation by the State, generally withheld in other 

 lands, is visibly demonstrated to every visitor to Paris. 



If you would feel the inspiration of a great nation's 

 centuries of thought and brilliant expression, go to the 

 Luxembourg Gardens on a bright summer's afternoon. 

 From this center you may set out to observe, as in no 

 other region of the world, the widely recorded evidences 

 of intellectual progress. 



We are in the midst of the greatest of all wars, and 

 the roar of the heavy guns at Verdun and on the Somme 

 is almost audible. The nation has been stripped of 



