322 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



philosophical doctrines which he had been expounding for so many 

 years, to find him maintaining in these notes, in opposition to Rousseau, 

 the doctrine of the efficacy of prayer. Another tract which he con- 

 tributed to this remarkable series, entitled "Justice and Charity," 

 contained a refutation of the doctrines of the Socialists. His former 

 lectures on the True, the Beautiful, and the Good, were also repub- 

 lished by him in 1853, so materially amended and purified as to win 

 for him the hearty applause of the most conservative party in the 

 Church and the State. Indeed, it was only in the earliest portion of 

 his career that Cousin espoused liberal opinions in politics with a zeal 

 that lacked discretion. 



In his second visit to Germany, in 1825, he was arrested by the 

 police on suspicion of complicity in some Carbonari plots, and suffered 

 an imprisonment of a few weeks at Berlin ; and he profited by this 

 enforced leisure to make a more thorough study of the Hegelian 

 philosophy. He had been silenced as a lecturer by the Villele ministry 

 at home; but the triumph of the Martignac party in 1827 restored to 

 him and his colleagues the exercise of their professorial functions. 

 Then, as one of the illustrious triumvirate with Guizot and Villemain, 

 he contributed his full share to that unparalleled triumph of letters, 

 philosophy, and eloquence, which gave greater attraction and renown for 

 a season to the lecture-rooms at the Sorbonne than belonged to any legis- 

 lative or forensic assembly in Europe. A hall could not be found spacious 

 enough to accommodate the immense crowd, representing all that was 

 most distinguished in rank, fortune, and reputation in Paris, which 

 flocked daily to hear three University Professors lecture upon phi- 

 losophy, history, and literature. The sensation created was all the 

 greater, as it had the aspect of a political triumph ; and each speaker 

 was vociferously applauded at the utterance of every remark which, 

 whether so intended or not, could be construed into a political allusion. 

 In fact, these three courses of lectures, delivered in 1828, were among 

 the chief determining causes of the Revolution of 1830, and the 

 peculiar character of the government by which it was succeeded. 



The reputation of Cousin culminated at this epoch ; never after- 

 wards did he appear so original and ingenious as a thinker, or so 

 poli.shed and eloquent as a- writer, as when stimulated by this great 

 popular success. His lectures were immediately published, and 

 showed both the excellences and defects of his manner. They are 

 intensely French in conception, taste, and execution ; they abound in 



