FORMATION OF A METHOD (1828-1852) 15 



my mental system; that something is the feehng of trust.' ^^ Un_ 

 doubtedly it was his father's untimely death which first troubled 

 his 'mental system'. 



In the autumn of 184 1, at the age of thirteen, Taine entered the 

 Mathe pension (in Faubourg Saint-Honore, a central district of 

 Paris), which prepared students for Bourbon College; his mother, 

 two sisters, and maternal grandfather came to live with him soon 

 after. In 1842, he entered Bourbon College, where some of his 

 life-long friendships were begun^^; among others, there was a 

 young Professor Adolphe Hatzfeld, under whom he studied 

 rhetoric and philosophy, who befriended and guided him.^^ \i 

 was at about the age of fifteen that Taine's philosophic reflections 

 first began to take form, beginning with doubts concerning 

 the Christian revelation. ^^ The autobiographical 'Introduc- 

 tion' which he wrote, during his senior year at college, for 

 a short treatise 'On Human Destiny', describes this religious 

 crisis. 16 



These are the important facts, chiefly external. A more lively 

 internal picture of the young Taine's emotional life can be found 

 in the fragmentary Etienne May ran, already cited. What seem to 

 be autobiographical details include, besides the death of his 

 father, his trip to Paris; scenes from his life at boarding-school; 

 his first lessons at the piano, the playing of which always remained 

 one of his favourite recreations; a sketch of a rather remarkable 

 history teacher, 'M. Sprengel'; and his first sensations of delight 

 on reading Plato's dialogues. Above all, the reader senses, 

 through Taine's attempt at a fictitious character, his strong sense 

 of isolation and pride, in the face of what seemed like rejection by 

 fate. In Paul Bourget's opinion, Taine never finished the story 

 because 'He had a horror of making a spectacle of himself, quite 

 simply. '17 This then was the sensitive, serious young man whose 

 later writings were destined to lead one of the central intellectual 

 movements of his age and our own. 



A Student of Philosophy in Paris 



It is altogether appropriate that a consideration of Taine's 

 method in criticism should begin with its philosophical founda- 

 tions, since he illustrates so well both the strengths and weaknesses 

 of criticism resuldng from the fusion of a consciously held philo- 

 sophic position with sensitive and penetrating analyses and per- 

 ceptions. ^^ To consider his critical apergus in isolation from their 



