FORMATION OF A METHOD (1828-1852) 33 



for him not a metaphysical, but a psychological, fact, the product of the 

 inherent limitations of our knowledge. As Rosea put it: 'Chance, according to 

 Taine, does not correspond therefore to anything which might be materially 

 undetermined. In this sense, it expresses merely an actual state of our knowledge, 

 a state which could be provisional.' {Op. cit.^ p. 79.) Here Taine seems to 

 anticipate later developments in the logic of 'indeterminism'. 



59 Francis B. Gummere, 'Whitman and Taine', p. 138. 



60 Chevrillon, p. 399, our italics. 



61 Ibid., p. 400, our italics. 



62 Appendix A, 'Historical and Natural Science'. 



63 V. & C, 1, 362. 



64 y^ ^ c., I, 120, Note 4, our italics. 



65 See our Chapter I, 'Biographical and Historical Explanations', especially 

 Note 22. 



66 Appendix A, 'Induction and the Absolute' and 'Metaphysical Systems'. 



67 V. & C, I, 154, 16 November, 1851. 



68 Op. cit., p. 413. 



69 Op. cit., p. 99, Note. 



70 Admission to the degree of 'Fellow' after oral examination. Somewhat 

 equivalent to the American matriculation for a doctorate, preparatory to the 

 writing of a thesis, it is absolutely necessary for advancement in the French 

 academic world, because all appointments are centrally controlled. 



71 V. & C, I, 124-130. 

 'J2v,& C, I, 194. 



73 V. & C, I, 137, from Nevers, 15 October, 1851. 



74 Taine's ironic reaction, in a letter to Edouard de Suckau; 'I had com- 

 pletely decided to go and give private lessons in Paris. You and I could still (in 

 view of the purity of our morals) have established a boarding school for young 

 ladies' (9 December, shortly after the Coup on 2 December; V. & C, I, 167). 



75 y^ ^ C., I, 187, I January, 1852. 'The administration of Minister Fortoul, 

 from 1 85 1 to 1856, has remained famous for its reactionary character. An oath 

 of personal allegiance to the President or Emperor was exacted of every 

 educator: whoever refused to take it was debarred from teaching. Villemain, 

 Cousin, Guizot were put on the retired list. Michelet, Quinet, Mickiewicz 

 lost their professorships at the College de France. Many others — Berthelemy, 

 Saint-Hilaire, Vacherot, Jules Simon, Barni, Challemel-Lacour were summarily 

 dismissed. Philosophy in the lycees was reduced to formal logic. Contemporary 

 history was excluded. The course of studies was "bifurcated": students were 

 required to choose, when much too young for such a decision, between two 

 branches, the one exclusively scientific, the other exclusively literary. Minister 

 Rouland, not a very competent man either, corrected some of the mistakes of 

 his predecessor (1856-63)' (Albert Leon Guerard, French Civilization in the 

 Nineteenth Century, p. 237). 



76 Letter to Suckau, 22 December, 185 1 {V. & C, I, 178). 



77 V. & C, I, 205. 



78 Appendix A, 'Taine's Doctoral Theses'. On 30 March, 1852, Taine had 

 been dismissed from his philosophical post at Nevers and transferred to the 

 chair of rhetoric in the lycee at Poitiers (see Fortoul's letter, V. & C, I, 

 250-251). 



S.A.J.— 3 



