ST POL DE LEON 



SAINTSBURY 



97 



the idea of the change from friendship into love, 

 but individual genius alone wrought the peculiar 

 spell which carried Paul and Virginia quickly 

 across Europe in English, Italian, Dutch, Russian, 

 Polish, and Spanish translations, and which made 

 Napoleon take it with him in his Italian cam- 

 paign, and re-read it at St Helena. Yet the 

 story has many faults besides its overstrained 

 sentimentality it is sadly marred by its didactic 

 passages, anJ indeed the whole is but an object- 

 lesson to the t^tudes. His next works were Vosux 

 tfun Solitaire ( 1789 ) and the weaker novel, La 

 Chaumicre Indienne ( 1791 ). 



At fifty-five Saint-Pierre married the daughter 

 of his printer, a girl of twenty, and at sixty-three 

 he married another young girl, who after his death 

 became the wife of Aime Martin, his enthusiastic 

 biographer and editor. A member of the Institute 

 from its foundation in 1795, he 'was admitted to 

 the Academy on its revival in 1803, but he made 

 himself ridiculous by childish quarrels with his 

 fellow-members. Napoleon heaped favours upon 

 him, and he lived comfortably amid his flowers till 

 his death in his country-house at Eragny, near 

 Pontoise, 21st January 1814. 



Saint-Pierre wrote down to the last, yet did not 

 succeed in destroying his reputation. His Harmoniet de 

 la Mature ( 3 vols. 17% ) was but a pale repetition of the 

 >n'lf. Besides these the Lt Caff de Surate and the 

 Hsmi tur J.-J. Roiiiteau alone deserve to be named. 

 His name survives only in his one masterpiece, but his 

 intiuenoe remains entire in the greater Chateaubriand 

 and Lamartine. 



His fEuvre* Complete! by Aime Martin fill 12 volumes 

 (1813-20); the Corretpondanee, 4 volumes ( 1826 ). His 

 great Biography by the same editor appeared in 1820 ; 

 its extravagances may be corrected by ArvMe Barine's 

 clever study ( 1891 ) in Let Orandi Serivaim Franfait. 

 Tli. -re are also books by Fleury ( 1844 ) and Prevost- 

 Parad.,-1 ( 1852). 



St Pol de Lt'Oll. a decayed town in the 

 Breton department of Finistere, near the English 

 Channel, 13 miles NNW. of Morlaix. It has a 

 13th-century cathedral, dedicated to St Pol, who 

 came hither from Cornwall in the 6th century, and 

 also the Kreizker church, with a beautiful spire 263 

 feet high. Pop. 3914. 



St ((iH'Iltin. a town in the French dept. of 

 Aisne, stand* on the Somme, by rail 95 miles NE. 

 of Paris and 33 S. of Cambrai. The church of St 

 lju'Mitin is a remarkably fine Gothic structure, 

 dating from the 12th to the 15th century, and con- 

 taining a much more ancient crypt. The town- 

 hall (15th and 16th centuries) is also a fine 

 specimen of Gothic. The town is a centre of the 

 cotton industries, which give employment to 

 130,000 hands in the making of calicoes, tulle, 

 cretonnes, jaconets, muslin, merino, cambric, 

 gauze, and so forth. Further, vast quantities 

 of embroidery are prepared, and machinery, hats, 

 paper, sugar, soap, and beer are manufactured. 

 The French historian Martin was born here in 

 1SIO. Pop. (1856) 26,887; (1896) 48,868. St 

 Quentin and its vicinity have been the scene of 

 two memorable battles. The Spaniards under the 

 Duke of Savoy and Ferdinand Gonzaga, assisted by 

 an Kii^'li.-h contingent under the Earl of Pembroke 

 and Egmont in command of the Flemings, inflicted 

 a crushing defeat upon the French under Constable 

 Montmorency, on 10th August 1557 (St Lawrence's 

 Day), a victory which Philip II. commemorated in 

 tlie Escorial (q.v.). Shortly afterwards the town, 

 after a brilliant defence by Coligny, capitulated 

 to the Spanish army. On 'l9th January 1871 the 

 Germans under Von Goeben put to rout the army 

 of Kaidhi;rbe, capturing nearly 10,000 prisoners. 



St Raphael, a popular health resort near 

 Frejus (q.v.). 

 423 



S:iint-lt< : al. CESAR VICHAED, ABBE DE, who 

 has been, and not undeservedly, styled the French 

 Sallust, was born in 1631 at Chambery, and died 

 there also in 1692. He went early to Paris, visited 

 London and there lived awhile under the shelter 

 of St Evremond and the Duchesse de Mazarin, but 

 in 1679 settled at Chambery as historiographer to 

 the Duke of Savoy. He had been long a student 

 of history when in 1674 he covered himself with 

 distinction by his brilliant Histoire de la Conjura- 

 tion owe les Espagnols formerent en 1618 contre la 

 Republique de Venice, which to this day is counted 

 among French classics. His style is vivid and 

 vigorous, simple and pure, yet picturesque ; and 

 the story is unfolded with a skilful mastery of 

 dramatic sense. It has been objected that the 

 facts are not always reliable, the conclusions fre- 

 quently unsound, but it should be remembered that 

 Saint-Real wrote history before the modern con- 

 ception of history awoke, and that his aim was to 

 produce a good literary narrative, not a chronicle. 

 A work of art should be estimated according as it 

 corresponds to the ideal of the writer, rather than 

 to the prepossessions of the individual reader, and, 

 this test applied, the Conjuration contre Venice 

 remains an exquisite masterpiece of historical 

 painting in miniature. 



Saints. See SAINT. 



Saiiit-Suens, CHARLES CAMILLE, an eminent 

 French musician, was born in Paris, October 9, 

 1835. At the age, it is said, of two and a half 

 years he was taught the pianoforte by his great- 

 aunt, and at seven he had further instruction from 

 Stamaty, and subsequently learned harmony under 

 Maleden. In 1847 he studied the organ under 

 Benoist. At the age of sixteen he wrote his first 

 symphony, which was performed with success, and 

 was followed by numerous other instrumental 

 works. He became organist, first of the church of 

 St Mcry, and in 1858 of the Madeleine, where he 

 continued till 1877. His first opera, La Princesse 

 Jaime, was given in 1872, and Le Timbre d? Argent 

 in 1877 ; but neither was successful. Sanison et 

 Dalila, a sacred drama, was produced at Weimar, 

 also in 1877, and was subsequently successfully re- 

 vived at Rouen. More important operas are ftenri 

 VIII., brought out in 1883 at the Grand Opera with 

 success, not however extending to its subsequent 

 revivals; Proserpine, given in 1887, but received 

 with disapprobation ; and Ascanio, produced at the 

 Grand Opera, March 21, 1890, and well received, 

 though not with unmixed praise. He is one of the 

 greatest living executants on the pianoforte and 

 organ, and has remarkable powers of improvisa- 

 tion. He has appeared as a performer in various 

 countries, and several times in England. His 

 reputation as a composer is high, but he holds a 

 somewhat peculiar position in his own country, 

 where the great criterion of ability is the opera, 

 in which he has not attained the highest rank ; 

 while many of his instrumental works, which in- 

 clude three symphonies, four symphonic poems ( in 

 which be follows the lead of Liszt), two orchestral 

 suites, several concertos for piano and orchestra, 

 ami violin and orchestra, and, above all, a consider- 

 able quantity of chamber music, show the most 

 consummate mastery, if not genius. The faults 

 laid at his door are inequality, incongruity, and 

 occasional eccentricity. He is a distinguished 

 musical critic ; and his selected papers, Harmonie 

 etMelodie (1885), show a lucid style and temperate 

 judgment. 



Siiint shnry. GEORGE EDWARD BATEMAN, was 

 born at Southampton, October 23, 1845, and was 

 educated at King's College School, London, and 

 Merton College, Oxford. From 1868 till 1876 

 he filled scholastic appointments at Manchester, 



