ST SERVAN 



SAINT-SIMON 



(Juernsey, and Elgin, but soon after established 

 himself firmly in the literary world of I,ondon as 

 one of the most active and influential critics of 

 the day. All his work is characterised by clear- 

 ness of* thought, fullness of knowledge, and force, 

 if not always grace of style ; and he has been in- 

 valuable to his generation as a guide to French 

 literature old and new. He has been an active 

 contributor to the greater magazines (of Mac- 

 millan's he was for some time editor) and to encv 

 cloptedias, including the present work. Among 

 hi* books are a Primer ( 1880) and a Short History 

 (188-2) of French literature; Drytlen in 'English 

 Men of Letters' ( 1881 ), and Marlborouah in ' KnglMi 

 Worthies ' ( 1885) ; a H istory of Elizabethan Litera- 

 ture ( 1887 ) ; a short history of Manchester ( 1887 ) ; 

 Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860 (1891); 

 Essays on French Novelists ( 1891 ), a life of Lord 

 Derby (1892), MwcelUineau* Essays (1892), Cor- 

 rected Impressions (1893) and English Literature in 

 the 19th Century (1896). Mr Saintsbury, who iu 

 1895 was appointed professor of English Literature 

 in Edinburgh University, has edited Scott's Itri/iim, 

 Specimens of French Literature (1883), Specimfits 

 of English Prose Style ( 1885), and several French 

 classics for schools ; and given us a translation of 

 Scherer's Critical Essays on English Subjects ( 1891 ). 

 Later works are The Flourishing of Romance and 

 Rise of Allegory (1897), a book on Scott (1897), 

 and a Short History of English J.Hrrttturc ( 1898). 



St Servan, a French seaport, department Ille- 

 et-Vilaine, on the estuary of the Ranee, and sepa- 

 rated from St Malo (q.v.) by a creek a mile wide. 

 See SISTERHOODS. Pop. 10,179. 



Saint-Simon. CLAUDE HKXRI, COMTE m:. the 

 founder of French socialism, was born at Paris, 

 October 17, 1760. He belonged to a branch of the 

 same ancient and noble family as the duke whose 

 memoirs are so celebrated. The young count had 

 D'Alembert for tutor, and from his earliest years 

 was inspired by an ambition which was not un- 

 mixed with vanity. He ordered his valet to rouse 

 him every morning with the words, ' Rise, Mon- 

 sieur le Comte, you have great things to do.' Like 

 other French nobles, he showed his youthful en- 

 thusiasm for liberty by serving as a volunteer in 

 the American war of independence against Eng- 

 land. He did not, however, take any prominent 

 part in the Revolution in his own country ; his 

 birth as an aristocrat brought him into suspicion 

 with the extreme party, and he was imprisoned for 

 a time. But he made a little fortune by speculat- 

 ing in confiscated lands ; not from love of money, 

 as we are assured, but that he might have leisure 

 to promote the grand projects which he was now 

 contemplating. 



His ancestor Charlemagne had appeared to him 

 in a dream, and encouraged him to devote his life 

 to philosophy, bv promising that his successes as 

 philosopher would equal those of the emperor as 

 warrior and statesman. Accordingly Saint-Simon 

 now went through a long course of study and ex- 

 periment to fit himself for his new career. Pleasure 

 and science were alike welcome to him, provided 

 they enlarged the circle of his knowledge and ex- 

 perience. One of his experiments was matrimony 

 (1801); it proved a failure, and WM Boon terminated 

 by a divorce. The lavish expenditure incurred 

 during his experiinentM also reduced him to utter 

 poverty, in which lie pawed the rest of his life. It 

 was at this time that he made his characteristic pro- 

 posal of marriage to Madame de Stael : ' Madame, 

 mm Mai hi famine la plus extraordinaire du monde, 

 comme i'en sui* I'lionime Ic plus extraordinaire; 

 a nous deux nous aurions, sans donte, un enfant 

 plus extraordinaire encore." Madame de Stael, 

 however, declined to humour the philosopher, and 



Saint-Simon, now beginning to be in straits, pub- 

 lished his first work, Lettres il'un Ilnliitmit ile 

 Geneve a set Contemporains ( 1803). His early writ- 

 ings were scientific and speculative. Tin- first 

 distinct approach to an enunciation of socialism 

 occurred in a work L'hulustric, which appeared in 

 1817, and similar views were set forth in L'Ori/mi- 

 isateur ( 1819), Du Systime Industriel ( 1821 ), ( 

 rliixmc des Indiutriels (1823). The last, and by 

 far the most important, work of Saint Simon was 

 the NOUDCUU C/iri*//"/A"i' . published in !>_'.".. 

 While wilting these works the philosopher lived 

 in utter penury, living often destitute of decent 

 loinl and clothing, and hardly able to scrape to 

 gether the means of publishing them. But tor the 

 kindness of friends anil a small ]>ei>8ion allowed 

 him by bis family in 1812 he would have died 

 of starvation. In 1823 he had so exhausted his 

 funds that he tried to shoot himself with a pistol. 

 and lost an eye in the attempt. He died May 19, 

 1825. 



It will be seen that the most prominent feature 

 of Saint-Simon's life was the originality with which 

 be ordered it for himself. The heroic fortitude 

 which he showed in enduring extreme poverty and 

 neglect cannot l>e too highly commended. That, 

 his originality degenerated into eccentricity and 

 vanity is evident enough. The like qualities and 

 defects are found in his works. They are wanting 

 in sober-mindedness, judgment, and system ; they 

 are loose, diffuse, and full of repetitions. Yet there 

 must have been a great charm both in the per- 

 sonality and in the theories that attraeted so many 

 of the brightest and ablest young men of Fiance, 

 including Comte and Augustine Thierry. Not- 

 withstanding all his vagaries and eccentricities, 

 the man who originated ( 'omtism and French social- 

 ism must be regarded as a seminal thinker of high 

 rank. He sowed the seed which afterwards grew 

 into important systems. In opposition to the 

 destructive spirit of the Revolution, he sought after 

 a positive reorganisation of society. He desired 

 that the feudal and military system should l>e 

 superseded by an industrial order controlled by 

 industrial chiefs, and that the spiritual direction of 

 society should pass from the church to the men of 

 science. In the .\n/imin ('liriitiiiiiixnn the cause 

 of the poor is laid down as the groundwork of 

 religion. Proceeding from the grand precept, 

 'Love one another,' Saint-Simon thus enunciated 

 the fundamental principle of the new Christianity : 

 ' The whole of society ought to strive towards the 

 amelioration of the moral and physical existence of 

 the poorest class ; society ought to organise itself 

 in the way best adapted for attaining this end.' 

 According to Saint-Simon, the essence of religion 

 and the transforming principle of the new society 

 are alike contained in these words. 



After his death the vague ideas of Saint-Simon 

 were developed by his disciples into an elaborate 

 system of socialism. During the excitement pro 

 duccd by the revolution of 1830 the school at- 

 tracted great attention l>oth in France and F.uiope. 

 The Globe became its organ, and many of the most 

 promising youth of France joined it. An a-so. ia 

 lion living out of a common putse was established. 

 Kut dissensions connected with the marriage <|iien 

 tion arose lietween the two leaders. Kit/aid ami 

 Enfantin. Hazard, with many important members, 

 seceded, and Enfantin, who had advocated lax ideas 

 on the relations of the sexes, led the association 

 into the lower depths of extravagance and 

 absurdity till the courts of law interfered, and the 

 society was broken up in 1832. Many members of 

 the school afterwards played a leading part in 

 various departments of French life. The lirst 

 systematic presentation of socialism may be re- 

 garded as due to the Saint-Simon school, and it 



