mntcv a 2)o0woot> witb /iDontatgne 



dead past as stepping-stones to cross the 

 streams of his own inquiry, and somewhat, 

 too, it must be admitted, for mere pedantic 

 ornamentation cleverly set into the struc- 

 ture of his work. There is not a trace of 

 genuine poetry in the " Essais," save what 

 is quoted from other writers; every drive 

 of the pen is at a fact, or what was 

 thought to be the significance of a fact, in 

 the spirit of modern science, if not in its 

 light, and with what modern science seems 

 strangely afraid of — style. While every- 

 thing was fish for his net, nothing was too 

 trivial to be well said. 



Into the composition of an essay he put 

 the winnowed observations of all his past 

 life bearing in any degree upon the subject 

 in hand, together with what wide ransack- 

 ing of books had afforded him in available 

 form. He had a great memory, as is 

 shown by his quotations, slight lapses from 

 accuracy proving that they were not 

 copied directly, but as recollected ; and his 

 sense of that armorphous grace, which is 

 the essay's stamp of structure, was fault- 

 less. He built walls of rubble; but no 

 292 



