e examined, to ascertain whether it is near or
far-sighted, or if the retina naturally, or through habit, is sensitive
to certain colors. In the same way the French of the eighteenth century
must be considered, the structure of their inward vision, that is to
say, the fixed form of their intelligence which they are bringing with
them, unknowingly and unwillingly, up upon their new tower.

I. Through Colored Glasses.

Its signs, duration and power.--Its origin and public
supporters.--Its vocabulary, grammar and style.--Its
method, merits and defects.

This fixed intelligence consists of the classic spirit, which applied
to the scientific acquisitions of the period, produces the philosophy
of the century and the doctrines of the Revolution. Various signs denote
its presence, and notably its oratorical, regular and correct style,
wholly consisting of ready-made phrases and contiguous ideas. It lasts
two centuries, from Malherbe and Balzac to Delille and de Fontanes, and
during this long period, no man of intellect, save two or three, and
then only in private memoirs, as in the case of Saint-Simon, also in
familiar letters like those of the marquis and bailly de Mirabeau,
either dares or can withdraw himself from its empire. Far from
disappearing with the ancient regime it forms the matrix out of which
every discourse and document issues, even the phrases and vocabulary
of the Revolution. Now, what is more effective than a ready-made mold,
enforced, accepted, in which by virtue of natural tendency, of tradition
and of education, everyone can enclose their thinking? This one,
accordingly, is a historic force, and of the highest order; to
understand it let us consider how it came into being.--It appeared
together with the regular monarchy and polite conversation, and it
accompanies these, not accidentally, but naturally and automatically.
For it is product of the new society, of the new regime and its customs:
I mean of an aristocracy left idle due the encroaching monarchy, of
people well born and well educated who, withdrawn from public activity,
fall back on conversation and pass their leisure sampling the different
serious or refined pleasures of the intellect.[3201] Eventually, they
have no other role nor interest than to talk, to listen, to entertain
themselves agreeably and with ease, on all subjects, grave or gay, which
may interest men or even women of society, that's their great affair.
In the