ed as scientific works, as reports of action, as historical
documents, as philosophical treatises, as doctrinal expositions, as
sermons, polemics, dissertations and demonstrations. It transforms even
dictionaries and operates from Descartes to Condillac, from Bossuet to
Buffon and Voltaire, from Pascal to Rousseau and Beaumarchais, in short,
becoming prose almost entirely, even in official dispatches, diplomatic
and private correspondence, from Madame de Sevigne to Madame du Deffant;
including so many perfect letters flowing from the pens of women who
were unaware of it.--Such prose is paramount in those works which, in
themselves, are literary, but which derive from it an oratorical
turn. Not only does it impose a rigid plan, a regular distribution of
parts[3226] in dramatic works, accurate proportions, suppressions and
connections, a sequence and progress, as in a passage of eloquence,
but again it tolerates only the most perfect discourse. There is no
character that is not an accomplished orator; with Corneille and Racine,
with Moliere himself, the confidant, the barbarian king, the young
cavalier, the drawing room coquette, the valet, all show themselves
adepts in the use of language. Never have we encountered such adroit
introductions, such well-arranged evidence, such just reflections, such
delicate transitions, such conclusive summing ups. Never have dialogues
borne such a strong resemblance to verbal sparring matches. Each
narration, each portrait, each detail of action, might be detached and
serve as a good example for schoolboys, along with the masterpieces of
the ancient tribune. So strong is this tendency that, on the approach
of the final moment, in the agony of death, alone and without
witnesses, the character finds the means to plead his own frenzy and die
eloquently.

II. Its Original Deficiency.

Its original deficiency.--Signs of this in the 17th
century.--It grows with time and success.--Proofs of this
growth in the 18th century.--Serious poetry, the drama,
history and romances.--Short-sighted views of man and of
human existence.

This excess indicates a deficiency. In the two operations which the
human mind performs, the classicist is more successful in the second
than in the first. The second, indeed, stands in the way of the first,
the obligation of always speaking correctly makes him refrain from
saying all that ought to be said. With him the form is more importan