us have _hospitable hearts and minds_."

* * * * *

Life is a duty; we must make a pleasure of it, so far as we can, as of
all other duties. If the care of cherishing it is the only one with
which it pleases Heaven to charge us, we must acquit ourselves gaily and
with the best possible grace, and poke that sacred fire, while warming
ourselves by it all we can, till the word comes to us: That will do.

MME D'HOUDETOT
[Sidenote: _Sainte-Beuve_]

In the years to which we refer--that is, the years immediately preceding
1800--there were gathered in the salon of this charming old lady the
remnants both of fashionable and philosophical society--never, indeed,
entirely exiled thence. It may be said of Mme d'Houdetot that her ideal
existence was always bounded by that Montmorency valley where the ardent
devotion of Jean Jacques has engraved her memory, as it were, in
immortal characters. There, again and again, her idyllic spring-time
renewed its bloom, and the freshness of her impressions continued
unimpaired until her dying day. She even remained in the country during
the Reign of Terror, her retreat being respected, and her relatives
flocking about her; and "I can readily believe," writes Mme de Remusat,
in a charming portrait of her venerable friend, "that she retains, of
those frightful days, merely the memory of the increased tenderness and
consideration which they procured for her."

MME DE REMUSAT
[Sidenote: _Sainte-Beuve_]

O mothers, gather your children about you early. Dare to say, when they
come into the world, that your youth is passing into theirs. O mothers,
be mothers, and you will be wise and happy!

DIDEROT
[Sidenote: _Sainte-Beuve_]

If the _Encyclopedia_ was in Diderot's time considered his principal
social work, his principal glory in the eyes of the men of to-day
consists in his having been the first to create the emotional and
eloquent style of criticism. It is through this that he has become
immortal, through this that he will be for ever dear to us journalists
of every sort and condition. Let us bow down to him as our father, and
as the founder of this style of criticism.

Before Diderot's time, the French style of criticism had been, firstly,
as offered by Bayle, of a precise, inquiring, and subtle tone. Fenelon
represented criticism as an elegant and delicate art, while Rollin
exhibited its most useful and honest side. From a due sense of decency,
I re