CRITICAL ESSAY.
BY C. A. SAINTE-BEUVE.[1]
Each epoch has produced its treatise intended for
the formation of the polite man, the man of the
world, the courtier, when men only lived for courts,
and the accomplished gentleman. In these various
treatises on knowledge of life and politeness, if
opened after a lapse of ages, we at once see portions
which are as antiquated as the cut and fashion of
our forefathers' coats; the model has evidently
changed. But looking into it carefully as a whole,
if the book has been written by a sensible man with
a true knowledge of mankind, we shall find profit in
studying these models which have been placed before
preceding generations. The letters that Lord Chesterfield
wrote to his son, and which contain a whole
school of savoir vivre and worldly science, are interesting
in this particular, that there has been no idea
of forming a model for imitation, but they are
simply intended to bring up a pupil in the closest
intimacy. They are confidential letters, which, sud-*
- ↑ In this Essay, by the late M. Sainte-Beuve, nothing has been altered, although, in one or two places, even his critical acuteness seems to have missed its point.