Hints from Sainte-Beuve—Father Lacordaire [pp. 13-15]

1870.] LITERA TUBE, S OTEN (YE, AND ART 13
often a story; and they never expressed any thing too strong or strange
for the somewhat timid taste of distrustful American art-lovers. Mr.
Boughton was represented first in New York by a little picture sent
to the Academy Exhibition, when it was held over what was then Dr.
Chapin's church, on Broadway. It was the year young Shattuck distinguished himself by his studies of grasses, when young Coleman
seemed to be the romantic poet of our landscapists. The pathos of
time and change are in these recollections to some of our best men.
Then George Boughton, of Albany, sent a little picture of an old man
walking under the falling leaves of the fading autumn woods. It was
not a striking, but it was a touching little picture. Later, he sent to
the Tenth Street Academy Exhibition a "Winter Twilight," which was
a new pict?ure in American landscape art. Mr. Church, the artist, showed
a generous appreciation of MIr. Boughton's work: he bought the picture; and, for the time being, Mr. Boughton's reputation as a painter
of winter twilights was made. But for the force and versatility of his
talent, he would have been kept at painting "Winter Twilights" until
now, just as Mr. AlcEitee has been kept at painting November landscapes-just as, when a man has learned to tell a good story with perfect art, he is continually asked to repeat it. However, Mr. Boughton
soon went abroad, to Paris, then to Ecouen, a French village, distinguished as the home of Frhre. A great many excellent people wilfully made themselves stupid enough to say Mr. Boughton imitated
Frhre, when he only painited similar subjects, and the same models,
but always with a different touch, and always manifesting a different
sense of color.
After a year or more of study at Ecouen, Mfr. Boughton started on
his way to this country, but stopped in London for a brief time, and sent
several pictures to the Royal Academy, which at once attracted the at tention of the London critics and English art-lovers. Since then, Mr.
Boughton has made his home in England, having won for himself a
place among the young and active men in English art. Occasionally
we get examples of his work, and these examples always charm us,
and refresh our memory of one of the best modern painters whom we
persist in claiming as an American painter, although, strictly speak ing, he belongs to no country as a painter; for he is not English by
his style, but French; he is not French by his sentiment, but English.
Itis" Winter Twilights," the most original of his pictures, are the
outcome of his American experience. But, better than all distinc tions that may be made in this case, is the distinction that we must
make for George Boughton, that is, he is a poet. Boughton is a
poet-painter-not a mediocre painter who writes verses, nor a good
painter who writes bad verses; but an artist who has the poetic sense,
who is never vulgar nor incongruous, but one who has a fine percep tion of the fitness of things, and is truly human. Boughton never
paints under the idea of art for art, but of art as a means of expres sion for human sympathies. We think him and call him the most
charming and interesting and genuine of any of the minor poet painters-not impressive like Millet, nor impassioned and comprehen sive like Delacroix, but true, simple, and sweet.
HINTS FROM SAINTE-BEUVE.
FA THIER LA CORDAIRE.
A MONG the immediate predecessors of Father Hyacinthe, no one
obtained greater celebrity during life, nor, dying, left behind
him a more brilliant reputation for pulpit oratory, than the silver tongued Dominican whose name appears at the head of this article.
The French Church can point with pride in modern times to a band
of gifted men, under whose skilful cultivation the flower of traditional
eloquence seemed to take root and bloom again with all its former
loveliness. Some of these might equal Lacordaire in earnestness. of
speech and heart, in power to sway captive congregations, by the
charm of sympathetic unctuousness; but, in loftiness of flight and
boldness of idea; in coining nicely-adapted expressions that fascinated
by their very novelty; in liveliness and peculiarity of gesture; in
wealth of language, flashing, burning, glittering; in adorning all with
bright pictures taken from a happy imagination, or with rhythmic
harmonies drawn from the treasury of the Muses-he stood without
a rival, and bore the palm alone. Though his tuneful voice is now
silenced in the grave, while the majestic arches of Notre-Dame have
resounded again as their fluttering echoes caught inspiration from th tongue of his distinguished successor, multitudes who hung witL
breathless pleasure on his words still live to testify (for he only died
the other day) that the high praise compelled from a critical generation was neither exaggerated nor undeserved.
The early life of a prominent preacher is apt to be one of secluded
study, presenting few points of interest to the investigator attracted
by the glow of subsequent fame. In looking over Father Lacordaire's
career, however, we find subject for speculation in the fact that he was
first educated for the bar, and afterward changed the siik gown of the
advocate for the serge trappings of a rigid monastic order. Therefore, before entering into an examination of his oratory, let us refer
to his parentage, birth, and boyhood, in order the better to understand
how and when this extraordinary change of profession took place.
He was born in 1802, near Chatillon, on the Seine. Htis father was
a medical man, who established himself at this place after serving with
Rochambeau, in America, during the Revolutionary War; he gained
the respect and esteem of the community among whom he settled,
and was most worthily remembered by them long after his death; he
was evidently a man of note, and well-to-do in the world. Ile married
the daughter of a recorder, or register, in the Parliament of Burgundy.
This lady, besides fulfilling all the other duties of a thrifty housewife,
made him the father of four sons. The youngest of these soIns became a captain of cavalry. The eldest obtained some celebrity as a
naturalist, made four expeditions to South America, and finally was
appointed Professor of Natural History in the University of Liege.
Another son was an architect and engineer. The second son, Henry,
was destined to become the famous Dominican whose career we are
now tracing.
Let it not be supposed that such details might be passed over as
useless or trivial. It is of high importance to demonstrate that the
spreading foliage of Lacordaire's fame was but the healthy offshoot of
an honest parent stem, solidly rooted in hereditary worth. When the
flashing gift of eloquence descended upon him like a tongue of fire,
the Heaven-sent inspiration found a fitting altar to kindle and illumi nate. Then the willing censer yielded its sweetest perfume, and the
smoking holocaust, with circling wreaths that widened as they rWe,
filled the vast interval between earth and sky.
From 1810 to 1819, young Henry Lacordaire pursued his studies at
the Lyceum of Dijon, little dreaming there, in the native place of I-os suet, in full view of the hill-side where St. Bernard was born, that the
day would ever come when he would assert an equal title and wear an
equal coronet with those renowned princes of the intellect. Without
much trouble, he carried off all the prizes. I-e began to write a
tragedy, like many another embryo rhetorician, and on one occasion
performed the part of Achilles to the Agamemnon of one of his school mates, where they appeared dressed as infantry soldiers, and played
for ready money.
He was always an ardent patriot, and felt keen sympathy for the
disastrous suffering that spread through France after the fall of the
empire.
When hlie became student-at-law in Dijon, he was soon noted for
the power of speech displayed in those discussions which constantly
took place between the students and the younger members of the bar.
Ile dabbled in poetry, too, sometimes, and produced verses which, we
are told, were not without a certain degree of merit.
Admitted to the bar, he came to Paris about 1822, and began to
practise with some success. His ambitious spirit, however, was not
satisfied; he longed to spread his wings and soar away to more genial
and loftier regions. Strong within his bosom, he felt the restless
longing of his generation. "At twenty-five years of age," he ex claimed, "a gallant spirit only seeks some noble cause to die for; and
implores Heaven and earth for a fitting opportunity! Love is then all powerful." For a time he adopted the opinions of Voltaire, like many
young men of that period; a Deist, but not-and note this well skeptical or indifferent; even while an unbeliever in religion, his
power of argumentative deduction was always clean and clear. His
was one of those peculiar minds that will stop at nothing short of a
solution to the problems that present themselves —straightforward,
prompt, and decided. He found the mode of life he had adopted not
sufficient to satisfy his eager, thirsty spirit. While, to all appearance,
he was occupied with musty documents and law-papers in his office,
he was in reality tossed and struggling in the surges of a mental
whirlpool. This went on till 1824, when his family heard with sur prise that he had suddenly quitted his position at the bar, and entered
e the theological seminary of St. Sulpice.
I,ITE,RA TEURfI-E SCIE.'NC.E, A4YD AR]..
1870.]
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