ternal development of each of us to the merit, the worth of the individual man.

In addition to the other reproaches of which, as I have said, our civilization is made the object, it is accused of exercising a baleful effect upon our moral nature. Its opponents say, that by its everlastingly disputative spirit, by its mania for discussing and weighing everything, for reducing everything to a precise and definite value, it infrigidates, dries up, concentres the human soul; that the result of its setting up a pretension to universal infallibility, of its assumption of a superiority to all illusion, all impulse of the thought, of its affecting to know the real value of all things, will be, that man will become severally disgusted with all the rest of the world, will become absorbed in self. Further, it is said, that owing to the tranquil ease of life in our times, to the facility and amenity of social relations, to the security which prevails throughout society, men's minds become effeminate, enervated; and that thus, at the same time that we acquire the habit of looking only to oneself, one acquires also a habit of requiring all things for oneself, a disposition to dispense with nothing, to sacrifice nothing, to suffer nothing. In a word, it is asserted that selfishness on the one hand, and captious effeminacy on the other, the dry hardness of manners, and their puerile enervation, are the natural matter-of-course results of the actual condition of civilization; that high-souled devotion and energy, at once the two great powers and the two great virtues of man, are wanting, and will be more and more wanting, in the periods which we call civilized, and more especially in our own.

It were easy, I think, to repel this double reproach, and to establish: 1, the general proposition, that the actual condition of civilization, considered thoroughly and as a whole, by no means as a matter of moral probability, induces as its results selfishness and effeminacy; 2, the fact that neither devotion nor energy have been found to be wanting, in time of need, to the civilized members of modern times. But this were a question which would carry us too far. It is true, the actual state of civilization imposes upon moral devotion and energy, as upon patriotism, as upon all the noble thoughts and feelings of man, an additional difficulty. These great faculties of our nature have hitherto often manifested themselves somewhat fortuitously, in a manner characterized by no reflection, by no reference to motives; so to speak, at

random. Henceforth they will be bound to proceed only upon the basis of reason; legitimacy of motives, and utility of results will be required of them. Doubtless, this is an additional weight for nature to raise up ere she can manifest herself in all her grandeur; but she will raise it up. Never vet has human nature been wanting to herself, never has she failed of that which circumstances have required at her hands; the more has been asked of her, the more she has given. Her revenue ever more than keeps pace with her expenditure. Energy and devotion will derive from other sources, will manifest themselves under other forms. Doubtless, we possess not fully as yet those general ideas, those innate convictions which must inspire the qualities I speak of; the faith which corresponds with our manners is as yet weak, shadowy, tottering; the principles of devotion and energy which were in action in past times are now without effect, for they have lost our confidence. It must be our task to seek out until we discover principles of a character to take strong hold of us, to convince our minds and to move our hearts at one and the same time. These will inspire devotion and energy; these will keep our minds in that state of disinterested activity, of simple, unsophisticated steadfastness which constitutes moral health. The same progress of events which imposes the necessity of doing this upon us, will supply us with the means of doing it.

In the study, then, upon which we are about to enter, we have to aim at far more than the mere acquisition of knowledge; intellectual development cannot, may not remain an isolated fact. We are imperatively called upon to derive from it, for our country, new materials of civilization; for ourselves, a moral regeneration. Science is a beautiful thing, undoubtedly, and of itself well worth all the labor that man may bestow upon it; but it becomes a thousand times grander and more beautiful when it becomes a power; when it becomes the parent of virtue. This, then, is what we have to do in the course of these lectures: to discover the truth; to realize it out of ourselves in external facts, for the benefit of society; in ourselves, to convert it into a faith capable of inspiring us with disinterestedness and moral energy, the force and dignity of man in this world. This is our triple task; this the aim and object of our labor ; a labor difficult of execution and slow of progress, and

which success, instead of terminating, only extends.

But in nothing, perhaps, is it given to man ever to arrive at the goal he has proposed to himself; his glory is in advancing towards it.

SECOND LECTURE.

Necessity of reading a general history of France before we study that of civilization-M. de Sismondi's work-Why we should study the political state of a country before its moral state, the history of society before that of man-The social state of Gaul in the 5th century-Original monuments and modern works descriptive of that subject-Difference between the civil and religious society of that period-Imperial government of Gaul-The provincial governorsTheir official establishments-Their salaries-Benefits and defects of the administration-Fall of the Roman empire-Gaulish society: 1. The senators; 2. The curiales; 3. The people; 4. The slavesPublic relations of these various classes-Decline and helplessness of Gaulish civil society-Causes of this-The people attach themselves to the religious community.

BEFORE entering upon the history of French civilization, I would engage those among you who propose to make a serious study of the subject, to read with attention one of the larger histories of France, which may serve, as it were, for a frame in which to place the facts and ideas we shall together collect. For I do not propose to relate to you the course of what are more especially called events, which yet it is indispensable for you to know. Of all the histories of France I could point out to you, the best, beyond any question, is that of M. de Sismondi. It is no part of my intention to enter here into a discussion of the merits and defects of that work, but I will, in a few words, indicate to you what you will more peculiarly find there, and what I advise you more peculiarly to seek there. Considered as a critical exposition of the institutions, the political development, the government of France, the Histoire des Français of M. de Sismondi is incomplete,1 leaving in my opinion something to be desired. Speaking of the volumes already published, I should say that its account of the two epochs most important for the political destiny of France, the reign of Charlemagne and that of St. Louis, is, perhaps, among the feeblest portions of the work. As a

1 M.Guizot speaks of the first twelve volumes of the Paris edition.

history of intellectual development of ideas, it is deficient, to a certain extent, in depth of research, and in exactness as to results. But, as a narrative of events, as a picture of the revolutions and vicissitudes of the social state, of the mutual relations of the various classes of society at different periods, of the progressive formation of the French nation, it is a work of the highest order, a work whence instruction of the most valuable kind is to be derived. You may, perhaps, find occasion to desire in it somewhat more impartiality, somewhat greater freedom of imagination; you may, perhaps, detect in it, at times, too much of the influence upon the writer's mind of contemporary events and opinions; but, nevertheless, it is a prodigious, a splendid work, infinitely superior to all those which preceded it, and one which, read with attention, will admirably prepare you for the studies we are about to pursue.

It is part of my plan, whenever we approach a particular epoch, or a crisis of French society, to point out to you the original literary monuments which are extant with respect to it, and the principal modern works which have treated of the subject. You will thus be enabled to test for yourselves, in the crucible of your own studies, the results which I shall endeavor to lay before you.

You will remember that I proposed to consider civilization in its aggregate, as a social development, and as a moral development in the history of the mutual relations of man, and in that of ideas; I shall accordingly examine each epoch under this double aspect. I shall commence in every case with the study of the social state. I am quite aware that in so doing, I shall not begin with the beginning: the social state derives, among a number of other causes, from the moral state of nations; creeds, feelings, ideas, manners, precede the external condition, the social relations, the political institutions; society, saving a necessary and powerful reaction, is that which men make it. Conformably with true chronology, with the internal and moral chronology, we ought to study man before society. But the true historic order, the order in which facts succeed one another, and reciprocally create each other, differs essentially from the scientific order, from the order in which it is proper to study them. In reality, facts develope themselves, so to speak, from within to without; causes inward produce effects outward. Study, on the contrary-study, science, proceed, and properly proceed, from without to within. It is with the outward that its attention is