on the stage as well as in literature. The process
described so philosophically by Coleridge, to lose 'self in an idea
dearer than self,' is the condition of all greatness. It sublimated the
life of Washington, and made it unique in the annals of nations; it
enabled Shakspeare to incarnate the elements of humanity in dramatic
creations, and Kean to reproduce them on the stage; it is the grand law
of the highest achievements in statesmanship, in letters, and in art,
without which they fall short of wide significance and enduring
vitality.

[Footnote A: The very description of her enthusiastic admirers suggests
that such were the original traits and the special character of Rachel.
At first we are told by the patron who earliest recognized her genius,
'a delirious popularity surrounded the young _tragedienne_, and with her
the antique tragedy which she had revived.' How different from the
original relation of Kemble, Kean, or Siddons to the Shaksperian drama!
Then the manner in which she prepared herself for artistic triumph is
equally suggestive of the artificial and the conventional: 'Elle se
drape,' we are told, 'avec un art merveilleux; au theatre elle fait
preuve d'etudes intelligentes de la statuaire antique.' It was in the
external form rather than by sympathetic emotion that she wooed the
tragic muse. Veron compares her to Thiers. 'C'est la meme nettete de
vues, la meme ardeur, les memes ruses vigereuses, la meme fecondite
d'expedients, la meme tableau phllosophique que ne la comprend ni la
vengeance ni les haines, qui se contente de negocier avec les inimities,
d'apaiser les rancunes et de conquerir toutes les influences, toutes les
amities qui peuvent devenir utiles.']

Although thus destitute of great central principles, nowhere is human
life more enriched by minor philosophy; it may be a fate, a routine, a
drudgery, and an accident in other parts of the world, but in Paris it
is or can easily be made an art. The science of substitution, the law of
compensation, nowhere more obviously triumphs; taste cheaply gratified
atones for limited destinies; manners yield a charm, which, for the
time, renders us oblivious of age; tact proves as good a resource as
learning, wit as beauty, cheerfulness as fortune. The _boudoir_, by
means of chintz, gauze, and human vivacity, is as prolific of fine talk
and good company as the drawing-room. A bunch of violets or a box of
mignonnette suggests to sensitive imaginations the wh