views, raised a clerical storm in France.  About 1871 Taine conceived the idea of his great life work, “Les Origines de la France Contemporaine,” in which he proposed to trace the causes and effects of the revolution of 1789.  The first of the series, “The Ancient Regime,” appeared in 1875; the second, “The Revolution,” in 1878-81-85; and the third, “The Modern Regime,” in 1890-94.  As a study of events arising out of the greatest drama of modern times the supremacy of the last-named is unquestioned.  It stands apart as a trenchant analysis of modern France, Taine’s conclusions being that the Revolution, instead of establishing liberty, destroyed it.  Taine died on March 5, 1893.

I.—­The Architect of Modern France

In trying to explain to ourselves the meaning of an edifice, we must take into account whatever has opposed or favoured its construction, the kind and quality of its available materials, the time, the opportunity, and the demand for it; but, still more important, we must consider the genius and taste of the architect, especially whether he is the proprietor, whether he built it to live in himself, and, once installed in it, whether he took pains to adapt it to his own way of living, to his own necessities, to his own use.

Such is the social edifice erected by Napoleon Bonaparte, its architect, proprietor, and principal occupant from 1799 to 1814.  It is he who has made modern France.  Never was an individual character so profoundly stamped on any collective work, so that, to comprehend the work, we must first study the character of the man.

Contemplate in Guerin’s picture the spare body, those narrow shoulders under the uniform wrinkled by sudden movements, that neck swathed in its high, twisted cravat, those temples covered by long, smooth, straight hair, exposing only the mask, the hard features intensified through strong contrasts of light and shade, the cheeks hollow up to the inner angle of the eye, the projecting cheek-bones, the massive, protuberant jaw, the sinuous, mobile lips, pressed together as if attentive; the large, clear eyes, deeply sunk under the broad arched eyebrows, the fixed oblique look, as penetrating as a rapier, and the two creases which extend from the base of the nose to the brow as if in a frown of suppressed anger and determined will.  Add to this the accounts of his contemporaries who saw or heard the curt accent, or the sharp, abrupt gesture, the interrogating, imperious, absolute tone of voice, and we comprehend how, the moment they accosted him, they felt the dominating hand which seizes them, presses them down, holds them firmly, and never relaxes its grasp.

Now, in every human society a government is necessary, or, in other words, an organisation of the power of the community.  No other machine is so useful.  But a machine is useful only as it is adapted to its purpose; otherwise it does not work well, or it works adversely to that purpose.  Hence, in its construction, the prime necessity of calculating what work it has to do, also the quantity of the materials one has at one’s disposal.