X INTRODUCTION

critical writing can be found in any language, and without exaggeration he may be considered the greatest literary critic that the world has seen.

The Causeries^ which compose this volume, will be found of value in the appreciation of some interesting portions of the history of French literature, and they also afford a good opportunity for estimating the style and method of Sainte- Beuve. This method, of which much has been written, has been thoroughly discussed by Sainte-Beuve himself in the second of the Chateaubriand articles which are at the beginning of this book. For that reason they have been placed first. The other articles follow in chronological order.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The following list includes the most important of the books, essays, and magazine articles which have been written in regard to Sainte-Beuve : —