It is said of
him that he was singularly happy "in never having encountered a wicked
man nor a bad book." For, even if the book were bad, he would
unconsciously impute to the author some of his own ideas. Like the
alchemist, he found gold in the melting-pot, from the fact he had placed
it there himself. However, it is to him that all honour is due for
having introduced among us the fertile criticism of _beauties_, which he
substituted for that of _defects_. Chateaubriand himself, in that
portion of the _Genius of Christianity_ in which he eloquently
discourses on literary criticism, only follows the path opened by
Diderot....
"A pleasure that I enjoy alone affects me but slightly, and is of short
duration. It is for my friends as well as myself that I read, that I
reflect, that I write, that I meditate, that I listen, that I look, that
I feel. In their absence I am still devoted to them; I am continually
thinking of their happiness. If I am struck with a beautiful line, they
must know it. If I meet with a fine passage, I promise myself to impart
it to them. If I have before my eyes some enchanting spectacle, I
unconsciously plan a description of it for their benefit. I have
consecrated to them the use of all my senses and faculties; and it is
perhaps for this reason that everything becomes somewhat enriched in my
imagination and exaggerated in my discourse.
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