1 DECEMBER 1900, Page 31

M. TAINE ON STYLE.

(TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")

SIE,—In connection with the subject discussed by you in the Spectator of November 24th, "Should History be Also Literature?" I have a note of a remark made by M. Taine, during one of his last visits to this country, which seems worth quoting as the vehemently expressed opinion of a great modern historian in favour of style. At my age, he said, one discovers that men may sincerely hold absurd opinions, " mais cc qui dure, cc qui reste, cc qui nous domine, c'est le style, c'eat la forme, c'est Fart, c'est le beau! " M. Taine, however, was perhaps not speaking specially of the writing of history, and in his volumes on the French Revolution he can- not be accused of having subordinated matter to manner.—