THE FRENCH INSTITUTE. 85 



poration. The members would have been quite content to have 

 continued theii meetings in their former quiet, informal way. At 

 the same time the condescension of the august prelate was not to 

 be gainsaid, for, while he could purr as gently as a cat, he could 

 strike with equal swiftness when it suited his purpose. A prime 

 minister, in those days, preserved his own head by cutting off the 

 heads of others, and the gentle priest had become wonderfully ex- 

 pert at this business. 



With commendable promptness the members meekly drew up 

 a code of regulations. They were to have only forty members. 

 The officers were to consist of a director, who should preside over 

 their deliberations ; a chancellor, who should act as keeper of 

 seals ; and a permanent secretary. 



The title of " The French Academy " was adopted, and its object 

 was avowed to be " to labor with all care and diligence to give 

 certain rules to our language, and to render it pure, eloquent, and 

 capable of treating the arts and the sciences. It shall be the object 

 of the new academicians to purge out of it those impurities with 

 which it has become polluted." 



The cardinal passed the statutes, and the king signed the let- 

 ters patent on the 2d of January, 1635. When the Chancellor 

 of State, Peter Seguier, impressed the charter with his great seal, 

 he expressed his wish to become a member. 



So far all was smooth sailing ; but the Parliament of Paris, 

 whose assent was necessary before the Academy could become 

 legally constituted, proved obdurate, and it was not until after 

 two years and a half, with all the powerful influence of the king, 

 and his more dreaded prime minister giving it urgency that the 

 coveted act was passed, with the qualification, however, that the 

 academicians should " bind themselves to take cognizance of no 

 other matters than the embellishment and enriching the French 

 language, and to sit in judgment upon no books save such as were 

 written by their own members, or by authors who should willingly 

 submit themselves to academic discipline." 



As a balm for their wounded feelings, the Government decided 

 that each member of the Academy should receive an annual pen- 

 sion of two thousand francs. It was a source of no little scandal 

 when it became known that they were paid out of a fund of forty 

 times two thousand francs, which had been appropriated to pay 

 the scavengers of the streets of Paris. The members themselves 

 did not escape a just popular censure for the complacent manner 

 with which they allowed themselves to be used by the wily car- 

 dinal. 



The condemnation of The Cid of Corneille, which Richelieu 

 instigated Chapelaine to write and the Academy to pass, will 

 always be remembered against them. Much has been made of 



