THE JESUIT CRESSET, AUTHOR OF VERT-VERT. 



AMONGST the splendid productions of the Augustan age of litera- 

 ture in France, there is probably no work which occasioned greater 

 interest, on its first appearance, or which has to the present day so 

 successfully maintained its claim to the admiration of every class of 

 readers as the Vert- Vert, of the Jesuit Gresset. This poem, written 

 to commemorate the adventures of a favourite parrot, was first printed 

 at Rouen, in 1734. The circumstances under which it appeared, as 

 connected with the private history of its author, added much to its 

 singularity. Jean Baptiste Gresset was born at Amiens, in the year 

 1709 : his family, originally English, settled in France some time, in 

 the seventeenth century, and intermarried with some of the most 

 distinguished families of Rouen. Our author commenced his studies 

 with the Jesuits of Amiens. Father Lagneau, provincial of the order 

 at Arras, quickly discovered the talents of his pupil, and took the 

 greatest delight in cultivating them. 



For the care and attentions of his preceptor, Gresset preserved 

 through life the liveliest gratitude. In an ode to the city of Arras, 

 written in 1740, we find the good Father thus commemorated by 

 our poet : 



L'un de tes citoyens aux Heux de ma naissance, 

 Daigna former, instruire et guider mon enfance. 

 II m'apprit a penser : il m'apprit encore plus j 

 En ouvrant le Parnasse a mon jeune courage, 

 II eclairait mes pas du flambeau des vertus. 

 Mon ame enfin est son ouvrage. 



Struck with the promising talents of their young pupil, the Jesuits 

 endeavoured to attach him to their order. Having no fixed views 

 with respect to a profession, Gresset at first exhibited no signs of re- 

 pugnance, and at the age of sixteen commenced his noviciate ; he 

 was, to use his own expression, " carried from the cradle to the 

 altar."* After having completed his studies at the college of Louis 

 le Grand, at Paris, our author, in accordance with the practice of the 

 Order of Jesus, re-commenced the course by becoming " professeur 

 des humanites" at Moulins, Tours, and Rouen ; in each of which 

 towns he displayed considerable talents, as well in his sermons as in 

 the public exercises composed by him for the use of their several 

 colleges. But even the grave pursuits of theology were insufficient 

 to obliterate from the breast of the young divine the attachment for 

 the muse which he appeared, like Voltaire, to have nourished from 

 his cradle. His first essay (at least the earliest of which we have 

 any trace), was a poem in Latin elegiac verse, entituled " Charities," 

 or the Graces, which was recited by one of his scholars as a new 

 year's ode, and which appears to have met with the most decided 

 approbation. In 1733, as professor of rhetoric, he himself pro- 

 nounced a discourse in Latin verse on " Harmony." This work was 

 the foundation of an epocha in his life. From thence may be traced 



* Vide Adieux aux Jesuites. 



