476 THE JESUIT CRESSET. 



Frederick, however, did not stop short at poetry and compliment; 

 he made the most flattering and generous offers to Gresset, in order 

 to induce him to fix his abode at Berlin : it was generally supposed 

 that they had been accepted. Voltaire, in several of his letters, seems 

 to have looked upon the thing as settled, and frequently designates 

 our author as (( the Prussian Gresset" But too much attached to 

 France, and enamoured of his native Picardy, he contented himself 

 with carrying on with Frederick a respectful correspondence. In the 

 mean time, the success of " Le Mechant" had paved the way for the 

 admission of Gresset to the Academic Fran9aise, and on the 14th of 

 April, 1748, he succeeded to the vacancy caused by the death of 

 Dauchet. At this period he was incessantly occupied in amassing 

 materials, and in tracing numerous plans of comedies. Towards the 

 close of 1751, he had just finished two pieces which had been re- 

 quested by the court (!' Esprit a la mode, and 1'Ecole de 1'amour 

 propre,) when a new vexation, occasioned by a sentence in an acade- 

 mical discourse, suddenly checked his emulation, damped his genius, 

 and left him an unresisting prey to the religious insinuations of the 

 Bishop of Amiens (d'Orleans de la Motte.) This prelate, a man of 

 exemplary piety, was the intimate friend of Gresset, and possessed 

 over his mind an influence which he ultimately employed to exact 

 from him a sacrifice which the interests of true religion could never 

 have demanded. 



On the 14th of December, 1754, d'Alembert was received into the 

 Academy, in the place of M. de Surian, Bishop of Vence. On 

 Gresset, who was then director of the Academy, devolved the duty of 

 pronouncing a panegyric on the deceased academician. We have 

 before had occasion to see the unlucky issue of Gresset' s public dis- 

 courses. In the present instance, he acquitted himself with still 

 greater credit to his reputation as a poet, and with proportionate ill 

 success to his fortune as a courtier. After paying a brilliant tribute 

 to the memory of the prelate, he concludes with the following burst 

 of eloquence, which laid the foundation of his disgrace at court. 

 " Arrive a Fepiscopat sans brigues, sans bassesses et sans hypocrisie, 

 il y vecut sans faste, sans hauteur, et sans negligence. Ce ne fut 

 point de ces talents qui se taisent des qu'ils sont recompenses : de ces 

 bouches que la fortune rend muettes, et qui se fermant des que le 

 rang est obtenu, prouvent trop que Ton ne preche pas toujotirs po'ur 

 des conversions. Devoue tout en tier a 1'instruction des peuples con- 

 fies a son zele, il leur consacra tous ses talents, tous ses soins, 

 tous ses jours; pasteur d'autant plus cher a son troupeau, que 

 ne le quittant jamais, il en etait plus connu : louange rarement donnee 

 et bien digne d'etre remarquee ! Dans le cours de plus de vingt an- 

 nees d'episcopat. M. 1'eveque de veuce ne sortit jamais de son diocese 

 que quand il fut appele par son devoir a I'assemblee du clerge: bien 

 different de ces pontifes agreables ct prophanes, crayonnes autrefois par 

 Despreaux, et qui regardant leur devoir cornme un ennui, Voisivete comme 

 un droit, leur residence naturdle comme un exil, venoient promener leur 

 inutilite parmi les ecueils, le luxe et la mollesse de la capitale, ou venoient 

 ramper a la cour et y trainer de V ambition sans talent, de I'intrigue sans 

 affaires, et de I'importance sans credit." 



