198 CONDORCET: A BIOGRAPHY. 



did not render honorable the minister who all his life made a cruel 

 and scandalous use of the lettres de cachet. His timid friends calcu- 

 lated \Yith uneasiness the danger of irritating M. de Maurepas, prime 

 minister and brother-in-law of M. de la Vrilliere. Condorcet answered : 

 "Would you prefer that I should be persecuted for a foolish act rather 

 than for a jast and moral one? Do you not think 1 will in the future 

 be more easily pardoned for silence, than for speech, since I am resolved, 

 if compelled to speak, to tell exactly the truths' 



Eulogy of IMichel de l'H6pital — Letter of a theologian to 



THE author op THE DICTIONARY OF THREE CENTURIES — LET- 

 TER OF A LABORER OF PlCARDY TO A. M. NECKER, PROHIBITION- 

 IST — Reflections upon the commerce in grain — New edition 

 OF Pascal's thoughts — Entrance of Condorcet into the 

 French Academy. 



Hitherto we have followed step by step the geometer, the perpetual 

 secretary of the Academy. Now we see our confrere throw himself with 

 l^olemic ardor into literary and philosophical controversy, appearing 

 before the public, often anonymously, in order, ho said, not to add his 

 personal enemies to the enemies of his cause. Condorcet was already 

 by fair title secretary of our society when the French Academy issued 

 as the subject for a competitive essay the eulogy of Michel de I'Hopital. 

 Captivated by the scope, the interest, and also the beauty of the theme, 

 our confrere entered the lists with all the ardor natural to a young man 

 of unknown antecedents and with a reputation to make. He did not 

 obtain the prize, however; the preference was given to a paper, to-day 

 completely forgotten, by the Abbe Remi. Some of the causes for his 

 disappointment have become known to me, and it may perhaps be worth 

 while to notice them. 



What did the French Academy desire in proposing the eulogy of de 

 I'Hopital for a prize essay 1 A superficial review of the literary work 

 of the illustrious chancellor, a general sketch of his political and admin- 

 istrative acts, a homage to his memory, written in a more or less florid or 

 exalted style. To-day this kind of composition is little to the taste ot 

 the public; indeed what the celebrated assembly demanded could hardly 

 be dignified with the name of a discourse. 



It was not thus Condorcet regarded the subject presented to him. In 

 his mind utility was preferred to every other merit. The life of I'Ho- 

 pital seemed to him to offer a salutary example to those finding them- 

 selves in difficult circumstances obliged to choose between repose and 

 the public welfare. He did not hesitate as to the character of his essay. 

 It was a history of the life, not merely a eulogistic notice of I'Hopital, he 

 felt impelled to write. 



The life of I'Hdpital : but this is a history of a century of terrible 

 events, of a long succession of shameful disorders, of barbarous and 



