iSOo.] from the Jge of Augustus to that of Louis XIV. 15 



In Germany Tyclio Biiilie and Kepler, 

 —one, Dotwitltandinfi- liis errors, regarded 

 us the b&iiefvittor oJ" the icieaces, — the 

 other named tlie legillator of allrcpomy 

 and tlie wurtiiy prec lutor ot Newton, — 

 inth^mnified their eountry tor her detects 

 in the tiiier arts. 



England, deltined foon to become the 

 the miltrefs ut'tlie world in abltrufe Icieiices 

 and found nietaphyfus, migiit, at that 

 time oppofe to all the great men I liave 

 named, the Lord Chancellor Bacon, one 

 of thole hardy and independent tempers 

 who owe cveiy thing to a deep examina- 

 tion of their own unbialVed thoughts, and 

 to tJie habit of confidcring e-.ery thing as 

 if no one before liad treated of it. lie 

 fulfilled ti)e whole promife of the title 

 which he dared, from the feeret tellimony 

 of his own genius, to give to that immor- 

 tal work (Noviiiii Siu/itiurinii Orgimiiin,) 

 which taught pliilofophy to take no further 

 Heps but on the Aire ground of experi- 

 ence ; and it is in purfuing this inelti- 

 mable lelVon that the feieiice of phylies 

 is become wliat alone it ought to be, the 

 feience of facts. 



France (we were compelled to leave 

 Jier to the laft, for llie was How in her 

 march, though Hie has furpalfed, in many 

 arts, nations which at iidt preceded her,) 

 was, at the epoch 1 treat of, little able 

 to contend with fo much glory. Defcar- 

 tcs had not yet appeared ; the language 

 polTed'ed no purity ; our belt productions 

 in profe or \erle had aided its progrefs, 

 ftill llow and bounded, without giving to 

 the French literature that fplendour 

 which never fpreads to foreign nations 

 till a language is fixed and polilhed. The 

 hiilorian De Thou might be churned by 

 the Latins, whole language he had bor- 

 rowed, and whofe elegance, tafte, and 

 judgment, he had imitated. The French 

 theatre, (inee the greattli in the world, 

 flid not then exifl. Amyot in profe, and 

 JNIarot in verl'e, dillin^uiflied themfelves 

 by a character of limplicity whofe charms 

 are (till felt ; but the dignity of a culti- 

 vated diction, and the propriety of a ftyie 

 proportioned to tlie fubjed, were merits 

 miknown to them. The (tage, the bar, 

 find the pidpit, had but one manner, 

 r(|uully unworthy of all three. The un- 

 foitimate efforts of Ronfard to transfufe 

 into the French the graces of the tJreek 

 »md Latin, jirove that, tVuitlefsly infpired 

 with the genius ol'the ancient languages, 

 lie knew not how to fei/.e the graces pro- 

 per to his own. Two men only, but un- 

 der afpei'ts as diltinct as the degrees of 

 ifeeir merit, are to b« ftaied i\i worthy of 



attention, and thefe were Rabelais and 

 Montaigne, llie (iril was as naturallj 

 gay as the other was naturally realbning ; 

 but one abnl'ed his vivacity to the ex- 

 treme of bulfoiinery, and the other per- 

 mitted the fportiu'js of arL'UmeuL fonie- 

 times to run to the extreme of fcepticifin. 

 Montaigne imprinted on the P^ench lan- 

 guage an energy he did not find in it, 

 w hich is not now loll, beaufe it was allied 

 to energy of thought and feeling, and was 

 not, like that of Roulard, foreign to the 

 genius of the language. As aphilolbpher, 

 he paints men fucli as they are, without 

 embellilhing them from coniplacencv, or 

 disfiguring them from mifanthropv. 



We advance towards the feventeenth 

 century, which was, in fact, that of 

 France. The French language began tc» 

 be purified, aU'uming more exatt forms, 

 and a more dignified tone. It acquired 

 liarmony in the verfe of Malherbe and 

 the prole of Balzac. Tafte had, however, 

 many obtlacles U> furniount. Our pro- 

 grefs was retarded by the fame fpirit ijt* 

 imitation which is iicceiVary in the mo- 

 ment when the arts revive, but which ha* 

 its difadvantages as well as its ul'e. If the 

 lirft models to w liich we attach ourfelve* 

 are not pure, they are dangerous, becaufe 

 it is more eafy to imitate their faults tliaii 

 their beauties. When the Romans de- 

 manded of the Greeks lelFons in pocfy 

 and eloquence, the tafte of the matters 

 was too peitect to corrupt the diltiple. 

 But Italy and Spain, ^vhich gave the tone 

 to all Europe when letters began to re- 

 vive in France, had great faults, and un- 

 fortunately very fcducing, in their li-. 

 terature. The bombaft of the Spaniards, 

 and the allectation of the Italians, 

 therefore necellarily prevailed in France 

 before fhe learnt to lludy true tafte iii 

 the writings of the ancients. Books 

 fports, fpeCtacles, dref's, every thine in 

 France Avas Italian or Spaniili. Their 

 authors were in every oise's hand, and 

 made part of our education. Our poets 

 formed themfelves upon theirs. Gallant 

 poetry cloathed itfelf with thofe turns of 

 Italian wit called concetti. Dramatic 

 poetry had the fame ambition ; and <jur 

 moft efteemed authors then made Melpo- 

 mene fpeak in puns and epigrams. Tha 

 Mariamne of Tril'tan,and the Sophonifua 

 of Mairet, are infected with tliis ridicu- 

 cuhjus ftyle ; and thefe were the wonders 

 of our theatre when Corneille produced 

 the Cid and Cinria. Comedy, equally 

 built on the Italian and Spauilli model, 

 was a fpecies of romance in dialogue, a 

 ferl<,-» <ji' iiicideiitj deiUtate at once of 

 probabijitjr 



