FEN 
‘eS Sirdkgein: «6 
blishments on the river Gambia, it is said to be other- 
Portuguese settlements on the Casaman- 
are common and familiar with the 
' ws Gol- 
otenusnies ly ee o! 
berry mare en Afrique, tom ii. Park's Travels, p. 
218. (c 
» FELSPAR. See Mineratocy. 
FENCE. See Acricutture. 
FENS. See Drarninc. 
FENELON, Francis pe Satignac De 1a Morte, 
: of Cambrai, 
cient and 
i, was 
able in the mode of his education, which was entrusted 
to the care of a private r; but, in a few years, 
he acquired under this instructor a more extensive know- 
oy Sis nosh metre cae yb ages, than is usual. 
25 meat and to this circumstance 
perfection iy Aco 
mitted to preach in public at the age of fifteen. 
id di ing relative, rather alarmed than 
gratified by the encomiums which this premature ap- 
pearance had excited, and anxious to secure his nephew's 
291 
FEN 
inexperience fromm the snares of youthful vanity, placed 
him at the seminary of St Sulpice, under the care of its 
learned and pious superior M. Tronson. From the ex« 
ample and instructions of this excellent person, the 
youthful Fenelon derived his relish of those clerical vir- 
tues, of which he afterwards exhibited so a pat- 
tern ; and received those impressions of elevated piety, 
by which he was Meandtanntin distinguished during the 
whole course of his life. When he was sixteen 
of age, he formed the determination of devoting 
himeelf to the missions in Canada, where the seminary 
of St Sulpice had a considerable establishment; and 
neither the influence of his tutor, nor the remonstrances 
of his friends, were able to shake his purpose. But at 
length his uncle, the bishop of Sarlat, on the ground 
of his nephew’s extreme youth and infirm state of health, 
explicitly refused to grant permission. for his departure, 
and ordered him to remain at St Sulpice, that, by longer 
study and retirement, he might qualify himself for the 
exercise of the ministry. Having been ordained at St 
Sulpice, he devoted himself for the of three years 
to i of his functions in that parish ; 
and, after that period, was appointed to explain the 
scriptures to the people on Sundays and festival days. 
About the year 1674, he was invited by his uncle to 
Sarlat, and resumed with additional zeal his missionary 
views, choosing the Levant as the scene of his labours ; 
but his friends succeeded in finding for him a more 
suitable, yet very similar course of ministration ; and, 
at 27 years of age, he was nominated the superior of 
an institution for ing in the faith the newly-con« 
verted female Cethciion.i sie this humble employment, 
which ired only the simpler forms of instruction, 
the more minute details of knowledge, and the milder 
topics of persuasion, he ten whole years in the 
prime of life ;-but, while faithfully engaged in these 
obscure and unhonoured duties, he was eens by 
study and meditation. those higher talents which con- 
tributed to'render him so bright an ornament of the 
Christian church, Though the Marquis his uncle, with 
whom he resided, passed his life in religious retirement, 
yet he retained the intance of a few select friends, 
to whose notice he introduced his ni w, and in whose 
society he enjoyed many ities of improvement, 
epportunities 
Among these were the Duke de Beauvilliers, who was 
afterwards governor to the Duke of Burgundy, and the 
celebrated Bossuet, who held the situation of tor 
to the Dauphin. He ily recommended hi to 
the esteem and confidence of that distinguished prelate ; 
and profited by his instructions, while he s his in. 
timacy. During wet esanh en om his first work, 
a treatise on “ the Education of a Daughter,” which 
he wrote at the request of the Duchess de Beauvilliers, 
and which has been rather imitated than surpassed by 
future writers on the subject. In 1686, he was placed 
by Louis XIV. at the head of the missionaries, who 
were sent to Poitou and Sai , to convert to the 
Catholic faith the Protestants in these provinces, whose 
pastors had been driven into exile; and having been 
allowed to choose his , and authorized to dis- 
miss the military who had hitherto acted.as the 
of the'chiirch, he repaired to the scene of his:duties with 
all the zeal of a Romish missionary, tem 1 with the 
spirit of Christian conciliation. But h he was 
received war TE RE ee and se- 
dulously removed every instrument of coercion, he per- 
ceived that his converts were chiefly influenced by fear, 
im consequence of the violent measures which’ were 
pursued in other provinces; and it would seem, that 
Fenelon, 
. 
