B O S S U E T. 



771 



Bossuet. approve the liberty frequently taken by Christian 

 *- v~- ' poets, of introducing into their verses, the names of 

 heathen divinities, and allusions borrowed from Pagan 

 mythology. We arc not certain whether we should 

 be as much alarmed as Bossuet, by the fancied im- 

 moral tendency of such a practice ; but we have no 

 hesitation in joining him, even against the authorities 

 of D'Alembert and Boileau, in the condemnation of 

 an abuse, which serves only to introduce absurdity 

 into modern poems, without adding, in any respect, 

 to their interest. A poet of genius cannot need the 

 aid of these mythological fictions ; and when they 

 are interwoven into the flimsy productions of an or- 

 dinary versifier, they only attract attention to that 

 indigence of thought, which they cannot conceal. 



Mathematics was almost the only science which 

 Bossuet disregarded ; from a strange opinion, that a 

 knowledge of mathematics was either useless to the 

 divine, or directly hostile to the feelings which he 

 ought to cherish, and the studies which he ought to 

 pursue. Though averse to this study, Bossuet en- 

 tered, with considerable eagerness, into the spe- 

 culations of philosophy. The Cartesian system, 

 which had been recently divulged, and which was 

 then forcing its way against inveterate prejudices, re- 

 commended itself, by its boldness and its novelty, to 

 his vigorous and independent mind ; and he warmly 

 patronized and defended it, against the fulminations 

 of his ecclesiastical brethren, and the more formidable 

 edicts of civil authority. 



His talents for eloquence, to the improvement of 

 which all his studies were directed, were admirably 

 displayed from the pulpit, at the early age of six- 

 teen. He had been announced as a young man of 

 premature genius, at the Hotel de Rambouillet, to 

 which merit of every kind was then summoned to 

 appear. A numerous and select company met for 

 the purpose of deciding on his qualifications as an 

 orator, and proposed to him a subject, from which 

 Bossuet, almost without preparation, pronounced a 

 fermon, which drew forth the warmest applauses 

 from his auditors. He had the merit of produ- 

 cing a total clia 



Jting, 



ing a total change in the tone of pulpit eloquence ; 

 nd of substituting, for the coarse indecencies and 



quaint affectation by which it was degraded, the 

 strength and dignity which become the sublime 

 truths and elevated morality of the gospel. " One 

 of those men," says D'Alembert, " who make a pa- 

 rade of believing nothing, wished to hear, or rather 

 to brave him. Too proud to own himself over- 

 come, but too just not to pay homage to a great 

 man ; ' There,' 83id he, on leaving the church, ' is 

 the first of preachers for me ; for he is the person 

 by whom I feel that my conversion would be effected, 

 if it were to be effected at all." Thus applauded as 

 an orator, Bossuet became ambitious of distinguish- 

 ing himself in the field of theological controversy. 

 With this view he undertook the refutation of the 

 catechism of Paul Ferry, a Protestant minister, with 

 whom he had hitherto lived in intimate friendship ; 

 and it deserves to be recorded, to the immortal ho- 

 nour of both, that the heat of their theological con- 

 tentions never betrayed them into even a momentary 

 oblivion of their former amity. The reputation of 



Bossuet soon reached the court, and he was invited 

 to Versailles, the proper theatre for the display of 

 his brilliant talents. Amidst the splendour and se- 

 ductions of a palace, he preserved a dignity and in- 

 dependence of conduct, becoming his character as the 

 ambassador of Heaven. Without a single effort to 

 force himself into notice, except by his exhibitions 

 in the pulpit or at the altar ; without once descend- 

 ing to the meanness of flattery or paltry intrigue, he 

 obtained from Louis XIV. the bishopric of Condom 

 a just tribute to his transcendant, though unob- 

 trusive merit. 



The French Academy, desirous of appropriating 

 to themselves part of the reputation of so celebrated 

 a man, admitted him into their number, in 1671. 

 About the same time, he was selected by Louis as 

 the most proper person to be intrusted with the im- 

 portant charge of the Dauphin's education. That 

 he might be enabled to devote himself entirely to 

 this sacred charge, he resigned his bishopric, and 

 received, in exchange, an abbacy of trifling revenue, 

 but sufficient to satisfy his moderate desires. Aware 

 that religion alone can furnish any restraint on the 

 caprices of an arbitrary monarch, Bossuet made it 

 his principal care to inspire his pupil with a habi- 

 tual regard, to the King of kings, whose vigilant 

 eye observes our minutest actions ; and at whose im- 

 partial tribunal sovereigns, as well as their subjects, 

 must account for the use which they have made of 

 the advantages with which His providence has fa- 

 voured them. He composed, for the use of his 

 royal charge, A Discourse on Universal History, 

 which is certainly the most important of all his 

 works. " In this grand sketch," we again borrow 

 the words of D'Alembert, " we admire a genius as 

 vast as profound, which, disdaining to dwell on fri- 

 volous details, so dear to the crowd of historians, sees 

 and judges at one glance, legislators and conquerors, 

 kings and nations, the crimes and virtues of men ; and 

 traces with a rapid but expressive pencil, time, which 

 devours and engulphs every thing, the hand of God 

 on human grandeur ; and kingdoms, which die like 

 their masters." 



When he had completed the education of the 

 Dauphin, Louis testified his satisfaction with his 

 talents and fidelity, by appointing him first almo- 

 ner to the Dauphiness, and investing him with the 

 bishopric of Meaux. In this new situation, he again 

 devoted himself to the service of religion, and the 

 defence of the church. The numerous controversies 

 in which he became involved with infidels and Pro- 

 testants, gave him an opportunity of displaying much 

 logical acuteness and dexterity of argumentation ; he 

 is said to have brought back to the Catholic faith, 

 several who had embraced the Protestant religion ; 

 and such was his anxiety to effect a re-union of the 

 Protestants with the church of Rome, that he made 

 a voluntary offer to travel, for this purpose, into fo- 

 reign countries. With the same view, he established 

 a correspondence with the celebrated Leibnitz ; who, 

 more tolerant or more indifferent than Bossuet, wished 

 to restore unity and peace by mutual concessions. 

 Bossuet remained inflexible, and insisted that the 

 Protestants, as a preliminary step, should implicitly 



Bo^snrf. 



