UNIVERSAL. ERUDITION. 

 XI. The ftyle i s fo important an objeft in 



wnnng a hiftory, that we cannot fufficientlv re- 

 ommend an attention to it. How excellent fo- 

 r are the matters that a book contains, is of 



little importance, if, for want of perfpicuity and 



legance m the writing, we cannot be induced to 

 If, in the choice of a ftyle, we were 



Obliged to make ufe of that which is very cone 



or very diffufed, we fcould incline to Z. 



he point of perfeftion is, however, in a juft 

 medmm. Style is a gift which every writer re - 



eaves from nature. We know of no two tha 

 are precisely the fame. If we ma y be permitted 



o propofe the beft French modell of ftyk, W e 

 think they may be found in the Hiftory of Charles 

 XII. and in the Age of Lewis XIV. by M Vol 

 taire in the Revolutions of the abbe Vertot 

 in the PMoric Pieces of the abbe St. Real in 

 teUn, verfa, Hiftory ofM.H 3 rdion,andi;t n ; 

 other modern h.ftorians. 1'he ftyk that M. Bof- 

 fuet b,fnop of Meau X , has employed in his Dif- 

 courfe on Un.verfal Hiftory, is inimitable, and 

 might ferve as a capital model, if that prdate 

 had not endeavoured after too much eloquence 

 and if he did not fometimes do violence to the 



'th, m order to be always favourable to reli- 



n ; of which he appears to be the panegyrift. 



XII. Facls and events make the body of s 



iftory ; the inftruclions they afford make the 



foul of , t A hiftory muft ramble a journal or 



gazette, ,f the autlwr does not introduce thofe 



efficacious 



