XVlll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



of tlicir admiration for his genius ; while the illustrious Guizot, 

 having outlived him to an extreme old age, remarked not long ago 

 to his nephew and namesake, that there never passed two or 

 three months witliout the memory of Charles Loj'son coming be- 

 fore his mind. 



The father of the great preacher, having achieved a liberal 

 education, became Rector of an academy under the auspices of 

 the University of France. When Charles was three years old, 

 the family removed to the beautiful little provincial city of Pau, 

 in the Department of the Lower Pyrenees. Here, in the midst 

 of inspiring natural scenery, and of a population distinguished by 

 many of the best virtues of country life, the character of the 

 young orator was matured. 



His education was in the seclusion of the family, his father's 

 profession of teacher making it possible for him to enjoy at 

 home more than the ordinary advantages of school. It was, he 

 says, " a sort of family convent." The excellence of the instruction 

 and discipline of this little cloister is attested, not only by the 

 career of Father Hyacinthe, but by that of his younger brother, 

 the Abbé J. Theodose Loyson, S. T. D., who now adorns the 

 chah' of " Evangelical Morality" in the Sorbonuc with large 

 and enlightened principles worthy of his kinship.^ 



Besides the scholastic and literary influences prevailing in the 

 family of the Loysons, there were others of still greater impor- 

 tance. It was a Christian household, according to the best t3"pe 

 of Catholic religion. The letter of Father Hyacinthe to the edi- 

 tor of his uncle's works, contained in this volume, indicates how 

 the memoiy of that young statesman's Christian fidelity to right 

 was cherished by his surviving kindred with greater affection 

 than even the brief but brilliant record of his public career; and 

 records, as a most precious heir-loom, the tradition of a saintly 

 ancestor, who " through all the storm of the French Revolution 

 had carried the lamp of God's word in her hand, or rather in her 

 heart, without once letting it flicker or go out." 



* Alt Inan^iral Di-'icoursc by ProfcHPor TiOyson, cntilled '-Tlic Fiiiictiou of 

 Reason in Thcoloi^y" {T)ii Rôle de la Raison daim la Tlûologic), \» published bv 

 Joseph Albancl, Pari»*. 



