l08 DISCOUESES OF FATHER HYACINTHE. 



a great period. His writings are not many, but they arc in behalf 

 of noble interests. His friends -were not numerous, but they are 

 among the best and greatest men of liis country. And after the lapse 

 of lifly years, he has critics like Patin and Sainte Beuvc to commem- 

 orate his genius, and an heir of his own name like Father Hya- 

 cinthe to eulogize his character and soul. We need not pity him !"] 



To M. Emile Ckimaud. 



I assure yon, Sir, that I have not forgotten that sum- 

 mer evening of which you remind me in such poetic 

 language. I remember especially the amiaVjle and gen- 

 erous enthnsiH.sm with Avhich you kindly consented to 

 aid my brother and myself in a work whicli was both a 

 family duty and a dream of our childhood. The provin- 

 cial spirit, which is born and dies with the family spirit, 

 and to the revival of which you have so nobly devoted 

 your literary activity, had already endeared to you the 

 memory of the scholar of Beaupréau, the son of Brittany 

 and Vendée, afterward the friend and counsellor of the 

 ministers and supporters of the Eestoration in its best 

 days. You have been willing to love his memory the 

 better for our sake, and to devote yourself to making 

 liim known, which is, I do not fear to say, to make him 

 beloved. I thank you for it, from the bottom of my 

 iieart. 



It is not for me to decide whether this funeral monu- 

 ment, raised by our common care, sliall have a perma- 

 nent right to stand in the field of glory ; but those of the 

 younger generation, whose symi)athetic and pious atten- 

 tion it will attract, will surely lind in it examples and 

 lessons wortljy of their study. Glory is ])erhaps the 

 Ijest of Innnan idols, but, aftiT all, it is only an idol: 

 our ambition should be to leave Ix-hind us tiie lesson of 

 truth, the examjjle of goodness. 



