HIS LITERARY WORKS. 107 



entered on this new branch at the beginning of 1767, by 

 asking for the eloge of Charles V. 



Bailly entered the lists, but his essay obtained only an 

 honourable mention. 



Nothing is more instructive than to search out at what 

 epoch originated the principles and opinions of persons 

 who have acted an important part on the political scene, 

 and how those opinions developed themselves. By a 

 fatality much to be regretted, the elements of these in- 

 vestigations are rarely numerous or faithful. We shall 

 not have to express these regrets relative to Bailly. 

 Each composition shows us the serene, candid, and vir- 

 tuous mind of the illustrious writer, in a new and true 

 point of view. The eloge of Charles V. was the start- 

 ing point, followed by a long series of works, and it 

 ought to arrest our attention for a while. 



The writings, crowned with the approbation of the 

 French Academy, did not reach the public eye till they 

 had been submitted to the severe censure of four Doctors 

 in Theology. A special and digested approbation by the 

 high dignitaries of the Church, whom the illustrious 

 assembly always possessed among her members, was not 

 a sufficient substitute for the humbling formality. If we 

 are sure that we possess the eloge of Charles V. such as 

 it flowed from the author's pen ; if we have not reason to 

 fear that the thoughts have undergone some mutilation, 

 we owe it to the little favour that the discourse of Bailly 

 enjoyed in the sitting of the Academy in 1767. Those 

 thoughts, however, would have defied the most squeamish 

 mind, the most shadowy susceptibility. The panegyrist 

 unrolls with emotion the frightful misfortunes that 

 assailed France during the reign of King John. The 

 temerity, the improvidence of that monarch ; the dis- 



