160 MEMOIRS OF 



displaying liis powers. The following is selected 

 from the " Prix de Vertu* : " — ** Nous avons a ra- 

 conter les bonnes actions de quinze autres per- 

 sonnes, auxquelles 1 'academic a decern6 des 

 m^dailles ; au moment de commencer ces r^cits, 

 nous 6prouvons une crainte, celle de fatiguer nos 

 lecteurs par la monotonie, et le d^faut de vari^t^, 

 ces recits vont se ressembler entre eux ; ce sera 

 toujours de la charitc, toujours de la bienfaisance, 

 toujours undevoument d^sinteress^ aux infortunes 

 d*autrui; et puis, il faudra toujours louer, toujours 

 admirer: ce n'est pas le moyen de r^veiller et 

 de soutenir I'attention ; I'cloge nous fatigue ou 

 nous endort ; un ^criv^ain Anglais dit spirituelle- 

 ment, que tons les panegyriques sembJent confits 



* We have now to recount the good deeds of fifteen other 

 persons, to whom the Academy has decreed medals ; but as 

 we commence these recitals, a fear assails us of fatiguing our 

 readers by monotony, by want of variety. These histories are 

 all alike; it is always charity, always benevolence, always a 

 disinterested devotion to the cause of the unfortunate. These 

 we must for ever praise, for ever admire ; and this is not the 

 way to rouse or to fix attention. Eulogium fatigues or sends 

 us to sleep, and an English writer wittily says, that all pane- 

 gyrics seem to have been cooked in poppy juice. We how- 

 ever will abstain from saying a single word which may appear 

 to be given for the purpose of impressing these affecting cir- 

 cumstances. Still more forcibly do they carry their own re- 

 commendation with them ; and those who are so unhappy as 

 not to feel them, will not be capable of comprehending any 

 eulogiums which we could add to them. 



