B O I 



Whate'er tlieir former indignation. 

 The bait goes down, and you're their friend." 

 Twelve of his fatires were pubUll>ed ; one of thefe was his 

 fatire ajrainfl; women, the mod bitt>-r and outrageous of all, 

 which is faid to have been occafioned by his havini;; been in 

 early life jilted by a young perfon to whom he was going to 

 be married, and who ran away with a mofquetaire. RaCMie 

 the younger, one of his particular hiends, however, fays, that 

 he never had a miftrefs, nor ever thought of marrying. On 

 the publication of this fatire he was attacked from all quar- 

 ters ; but his friend Racine confoled him as well as he could : 

 " Courage," fays he, " you have attacked a numerous corps, 

 which is all tongue; but the ftorm will blow over." The 

 beft of his fatires was that entitled " A fon Efprit ;" a piece 

 of irony, abounding with the moft keen and polilhed ridi- 

 cule. Whatever reproach Boileau incurred for the perlona- 

 lity of his fatires, it is mentioned to his honour, that he al- 

 ways diftinguiflied between folly and vice ; and that he never 

 attacked bad tafte and dunces with any other arms than ri- 

 dicule, while vice and profligacy were treated by him with 

 juil indignation. 



The fatires of Boileau were followed by his " Art of 

 Poetry," which is reckoned the bcil (.fall the poetical works 

 of critieifm exTlting, equally admirable for the good fenfc of 

 its maxims, and the appropriate beauties of language by which 

 his precepts are exemplified. This was fucceedcd by his 

 " Epiftles," formed after the model of Horace, and ren- 

 dered pecuharly plealing by the union of morality with criti- 

 eifm, and defcription with fentiment ; interfperfed with 

 charaAeriftic traits and anecdotes of himfelf. In one of 

 thefe, addreffed to the king, he artfully, at the inftigation 

 of Colbert, endeavoured to divert the fovereign's mind from 

 the fchcmes of conqueft to the glory of promoting the wel- 

 fare of his fubjjfts by plans of utility r.nd beneficence. Lewis 

 was gratified by the delicate praife with which this advice 

 was accompanied, and applauded the epiftles ; hut went 

 to war with Holland. In 1674, he publi(hed his " Lutrin," 

 a mock-heroic kind of compoficion, founded on a trifling 

 difpute between the treafurer and chsnter of the holy chapel, 

 and ranking among the firft produdions of this clafs. Boi- 

 leau had now acquired a degree of reputation which re- 

 commended him to favour and patronage at court ; and the 

 king honoured him with a penfion, an cxclufive privilege for 

 printing his own works, and the ofHce, conjointly with his 

 friend Racine, of royal hilloriographer. In this latter capa- 

 city neither he nor his aflbciate had an oportunity of appear- 

 ing before the public. Boileau, indeed, publiflied his " Ode 

 on the taking of Namur," which is more an hillorical than 

 a poetical effort. At this time he attended frequently at 

 court ; and yet he maintained a freedom and franknefs of 

 fpeech, more efpecially on topics of literature, which are not 

 toinmon among courtiers. When Lewis aflced his opinion 

 of fome vei fes which he had written, he replied ; " Nothing, 

 fire, is impoffible to yourmajcfty ; you wilhed to make bad 

 verfts, and you have fucceeded." He alfo took part with 

 the perfecuted members of the Port-royal ; and when one 

 of the courtiers declared, that the king was making diligent 

 fearch after the celebrated Arnauld, in order to put him in the 

 Baftile, Boileau obftrvcd, " His majefty is too fortunate ; he 

 will not find him :" and when the king aiked him, what was 

 the rcafou why the whole world was running after a preacher, 

 named Ic Tourneux, a difciple of Arnauld, " Your ma- 

 jefty," he replied, " knows how fond people are of novelty : 

 — this is a minifter who preaches the gofpel." Boileau ap- 

 pears, from various circumftances, to have been no great 

 l^riend to the Jefuits, whom he offended by his " Epiftk on 



B O I 



the Love ef God," and by many free fpeeches. By royal 

 favour, he was admitted unanimoufly, in 1684, i"to the 

 French academy, with which he had made very free in hij 

 epigrams ; and he was alfo aflibciated to the new Academy 

 of Infcriptions and Belles Lettres, of wliich he appeared to 

 be a fit member by his " Tranflation of Longinus on the 

 Sublime." To fcience, with which he had little acquaint- 

 ance, he rendered, however, important fervice by his burlcfque 

 " Arret in favour of the Univerfity, againll an unknown 

 perfonage called Reafon," which was the means of prevent- 

 ing the eflablifliment of a plan of intolerance in matters of 

 phdofophy. His attachment to the ancients, as the true 

 models of literary tafte and excellence, occafioned a coitro- 

 verfy between him and Perrault concerning the comparative 

 merit of the ancients and moderns, which was profecuted for 

 fome time by epigrams and mutual reproaches, till at lengttx 

 the public began to be tired with their difputes, and a re-^ 

 conciliation was effefted by the good offices of their common 

 friends. This controverfy laid the foundation of a lafting- 

 enmity between Boileau and Fontenelle, who inclined to 

 the party of Perrault. Boileau, however, did not maintain 

 his opinion with the pedantic extravagance of the Daciers ; 

 but he happily exercifed his wit on the mifreprefentations of 

 the noted charafters of antiquity, by the falhionable ro- 

 mances of the time, in his dialogue entitled " The Heroes 

 of Romance," compofed in the manner of Lucian. In op- 

 pofition to the abfurd opinion of father Hardouin, that moil 

 of the claftical produftions of ar.cient Rome had been 

 written by the monks of the I3ih century, Boileau pleafantly 

 remarks, " I know nothing of all that ; but though I am 

 not very partial to the monks, I (liould not have been forry 

 to have lived with friar Tibullus, friar Juvenal, Dom Virgil, 

 Dom Cicero, and fuch kind of folk." After the death of 

 Racine, Boileau very much retired from court ; induced' 

 partly by his love of liberty and independence, and partly 

 by his diflike of that adulation which was expefted, and for 

 whicii the cloie of Lewis's reign afforded more fcaiity mate- 

 rials than its commencement. Separated in a great degree- 

 from focicty, he indulged that auftere and mifantliropical dlf- 

 pofition, from which he was never wholly exempt. His 

 converfatiju, however, was more mild and gentle than his^ 

 writings ; and, as he uled to fay of himfelf, without " nails 

 or claws," it was enlivened by occafional fallies of pleafautry, 

 and rendered inftruclive by judicious opinions of autiiors 

 and their works. He was religious without bigotry ; and 

 he abhorred fanaticifm and hypocrify. His circumftances 

 were eafy ; and his prudent economy has been charged by 

 fome with degeneratmg into avarice. Inftances, however, 

 occur of his liberality and beneficence. At the death of 

 Colbert, the penfion which he had given to the poet Cor» 

 ntille was fupprefled, though he was poor, old, infirm, and 

 dying. Boileau interceded with the king for the reftoration 

 of it, and offered to transfer his own to Corneille, telling tha 

 monarch, that he fhould be afliamcd to receive his bounty 

 while fuch a man was in want of it. He alfo bought, at an 

 advanced price, the library of P.itru, reduced in his circum- 

 ftances, and left him in the poffeffion of it till his death. He 

 gave to the poor all the revenues he had received for eight 

 years from a benefice he had enjoyed, without performing 

 the duties of it. To indigent men of letters his purfe was 

 always open ; and at his death he bequeathed almoft all his. 

 poffeflTions to the poor. Upon the whole, his temper, though- 

 naturally auftere, was, on many occafions, kindandbenevolent, 

 fo that it has been faid of him, that he was " crue'» only in, 

 verfe ;" and his general character was diftinguiflied by wortli 

 and integrity, with fome alloys of literary jealoufy and in- 



juftice^. 



