L^U L 



L U L 



oF whom he had the penetration to difcover the genius, and 

 the dexterity to fecure the allillance by a deed, in which 

 the poet engaged to lupply him every year with -a new 

 drama, for 4000 Hvrcs, about 200/. 



(juinaiilt iketched many plans, and carried them to the 

 kin^ for his approbation : after which LuUi pointed out 

 to him the places where the dances were to be introduced, 

 and let liim hear the airs. Tlie fcenes were examined, by his 

 majefty's command, in the Academic des Belles Lettrcs, 

 Thus by their united opinions, all the dramas ofQuinault 

 were regulated, which remain the bell that were produced in 

 Trance during the 17th century, and will probably con- 

 tinue the belt, if new let, for many ages yet to come. The 

 enemies of Quinault, jealous of his glory and talents, con- 

 trived to bring about a quarrel between the poet and 

 muiician. LuUi had recourfe to La Fontaine, who, at his 

 requed, produced the opera of " Daphne," but as foon 

 as Lulli had heard it read, he did not conceal from the 

 author, that he thought his talents did not extend to writing 

 operas. La Fontaine, piqued at having laboured in vain, to 

 revenge himfelf on Lulli, for his coarfe rejeftion of his 

 drana, wrote his comedy, or rather fatire, of " The Flo- 

 rentine," but as he had a good heart, he foon fubdued his 

 wrath, and they were fincerely reconciled. 



The king, more and more pleafed with his mufic, con- 

 ferred on him the title and emoluments of fecretary to his 

 majefty, and heaped upon him many other favours for his 

 family. 



The king having been extremely ill in 1686, Lulli com- 

 pofed a Te Deum on his recovery, which was executed in 

 the church of the Feuillans, Rue Saint Honore, the eighth 

 of January 1687. In enthuliaftically regulating the time 

 with his cane, he ftruck his foot fo violently, that, probably 

 from a bad habit of body, a mortification came on. He 

 was at firft advifed to have the toe taken off which was 

 wounded by the cane, then the foot, and then the leg. But 

 fome quacks having promifed to cure him without amputa- 

 tion, MelTrs. de Vendome, who had a fincere regard for him, 

 offered to the quacks 2000 piltoles if they cured him, and 

 lodged them in the hands of a banker. But all their efforts 

 were ufelefs, and it was announced to him that he mult pre- 

 pare for death. His confeflTor rejufed to give him abfolu- 

 tion, but upon condition that he woidd burn the opera of 

 Achilles and Polixene, which he had been preparing for tlie 

 ftage. He confented, and the coinpoiltion was committed 

 to the flames. • 



Some days after, fancying himfelf a little better as the 

 gangrene encreafed, one of the young princes of Vendome 

 came to fee him ; "What ! Baptilt, (^ fays he,) haft thou been 

 fo foolifh as to burn fuch good muiic." — " Hufh, hufli ! my 

 lord, (whilpers LuUi,) I liave got a copy of it." However, 

 it is afferted, tliat he manifelted in his lall moments a fincere 

 repentance, and teftified the higheft fenfe of religion. He 

 died at Paris on the 22d of March 1687, in the 54th year 

 of his age. He was buried in the church of Les petits Peres, 

 in La Place des Vi6loires, where a fine monument was 

 erected to his memory, and where may have been read, be- 

 fore the revolution, the following epitaph by Santeuil : 



" Perfida mors, iuimica audax, temeraria et excors, 

 Crudelifque, et coeca probris te abfolvimus litis, 

 Non de te querimur, tua fint hoec niunia magna. 

 Sed quando per te populi Regilque voluptas, 

 Non ante auditis rapuit qui 'cantibus orbem 

 LtJLLlus eripitur, querimur modo, furdus fuifti." 



Lulli was a fortunate man to arrive in 3 country where 

 tnufic had been fo little cultivated, that he never had any 

 Vol. XXL 



rival, nor was there throughout the whole kingdom o" 

 France an individual who had the courage to doubt of his 

 infallibility in his art. He was fortunate in fo magnifi eut 

 a patron, and tlill more fortunate in a Lyric poet, who 

 could interell an audience by all the powers of poetry, by 

 the contexture of his fables, and variety and force of liis 

 charafters. 



Lulli was rough, rude, and coarfe in his manners, but 

 without malice. His grcateft frailties were the love of wine 

 and money. There were found in his coffer 630,000 

 livres in gold, an exorbitant fum for the time in which he 

 lived. He had the art of making himfelf at once beloved 

 and feared by the performers of Ivis mufic, which is doubt- 

 lefs the moll effential talent for governing fuch eccentric 

 and mutinous fubjedls ; but however difficult it may be to 

 keep them in order and in good humour, true merit, exaft 

 juftice, and a fteady conduct always fucceed. 



Lulli married the only daughter of Michel Lambert, the 

 celebrated mufician, and the bed ringing-mailer of his time. 

 By this marriage he had three fons and three daughters, to 

 all of whom he left an ample provifion, and friends in power, 

 who conferred on them places, penfions, and kiiidnefs. 



LULLY, Raymond, a philofopher and cliemiil of great 

 note in the dark ages, was born in the ifland of Majorca in 

 1236, of an illullrious family of that name at Barcelona. 

 From the works that bear his name, it is fuppofed that he 

 was ardently attached to the fludy of the Iciences, of phi- 

 lolophy, theology, chemiilry, and medicine ; but there is 

 great doubt as to the genuinenefs of many of thofc works, 

 which were probably written by his pupils, or even by pcr- 

 fons who lived confiderably polierior to his time. In his 

 youth he bore arms, and led the hfe of a man of pleafure. 

 It is related of him that he fell in love with a young danifel, 

 named Eleonora, who obftinately rejetted his addrelTes ; and 

 at length, when he was one day llrongly preffing his fuit, 

 and demanding the reafon of her refufal, (he expofed her 

 bread coiifumed with a cancerous ulcer. This fpectacle is 

 faid to have infpired him with a refolution of feeking a re- 

 medy for her difeafe, and to have been the motive which 

 led him to the chemical ftudies, for which he became cele- 

 brated, as well as to a journey into Africa, for the purpofe of 

 confulting the works of Geber. But others affirm that the 

 fight had fuch an effeft upon him, that he plunged into 

 religious retirement, and devoted the reil of his days to 

 pious purpofcs. It appears certain that he undertook a 

 courfe of travels into Africa and the Eaft, with the view of 

 converting the Mahometans to the Chrillian faith, where lis 

 incurred greath hardlhips and dangers, and whence he was 

 permitted to depart only upon condition of not returning. 

 He was ilill, however, fo much inflamed with zeal for tins 

 objcft, that he entered the Francifcan order, and again vi- 

 Cted Africa. When he was again found there, he was 

 thrown into prifon, and after fufl'eriiig much torture, was 

 releafed through the interceffion of fome Genoefe m.cr- 

 chants, who took him on board their fliip ; but he died on 

 the palfage when juft in fight of his native land, in 1315. 

 Others affert that he was Honed to death while preaching 

 to the infidels in Africa, on the 26th of March of that 



From this narrative, which reprefcnts LuUy in the light 

 of a fanatic miffionary, we ihould not expecl that fcientific 

 chatadler w'hich has cauled his name to be preferved to mo- 

 dern times. It feems, however, that he had travelled in 

 England, Fiance, and Germany ; and he calls himfelf a dil- 

 ciple of Roger Bacon, whom he had probably feen in his 

 journey. As a chemill, indeed, he appears in an extraor- 

 dinary light ; for although he is believed to have been the 

 4H fir.l 



