THE CENTENNIAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 717 



Finally, however, it could, on great occasions, be brought to submission 

 by a special court, called a "lit de justice." But they did not have 

 recourse to such extremities in order to transform the reunions of 

 Oonrart into a royal academy, though Parliament showed its bad 

 humor by the delay of a year. The Cardinal was compelled to make 

 it understood, that he meant to be obeyed. 



Efforts have been made to find out what caused this ill will on the 

 part of the Parliament. It was not a question about the creation of a 

 final court, but of "simple weighers of words," as they were called by 

 the jokers of the time. The Parliament, according to Voltaire, feared 

 that the academy would claim some jurisdiction over the library, and 

 added this clause to the letters patent of the King : "The academy will 

 only recognize the French language and such books as its members 

 have written, or which have been submitted to its judgment.'" 



I rather think that Parliament feared for the authority which it 

 claimed for itself in religious and philosophical matters. The academy 

 question touched the school question. The theological question was 

 also in close proximity; the more the authority of the Parliameut was 

 contested in religious matters the more jealous it showed itself. They 

 were guided in this whole matter by the same spirit which later sug- 

 gested to them the reform of the university through President Holland. 



The King — and I speak here of Louis XV as well as of Louis XIV 

 and Louis XIII — was constantly a good master to the academies, but a 

 master nevertheless. The elections had to be submitted for his appro- 

 bation. This is a right which had always been reserved for the public; 

 it is still in existence in our day. Louis XIV exercised this power on a 

 memorable occasion. He wished to have Boileau elected; the academy 

 chose La Fontaine. The King refused his approbation. The academy 

 therefore hastened to elect Boileau to the first vacancy. "Now," said 

 the King, "you may proceed to receive La Fontaine." 



The King also at times interfered with the work of the academy, but 

 only on very rare occasions. It was he, or rather it was Bichelieu, the 

 author of the tragedy of Mirame, who prescribed that examination of 

 the "Oid" which was contrived to exalt the glory of the Cardinal, and 

 the result of which was to show the glory of Corneille in all its splendor. 

 Voltaire, in the following century, under the pretext of impartiality 

 and by mixing apotheosis with criticism, attempted the same under- 

 taking and arrived at the same result. 



The academicians for a moment turned aside from their more peace- 

 able work and came back to the dictionary. During the revolution 

 they did not escape reproach for having produced neither the grammar 

 nor that art of poetry which the King expected from them, and for 

 having carried on the preparation of the dictionary much too slowly. 

 The academy was not so much to blame, though, as it was believed to 

 be. Of the three objects confided to its care it had chosen the diction- 

 ary, which rendered to the language the double service of fixing its 



