THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 463 



Abymnianjournies, none of them, as far as I know, having 

 ever made one Hep towards that country ; nor is this in- 

 deed to be regretted by the republic of letters, becaufe, be- 

 fides a poor Hock of fcholaftic divinity, not one of them 

 that I law had either learning or abilities to be of the 

 fmalleft ufe either in religion or difcovery. 



It was now the moft brilliant period of the reign of 

 Louis XIV. almofl an Auguftan age, and generally allowed 

 fo, both in France and among foreigners. Men of merit, 

 of all countries and prof effions, felt the effects of the liberali- 

 ty of this great encourager of learning ; public works were 

 undertaken, and executed fuperior to the boafted ones of 

 Greece or Rome, and a great number and variety of noble e- 

 vents conftituted a magnificent hiftory of his reign, in a feries 

 of medals. Religion alone had yet afforded no hint for thefe. 

 His conduct in this matter, inftead of that of a hero, mewed 

 him to be a blind, bloody, mercilefs tyrant, madly throwing 

 down in a moment, with one hand, what he had, with the af- 

 nftance of great minifters, been an age in building with the 

 other. The Jefuits, zealous for the honour of the king, their 

 great protector, thought this a time to ftep in and wipe away 

 the {tain. With this view they fet upon forwarding a fcheme, 

 which might have f urn iihed a medal fuperior to all the 

 reft, had its inscription been, " The Kings of Arabia and Sa- 

 ba ihall bring gifts." 



Father Fleuriau, a friend of father de la Chaife, the 

 king's confeffor, was employed to direct the conful of Cairo, 

 that he fhculd, in co-operation with the Jefuits privately, 

 fend a fit perfon into Abyfiinia, who might infpire the king 

 of that country with, a deiire of fending an embaffy into 



3 France h 



