686 
refute those common places about-the 
antipathy of memory and judgment, on 
the part of such men as flatter them- 
selves, that nature has given them jude- 
ment, and at the same time bereaved | 
them of memory. 
Destined by his taste and his charac- 
ter, to eloquence and controversy, Bos- 
suet exhibited, as it were, on his very 
front, the talents of the orator and of the 
theologian. On his appearance, the 
tone of the pulpit was immediately 
changed, for he substituted to those in- 
decencies which degraded, and to that 
bad taste which rendered it in some 
measure contemptible, all the force and 
dignity befitting christian morality. He 
never wrote out his sermons, or rather, 
he only transcribed the. summaries, or 
arguments, for, after profoundly meditat- 
ing his subject, he was content with 
committing the principal points to paper ; 
he was accustomed, however, to cull 
and set down different expressions for 
the same idea, and in the warmth of his 
action, he seized that which first occur- 
red to the impetuosity of his genius. His 
printed sermons are only the remnants 
of an immense number of compositions, 
for he never preached the same one 
twice. “They are to be considered, there- 
fore, rather as the sketches ofa great mas- 
ter, than as so many finished pictures. 
One of those men who make a parade 
of believing nothing, was desirous to 
hear, or rather to brave him. ' Too lofty 
to allow inmself vanquished, but at the 
same time too just, not to render due 
homage toa great man, the stranger 
freely acknowledged, “ that he was the 
first of preachers, in his opinion, and 
that it was by him alone that he could 
ever be converted !” . 
In the midst of his oratorical triumphs 
Bossuet, made his first cssay as a theolo- 
gian, by the refutation of the Catechism 
of Paul Terry, a protestant divine, which 
was well ‘received. But what is still 
more surprising, these two friends ever 
remained so, notwithstanding their con- 
troversy. ' 
The reputation of Bossuet at length 
reached the court, where his sermons 
were listened to with rapture, Louis - 
XIV., who was a far better judge than 
any of those who surrounded him, did 
not fail to confer on him many marks of 
his esteem; and the new orator at Ver- 
~-sailles was well deserving of his protec- 
tion, for, like most men of great talents, 
he was destitute alike of intrigue and 
flattery. An adequate recompense, 
Retrospect of French Literature—Biography. 
which he never sought after, found hin 
in the solitude which he loved, even 
amidst a court, for the king now nomi- 
nated him Bishop of Condom. Per- 
ceiving in Bourdaloue a successor 
‘ worthy of himself, and one formed after 
his own model, Bossuet immediately re- 
signed the sceptre of christian eloquence 
to the hands of an illustrious rival, to 
whom he had opened, and traced ont - 
that glorious. career, and was neither 
surprised nor jealous at perceiving the 
disciple rushing further than the master. 
‘Soon after this, he confined himself en- 
tirely to another species of eloquence, in 
which he found neither a superior nor 
an equal—that of funeral orations. All 
those which he pronounced, exhibited 
the print of that bold and animated 
mind which produced thera, and each of 
them was tilled with those terrible 
truths, that, such as are in authority in 
this world, cannot hear too much of, but 
which they are but too ready to forget. 
It was on those occasions, to make use 
of his own expressions, “ that one be- 
holds all the gods of the earth degraded 
by the hand of death, and plunged into 
‘eternity, like rivers deprived of their 
names, and of their glory, and mingled 
in the ocean with unknown streams.” 
This sublime and pathetic orator made 
the whole court burst into tears, when, 
at the funeral of Henrietta of England, 
Duchess of Orleans, he himself, amidst 
sighs, pronounced the following emphatie ° 
words: ° Ba has 
“ O nuit desastreuse, nuit efroyable, 
ou retentit tout « coup, comme un eclat 
de tonnerre cette accablunte nouvelle : 
“< Madame se meurt! Madame est 
morte /” 
It was with the funeral oration of the 
iF ‘ . 
great Conde that Bossuet terminated his 
"career, and it lias always been allowed to 
be a master-piece. 
Such was the general esteem for 
this prelate, that Louis XIV. selected 
him to educate the Dauphin; and the 
French Academy deemed itself fortu- 
"nate, in obtaining such an accession to 
its celebrated men. After his retire- 
ment, the Bishop of Meaux spent the 
greater part of his life in humane and 
charitable actions, and at length termi- 
nated it, April 12, 1704; honoured not 
only with the regrets of the Gallican 
church, but also ef the French philoso- 
phers, one of whom has written his 
elowé. ricco 
‘The editor of the volume now before 
us, has divided his subject into certain 
«- oR ae cenam 4 ~~ heads; 
