1810.] 
SIRE, 
All the sciences with which the class 
of history and ancient literature of the 
Institute 1s occupiéd, and of which it 
has the honour of presenting to your Im- 
perial Majesty the actual state, have one 
common centre: all concur in preparing 
their materials and their modes of pro- 
ceeding; all have made a gradual pro- 
gress, and criticism which throws a light 
upon them all, is in some measure, a 
science of our time. 
Modern history, which originated in 
France nearly at the same time with the 
monarchy, cuitivated in France during 
ayes m which it was silent in every other 
country, either bore away the palm, or 
gloriously contended for it, in the ages of 
learning, Reduced to a temporary si- 
lence, while public confusion stifled its 
voice, it appeared at one time likely to. 
be buried under the ruins of all social 
institutions. It is to your Majesty that 
it owes its regeneration, 
_~M. Dacier then read the following 
report. 
It is net with literature, Sire, as with 
the accurate and the natural sciences, 
the real state of which may at every in- 
stant be known, and their progress cal- 
culated ; the state of literature can only 
be estimated by the works it produces. 
If they be good, literature supports itself; 
if bat middling or bad, ‘literature either 
declines or retrogrades: if they excel, 
it advances. Thus the report which the 
class presents to your Majesty, is and 
can be only the result of the examination 
which it has made of the works published 
in Europe since the year 1789, with a 
statement of the most efiectual means 
of maintaining or encouraging each of 
the branches composing what is deno- 
minated ancient literature; a literature 
which is the primitive and everlasting 
model of taste, if the grand and beautiful 
in letters, as the monuments of ancient 
sculpture and architecture will ever be 
models in all the arts of design. 
This labour, which would have required 
a longer space of time to be prepared and 
executed in a manner worthy of the sub- 
ject, and, if it were possible, of the hero 
who has ordered it, includes, under the 
general titles of philology, antiquities, his- 
tory, oriental languages and literature, an- 
cient geography, almost the whole circle 
of letters, withan indication of the efforts 
made within the last twenty years by 
French and foreign literati, to make some 
additions to the immense and magmifi- 
eent edifice of human knowledge. Tie 
Progress of the Sciences since 17189. 
60 
ead 
class has thought fit to Join to their re. 
port, a view relative to iegislation and 
philosophy, in order to discharge a por- 
tion of the debt of the class of ioral and 
political sciences, to which it has in part 
succeeded. 
Your Majesty will see, that notwith- 
standing the political troubles which have 
agitated France, it has not hitherto: re- 
mained behind-hand in any branch of 
literature; but ic is with "pain that we 
are obliged to state to you that several 
of its parts are threatened with a speedy 
and nearly total annihilation. Philology, 
witch is the basis of all sound literature, 
and that on which rests the certainty of 
history, and the khowledge of what is 
past, which has shed so much lustre ea 
the academy of belles lettres, scarcely 
finds any cultivators. The learned mea 
whose labours still fertilize its domaia, 
for the most pavt the remains of a gene- 
ration about to disappear, see rising 
about them but a small number of per- 
sons capable of replacing them. By 
pointing out the evil to your Majesty, 
we are assured that your powerful hand 
will apply the proper remedy. 
Nevertheless, Sire, these learned men, 
the faithful guardians of the precious de- 
posit of acquired knowledge, and of the 
temple consecrated by the present time, 
to the times past and to come, appear te 
redouble their zeal and energy in pro- 
portion as ther number-diminishes, and 
as they approach nearer the end of their 
career. Of this an unquestionable tes- 
timony ts given by four volumes. of the 
posthumous memoirs of the academy of 
belles lettres, which wall shortly appear, 
and to which they have greatly contri- 
buted, as well as by the two volumes of 
the memors of our class, which have 
already begun to be printed at the im. 
perial presses, agreeably to a decree of 
your Majesty; and these we do not deem 
unworthy: of forming @ continuation of 
the valuable collection of the works of 
that illustrious academy. This  testi- 
mony, may, if necessary, be confirmed by 
the important translation of Herodotus, 
the father of history, become in our lan- 
guage a treasure of knowledge as various 
as it is profound and uncommon; by the 
critical examination of the historians of 
Alexander the Great; by the translation 
of Eschylus, the most difficult of the 
Greek tragic poets; works eminently phi- 
lological and critical: and by a multitude 
ef others, all extremely commendable, 
and which we refer to in our report. 
The language of monuments and in« 
scriptions, 
