36 
SONNET; - 
be TO A BUTYERFLY. 
ConcHiTeD worm! sport of oureatly pa 
How gay you stem with many-colour&. 
wing, 
How proudly on thet flow’r, (vain child 
of Springs). 
You bask and flatter in tthe vernal rays, ; 
And spread your plumes to ev'ry idlev’s gaze 5 
Fit emblem of yon seli-enamor’d thing, 
Who tightly train fashron’s giddy tings 
fp tee a 
PROCE SEDINGS OF LE SARNED SOCIETIES, 
Progress of the Fveneh. Language, Sc. since 1789. 
[Pebed, 
Thoughtless and- lost. in ~Folly’s endless 
maze ; 
Like you, awhile,. he sports, in; ek 
\beam, - 
An empty trifler, careless ‘of his lot, 37 
Then quits, like you, ‘life's short and airy 
creams .< 4 w eT 
As little poted, and aS,soon anh =\t4 
Another year, your painted RPO BYiShO WSs 
Fruitiul alias pel butterilies, and beaux, _ 
vi 
SEAN HS. OE ef 489 nb actdiqr ez 
acne z : Ae ¥ 
hl 
“se ee 
NAT ION: AL IN StITUTE. 
| Retort on the Progress of the. Prenth 
Language and Fenn, froin the 
Epoch of the French Revolution, (1789) 
= Sto ihe Veur 1808, made b by a, Commission 
of the Institute of France, by order of 
the Emperor Napoleon. 
LS Majesty bemg in: his Coun cil of 
State;* a deputation from the Chass 
of Literature and Belies-Lettres of the 
Institute, composed Of M. Mi Chemer, 
President ; de V olney, Vices president; 
Suard, Petpetual Secretary; and My My 
Movellet,  Boutters, Bernardin de a 
Pierre, Andrieux, Arnault;’ ’ Villar 
Cailhava, Domergue, Fae recat: Tmajor 
Raynouard, and Picard, was presented 
by ‘the Mynistey * of ihe. flome Depar- 
wient, and adwitted 6 the ‘bar of the 
Cainiet. M. Chenier s spoke as foll ows: 
Sire, ue 
>The further we proceed! m Pie la- 
botir which your Majesty has or- 
dered ts to submit to you, the more we 
= the difficulty which it imposes upon 
. How. can we appreciate so, many 
writers while hving, not by strict the- 
ries, by demonstrated facts , by evident 
calculations, but by considerations 
deemed arbitrary; by wit, taste, talent, 
imagination, the art of writing? How 
strike out ‘a voad through so many dan- 
gerous shoals, amongst so many varicus 
upiunons, sometines: contrary, . always 
contested wish warmth, amidst so many 
passions which. it was so dificult to ase. 
suage, and which it is so easy to rouse | - 
How satisfy, at the same time, those of 
whom we have to speak ; and those who 
hase formed an opinion on liteyature, 
after having studied it, and even thase 
whe watkiout¢ any study, fancy themselves 
yievertheless to be competent juidyés? 
These reflections appear discouraging ; 
bat your-Masjesty gives us confidence, 
Sitting of Saturdey,the 27th of February. 
3 
and your goodness ‘ghalt He uit tau? 
To dispense praise with) pleasure, 
exercise Censure with réserve, to pkoc Shite 
the talents Lemaming, amofigst us, ter 
applaud nascent dispositions; ‘such as, ne 
doubt, the duty which we have to per- 
form; and in your Majesty’s-orders we 
presume, with respectful . confidence, to 
perceive’ a proof of the lively Mmverest 
with which you have always honoured 
literatureya pledge of your constant pro= 
tectien, and t a token of your new coi 
factions. _ 
Without heme ‘able at present to aie 
all the writers, whom we shall quote in 
our work, we are, however, Sire, about 
to mention a considerable number of 
them ; and we will endeavour par ticularly 
to state the progress and divisions of the 
department which we shall have {0 pre- 
sent to your Majesty. In this extensive 
work, enbbacing “tlie wholescincle of the 
aft of writing, at the head of each branch 
we draw a rapid sketch of its progress in 
France, until the épech at whiclY eur‘ob. 
servations commence, to serve as so 
many lummous points to enlighten our 
route.’ The drt of ‘cons veying | ideas bY 
words, that ‘of connecting ideas with 
eacly other, “andy them sensations, and 
by these all thé ideas which’ fiw from 
them, first engage our attention. ‘Such, - 
is the progress: oF nature! we must speak 
and think, before we write. It is the 
province of French literature, in parti- 
colar, to take a retrospect of the philo- 
sophical sciences, founded at least in 
Franee, by the school of Port Royal; a, 
sdurce equally inexhaustible and “pure, 
from which ail sound. learning, and. all, 
classical literature, are derived. Phe. 
sare Sscicnées, in the course of the last 
century, were greatly indebted to the 
labdaes of ‘Cordillac, whom the French 
Acatlemy was proud to-count amongst its 
members. He was himsélf the founder: 
of aschool of philosophy, and has left’ 
able disciples, and honourable successors. 
M. Do mergue 
