58 Progress of the French Language, Me. since \789. [Feb: fy 
which is s¢arcely ever just; the pleasure 
of condemning, which discredits an able 
censor; his injustice often palpable ; and 
even in a just cause his offensive bitter- 
ness so Opposite to French urbanity. On 
this occasion, Sire, we shal} examine the 
rules of sound criticism, and in so doing, 
we engage to observe them in the whole 
course of our work; and perhaps it may 
bé of importance to repeat them, when 
they appear to be forgotten. 
’ In the orato¥ical art, at the com- 
mencement of our period, appears a col- 
lection of the funeral orations and ser- 
mons, by Beauvais, bishop of Senez, a 
prelate indebted for his dignities, to his 
merit ; and who sometimes shewed him- 
self the worthy successor of Bossuet, and 
Massillon. The French bar appeared 
impoverished, when its supporters en- 
riched the tribune. At this term our 
memory recurs with pain to turbulent 
assémblies. We shall hasten through 
them, Sire, to avoid numerous shoals. 
We shall be able to conform ourselves to 
che views inanifested by your equity and 
wisdom; and forced to recollect that fac- 
tions existed, we shall not forget that 
there were also talents. We begin with 
that célebrated orator, who, gifted with 
a mind as vigorous as flexible, attached 
his personal renown to almost all the 
Jabours of the constituent assembly. 
After Mirabeau, follow those who com- 
batted his opinions with energy, the Car- 
dinat Maury, Cazalés; those who suc- 
cessfully supported him, Chapelier, Bar- 
nave, and M. Regnault de Saint Jean 
d’Angely, who still displays, in the hall 
where we are now admitted, that preci- 
sion and perspicuity, which peculiarly 
distinguish his eloquence. Could we 
forget the number of able civilians, who 
have applied the oratorical art, to the 
different objects of Jeyislation. Thouret, 
Tronchet, fivals worthy of each other; 
Camus, who to great knowledge joined 
great “austerity of manners; Target, 
SM. Merlin, M: Treilhard, whose extensive 
learning has enlightened the tribunals? 
We pay homage to the plan of public 
instruction, that monument of literary 
glory, ‘erected by M. de Talleyrand; a 
work, in which all the philosophic ideas 
are embellished by all the charms of 
style. The subsequent assemblies fur- 
nish us with two works of uncommon 
merit, of the same kind; the one by the 
profound Condorcet, the other by M. 
Daunou, whose useful labours, elo- 
quence, and modesty, have been esteem- 
ed by several legislatures. " We remark 
. 
in the same assemblies, ‘oratorg .wlio 
uted to a courageous probity, a diction 
both pathetic and imposing: Vergniaux, 
for instance; M. Franeais de Nantes, 
M. Boissy d’Anglas, M. Garat, Portalis, 
M. Simeon, and that able statesman so. 
eminent for jurisprudence, and the 
oratorical art,. so elevated amongst the 
great dignitaries of the empire. — 
In the camps, where, remote from the 
calamities of the interior, the national 
glory was preserved unsullied; there 
arose another species of eloquence, wntik 
then unknown to modern nations. It 
must even be admitted, when we read ip 
the writers of antiquity, the harangues of 
the most renowned chiefs, we are often 
tempted to admire only the genius of 
the istorians. But here, doubt is im- 
possible ; the monuments exist; history 
has only to collect them. From the 
army of Italy proceeded those beautiful 
proclamations, in which the conqueror 
of Lodi and Arcole, at the same time: 
that he created a new art of war, created 
the military eloguence of which he will 
remain the model. ‘This eloquence, like 
Fortune accompanying him, resounded 
through the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, 
where Pompey perished; through Syria, 
which received the last breath of Ger- 
manicus. Subsequently in Germany, im 
Poland, in the midst of the astonished 
capitals, Vienna, Berlin, Warsaw, it was 
faithful to the hero of Austerlitz, of Jena, 
of Friedland; while in the language of 
honour, so well understood by the Freneh 
armies, from the bosom of vietory, he still 
commanded victory, and inspired he- 
roisi. 
At the moment, when men of science 
and literature, long tossed about by 
storms, found refuge in a new asylum > 
and particularly at the epoch, when your 
Majesty, improving the Institute, ho- 
noured it with your special favour: aca- 
deinical eloquence soon began to revive, 
and to flourish again. ‘That species of 
composition, the various models of whicls 
belong exclusively to the hterature of the 
last century, is not contracted within 
narrower limits, ‘Fwo illustrious writers, 
Thomas and M. Garat, have proved, 
that im certain subjects, it admits of 
grand images, and of the most beautiful 
movements of eratory. The art also 
often consists im avoiding them. But is 
always requires elegance and regularity 
in the forms, perspicuity, justness, and a 
happy harmony between the ideas and 
the expressions. These qualities have 
been found combined, in the discourses 
. wiich 
