Eminent literary and scientific men of France.

Date:
1838-1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eminent literary and scientific men of France. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Louis XIV. outlived him but a few months. The duke of Orleans became regent. France flourished in peace under his regency; while its aristocracy was cor- rupted by a state of libertinism and profligacy, un- equalled except in the pages of Suetonius. Had Fene- lon lived, would he not have influenced the regent, whose perverted mind was yet adorned by talents, and regulated by a sense of political justice ?—Would he not have fostered the child of his pupil, and engrafted virtue in the soul of Louis XV. ? This is but con- jecture ; futile, except as it may teach us to make use of the example and precepts of the good and wise, while they are spared to us. Soon all but their memory is lost in the obscurity and nothingness of the tomb. In person, Fenelon was tall and well made; a paleness of countenance testified his studious and abstemious habits; while his expressive eyes diffused softness and gentle gaiety over his features. His manners displayed the grace and dignity, the delicacy and propriety, which belong to the well-born, when their understandings are cultivated by learning, and their hearts enlarged by the practices of virtue. Eloquent, witty, judicious, and pleasing, he adapted himself to the time and person with whom he conversed, and was admired and beloved by all. His character is suffir mtly detailed in these pages;— his benevolence, generosity, and sublime elevation above all petty and self-interested views. It may be said, that his piety was too softening and ideal; yet in practice it was not so. His nephew, brought up under his care, and embued with his principles of religion, was a gal- lant soldier, and believed that it was the duty of a sub- ject to die for his king; and, acting on this belief, fell at the battle of Raucoux. A religion that teaches toleration, active charity, and resignation, inculcates the lessons to which human nature inclines with most difficulty, and which, practised in a generous, unprejudiced manner,raise man to a high pitch of excellence. “ I know not,” says a celebrated writer, “ whether God ought to be loved for