in my opinion cannot help avoiding it. Thus when Nero made the funeral oration of the emperor Claudius his predecessor, he was [c] attentively heard in all the rest; but when he came to speak of his prudence and wisdom, the audience could not help laughing, though the oration was very eloquent, and drawn up by Seneca, who had a very fruitful genius and a very florid style, according to the taste of that age, though he sometimes wanted judgment.

There is another fault, less shocking in appearance, but not less blamable, because it is contrary to religion; and that is to give princes the attributes which belong only to God, by considering them as the masters of nature; as disposing of it at their pleasure; as changing the order of the seasons as they think fit, and making them believe that by conferring the title of minister, they likewise confer merit; an impious flattery, not to be pardoned even in a pagan, who applying to an emperor, that had assumed the character of a god, and had committed to his care the education of the young princes his nephews, [d] entreats him to inspire him with all the understanding that was necessary in the discharge of so noble an employment, and make him such as he judged him to be. There is a jealous ear, that I may use the Scripture expression, which hears such discourse with indignation [e]; and we cannot say how far such blasphemies, for I do not scruple to call them so, are capable of drawing down misfortunes and curses on a Christian kingdom,

The taste of sound eloquence inspires a very different manner; and infuses, especially in point of praise, a prudent discretion and a wise sobriety. We must herein imitate, as much as is possible, the ingenious and artful address of the ancients, who knew how to

[c] Cetera pronis animis audita. Postquam ad providentiam sapientiamque flexit, nemo risui temperare, quanquam oratio â Senecâ composita, multum cultûs præferret, ut fuit illi viro ingenium amonum, & temporis illius auribus accommodatum. Tacit. Annal. lib.

xiii. cap. 3.

[d] Ut quantum nobis expectationis adjecit, tantum ingenii aspi ret; dexterque ac volens adsit, & me, qualem esse credidit, faciat. Quintil. lib. iv. in Præf. [e] Wisd. i. 10.

praise in a curious and delicate manner, and sometimes even whilst they seemed to be employed upon somewhat else. [f] Tully, in his beautiful oration for Ligarius says, he hopes that Cæsar, who never forgets any thing but the injuries that have been offered him, will call to mind the inviolable attachment which the brother of Ligarius had to him; Qui oblivisci nihil soles præter injurias. One word thrown into a discourse in this manner, is worth a whole panegyric.

[g] Horace, declaring that he has not capacity sufficient to describe the glorious victories of Augustus, seems to have nothing in view but to answer those who had advised him to leave off writing satire; but his real design was to commend that prince in such a manner, as might not offend his extreme delicacy in point of commendation; cui malè si palpére, recalcitrat undique tutus. The reply he makes by Trebatius, that at least he might celebrate the private and pacific virtues of Augustus, his justice, his constancy, and magnanimity, as Lucilius had done Scipio's; his turn, I say, is in the same taste, and still more pleasing, by the indirect comparison of this prince with so great a man as Scipio was.

M. Despreaux, the worthy disciple of Horace, has in several passages imitated his master's skill in commending; but I question whether any where in a more beautiful and ingenious manner, than where he puts the panegyric of Lewis the fourteenth into the mouth of Sloth.

Ah! where are fled those happy times of peace,
When idle kings, dissolv'd in thoughtless ease,
Resign'd their sceptres, and the toils of state
To counts, or some inferior magistrate :

Loll'd on their thrones, devoid of thought or pain;
And nodding, slumber'd out a lazy reign?..
But 'tis no more: that golden age is gone,
And an unweary'd prince fills Gallia's throne.
[f] Cic. pro Ligar. n. 35.

Dd 4

[g] Lib. i. sat. 1.

Each

Each day he frights me with the noise of arms,
Slights my embraces, and defies my charms.
In vain does nature, seas and rocks oppose
To bar his virtue, which undaunted goes
Thro' Lybia's burning sands, and Scythia's snows.
His name alone my trembling subjects dread
Not his own cannon does more terror spread.

This is a master-piece in its kind; and whoever can introduce any thing like it into a copy of verses, may safely rely upon the approbation of the public.

Praises and panegyrics are not the only subjects of poems and public acts. Others may be chosen, which are no less fruitful to the orator, and may equally please persons of a good taste; such as dissertations upon eloquence, poetry, history, or some point of literature. Examples may be found in the collection, which has lately been published, of several pieces in verse or prose, by the professors of the university.

As the discourses I am now speaking of, whether panegyrics or dissertations, are principally made for shew, I know, that according to the rules of sound rhetoric, one may pompously display in them the riches of eloquence; and the art, which elsewhere should be concealed, may here shew itself with more liberty, But yet this must be done with caution; and we must remember, that a solid and judicious discourse will always meet with applause, and that we must not strive to be distinguished by witticism and gingling, and especially must take care to avoid such affected turns, and that kind of points which may please an ignorant multitude, but disgust every sensible and judicious hearer.

The panegyric of Trajan by Pliny the younger, the collection of such discourses entitled Panegyrici veteres, and still more the works of Seneca, may supply an orator with an abundance of thoughts; but he must correct them by the style of Cicero. We have likewise excellent models of this kind, in the funeral orations and academical discourses of the moderns.

AR

ARTICLE IV.

OF THE STUDIES OF THE MASTERS.

WHAT I have said of compositions and public acts makes a great outward shew, but does not comprehend the essential duty of a regent, which consists in the solid instructions he owes to his scholars. To succeed in this he stands in need of labour and study. Even the lowest classes require a certain degree of learning, which is not to be acquired but by reading. Besides, a professor ordinarily does not stop there, and must qualify himself for passing into the superior classes.

A regent's first study must relate to the points he teaches, and the authors he explains. Thus, for instance, a grammarian is not allowed to be ignorant of what the ancients have written upon grammar, and still less of what the Mess. de Port Royal have left us upon that head. A professor of rhetoric must have imbibed his art from the same sources, and have thoroughly studied the old Greek and Latin rhetoricians, not that either of them should load their scholars with a great number of precepts, but in order to make a choice, they must all be known; and an ab!e master, that hath both judgment and capacity, will find a great assistance from what he reads towards instructing youth.

I am of the same opinion with respect to authors.* The most easy have their obscurities; and a regent must have all their interpreters, or at least the most esteemed, upon those he explains. There are indeed abundance of trifles amongst a great many solid remarks, but he must make choice, and distribute such only among his scholars, as are suitable to their and capacity. Besides the study of the class, a regent must acquire such a fund of erudition, as is essential to a man of

age

letters.

letters. He should be well acquainted with the Greek, and no stranger to history; nor must the extent of these branches of knowledge frighten him from pursuing them. It is incredible how far an hour or two spent regularly every day in study will carry him by the end of the year; let him but have courage only to begin, and if possible to join himself to some diligent and well disposed person of the fraternity, and let them confer together upon the authors they have separately read, and read nothing without making extracts, nothing that relates to different subjects, as eloquence, poetry, history, and antiquity. I remember to have read over in this manner, a great while ago, almost all the lives of Plutarch with a skilful friend, who had an excellent taste. We set apart an afternoon in every week for this small conference, which was made as we walked abroad, when the weather permitted. We mutually communicated what we had found most beautiful and remarkable; each proposed his difficulties, and we were often surprised that we had passed over passages too lightly, in the notion that we had understood them, when in reality we did not. I know no exercise more agreeable to persons of learning and understanding, than such walks and conversations.

Livy had been read over entirely some time before in such conferences, held once a week in the college de Beauvais, where some professors of other colleges were sometimes pleased to be present; and though the conversation was not long, for it began after schooltime in the evening, yet at the end of a certain number of years the author was read through, and the work finished. M. Crevier, now regent of the second class in the college of Beauvais, held the pen, and took down all the remarks, which he one day designs to give the public, with a new edition of that author, which I hope will be to general satisfaction.

It is plain, that a certain number of books are requisite for this sort of study, and I cannot too earnestly advise the professors to collect each of them a small library, greater or less, according to their wants

and