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Characters of Fontenelle, of Montefquieu, and Henault.

lowed to be printed. Thefe ftrokes, however, increased the circulation of the book, and the reputation of the author. He would never have been of the Academy without this book, which ought to have excluded him from it. The Cardinal de Fleury, fo fagacious in other refpects, difplayed on that occafion a compliance that might have had very ferious confequences. Montefquieu quitted his Prefidency that his non-refidence at Paris might be no bar to his admission into the Academy; though he pretended that it was on account of a great work on Laws in which he was engaged. The Prefident Henault too, when he quitted his charge, gave a fimilar reafon. It was faid of thefe gentlemen, that they left their trade in order to learn it.

In fact Montefquieu wanted to travel, that he might make philofophical remarks on men and nations. As his Perfian letters had already made him known, he was received with enthuhafm and eagerness in Germany, in England, and even in Italy. We do hot know the extent of the obfervations and reflections that he has made in these different countries. He has published nothing fince his return but a work in 1734, called Confiderations fur les caufes de la Grandeur, and de la Decadence des Romains. He appears there as lively, but more learned and referved than in his Perfian Letters, the matter not leading him in the fame tract. It is faid that he is at length about to publifh his great work on the laws. I have already feen fome paffages of it, which will not fail to increafe the reputation of the author: But I am afraid, that as a whole, it will be deficient, and that there may be more chapters agreeable to read, more ingenious and captivating ideas, than true or useful deductions, with regard to the manner of ftudying laws and enacting them. It is precifely, however, fuch a book as we want, notwithstanding all that has been written on the subject.

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We have excellent institutes of the Roman law, and even of the French civil law, but we have none of public law in general. We have not the Spirit of Laws; and I doubt much, whe ther my friend Montefquieu will be able to give us fuch as may ferve for a guide and compass to the legislators of other countries. I know his vaft genius, and that he has acquired a great deal of information, not only in his travels, but during his retirement in the country; and yet I venture to foretell, that he will not produce the book we want, though we may find in that which he is about to pub lifh, many profound ideas, new thoughts, ftriking images, fallies of wit and genius, and a multitude of curious facts, the application of which requires more taste than study.

I return to the character he bears in fociety: he has much gentleness of difpofition, abundance of gaiety, a perfect equality of temper, an air of fimplicity and good nature, which, confidering the reputation he has ac quired, is particularly engaging. He is fometimes liable to abfence of mind; and there escape from him, at those times, fentiments of fuch amiable fimplicity, as when contrafted with his acknowledged genius make his com pany exceedingly agreeable. I forgot to mention his little poem in profe, in the Greek ftile, called Le Temple de Gnide. I imagine the fame which the Prefident had already acquired by the Perfian Letters, contributed to make this little piece be more prized than it deferves; there is a great deal of fpirit and elegance in the compofition of it; fome of the paintings are rather too voluptuoufly drawn, and that turn for philofophical obfervation, which characterizes the author, runs through the whole; but it is altogether mifplaced. Fontenelle perhaps was unequal to the Confiderations on the Roman empire, but the Temple of Gnidus would have fucceeded better in his hands than in thofe of Montef quieu.

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I will not contraft the gallantry of the Prefident with that of Fontenelle; for the former has no pretenfions to it, and he makes few or no verfes; but independent of gallantry and poetry, he is exceedingly engaging in company. Fontenelle, on the contrary, ftands in need of the affistance of thefe qualities. The talent he has of making thofe things appear witty, which from any other body would have been thought flat and infipid, fets off to much advantage his knowledge and erudition, which probably are not very profound. The Prefident Henault will not, perhaps, obtain in the temple of memory fo diftinguished a place as either of the former, but in company I prefer him to both. He is not so old as Fontenelle, and not so troublesome, as he docs not require fo much complaifance or fo many attentions. On the contrary, he is extremely complaifant himfelf, his manner is eafy, and I may fay noble. The performance of this virtue of politenefs feems to coft him nothing; and therefore many people think, unjustly enough, that he lavishes his civilities without judgment or diftinction: but thofe who know him well, and study him near, are satisfied that he knows how to difcriminate; and that his behaviour is directed by nice difcernment, and a thorough knowledge of the world. His character, efpecially when he was young, feemed to fit him for the fervice of the ladies; for he had wit, the graces, delicacy, and an infinuating addrefs: he fuccefsfully cultivated mufic, poetry, and the lighter forts of literature: his mufic was not learned, but agreeable: his poetry was not fublime, though he attempted to compofe a tragedy; its merit is negative, being neither ridiculous nor tedious. His other verfes are in the manner of thofe of Fontenelle, tender and fprightly: his profe is eafy and flowing his eloquence not mafculine or in the great ftile, though he carried the prize in the French academy more than thirty years ago; it is

neither nervous nor elevated, neither flat nor infipid. He was for fome time Father of the Oratory, where he imbibed his tafte for ftudy, and acquired fome erudition, but without any pedantry. I am affured, that at the palace, he was an excellent judge without having a profound knowledge of the law, because he has an upright mind and a found judgment. He never had the fupercilious look of the magiftracy, nor the narrow-mindednets of the long robe. He neither boafts of birth nor titles, but he is rich enough to be independant ; and in this happy ftate, affuming no unwarrantable pretenfions, he wifely keeps himself at a distance from infolence on the one hand, and meannefs on the other. Many ladies of fashion have excused in him the want of birth, of beauty, and even of vigour. On these occafions he has always behaved with modefty, never boafting of more than he was a ble to perform; and nothing but what he could eafily perform was ever exacted of him. At the age of fifty he re folved to devote himfelf to his ftudies and to religion: he made a general confeffion of the fins of his whole life. One is never so rich, faid he, as when one is giving away. His devotion, however, is as exempt from fanaticifm, from perfecution, malevolence, or in trigue, as his ftudies are from pedantry. He is at prefent bufied in compiling a chronological abridgment of our hif tory, which will have the merit of combining an exact chronology and accurate tables, with a fummary of facts methodically digefted; and of be ing neither dry, nor barren, nor flat, nor tedious. We fhall there not only be able to feek and to find thofe principle periods of our hiftory, which it is neceffary to fix in the memory, but we fhall be able to read his abridgment from one end to the other without fatigue; the author having prepared on this long road proper refting-places for his reader. The most interefting facts will be difplayed with clearnefs and

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Reflections on the Method of Reading and Study.

precifion; and particular remarks will determine, at each particular period, the state of our manners and opinions. In fine, this book, excellent in itself, will ferve as a model for many other good and useful works. There is reafon to think, that the hiftories of all nations will foon be written in the fame way, and that this work will be the root and firft growth of a new and instructive manner. I allow, however, that the literary fame of Prefident Henault will never equal that of Fontenelle or Montefquieu; but I believe that this fingle work of his will

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be more ufeful than all that they have written, because it will open a new road to fcience; while the others will only produce a croud of wretched imitators, who will bewilder themselves in endeavouring to trace the footsteps of their predeceffors. Upon the whole, to fum up the character of President Henault in a few words, he is infinuating without deceit, gentle without infipidity, friendly without felfishness or ambition, polite without flattery, and zealous without enthufiafin or prepoffeffion; he is a model in fociety, as perfect as his book is in literature.

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Reflections on the Method HE studies that occupy the attention of people in active life are of two forts: the first respects the public, and the functions which every one is obliged to perform: thus the magiftrate ftudies the general principles of jurifprudence, and bends his chief attention to the caufes that come before him. The Minifter, whatever be the nature of the business with which he is entrusted, studies the principles of that business, and makes the application of thofe principles as occafion offers. The father of a family is obliged to ftudy the means of preferving or increafing his fortune, and of keeping juft accounts with himself and with others. Thefe ftudies are neceffary occupations, which no one is permitted to neglect. But there is another kind of study, that of mere amufement, which is free in its choice, and ferves as a relaxation from the labours of the other. There are fome people fortunate enough to have nothing else to occupy themfelves with but thefe laft ftudies. The Ladies particularly, when they have a turn for reading, cannot indulge in this fort too much: if they will conform to fome method, and be fcrupulous in their choice of

of Reading and Study *.

books, they will find in them manifold refources against ennui, and a plentiful fund of information.

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Life, to a perfon that would be loved and honoured, is a continual ftudy. By frequenting the company of thofe, whofe converfation is inftructive, and whofe example it is laudable to imitate, we receive manifeft advantage: we learn to detect and to fhun the follies of certain perfons whom we too often meet, but with whom it is improper to form an intimacy. Our ftudies in company, however, muft neceffarily be limited: they often fuffer violent interruptions, which are of ten of longer duration than we would wifh. We must then have recourfe to ftudy in folitude, that is to reading : but it is of importance to know how to read with advantage: for defultory reading, without choice or tafte, is lost labour with regard to the mind; it' ferves at best but to fill up a few va cant moments, and to relieve the irkfomenefs of inoccupation. When we read in this way, though we may have an excellent memory, we neither learn nor retain any thing.

The following is my method of reading all forts of books that are not From the fame.

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fuch as it is my duty to ftudy: in the first place, I reflect on the information I received in my youth on all the fciences; then I confider with which of those sciences I wish to have a more extended acquaintance: this I do not feek in didactic books, or in treatifes written exprefsly to teach it; fuch reading would form too laborious a ftudy, it would require too much application, and would not ferve the purpose of recreation to fuch as quitted for it more ferious ftudies: but I inquire for those books that contain the hiftory of the science, the progrefs it has made in different ages, and the fyftematic feries of authors and artifts to whom it is indebted for its perfection. I am perfuaded, that merely with this historical study of arts and sciences, a man engaged in public life may learn all with regard to them that it is neceffary for him to know; and that an excellent Encyclopedia might be made by collecting the hiftory of each art and each science, and fhewing their mutual relations and dependencies.

My cuftom is, after the first reading of a book on an interefting fubject, to endeavour to form a general judgement of the work; then, if I find it worth the while, I read it again with the pen in my hand. I extract from it what appears to me to be new and important, and I criticise the principal errors into which I think the author has fallen. This is my method with regard to books of fcience and history: as to those of literature, poetry, romances, facetiæ, &c. a fort of reading which must not be altogether prohibited, I do not make extracts from them; but I content myself, after having read them, with writing down, in a few words, what I think of each, that I may fave fuch as might be tempted to read them after me the trouble of engaging with an author, neither able to amufe or intereft them. There are books very frivolous on the whole, in which I fometimes find fentiments worthy of being particularly taken

down; this I do, and although the harveft may not be abundant, it is fornetimes precious. Nothing, in my opinion, is fo infupportable as the continued reading of a collection of poems; but by reading them at intervals, by taking them up and laying them down again as humour directs, we get through them, and generally find fomething to reward us for our pains.

I judge of theatrical performances by the effect they have on me, and I am not folicitous about their being conformable to the rnles of the dra ma: if there is an appearance of pro bability in the plot and in the charac ters, if the firft is interefting, and the latter are well drawn, then I fet down the piece for good. If it is well writ ten in profe, or in verse, so much the better, but I do not confider that as of chief importance.

He who has never read, and never reads, is certainly a dunce, whose ig norance muft make him be laughed at. Neither mixing with the world, nor in good company, will ever fhield fuch a man from ridicule: but at the fame time, he who does nothing but read and study, and has never enga 'ged in active life, or frequented good company, becomes a dull unpolished pedant, and talks as abfurdly as the other, though in another ftyle. For as there are fome things that can't be learned without books, fo books will not teach the manners of polished life. Hugo Grotius, one of the most learn ed men at the beginning of the laft century, and who was Ambaffador at our court about a hundred years ago, made a moft wretched figure at it. As he was unacquainted with our manners, he knew nothing of what was paffing at court: he kept company with none but the pedants of the uni verfity, from whom he received no valuable inftruction: they were incapable of informing him how he fhould behave before kings and queens, princes and minifters. He drew his intelli

gence

Reflections on the Method of Reading and Study.

gence from impure fources, but he wrote it to the States General in pure Latin, for he could not write the French language, nor even the Dutch. The court laughed at him and his wife, and no body read his book, which has, however, been much admired, as it contains excellent rules with regard to the law of nature and nations; but it will never teach the art of negociating. The Letters of the Prefident Jeannin, who was a man of a gentle and infinuating difpofition; thofe of the Cardinal d'Offat, who was prudent, and who had wifdom enough to make good his point without fetting himself against the prejudices of any body; and thofe of the Compte d'Eftrades, whofe difpatches are fo elegantly and fo fenfibly written, are true models for imitation. Indeed, it is better for an ambaffador to imitate no body, but to make a style for himfelf, fuitable to the character he has to maintain, to the fpirit of the court he comes from, and to that of the court he is fent to. He fhould beware of affecting wit in his difpatch es, but be particularly careful to explain occurrences to his court with clearness and precifion. As to the memorials prefented to the court he treats with, there are fometimes reafons for drawing them up with studied obfcurity and referve.

But I am wandering from my purpofe. I meant to obferve, that know ledge of the world is preferable to learning, in an author that would pleafe as well as inform. To this St Evremont and Fontenelle owed their fuccefs. The laft acknowledged to me the other day, that he had given over reading. It is long fince I have compleated my ftock, faid he, and now I am difpofing of my goods." But to arrive at this point, three things are neceffary; we muft ftudy and read with method and judgment, we must have a good memory, and we must have talents joined with a knowledge of the world. We have VOL. VI. No 35.

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been told, however, that Bayle wanted this knowledge; but he had fo much learning and wit, that, when we read him, we do not perceive what he wanted. What exquifite pleasure muft this author have enjoyed, when he was compofing his Dictionary, and writing his Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres! He went from one thing to another, and gave his opinion on all with freedom, fuperiority, and eafe. His Journal is the best that ever was, or perhaps ever will be published. The judgments we there find of books are thofe of a mafter. If we could ever hope to fee fuch another Journal, it would be the work of a well-regulated fociety, under the direction of a man of fuperior abilities. Whoever fhall establish fuch a one, will do an effential fervice to science and litera

ture.

I have a pretty large library, but it is compofed folely of books for ufe: it is a luxury, blameable in fome degree, to have more books than one can read or confult; yet it is the most elegant, the nobleft, and confequently the most excufeable of all luxuries. I acknowledge, that if I were to indulge in any, it

would be in this. It is not eafy to imagine of what ufe books can be to others which we do not use ourselves, and it is abfurd and ridiculous to value ourselves on fuch as have no other merit but their being rare. Thofe that are valuable merely because they are the beft editions, or magnificently bound, form another fpecies of luxury; but this is pardonable in people who are rich enough to buy a good book, though it may be a gaudy one; otherwife they would resemble the man who fpent fo much money on frames, that he had nothing left to buy pictures for them.

When a library is fmall, we should know by the books that compofe it the difpofition of the proprietor; it would be ridiculous to find in that of a magiftrate, nothing but poetry and romances; or in that of a foldier, no Sf

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