Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-08-02

/ AAOHi e4o S9tiAASti uilecttu ina
his epitsph should be,
Cy git PiroH, qua ne Ja rien, pa.
Acadenlicien
Here lies Piron, who was nothing
not even an Aeademician
but spleen at his failure to be elected
sharpened the wit.
There have been great names on the
roll Of the Aeademicians The article
in the Times says
need not tell you perhaps that seat
in the French Academy is the end and
aim of every educated Frenchman's life.
To occupy a seat among the forty i'm
mOrtals is the highest point he can at
tain as a reward of merit. 1t is, there
fore, his nightmare, his day and night
dream The laurels that hang over the
door of the sacred temple are ever pres
ent to his eyes. Reach the Academy
and die is his motto. But for one
that arrives, hundred falls by the way
side. The number that destroy body
and mind in the attempt is immense.
1t does not require that man should
write much or speak much to get into
the Academy; it requires that he should
write or speak we'll Alexander Dumas
has written two hundred volumes, which
have been translated into every tongue,
and is not a member, while Provost
Paradel, who has written only one unin-
teresting and untranslated book, IS a
member. But that one book shows ge-
MUS in the academic sense, whereas the
two hundred of Alexander Dumas DO
not. CIHq- Mars opened the door of the
Academy to Alfred de Vigny the Erois
-HoHsgaetajres, which followed CiHq-
Mars, aud were equally interesting, did
not render the same service to Dumas.
What the Acamedy requires is origi-
nal ideas, clothed in pure and classical
language TheOphile Gauthier and
Jules Janin, two literary men of high
standing, perpetual candidates for the
Academy, have sent to the press noun
tains of literature, crammed with the
classics, and written in the purest of
styles but their literature is one of the
routine kind, and marks no progress of
any,sort. Therefore, the Academy re-
fuses to take them IN. Ponsard and
Angler, their eotemporaries and rivals,
wrote no better than they; but they had
ideas, they set the old fellows Of the
Academy to thinking, and they were in
vitsd to take a seat in their midst
In France it is the habit to mock at
somebody; it used to be at the Govern
ment till the long arm Of Louis Napo-
leon put stop to that kind of thing BY
declaring the dyrasty sacred and the
Constitution inyiolable. Now, it is at
the Academy. The Academy has never
been popular the public think it too
literary, or rather that it is exclusively
literary. But the letter and spirit Of its
foundation are larger than that. It takes
in all the intelttgenees d'elites, no matter
where they come from, nor what has
been their field of manifestation. It is,
nevertheless, in human nature to throw
stones at what one cannot attain. and
when we hear a man call the Academy
a mutual admiration society, we are
apt TO think he would like to admire
himself in the same mirrors they do.
Strictly speaking this majestic body
is charged with the safe keeping of the
French language. 1t is their duty to
see that the dictionary Of the language
is not perverted, and they are now re-
vising this important book. Thirty or
forty years will be consumed in the work,
for they are trying to give a final touch /
to the language. They do net seem to 4
count on the inventive genius of the I
young generations After US the del
lge "
But the Academy does not confne
tself to the dictionary. In fact it is the
asst subject one hears spoken of at the
1t is their p0ta-tsu, OF
'ather their piece de resistance, which
hey bring forward when they have no
company at the house, or when they
lave nothing else to do. In general,
hey read papers on history, literature
md the classics, and | heard NJ. Guizot
me day read paper to full house on
he Protestant religion in the United
states. They also hold gift premiums,
Fhieh they pay out annually to the best
FORKS pEodased 10 the course of the
ear. They are even charged with
warding a premium for the highest act
r acts of virtue. They have thus
'lenty of work to do, and the Academy
) neither a retreat nor hotel des IN
aides it is rather living Pantheon
So well are they penetrated with this
lea themselves that to call their house
Pantheon does not seem to them ex-
ravagant. Independent Of the talent !
, requires to pass the threshold of the
lcred temple, Gordon of etiquette is
brown around it which makes the ap-
reaches as difficult as Christians pas
age through the Slough of DespOnd.
or example, the candidate begins by
1unding some of the members as to his
hances, and if he gets encouragement .
e sends in some such note as this |, /
le undersigned, hereby declare that |
fer myself as a candidate for the fau-
ut7 of the Academy left vacant By the
cath of Hon. NJ. Victor Cousin.
igned, Jules Favre" Then he is OBJ !.
ged to make an official visit to each /.
ember at his house to solicit his vote 2
I'd as men who have reached the top '
,und of the ladder of honor, and have 4
othing more to expect from man, are Z
,ry apt to be natural for once in their y y
yes, and to talk as they think, the can
date often finds this " rough road to
avel. He is obliged to visit men who
I'VE combatted him and his doctrines P
their lives, who may be personal enc s.
les, who may even hold his opinions
d his style in so little respect as to :, =
iicule them to his face Generally, =
,wever, each mans style of receiving q,
candidate is so well known as to put di
e latter on his guard at least against :,
rprises. 1t is good thing to know y
enemy's mode Of attack before we
BET him. bV
After the candidate is elected, then II
mes the fiery ordeal of the reception, W
which the new member is expected to ht
ncentrate all the wit, all the opinions, st
the ideas Of his whole life, all that re
is, or has been, or can be, into short az
n borrai anaarh Ard NO 20 H. .f