The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-02-28
THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV.
MI. Believes Lecture in Second Advent
Chnrch Yesterday.

Church Yesterday.
The most important element in French
literature is its style, it's form, rather than
its thought. tits this, said Mr.. Bellows, in
his Introductory remarks concerning the
literature of the age of "The French
| Monarch which is always delightful,
always interesting, however the matter
itself may lack ''high seriousness" 1t
is this perfection of form, this charm of
style which makes the slightest sketch
of the modern Coppee or de Maupassapt
so wonderful. This grace of lightness
and brightness is wanting to both the
English and the German mind. Even
Goethe treads somewhat heavily, as in
some of the numbering scenes OF the Sec
ond Faust. An Englishman, apparently
cannot take joke, and this point was
illustrated by several stories which seem
to denote certain obtuseness in our
brothers over the sea. The Frenchman
is nothing if not quick; sometimes too
volatile, as in the famous Judgment of
Voltaire upon Shakespeare judgment
which, is substantially repeated by 'Taine
in his History of English Literature''-
from which work extracts were read. as
the amusing passages upon Millions
paradise LOST and WORDSWORTH
poetry.
The age of Louis XIV. may be fifty
compared with the Angus tan Age OF
Rome, in its character of the monarch /.
its superficial lightness often yelling a
profound sadness, it's influence, for good
or evil, of women, its slavish adulation
of the monarch by men who were wiser
than their king, but had not enough moral
courage to rise above the servile flattery
of the court Saint Simon in his Memoirs
gives us a most vivid picture of the court
life, the character of Louis and of Mad
anne de Maintenon, from which extracts
were read. Though Louis was the patron
of great men, and to o certain extent fos-
tered letters, he was himself ignorant,
vain and cruel. Some of his ministers,
indeed, dared to resist him, but Bossuet
was largely his tool in the prosecutions
of Fenelon and the Fort Royalists. and
though Massillon and Bourdoloue dashed
the vices of the time, theywere generally
Ccl jul W ftFOloOoo pCi
Fenelon is interesting to US in his mix
ture of keen discernment, practica
shrewdness and genuine piety. Som
passages from his letters revealed his
fine wisdom and large Outstanding OF
human nature The Port Royalists, An
gelique Arnauld and her brother. win
wrote so many tracts in behalf of Jansen
and the Jansenists, who were condemned
as heretics by Pope and King and Mad
anne de Maintenon, show the other side
of the life of the age-the intense longing
for peace. for union of the soul with
God, which is thrown into striking relief
in contrast with the utter worldliness
of the Court. Pascals Provincial Letters,
with their keen rapier-lilke wit pierced
the bubble of the Jesuits' 9policy. Ange-
lique "who was of the order Of all the
saints, and all the saints were Of her
ORDER" reveals, as Dies Laeordairi, as
does the remarkable novel of Mrs. GRAY
en-, "a Sisters Story the beautiful
and holy side of Roman Catholicism.
The lecturer had only time to touch
briefly upon the gatherings at the Hotel
de Rambunillet, where. in spite Of all the
affectation and ldiocy, there was created
that love for elegance and finish of style,
which had its consummate develop
ment IN Mime de Seyigne, whose letters,
very oftenabout tribes, are SO full of
charms and grace, and which, some
times, remind us of the delightful let
tiers of Mrs. Carlyle, which were seldom
about more important matters than
housekeeping and headaches.
Mr.. Bellows confessed to having no
great admiration for the plays of Cor
nellie and Racine, which too often
seem stilted and unmatured, and quoted
the Judgment of Saint Beuve, who does
not fluid in Racine the spirit and life
which are in the very greatest of the
portrayers of human character. Moliere
is of far higher rank and though he too
often like Ben Jonson, deIineates merely
humors, whims and oddities, yet he has
subtle knowledge of the manners, foibles
and passions of humanity. The lecture
closed with a scene from Moliere's come
dy of the 'sShopkeeper Turned Gentle
man.