The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-29
BOSSUET.

| in literary accomplishment and in liter
| ature whose name. indeed, is among
! the very greatest in the literature OF
| the world did all his work. Racine, of
| course, must be taken as wholly
Louis XIV name. But students OF Ra-
1 cine's life know how unfortunate IL
was for him that il was so; how unfor-
tunate for him and for his art that his
mind became so possessed of the value
of courtly favor.
The truth is the age of Louis XIV
was characterized by a gradual descent
in literary accomplishment and in Letter
airy taste from it's earliest years to its
very end. 1t could hardly have been
otherwise. 1t was an age of absolute
servility to a monarch whose character
had only theatrical excellences; an age
when religion had ceased to be spirit
nal belief and had become a mere ac-
ceptance of a kings orthodoxy and
mere imitation of a kings Journalism;
an age when captivating oratory among
many of those who should have been
the moral and religious guides of the
people was considered more excellent
gift than moral or religious power; an
age when, even in women, tenderness,
benevolence and humanity We're only
affected sentiments, not real qualities
of the heart.
The philistinism of the age is also
seen in the career of Racine. Racine,
whatever his faults may have been, was
a consummate artist, and one that de-
served contemporary recognition. But
when he was IS years of age (161O and
in the very height of his power he gave
up in disgust his dramatic work for
lack of popular appreciation, and
though twelve or fourteen years later
he wrote two plays, the second one
being, in the opinion of critics of today,
the best he ever wrote, yet this very
play met with no appreciation, and was,
in fact fiat failure. Thenceforward
Racine was silent. And well he might
be.
The great pulpit orators OF the age
had a different vogue. This was partly
because of their intrinsic worth for
among them were some of the ablest
intellects of the age. The ecclesiastical
profession, owing to the extraordinary
honor accorded to it by Louis XIV, who
so far as outward observances went,
was one of the most pious .nen of his
day was at that time in the very acme
of it's glory. But the vogue was partly
the result of a mere servile imitation on
the part of the populace of the taste
and fancy of their monarch. But what
ever the real cause of its contemporary
vogue, the pulpit oratory of the later
years of the Louis XIV period is among
the OF
France. In fact, no country has ever
at one time a group of orat-
ors, whether profane or sacred, SO elo-
quent or so brilliant as France in the
last half of the reign of Louis XIV
possesser in Bossuet, Fenelon, Bourda-
loue and Massillon.
OF this famous group Bossuet C627- I!
l70D was undoubtedly the greatest. His |
oratorical efforts, however. |
especially his famous funeral dis !
are still read with delight. In !
deed, they are among the classics of |
French literature.
Fenelon C651-1715) was intrinsically a |
much ADLER man than Bossuet Indeed. |
ne was one of the very ablest, most |
learned and most widely read men of |
mis- age. Unlike Bossuet, his gifts of |
character and of heart were remark
able. In our day he is most remem-
Dered for a work that he wrote for a
pupil. This is the well-known "Tele-
nachus," a poem in prose. a work of
art, all grace and color and rhythmic
a work. too. of noble moral
purpose. 1t need scarcely be said that
Tenelon was not a favorite at court
Bossuet and Fenelon were men of
vide purview: men of affairs; men that
hough ecclesiastics, knew the external
ife. Bourdaloue and Massillon were
men of simpler character. of simpler
inns and simpler lives. OF Bourdaloue
1882 -1704) it was said: He preached.
confessed, consoled and then he