The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-02

l~oentious women; Louis xI.. . petty. fawn-
ing trickster, and Richilieu. an odioua
tyrant. an apostate and a murderer. But
while our author thinks with Bossue'
that most OF NJ. de Cambrai's dead do moth
! ing but insult each other, he admits tha'
| there is vigor In the portrait OF the last
yalois, Henry III. and in that OF Henry oil
| Navarro: real political wisdom in the aphor.
! isms attributed TO Socrates and Scion ana
humor In the delineation OF Alcibiades and
Cardinal Bessarion.
HI.
Both in their virtues and defects the
Dialogues formed an historical intro
duction TO ''Telemaque." giving a kind OF
foretaste Of it's principal lesson. Fenelon
himself told his Father lie Teller, Confess
sor Of Louis XIV, ten years after his books
appearance. hat Telemaque rs a fabu-
lous narrative In the form OF a heroic
poem, like those OF Homer or Virgil, IN
which I ave set down the truths most
necessary TO be known by n who Is about
TO reign; there, aleo. are described the
faults that cling most closely to the sover-
eign power. But I lave borrowed from
no real person, / have sketched no char
acter of cur own times; my book was writ
ten at chance moments, h,uiedly. and
piece by piece; IL was sent to the press by
an u~nfaithful copyist. and was never In
tended for the world" It Is certain that
the existence Of "~Telemaque" first be-
came known In the autumn OF 1893. just
when the Quietist controversy which was
70 exile Fenelon from Versailles was at
it's fercest: Il was published by the pirat-
ical booksellers Of Holland early In the
following year, at the time when Fenelon
was making his submission to tho Pope.
As to Fenelon's assertion that he had bor-
rowed from no real persons and had sketch
ed no characters OF his own time. there
Is no doubt that the book filed the Kings
cup Of wrath 70 overlooking. Our author
reminds us that "in those days il was diff
fcult to treat OF courts and OF government
without writing a satire; Fenelon had
wished TO say everything and in the eau
tious measured undertone BETTING a royal
anti chamber. everything had been said:
Louis, his Court. his Ministers. his mis-
tresses-all were there" Thus Louis is
Idomeneus, the Dauphin Is Bocoharis,
Louvois, the great Wal Minister. Is Pro-
tes,laus. William Of Orange Is Adrastus.
Nine. de Montespan is Astarde. Tyre Is
Holland and the League Of Augsburg against
Louis XIV Ia the coalition against ldo-
meneus.
But, while real men and women are pre-
sented In "Telenaque, It is only as a lesson
or a warning. Fenelon had neither the
bitterness nor the entire absorption in
the ills around him that go to make the
s~atirist. The sting Of his book lay, not In
any spiteful portraiture or epigram, but in
the idealism that portrayed a common
wealth where virtue would have her own
again, where, as the coming age OF senti-
mertalists was 70 boast, all should be at
tuned to the harmony Of nature. Thus.
the book, which for us is the symbol Of ele-
CANT monotony, had for contemporaries
oil the interest Of a political mantle sto.
all the terrors OF a threatened Puritan
reformation. In the eyes OF many OF lite
readers the principles inculcated In 'Tele-
maque" seemed on the eve Of transplanting
to France, and should be recognized as
for~eshadowings OF a possible future when
Louis XIV. INC two or three others should
be dead, and Fenelon should stand on the
steps Of the Duke OF Burgundy's throne.
MANY a courtier,- says Lord ST. Cyres.
.groaned In spirit az he forcsaw the chang
ing OF the grandfather tiresome. outward
decorum into the intense moral in~wardness
of the grandson, the rise OF a new spirit
OF u~nwearying insistenoe on duty, on forced
simplicity of life. and on an lnquisition
into conduct almost Genevan in its severity.
B~ondholders in darkness heard the doom
Of privileges, places and tax farms pro-
nounced in this apostolic OF abstract, SUI
perhumAn justice, which bowed before
no old traditions, stayed for no lawyers
parchment explanations. but turned on
every sullen fogbank its searchlight OF un-
faltering truth and reason. With ftnelon
Letters ceased TO be the handmaid OF
the court. and became the mouthpiece OF
a new era Of criticism and change: TEE
maque' IL a prelude 20 the eighteenth
entury. the frrt low muttering ~ a storm
that was 70 end with Rousseau and the
Revolution Like the writers Of the
dawning Age Of Reason. Fenelon strained
his eyes back 90 an imaginary Golden Age.
His 'T@Suaque' Is a sermon OF the fra
ternity ~ nations, on the whole human
raoe regarded as one vast family bound
together by ties 81 natural Law and anec-
ton that rise superior 20 the petty or
dinanoes Of any single State 'Limitless
a. N our debt 90 our own country, he
cries, We owe far moro 10 earth, thc great
fatherland, aud 10 time. all mel are
hrothars. all wars are ciyl wars. whose
nsor-sity h. the reproach Of man. who's,
-ooEtiuuanoc J. a stain upon our raoc Eyen
tie sayAgo. though De- seems % oivii~,d
warriors littIs L--,ter than q ts,asl. soorns