FLECHIER, Esprit, bishop of Nismes, one of the most cbrated preachers of his age, and author of a number of works, was born at Pernes, a small town in the diocese of Carpentras, on the 10th of June 1632, and educated under the eye of his uncle, Father Audifret, general of the congregation of Christian doctrine, a learned and estimable man. According to the constitution of the congregation, Fléchier, having completed his own education, was immediately employed in teaching. In 1659, when only twenty-seven, he professed rhetoric at Narbonne, and there pronounced the neral oration of Μ. de Rebé, archbishop of that city, which, however, is not to be found in his collected works, probably because it was deemed unworthy of the reputation which he subsequently acquired. A few months afterwards, on the death of Audifret, followed as it was by some changes in the government of the congregation, which he d not relish, Fléchier laid aside the habit of the doctri naires, and proceeded to Paris, where he was at first employed m the humble occupation of a parochial catechist; but he soon made himself known by his Latin and French Γηθηϊ’π· P articularl y by a description in Latin verse of • ne 1 ι ., r '' lill ' ∣ , l carousal > Circus Regius, given by Louis XIV. in 16U2. This was the commencement of Fléchier’s reputation. He was now entrusted with the education of Louis Urbain Lefevre de Caumartin, afterwards intendant of finances and counsellor of state; and as the house of Louis de Caumartin, the father of his pupil, was then frequented by the most considerable personages both of the court and the city, Fléchier was thus introduced into the first society, amongst which his talents, amiability, gentleness of demeanour, and regularity of manners, soon procured him many friends. The Duke of Montausier, who was not prodigal of his notice, conceived a great regard for Fléchier, declared himself his patron, and having presented him to the dauphin, procured him the place of reader to that young prince. The sermons of Fléchier increased his reputation, which was afterwards raised to the highest pitch by his funeral orations. Having been chosen to pronounce that of Madame de Montausicr, he displayed so great talent on the occasion that his discourse opened to him the doors of the French Academy, into which he was received in 1673, in the room of Μ. Godeau, bishop of Venice. He was admitted the same day with Racine, and having precedence in addressing the Academy, his discourse was warmly applauded; the great poct however was less fortunate than the orator, for his address being scarcely audible, was coldly received and unfavourably judged of; so much is chance concerned even in the success of eminent merit. The favours of the court now flowed upon Fléchier. The king gave him successively the abbey of St Leverin, in the diocese of Poitiers, the office of almoner to the dauphiness, and, in. 1685, the bishopric of Lavaur, accompanying his kindness with the most flattering expressions of favour and regard. “I have made you wait a little for a place which you have long merited,” said the monarch; “but I did not wish to deprive myself sooner of the pleasure of hearing you.” From the see of Lavaur Fléchier was, in 1687, translated to that of Nismes, which was more valuable, and also accounted more honourable. His own wish was to remain at Lavaur; but the king overcame his repugnance to the proposed translation by making him sensible that he would be more useful to the church at Nismes than at Lavaur, and that in the former place there was more labour to be performed and more good to be done. In fact the Calvinists were very numerous at Nismes; and although several had made abjuration, their conversion was at best but equivocal. But Fléchier, by his prudent conduct, in which zeal was tempered by charity, brought back the greater number of these sectaries to the bosom of the church, and made himself esteemed and beloved even by those who declined to abjure their faith. During the troubles in the Cevenncs he softened, as much as in him lay, the rigour of the edicts, and showed himself so sensible of the evils of persecution, and so indulgent even to what he regarded as error, that his memory is, even at this day, held in veneration amongst the Protestants of that district. In the famine which succeeded the winter of 1709, he distributed immense sums, making no distinction between Catholics and Protestants; all were his children, and all shared his beneficence in proportion to their respective wants. He also published an eloquent pastoral letter on the subject of a cross of St Gervais, which, it was pretended, worked miracles, and warned his flock against those lying wonders, by which the credulity of the people has frequently been abused. This appears to have been amongst his last efforts in the cause of truth and religion. I he good bishop, indeed, foresaw that his end was now approaching; and, having prepared for himself a humble tomb, he died at [7:9:618]Montpellier on the 16th February 1710, at the advanced age of seventy-eight. “He died,” says D’Alembert, “lamented by the Catholics, regretted by the Protestants, and having always exhibited to his brethren an admirable model of zeal and charity, simplicity and eloquence.” Flechιer s works are, ∖ . Antonii Mariae Gratiani do Vita Joanms Lranciscι Commendoni Cardinalis libri iv. Paris, 1669, in 12mo; 2. La Vie du Cardinal Cammendon, Paris, 16 1, in 4to; 3. Pe Casibus Virorum Illustrium autore Antonio Mana Gratiano, opera et studio Sp. Elech£rii, Paris, 1680, in 4to; 4. Histoire de Theodose-le-Grand, Paris, 1679, in 4to, composed for the education of the dauphin; 5. Histoire du Cardinal Xιmenes, Paris, 1693, in 4to; 6. Oraisons Funebres, 1681, in 4to and in 12mo; 7. Panégyriques des Saints, Paris, 1690, in 4to; S.. Sermons de Marale prêches devant le Roi, acce des Discours synodaux et les Sermons prêches par Flechier aux Etats de Languedoc et dans sa Cathédrale, in 3 vols. 12mo; 9. Oeuvres Posthumes, contenant ses Harangues, Compliments, Discours, Poesies Latines, Poésies Françaises, Paris, 1712, in 12mo; 10. Mandements et Lettres pastorales, avec son Oraison funèbre par l’Abbe du Jarry, Paris, 1712, in 12mo; 11. Lettres Choisies sur divers sujets, Paris, 1715, in 2 vols. 12mo; 12. Relation d’un Voyage en Auvergne. The only collection yet published of the works of Fléchier is that of the Abbé Ducreux, canon of Auxerre, which appeared under the tide of Oeuvres Completes de Messire Esprit Flechier, Nismes, 1782, in 10 vols. 8vo. If we except the History of Theodosius, pulpit eloquence is the only branch of the belles-lettres cultivated by Fléchier in which he excelled. His Funeral Orations have been compared with those of Bossuet, without attending to this distinction, that comparisons become useless between two kinds of genius which are totally different. That of Bossuet was sublime throughout. Fléchier, on the other hand, was only remarkable for the nobleness of his thoughts and the harmony of his diction. It is true that he possessed in an eminent degree these two qualities of an orator, and that nobody has carried the latter further than he; but even in that department where he has been most successful, Fléchier is not without faults, and may be reproached with an ambition of giving point to his thoughts, an affectation of symmetry in the style, and a love of antitheses, all at variance with the principles of good taste. But if his funeral orations and sermons lose much of their merit by a too measured elegance, his pastoral instructions and synodal discourses are wholly free from such affectation, indeed as remarkable for simplicity of style as for generosity of sentiment, and that indulgent spirit which laments whilst it combats error, and which, repudiating all attempts at persecution, seeks to win men over to the right way, not by the instrumentality of fear, but through the medium of their understanding and affections. “C’est dans ces ouvrages,” says a distinguished French critic, “que la philosophie elle-même apprendra l’usage qu’on doit faire des lumières et du sentiment, et se convaincra que Thumanité n’a pas de consolation plus solide que la religion, comme la politique n’a pas de meilleur appui.” (a.)