the chief literary
critic of the Neo-Catholic movement during the later years of Louis
Philippe's reign. Ozanam's chief work was his study on Dante. About this
time a considerable resurrection of pulpit eloquence took place. Its
chief representative was the already-mentioned Jean Baptiste Henri
Lacordaire, who was born in 1802, and died in 1861. Lacordaire was a
partner of Lamennais in the _Avenir_. But, unlike his master, he took
the papal reproof obediently, and continued to preach in the orthodox
sense. He entered the order of St. Dominic in 1840, but was nevertheless
elected to the Assembly, in 1848, as a compliment, doubtless, to the
fervent radicalism he had displayed earlier. Lacordaire's literary
reputation is almost entirely confined to his sermons, the most famous
of which were preached at Notre Dame. Other celebrated preachers of the
middle of the century were, on the Catholic side, the Pere Felix, and on
the Protestant, Athanase Coquerel. Of the extreme orthodox party, during
the Second Empire, the chief names from the point of view of literature
were those of Monseigneur Dupanloup, bishop of Orleans, and the
journalist, Louis Veuillot. The former, one of the most eloquent and one
of the ablest men of his time in France, began with a certain
liberalism, but gradually hardened into extremer views, distinguishing
himself in his place in the Academy by violent opposition to the
admission of M. Littre, as a positivist. The latter, as editor of the
journal _L'Univers_, brought remarkable wit and a faculty of slashing
criticism, not often equalled, to the service of his party, indulging,
however, too often in mere scurrility. From this same literary point of
view, the chief name in the theological literature of this period is
once more on the unorthodox side. Since the days of Joseph de Maistre
the church had far more than held her own in the literary arena; but the
discouragement given at Rome to the followers of Lamennais seemed to
bring ill luck with it. Ernest Renan, who, with some faults, is one of
the most remarkable masters of French style in our time, was born in
1823, at Treguier in Britanny. He was intended for the priesthood, and
was educated for the most part at clerical seminaries. On arriving,
however, at manhood, he did not feel inclined to take orders; accepted
the place of usher at a school, and soon distinguished himself by
linguistic studies, especially on the Semitic languages. He also
exercised