e. Pellisson wrote a history of the Academy,
of which he was secretary, and one of the living Louis XIV., which, as
might be expected, is little more than an ingenious panegyric. The Pere
Daniel wrote a history of France, the Pere d'Orleans one of the English
revolutions; while Rapin de Thoyras, a Huguenot and a refugee, had the
glory of composing in a foreign language the first book deserving the
title of a History of England. Superior to all these writers, except to
Mezeray, are the ecclesiastical historians Fleury and Tillemont. Fleury
was a good writer, very learned and exceedingly fair. Tillemont, with
less pretentions to style, is second to no writer of history in
learning, industry, accuracy, and judgment.

[Sidenote: Historical Essayists.]

[Sidenote: Saint Real.]

The historical essay, like much else of value at the time, was in great
part due to the mania for _coteries_. In these select societies
literature was the favourite occupation, and ingenuity was ransacked to
discover forms of composition admitting of treatment in brief space and
of the display of literary skill. The personal 'portrait,' or elaborate
prose character, was of this kind, but the ambition of the competitors
soared higher than mere character-drawing. They sought for some striking
event, if possible contemporary, which offered, within moderate compass,
dramatic unity and scope for something like dramatic treatment.
Sometimes, as in the _Relation du Passage du Rhin_, by the Count de
Guiche, personal experiences formed the basis, but more frequently
passages in the recent history of other nations were chosen. Of this
kind was the _Conspiration de Walstein_ of Sarrasin, which, though
incomplete, is admirable in style. Better still is the _Conjuration de
Fiesque_ of the Cardinal de Retz, his first work, and one written when
he was but seventeen. Not a few of the scattered writings of Saint
Evremond may be classed under this head, notably the Letter to Crequi on
the Peace of the Pyrenees, which was the cause of his exile, though this
was rather political than historical. Towards the end of the century,
the Abbe Vertot preluded his larger histories by a short tract on the
revolutions of Portugal, and another on those of Sweden, which had both
merit and success. It will be observed that conspiracies, revolutions,
and such-like events formed the staple subjects of these compositions.
Of this class was the masterpiece of the style--the only one per