omposed, its rhetoric is often strained or hard and
metallic, its unrelieved horrors oppress the heart; but the cry of
true passion is heard in its finer pages; from amid the turmoil and
smoke, living tongues of flame seem to dart forth which illuminate
the gloom. The influence of _Les Tragiques_ may still be felt in
passages of Victor Hugo's fulgurant eloquence.

In the midst of strife, however, there were men who pursued the
disinterested service of humanity and whose work made for peace. The
great surgeon Ambroise Pare, full of tolerance and deeply pious,
advanced his healing art on the battle-field or amid the ravages of
pestilence, and left a large contribution to the literature of science.
Bernard Palissy, a devout Huguenot, was not only the inventor of
"rustic figulines," the designer of enamelled cups and platters, but
a true student of nature, who would substitute the faithful
observation of phenomena for vain and ambitious theory. Olivier de
Serres, another disciple of Calvin, cultivated his fields, helped
to enrich France by supporting Henri IV. in the introduction of the
industry in silk, and amassed his knowledge and experience in his
admirably-written _Theatre d'Agriculture_. At a later date Antoine
de Montchrestien, adventurous and turbulent in his Protestant zeal,
the writer of tragedies which connect the sixteenth century with the
classical school of later years, became the advocate of a
protectionist and a colonial policy in his _Traicte de l'OEconomie
Politique_; the style of his essay towards economic reform has some
of the passion and enthusiasm of a poet.

A refuge from the troubles and vicissitudes of the time was sought
by some in a Christianised Stoicism. Guillaume du Vair (1556-1621),
eminent as a magistrate, did not desert his post of duty; he pleaded
eloquently, as chief orator of the middle party of conciliation, on
behalf of unity under Henri of Navarre. In his treatise on French
eloquence he endeavoured to elevate the art of public speaking above
laboured pedantry to true human discourse. But while taking part in
the contentious progress of events, he saw the flow of human affairs
as from an elevated plateau. In the conversations with friends which
form his treatise _De la Constance et Consolation es Calamites
Publiques_, Du Vair's counsels are those of courage and resignation,
not unmingled with hope. He rendered into French the stoical morals
of Epictetus; and in his own _Sainte Philos