bbed down after a game at tennis, an
Academician prayed that the Academy might be allowed to read addresses
to his Majesty. The King, who had probably given some courtier the side
walls and a beating, graciously permitted the Academy to add its voice
to the chorus of flattery. Perrault now disported himself among
harangues, the new Versailles fountains, grottoes, arches of triumph,
and royal devices, his brother executing his designs. They were sunny
years, and Le Roi Soleil beamed upon the house of Perrault. But a
dispute between his brother, the receiver of taxes, and Colbert caused a
coolness between Charles Perrault and the Minister. M. Perrault also
married a young lady to please himself, not to please Colbert. But,
before leaving the service of the Minister, the good Perrault had
succeeded in saving the Tuileries gardens for the people of Paris, and
for the children, when it was proposed to reserve them to the Royal use.
'I am persuaded,' he said, 'that the gardens of Kings are made so great
and spacious that all their children may walk in them.' We owe Perrault
less gratitude for aiding Lulli, who obtained the monopoly of Opera, a
privilege adverse to the interests of Moliere. If Perrault thought at
all of the interests of Moliere, he probably remembered that his own
brother was a physician, and that physicians were Moliere's favourite
butts. 'Il ne devait pas tourner en ridicule les bons Medecins, que
l'Ecriture nous enjoint d'honorer,' says Perrault in his _Eloges des
Hommes Illustres_ (1696-1700). Moliere's own influence with the king
corrected the influence of Lulli, and he obtained the right to give
musical pieces, in spite of Lulli's privilege, but he did not live long
to enjoy it[1].

Ten years afterwards Colbert became _si difficile et si chagrin_, that
Perrault withdrew quietly from his service. He had been employed in
public functions for twenty years (1663-1683), he was over fifty, and he
needed rest. Louvois excluded him on the death of Colbert from the
_petite Academie_. He devoted himself to the education of his children,
who were 'day-boarders' at the colleges, and returned at night to the
paternal house in the Faubourg St. Jacques. 'Les moeurs ne sont pas en
si grande surete' at a public school, Perrault thought. In 1686 he
published his 'Saint Paulin Evesque de Nole, avec une Epistre
Chrestienne sur la Penitence, et une Ode aux Nouveaux Convertis.'
(Paris, J. R. Coignard.) It is dedicated to Boss