n of study for themselves. For three or four
years they read together as chance or taste directed: this course had
not in it the making of a scholar.

Perrault's first literary effort was a burlesque of the Sixth book of
the AEneid, a thing rather too sacred for parody in Scarron's manner. His
brother the doctor took a hand in this labour, and Perrault says 'the
MS. is on the shelf where there are no books but those written by
members of the Family.' The funniest thing was held to be the couplet on
the charioteer Tydacus, in the shades,

Qui, tenant l'ombre d'une brosse,
Nettoyait l'ombre d'un carrosse.

Perrault, as a young man, was moderately interested in the fashionable
controversy about Grace, _pouvoir prochain et pouvoir eloigne_, and the
jargon of the quarrel between Port Royal and the Jesuits. His brother, a
doctor of the Sorbonne, explained the question, 'and we saw there was
nothing in it to justify the noise it made.' He persuaded himself,
however, that this little conference was the occasion of the _Lettres
Provinciales_. The new Editor will doubtless deal with this pretension
when he comes to publish Pascal's Life in the series of _Grands
Ecrivains de la France_. Unlike Perrault, Pascal thought 'que le sujet
des disputes de Sorbonne etoit bien important et d'une extreme
consequence pour la religion.'

The first of the Provincial Letters is dated January 23, 1656. Charles
Perrault was now twenty-eight. In 1651 he had taken his _licences_ at
Orleans, where degrees were granted with scandalous readiness. Perrault
and his friends wakened the learned doctors in the night, returned
ridiculous answers to their questions, chinked their money in their
bags,--and passed. The same month they were all admitted to the Bar. His
legal reading was speculative, and he proposed the idea of codifying the
various customs; but the task waited for Napoleon. Wearying of the Bar
he accepted a place under his brother, Receiver-General of Paris. In
this occupation he remained from 1654 to 1664. He had plenty of leisure
for study, his brother had bought an excellent library, and Perrault
speaks of 'le plaisir que j'eus de me voir au milieu de tant de bons
livres.' He made verses, which were handed about and attributed to
Quinault. That poet, getting a copy from Perrault, permitted a young
lady whom he was courting to think they were his own. Perrault claimed
them, and 'M. Quinault se trouvait un peu embarrasse.' However, when