matter, and on his proposal the Academy decided that, in
future, it would give as the subject of the eloquence prize, the
eulogiums of the great men of the nation. Marshal Saxe, Duguay Trouin,
Sully, D'Aguesseau, Descartes, figured first on this list. Later, the
Academy felt itself authorized to propose the eloge of kings themselves;
it entered on this new branch at the beginning of 1767, by asking for
the eloge of Charles V.

Bailly entered the lists, but his essay obtained only an honourable
mention.

Nothing is more instructive than to search out at what epoch originated
the principles and opinions of persons who have acted an important part
on the political scene, and how those opinions developed themselves. By
a fatality much to be regretted, the elements of these investigations
are rarely numerous or faithful. We shall not have to express these
regrets relative to Bailly. Each composition shows us the serene,
candid, and virtuous mind of the illustrious writer, in a new and true
point of view. The eloge of Charles V. was the starting point, followed
by a long series of works, and it ought to arrest our attention for a
while.

The writings, crowned with the approbation of the French Academy, did
not reach the public eye till they had been submitted to the severe
censure of four Doctors in Theology. A special and digested approbation
by the high dignitaries of the Church, whom the illustrious assembly
always possessed among her members, was not a sufficient substitute for
the humbling formality. If we are sure that we possess the eloge of
Charles V. such as it flowed from the author's pen; if we have not
reason to fear that the thoughts have undergone some mutilation, we owe
it to the little favour that the discourse of Bailly enjoyed in the
sitting of the Academy in 1767. Those thoughts, however, would have
defied the most squeamish mind, the most shadowy susceptibility. The
panegyrist unrolls with emotion the frightful misfortunes that assailed
France during the reign of King John. The temerity, the improvidence of
that monarch; the disgraceful passions of the King of Navarre; his
treacheries; the barbarous avidity of the nobility; the seditious
disposition of the people; the sanguinary depredations of the great
companies; the ever recurring insolence of England; all this is
expressed without disguise, yet with extreme moderation. No trait
reveals, no fact even foreshadows in the author, the future President of