e ranked among the noblest efforts of human genius that
ever issued from the press. In the chronological part of it, the scenes
pass rapidly but distinctly; almost every word is a sentence, and every
sentence presents an idea, or excites a sentiment of the sublimest kind.
The third part of it, containing his reflections on the events which
produced the rise and fall of the ancient empires of the earth, is not
inferior to the celebrated work of Montesquieu on the greatness and fall
of the Roman empire; but, in the second part, the genius of Bossuet
appears in its full strength. He does not lead his reader through a maze
of argumentation; he never appears in a stretch of exertion; but, with a
continued splendor of imagery, magnificence of language, and vehemence
of argument, which nothing can withstand, he announces the sublime
truths of the Christian religion, and the sublime evidence that supports
them, with a grandeur and force that overpower and disarm resistance.
Something of this is to be found in many passages of his sermons; but,
in general, both the language and the arguments of them are forced and
unnatural. His letters to the nuns are very interesting. Let those who
affect to talk slightingly of the devotions of the religious, recollect
that the sublime Bossuet bestowed a considerable portion of his time
upon them. The same pen that wrote the discourse on universal history,
the funeral oration of the prince of Conde, and the History of the
Variations, was at the command of every religious who requested {042}
from Bossuet a letter of advice or consolation. "Was he at Versailles,
was he engaged on any literary work of importance, was he employed on a
pastoral visit of his diocese, still," say the Benedictine editors of
his works, "he always found time to write to his correspondents on
spiritual concerns." In this he had a faithful imitator in our author.
No religious community addressed themselves to him who did not find in
him a zealous director, an affectionate and steady friend. For several
among the religious he had the highest personal esteem. Those who
remember him during his residence at St. Omer's, will recollect his
singular respect for Mrs. More, the superior of the English convent of
Austins at Bruges. He was, in general, an enemy to the private pensions
of nuns; (see Boudon's Letter _Sur le Relachement qui s'est introduit
dans l'Observation du Voeu de Pauvrete_, Lettres de Boudon, vol. 1, p.
500;) but i