L'ÉLOQUENCE DE LA CHAIRE ET DE LA TRIBUNE FRANÇAISES EDITED BY PAUL BLOUËT, B.A. (UNIV. GALLIC.) Officier D'Académie Assistant Master in St. Paul's School. VOL. I. FRENCH SACRED ORATORY OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1884 [All rights reserved] PREFACE. In the first of these two volumes it has been the Editor's wish to bring before the reader's notice extracts from the best funeral orations and sermons of Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Fléchier, and Mascaron; and, in the second, extracts from the great political speeches of Mirabeau, Vergniaud, Manuel, Foy, Ledru-Rollin, Berryer, Thiers, and Gambetta. In the case of France, at any rate, it may be said, that neither in ancient nor in modern times, can we find anything equal to the sacred oratory of the seventeenth century. The master-pieces of Bossuet and Massillon will ever be deemed the best monuments of French prose. Whether we consider Bossuet, leading our imagination captive with the flow of his irresistible eloquence; or Bourdaloue, enchaining our reason by the power of his arguments; or Massillon, stirring our souls to their depth by the graceful tenderness of an ever-charming diction; or Fléchier, appealing to the intellect in a style, more elaborate, perhaps, but harmonious from the very perfection of his art —we are driven to exclaim with La Harpe: 'Voilà ce qu'a produit le siècle de la religion, qui a été celui du génie : |
