The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at Dijon, 1627. Died in Paris, 1704. Aged 77.] According to Voltaire, the eloquence of Bossuet stands unrivalled. His _Universal History_, published for his pupil, the son of Louis XIV., written to point out the influence of God animating all the changes of historic events--an idea expressed in the noble aphorism “_l’homme s’agite: Dieu le mène_;” (man struggles and strives: but it is God who leads him). His sermons, funeral orations, and controversial publications, place him in the very highest rank as a writer. According to Eustace, who wrote the “Classical Tour,” it is the especial glory of Bossuet to have compelled the French language “to become the vehicle of sublimity.” In the second part of the _Universal History_, the truths of Christianity are vindicated with a lofty eloquence that is without equal in France. One of Bossuet’s controversial works against Protestantism, converted Gibbon, in his younger years, to the Roman faith. On one occasion, he was the opponent in argument of the mild Fénélon. Nothing can be more striking than the contrast between the styles of the fiery Bossuet and the gentler, but equally pious and learned author of “Telemachus.” The illustrious Bossuet was buried in the Cathedral of Meaux, of which city, his friend, Louis XIV., had appointed him Bishop. Hence he is still popularly styled “The Eagle of Meaux.” [From a marble in the Louvre, by A. Coysevox.]