FENELON, FRANCIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTTE, Archbishop of Cambrai, was descended from a very an cient and illustrious family, and was born in the castle of Fenelon, in Perigord, August 6, 1651. He was of a weak and delicate constitution ; and, until the twelfth year of his age, was brought up under his paternal roof. lie was the child of his fa.ther's old age, and his early amiable disposi tions rendered him the object of his utmost affection and anxiety. There was nothing remarkable in the mode of his education, which was entrusted to the care of a private preceptor; but, in a few years, he acquired under this in structor a more extensive knowledge of the Greek and La tin languages, than is usually found at so tender an age ; and to this circumstance has been chiefly ascribed the per fection of style, which was discernible in his earliest pro ductions. When he was twelve years old, he was sent to the University of Cahors, which was not very distant from the residence of his family, and where he completed his studies in languages and philosophy. His uncle, the Mar quis Antoine de Fenelon, a lieutenant-general in the army, and a nobleman of superior understanding and of sound reli gious principles, having taken a warm interest in his ne phew's progress, sent for him to Paris, and placed him at the college of Plessis, where he commenced his studies in theology, and where he soon distinguished himself so much by his attainments, that he was permitted to preach in pub lic at. the age of fifteen. But his wise and discerning rela tive, rather alarmed than gratified by the encomiums which this premature appearance had excited, and anxious to se cure his nephew's inexperience from the snares of youth ful vanity, placed him at the seminary of St Sulpice, under the care of its learned and pious superior M. Tronson. From the example and instructions of this excellent per son, the youthful Fenelon derived his relish for those clerical virtues, of which he afterwards exhibited so perfected a pattern ; and received those impressions of elevated piety, by which he was so eminently distinguished during the whole course of his life. When he was scarcely sixteen years of age, he formed the determination of devoting him self to the missions in Canada, where the seminary of St Sulpice had a considerable establishment ; and neither the influence of his tutor, nor the remonstrances of his friends, were able to shake his purpose. But at length his uncle, the bishop of Sarlat, on the ground of his nephew's ex treme youth and infirm state of health, explicitly refused to grant permission for his depa'rture, and ordered him to re main at St Sulpice, that, by longer study and retirement, he might qualify himself for the exercise of the ministry. Having been ordained at St Sulpice, he devoted himself for the space of three years to the diligent discharge of his functions in that parish ; and, after that period, was appoin ted to explain the scriptures to the people on Sundays and festival days. About the year 1674, he was invited by his uncle to Sarlat, and resumed with additional zeal his missionary views, choosing the Levant as the scene of his labours ; but his friends succeeded in finding for him a more suitable, yet very similar course of ministration ; and, at 27 years of age, he was nominated the superior of an in stitution for preserving in the faith the newly-converted fe male Catholics. In this humble employment, which re quired only the simpler forms of instruction, the more minute details of knowledge, and the milder topics of per suasion, he passed ten whole years in the prime of life ; but, while faithfully engaged in these obscure and unho noured duties, he was acquiring by study and meditation those higher talents which contributed to render him so bright an ornament of the Christian church. Though the „Marquis his uncle, with whom he resided, passed his life in religious retirement, yet he retained the acquaintance of a few select friends, to whose notice he introduced his ne phew, and in whose society he enjoyed many opportunities of improvement. Among these were the Duke de Beau yilliers, who was afterwards governor to the Duke of Bur Bundy, and the celebrate(] Bossuet, who held the situation of preceptor to the Dauphin. He kpeedily recommended himself to the esteem and confidence of that distinguished prelate ; and profited by his instructions, while he shared his intimacy. During this period he produced his first work, a treatise on " the Education of a Daughter," which he wrote at the request of the Duchess de Beauvilliers, and which has been rather imitated than surpassed by fu ture writers on the subject. In 1686, he was placed by Louis XIV. at the head of the missionaries, who were sent to Poitou and Saintonge, to convert to the Catholic faith the Protestants in these provinces, whose pastors had been driven into exile ; and having been allowed to choose his colleagues, and authorized to dismiss the military who had hitherto acted as the apostles of the church, he repaired to the scene of his duties with all the zeal of a Nourish mis sionary, tempered with the spirit of Christian conciliation.
But though he was received by the people as a minister of peace, and sedulously removed every instrument of coer cion, he perceived that his were chiefly influen ced by fear, in consequence of the violent measures which were pursued in other provinces ; and it would seem, that his proceedings and progress did not keep pace with the impatience of his employers. In consequence of his own request, he received permission to return to Paris, where he gave an account of his mission to the king in person ; and contentedly resuming his humble functions among the " Nouvelles Catholiques," he was more than two years without once appearing at court. Ile was too indifferent about his personal interests to employ the ordinary means of promotion ; and even his unoffending character did not preserve him from the machinations of envy and malevo lence. He had been selected for the Bishopric of Poictiers, and his nomination even sanctioned by the king, but it was revoked before being made public; and at the earnest ap plication of the Bishop of Rochelle, who had witnessed his fidelity in the Protestant provinces, he was on the eve of being nominated to assist and succeed that aged prelate ; but means were found to prevent also the accomplishment of this plan. In both these cases, his success was obstruct ed by the secret influence of Harlai, archbishop of Paris, who never forgave Fenclon the decided preference which he had shewn for his rival Bossuet's friendship, and who is said to have gained his ends by rendering him suspected of a tendency to Jansenism. Having published, however, in 1688, his treatise on " the Education of a Daughter," and another on " the Ministry of Pastors," which had both been long approved by his friends in Manuscript, his me rits became more generally known ; and an unforeseen event suddenly placed him in a situation, which fully dis played the superior lustre of his character. His friend, the Duke de Bcauvilliers, having been appointed by Louis XIV. governor to his grandson the Duke of Burgundy, and having been allowed to select his own coadjutors in this important trust, without a moment's delay, nominated the _Abbe de Fenelon preceptor to the young prince. Fenelon, equally free in the choice of those who were to act under his direction, selected as sub-preceptors the Abbe de Lan geron, Abbe Fleury, and his own nephew Abbe de Beau mont; and with these valuable friends, all men of talents and piety, he entered on his arduous office in September 1689. He had, indeed, no ordinary task to fulfil, the for mation of a good king to twenty millions of people, and the most unpromising materials in the character of his pupil. The young Duke of Burgundy was naturally irritable, un feeling, obstinate, proud, impatient of controul, the slave of sensual pleasure, and so furious in his rage, that "it was sometimes feared," says St Simon, " the very veins of his body would burst ;" yet the powers his mind were of the highest order, acute, brilliant, profound. All who were entrusted with the charge of this extraordinary youth, acted as with one mind, and upon the same plan ; but Fenelon was the soul, which animated and directed their joint ope rations. A detail of their proceedings would furnish at once an interesting and instructive work ; and some idea of the method pursued may be formed from the Fables and Dialogues which Fenelon wrote for his pupil, and which were severally composed at the moment when the young prince required some fault to be corrected, or some useful maxim to he impressed upon his mind. Several curious particulars have been recorded by Bausset, but we have room only to state the result. So great was the Duke's proficiency in classical attainments, that in his tenth year he wrote Latin with elegance, and was able to translate the most difficult authors with precision ; and what was more important, his character was so radically changed by the instrumentality of his preceptor, that his most fearful vices were succeeded by the opposite virtues, and lie was ren dered mild, affable, humane, patient, humble, and austere towards himself. It was by religious principle, that the sagacious preceptor effected so remarkable a transforma tion ; and so powerful was its influence over the mind of the young prince, that his most imperious caprices we e often subdued in an instant by merely pronouncing to him the name of God.