Of his writings we have left ourselves little room to give a detailed account ; but they arc such as must ren der his name immortal, and contribute essentially to the improvement of the human race. A fire, which consumed his palace at Cambrai in 1697, destroyed many of his most valuable manuscripts, especially those which were con nected with the education of his royal pupil, and upon which he had employed the best years of his life,—an event which scarcely disturbed for a moment the habitual serenity of his mind, but which the friends of religion and of literature can never cease to deplore.* His Treatise on the Education of a Daughter, published in 1687, though not originally intended for the public, may be considered as a compendium of the most useful precepts on the sub ject, expressed with the greatest simplicity and precision. His Treatise on the Ministry of Pastors, published in 1638, is intended to vindicate the spiritual authority of the church of Rome, and is at least written with a degree of candour and temper seldom found in ecclesiastical controversies. His various replies to his assailants on the subject of Quietism, were composed with astonishing rapidity, yet with a perspicuity and precision which seemed to initiate the reader into the most difficult points in theology, and with a subtilty of genius which confounded the talents of Bossuct himself. He wrote many pieces against the Jan senists, especially Four Pastoral letters, printed in 1704; and his share in this contest is certainly the least amiable part of his conduct. The Dialogues of the Dead were composed for the use of his pupil, and intended to fix upon his memory the real merits of the most distinguish ed characters recorded in history. They were first pub lished in 1712, after the Duke of Burgundy's death, and without the author's name or consent ; and it was not till 1730 that a complete edition was given to the world. The Adventures of Telemachus, which was not originally de signed for publication, but entirely for the instruction of the Duke of Burgundy, seems to have been composed between the years 1693 and 1697 ; and as it appears to have been designed to remain a secret between the precep tor and his pupil, this admirable performance, had not the lucky treachery of a transcriber prevailed, might have shared the fate of the other papers in the young prince's cabinet, which Louis committed to the flames. His De
monstration of the Being of a God, which he published in 1713, is, to say the least, the best book on the subject in the French language. II;s Letters on Religion and Meta physics., written to the Duke of Orleans, were published after his death, and are chiefly suited to a member of the church of Rome. His Dialogues on the Eloquence of the Pulpit, wet e composed in his youth, but never made known during his life, and not published till the year 1718. This production may he pronounced, with Cardinal Maury, to be the best didactic work for preachers, and to be founded upon the principles of nature and good sense. His Lives of the Ancient Philosophers is an excellent elementary work for youth ; and a very neat translation, recently published by the Rev. John Cormack, has made it accessible to the English reader. His Oeuvres Spirituelles, a collection of letters to his friends, also published after his death, con tain many maxims of the most sublime piety, and many excellent rules of conduct in the various circumstances of life. The few sermons which have been primed from the pen_of Fenelon, were composed during his youth for par ticular occasions, and furnish no idea of his usual pulpit addresses. The discourse which he delivered in 1707, at the consecration or the Elector of Cologne, was adapted to the magnificence of the ceremony, and proves his powers to have rivalled the most eminent orators of his time; but it was his ordinary practice, according to the maxims which he inculcates in his Dialogues on Eloquence, to write no thing more of his sermons than the principal heads—a prac'ice which his astonishing fertility of mind and fluency of expression rendered safe in his hands, but which ordi nary men would do well to follow with caution. Those who wish to know more of this extraordinary man, are re ferred to Querbeuf's Vie do Fenefon; Ramsay's !list. de la vie de M. Renelon ; Eloge de Fenelon, par M. D'Alem bert ; and particularly Bausset's Life of renclon, transla ted by lifuelford. (1)