FLE'CLIIER, ESPRIT, born in 1632 at POMO; near Carpentras, studied in the college of the Fathers of the Christian Doctrine,' of which congregation his maternal uncle was then the superior. Being ordained, he went to Paris, and became preceptor to a young gentle man. He made himself favourably known by writing penegyrical orations in honour of saints and also of deceased distinguished cou temporaries, which were much liked at the time as specimens of eloquence. In 1673 the Abb6 Fiddlier was named a member of the French Academy ; and in 1682 he was appointed by Louis XIV. almoner to the Dauphines& In 1685 he was sent at the head of a mission to reclaim to Catholicism the Protestants of Poitou and Brittany. On his return to Paris he was appointed by the king bishop of Lavaur, but was soon after transferred to the see of Nimes. The revocation of the edict of Nantes, 22nd October 1685, had been followed by a species of persecution against the Protestants, or Huguenots as they were called, who were very numerous at Nistnea and in the neighbouring districts. Fl6chier, who was naturally of a mild disposition, while obeying the intolerant orders of the king towards this part of the population, executed them with as much tem. perance as could be expected from one in his situation. His letters contain painful evidence of the oppressions and cruelties committed at that epoch. When the persecuted Protestants rose in 1702-3 against
their oppressors, they fearfully retaliated by killing the Catholics and burning their churches. This was followed by Louis XIV. sending a large force under a marshal of France, and the devastation of the mountainous districts of the C6vennes ensued. Fl6chier repeatedly expressed his astonishment at the boldness and courage of the victims. (Lettre 138, in the last volume of Les (Euvres de Fldchier.) Fldchier died at Nismea in February, 1710. His scattered works have been collected and published (Euvres completes de Fldchier,' 10 vols., NisC11119, 1782. They consist of biographies, sermons, pane gyrics, and omisons funebrea,' in whiah last he was considered to rival and almost to excel Boma. Cardinal Maury (' Essai eur l'Eloquence de la Chaire,' vol. 1.) examines with a critical eye Fiddlier's oration in honour of Marshal Turenne, which was con sidered as his masterpiece, and points out its defects. Fl6chier wrote a life of Cardinal Ximenes, rather too partial according to some critics, and a life of Theodosius the Great. His correspondence above mentioned furnishes some interesting materials for contemporary history.