ticks, it will be time enough to think of answering them, when they can tell us what they would have, and we then shall not fail to do our felves that Honour. If any one elfe, who is fenfible of Modefty, and Master of the Subject, fhall fhew me where I have err'd, I will not fail to acknowledge and amend thofe Errors with Gratitude and Pleafure.

NOT only the Author's Distance from the Prefs, but the Difficulty of printing out of fo many Languages as the Quotations confift of, have occafion'd a few Erratas, which, however, are mostly Literals, and eafily corrected by the knowing Reader

A

A fhort Account of the LIFE and WRITINGS of Father BOUHOURS.

D

OMINICK BOUHOURS was born of a good Family at Paris, in the Year 1628. He had a happy Difpofition to Religion and Literature, which he cultivated from a Child, and at Sixteen Years of Age commenc'd a Jefuit.

AFTER he had gone through his Noviciat and Philofophical Studies, he taught the Clafficks in the College of Paris where he ftudy'd them; but the Head-ach, to which he was often subject from that Time to his Death, oblig'd his Superiors to interrupt the Courfe of his Lectures after four Years Exercise. They put him upon the Study of Divinity, in which he had not spent four Years before he maintain'd two publick Acts. They afterwards fent him to Tours to teach Rhetorick. There he made feveral pretty Latin Poems, &c. which began to give him a Name. He apply'd himself particularly to the French Tongue, and took the more Pains in it, because in fo doing he discharg'd one of the Duties incumbent on the Jefuits, who are not only obliged, by their Institution, to teach the Latin Grammar, but alfo to cultivate the Language of the Country where they live, in order to form the Children under their Care to the Translation of Authors. Father Boubours acquitted him felf fo well in this Respect, that he became one of the most illuftrious Grammarians of his Time, as his Books fhew, which have all the Purity and Delicacy of Stile that can be defir'd in well written Pieces.

THE

THE Father was afterwards intrufted with the Education of the two young Princes of Longueville, in which Employment he behav'u fo well, that the Dutchefs of Longueville could not refufe him her Efteem; and the Duke of Longueville always honour'd him with his Confidence: Alfo the Count de St. Paul, he of the two Brothers who beft knew the Merit of Pere Boubours, continually gave him the most effectual Marks of his Refpect and Tendernefs.

THE Court wanting two Jefuits at Dunkirk, in order to affift the King's Officers there, to render the Inhabitants a little more French than they seem'd to be at that Time, Pere Boubours was chofe for this Purpose, who was fuch a Lover of Study, that he found time for Compofitions in the Midft of the Functions of a Miffionary, which he perform'd to the Garrison and the Catholick Refugees from England.

WHILE he was at Dunkirk, M. Colbert defir'd him to fend him fome Account of the true State of that Maritime Town, and he found his Answers fo pertinent and judicious, that he defir'd his Superiors to fpare him, in order to put the young Marquifs de Seignelay, his Son, under his Care.

AFTER his Return to Paris he compos'd feveral Pieces, in which good Senfe, with agreeable Thoughts and a pure Stile, fhines in every Page. Never Man perhaps knew better how to improve his Time, in those short Intervals of Eafe which he had from the Head-ach; for as foon as his Pain was over he always fet himself to ftudy again, till the 27th of May, 1702. when he died in the College of Lewis le Grand, in the 75th Year of his Age.

NATURE had painted the Qualities of his Soul upon his Face: He had an easy agreeable Air, a fprightly Phyfiognomy, and no Body was more

affable,

affable, more obliging, more even-temper'd, and upon the Reserve.

lefs

The following is a Catalogue of his Works:

1. Relation de la Mort, &c. i. e. An Account of the Death of Henry II. Duke of Longueville. Printed at Paris, 1663. in 4to. This Duke was fo fond of Pere Boubours, efpecially towards the Close of his Life, that he carry'd him along with him to his Retirement at la Heufe, and died in his Arms. The Account which the Father gave of his Death was his first Work, which confirm'd the good Opinion the World had before entertain'd of his Pen.

2. Les Entretiens, &c. i. e. The Dialogues of Ariftaus and Eugene. Printed at Paris in 1671. in 4to and 120. Alfo at Amfterdam, 1682. in 120. These Dialogues, which are to the Number of Six, are on these Subjects: The Sea, the French Language, Secrecy, Wit, the Je ne fcay quoi, Devifes. 'Tis against

3. A Letter to a Nobleman at Court. the Gentlemen of the Port Royal.

4. A Letter to Meffieurs of the Port Royal, against what they wrote to the Archbishop of Ambrun.

5. La Verite, &c. i. e. The Truth of the Chriftian Religion. Tranflated from the Italian of the Marquifs de Pianeffa. Printed at Paris in 1672.

120.

6. Doutes, &c. i. e. Some Doubts concerning the French Language, propos'd to the Gentlemen of the French Academy. By a Country Gentleman. Printed at Paris, in 1675. 120.

7. Remarques nouvelles, &c. i. e. New Remarks on the French Tongue. Printed at Paris, in 1675. 4to. Alfo 1676. in 120.

8. Suite, &c. i. e. More new Remarks on the French Tongue. Printed at Paris, in 1692. in 120.

In

In this Work Pere Boubours treats the Subject with the utmost Nicety; and, as he fays himself, enters into the finest Metaphyfick of Grammar; for which Over-exactnefs the Abbe de la Chambre call'd him The Starcher of the Muses.

9. The Hiftory of Peter d'Aubuffon, GrandMafter of Rhodes. Printed at Paris, 1676. in 4to. Alfo in 1677. in 120.

10. The Life of St. Ignatius, Founder of the Society of the Jefuits. Printed at Paris, in 1679. in 4to.

11. The Life of St. Francis Xiver, of the Society of Jefus, Apoftle of the Indies and of Japan. Printed at Paris, in 1682. in 4to.

12. The Opinion of the Jefuits touching Philofophical Sin. In Three Letters. Printed at Paris, in 1690. in 120.

13. La Maniere de BIEN PENSER dans les Ouvrages d'Efprit: Or the Manner of right Thinking in the Works of the Ingenious: Being Dialogues (between Eudoxius and Philanthius.) Printed at Paris, in 1687. 4to. Again, in 1688. 120. and the fame Year at Amfterdam, in 120. This Work was attack'd with a great deal of Wit in 1703. by the Marquifs Orfi, in an Italian Treatife, and the Journalists, de Trevoux, have attempted in that Journal to defend him.

14. A Letter to a Lady in the Country concerning the Dialogues aforefaid. Printed at Paris, in 120, in 1688. Pere Boubours takes occafion in it to answer the Faults found by the Marquifs with thofe Dialogues, which he extols to that Degree as made it a Question with several whether the Letter was his, though it was fo without Difpute.

15. Penfes ingenienfes, &c. i. e. The ingenious Thoughts of the Ancients and Moderns. Printed at Paris, in 1689. in 120. and at Amfterdam in 1692. in 120. Pere Boubours having collected more Materials for his Maniere de bien penfer, than the Book would