* * * Tuesday was the three hundredth anniversary of
the birth of Bossuet, and it has been deeply interesting to observe how vigorously the memory of the eagle Bishop of Louis XIV. survives and with how intense a curiosity the moral problems of his life are still dissected. After all, Bossuet's appeal to posterity is extraordinarily varied. If there were no other reason his name would be the greatest of all French names in one respect— because he set the model for oratory in praise of the dead. True, his majestic allocutions in honour of royal persons were disfigured by servility and fulsome- ness, but those defects could hardly be avoided by anyone who held office under the Roi Soleil. The fact remains that the language moves forward with glorious organ notes. Bossuet has often been accused of weakness in the face of Louis' debauchery, but open denunciations would have ended his career at the Court and therefore his influence. His numerous private denunciations of the King are on record.
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