I mean to speak here only of a new species of historical dictionaries, which contain a series of lies and satires3 in alphabetical4 order; such is the “Historical Literary and Critical Dictionary,” containing a summary of the lives of celebrated5 men of every description, and printed in 1758, in six volumes, octavo, without the name of the author.
The compilers of that work begin with declaring that it was undertaken by the advice of the author of the “Ecclesiastical Gazette,” “a formidable writer,” they add, “whose arrow,” which had already been compared to that of Jonathan, “never returned back, and was always steeped in the blood of the slain6, in the carnage of the valiant7.”— “A sanguine8 interfectorum ab adipe fortium sagitta Jonath? nunquam abiit retrorsum.”
It will, no doubt, be easily admitted that the connection between Jonathan, the son of Saul, who was killed at the battle of Gilboa, and a Parisian convulsionary, who scribbles9 ecclesiastical notices in his garret, in 1758, is wonderfully striking.
The author of this preface speaks in it of the great Colbert. We should conceive, at first, that the great statesman who conferred such vast benefits on France is alluded10 to; no such thing, it is a bishop11 of Montpellier. He complains that no other dictionary has bestowed13 sufficient praise on the celebrated Abbé d’Asfeld, the illustrious Boursier, the famous Genes14, the immortal15 Laborde, and that the lash16 of invective17 on the other hand has not been sufficiently18 applied19 to Languet, archbishop of Sens, and a person of the name of Fillot, all, as he pretends, men well known from the Pillars of Hercules to the frozen ocean. He engages to be “animated, energetic, and sarcastic20, on a principle of religion”; that he will make his countenance21 “sterner than that of his enemies, and his front harder than their front, according to the words of Ezekiel,” etc.
He declares that he has put in contribution all the journals and all the anas; and he concludes with hoping that heaven will bestow12 a blessing22 on his labors23.
In dictionaries of this description, which are merely party works, we rarely find what we are in quest of, and often what we are not. Under the word “Adonis,” for example, we learn that Venus fell in love with him; but not a word about the worship of Adonis, or Adonai among the Ph?nicians — nothing about those very ancient and celebrated festivals, those lamentations succeeded by rejoicings, which were manifest allegories, like the feasts of Ceres, of Isis, and all the mysteries of antiquity. But, in compensation, we find Adkichomia a devotee, who translated David’s psalms24 in the sixteenth century; and Adkichomus, apparently25 her relation, who wrote the life of Jesus Christ in low German.
We may well suppose that all the individuals of the faction26 which employed this person are loaded with praise, and their enemies with abuse. The author, of the crew of authors who have put together this vocabulary of trash, say of Nicholas Boindin, attorney-general of the treasures of France, and a member of the Academy of Belles-lettres, that he was a poet and an atheist27.
That magistrate28, however, never printed any verses, and never wrote anything on metaphysics or religion.
He adds that Boindin will be ranked by posterity29 among the Vaninis, the Spinozas, and the Hobbeses. He is ignorant that Hobbes never professed30 atheism31 — that he merely subjected religion to the sovereign power, which he denominates the Leviathan. He is ignorant that Vanini was not an atheist; that the term “atheist” is not to be found even in the decree which condemned32 him; and that he was accused of impiety33 for having strenuously34 opposed the philosophy of Aristotle, and for having disputed with indiscretion and acrimony against a counsellor of the parliament of Toulouse, called Francon, or Franconi, who had the credit of getting him burned to death; for the latter burn whom they please; witness the Maid of Orleans, Michael Servetus, the Counsellor Dubourg, the wife of Marshal d’Ancre, Urbain Grandier, Morin, and the books of the Jansenists. See, moreover, the apology for Vanini by the learned Lacroze, and the article on “Atheism.”
The vocabulary treats Boindin as a miscreant35; his relations were desirous of proceeding36 at law and punishing an author, who himself so well deserved the appellation37 which he so infamously38 applied to a man who was not merely a magistrate, but also learned and estimable; but the calumniator40 concealed41 himself, like most libellers, under a fictitious42 name.
Immediately after having applied such shameful43 language to a man respectable compared with himself, he considers him as an irrefragable witness, because Boindin — whose unhappy temper was well known — left an ill-written and exceedingly ill-advised memorial, in which he accuses La Motte — one of the worthiest44 men in the world, a geometrician, and an ironmonger — with having written the infamous39 verses for which Jean Baptiste Rousseau was convicted. Finally, in the list of Boindin’s works, he altogether omits his excellent dissertations45 printed in the collection of the Academy of Belles-lettres, of which he was a highly distinguished46 member.
The article on “Fontenelle” is nothing but a satire2 upon that ingenious and learned academician, whose science and talents are esteemed47 by the whole of literary Europe. The author has the effrontery48 to say that “his ‘History of Oracles’ does no honor to his religion.” If Van Dale, the author of the “History of Oracles,” and his abridger49, Fontenelle, had lived in the time of the Greeks and of the Roman republic, it might have been said with reason that they were rather good philosophers than good pagans; but, to speak sincerely, what injury do they do to Christianity by showing that the pagan priests were a set of knaves51? Is it not evident that the authors of the libel, miscalled a dictionary, are pleading their own cause? “Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.” But would it be offering an insult to the Christian50 religion to prove the knavery52 of the Convulsionaries? Government has done more; it has punished them without being accused of irreligion.
The libeller adds that he suspects that Fontenelle never performed the duties of a Christian but out of contempt for Christianity itself. It is a strange species of madness on the part of these fanatics53 to be always proclaiming that a philosopher cannot be a Christian. They ought to be excommunicated and punished for this alone; for assuredly it implies a wish to destroy Christianity to assert that it is impossible for a man to be a good reasoner and at the same time believe a religion so reasonable and holy.
Des Yveteaux, preceptor of Louis XIV., is accused of having lived and died without religion. It seems as if these compilers had none; or at least as if, while violating all the precepts54 of the true one, they were searching about everywhere for accomplices55.
The very gentlemanly writer of these articles is wonderfully pleased with exhibiting all the bad verses that have been written on the French Academy, and various anecdotes56 as ridiculous as they are false. This also is apparently out of zeal58 for religion.
I ought not to lose an opportunity of refuting an absurd story which has been much circulated, and which is repeated exceedingly malapropos under the article of the “Abbé Gedoyn,” upon whom the writer falls foul59 with great satisfaction, because in his youth he had been a Jesuit; a transient weakness, of which I know he repented60 all his life.
The devout61 and scandalous compiler of the dictionary asserts that the Abbé Gedoyn slept with the celebrated Ninon de l’Enclos on the very night of her completing her eightieth year. It certainly was not exactly befitting in a priest to relate this anecdote57 in a pretended dictionary of illustrious men. Such a foolery, however, is in fact highly improbable; and I can take upon me to assert that nothing can be more false. The same anecdote was formerly62 put down to the credit of the Abbé Chateauneuf, who was not very difficult in his amours, and who, it was said, had received Ninon’s favors when she was of the age of sixty, or, rather, had conferred upon her his own. In early life I saw a great deal of the Abbé Gedoyn, the Abbé Chateauneuf, and Mademoiselle de l’Enclos; and I can truly declare that at the age of eighty years her countenance bore the most hideous63 marks of old age — that her person was afflicted64 with all the infirmities belonging to that stage of life, and that her mind was under the influence of the maxims65 of an austere66 philosophy.
Under the article on “Deshoulières” the compiler pretends that lady was the same who was designated under the term prude (précieuse) in Boileau’s satire upon women. Never was any woman more free from such weakness than Madame Deshoulières; she always passed for a woman of the best society, possessed67 great simplicity68, and was highly agreeable in conversation.
The article on “La Motte” abounds69 with atrocious abuse of that academician, who was a man of very amiable70 manners, and a philosophic71 poet who produced excellent works of every description. Finally the author, in order to secure the sale of his book of six volumes, has made of it a slanderous72 libel.
His hero is Carré de Montgeron, who presented to the king a collection of the miracles performed by the Convulsionaries in the cemetery73 of St. Médard; who became mad and died insane.
The interest of the republic of literature and reason demands that those libellers should be delivered up to public indignation, lest their example, operating upon the sordid74 love of gain, should stimulate75 others to imitation; and the more so, as nothing is so easy as to copy books in alphabetical order, and add to them insipidities, calumnies76, and abuse.
Extract from the Reflections of an Academician on the “Dictionary of the French Academy.”
It would be desirable to state the natural and incontestable etymology77 of every word, to compare the application, the various significations, the extent of the word, with use of it; the different acceptations, the strength or weakness of correspondent terms in foreign languages; and finally, to quote the best authors who have used the word, to show the greater or less extent of meaning which they have given to it and to remark whether it is more fit for poetry than prose.
For example, I have observed that the “inclemency78” of the weather is ridiculous in history, because that term has its origin in the anger of heaven, which is supposed to be manifested by the intemperateness79, irregularities, and rigors80 of the seasons, by the violence of the cold, the disorder81 of the atmosphere, by tempests, storms, and pestilential exhalations. Thus then inclemency, being a metaphor82, is consecrated83 to poetry.
I have given to the word “impotence” all the acceptations which it receives. I showed the correctness of the historian, who speaks of the impotence of King Alphonso, without explaining whether he referred to that of resisting his brother, or that with which he was charged by his wife.
I have endeavored to show that the epithets84 “irresistible85” and “incurable” require very delicate management. The first who used the expression, “the irresistible impulse of genius,” made a very fortunate hit; because, in fact, the question was in relation to a great genius throwing itself upon its own resources in spite of all difficulties. Those imitators who have employed the expression in reference to very inferior men are plagiarists who know not how to dispose of what they steal.
As soon as the man of genius has made a new application of any word in the language, copyists are not wanting to apply it, very malapropos, in twenty places, without giving the inventor any credit.
I do not know that a single one of these words, termed by Boileau “foundlings” (des mots trouvés) a single new expression of genius, is to be found in any tragic86 author since Racine, until within the last few years. These words are generally lax, ineffective, stale, and so ill placed as to produce a barbarous style. To the disgrace of the nation, these Visigothic and Vandal productions were for a certain time extolled87, panegyrized, and admired in the journals, especially as they came out under the protection of a certain lady of distinction, who knew nothing at all about the subject. We have recovered from all this now; and, with one or two exceptions, the whole race of such productions is extinct forever.
I did not in the first instance intend to make all these reflections, but to put the reader in a situation to make them. I have shown at the letter E that our e mute, with which we are reproached by an Italian, is precisely88 what occasions the delicious harmony of our language:— empire, couronne, diadème, épouvantable, sensible. This e mute, which we make perceptible without articulating it, leaves in the ear a melodious89 sound like that of a bell which still resounds90 although it is no longer struck. This we have already stated in respect to an Italian, a man of letters, who came to Paris to teach his own language, and who, while there, ought not to decry91 ours.
He does not perceive the beauty or necessity of our feminine rhymes; they are only e’s mute. This interweaving of masculine and feminine rhymes constitutes the charm of our verse.
Similar observations upon the alphabet, and upon words generally, would not have been without utility; but they would have made the work too long.
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1
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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satires
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| 讽刺，讥讽( satire的名词复数 )； 讽刺作品 | |
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alphabetical
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| adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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scribbles
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| n.潦草的书写( scribble的名词复数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下v.潦草的书写( scribble的第三人称单数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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genes
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| n.基因( gene的名词复数 ) | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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invective
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| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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psalms
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| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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atheist
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| n.无神论者 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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atheism
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| n.无神论，不信神 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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impiety
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| n.不敬；不孝 | |
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strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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miscreant
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| n.恶棍 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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infamously
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| 不名誉地 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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calumniator
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| n.中伤者，诽谤者 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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worthiest
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| 应得某事物( worthy的最高级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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dissertations
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| 专题论文，学位论文( dissertation的名词复数 ) | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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49
abridger
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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51
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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knavery
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| n.恶行，欺诈的行为 | |
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fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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accomplices
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| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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58
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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59
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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slanderous
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| adj.诽谤的，中伤的 | |
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cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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calumnies
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| n.诬蔑，诽谤，中伤（的话）( calumny的名词复数 ) | |
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etymology
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| n.语源；字源学 | |
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inclemency
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| n.险恶，严酷 | |
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intemperateness
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rigors
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| 严格( rigor的名词复数 )； 严酷； 严密； （由惊吓或中毒等导致的身体）僵直 | |
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81
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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82
metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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83
consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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84
epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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85
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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86
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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87
extolled
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| v.赞颂，赞扬，赞美( extol的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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89
melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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90
resounds
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的第三人称单数 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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91
decry
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| v.危难，谴责 | |
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