366 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

far above all human grandeur ; he only made use of therespect rendered him, for the benefit of those who paidit. It was a miserable reverse to his hopes for France1612 . when his royal pupil died. Fe'nelon received the intel-jEtat. ligence of his’death with that mingled grief and resig-61 - nation that belonged to his character. He declared, thatthough all his ties were broken, and that nothing here-after would attach him to earth, yet that he would notmove a finger to recal the prince to life, against the willof God . His last years were marked by the deaths ofseveral of his dearest friends. The abbe de Langeron,banished from court for his sake, and who resided withhim atCambray, had died 1710, and with his death beganthe series of losses afterwards destined to afflict Fenelon deeply. In 1713 the dukes de Bouvilliers and de Chev-reuse, both died. He felt his losses deeply; knowingthat they came from the hand of God , he resignedhimself, hut grew entirely detached from the affectionsand interests of this world.

Louis at last learnt to appreciate the merits of the mostvirtuous and wisest man in his kingdom. His misfor-tunes, and the deaths, one after the other, of all his pos-terity, softened his heart; added to this, the death of Fe-nelon’s pupil took away the sting of envy; he no longerfeared that he should be surpassed in glory and good byhis successor ; and he could love the teacher of those vir_tues, which existed no longer in the person of his grandsonto eclipse his own. That such unworthy motives mightactuate him, is proved by his act of burning all the papersand letters of Fenelon which were found among the effectsof the duke of Burgundy after his death. Fenelon re-quested the duke de Beauvilliers to claim them, who madethe request to madame de Maintenon . She replied :“ I was desirous of sending you hack all the papersbelonging to you and M. de Cambray; but the kingchose to burn them himself. I confess that I am trulysorry; nothing so beautiful or so good was ever written.If the prince whom w r e lament had some faults, it wasnot because the counsels given him were feeble, or be-