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LES

CLASSIQUES FRANÇAIS

À L'USAGE DE LA JEUNESSE PROTESTANTE;

OF,

Selections from the best French Classical Works,

PRECEDED BY SKETCHES OF THE LIVES AND TIMES
OF THE WRITERS.

BY

C. LOMBARD DE LUC,

PROFESSOR OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE
EPSOM; THE LADIES' COLLEGE, CROYDON; EXAMINER IN COLLEGIATE
AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS CONNECTED WITH THE ROYAL

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28, UPPER GOWER STREET, AND 27, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1858.

275.c.12.

D.

A.F.M.B.A.M.

M.

D.P.F.

Entered at Stationers' Hall.

ERRATA.

Page 1, line 10, for commandment, read commandement.

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LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.

PREFACE.

IN writing the preface of the present work, I cannot refrain from taking this opportunity of thanking the numerous friends and patrons from whom it has been my good fortune to receive so many tokens of kindness since my sojourn in England; I trust they will give their support to my book, which has been approved of by clergymen and laymen of high standing, and thus add to the debt of gratitude which it is now my pleasing duty to acknowledge.

Amongst the multitude of books which have been written or compiled for the study of the French Language in England, I have occasionally found some containing an excellent selection of detached pieces, but have met with none giving a somewhat detailed history of the life and time of our best French authors.

I believe such a course to have been deficient, because however beautiful the selected passages may have been, they, perhaps, have not presented to the pupil `that necessary interest which, when awakened in intelligent persons by some means, will cause them to commit to memory, in a little time, a large amount of knowledge.

I have then endeavoured to write a concise biography of fourteen of those French. authors who have rendered their names illustrious in different branches of literature and science.

I have done this with the intention of securing the interest of my pupils by pointing out to them the path which these 'Humani Joves,' as Plautus dignifies them,

had to tread before thus becoming the pride of their country; and I earnestly trust, that in their attempt to ascend the ladder of knowledge it may afford them a proof that if the laurel that dies not is difficult to gather, its wreaths have, nevertheless, crowned the heads of poets and men of science who had made 'Study and Perseverance' their most cherished motto.

As it might be observed that no description of notes and remarks, referring to difficulties of language have been inserted in this book, I may as well meet this objection at once by saying I have noticed they were often delusive to the students, and did not assist them in the way meant by the editor. I have therefore made it a point of allowing the careful student to investigate for himself, with the idea that, if unsuccessful, he would seek for 'vivâ voce' explanations from his master.

If my few and humble pages have no other merit than that of an original production, I may at least take the credit of having been the first to open to English students of French literature a road which, I think, has not as yet been indicated; besides, the chief recommendation of the little work will be the beautiful biblical, ancient, and modern maxims I have collected in its first pages, and I feel confident of finding a sure support in the sincere desire I ever had to show my pupils that Religion and Loyalty, Honour and Frankness, Courtesy and Diligence, and all other virtues are ways that must be invariably trodden by the man who could have his name inscribed in letters of gold in the annals of mighty England.

C. L. L.

BIOGRAPHIES MORCEAUX CHOISIS.

PENSÉES ET MAXIMES.

CHOIX DE PENSÉES ET MAXIMES EXTRAITES DE L'ANCIEN ET DU NOUVEAU TESTAMENT.

Jésus-Christ parle les plus grandes choses si simplement, qu'il semble qu'il n'y a pas pensé; et si nettement, néanmoins, qu'on voit bien ce qu'il en pensait. Cette clarté, jointe à cette naïveté, est admirable.-Pascal.

Un trésor de belles maximes est préférable à un amas de richesses. -Isocrate.

Paroles de Notre-Seigneur à ses Apôtres.

JE vous donne un commandment nouveau, que vous vous aimiez les uns les autres.-S. JEAN, Chap. xiii.

Et pourquoi regardes-tu une paille dans l'oeil de ton frère, ne voyant pas une poutre dans le tien ? ou comment dis-tu à ton frère: permets que je t'ôte cette paille de l'œil, ayant toi-même une poutre dans le tien? Hypocrite, ôte premièrement la poutre de ton œil, et alors tu penseras à ôter la paille hors de l'œil de ton frère.--ST. MAT. chap. vii.

Toutes les choses que vous voulez que les hommes vous fassent; faites-les-leur aussi de même, car c'est-là la Loi et les Prophètes.-S. MAT. chap. vii.

Quiconque aura donné à boire seulement un verre d'eau froide à un de ces petits parce qu'il est mon disciple, je vous dis en vérité qu'il ne perdra point sa récompense.ST. MAT. chap. x.

Demandez, et il vous sera donné; cherchez, et vous trouverez; frappez à la porte, et l'on vous ouvrira.

B

Car

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