ionally display
witty touches, because every one was witty in the eighteenth century;
but to class them with the works of the poets of his day as _poetry_ is
impossible--they merit only being considered in the light of lemonade
made from Voltaire's well-squeezed lemons.

In many respects the prose of the eighteenth century, not being an art,
but rather the resource of unsuccessful poets, lent itself better than
did the muse to the idle fantasies of the Abbe de Voisenon. His facetiae,
his historiettes, his Oriental tales, reunited later (at least in part)
with the works of the Comte de Caylus, and with the libertine tales of
Duclos and the younger Crebillon, prove the facility with which he could
imitate Voltaire, while his lucubrations must be considered as far
inferior to the short tales of the latter author. For the most part too
free, too indecent, in short, to show their faces beside some
elaborately serious fragments which form what are called his works, they
figure in the work we have just named under the title of _Recueil de ces
Messieurs; Aventures des Bals des Bois; Etrennes de la St. Jean; Les
Ecosseuses; les Oeufs de Paques_, &c. We know, by the memoirs of the
time, that a society of men of letters, formed by Mademoiselle Quinaut
du Frene, and composed of fourteen members chosen by her, had proposed
to itself the high and difficult mission of supping well at stated
intervals, and of being immensely witty and extravagantly gay. At the
end of the half-year these effusions of wit and gayety were printed by
the society at the mutual expense of its members, and given to the world
under the title of _Recueil de ces Messieurs_.[Q] Deprived of the
illusive accompaniments of the lights, the sparkling eyes, the tinkling
glasses, and the indulgent good-nature engendered by an excellent
dinner, good wines, and an ample dessert, these table libertinages, when
read nearly a century afterwards, lose all their piquancy of flavor and
become simply nauseous. The readings, and consequently the dinners, took
place sometimes at the house of Mademoiselle Quinaut, sometimes at that
of the Comte de Caylus.

Having conceived a disgust for the profession of arms--for which he had
been originally intended--in consequence of having fought with and
wounded a young officer in a duel, he determined upon embracing the
ecclesiastical state; and shortly after taking orders was inducted by
Cardinal Fleury to the royal abbey of Jard--an easy g