ns, and returned home ready to
burst with the secret. Could the society hope that others would be more
faithful than they had been to themselves? Faret happened to be one of
those light-hearted men who are communicative in the degree in which
they are grateful, and he whispered the secret to Des Marets and to
Boisrobert. The first, as soon as he heard of such a literary senate,
used every effort to appear before them and read the first volume of his
"Ariane." Boisrobert, a man of distinction, and a common friend to them
all, could not be refused an admission; he admired the frankness of
their mutual criticisms. The society, besides, was a new object; and his
daily business was to furnish an amusing story to his patron, Richelieu.
The cardinal-minister was very literary, and apt to be so hipped in his
hours of retirement, that the physician declared, that "all his drugs
were of no avail, unless his patient mixed with them a drachm of
Boisrobert." In one of those fortunate moments, when the cardinal was
"in the vein," Boisrobert painted, with the warmest hues, this region of
literary felicity, of a small, happy society formed of critics and
authors! The minister, who was ever considering things in that
particular aspect which might tend to his own glory, instantly asked
Boisrobert, whether this private meeting would not like to be
constituted a public body, and establish itself by letters patent,
offering them his protection. The flatterer of the minister was
overjoyed, and executed the important mission; but not one of the
members shared in the rapture, while some regretted an honour which
would only disturb the sweetness and familiarity of their intercourse.
Malleville, whose master was a prisoner in the Bastile, and Serisay, the
_intendant_ of the Duke of Rochefoucault, who was in disgrace at court,
louldly protested, in the style of an opposition party, against the
protection of the minister; but Chapelain, who was known to have no
party-interests, argued so clearly, that he left them to infer that
Richelieu's _offer_ was a _command_; that the cardinal was a minister
who willed not things by halves; and was one of those very great men who
avenge any contempt shown to them even on such little men as themselves!
In a word, the dogs bowed their necks to the golden collar. However, the
appearance, if not the reality, of freedom was left to them; and the
minister allowed them to frame their own constitution, and elect their