d joyous, do to none injure,
Ane Truth sail mak thee strang as ony wall;
Without Gladness availis no Treasure.

JEAN VICTOR DURUY

(1811-1894)

[Illustration: JEAN VICTOR DURUY]

Duruy, whose monumental works upon Grecian and Roman history have been
worthily reproduced in England under the editorship of Professor
Mahaffy, and in America in sumptuous illustrated editions, was a
figure of the first importance both in the educational and in the
distinctly literary history of France, throughout nearly half the
present century. He became one of the "Immortals" in 1884, succeeding
to the chair of Mignet; but his 'History of Ancient Greece,' which was
published in 1862, had been already crowned by the Academy. His more
extensive 'History of the Grecian People,' published in 1885-1887, won
from the Academy the Jean Renaud prize of 10,000 francs.

He was born September 11th, 1811, of a family employed in the Gobelins
tapestry works in Paris. His predilection for study secured him an
opportunity to enter the College of Sainte-Barbe, whence he passed to
the Normal School.

When he was twenty-two he began teaching history, first at Rheims, and
then in the College of Henry IV. in Paris. Here he began his literary
work, mostly upon school-books, of which he wrote many, mainly
historical and geographical. He received the degree of Doctor of
Letters in 1853, and became successively Inspector of the Academy of
Paris, Master of Conferences at the Normal School, Professor of
History at the Polytechnic School, and Inspector-General of Secondary
Instruction. During the whole of this period he had been engaged with
secondary classes, and had become strongly impressed by the faulty
condition of the primary and secondary schools. In 1863 Louis Napoleon
put him at the head of the educational system of the empire as
Minister of Public Instruction. This appointment gave him the
opportunity to carry out numerous and important secularizing reforms
which brought him into sharp collision with the clerical party. He
held his post as minister for six years--six years of struggle with
the parsimonious disposition of the administration upon the one hand,
and with the hostile clericals upon the other.

The measures in which he was especially interested were the
reorganization of the Museum of Natural History, the extension of
scientific study, the introduction of the study of modern and
contemporary history in the lyceums (a dreadf