ACCOUNT OF BOOKS.
467
The tafte for this kind of eru- dition is eniircly extinft ; ard if Meziriac were to return to life in thefe days, he might liay lon^ enough at Bre fie, before he wouid receive an invitation tobea mem- ber of the French academy. The fame quallncations, which for- merly procured him that ho- nour, would now fuffice to ex- clude him. ft was not the pc- litenefs of his ftyle, or the beauty of his verfes, which made him accounted worthy of being an academician, for in this refpiT^ he was inferior to mort of the fraternity ; but it wag his reputation for learning, and the proofs which he had given of a valt erudition. Times are altered: no regard is paid to an author Who perf-rfliy under- ftands mythology, Greek poets, and fchoHalts, and by his know- ledge can clear up difficulties in chronoloijy, geography, gram- mar, &c. Not only compoiicions without the ieall lindvure of li- terature are preferred to the works of fuch an author, but he is treated as a mere pedant : and this is the fare way to dif- courage all young men, who have tblents for the ftudy of humanities. There is fome- thing odious and cor.teraptible in the-very name of pedantry; and who would take paias to ac- qoire nothing befides fcorn and infamy by becoming very learned and appearing to be well verfed in the works of the ancients ? Nothing hath more contributed to bring literature into contempt, than the cuftom which the wits and the fine geniufes, real or pretende<i, have raken up to condemn, as fchool learning and pedantry, citations from Latin
and Greek authors, snc pnilo« logical recisrks. They h^ve been 'lb unjul't, as to deride even thofe fcholars, who had, befides erudition, a poiitenefs and a knowledge of the world; Coftar, for example. Had they been contented to ridicule thofe who to make a parade of their reading, cite a Plato, a Varro, and an Arlftclle, either to prove nothiDg a: alJ, or to confirai fomething, which no .man ever denied, and which every man knows, tbey had iict done amifs : but with difdgijnful airs and in- folent fcoifs they had baniihed frrm the polit« world all thofe who dared to {he>v that th?y had made coUeftions from the an- cients ; they have laughed at the Collars, and even at thofe letters of Volture which are fprinkied with Latiq.. Thefe cenfures ha.ve had the more ef- fed, becaufe there is fomething plaufible in them ; and it is certainly true that men (hould be more careful to polifh their mind, and to form their judg- ment, than to loaiJ their memory uith the remarks and fayings of other p'^ople. The more truth there is in this maxim, the more it charms .and feduces the con- ceited, the fuperHcial, and the lazy, and incites them to turn 'to ridicule every thing that is call- ed erudition. Perhaps at the bot- tom, the principal motive is to depreciate the goods of their neighbours, with a view to en- hance the value of their own: for if one was to fay to them. You condemn fuch and fuch au- thors for citing Latin and Greek; lay your hands upon your heart, and tell me whether yoo would no: do the fame if you were H h 2 * able ;
