when we have nothing else in view, than to be tenderly affected: but with Corneille our souls are prepar'd for Raptures; and if they be not transported, they are left in a condition more uneasy than languor. It is, I confess, difficult always to charm; very hard at pleasure to raise a mind from its temper, and, as it were, to unhinge a Soul: but Corneille by having done it so often, has laid upon himself an obligation to do it always. Let him expunge what is not noble enough for him, and he will leave us in a full admiration of those Beauties which no one can parallel.
I should not excuse Voiture for a great many of his Letters, which he ought to have suppress'd, had himself been the publisher[1]: but he was like some Fathers, equally kind and prudent, who have a natural affection for their Children, and, in secret, cherish those that want worth, thereby to avoid exposing their judgments to the publick by their indulgence. He might have shew'd all his fondness to some of his Works: for there is something in 'em so ingenious, so polite, so fine, and so agreeable, that it takes away all relish of the Sales Attici, and the Roman Urbanities; eclipses quite thro' the Wit of the Italians and the Gallantry of the Spaniards.
We have in French some particular Pieces of admirable beauty; such are the Funeral Orations of the Queen of England, and that of the Duchess of Orleans by the Bishop of Condom[2]. There is a certain Spirit dissus'd thro' those discourses, which gives us as great an opinion of the Author before he is known, as of his work after 'tis read. His Charaster is impress'd on all that he says; so that altho
