THE LIBERTY COLLEGE STUDENT
VOL. 1. JUNE, 1905. NO. 4.
THE FRENCH ACADEMY.
Some historians say that the French Academy owes its origin largely to the influence of Hotel de Rambouillet. Roederer is positive in his statement. He says: "From the conversation of Hotel de Rambouillet, from the passion which was there awakened for thinking justly and speaking with precision, was born the Academie francaise." Livet says that the idea of an academy was "as a germ in the air" bound sooner or later to come into existence. He does not admit that Hotel de Rambouillet was its birthplace, but grants that the Academy was nursed and brought up there. However, the first meeting place of the literary circle was the ill-furnished home of the poet Malherbe. He introduced the true academic spirit by making poetry subject to reason and some historians claim that the meetings of the Academy at Hotel de Rambouillet were merely a continuation of the club which met with Malherbe.
In spite of the glitter, pomp and magnificence of Hotel de Rambouillet it is evident that some of the literary men were not happy there. None of them were rich, and when one is poor it is hard to be at rest in the presence of wealth. The fashionable visitors at the Hotel laughed at the old-fashioned garments of some of the members. They often made fun of Chapelain, who was charged with wearing clothes that were the style when Henry IV. was king. But it is not probable that Chapelain cared, for he was protected by a vanity than which there is no greater-the vanity of an erudite.
From 1629 there is a well ordered history of the progress of the Academy when it left the Hotel and began to hold its meetings at the home of Valentin Conrart. Conrart's greatest gift was making and keeping friends. He was neither rich nor poor, but fully shared all he had with those around
him. The members must have enjoyed freedom in his humble home. The meetings were held just once a week in the afternoons, for the streets of Paris were dangerous at night and no one dared venture out unless protected by a body guard of servants armed with swords and knives.
When the society first began its meetings at Conrart's there were only nine members: Conrart, Chapelain, Godeau, Gombauld, Giry, Habert, Abbe de Cerisy, Serizay and Malleville. Most of them were young; Cerisy was fifteen, Habert and Godeau twenty-four, and Conrart, twenty-six. Only two out of the nine were professed authors, but all had literary aspirations. The members were united not only by youth. They came from the same social grade and all were passionately devoted to the French language and zealous to improve it. Their conversation was that of cultivated men, but not of pedants. While the meetings were held at Conrart's three new members were added-Faret, Desmarests de SaintSorlin and Bois-Robert, the factotum of Richelieu, the Cardinal.
To Bois Robert belongs the honor of bringing the young Academy out of its quiet corner into the glare of publicity, from which it was never to escape. Bois-Robert acted the part of a paid spy to Richelieu. His duty was to keep the Cardinal informed of what was going on in the Academy. The influence of Bois-Robert on the Academy was due to the fact that he was the tool of Richelieu, whose shrewdness and insight into the nature of men taught him when to tighten his hold on the members and when to allow them the freedom of their own inclinations. Richelieu offered his protection to the academy and promised to establish it by letters patent. Bois-Robert carried the message to the little circle which he had betrayed. They were not pleased, for to take them out of their Eden was to rob them of what had been the great charm of that Eden-its freedom from responsibility. Not without hot debate was this question settled. Some of the members were for refusal outright, as they were meetings at the home of Valentin Conrart. Conrart's greatest gift was making and keeping friends. He was neither rich nor poor, but fully shared all he had with those around
him. The members must have enjoyed freedom in his humble home. The meetings were held just once a week in the afternoons, for the streets of Paris were dangerous at night and no one dared venture out unless protected by a body guard of servants armed with swords and knives.
When the society first began its meetings at Conrart's there were only nine members: Conrart, Chapelain, Godeau, Gombauld, Giry, Habert, Abbe de Cerisy, Serizay and Malleville. Most of them were young; Cerisy was fifteen, Habert and Godeau twenty-four, and Conrart, twenty-six. Only two out of the nine were professed authors, but all had literary aspirations. The members were united not only by youth. They came from the same social grade and all were passionately devoted to the French language and zealous to improve it. Their conversation was that of cultivated men, but not of pedants. While the meetings were held at Conrart's three new members were added-Faret, Desmarests de SaintSorlin and Bois-Robert, the factotum of Richelieu, the Cardinal.
To Bois Robert belongs the honor of bringing the young Academy out of its quiet corner into the glare of publicity, from which it was never to escape. Bois-Robert acted the part of a paid spy to Richelieu. His duty was to keep the Cardinal informed of what was going on in the Academy. The influence of Bois-Robert on the Academy was due to the fact that he was the tool of Richelieu, whose shrewdness and insight into the nature of men taught him when to tighten his hold on the members and when to allow them the freedom of their own inclinations. Richelieu offered his protection to the academy and promised to establish it by letters patent. Bois-Robert carried the message to the little circle which he had betrayed. They were not pleased, for to take them out of their Eden was to rob them of what had been the great charm of that Eden-its freedom from responsibility. Not without hot debate was this question settled. Some of the members were for refusal outright, as they were hostile to Richelieu. There were some that had rather the Academy should be given over than guarded by the shrewd eye of Richelieu. However, one of the members, Chapelain, brought the matter to an end by declaring that the Cardinal's proposition was more of a command than a suggestion, as under the laws of the realm no meetings were allowed to be held without his consent. Richelieu was pleased with the acceptance of his proposition by the young Academy and requested them to hold their meetings as heretofore, to increase their numbers and decide by what forms of law the organization was to be governed. Richelieu's motives were mixed. He was sincere in his interest for literature, but still he was working to gain fame for himself. And he succeeded because he knew how to manage the Academy to the glory of himself and of France.
The letters patent of Louis XIII. restricted the number of members to forty and provided that "our very dear and much beloved cousin, the Cardinal Duc de Richelieu should be known as the protector of the Academy." This honor remained his until the time of his death, when it was given to Chancellor Seguier. Seguier's duty as protector came to an end in 1672. Louis XIV. then succeeded him. After this time the head of the State was the protector of the Academy. About the time that the letters patent were granted, Conrart, at whose home the Academy met, announced that he was to be married. The homeless Academy then began to meet at the home of Desmarests, and the Golden Age was over.
Three officers were chosen, a Director, a Chancellor and a Secretary. They debated for some time on the question of a name. Some proposed "Academie des beaux esprits," others "Academie de l'Eloquence," some thought that "Academie Eminente" would be a fitting title, the adjective referring to the Cardinal. At last they decided on "Academie francaise," by which they are still known,
When the Academy was a private, club the members were under no obligations to those out of their little circle. but when it became an institution they felt that they were bound to do what was best for the French nation. Their one central purpose was to purify the French language. The unifying bond in their characters was their love for the French language and a desire to bring it to the highest perfection. They wished to cleanse it of all impurities. It had been corrupted by the common people, by the crowded courts of justice, and by the ignorant courtiers. So eager were the Academicians to attain perfection in their language that they formulated a document containing rules, which, if regarded, would purify the language. Thirty copies of this document were distributed among the members for close criticism. Faret put the document into its final form and then presented it to the Cardinal, who made any criticisms that he cared to. It was considered a crime to contradict his Eminence, so the Academy had to accept all criticisms of the Cardinal.
Jean Chapelain was the true type of the seventeenth century Academician. He was devoted to the French language and did all he could to make the society a power in the land. He deserved to be called the "soul of the Academy." It was Chapelain who advised the compilation of a Dictionary, an exact Grammar, and a Rhetoric as means for giving purity to the language. Chapelain presented the plan of the Dictionary a second time. There were to be two divisions of the book. The first would have in alphabetical order a collection of the simple words, showing the parts of speech. Chapelain's method of spelling words was to do away with all superfluities when it could be done without serious consequence. The second part of the Dictionary was to contain all words, simple or not simple.
Realizing the difficulty connected with this great work, the Academy hesitated to proceed further unaided, and asked Richelieu to appoint a director or to give them men fitted to carry out the work, to aid them. The Cardinal paid no attention to this plea. Matters were at a standstill. For ten months the Dictionary was not mentioned-all interest seemed dead. Richelieu said that they were doing nothing, and if they didn't reform he would abandon them. The Academicians told the Cardinal again that they needed some one to direct the compilation of the Dictionary. This one
proved to be Vangelas. Vangelas' love for the French language was almost a passion; he would become lyric over syntax and intoxicated by etymologies. Surely he was the one to make a dictionary. The Cardinal re-established Vangelas in his pension, which he had lost in a certain alliance. Vangelas went to thank the Cardinal for the favor. Pellison describes the incident: "The Cardinal, seeing the scholar enter the room, advanced with benign and smiling majesty and said: `Ah, Monsieur, you will at least not forget the word pension in the Dictionary?' To which Vangelas with a profound bow responded, `No, Monseigneur, and still less the word remembrance."'
In 1672 the Dictionary was finished to a certain degree, but not for good. The Academy spent twenty more years in correcting the work. The final edition came out in 1694. As the Academicians wished to protect their language, the Dictionary was conservative. "It was like a coupe, very elegant, but with room for two, while some of our American dictionaries are like an omnibus painted yellow and filled with everybody and anybody."
The early period of the Academy was an age when fortunes were made in a day, when men could rise from the lowest beginning to the highest official position. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the history of the Academy is the history of France. Its future is somewhat problematical, though, because of the conservatism of the French people, it will stand. It lived through the French Revolution and no severer test could be put upon it. The French Academy is an institution to which the word unique can be applied. It is a society whose history is worthy of being understood and whose memoirs are worthy of being carefully preserved.
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