Important tone : " How dare you jeer the son of Jupiter?"

The Faun replied without emotion : ' ' Alas ! how does the

son of Jupiter dare to commit any fault?"

Certain fables, of a more elevated tone than the others,

FENELON. 179

are not designed simply to correct the faults of children ;

they prepare the prince for the exercise of government.

Thus, the fable of the Bees disclosed to him the beauties of

an industrious State, and one where order reigns ; the Nile

and the Ganges taught him love for the people, " compassion

for humanity, harassed and suffering." Finally, from each

of these fables there issued a serious lesson under the pleas-

ing exterior of a witticism ; and more than once, in reading

them, the prince doubtless felt an emotion of pleasure or of

shame, as he recognized himself in a commendation or in a

reproof addressed to the imaginary personages of the Fables.

191. Historical Lessons ; The Dialogues of the Dead. — ■

It is not alone in moral education, but in intellectual educa-

tion as well, that F6nelon resorts to artifice. The ingenious

preceptor has employed fiction in all its forms the better to

compass and dominate the spirit of his pupil. There are the

fables for moral instruction, the dialogues for the study of

history, and finally, the epopee in the Telemachus, for the

political education of the heir to the throne of France.

The Dialogues of the Dead put on the stage men of all

countries and conditions, Charles the Fifth and a monk of

Saint Just, Aristotle and Descartes, Leonardo da Vinci and

Poussin, Caesar and Alexander. History proper, literature,

philosophy, the arts, were the subjects of conversations com-

posed, as in the Fables, at different intervals, according to

the progress and the needs of the Duke of Bourgogne.

These were attractive pictures that came from time to time

to be introduced into the scheme for the didactic study of

universal history. They should be taken only for what they

were intended to be, — the pleasing complement to a regular

and consecutive course of instruction. Fenelon knew better

than any one else that history is interesting in itself, and

180 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

that to make the study of it interesting, it is sufficient to pre-

sent it to the childish imagination with clearness, with vivac-

ity, and with feeling.

192. Variety of Disciplinary Agents. — The education

of the Duke of Bourgogne is the practical application of

Fenelon's principles as to the necessity of employing an

insinuating gentleness rather than an authority which dryly

commands. There are to be no sermons, no lectures, but

indirect means of moral instruction. The Duke of Bouro-oene

was irascible. Instead of reading to him Seneca's treatise

On Anger, this is Fenelon's device : One morning he has

a cabinet-maker come to his apartments, whom he has in-

structed for the purpose. The prince enters, stops, and

looks at the tools. " Go about your business, Sir," cries

the workman, who assumes a most threatening air, " for I

am not responsible for what I may do ; when I am in a pas-

sion, I break the arms and legs of those whom I meet." We

guess the conclusion of the story, and how, by this experi-

mental method, FВЈnelon contrives to teach the prince to

guard against anger and its effects.

When indirect means did not answer, FВЈnelon employed

others. It is thus that he made frequent appeals to the self-

love of his pupil ; he reminded him of what he owed to his

name and to the hopes of France. He had him record his

word of honor that he would behave well: "I promise the

AbbВЈ Fenelon, on the word of a prince, that I will obey

him, and that, in case I break my word, I will submit to any

kind of punishment and dishonor. Given at Versailles, this

29th day of November, 1689. Signed: Louis." At other

times Fenelon appealed to his feelings, and conquered him

by his tenderness and goodness. It is in such moments of

tender confidence that the prince said to him, "I leave the

FfiNELON. 181

Duke of Bourgogne outside the door, aud with you I am but

the little Louis." Finally, at other times, Fenelon resorted

to the harshest punishments ; he sequestered him, took away

his books, and interdicted all conversation.

193. Diversified Instruction. — By turns serious and

tender, mild and severe, in his moral discipline, Fenelou was

not less versatile in his methods of instruction. His domi-

nant preoccupation was to diversify studies — the term is

his own. If a given subject of study was distasteful to his

pupil, Fenelon passed to another. Although the success of

his tutorship seems to be a justification of his course, there

is ground for thinking that, as a general rule, Fenelon's

precept is debatable, and that his example should not be fol-

lowed hy making an over-use of amusement and agreeable

variety. Fenelon has too often made studies puerile through

his attempts to make them agreeable.

194. Results of the Education of the Duke of Bour-

gogne. — It seems like a paradox to say that Fenelon was

too successful in his educational apostleship ; and yet this is

the truth. Under his hand — "the ablest hand that ever

was," says Saint Simon — the prince became in all respects

the image of his master. He was :i bigot to the extent of

being unwilling to attend a royal ball because that worldly

entertainment coincided with the religious celebration of the

Epiphany ; he was rather a monk than a king ; he was desti-

tute of all spirit of initiative and liberty, irresolute, absorbed

in his pious erudition and mystic prayers ; finally, he was

another Telemachus, who could not do without his Mentor.

Fenelon had monopolized and absorbed the will of his pupil.

He had forgotten that the purpose of education is to form,

not a pale copy, an image of the master, but a man inde-

pendent and free, capable of sufficing for himself.

182 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

195. The Telemachus. — The Telemachus, composed

from 16D4 to 1698, was designed for the Duke of Bour-

gogue ; but he was not to read it, and did not read it, in

fact, till after his marriage. Through this epopee in prose,

this romance borrowed from Homer, Fenelon purposed to

continue the moral education of his pupil. But the book

abounds in sermons. " I could have wished," said Boileau,

" that the Abbe" had made his Mentor a little less a preacher,

and that the moral of the book could have been distributed

a little more imperceptibly, and with more art." At least,

they are beautiful and excellent sermons, aimed against lux-

ury, the spirit of conquest, the consequences of absolute

power, and against ambition and war. Louis XIV. had

probably read the Telemachus, and had comprehended the

allusions concealed in the description of the Republic of

Salentum, when he said of Fenelon that he was "the most

chimerical spirit in his kingdom." Besides the moral lesson

intended for princes, the Telemachus also contains bold

reflections on political questions. For example, note the

conception of a system of public instruction, very new for

[ the time : " Children belong less to their parents than to the

Republic, and ought to be educated by the State. There

should be established public schools in which are taught the

ifear of God, love of country, and respect for the laws."

196. Bossuet and Fenelon. — Bossuet, as preceptor of

the Dauphin, 1 was far from having the same success as

Fenelon. Nothing was overlooked, however, in the educa-

tion of the son of Louis XIV. ; and the Letter to Pope

Innocent XI. (1679), in which Bossuet presents his scheme

of study, gives proof of high fitness for educational work.

* Eldest son of Louis XIV., born Nov. 1, 1661; died April 14, 1711.

FENELON. 183

He recommends assiduous labor, uo leaves of absence,

and play mingled with study. "A child must play and

enjoy himself," he says. Emulation excited by the presence

of other children, who came to compete with the prince ; a

thorough reading of the Latin authors, explained, not in

fragments, as with the Jesuits, but in complete texts ; a cer-

tain breadth of spirit, since the study of the comic poets —

of Terence in particular — was expressly recommended ; a

familiarity with the Greeks and the Romans, "especially

with the divine Homer " ; the grammar learned in French ;

history, "the mistress of human life," studied with ardor,

and presented, first, in its particular facts, in the lessons

which the Dauphin drew up, and then in its general laws,

the spirit of which has been transmitted to us in the Dis-

course on Universal History ; geography learned " while

playing and making imaginary journeys " ; philosophy ; and

finally the sciences, brilliantly presented, — with such a pro-

gramme, and under such a master, it seems that the Dauphin

ought to have been a student of the highest rank ; but he

remained a mediocre pupil, "absorbed," to use Saint

Simon's expression, " in his own fat and gloom."