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Updated: May 3, 2025
Hence to write fluent verses was no merit at all; to write epigrammatic verses was worth doing; but to extemporize a poem of from one to two hundred lines, of which every line should display a neat turn or a bon mot, this was the most deeply coveted gift of all; and it was the possession of this gift in its most seductive form that gave Statius unquestioned, though not unenvied, pre- eminence among the beaux esprits of his day.
Egger trembled when he heard the rustle of her dress outside, the perspiration stood on his forehead as he rose and bowed before her. "Bon jour, Monsieur," she would come in exclaiming. "Quel un beau matin! Vous trouverez les jeunes dames et messieurs en bons esprits ce matin."
All this ought not to hinder you from conforming externally to the modes and tones of the different companies in which you may chance to be. With the 'petits maitres' speak epigrams; false sentiments, with frivolous women; and a mixture of all these together, with professed beaux esprits.
I have seen half the AEneid turned into Latin Rhymes by one of the Beaux Esprits of that dark Age; who says in his Preface to it, that the AEneid wanted nothing but the Sweets of Rhyme to make it the most perfect Work in its Kind. Tot, tibi, sunt, Virgo, dotes, quot, sidera, Caelo. Thou hast as many Virtues, O Virgin, as there are Stars in Heaven.
Such efforts at conversation won her the appellation of "that good Mademoiselle Cormon," which, from the lips of the beaux esprits of society, means that she was as ignorant as a carp, and rather a poor fool; but many persons of her own calibre took the remark in its literal sense, and answered: "Yes; oh yes! Mademoiselle Cormon is an excellent woman."
The conversation was somewhat more lively and intellectual than is common among the languid pleasure-hunters of the South; for the Prince, himself accomplished, sought his acquaintance not only amongst the beaux esprits of his own country, but amongst the gay foreigners who adorned and relieved the monotony of the Neapolitan circles.
Mme. du Deffand speaks with prophetic vision of the reasoners and beaux esprits "who direct the age and lead it to its ruin." There were conservative women, too, who used their powerful influence against them.
Those beaux esprits judged according to their predominant passion. I have heard young ladies express their admiration of Mark Antony for heroically leaving his fleet at the Battle of Actium to follow his mistress. Your passion for literature had the same effect upon you. But why did not you indulge it in a manner more becoming your birth and rank?
Are there yet more beaux esprits to arise who, in Epicurean fashion, enjoy the beautiful thoughts of others, whilst they themselves remain incapable for action, letting the time go out of joint? Let us further study the character of Hamlet, and we shall find that the satire against Montaigne becomes more and more striking a veritable hit. The Queen asks for her son.
One of the choicest diatribes of these esprits forts, as we may well call them, was hurled at the prophet by William Penn. Muggleton had some very zealous converts at Cork for there were believers everywhere by this time and as they were people of substance and much in favour, they were making some way. Of course they came into collision with the Quakers, and not without success.
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