ОР THE LIFE OF PETER DANIEL HUET, BISHOP OF AVRANCHES : WRITTEN BY HIMSELF; AND TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN, WITH BY JOHN AIKIN, M. D. IN TWO VOLUMES: VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND AND DAVIES, STRAND. M.DCCC.X. OF PETER DANIEL HUET. BOOK IV. I H HAVE now to commemorate a remarkable accession to the number of my friends, made at this period; the first of whom, presented to me by chance, was John des Marets de St. Sorlin, a man of a lofty genius and singular poetical talents. I recollect that on the day in which I was admitted a member of the French Academy, when, after I had pronounced the customary oration, various pieces were recited by the other members, a poem was read by Marets, so elevated in its sentiments and happy in its versification, that it was heard with extraordinary applause. It was, however, remarked that in these verses he greatly depreciated the ancients, and plainly hinted that in comparison with Homer and Virgil, Pindar and Horace, the palm of poetry ought VOL. II. B to |