A taste for study, and my natural inclination, having caused me to peruse the different works with which so many illustrious men have enriched the republic of letters (if I did not fear to wound your modesty I would tell you, not to betray my thought, that I have found in the works with which you have enlightened the public, models of all kinds), it struck me one day that there was wanting to literature a work containing the lives of all the poets who have ever written — from the singer of Ilium to the panegyrist of Henri IV (chef-d' œuvre of our language which raises us above Athens, and for which we are indebted to your happy talents — I venture to say, and you will permit it, that it was reserved for such a genius as yours to teach the French nation that it was capable of producing epic minds), which work should be accompanied by critical dissertations on the different works of the poets.

It is true that the author's life is prefaced to the works of some of our poets, but so disfigured, so incorrect in the facts, so venturesome in the narration, so filled with anachronisms that it is difficult, not to say impossible, to reach the truth through the clouds that hide it.

I had collected a few fragments scattered here and there on the most ancient monuments, which I had read with the intention of undertaking this work, but I feel that I had consulted my amour-propre rather than my ability.

As I am persuaded, sir, of that goodness which interests you in favour of persons beginning the career you fill with so much brilliancy, and that this kindly characteristic has urged you several times to impart to them your knowledge, I take the liberty of asking, like a respectful son, for your advice on this work. It will be, sir, the rule I shall follow, the pledge of an eternal gratitude and of an inviolable attachement, etc.