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238 but without being able to undertand the Style in which they were written, tho' he undertood all our good Authors perfectly. All, ays he, I ee in thee elegant Dicoures is, that the Member elect having aur'd the Audience that his Predeceor was a great Man, that Cardinal Richelieu was a very great Man, that the Chancellor Seguier was a pretty great Man, that Lewis the Fourteenth was a more than great Man; the Director anwers in the very ame Strain, and adds, that the Member elect may alo be a ort of great Man, and that himelf, in Quality of Director, mut alo have ome Share in this Greatnes. Caue why all thee academical Dicoures have unhappily done o little Honour to this Body is evident enough. Vitium et temporis potiùs quam hominis. (The Fault is owing to the Age rather than to particular Perons.) It grew up inenibly into a Cutom for every Academician to repeat thee Elogiums at his Reception; 'twas laid down as a kind of Law, that the Publick hould be 8