_Epigram on La Bruyère._--The French Academy has been made the butt of
more sarcastic sallies than any other institution of equal distinction
and respectability. Some of these have been directed against it as a
body, such as Piron's epitaph on himself:
"Ci-gît Piron qui ne fut rien,
Pas même Académicien."
Others were levelled at the members individually. Of this sort are the
lines on La Bruyère:
"Quand La Bruyère se présente,
Pourquoi faut-il crier haro?
Pour faire un nombre de quarante
Ne fallait-il pas un zéro?"
Who was the author of the latter epigram? Since the days of La Bruyère
it has been used as a standing gibe against all newly elected
Academicians, whose names could be substituted for his, with a due
regard to rhythmical propriety.