LETTER LXXIII. Rica to * **.

I HAVE heard much talk of a kind of tribunal, called the French academy This letter is not only a satire on the French academy, but on all others, who pretend to fix the standard of a living, and consequently a fluctuating language. ^†329 . There is not in the whole world a tribunal less respected; for as soon as it makes a decision, the people break its decrees, and impose on its laws which it is obliged to follow. Some time since, in order to fix their authority, they published a code The author means the great French dictionary, published by that academy. ^†330 of their decisions. This babe of so many fathers, was nearly in its old age when born; and, though legitimate, a bastard The dictionary of Mr. Nuretiere, which he stole from the academy, and published before theirs came out; for which base action they expelled him. ^†331, who had got into the world before him, was very near stifling him in

the birth. Those who compose this tribunal, have no other employment but to be continually a-prating; panegyric, of its own accord, takes place in their incessant babbling; and as soon as they are initiated into their mysteries, this fury of panegyric seizes them, and never more leaves them. This body hath forty heads, all filled with figures of metaphors and antitheses; so that their mouths hardly ever open but with an exclamation; their ears always expect to be struck with cadence and harmony. As to their eyes, they are out of the question; these people seem as if they were made to hear, and not to see. It does not yet stand firm upon its feet; for time, which is its scourge, shakes it every moment, and destroys every thing it doth. Its hands were said formerly to have been griping This is supposed to allude to Mr. Granier, another member of the academy, who defrauded an orphan of a large sum of money: for which they likewise expelled him. ^†332; I shall say nothing of this, but leave it to be decided by those who know more of it than myself. Such vagaries, * * *, are not to be found in our country. Our genius does not bend us to such odd singularities: we always seek after nature in our plain customs and native manners.

Paris, the 27th of the moon Zilhage,
1715.