It required an effort to cease looking at him. All the portraits are strong resemblances, though they have not caught that harmony which was so striking in the original, and that individual delicacy which characterized each feature. His manners were answerable to his countenance. They had that air of ease and urbanity which can be derived only from intercourse with the best society, and which diffused itself over all his discourse. He possessed a natural eloquence, graceful and finished, and a most insinuating yet noble and proper courtesy; an easy, clear, agreeable utterance; a wonderful power of explaining the hardest matters in a lucid, distinct manner. Add to all this that he was a man who never sought to seem cleverer than those with whom he conversed, who brought himself insensibly to their level, putting them at their ease, and enthralling them so that one could neither leave him nor distrust him, nor help seeking him again. It was this rare gift which he possessed to the utmost degree which bound all his friends so closely to him all his life in spite of his disgrace at court, and which led them, when scattered, to gather together to talk of him, regret him, long after him, and cling more and more to him, like the Jews to Jerusalem, and sigh and hope for his return, even as that unhappy race waits and sighs for their Messiah.” The community of the New Catholics had been founded in 1634 by Archbishop Gondi, as a protection for women converted from Protestantism, and as a means of propagating Church teachings among those yet unconverted. It was conducted by a community of women who did the work of Sisters of Charity outside its walls, and was presided over by a priest selected by the Archbishop of Paris. Marshal Turenne, himself a recent convert, gave largely to it, and the king, who was willing to combine gentle means with harsh for the accomplishment of his purposes in bringing all his subjects into one faith, took great interest in it. Hitherto the post of superior had been filled by much older men, but, though only twenty-seven, Fénelon was found to combine all those qualities which fitted him for the employment—distinguished talents, education, amiable manners, unusual prudence and discretion, much love to God, and great benevolence to man. The archbishop who selected him, M. de Harlai, was, as we have already noted, by no means of Fénelon’s stamp. He was a courtier, a man of the world, regardless of morality, and ever scheming for his own advancement. Having noted the capability of Fénelon, perhaps he thought, by making him a sort of protegé, he could attach him to his interests, obtain credit by his successes, and use him for his purposes. But if he thought this he did not show his usual discernment; for Fénelon, though willing to accept the office assigned, which gave promise of large usefulness, was in no way attracted by the character of his patron, and no considerations of