It may be truthfully said that Fénelon, while doing faithfully what appeared to him the duty of the hour on this mission, did not particularly enjoy it. He had no love for life in the country or for the work in which he was engaged. He longed for the quiet of his former post, with its larger opportunities for study and reflection, and for the time when he should be free to return to Paris. In a letter to Bossuet he playfully threatens to bring suspicion of heresy upon himself or “incur a lucky disgrace” that might give him excuse for his recall. He was permitted, shortly after this, to go back to his place at the New Catholics, where for some two years more he occupied himself in a quiet, inconspicuous manner. Summing up the results of his controversial work among the Huguenots, we are disposed to conclude, with one of his biographers, that “if his moderation and humanity in an age in which such qualities were not esteemed, were remembered against him when other clouds were gathering, and contributed to his ultimate ruin, they add no less grace to the record of his life, and must have deepened his influence with those whose eyes were undimmed by prejudice and bigotry.” The most important period in the life of Fénelon was now to begin; that for which the earlier years were but a preparation; that which would color and dominate all his succeeding days. The time had come when the little grandson of the king, the Duke of Burgundy, the hope of France (for his father, the dauphin, was a failure, wholly incompetent to fill any large place), should pass from the hands of nurses to masculine rule. What could be of greater importance, considering how much was at stake for the kingdom, than the proper selection of those who should take this weighty charge? When the dauphin had been at a similar stage of his education he was committed to the care of the Duke de Montausier and Bossuet as the greatest and most celebrated men of their day. But though they did their best, the course they took was not in all respects well advised, and the results, at least, had not been satisfactory. This would make the utmost care now all the more imperative. Happily the king was fully alive to his responsibility, and, in addition to his own penetration, had the benefit of good counsel in the matter. Madame de Maintenon was now a power at court, and was using her influence in the best directions. She was a warm friend of the Duke de Beauvilliers, who also stood high in the good graces of Louis; for the monarch, in spite of his own serious lapses from virtue, admired it in others, and knew its importance with the young. The duke was accordingly made governor of the royal grandchildren, Burgundy and his two younger brothers, with unlimited power of nominating all the other officers about them and all the inferior attendants. He had no hesitation as to the best preceptor France could produce for the little prince, and immediately named