Omitting many others, for we are mentioning only the supereminently great, there is a Bourdaloue, who is entitled by even the enemies of the Society the _prédicateur des rois et le roi des prédicateurs_ (the preacher of kings and the king of preachers.) For thirty-four years he preached to the most exacting audience in the world, the brilliant throngs that gathered around Louis XIV, and till the end, it was almost impossible to approach the church when he was to occupy the pulpit. Lackeys were on guard days before the sermon. The "Edinburgh Review" of December, 1826, says of him: "Between Massillon and Bossuet, at a great distance certainly above the latter, stands Bourdaloue, and in the vigor and energy of his reasoning he was undeniably, after the ancients, Massillon's model. If he is more harsh, and addressed himself less to the feelings and passions, it is certain that he displays a fertility of resources and an exuberance of topics, either for observation or argument, which are not equalled by any orator, sacred or profane. It is this fertility, this birthmark of genius, that makes us certain of finding in every subject handled by him, something new, something which neither his predecessors have anticipated nor his followers have imitated." To this Protestant testimony may be added that of the Jansenist Sainte-Beuve in his "Causeries du Lundi." His estimate of Bourdaloue is as follows: "I know all that can be said and that is said about Bossuet. But let us not exaggerate. Bossuet was sublime in his 'Funeral Orations', but he had not the same excellence in his sermons. He was uneven and unfinished. In that respect, even while Bossuet was still living, Bourdaloue was his master. That was the opinion of their contemporaries, and doubtless of Bossuet himself. Unlike Bossuet, Bourdaloue did not hold the thunders in his hand, nor did the lightnings flash around his pulpit, nor, like Massillon, did he pour out perfumes from his urn. But he was the orator, such as he alone could have been, who for thirty-four years in succession could preach and be useful. He did not spend himself all at once, did not gain lustre by a few achievements, nor startle by some of those splendid utterances which carry men away and evoke their plaudits; but he lasted; he built up with perfect surety; he kept on incessantly, and his power was like an army whose work is not merely to gain one or two battles, but to establish itself in the heart of the enemy's country and stay there. That is the wonderful achievement of the man whom his contemporaries called 'The Great Bourdaloue', and whom people obstinately persist in describing as 'the judicious and estimable Bourdaloue.'