Congreve,who may be called their Moliere,and several other eminent persons whose names I have forgot;all these would have raised the glory of that body to a great height even in its infancy.But Queen Anne being snatched suddenly from the world,the Whigs were resolved to ruin the protectors of the intended academy,a circumstance that was of the most fatal consequence to polite literature.The members of this academy would have had a very great advantage over those who first formed that of the French,for Swift,Prior,Congreve,Dryden,Pope,Addison,&c.had fixed the English tongue by their writings;whereas Chapelain,Colletet,Cassaigne,Faret,Perrin,Cotin,our first academicians,were a disgrace to their country;and so much ridicule is now attached to their very names,that if an author of some genius in this age had the misfortune to be called Chapelain or Cotin,he would be under a necessity of changing his name.
第47章 ON THE ROYAL SOCIETY AND OTHER ACADEMIES(1)（3 / 3）