Obituary.

The productions of M . Viennet ' s pen are very numerous He tried his hand at all sorts of composition , —epistles in prose and verse , essays on poetry and eloquence , heroic poems on Austerlitz , Marengo , & c , " Dialogues of the Dead , " iu imitation of Fontenelle , " Meditations on the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise , " the " Siege of Damascus " •—an epic in five cantos , "the Philippide " ( the

hero being Philip Augustus ) in 24 ; an opera , " Aspasia and Pericles ; " "Clovis , " a tragedy in five acts , on the model of the ancients ; " Alexandre , " " Achille , " " Sigismond de Bourgogne , " " Argebarte , " and the " Peruvians , " tragedies in five acts , besides divers operas , all failures and long since forgotten- He wrote , too , several comedies that had no better success . The best

of his productions are inconfcestably his Fables , of which several editions have boon published , In 1860 the last appeared " A Mes Quarfcre-vingfcs Ans , " remarkably spirited for a man of his age . In 1863 , being then 86 years old , he composed an epic called the " Franciade , in ten cantos . He was the author of a " History of the Wars of the Revolution and the Campai of the North

gn in 1792 and 1793 . '' Two years back he published his " Hisfcoire de la Puissance Pontificale , " in two volumes . He had many years before written the biographies of 150 Popes for a publication called the " Dictionnaire de la Conversation et de la Lecture , " and his later work on

the Pontifical Power was given to the world after the famous Encyclical issued by the present Pope . The project was first conceived in 1816 , and several chapters written in 1844 , ancl read to the Academy . It was laid aside and resumed several times , and conoluded only a few years before his death . In his preface he says : — " What is now called tho Roman question had no

relation with my book ; my only intention was to recount the origin and progress of a power which had issued from tho catabombs and attained the domination of the world , and I stopped at the first years of the 13 th century when Innocent III . had crowned the work of his predecessors . I took care—I thought so at leastto keep midway between the exaggerations of fche

Ulfcramontanes ancl those of the Dissenters . , guided as I was by that passion for truth and justice which was that of my whole life , and in which consisted all the danger of my book . " What especially urged M . Viennett to complete this work was the anathema launched by fche Vatican against Freemasonry and Freemasonsand he happened to be a grand

, Master . He says : — ' Affiliated for more than 68 years to ¦ Freemasonry , I had never heard in our lodges but lessons of morality , virtue , and charifc } -, and never au attack on the conscience of the adepts , nor on any of the creeds into which the world is divided . "

He could not , he adds , restrain his anger on hearing how the brotherhood was spoken of ; and he at once prepared his wcrk for publication . Ifc was , however , to his Fables and his Memoirs that he trusted for lasting fame . " I have two cratches , " he used to say , " which will help me to go down to posterity—my Fables and my Afeiiioii- * . The Ifeiiioii-s are not yet publishedand . the

, Fables are familiar to most people . M . Viennet was past eighty when I first made his acquaintance . He was a most agreeable causeur , occasionally very caustic , and always witty , ancl only two years ago I heard him recite to a select company in a Paris salon somo of his latest compositions in this way . About the same time ho lost his wife ; she is buried afc

Pere La Chaise , and he has chosen his last resting-place by her side . Apart , from his literary and political controversies , I believe he never had a personal enemy , and , at all events , he is greatly regretted by all who knew him intimately . In the Daily Neivs the following notice appears : — " M . Viennet , the Academical ! , died yesterday at Val Saint Germain , afc the age of 91 . M . Viennet began

Obituary.

life as a lieutenant of Marine Artillery in 1796 . He was taken prisoner by the English , and remained in their power eight mouths . He voted against the Consulate for life , and against the Empire—facts that were noted against him and impeded his promotion . Nevertheless , he fought in the Emperor's ranks at Leipsic , and was made prisoner there . During the 100 days he

narrowly escaped transportation for voting against the aate addiiionnel . When the second restoration came , Marshal Gouvion de Saint Cyr made him an officer of the staff . He r . ddicted himself to literature at a very early age . His " Philosophical Promenade in Pere la Chaise Cemetery" was published as long ago as 1824 ; and a wish which he expressed afc that time to be

buried in a particular spot iu that sepulture , from which a fine view of Paris is obtained , will now be carried out by his friends . He was a peer iu the time of Louis Philippe , and made himself remarked by going to the Chamber as a bourgeois in an omnibus with an umbrella under his arm . He wrote several fables ancl some tragedies , among others Glovis and Gonstantin . His

academical discourses were models of purity of diction , and some of those delivered in his extreme old age were among his best . He was Grand Master of the French Freemasons of the Scotch rite , and took a leading and successful part some years ago against the project ofthe Government to amalgamate them wifch fche Grand Orient . There was not in that focus of opposition fche Academie

Frangaise any more bitter or persevering opponent of the second empire than M . Viennet . " With all who had the great honour and pleasure of a personal acquaintance with the illustrious brother just deceased he greatly endeared himself ; and , whilst he lived thus so highly and universally respected , his death is generally regretted .

Metropolitan Lodge Meetings, Etc., For The Week Ending July 25th, 1868.

METROPOLITAN LODGE MEETINGS , ETC ., FOR THE WEEK ENDING JULY 25 TH , 1868 .

MONDAY , July 20 th . —Lodge : Panmure , 720 , Balham Hotel , Balham . TUESDAY , July 21 st . —Board of Con . Purposes , at 3 . Lodges : Salsbury , 435 , 71 , Dean-street , Soho . Camden , 704 , Lamb Hotel , Metropolitan Cattle Market . Sfc . Mark's , 857 , Horn's Hotel , Kennington , Surrey . WEDNESDAYJULY 22 nd . —Lodge of Benevolence , afc 7 ¦

, precisely . Lodges : United Pilgrims , 507 , Horn ' s Tavern , Konnington-park . Prince Frederick William , 753 , Knights of Sfc . John , Hotel , St . Johu ' s-wood- High Cross , 754 , Railway Hotel , Northumberland-park , Tottenham . Royal Oak , 871 , Eoyal Oak Tavern , Highstreet , Deptford . TUUKSDAYJuly 23 rd . —House Com . Female School ,

, at 4 . Lodges : William Preston , 766 , Star and Garter , Putney . South Middlesex , 853 , Beaufort House , North End , Fulham . Buckingham and Ohaiidos , Freemasons ' Hall . Lily Chapter of Richmond , 820 , Greyhound Richmond . FJUDAY , July 24 th . —Lodge : Royal Alfred , 780 , Star ancl Garter , Kew Bridge , Ealing .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

Er . RATA . —In third line of " Ears of Wheat , " etc ., appearing in last weeks' MA & AZIXE , for " its organization " read " the organization ; " delete " and" from eighth line from top of second column ; for " relation , " in fifth line from the end of article , read " relationship . " WE have received the report of lloyal Union , 382 , but ifc has been unfortunately crowded out in present issue .