MASCARON, Jules, was born at Marseilles in 1634, and died at his diocesan city of Agen in 1703. His father was an advocate, and he was himself intended for the law, but he preferred the church. As a member of the Oratorian congregation he preached in different provincial towns, beginning with Saumur, and in all produced a great effect. Then he went to Paris and quickly established his reputation at a time when the court, dissolute enough in manners, had already begun to exercise its connoisseurship in matters of sacred eloquence. Several complimentary speeches of Louis XIV. to Mascaron are handed down by tradition. He was not, however, in the ordinary sense a courtier; or if so he was a very bold and adroit one. In Lent 1669 he preached before the king against adultery in the strongest terms. Either from respect for him or to get rid of him Louis made him bishop of Tulle, but he still continued occasionally to preach and to deliver oraisons funèbres before the court. His reputation for these was so high that the king not unfrequently indicated subjects to him himself. His crowning success in this way was his funeral sermon on Turenne in 1675. He was afterwards translated to Agen, where he died, as has been said; but his appointment was not a banishment, and he was summoned more than once to preach before the court, notably in his sixtieth year, when Louis is said to have remarked to him, “Votre eloquence n’a pas vieilli.” Mascaron, though the contemporary of Bossuet, belongs to an older school of oratory. His style is unequal, and his taste not always sure, but occasionally he has much vigour. Besides the Turenne address his funeral sermon on the chancellor Séguier ranks as his chief performance. These, with other similar pieces, were collected and edited by ...