JULES

MASCARON (1634-1703)  , French preacher, was the son of a barrister at Aix . Born at Marseilles in 1634, he early entered the French Oratory, and obtained great reputation as a preacher . Paris confirmed the judgment of the provinces; in 1666 he was asked to preach before the court, and became a great favourite with Louis XIV., who said that his eloquence was one of the few things that never grew old . In 1671 he was appointed bishop of Tulle; eight years later he was transferred to the larger diocese of Agen . He still continued, however, to preach regularly at court, being especially in request for funeral orations . A panegyric on Turenne, delivered in 1675, is considered his masterpiece . His style is strongly tinged with preciosite; and his chief surviving interest is as a glaring example of the evils from which Bossuet delivered the French pulpit . During his later years he devoted himself entirely to his pastoral duties at Agen, where he died in 1703 . Six of his most famous sermons were edited, with a biographical sketch of their author, by the Oratorian Horde in 1704 .