History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3

792

‘L'ordonnance de 1767, rendue sous le ministère du chancelier Maupeou, portait la peine de mort contre tout auteur d'écrits tendant à émouvoir les esprits.’ Cassagnac, Causes de la Révolution, vol. i. p. 313.

793

In April 1757, D'Alembert writes from Paris, ‘on vient de publier une déclaration qui inflige la peine de mort à tous ceux qui auront publié des écrits tendants à attaquer la religion.’ Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. liv. p. 34. This, I suppose, is the same edict as that mentioned by M. Amédée Renée, in his continuation of Sismondi, Histoire des Français, vol. xxx. p. 247.

794

‘Il avait été défendu, sous peine de mort, aux écrivains de parler de finances.’ Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 490.

795

This was the suggestion of the avocat-général in 1780. See the proposal, in his own words, in Grimm, Correspond. vol. xi. pp. 143, 144. On the important functions of the avocats-généraux in the eighteenth century, see a note in Lettres d'Aguesseau, vol. i. p. 264.

796

And we should also remember what the circumstances were under which the accusation was first heard in France. ‘Les reproches d'avoir tout détruit, adressés aux philosophes du dix-huitième siècle, ont commencé le jour où il s'est trouvé en France un gouvernement qui a voulu rétablir les abus dont les écrivains de cette époque avaient accéléré la destruction.’ Comte, Traité de Législation, vol. i. p. 72.

797

The nature of this change, and the circumstances under which it happened, will be examined in the last chapter of the present volume; but that the revolutionary movement, while headed by Voltaire and his coadjutors, was directed against the church, and not against the state, is noticed by many writers; some of whom have also observed, that soon after the middle of the reign of Louis XV. the ground began to be shifted, and a disposition was first shown to attack political abuses. On this remarkable fact, indicated by several authors, but explained by none, compare Lacretelle, XVIIIe Siècle, vol. ii. p. 305; Barruel, Mém. pour l'Hist. du Jacobinisme, vol. i. p. xviii., vol. ii. p. 113; Tocqueville, L'Ancien Régime, p. 241; Alison's Europe, vol. i. p. 165, vol. xiv. p. 286; Mém. de Rivarol, p. 35; Soulavie, Règne de Louis XVI, vol. iv. p. 397; Lamartine, Hist. des Girondins, vol. i. p. 183; Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. lx. p. 307, vol. lxvi. p. 34.

798

See some striking remarks in M. Tocqueville's great work, De la Démocratie, vol. i. p. 5; which should be compared with the observation of Horace Walpole, who was well acquainted with French society, and who says, happily enough, that the French ‘love themselves in their kings.’ Walpole's Mem. of George III, vol. ii. p. 240.

799

Not only the political history of Spain, but also its literature, contains melancholy evidence of the extraordinary loyalty of the Spaniards, and of the injurious results produced by it. See, on this, some useful reflections in Ticknor's Hist. of Spanish Literature, vol. i. pp. 95, 96, 133, vol. iii. pp. 191–193.

800

Our admiration of Alfred is greatly increased by the fact, that we know very little about him. The principal authority referred to for his reign is Asser, whose work, there is reason to believe, is not genuine. See the arguments in Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit. vol. i. pp. 408–412. It moreover appears, that some of the institutions popularly ascribed to him, existed before his time. Kemble's Saxons in England, vol. i. pp. 247, 248.

801

The French writers, under the old régime, constantly boast that loyalty was the characteristic of their nation, and taunt the English with their opposite and insubordinate spirit. ‘Il n'est pas ici question des François, qui se sont toujours distingués des autres nations par leur amour pour leurs rois.’ Le Blanc, Lettres d'un François, vol. iii. p. 523. ‘The English do not love their sovereigns as much as could be desired.’ Sorbière's Voyage to England, p. 58. ‘Le respect de la majesté royale, caractère distinctif des Français.’ Mém. de Montbarey, vol. ii. p. 54. ‘L'amour et la fidélité que les Français ont naturellement pour leurs princes.’ Mém. de Motteville, vol. ii. p. 3. ‘Les Français, qui aiment leurs princes.’ De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. iii. p. 381; and see vol. xi. p. 729. For further evidence, see Sully, Œconomies, vol. iv. p. 346; Monteil, Divers Etats, vol. vii. p. 105; Ségur, Mémoires, vol. i. p. 32; Lamartine, Hist. des Girondins, vol. iv. p. 58.

Now, contrast with all this the sentiments contained in one of the most celebrated histories in the English language: ‘There is not any one thing more certain and more evident, than that princes are made for the people, and not the people for them; and perhaps there is no nation under heaven that is more entirely possessed with this notion of princes than the English nation is in this age; so that they will soon be uneasy to a prince who does not govern himself by this maxim, and in time grow very unkind to him.’ Burnet's History of his Own Time, vol. vi. p. 223. This manly and wholesome passage was written while the French were licking the dust from the feet of Louis XIV.

802

‘La race des rois la plus ancienne.’ Mém. de Genlis, vol. ix. p. 281. ‘Nos rois, issus de la plus grande race du monde, et devant qui les Césars, et la plus grande partie des princes qui jadis ont commandé tant de nations, ne sont que des roturiers.’ Mém. de Motteville, vol. ii. p. 417. And a Venetian ambassador, in the sixteenth century, says, that France is ‘il regno più antico d'ogn' altro che sia in essere al presente.’ Relat. des Ambassad. vol. i. p. 470. Compare Boullier, Maison Militaire des Rois de France, p. 360.

803

Capefigue's Louis XIV, vol. i. pp. 204, 301; Koch, Tableau des Révolutions, vol. ii. p. 16. M. Ranke (Die Päpste, vol. ii. p. 257) ascribes this to the circumstances attending the apostasy of Henry IV.; but the cause lies much deeper, being connected with that triumph of the secular interests over the spiritual, of which the policy of Henry IV. was itself a consequence.

804

Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 408; Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie, vol. v. p. 3; Tocqueville, Règne de Louis XV, vol. i. pp. 35, 347; Duclos, Mémoires, vol. ii. pp. 42, 43, 154, 155, 223, 224. What was, if possible, still more scandalous, was, that in 1723 the assembly of the clergy elected as their president, unanimously (‘d'une voix unanime’), the infamous Dubois, the most notoriously immoral man of his time. Duclos, Mém. vol. ii. p. 262.

805

On this decline of the French clergy, see Villemain, XVIIIe Siècle, vol. iii. pp. 178, 179; Cousin, Hist. de la Philos. IIe série, vol. i. p. 301. Tocqueville (Règne de Louis XV, vol. i. pp. 35–38, 365) says, ‘le clergé prêchait une morale qu'il compromettait par sa conduite;’ a noticeable remark, when made by an opponent of the sceptical philosophy, like the elder M. Tocqueville. Among this profligate crew, Massillon stood alone; he being the last French bishop who was remarkable for virtue as well as for ability.

806

Voltaire says of the English, ‘quand ils apprennent qu'en France de jeunes gens connus par leurs débauches, et élevés à la prélature par des intrigues de femmes, font publiquement l'amour, s'égaient à composer des chansons tendres, donnent tous les jours des soupers délicats et longs, et de là vont implorer les lumières du Saint-Esprit, et se nomment hardiment les successeures des apôtres ils remercient Dieu d'être protestants.’ Lettres sur les Anglais, in Œuvres, vol. xxvi. p. 29.

807

See some very just remarks in Whewell's Philos. of the Induc. Sciences, vol. ii. p. 143. In Neander's Hist. of the Church, vol. iv. pp. 41, 128, there are two curious illustrations of the universal interest which theological discussions once inspired in Europe; and on the former subservience of philosophy to theology, compare Hamilton's Discussions on Philosophy, p. 197. But no one has treated this subject so ably as M. Auguste Comte, in his great work, Philosophie Positive. The service which the metaphysicians rendered to the church by their development of the doctrine of transubstantiation (Blánco White's Evidence against Catholicism, pp. 256–258) is a striking instance of this subordination of the intellect to ecclesiastical dogmas.

808

M. Tocqueville says, what I am inclined to think is true, that an increasing spirit of equality lessens the disposition to form new religious creeds. Démocratie en Amérique, vol. iv. pp. 16, 17. At all events, it is certain that increasing knowledge has this effect; for those great men whose turn of mind would formerly have made them heretics, are now content to confine their innovations to other fields of thought. If St. Augustin had lived in the seventeenth century, he would have reformed or created the physical sciences. If Sir Isaac Newton had lived in the fourth century, he would have organized a new sect, and have troubled the church with his originality.

809

Biog. Univ. vol. xix. pp. 315, 316; where it is said, ‘l'ouvrage de Du Haillan est remarquable en ce que c'est le premier corps d'histoire de France qui ait paru dans notre langue.’ See also Dacier, Rapport sur les Progrès de l'Histoire, p. 170; and Des Réaux, Historiettes, vol. x. p. 185.

810

Bayle, article Haillan, note L.

811

Mercure François, in Bayle, article Haillan, note D.

812

De Rebus gestis Francorum, which appeared about 1516. Biog. Univ. vol. xiii. p. 119. Compare, respecting the author, Mézéray, Hist. de France, vol. ii. p. 363, with Audigier, l'Origine des François, vol. ii. p. 118, who complains of his opinion about Clovis, ‘quoy qu'il fasse profession de relever la gloire des François.’ Even the superficial Boulainvilliers (Hist. de l'Ancien Gouvernement, vol. ii. p. 166) contemptuously notices ‘les rétoriciens postérieurs, tels que Paul Emile.’

813

Compare Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. i. pp. 176, 177, with Montlosier, Monarchie Française, vol. i. pp. 43, 44. Philippe de Comines, though superior to Sismondi and Montlosier in point of ability, lived in the middle ages, and therefore had no idea of doubting, but simply says, ‘Pharamond fut esleu roy, l'an 420, et régna dix ans,’ Mém. de Comines, livre viii. chap. xxvii. vol. iii. p. 232. But De Thou, coming a hundred years after Comines, evidently suspected that it was not all quite right, and therefore puts it on the authority of others. ‘Pharamond, qui selon nos historiens a porté le premier la couronne des François.’ De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. x. p. 530. See a singular passage on Pharamond in Mém. de Duplessis Mornay, vol. ii. p. 405.

814

Sorel (La Bibliothèque Françoise, Paris, 1667, p. 373) says of Du Haillan, ‘On lui peut reprocher d'avoir donné un commencement fabuleux à son histoire, qui est entièrement de son invention, ayant fait tenir un conseil entre Pharamond et ses plus fidelles conseillers, pour sçavoir si ayant la puissance en main il deuoit réduire les François au gouvernement aristocratique ou monarchique, et faisant faire une harangue à chacun d'eux pour soustenir son opinion. On y voit les noms de Charamond et de Quadrek, personnages imaginaires.’ Sorel, who had a glimmering notion that this was not exactly the way to write history, adds, ‘C'est une chose fort surprenante. On est fort peu asseuré si Pharamond fut jamais au monde, et quoy qu'on sçache qu'il y ait esté, c'est une terrible hardiesse d'en raconter des choses qui n'ont aucun appuy.’

815

‘Die erste Regung des skeptischen Geistes finden wir in den Versuchen des Michael von Montaigne.’ Tennemann, Gesch. der Philos. vol. ix. p. 443.

816

The first volume appeared in 1604. See Le Long, Bibliothèque Historique de la France, vol. ii. p. 375; and preface to De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. i. p. iv.

817

Sismondi has scarcely done justice to Sully; but the reader will find a fuller account of him in Capefigue, Hist. de la Réforme, vol. viii. pp. 101–117; and a still better one in Blanqui, Histoire de l'Economie Politique, vol. i. pp. 347–361.

818

According to D'Aubigné, the king, on his conversion, said, ‘Je ferai voir à tout le monde que je n'ai esté persuadé par autre théologie que la nécessité de l'estat.’ Smedley's Reformed Religion in France, vol. ii. p. 362. That Henry felt this is certain; and that he expressed it to his friends is probable; but he had a difficult game to play with the Catholic church; and in one of his edicts we find ‘une grande joye de son retour à l'église, dont il attribuoit la cause à la grâce du Tout-Puissant, et aux prières de ses fidèles sujets.’ De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. xii. pp. 105, 106. Compare, at pp. 468, 469, the message he sent to the pope.

819

Marchand, Dictionnaire Historique, vol. ii. pp. 205, 209, La Haye, 1758, folio. This curious and learned work, which is much less read than it deserves, contains the only good account of Serres I have been able to meet with; vol. ii. pp. 197–213.

820

‘On ne prenoit presque aucun soin de marquer les dates des événemens dans les ouvrages historiques… De Serres reconnut ce défaut; et pour y remédier, il rechercha avec beaucoup de soin les dates des événemens qu'il avoit à employer, et les marqua dans son histoire le plus exactement qu'il lui fut possible. Cet exemple a été imité depuis par la plupart de ceux qui l'ont suivi; et c'est à lui qu'on est redevable de l'avantage qu'on tire d'une pratique si nécessaire et si utile.’ Marchand, Dict. Historique, vol. ii. p. 206.

821

‘Il est le premier historien qui ait cité en marge ses autorités; précaution absolument nécessaire quand on n'écrit pas l'histoire de son temps, à moins qu'on ne s'en tienne aux faits connus.’ Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. xix. p. 95. And the Biog. Univ. vol. xii. p. 277, says, ‘On doit lui faire honneur d'avoir cité en marge les auteurs dont il s'est servi; précaution indispensable, que l'on connaissait peu avant lui, et que les historiens modernes négligent trop aujourd'hui.’ Bassompierre, who had a quarrel with Dupleix, has given some curious details respecting him and his History; but they are, of course, not to be relied on. Mém. de Bassompierre, vol. iii. pp. 356, 357. Patin speaks favourably of his history of Henry IV. Lettres de Patin, vol. i. p. 17: but compare Sully, Œconomies Royales, vol. ix. pp. 121, 249.

822

The ancients, as is well known, rarely took this trouble. Mure's Hist. of Greek Literature, vol. iv. pp. 197, 306, 307. But what is much more curious is, that, even in scientific works, there was an equal looseness; and Cuvier says, that, in the sixteenth century, ‘on se bornait à dire, d'une manière générale, Aristote a dit telle chose, sans indiquer ni le passage ni le livre dans lequel la citation se trouvait.’ Cuvier, Hist. des Sciences, part ii. p. 63; and at p. 88, ‘suivant l'usage de son temps, Gessner n'indique pas avec précision les endroits d'où il a tiré ses citations:’ see also p. 214.

823

‘Le premier ouvrage de philosophie publié dans cette langue.’ Biog. Univ. vol. xii. p. 277.

824

So it seemed to me, when I turned over its leaves a few years ago. However, Patin says, ‘sa philosophie françoise n'est pas mauvaise.’ Lettres de Patin, vol. iii. p. 357. On the dialectic powers of Dupleix, see a favourable judgment in Hamilton's Discuss. on Philos. p. 119.

825

Biog. Univ. vol. xxxv. p. 402. Sorel (Bibliothèque Françoise, p. 165), who is evidently displeased at the unprecedented boldness of La Popelinière, says, ‘il dit ses sentimens en bref des historiens de toutes les nations, et de plusieurs langues, et particulièrement des historiens françois, dont il parle avec beaucoup d'asseurance.’

826

‘Il réfute l'opinion, alors fort accréditée, de l'arrivée dans les Gaules de Francus et des Troyens.’ Biog. Univ. vol. xxxv. p. 402. Compare Le Long, Bibliothèque Historique de la France, vol. ii. p. 39. Patin says that De Thou was much indebted to him: ‘M. de Thou a pris hardiment de la Popelinière.’ Lettres de Patin, vol. i. p. 222. There is a notice of Popelinière, in connexion with Richer, in Mém. de Richelieu, vol. v. p. 349.

827

‘Il réfute les fables qu'on avançoit sur l'origine des François, appuyées sur le témoignage au faux Bérose. Il dit que leur nom vient de leur ancienne franchise.’ Le Long, Bibliothèque Historique, vol. ii. p. 750.

828

Compare Sorel, Bibliothèque Françoise, p. 298, with Du Fresnoy, Méthode pour étudier l'Histoire, vol. x. p. 4, Parie, 1772. There is an account of Gomberville in Les Historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux, vol. viii. pp. 15–19; a singularly curious book, which is, for the seventeenth century, what Brantome is for the sixteenth. I ought to have mentioned earlier the inimitable ridicule with which Rabelais treats the habit historians had of tracing the genealogies of their heroes back to Noah. Œuvres de Rabelais, vol. i. pp. 1–3, and vol. ii. pp. 10–17: see also, at vol. v. pp. 171, 172, his defence of the antiquity of Chinon.

829

‘L'auteur croit qu'il ne faut pas la chercher ailleurs que dans le pays où ils out été connus des Romains, c'est-à-dire entre l'Elbe et le Rhin,’ Le Long, Bibliothèque Historique, vol. ii. p. 56. This work of Berthault's was, for many years, a text-book in the French colleges. Biog. Univ. vol. iv. p. 347.

830

The first volume in 1643; the second in 1646; and the last in 1651. Biog. Univ. vol. xxviii. p. 510.

831

‘The French have now their first general historian, Mezeray.’ Hallam's Literature of Europe, vol. iii. p. 228; and see Stephen's Lectures on the History of France, 1851, vol. i. p. 10.

832

Bayle says, that Mezeray is, ‘de tous les historiens celui qui favorise le plus les peuples contre la cour.’ Le Long, Bibliothèque Historique, vol. iii. p. lxxxvi.

833

Though it did not prevent him from believing that sudden tempests, and unusual appearances in the heavens, were aberrations, due to supernatural interference, and, as such, were the prognosticators of political change. Mézéray, Hist. de France, vol. i. pp. 202, 228, 238, 241, 317, 792, vol. ii. pp. 485, 573, 1120, vol. iii. pp. 31, 167, 894; instructive passages, as proving that, even in powerful minds, the scientific and secular method was still feeble.

834

What he did on these subjects is most remarkable, considering that some of the best materials were unknown, and in manuscript, and that even De Thou gives scarcely any information respecting them; so that Mezeray had no model. See, among other passages which have struck me in the first volume, pp. 145–147, 204, 353, 356, 362–365, 530, 531, 581, 812, 946, 1039. Compare his indignant expressions at vol. ii. p. 721.

835

Those who have studied the French memoirs of the seventeenth century, know how little can be found in them respecting the condition of the people; while the fullest private correspondence, such as the letters of Sévigné and De Maintenon, are equally unsatisfactory. The greater part of the evidence now extant has been collected by M. Monteil, in his valuable work, Histoire des divers Etats: but whoever will put all this together must admit, that we are better informed as to the condition of many savage tribes than we are concerning the lower classes of France during the reign of Louis XIV.

836

This is noticed in Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. xxvii. pp. 181, 182; also in Villemain, Littérature Française, vol. ii. pp. 29, 30. Compare D'Argenson, Réflexions sur les Historiens François, in Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, vol. xxviii. p. 627, with Boulainvilliers, Ancien Gouvernement de la France, vol. i. p. 174.

837

‘Le jeune Louis XIV n'avait reçu aucune éducation intellectuelle.’ Capefigue's Richelieu, Mazarin et la Fronde, vol. ii. p. 245. On the education of Louis XIV., which was as shamefully neglected as that of our George III., see Lettres inédites de Maintenon, vol. ii. p. 369; Duclos, Mém. Secrets, vol. i. pp. 167, 168; Mém. de Brienne, vol. i. pp. 391–393.

838

On his political maxims, see Lemontey, Etablissement de Louis XIV, pp. 325–327, 407, 408. The eloquent remarks made by M. Ranke upon an Italian despotism, are admirably applicable to his whole system: ‘Sonderbare Gestalt menschlichen Dinge! Die Kräfte des Landes bringen den Hof hervor, der Mittelpunkt des Hofes ist der Fürst, das letzte Product des gesammten Lebens ist zuletzt das Selbstgefühl des Fürsten.’ Die Päpste, vol. ii. p. 266.

839

His Abrégé Chronologique was published in 1668, in three volumes quarto. Biog. Univ. vol. xxviii. p. 510. Le Long (Bibliothèque Historique, vol. iii. p. lxxxv.) says, that it was only allowed to be published in consequence of a ‘privilège’ which Mezeray had formerly obtained. But there seems to have been some difficulty, of which these writers are not aware: for Patin, in a letter dated Paris, 23 December 1664, speaks of it as being then in the press: ‘on imprime ici en grand-in-quarto un Abrégé de l'Histoire de France, par M. Mezeray.’ Lettres de Patin, vol. iii. p. 503: compare p. 665. It long remained an established school-book: see D'Argenson's Essay, in Mém. de l'Académie, vol. xxviii. p. 635; and Works of Sir William Temple, vol. iii. p. 70.

840

Barrière, Essai sur les Mœurs du Dix-septième Siècle, prefixed to Mém. de Brienne, vol. i. pp. 129, 130, where reference is made to his original correspondence with Colbert. This treatment of Mezeray is noticed, but imperfectly, in Boulainvilliers, Hist. de l'Ancien Gouvernement, vol. i. p. 196; in Lemontey, Etablissement de Louis XIV, p. 331; and in Palissot, Mém. pour l'Hist. de Lit. vol. ii. p. 161.