Franco-Gallia : $b or, an account of the ancient free state of France, and most other parts of Europe, before the loss of their libertiesHotman, François
History
Franco-Gallia : $b or, an account of the ancient free state of France, and most other parts of Europe, before the loss of their liberties
Hotman, François
Constitutional history -- France; France -- Politics and government
Commendation of a Work of this Nature, than to say it contains only pure
Matter of Fact? Now if this be so, Monsieur _Bayle_ wou'd do well to
tell us what he means by those Words, _Tres indigne d'un jurisconsulte
Francois_. Whether a _French_ Civilian be debarr'd telling of Truth
(when that Truth exposes Tyranny) more than a Civilian of any other
Nation? This agrees, in some measure, with Monsieur _Teissier_'s
Judgment of the _Francogallia_, and shews, that Monsieur _Bayle_, and
Monsieur _Teissier_ and _Bongars_, were _Bons Francois_ in one and the
same Sense. "_Son Livre intitule, Francogallia, luy attira AVEC RAISON_
(and this he puts in great Letters) _les blame des bons Francois_. For
(says he) therein he endeavours to prove, That _France_, the most
flourishing Kingdom in _Christendom_, is not successive, like the
Estates of particular Persons; but that anciently the Kings came to the
Crown by the Choice and Suffrages of the Nobility and People; insomuch,
that as in former Times the Power and Authority of _Electing_ their
Kings belonged to the _Estates of the Kingdom_, so likewise did the
Right of _Deposing_ their _Princes_ from their Government. And hereupon
he quotes the Examples of _Philip de Valois_, of _King John_, _Charles
the Fifth_, and _Charles the Sixth_, and _Lewis the Eleventh_: But what
he principally insists on, is to show, That as from Times Immemorial,
the _French_ judg'd Women incapable of Governing; So likewise ought they
to be debarr'd from all Administration of the Publick Affairs."
This is Mr. _Boyle_'s Quotation of _Teissier_, by which it appears how
far _Hotoman_ ought to be blamed by all _true Frenchmen, AVEC RAISON_.
But provided that _Hotoman_ proves irrefragably all that he says (as not
only Monsieur _Bayle_ himself, but every body else that writes of him
allows) I think it will be a hard matter to persuade a disinteress'd
Person, or any other but a _bon Francois_, (which, in good _English_, is
a _Lover of his Chains_) that here is any just Reason shewn why
_Hotoman_ shou'd be blam'd.
Monsieur _Teissier_, altho' very much prejudiced against him, was (as
one may see by the Tenor of the above Quotation, and his leaving it thus
uncommented on) in his Heart convinc'd of the Truth of it; but no _bon
Francois_ dares own so much. He was a little too careless when he wrote
against _Hotoman_, mistaking one of his Books for another; _viz._ his
Commentary _ad titulum institutionum de Actionibus_, for his little Book
_de gradibus cognationis_; both extremely esteemed by all learned Men,
especially the first: Of which Monsieur _Bayle_ gives this Testimony:
"_La beaute du Stile, & la connoissance des antiquites Romaines
eclatoient dans cet Ouvrage, & le firent fort estimer._"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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