It has been remarked by French writers, that no family furnished more magistrates than that of Seguier. From the first appearance of the name in the parliament of Toulouse, when that body was originally formed, in the 14th century, down to the period of the French revolution, the number amounted to sixty-eight, of whom many possessed high talents, and consummate legal knowledge. Peter, the first who bore that prenomen, is characterised, by the poet Scevola St. Marthe, as “one of the most brilliant lights of the temple of the laws,” and in this praise there is no poetical exaggeration. To this magistrate France owes eternal gratitude, for his having frustrated the project of introducing the Inquisition into that country. He was warned beforehand that he would do well to avoid venturing too far in his opposition, but he nobly set the danger at defiance, and he triumphed. The six sons who survived him were all of the legal profession. No monarch ever paid a more graceful compliment to a subject than that which Henry the fourth paid to the second Peter, a son of the first, who became president on the resignation of his father. The courtiers pressing so closely round the king that the president could not reach him, Henry held out his hand to Seguier, and said, “Gentlemen, allow to come to me my inseparable during my bad fortune, which, with you, he aided me to surmount. I can answer for it, that, notwithstanding the business with which I burthen him, he will always be too much my friend to neglect me.” In a similar strain he publicly addressed Anthony, another brother, who was setting off on an embassy to Venice. “You made your way into my affections,” said he, “in the same manner that I did into my kingdom, in spite of the resistance and the slanders of my enemies and enviers.” Louis, the fourth brother, was a counsellor of the parliament, and also dean of the cathedral church of Nôtre Dame, at Paris. He obtained his release from the Bastile by paying a large ransom; but he was not allowed to remain in peace, he being soon after expelled from the capital by the Leaguers. He was subsequently sent to Rome, by Henry the fourth, to negotiate with the pope for the monarch’s absolution. On his return, he was offered the bishopric of Laon, which would have given him the elevated and much coveted rank of duke and peer. Seguier, however, devoid of ambition, preferred to remain in the humble station of dean. He died in 1610.