THE SAFETY of FRANCE TO Monsieur the Dauphin.  

The first Discourse.  
SIR,  
YOU must of necessity be a very great stoic, if you are not very much alarmed. All the World is Calculating your Nativity, and they boldly affirm that you shall never be a King; and that this next Campaign you shall see most terrible Preludes of the Misfortunes which are to befall ye.  
I must aclowledge it is a difficult thing to penetrate into Futurity. Nor have all those who have made it their business to prophesy in this Age, had the satisfaction to see their Prophesies accomplished. But there are many Things which men may foretell without being Prophets; and the future Diminution of your Glory is an Event so visible, as that it may be easily foreseen, without Revelation, or consulting the Stars.  
Considering the present Condition of Affairs, France must of necessity sink, if her Enemies act by joint consent, and that they continue to take the same Measures which they have already taken since the Prince of Orange ascended the Throne of England.  
Never flatter yourself, Sir, for how Potent soever France may be, she cannot but see both the Backstroke and Forestroke that threatens her, if she does not betake herself to some speedy and extraordinary Remedy. All Europe is up in Arms against her, and her Enemies are so much the more Formidable, because they only fight to be revenged upon her for the infinite number of bloody Outrages which she has done them, with all manner of Injustice, and to break those Chains and Fetters which she would put about their Necks.  
I need not here make use of any great force of rhetoric to convince you, that France is now no more the same that formerly she was. You see it with your own Eyes. Her Trade, which is as it were the Soul of a Kingdom, is utterly ruined, ever since the departure of the Protestants. For that not being able to vent her Native Commodities into Foreign Countries, Poverty increases every where. To fill her Exchequer, she must have recourse to unusual and violent means, and thereby complete the utter Exhausting of the Peoples purses. 'Tis true, her Armies are very numerous; but besides that, the Souldiers of which they consist, are not all of them experienced, as being for the most part new raised Men: Besides that, there are infinite Numbers which desert her Service, either because they are exposed to overhard and tedious Duty, or else because they were listed against their Wills. Certain it is, that they have been so accustomed, for some years past, to vanquish Enemies that were not in a condition to withstand them, that they are now no longer fit for any thing else but to make new Converts, or to be employed in burning of Towns and Cities. You have seen something in the Campaign wherein yourself commanded, and at the Sieges of Mayence and Bon.  
The Peace which she concluded not long since with the Algerines, is an evident sign that she knows not where she is. For you cannot deny, but that if she thought her self strong enough to repel her Enemies, or to make the least Resistance, she would never have purchased, upon such ignominious Conditions, an Alliance with a barbarous People, who are the Scorn of all the Earth, and from whom she has received those Affronts that she ought never to have pardoned.  
In a word, Sir, for you may delude yourself, with all her Forces both by Sea and Land, with all her Alliances with the Grand signior and the Algerines, with all her Preparations and her threatenings, is at this day only upon the Defensive part; she that formerly so vigorously assailed others. And you cannot but aclowledge, that since the Siege of Philipsbourgh, where you signalized yourself in a manner so distinguished from the rest, has all along gone down the Hill, which is no good Omen.  
What would you have me say to ye, considering the condition of Affairs? I must, in spite of my Teeth, foretell you dismal Things; and if you will but reflect upon them you will tell yourself the same. You cannot be ignorant of the danger to which an imprudent Policy has exposed so great a Kingdom, which gave Laws to all Europe; and in the mean time you will do well to rid yourself of those treacherous and mercenary Souls which put it into your Head, that Lewis the Great is the greatest Prince that ever was, and that he shall triumph, with ease, over the most powerful and strongest League that ever was formed against a Monarch.  
If you were a Prince but of ordinary Merit, or that you could not see with your own Eyes, we might content ourselves with lamenting your Misfortunes, when we came to cast an Eye upon your future Destiny. But considering the surmounting Parts and Qualities which you have received from Heaven, you will be unpitied by all People, if the Arms of the Confederates should subdue the Monarchy of France, and reduce you, after their Conquest, to a private Life. For you must agree to this, that you yourself were accessary to your own Misfortune.  
Therefore, Sir, open your Eyes at once: France is upon the brink of a Precipice, from whence she will never be able to save herself, if once she happen to fall. Suffer not your Mind to be enchanted, nor listen to your Flatterers. The Condition of France is a thousand times more deplorable than can be expressed by all the Aggravations we can make use of. Nevertheless, her Distemper is not altogether incurable; you may apply a remedy to it still. However, Sir, deceive not yourself; for desperate Diseases, must have desperate Cures.  
I confess it were to be wished that the King would make a Peace with all the Princes that are engaged in Arms against him, could he but make them satisfaction for all the Ravage and Spoil which he has committed in their Countries: but this is a way not to be put in practise. For besides that, there is not any State that will be willing to treat with a Prince, who believes that Policy permits him never to keep his Word, and who, contrary to the Faith of Treaties, has committed unheard of Hostilities in the Territories of all his Neighbours; What likelihood is there that a King, who aspired to Universal Monarchy, who has extended his Conquests every way, and who never condescended to a Peace, but what was advantageous to him, will renounce all at once such great pretensions, and restore back all that he has so usurped?  
Certainly the King can never take such a course, as would absolutely tarnish all his Glory, and render him the most contemptible of all the Princes of the World. For, Sir, he must not think to flatter himself in this matter; the Confederates will never yield to an Accommodation, unless they make the Conditions themselves; and you well know, that the Law which the strongest side prescribes, is always that which must be obeied. He must restore to the Emperor, and the Princes of Germany all that he has conquered from them, ever since he ascended his Throne; and he must also sacrifice to his Imperial Majesty the Cardinal of Furstembergh, to be punished after a most exemplary manner, for all his Treasons and perfidious Dealings. He must make the same Restitutions to the Most Catholic King, the King of Great Britain, and the Duke of lorraine. He must demolish the Forts and citadels which he has built upon the Frontiers of the swissers. He must restore Pignerol, and Casal. He must restore to his Holiness the Franchises, Regal Right, and other privileges of that nature, which he disputed so haughtily and violently with his Predecessor, Innocent the XI. He must humble himself before Prince Joseph Clement of Bavaria. He must make Satisfaction to the United Provinces for an infinite number of Vessels which he has seized within his Ports, in time of Peace, and which his Privateers have taken. He must reimburse the Genoeses immense Sums of Money, which they have been, and are still obliged to expend in rebuilding the sumptuous Palace which he thundered down, when he threw his Bombs into their Magnificent City. And You yourself must go in Person, and throw yourself at the Feet of their Duke, to make him Reparation for the 
* A most ignominious Punishment inflicted upon an extreme Offender, who must go through the Streets barefoot and bareheaded, with a burning Link in his Hand, to the Seat of Justice, and there confess his Offences, and ask Forgiveness of the Party wronged.  Amen de Honarable, which he was obliged to undergo, after your Father had treated the Genoeses like so many Barbarians, and that upon a vain and ridiculous pretence. It would become him also to make an Alliance with the King of England, William III. whom he looks upon as an Usurper, and whom he has treated hitherto with a more than ordinary contempt. And in regard, that because there is a great Vacuity in his Exchequer, which is more and more exhausted every day, that he would not be rich enough to rebuild so many Cities, Towns, and Castles, which he has burnt in Germany, more especially in the Territories of the Elector Palatine, it would become him, that to appease the Princes interested, he should burn his own Capital City; or at least his Castles of Versailles and St. Germain. It would behove him to recall the Protestants whom he has constrained to quit their Estates and their Country, by exercising upon them the most unjust and most unheard of Persecutions; to rebuild all their Churches, and to confirm the Edicts of the Pacification granted by Henry the Fourth: For why should the Protestants be left out, if he makes a General Peace. And that I may not enter into a longer Display of his Pranks, it would behove him for the Security as well of those without, as those within, to sand into Holland, or into England, Monsieur the Duke of Burgundy, or some other of his Children; for we would willingly call back those Ages, wherein they never made any Treaty, but the Prince to whom the Peace was accorded, gave not only Hostages, but Hostages of his own Blood.  
Never question it, all these Things must be done; the Confederates will not bait him an Ace: they will every one have a Fleece from his back; and if you seriously consider it, 'tis no more than what you must confess to be but just and reasonable.  
So then, Sir, you must agree with me in this, that the King cannot accept of Peace, thô it should be offered him; because he will never accept upon mean and prejudicial Conditions.  
What will Posterity say of Lewis the Great, if after such an Enlargement of Conquest every way, and if after having been so near being Master of all Christendom, he should voluntarily confine himself within the Bounds of the French Monarchy, rather than continue a War which he first kindled himself? If after his having made France all Roman Catholic, and having thereby gained an Honour to which his Predecessors in vain aspired, he should be forced to build Calvinistical Churches, and set forth Declarations in favour of heresy? he would be looked upon as the most pitiful and contemptible of Princes. And indeed if he should condescend to sully his glorious and renowned achievements by a condescension so mean and poor, I must appeal to you, Sir, what Thoughts would you yourself have of him?  
Nevertheless, in regard there is no other way, but by the means of a Peace for France to divert the threatening Tempest, there is no body but yourself that can make it, if you intend to preserve the Honour of France. For besides that, the Confederates, who at present breath nothing but fire and slaughter, will deal more mildly and civilly with you, than with a Prince that aspired only to enslave them, and made a War with them after a manner unheard of among Christians. Besides that, both the one and the other are weary of seeing so much blood  shed, and such wasts of their own and their Peoples Treasure, most certain it is, that which way soever Fortune wheels, and how hard soever the Clauses may be, to which you you shall be obliged to subscribe, all the World will admire ye. For in a word, as you have not contributed at all to the Misfortunes that threaten France, and in regard there is not any Prince in Europe that is ignorant how much you have bewailed the villainous Courses and false Measures that have been taken in the Kingdom, they will look upon you as a wise Prince, who has rather choose the sure way, than to hazard a Crown. Sir, you may yield to all things, and restore to every one that which belongs to him, without having your Honour any may interested in such a Condescension, in regard it was not you that were guilty of the Usurpations.  
And without any Injury to the Religion which you profess, you may renew the Edicts which give a Toleration to the Protestants, in regard it is a Prerogative inseparable from Royalty, to overturn, so soon as they come to the Throne, whatever their Predecessors have done; it being no more but what all Princes, even Popes themselves, tho' it be their Interest to persuade the whole World that St. Peter's Successors are no less infallible in all their Actions, than was the Prince of the Apostles.  
I well know, Sir, what Answer you will make me. You will say, You are not yet invested with the Royal Authority; and that according to all Appearance, not being likely long to be so, it is in vain for me to propose a fruitless Expedient, that cannot be put in Execution.  
I confess, Sir, that you are not yet King; and that you are also far from being so. For that, if we may judge according to probabilities, notwithstanding the great Maladies which afflict Lewis the Great, he may live perhaps, as long as you; besides that, it will always be the interest of those that are prevalent with him, cunningly to insinuate, as they do, that your Marriage with a Princess of Bavaria, must render you continually suspected; and that you are otherwise unfit for any thing else, but either for a Masquerade, or to hunt the Wolf. Now after these considerations, you will never be in a condition to make that happy Peace which France so passionately desires: You will be in danger of dying a Subject, and of being the Son and Father of a King, yet never come to the Crown yourself, as some of your false Priests have foretold. Then again, they who by their unhappy Counsels have reduced France to that deplorable Condition wherein it is at present, are your most cruel Enemies. For in regard they enrich themselves by the public Disorders, and very well understand that only you, who have the Helm in your Hand, are able to struggle with the Tempest, they make the King believe you to be a person unfit for the Government, as being a Prince without sense, and enslaved to his pleasures; and if I may venture to say so, a weak and silly Prince, under pretence that you believed it to be a great piece of Policy to dissemble hitherto, and act the part of that illustrious Roman, who expelled the Tarquins out of Rome.  
Nevertheless, Sir, however it be, the Proposition which I now make you, is no such difficulty not to be surmounted. It will be your fault if you are not King in despite of all your Enemies, if you ardently desire it: nor is it necessary for you to stay till the death of a Prince, who, considering his constitution, is not yet in a condition to die. You have lain close a sufficient time, it behoves ye now to discover yourself, and that appearing in your Natural Colours, you should let Lewis the XIV. see, that you are a Prince who deserves to bear the Name of Bourbon; and that it is not to no purpose that you have been educated in so many several sorts of Sciences; and that Policy is not the only Thing of which you are ignorant, tho' you never made it your business, because you would not give Occasion of Suspicion. It behoves ye to set to work that Eloquence, which they say is so natural to ye; and that you unhoodwink your Father's Eyes, by laying before him the strength of his Enemies, the weakness of his Armies, the consternation of his People, the fears of domestic Insurrections, and least the Troops of the Confederates should pour into his Kingdom, to the end he may agree with you, that there is no other way but by a Peace to shelter himself from the Storm; and therefore since he cannot obtain it himself, but upon Conditions that will be altogether dishonourable to a Prince that has been hitherto esteemed the Greatest of his Age, that it is absolutely necessary for him to abdicate the Government for your sake, and that he should go and end his days in Retirement, since he cannot attain his Ends of mounting the Throne of charlemagne.  
Not, Sir, but that you have your Creatures at Court; not but that Madam the Dauphiness, who is a Lady of exquisite Abilities, has already made herself Mistress of the Hearts and Affections of those Ladies which at present Rule the King; and not but that your Father's Favourites and Governors have given you several Testimonies of their being devoted to your Interests: they have been too cunning to omit the performance of those Ceremonies. You must therefore make use of them at this time, and absolutely fix both the one and the other to your Interests, by flattering them with great Hopes and Expectations, as it is easy for you to do, to the end they may act by consent in advancing you to the Throne.  
Believe me, Sir, if you would but speak seriously and boldly to the King, yet observing the Limits of respect and duty to a King and Father; and if on the other side, his Favourites, Mistresses, and Governors of his Conscience, would but slily and cunningly insinuate into his Breast, that he cannot save his Kingdom, support his Reputation and Honour, and gain Paradise, unless he take this only Course, you will stagger him without question; and rather than hazard the Fate with which the Princes of Europe threaten Bajezet, he will rather choose of his own accord to shut himself up in a Desert, there to do Penance the remainder of his Life, for the Crimes of his Prosperity.  
'Tis a violent choice, I must confess, and I make no question, the King believes himself to be in no great hast as yet to lament his sins. But what is that to the purpose, Sir; You know very well, Sir, that of two Evils the least is to be chosen. The Crown which he abandons is not worth the Risco which he runs. And since after all, it would be better for him to do it voluntarily, than to be obliged by constraint and force, as it befell Alphonso King of Naples, who seeing Charles the VIII. come thundering down into his Kingdom, caused his Son Ferdinand to be crowned, and retired into sicily for Security.  
This Alphonso, whose Life was written by the Famous Historian Philip Commines, and so often red by Charles the Fifth, had contaminated his Reign with a Thousand Crimes: He had exercised an infinite number of Cruelties; he had put to death his nearest Kindred and Relations; he had ravished the Wives of his Subjects, and reduced his People to utmost beggary. But this Resignation of his Crown to his Son, was the means which God made use of for his Conversion: For having confined himself in a kind of Solitude, and there comforming himself to the Rules of the Monks of Mount Olivet, he lived as holy a Life as if he had been one of the Order.  
Let not the King stay, till an Extremity of this Nature overtake him, least it should utterly deface the Lustre of all his great Actions. For in regard his Life has been so conformable to that of the King of Naples, he may as well follow the Example of his Cowardly Fear, and try to seek some Sanctuary within the Ottoman Empire, so soon as he shall see the Imperial Leopold, or the King of Great Britain ready to pour in upon him. Let him do that voluntarily, which Alphonso was forced to do, and let him leave you a Crown, for which you will have no reason to contend with the Enemies of France, as the young Ferdinand was constrained to contend for his with Charles the VIII. For perhaps the same Fate may attend you as befell that Prince, whom Charles continually pursued till he had totally vanquished, and expelled him out of his Territories.  
Therefore let him never study upon it, but resign the Government into your hands without any more ado, since he cannot do a thing more to his Advantage; more especially since there are so many Presidents to encourage him to an Act so heroic, and proceeding altogether from accomplished Policy.  
Nerva, who was elected Emperour after the death of Domitian, resigned the Empire to Trajan so soon as he found himself incapable to govern, by reason of his Infirmities and his Age. You know the History of Dioclesian.  
That Emperour, who according to the Testimony of all those that have wrote his History, was only born for Government and War; that Emperour, of whom it is said, that the Roman Arms were ne're in such a flourishing condition as under his Empire; that Emperour, who subdued where e're he came, who had vanquished several Tyrants, and to whom several Trophies had been erected, for having extended the Roman Empire both to the East and West; and for having rooted out the Name of Christians from the Earth. This Emperour nevertheless, in the midst of his Triumphs and Victories, resigned the Empire to Galerias; and the Ceremony of that Resignation was publicly performed three Miles from the City of Nicomedia, where after he had randevouz'd his Army together, addressing his Speech to his Souldiers, he  told them, That being become infirm, he was resolved to retire to a Life of Repose, after so many Labours and Travels which he had been constrained to undergo; to which purpose he would surrender the Empire into the hands of such Persons as were able to bear the weight of it. And having so said, he name Galerius for his Successor, and presently invested him with his own Purple Robes: And so resuming his true Name of Diocles, which he had changed for that of Dioclesian, he retired like a common soldier that has received his discharge from Service, and led a private Life for several Years. He made choice of Satorrica for his Retirement, and found so much pleasure in Solitude, that all Charms of pleasure could never tempt him forth again: at what time he also protested, That he never tasted the True Pleasures of Life, nor saw the Sun shine with so much delight, as since he resigned the Empire.  
Now would not the King of France be happy to end the remainder of his days, as the same Emperour did. Let him rest from his Labours, seeing that considering the Condition to which he has reduced France, it is not possible he should reduce any real Repose. Let him like another Atlas ease his Shoulders of a Burden which he is no longer able to bear, and set it upon yours. It is high time you should Reign for the general good and safety of the People, seeing that so long as Lewis rules, his Reign must prove fatal to the People. Let him imitate Dioclesian in this generous Action, who has followed his Example in many other things.  
Lothaire the I. the Son of Lewis the Debonnair, is another President which I cannot pass by in silence: This Ambitious Prince whom nothing would serve, but to dethrone his Father, thô he had made him his Companion in the Empire, being advanced to the Throne, after the death of the Emperor, and having undergone an infinite number of Hardships, partend his Territories between his Children, and taking a Religious Habit in the abbey of Prume, near Treves, died in a short time after.  
But why should I search for Examples in Ages so far remote, for to show that such a Resignation is no Dishonour to a Prince, we have a Decent Example to produce.  
Christina Queen of Sweden, succeeded Gustavus Adolphus in the Year 1633: This Princess governed her Territories very happily; and being descended from the Blood of the Great Gustavus, she was formidable to her Enemies; besides that she was distinguished from the rest of her Sex by an infinite number of Noble Endowments, which rendered her the Admiration of the World: Other Kingdoms envied the Happiness of Sweden: for in short, a Kingdom cannot choose but be happy, when governed by Princes that are Philosophers, or Philosophers that are Princes, according to the Opinion of one of the Ancients: Nevertheless this Queen, as happy and glorious as she was, resigned her Crown and sceptre in the Year 1654, to Charles Gustavus. The Grandees of the Court, and all her Subjects were much troubled at her Abdication, and endeavoured to dissuade her from it; but all their persuasions were in vain. She summoned an Assembly of her Estates, where were present all the Nobility, and all the foreign Ministers. There the Chief Minister invested her with her Royal Robes, and set the Crown upon her Head. After which, she sate a while upon her Throne with her sceptre in her Right Hand, and the Golden Ball in her Left Hand. All this, for no other purpose, but to be immediately disrobed again, and to surrender the Ensigns of her Royal Authority to her Successor.  
Casimir the V. who after the death of Ladislaus, his Brother, was Elected King of Poland, was no less happy, during his Reign, than Christina during hers. He was no sooner settled in his Throne, but he became the terror of his Enemies: And to speak all his Actions in a word, this Prince had been a Victor in no less than seventeen or eighteen Battels, where he was present in person. Nevertheless, what does Casimir do in the midst of all his Triumphs? Over-burthen'd with the weight of his sceptre, and so many Lawrel-Wreaths wherewith he had encircled his Brows; tired with the Glorious Travels which had rendered him the bravest Prince of his Age; wearied with continual Conquest, and shedding so much Blood; and lastly, looking upon all the Victories which he could expect to win, as not able to repair the loss of his beloved Queen, he voluntarily resigned his Crown, and ended his days in a Monastery.  
Are not these great Examples, Sir, sufficient to move ye? And if you were in Lewis the Fourteenth's Condition, would you make any difficulty to follow them? A Heroess, of an exalted Descent, whom France admired, and treated like a Queen, after she had renounced her Royal Authority, and whom the Popes themselves esteemed as the Palladium of Rome. A Hero, that sacrificed all his worldly Pomp, to led a Religious Life, and whom the King himself honoured with one of the most wealthy and famousest abbeys of his Kingdom. In a word, a Queen and a King whose Retirement was the greatest eulogies that was given them by all that made their panegyrics. This incomparable Princess, and this Prince most worthy to be Sainted, think ye, they will not mollify the King's Heart, when he reflects upon the many Misfortunes that threaten both His and Your Head, if he continues to Reign Six Months longer. Let him then cease to be a King, if he intends to die a King, and avert from France the most terrible Catastrophe that ever befell her since the Reign of Pharamund.  
They may tell us, till Dooms-day, that it was the love of Liberty which inclined Q. Christina to that surprising Change. And that Casimir, as great as he was, being before a Jesuit, had contracted in that Order, a certain Spice of paroxysm, which is the principle Character of the Disciples of Loyola, who was the greatest fanatic that ever appeared in the World. 'Tis true, I knew a certain 
* The Deceased Prince of Conde was used to say, That he was acquainted with Three Illustrious Fools; the D. of Vernuel who had quitted an Estate of 600000 Elvers a year for a Wife. Monsieur Turenne, who had taken the Holy Ghost out of his Heart, to wear him upon his Coat; and K. Casimir who had quitted a Crown to turn Monk.  Prince, who was accustomend to say, That among the Fools of that Age, one of the greatest was Casimir. Neither was Christina accounted the wisest Woman in the world. Every thing is folly, Sir, when they are taken in a wrong sense. But that which, appears to be folly, is many times a great piece of Wisdom, when the thing comes to be examined. Moses was looked upon as a Fool by the Egyptians, when he forsook the Egyptian Court, and trampled under foot the Crown which was designed him by the Daughter of Pharaoh. And yet where was ever a wiser man in the World, than that same Hebrew Legislator? Who ever red the Heart of Queen Christina to know so well her Inclinations? And as for King Casimir, tho' he were a Jesuit, are all the Jesuits Visionaries. Christina, even to the last gasp, gave authentic Marks, that she was in good earnest when she forsook Lutheranism, to embrace the Popes Religion; and Casimir dyed like a Saint in the observance of the Discipline and Constitutions of his Order. Why therefore must Religion be denied to have a share in their Changes, or why may it not be thought to be an Effect of triumphing Grace?  
But to set Religion aside; it cannot be denied but that there may be something of Human Prudence or Policy at least. For indeed what could a Woman have done, had she been to sustain a terrible War; if those Enemies which Gustavus had so often harassed, had come to awaken her, and had designed to have satisfaction from the Daughter for the Mischiefs and Losses which they had suffered by the Father? Must she not have sank under the burden, and run the venture of doing that by force which she did without constraint? And as for Casimir, after he had expelled Gustavus, who had made himself Master of a great part of his Territories, after he had obtained that famous Victory from the Muscovites in the Year 1661. lastly, after he had gained sixteen or eighteen Battels, what could he expect more? There could be no Accumulation of Honour to that great Hero. He had carried on his Affairs as far as a Prince could carry them. He had settled his Throne, and restored Peace to his People. He feared nothing; and so himself the most happy Prince then living. Nevertheless, all things being subject to viciscitude, and Fortune being blind, was not Casimir very prudent, that he might avoid the running of any dangerous hazard, or feeling the smart of any back-blow, generously to resign the sceptre which he so well deserved to sway? Thrice happy Princes who are able to make their Reflections upon Actions so heroic, and accompanied with so much prudence! And thrice happy Lewis XIV. if seeing himself upon the brink of Ruin, he would follow the Examples of Christina and Casimir, thereby to preserve to himself the Title of Great, and such a place in History, as might obscure the Lustre of the Alexanders and Caesars. For do but observe, Sir, tho every thing should not justly foretell to the King an inevitable Declination of his Glory; tho' his Kingdom were in as soft a Peace as Swedeland or Poland, when Christina and Casimir resigned; tho' he had all the World at command; tho' he had no Enemies, but were as he was formerly, Arbitrator of Peace and War; does he not know that the most flourishing Kingdoms are subject to the greatest Revolutions; that there are certain Bounds, at which it behoves a Prince to stop; that the most settled Prosperities are liable to the severest Crosses; that it is the Glory of a Monarch that has been happy for a long time, not to die miserable; and therefore that he ought to take all the Caution imaginable to keep the Balance of Fortune even, especially when the Scale ceases to incline most of his side.  
That King of Lydia, who had rendered himself so famous by his Conquests and his Wealth, was at length vanquished by Cyrus; and of the most fortunate of Princes, in a moment became the most miserable and unfortunate of Mortals. Had not Croesus been dazzled with the false Lustre of his Grandeur, he would have been so far from laughing at Solon, who  told him that a Prince was not to boast of his Prosperity, till it was impossible for him to be unhappy, that he would have hide himself in the middle of some Desert, to have avoided the Ignominy of being a Slave to the King of Persia, after all the World had done him Homage. Who knows but that Christina and Casimir had some wise Solon, to whom they listened more attentively, then Croesus did to the wise man of Greece?  
But let us say no more of the King of Poland, or the Queen of Sweden. The one was a fanatic, and the other loved a licentious Liberty. We grant that they were not guided either by Religion or Policy. But what say you, Sir, or rather what can your Father object against the Example of Charles the V. That great Prince, as you well know, was neither Libertine, nor Visionary; nevertheless he resigned the Empire, and confined himself in Spain to the Monastery of St. Justus, of the Order of St. Jerome, where he ended his days two or three years after he had lived like a simplo Monk, he who formerly could hardly content himself with several Kingdoms which he possessed in three parts of the World.  
Certainly this is such an Example as must convince his Majesty of the great necessity that there is for him to resign his Government, if he loves the Safety of his People, and be but any thing jealous of his own Glory; especially having much more reason than that Emperour. For not to dissemble with you in any thing, Charles the V. was a greater Prince than ever Lewis the XIV. He was more prosperous than he, tho' he had not always success: he was more Potent and more formidable; and at the time when he first bethought himself of retiring, beside that he was at peace in Germany ever after the Treaty of Passau, he was also at the Head of Fourscore or a Hundred thousand men, being at War with only one Prince, whom he had reason to fear, by reason of the Match which he had made between Philip his Son, and Mary the Daughter and Heiress of Henry the VIII.  
Nevertheless, in the midst of this Calm, and when he had the least reason to fear any across stroke of Fortune, at a time when every thing prospered with him, and that his Armies were triumphant, he stops in the midst of his Career, and prudently politic, prevents, if not real Misfortunes, yet such as were possible to happen: For who can fetter Fortune so, that she shall not be able to break her Chains?  
The Fate of so many Victors, whose Exits had proved so dismal; the great hopes which he had of those, of whom he had made choice for the management of the Empire; and the Desire he had to save his Soul, by a total Renunciation of the World, made him determine of a sudden to resign the Imperial sovereignty, and one of the highest Degrees that a Prince could arrive at in this World.  
To this end he sent for Philip his Son King of England, to whom, in favour of his Marriage, he had bequeathed the Kingdoms of Naples and sicily, with the duchy of Milan, and having assembled together the States of the Low Countries at Brussels, he presently created Philip sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and gave him the Dominion of those Provinces. A month after this Resignation, in pursuance of which, the States did Homage to their new Lord, and swore Fealty and Allegiance to him; the Deputies of the rest of his Territories being met at the same place, he completed the general Resignation of all his other Territories and Signiories, as well in Europe as in the New World, and invested Philip in them, reserving no more for his own support, than Two hundred thousand Ducats a year, with some household Furniture.  
'Tis true that he did not at first resign the Empire to his Brother Ferdinand; but he had an extraordinary reason for that: For he was willing, before he abdicated the Empire, to oblige Ferdinand that Philip should be elected King of the Romans. But when he saw that Ferdinand was resolved to secure that Crown for his own Son, and that for a whole year together his Negotiations had proved fruitless, he determined before he left Brussels, to perfect his Design. So that after he had caused his Resignation to be drawn up in authentic Form, he entrusted it in the Hands of William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, Gregory sigismond Hold, vicechancellor of the Empire, and Haller his Secretary, who under the Character of Ambassadors, carried it to the first Diet that was assembled, made it known to the Electors, and delivered it into the hands of Ferdinand, together with the sceptre and Crown, and other Ensigns of the Imperial Dignity.  
I shall not say any thing of the extraordinary Honours that were paid to Charles the V. after he had despoiled himself of all his Dignities, tho' it make for my purpose. For in short, it proves that such Renunciations are no ways ignominious, as the King perhaps may be induced to believe. I shall only observe, that when Charles departed from Brussels for Gaunt, in order to his passage into Spain, where he had chos●● his Retirement, he was accompanied by the Duke and duchess of Savoy, by the Dukes of lorraine and Parma, and a vast number of other great Lords; and which is more, there were in that magnificent Train, no less than five crowned Heads; Philip his Son, King of Spain, England, and Naples; Maximilian King of Bohemia; Ferdinand's Son in Law; the King of Tunis; elinor Queen Dowager of France; and mary Queen Dowager of Hungary and Bohemia, who were both Sisters.  
This Funeral Attendance, if I may so call it, upon a Prince that was dying to the World, is a proof not to be controlled, that his Act and dead was approved, and looked upon as heroic. For you must agree with me in this, Sir, that he had never been treated after so magnificent a manner, if that Resignation had been any slain to his Life, or any blot to his Reputation in History.  
Conclude then, Sir, with me, That Lewis the XIV. ought to follow the Example of the Great Charles the First, by resigning his sovereignty to you, seeing that the same Reasons which obliged that Emperour to resign his Empire and Kingdoms to Ferdinand his Brother, and Philip the II. his Son, oblige also your Father, besides an infinite number of other Motives no less considerable. For indeed Sir, notwithstanding the great eulogies that are every day given to the King, yet certain it is, that he is much inferior to Charles the First. So that if Lewis the XIV. resemble that Emperour in any thing, it is in his aspiring like him to the Universal Monarchy, in his excessive Persecution of the Protestants; in his embroiling himself and quarreling with the Holy See; in raising himself an infinite number of Enemies; and in not believing that it was the true Character of a Prince to be a slave to his Word. Tho' we have more to say of the Emperour, that he did sometimes scruple to falsify his Word, as in the Case of Luther, when he appeared before him at the Diet of Worms in the year 1521. At what time his Courtiers and Clergy-men advised him to follow the Example of the council of Constance, not to keep his Word with that arch-heretic, upon the Faith of which he had appeared at the Diet; but Charles would by no means listen to them, and then it was that he pronounced that Golden Saying, which ought to be in the Mouths of all Princes: That if Faith of Promise were to be banished out of the World, the Palaces of Princes ought to give it Sanctuary: But, Sir, setting aside what I have instanced, there is no Comparison between these two Princes; at least you will agree with me, that Charles the V. was the most happy and prosperous.  
When Charles the Fifth was Elected Emperor after the death of Maximilian his Grandfather, he had for his Competitor Francis I. King of France, who having long designed to add the Imperial Crown to his own, had to that purpose formed several Intreigues in Germany, while Maximilian was alive, and after his death, which was the reason of an Interregnum. In the mean while, seeing that Charles the V. got the better of Francis the I. because he had the advantage of labouring more diligently under-hand in the Electoral college, than his Competitor, by reason that the Emperor was born in Germany, and Francis was a foreigner, which chiefly swayed with the Electors not to give him their Suffrages. This begot a Quarrel: and the War continued between these two potent Monarchs, till at length, it being the Fate of Francis to be always unfortunate when he had to do with Charles the V. he was taken Prisoner at the battle of Pavia, in the Year 1525, and not released, but upon Conditions very disadvantageous to France, as you may very well imagine. The King never took any sovereign Prince Prisoner; and you must allow, that thô Charles the V. had never had but that single Honour in his Life, he would have been always looked upon as much more fortunate than Lewis the Great, notwithstanding all his Conquests since his Advancement to the Throne. To which we may add, That thô Lewis the XIV. in the several Wars which he has made, had taken any King Prisoner, he could not have thereby gained any great Honour; for that all the World knows, that the Princes, with whom he has hitherto had any thing to do, excepting William the III. are not to be compared with Francis the I. who without all contradiction, was the most courageous Prince of his Age.  
But Francis the I. was not the only Prince that fell into the hands of Charles the V. For Clement the VII. some time after, had the same Fate. That Pope had made a League with France, the Republics of Venice and Florence, and the Cantons of Switzerland, to expel the Spaniards out of Italy; who at that time besieged Duke Sforza, in the Castle of Milan. And Charles the V. as good a catholic as he was, to be revenged of his Holiness, having sent an Army into Italy, under the Command of the Duke of Bourbon, besieged Rome, took it, and sacked it, and constrained the Pope to shut himself up in the Castle of St. Angelo, with all his Cardinals; and after he had paid for his ransom about Forty or Fifty thousand Crowns in Gold, was glad to make a Peace with the Emperor, in the Year 1529, by the Marriage of Alexander de Medici, his Nephew, with Margaret, the natural Daughter of Charles. You must aclowledge, Sir, that the King had never these Advantages over any Pope, thô he has had many Quarrels with the Court of Rome.  
The enterprise of Gigeri, in the Year 1664, and his Bombing of algiers, were nothing in comparison with what Charles the V. did, the same Year that he came to an Accommodation with the Pope. He driven soliman the Magnificent from before Vienna, and some Years after crossed over into Africa, with an Army of above fifty thousand Men, took the strong Fort of Gouletta, and restored Muley Hassen to his Kingdom of Tunis. Whereas the enterprise of Gigeri proved unfortunate and disgraceful to Lewis the XIV. and by his Bombing of algiers, he did no more then only a little incommode the Barbarians, who never much trouble themselves for the loss of their sorry Houses; and were so far from submitting themselves, that they grew more insolent in their Affronts to France, than they were before.  
Lastly, Sir, That Emperour took Prisoners John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and Philip, Landgrave of Hess: he despoiled the Dukes of Wirtemberg and Cleves of their Territories, and formed a great number of other Exploits of the same nature in Germany. He was Emperor, and King of Spain at the same time. The Limits of his Empire extended even to the New World: He possessed the Seventeen Provinces entire: He was Master of Burgundy, Franche Contè, and Alsatia: He had an absolute Power over the Princes of Germany and Italy: He had made an Accommodation with the Protestants. He had married his Son Philip the II. with Mary of England. And because he would not be exposed to the good Fortune of Henry the II. who succeeded his Father Francis the I. he made a Truce with him for Five Years.  
Nevertheless, in the midst of the greatest Security that a Monarch could enjoy, he resigned both his Empire and all his other Dominions. Now, Sir, compare the Conquests and successses of this great Monarch, with those of your Father; but above all, consider him in his voluntary Retirement, and compare that Condition of his with the present Condition of your Father. You must agree, that Lewis the XIV. is much inferior to Charles the V. and that he has more reason, by a great deal, to resign his sovereignty, and that it would be a lasting Honour to him to imitate the Prudence of a Prince so much his superior.  
Thô the King be the proudest Prince in the World, there are a great number of Courtiers about him, who flatter him, That how powerful soever his Enemies may be, yet he is much more puissant than they; and that he shall ruin them at last, thô they should not destroy one another by their own Misunderstandings. Nevertheless, I am persuaded, that if he would but seriously consider the Reasons and Examples which I have laid before him, they would very much stagger his Resolutions. The greatest Pride in the World will stoop, when unavoidable Dangers stars it in the Face. And therefore let him be the proudest Prince in Europe, it behoves him to consider Events, and examine such Proposals as are made him, to prevent those Accidents that may sully his Reputation in the Opinion of Posterity.  
Never believe, Sir, that the King will take it ill at your hands, if you propose him a way to preserve his Dominions and his Crown, and save his People, of whom he is the Father. He will harken to ye, never doubt it: And perhaps it may so fall out, that opening his Eyes to your Remonstrances, and shutting his Ears to the flattering Stories of his Courtiers, who have extolled him for those things, which he knows will one day be a Blot to his History, he will resolve to resign the sovereignty into your hands, for fear of hazarding the loss of it, and seeing it under the Power of his Enemies.  
If the King loves you, as I make no question but he does, your Interest alone will move him, thô his own Glory, and the Safety of his People were not able to prevail with him. He will consider that his Misfortunes will be yours, and that the same Fate will befall him, as befell our first Parent, who envelopp'd in his own Misery all that descended from his loins.  
I know that Men at this day distinguish between the Monarchy of Lewis the XIV. and the Crown of France; that is, between the Usurpations of France, and the Ancient Patrimony of the Crown. I know that Historians most incensed against the King, at the same time that they animate all the Princes and States of Europe to destroy the Monarchy, exhort 'em not to meddle with the Crown. But who knows, whether the Confederates will understand this Distinction, when they get the Mastery; or if they did understand it, whither they would follow their Directions.  
Never flatter yourself, Sir, Policy is not governed by the Maxims of Christianity; and this you find to be Truth at home. Besides, there are certain Occasions when the Rights of War require that all should be taken from the Usurper, and that the Child, thô Innocent, should bear the Iniquity of his Father.  
This one Argument will sway with the King. He will not run the risk of seeing you vagabonding from one Court to another to beg, like a poor Wretch, a small Pension for subsistence. He will leave you the Master of a Crown, which he has worn but too long, and will put himself among the Fathers of Mount Carmel, in imitation of one of his Mistresses, the best beloved of 'em all, who now lives retired after such a godly and devout manner, that all good People make no question, but that her Illustrious Penitence will one day crown her with a Saintship.   

The Second Discourse.  
SIR,  
I May very well deceive myself: For in regard that Kings who have been prosperous, and are not altogether fallen from their Prosperity, do not always act as they ought, by the Rules of prudent Policy; how great soever the Dangers may be to which they see themselves exposed; it may happen that Lewis the XIV. intoxicated with the Prosperity which has hitherto attended him; wrapped up with the vast number of his Conquests, and puffed up with his numerous Armies; may perhaps take little care either of his own, or your Honour, nor the good of his Soul, merely in hopes to die upon the Throne. There are Kings who hazard all, not only because they are naturally inclined to believe that they are above all Misfortune, but because they are so weak as to suffer themselves to be confirmed in their Delusions by Flattery. This is the true Character of Lewis the Great. He believes that Fortune is a Goddess that is obliged always to court him; and that the Sun by which he usually represents himself in ordinary Impresses, is not like the natural Sun, that many times is eclipsed; and that because his Flatterers never cease to tell him, That he is as much above all other Kings, as other Princes are above their People, which makes him despise the Kings of Poland and England; for these Reasons I say, he believes himself to be more Valiant and courageous than either of those Hero's, who have signalized themselves by so many renowned Exploits.  
I am persuaded also, Sir, that the King believes himself to be the justest of all the Monarchs in the World, and looks upon the Confederates as Usurpers, that would wrest his Patrimony from him.  
But in regard we are naturally inclined to believe what is most for our advantage, what is it you would have the King to believe? His Flatterers persuade him, That he has taken Alsatia by force of Arms, in a lawful War, and that he is become the true Possessor of it by several Treaties: That Christina Regent of Savoy, surrendered Pignerol into his hands, to satisfy for the excessive expenses he had been at in defending her against the Spaniards, and her Brother's-in-Law: That he was constrained by Reason of State to make himself Master of Orange, and to demolish the Castle and Walls; his Conscience not permitting him to suffer a Place to stand in the heart of his Kingdom, which might afford any Refuge to the heretics: That he enjoys lorraine by a solemn Treaty concluded at Paris with Duke Charles, in the Year 1660: That Dunkirk was yielded up to him the same Year, by Charles the II.: That he seized upon Franche Contè, at a time when he was in War with Spain, and that afterwards the possession was confirmed to him by the Peace of Nimeghen: That all the Places which he took in Flanders are but a small part of the lawful pretensions of his Queen: That Strasburgh was surrendered into his hands by the Magistrates of the City, for Reasons alleged at Munster, and repeated at Nimeghen: That Casal was given up to him the same day, without any Violence offered: That the City of Luxemburgh belonged to him, as a Dependency of the Country which had been granted to him by the Treaties of Peace: That the taking of Avignon was just, because it was to mortify a Pope who had treated him like a younger Brother, who is the eldest Son of the Church: That he never invaded the Palatinate, till he found they took no Notice of the Pretensions of his Sister-in-Law: That he had never taken Philipsburgh, but because the Emperor broken his Word in not restoring it to the Bishop of Spiers as he was engaged to do. And lastly, If he has burnt so many Cities and Towns, and wasted all before him with Fire and Sword, it was only to unheard of Hostilities, to incline the German Princes to Peace. All these things are  told him, and he believes them, because the Delusions are pleasing and advantageous to him.  
There is one thing nevertheless which ought to unseal his Eyes, which is, that the same Flatterers, who would make him to be looked upon as a just Prince, are the same Persons who have so often  told him, He was the most Godly and Pious of Princes, at the same time that he most abandoned himself to Debauchery; and that there never was any King in the French Monarchy, that ever had a juster Right to the Title of Most Christian King, thô at the same time he waged War against St. Peter, and violated the most Sacred Laws which Christianity preaches to us; and that he made a League with an Infidel Prince to extirminate the Christians.  
A clear-sighted Prince would give little ear to such absurd and gross Panegyrick-Mongers. But Kings are weak, in this point; as are the greatest part of Men, and more especially Lewis the XIV. Labour therefore to disabuse him: There is no other Obstacle in your way.  
So long as the King believes himself Potent; so long as he flatters himself, That there is not any Prince in the World that can equal him in Worth and Merit. So long as he is fully persuaded, that all his Usurpations are lawful Conquests, and that his Rapines are just, he will never quit the Throne, till Death constrains him to a Resignation. But if he could once see that his Forces are impar'd, that he is not the only Hero of this Age; but that he has contaminated both his Life and his Reign, with an infinite number of unjust Actions, and by Hostilities, of which a Mahometan Prince would have been ashamed, he may then recollect himself, and resign to you a sceptre, which he is no longer fit to wield.  
I know very well it is the Maxim of some Men, That to undeceive a Man biased by Prejudice, is to do him as ill a Turn, as that which was done to the Athenian Fool, who was made believe, that all the Vessels which arrived in that Port belonged to him. But you must do him this bad Office, since you cannot do him a better. Tell him the Story of Darius, who was despoiled of all his Dominions by Alexander, thô he were the greatest Prince that ever governed Persia. That of the Emperor Valerian, of whose back the Parthian sapour made use for a Block to get up a Horseback. Tell him that of Tomambey, sultan of egypt, who after he had been dragged along upon the ground, at the Tail of an old Camel, was hanged upon the next three. Mind him of Bajazet, Emperor of the Turks, who was by Tamberlane King of the Tartars shut up, and carried about in a Iron Cage, where after he had lived above twenty Years, not having any other means to end his Life, he was forced to knock out his Brains against the Bars of the Cage. Make him understand that it concerns his Honour, his own and your Interest, and the Interest of his Kingdom, for him to abandon willingly a Dignity, which it would be dishonourable for to relinquish by force; and that there is no Victory like vanquishing himself. And if after all that you can do, he will not be disabused, nor willingly resign to you his Royal Authority, I must then tell ye in down-right terms, you must make use of force, and take your measures so well, that you may ascend the Throne, after you have declared him unfit for Government.  
Upon this occasion, Sir, you must appear a Hero, and throw aside all your mortal Imbecillities. Upon this occasion it is, that you must call to mind, that there are certain Circumstances which may justify a Son's dethroning of his own Father, without a Crime; nay, which will make it criminal not to take that course.  
Forget for a little time, your relation to your Father, that you may remember your relation to France. Cast off those Tendernesses of a Child, that will oppose your Design. 'Tis a feeble Soul that will listen to Nature upon such occasions. What! is there not the Ruin of a Nation; the Destruction of one of the fairest and most flourishing Kingdoms in the World; an Enemy wasting all before him; an Enemy Triumphant and Victorious! a Throne ranvers'd; a Royal Family dispersed! All these things, do they not crowd before your Eyes? And are not the dreadful Apparitions of such dire Calamities enough to move ye, and make you in a moment forget that you are the Son of Lewis the XIV.  
When the Saviour of the World said, that we ought to hate Father and Mother for the love of him; and that he that does it not, deserves not to be called his Disciple; Does he not teach us in express Terms that the love which we ought to have for those that gave us being, is one of those Duties which may be sometimes dispensed with? And that there are certain Occasions, and certain Necessities wherein Religion and Conscience oblige us to use our Parents no better than Pagans or Publicans. Now upon what occasion, I beseech ye, can you more advantageously put in practise this Precept of Christ, then when the Safety of a Nation lies at stake, and that you see it visibly upon the brink of Perdition.  
Had you no other then Chimerical Reasons, like that same Eu●yphron in Plato, who sues his Father, for having suffered one of his Slaves to di● at the bottom of a Dungeon, who had killed another, you might look upon Lewis the XIV. as a Sacred Person, as the Anointed of the Lord, as a Saint, whom it were not lawful for you so much as to touch. But the Reasons you have to the contrary are essential Reasons, since you cannot use him as Fathers are usually treated, unless you run the hazard of losing a Kingdom, which looks upon you in its Miseries, as her only Redeemer, and that you cannot without committing a great Crime, refuse to defend her, since it is in your Power to do it.  
Should you suffer Nature to work, I must confess your tenderness would appear praise-worthy, and would be the Subject of many eulogies, which the Priests would bestow upon ye: But how Cruel would it be! how unjust! how unseasonable! Is it not better that one should perish, then that a whole Kingdom should be destroyed? Never Hesitate then, but let Lewis be the Victim. 'Tis only by the means of such an Oblation, that you can atone so many Princes, who have conspired against France. He is the Jonas that must be thrown Overboard, if you will assuage the Tempest, and stop the Fury of the Thunder just ready to fall upon your Head.  
Jupiter laid Saturn in Chains, and yet he was numbered among the Gods, nay look't upon as the chiefest, and Parent of all the Rest, notwithstanding he was so severe and harsh to him that gave him Being. You know what the Poets say of him. They tell ye that Saturn devoured his own Children, and that it was for that Reason that his Son resolved to load him with Chains, not being able otherwise to put a stop to the brutish Fury of such an unnatural Father. The Morals of these Fables farther instruct you, that Saturn was a Prince that reigned among the Babylonians, that he became a Tyrant, and to defray his immoderate expenses, he had ruined his People, and that his Son dethroned him, not being able to stop the Career of his Tyranny.  
This Example, you see, is as ancient as the Deluge. 'Tis true that Nature in those remote Ages, as well as now, taught us that common Precept, Honour thy Father and thy Mother. But that was no Hindrance, but that at the same time she inculcated into Children, that there were extraordinary Occasions which justified the dispensing with that Precept; and shows us that a Father, who is a Tyrant, is not to be looked upon as a Father, but as a furious Lion, who ought to be chained up by his Son. In a word, Nature inspires us to extirpate Tyranny, and that he who has a right to do it, ought not to be stupefied or quelled with the Relation which he may have to the Tyrant. This is a Law in all Countries, and a Sanction in all Ages.  
red the Eastern Histories, and you will there find a great number of Princes, whose Destinies were like to that of Mahomet the Fourth, dethroned in our days.  
But what need we search for Examples of this Nature among the Infidels, when we may find so many among the Christians. Surely, Sir, you need but cast your Eyes upon the Histories of England and Denmark, of Poland and Swedeland, which are full of Examples of Princes dethroned.  
The Emperour Maurice, who by the Report of St. Gregory, was so zealous to defend the catholic Faith, and to whom Euticheus of Constantinople, and Abbot Theodore, had fortetold by Inspiration from Heaven, his Advancement to the Empire, yet forgot himself to that degree, that he commanded that no soldier should turn Monk, till he had served out his full time in the Wars. And to this Injustice, he added an Avarice so sordid, as rendered him odious to all the Army. For having one day refused to redeem certain Souldiers that had been taken in battle, tho' the Ransom offered were very inconsiderable, the Officers and Souldiers by joint Consent elected in his room Phocas, tho' no more than a private Centurion. Which Phocas pursued and took, and put him to death upon a public Scaffold, after he had killed four of his Sons.  
The Emperour Henry the IV. to whom all the Historians give the Character of a heroic Prince, and who to omit those other noble Qualities that enriched his Mind, had been personally in above sixty Battels, nevertheless had an infinite number of Faults, which cost him the loss of the Empire. For in his time, as well you know it was, that the famous quarrel began between the Popes and the Emperours. Alexander the II. had cited him to Rome to give an account of his loose Life, and for his selling the Investitures of Bishops, which he pretended to be his Right; but the Emperour derided his Citation. Gregory the VII. who succeeded Alexander, enraged at Henry the Fourth's Contempt of the Holy See, and being willing to lay hold upon any pretence, treated him with so much scorn upon the occasion of Investitures, that the Emperour, who was no less haughty, observed no Measures with the Pope. He leagued himself with all his Enemies, and thereby drew upon himself an Excommunication, which was the cause of all his Misfortunes. 'Tis true, that he in like manner Excommunicated the Pope in an Assembly of the Bishops and all the Ecclesiastical Princes of the Empire. But Henry nevertheless, in a short time after, was reduced to that extremity, that seeing that most of the Princes of Germany and Italy had taken Arms against him, at the solicitation of Gregory, he resolved to go a Penitent to Rome, to take off his Excommunication, which in truth the Pope did, but in such a scornful manner, that all the Princes and States of Italy murmured at it. For Henry being arrived at Canossa, where the Pope lay, they let him enter the first Gate, having there enclosed him all alone, while they that attended him were left without, he was given to understand that there was no Remission to be had, unless he fasted three days together, unless he stood every one of those days till the evening, in the Snow, upon his bare feet, and after that Penance implored the Pope's Pardon for his Fault: all which was punctually performed.  
This Prince, who never expected so severe an Entertainment, incensed at his own folly that had constrained him to be reduced to a necessity so violent, joined in Opinion with the Princes and States of Italy, who looked upon the Pope's pride, as a thing of dangerous Consequence, and declared himself once more an Enemy to the Pope. But the Issue proved unsuccessful. For Gregory by his secret Intrigues, having brought over all the Princes to his side, he was deprived of his Imperial Dignity, and Rodolphus, Duke of Suabia, was elected in his room, and crowned at Mayence in the Year 1077.  
The Emperour on the other side, declared War against Rodolphus, and foiled him several times; but in regard the Bishops, who had elected the latter, were obliged to support him, they advised the Pope to Excommunicate Henry a second time; which he did: and then it was that Rodolphus received the Crown from the Hands of Gregory with these words: 
Petra dedit Petro, Petrus Diadema Rodolpho▪  
From Petra Peter first received his Name,  
Peter to Ralph consigns the diadem.   
The Emperour on the other side, having assembled a council of several Bishops, both of Italy and Germany, and presiding himself in the Assembly, as his Predecessors had done, Gregory the VII. was there deposed, and Gilbert, Archbishop of Ravenna, who called himself Clement the III. was chosen in his room. But soon after Rodolphus was wounded in a battle which he fought, and dyed of his wounds. He was interred with great Pomp, and upon his Tomb was engraved a Crown, with all the other Imperial Ornaments; which gave occasion to Henry to say, That he wished all his Enemies enterr'd as magnificently as Rodolphus.  
Henry being rid of his Rival, prepared for a Voyage into Italy, where he made himself Master of Rome, where he caused the Pope and himself to be crowned with all the usual Ceremonies.  
Nevertheless, in regard this War between Henry and the apostolic See had troubled all Germany, and that all the Princes were obliged to take part with the Head of the Church, all the World leagued themselves against the Emperour, and principally his two Sons conrad and Henry, who entred into a Design to Depose him, to the end they might restore Peace to Germany, and at the same time rid the Holy See of one of the most implacable Enemies that ever the Popes had.  
In a word, Henry the Son took him Prisoner, and having summoned an Assembly of the Princes to Mayence, and the Pope's Legates, who were there present, having red over the two Excommunications that had been thundered out against the Emperour, the Assembly with one Consent deposed him from the Imperial Dignity, and proclaimed his Son Henry. After which the Archbishops of Mayence and Cologne, with the Bishop of Wertembergh, were deputed to carry the News to Henry the Fourth, and to bring away the Imperial Ornaments.  
Henry urged many strong Reasons, and did his utmost to oppose this Design; but the Bishops by violence took away the Crown which they had put upon his Head, and by force disrobed him of the Imperial Mantle, and returning to Mayence, delivered them to the new Emperour: Nor could Henry the IV. be ever again restored.  
Wenceslaus Emperour and King of B●hemia, at the Age of seventeen years, took upon him the Government of the Empire and Kingdom of Bohemia, but he brought along with him such vicious Conditions, that worse could not be. He kept his Residence at Prague, the Capital City of Bohemia, and following the example of Charles his Father, he sold what was to be sold of the Rights of the Empire, and committed a number of other Miscarriages, which were the occasion of a Civil War in Germany, which proved fatal to several Princes.  
Besides, one great piece of Negligence which Wenceslaus committed in the management of his Affairs, he was addicted to so much Debauchery of all sorts, that he was contemned by all his Subjects. More especially he drew upon himself their hatred by his excessive Impositions which he laid upon them, and by the unheard of Cruelties which he exercised upon their Persons, to which he had habituated himself in such a manner, that he made no scruple to cut off the Heads of Magistrates of Prague, without any Legal Trial.  
The great Lords of Bohemia seeing these Disorders of their King increase from day to day, thought it but necessary to put a stop to them, and by the consent of sigismond the King's Brother, they confined him in a close Prison, from whence he found a way to escape, about four Months after. He was afterward taken and retaken several times, till at length having made his last Escape, he got to Prague, and by the Assistance of some Lords that were his Friends, he re-assumed his Royal Authority, with promise to led a more regular Life for the future.  
Nevertheless, he took no more care of the Affairs of the Empire than he did before. He sold the Seignioral Rights of several Lands, and the Title of D. of Milan, without the Consent or Knowledge of the Electors and other Princes. So that the Princes perceiving all the ways he could to dismember the Empire to supply his sordid Avarice, and this at a time that the Wicklevians began to divide it, and that the Victorious Turks prevailed over the Christians every day; These Princes, I say, after long forbearances, judging that it concerned the public Safety, to delay no longer the electing an Emperour capable to restore the Peace of the Empire, and support the Imperial Dignity, by the Advice of Pope Boniface, declared Wenceslaus uncapable to Govern, and Deposed him.  
This sentence of Deposal was published the Twentieth of August, 1400. Frederick Duke of Lunenburgh and Brunswick was in Nomination, but he dying within a few days, Robert, surnamed the Little, was elected in his room.  
Winceslaus seemed to be insensible of his being deposed; and it is reported that he should say, That he was overjoyed to be discharged of the burden of the Empire, in hopes that he might the better apply himself to the Government of his Kingdom. And indeed for Nineteen years that he reigned afterward in Bohemia, his Subjects found his Conduct infinitely much more rational than it had been before. And thus you see, Sir, that the Deposing a Prince may sometimes prove a meritorious Work, at which the Angels themselves rejoice. For in short, not only a whole Estate is thereby preserved, but you contribute to the Salvation of a reprobate and ungracious Prince, who is thereby snatched, as I may say, from the jaws of Hell, to be translated into Paradise, and made a Vessel of Election.  
Fathers are obliged, according to the Maxims of the Gospel, to watch over the Salvation of their Children; and the Scripture says, That he who neglects the care of his Family, is worse than an Infidel. On the other side, Children are no less obliged, in respect of those that gave them Being. They ought to be the Fathers of their Fathers, and are obliged to labour their Salvation, when they see them in the Road to Perdition. They are responsible for their Souls, when they may contribute to their Salvation and do not do it. Would you, Sir, acquire the Name of Pious? save a Father, who like Wenceslaus, has endeavoured so long time the Ruin of his Kingdom. Save a Father, whose Life, like that of Wenceslaus, has been but one continued Wolf of Cruelties and Debaucheries. Lastly, Sir, save a Father, who has been guilty of a thousand more Miscarriages than ever that effeminate Prince.  
Were it possible to save him by Fastings, by Mortifications, by Sacrifices, it behoves you to spare for nothing of that Nature. You ought to make Vows to all the Saints, to make an Interest in the Queen of Heaven by Devotions extraordinary, gird yourself with Sack-cloth, and go in Pilgrimages round about the World in search of some prevailing relic yet unknown. But alas! you would in vain condemn your flesh to such a sort of Martyrdom. Ambition, Breach of Faith, Luxury, Cruelty, and all other Vices of this Nature, so predominant in your Father, are a sort of Devils not to be expelled by Fastings nor Prayers. You must tear the Crown from his Head; You must ranverse his Throne; You must seize upon his sceptre. Wenceslaus had been always Wenceslaus, had he been always Emperour. Have you less affection for Lewis the XIV. than the Subjects of Wenceslaus had for a Sardanapalus? For a Prince that was so unworthy to sit upon the Throne of the Caesars? No, Sir, you love the King too well, not to furnish him with the means of his Conversion. You must deprive him of that sovereignty which he has so long abused to the great prejudice of all his Kingdom. You must despoil him of that Royal Dignity, which is so great an Obstacle of his Salvation. You must shut him up in a Monastery, where he may attend the work of his Mortification, in imitation of so many Saints, who have voluntarily confined themselves to disentangle themselves from the snares of the World, and gain Paradise. Or if it be a Crown he so much wants, you may procure him one more honourable than any Celestial Diadem; for who shall hinder you? For who will hinder you from adorning him with a shaved Crown?  
Lewis the XIV. would not be the first King that has been deposed in France. Childeric, who was the third King after Pharamond, having at the same moment that he ascended the Throne, abused his Royal Authority, was degraded. The French could not endure that a young King, not content to load them with Taxes, should Command their Wives and Daughters from them. Therefore they assembled together with a Resolution to oppose his Tyranny; and after they had declared him unworthy to wield the sceptre, they elected in his room, Egidius, or Giles, who commanded for the Romans in gall, and resided at Soissons. Childeric submitted to his Deposal, and lived in the Kingdom like a private person; but perceiving there was some Design against his Life, he fled for Sanctuary to King Basin in Turingia, from whence he was recalled some time after, and restored to his Throne, Egidius being expelled for his Oppressions.  
Thierry King of Neustria and Burgundy, after he had reigned somewhat more than a year, was shaved and sent to the Monastery of St. Dennis, where he remained, till Childeric II. who was advanced in his room, was put to death by his own Subjects for his Cruelties and Debaucheries, and then was again fetched out of the abbey, to reassume the Government, from which he had been deposed.  
Childeric III. called the Madman, who was the last King of the first Race, tasted of the same Destiny with Childeric I. and Thierry. For in regard he was a Prince incapable to hold the Reins of Government by reason of his folly and stupidity, Pepin assembled a Parliament, that would have presently conferred the Title of King upon him, but that they were forced to have recourse to the Pope to absolve them from their Oath of Allegiance.  
The Pope at that time was Zachary; to whom Burchard Bishop of Bourges was sent; who represented to his Holiness the sad Condition of France, the disposition of the French, and the incapacity of the King, who immediately granted him a Dispensation as was desired.  
Which being brought from Rome, the French assembled another Parliament at Soissons, where they deposed Childeric, and elected Pepin in his place. Boniface, Arch-Bishop of Mayence, was present at that Assembly, with several other Bishops; and by the same Decree which deposed Childeric, he was first condemned to be shaved, and afterwards confined to the abbey of St. Bertin near St. Omers, from whence he was removed to the Monastery of St. Hemeran at Ratisbone, where he dyed a Monk.  
Pepin II. having rendered himself odious to his Kingdom, by his Oppressions, Injustice, and Debauchery, the Lords of Aquitain called in Charles the Bald his Uncle, who was received at lymoges with all the Expressions of Joy imaginable, and by all the Lords attended to the Siege of Tholose, which he took by Composition. Nevertheless Charles, as unjust as naturally he was, made a scruple of dethroning his Nephew, which occasioned a Reconciliation between them. After which, Pepin by his ill Management provoked the Aquitains to that degree, that they seized upon him, and delivered him to Charles his Uncle, who caused him to be shaved, and then shut him up in the Monastery of St. Medard at Soissons. True it is, he found a way to escape, and sculk'd about for some time, and not knowing what Course to take, at length cast himself upon the Normans, which only served to make him more odious and contemptible than he was before. So that being retaken, his own Subjects looking upon him as a traitor to this Country and to Christendom, condemned him to death; however they saved his Life, and penned him up in the strong Castle of St. Lis.  
Charles the Gross, who was Emperour and King of France, both at a time, a most prosperous Prince at the Beginning of his Reign, became at length the most unfortunate of Men. He was at first adored by the People, for the great and glorious achievements that had signalized his Prowess. He expelled out of Italy, the saracens that threatened Rome. After that, he raised a great Army to oppose the Excursions of the Normans. But in regard that Princes are not always prosperous, and for that he found a greater Resistance than he did in Italy, he was overthrown in one battle; upon which, fearing doubtless, the event of a second, he concluded a Peace with the Enemy, by which he yielded to them the possession of Normandy and Friesland.  
This Concession disgusted the French, as well for that Charles had no Right or Authority to make it without their Consent, as because by quitting those two Provinces to the Normans, he had dismembered the Royal Patrimony, which could not be alienated by the Constitutions of the Kingdom.  
One would have thought that the Necessity to which Charles was reduced, might have in some measure excused him. But being from that time looked upon as a Prince very imperious, and more then that, as a Prince ungrateful, for contemning and ill treating a people, that had so much contributed to his Advancement to the Throne, the French conceived so great an Aversion against him as would admit of no Reconciliation.  
Some say that Charles had always a cracked Brain, ever since a supposal of his, that he had been the Devil, who put a thousand whims in his Head touching the Empress his Wife. Which caused him to be guilty of a thousand Impertinencies. So that after he had committed a number of Extravagancies in an Assembly at Tribur, the manifest effects of a raving Brain, all his German and Bavarian Subjects abandoned him, by the Advice of his own Sister Hildegard, to elect in his room Arnold, the Natural Son of his Brother. The Lorrainers also and Suabians followed the example of the Germans and Bavarians; and the French called in Eudes, Count of Paris, and Duke of France, who had nominated in the last Will of Lewis the Stammerer. So that Charles was all of a sudden left alone, without so much as a lackey to serve him, or any thing to subsist upon, like Belizarius the General of Justinian's Armies. Only Luitper Archbishop of Mayence, took pity of him; he relieved him for some time, till at lengt● Arnold, at the solicitation of the said Bishop, having allowed the Revenue of two or three pitiful Villages, which he made choice of for his Retirement, where he ended his days after a very Tragical manner, being strangled by the People that attended on him, if we may give credit to History.  
Charles the simplo, being recalled out of England, whither Adelaida his Mother had carried him, to avoid the Fury of Lewis and Carleman, the Natural Sons of Lewis the Stammerer, was crowned at Rheims in the Year 893. and acknowledged by the French-Charles began his Reign, with a Peace concluded with the Normans, after he had got the better of them in several Conflicts. He seized upon almost all lorraine; but he disposed so indiscreetly of the Government, that those whom he entrusted made themselves Masters of it. Besides, he was a young Prince, of weak parts, and lead by his Favourites that absolutely possessed his Ears. So that his ill management of the Affairs of the Kingdom so highly incensed the Lords of the Kingdom, that being assembled at Soissons, they expelled him his Dominions, and reduced him to such extremity, that he was constrained to retire for Relief to Foulque Archbishop of Rheims, who had chiefly laboured his Admittance to the Crown; who maintained him at his own Charges, all his other Revenues being taken from him.  
In the mean time, Robert Count of Paris, Brother of Eudes, and Grandfather by the Father's side to Hugh Capet, caused himself to be crwoned at St. Rheny by Rheimes. Thereupon Charles betook himself to Henry the III. who promised to assist him. But before the Emperor's succours arrived, Robert was at the Head of a great Army, and gave Charles battle near Soissons, wherein he was slain; and some say that Charles the simplo ran him through with his Lance. However it were, Charles made so ill use of his Advantage, that his Enemies gained time to oppose against him Raoul of Burgundy.  
Nevertheless, Charles's Army increased, and certain it is, that Raoul at first began to fear him. But the weak King, when he should have hazarded all to have made himself King by force of Arms, made svit for a Peace, which was his ruin. For Herbert, Count of Vermandois, Son in Law to Robert, having drawn him to St. Quintins, under pretence of consulting about the Peace, there seized upon him, and sent him to Castle Thierry, from whence being brought to Soissons, where at the same time the principal Lords of the Kingdom were assembled, he was solemnly Deposed, and Raoul as solemnly elected in his room. Charles was removed from Prison to Prison, and dyed after he had reigned thirty years from his Coronation to his Imprisonment.  
The Exclusion of Charles Duke of lorraine, after the Extinction of the second Race by the Death of Lewis the V. was a real Deposal; as you must allow, Sir, if you mark well the History.  
Charles was the Son of Lewis the IV. Brother to Lothairr, and Uncle to Lewis the V. Now the Throne being voided by the Death of the last King, by the Law of the Land, the Crown apparently belonged to the Duke of lorraine, being the first Prince of the Royal Blood. Nevertheless you know, Sir, that Hugh Capet, the Son of Hugh the Great, Master of the Palace, and Count of Paris, was established King, & Charles excluded.  
Certain it is, that the General Estates of France had reason sufficient to exclude the Duke of lorraine; for besides that, the Crown of France was not then properly successive, the young Duke did all he could to make himself unworthy of the Dignity.  
For first, he attended the Emperour Otho the II. to be by him invested in the duchy of lorraine; and did him Homage for it, instead of holding it in sovereignty, as he might have done. Which the French could not but look upon as a Cowardly Action, by which in a manner he resigned his Pretensions to the Crown of France. Moreover, after he was Duke of lorraine, he declared against France, and sided with the Germans that had withdrawn themselves from their Obedience to the French Monarchy.  
These two Considerations were enough to render the Duke suspected to France, and consequently to make him be looked upon as unworthy of the sovereign Government. But that which more especially alienated the Minds of the French from him, and made them contemn and hate Charles, was his ill Conduct, his Cruelties and Tyranny. For tho' the Lorrainers were not his Natural Subjects, he ceased not to oppress and load them with Taxes to support the expenses of his Prodigality.  
So that when the Vacancy fell, the French made no scruple, to exclude him the Kingdom. For in all Exigencies of this Nature, the People, or those that represent them, having not only a Right to limit, restrain, and order the Circumstances of Successions as they shall judge most proper; but also to choose such a King as they please themselves, the States General assembled at Mayon to proceed according to the ancient customs to the Election of a new Monarch, so soon as the Posture of Affairs would permit them. All the Persons of Note and Rank throughout the Kingdom there met; and most certain it is, Sir, that there was never seen in France an Assembly of that Nature so noble, nor so numerous.  
Charles was then in Germany, and in regard he could not choose how the French stood affencted toward him, he sent his Ambassadors to the Assembly, who declared in their Master's Name, That if they cast their Eyes upon another, and did not Elect him, seeing he was the presumptive Heir, and first Prince of the Blood, he would make them obey him, and choose him by force.  
The States, no way pleased with this Harangue, nor minding the Duke's Threats, were about to have stopped his Ambassadors, in order to have made them pay for the rashness of their Master. But in regard they thought it not convenient to violate the Law of Nations, they thought it sufficient to sand him an Answer full of scorn and derision, and at the same time by a solemn Sentence declared, That since Charles had shown himself a Friend to the Enemies of France, that the French had renounced his Friendship; and declared, that he had forfeited the benefit of the Law, as well for being the first that broken it, as for that they were not bound to aclowledge for King, the sworn Enemy of their Country. And therefore, since their Oath obliged them to a King that was to be looked upon as the Father of his Country, to a just, prudent, mildred, and moderate Prince, they protested their open renouncing him before God, with a safe Conscience, and without any alteration of the Fundamental Law; and declared withall, that their Intention was to choose a King that should take care of the Repose of the Kingdom.  
This Declaration was delivered to the ambassadors, with a particular Command forthwith to depart the Kingdom: And the same day by an Authentic Edict it was concluded, That since there was a necessity to choose a King for the Preservation of the Crown of France, and the Line being extinct by the death of Lewis V. and the manifest Felony of Charles D. of Lorraine, they did sincerely Elect Hugh Capet for King, and promised to obey both him and his Posterity, as their Lawful Kings, according to the Laws of the Kingdom, as they were bound in Duty to God and their own Consciences.  
This Edict being published, Hugh was crowned at Reims by the Arch-Bishop Adalberon; not one that were present at Noyon, or at Capet's Coronation making the least Challenge in Charles's behalf, but on the contrary, subscribing the Oath in Writing, as well as swearing it by word of Mouth to Hugh Capet.  
Some say, that Lewis the V. bequeathed the Kingdom to Hugh by Will; others, that he left it to his Wife by his last Testament, to surrender it back to Hugh, upon Condition he should mary her: and so it was not by Choice, but by Will, that this first King of the third Race came to the Crown. But as Mezerai, who was one of the best Historians of his Age, observes, His strongest Title was the general Consent of the People of France. For, Sir, I would not have you flatter yourself to think otherwise, but that the People, as they have an Original Right to create the Kings that are to Govern them, so they have a Right to Depose and Exclude them from the Crown, when the Necessity and Repose of the Kingdom require it.  
I confess, Sir, that after the Reign of Hugh Capet, we do not find in our History any Example of Kings being deposed. But would you know the Reason? Besides that this Third Race has had no such slothful and weak Princes as abound●d in the preceding Lines; the Kings of France are become much more powerful since that, as having usurped by degrees the Rights and privileges of the People. Hugh Capet, who first found the secret how to win the hearts of the French, was the first that began to eclipse the Right of Election, by causing his Son Robert to be crwoned with the Consent of the Estates of the Kingdom: And it came to pas●, that afterwards his Successor sinsensibly set themselves above the Laws, and now enjoy an unlimited Power.  
Do you believe, Sir, that the People of France are such Fools, as not to perceive, that the Kings of France Reign like Tyrants, and that their Subjects live like Slaves? They have complained of it a long time, they have bewailed their Condition, they have murmured; and if ●ey have not freed themselves as yet fi●●●hat sovereign and Despotic Power, ●hich makes their Monarchs Masters of their Lives and Estates, 'tis not because they could not; for when an Opportunity has presented itself to shake off so cruel a Yoke, there have been many Tumults and Insurrections, of which you have seen some in the Reign of Lewis the XIV.  
What think you the 
* At Paris a Toll-gatherer having demanded a penny of an Herb-woman for a bunch of Water-cresses, the Rabble gathered together, at the cries of the Woman, went and beat down the Gates of the City-Magazine to Arm themselves, and there having gotten three or four thousand Iron Hammers, they were called by the Name of Malliotins, or People that knocked down People with Hammers.  Malliotins intended to have done under the Reign of Charles the VI. They would have seized upon the Throne, and taken the Government into their own hands, to have freed themselves from the heavy Taxes which the King had imposed upon the Kingdom, and upon all the Parisiens. Paris, roven, Troyes, orleans, and several other Cities took up Arms at the same time, in order to have broken their Chains. But Charles the VI. returning with a powerful Army out of Flanders, broken their Measures all of a sudden. They were afraid to incur the same Fate with those of the City of Gaunt, which the King had reduced, and put under the Power of Lewis de Marle their Count, after Philip D' Artevelle had engaged them in a Rebellion. The Parisians no less Proud, but not so courageous as those of Gaunt, marched forth above 30000 strong to meet Charles in the Plain of St. Dennis, making a show as if they would have fought the King. But a sort of panic Terror falling upon them, they durst not enterprise any thing.  
That abominable Maxim, That a Tyrant and a Heretical Prince may be Assassinated, which has been too often practised in France, since the Jesuits grew numerous, is a convincing Argument that our People are under Bondage, and that they are ill satisfied with the Government. For if they had in their hands the power which they had Originally, that is, were they powerful enough to Depose a Prince that oppresses and devours them, that forces from them their Wives and Daughters, that overwhelms them with Taxes and Contributions, that puts them to death unjustly, either for matters in Religion, or for Opinions which the Church condemns, they would never have been provoked to die their hands in the Blood of the Lord's Anointed: The Church would never have had the sad occasion to see the most Sacred of her Maxims violated, That she abhors the Effusion of Blood. But what shall we do, Sir? This is the fruit of Tyranny and Arbitrary Power. The Peoples hands are tied; they cannot do what Lawfully they might; they discharge themselves of their sins by committing Crimes; and this ought to make all the Kings in the World tremble, that push on their Power too far. For in short, there are Villains, Mad-men, and Jesuits in every corner.  
I believe also, we might find several Kings that have seen themselves upon the very brink of being deprived of their Crowns: but I shall mention onely Henry the III. for I have that Prince in view, because he was killed by a 
* Henry the III. being gone to Besiege Paris with an Army of 40000 Men, a certain Monk, whose Name was Jacob Clement. stabbed him at St. Cloud's, with a Knife, in the lower part of the Belly, while he was Reading certain Letters, which the M●nk delivered him, to amuse him. The King died next day of the Wound.  Monk.  
Henry, who had already signalized himself in several extraordinary Actions, was elected King of Poland, after the Death of sigismond Augustus, and was crwoned at Cracovia.  
But understanding the Death of Charles IX. his Brother, he withdrew himself secretly out of Poland, and was crowned King of France; at what time he found the Kingdom divided by the Factions of the Huguenots. Which Factions soon after dividing into three bulky Parties, the Contest between them was called, The War of the Three Henrys. That of the League, under the Conduct of Henry Duke of Guise; that of the Hugonots, headed by Henry King of Navarr; and King Henry's Party, which were called the politics, and was always the weakest.  
The King of navarre laid no present claim to the Crown, only desired to preserve the Succession in the right Channel, if the Branch of clois should happen to fail. And he had reason for what he did; in regard that after the Death of the Duke of Anjou, Pope Sixtus the V. had declared him incapable to enjoy it, as also the Prince of Conde, because they were both heretics. But it was not so with the Duke of Guise: for in regard he was Duke of lorraine, and that the Exclusion of of his Line by the Capets, still stuck in his stomach, he aspired to the Crown. And it was no fault of his, that Henry had not been deposed several times; but all his Arts failed him. He had taken the King's side, that he might the better play his part, and secure the Crown to himself. And indeed, at the very time that he seemed to serve him most faithfully, and that he fought the Religionanes, in a Council held at Rome,( for that Court still favoured his Designs) they did not stick to say, That thô the Race of the Capets had succeeded to the Temporal Administration of the Kingdom of Charlemaign, it had no Right of Succession to the apostolic Benediction, affencted and coveted by the Posterity of that great Prince. On the other side, that as Hugh Capet by usurping Charles's Crown, had usurped the Benediction; he had thereby drawn upon himself, and his Successors, a perpetual Malediction, which had rendered his Posterity refractory and disobedient to the Church; as being introduced to ruin that damnable Error called by the French, The Liberty of the Gallican Church. To which they added in conclusion, That if the Duke of Guise, could but arrive at his end, which was to extirminate the heretics, he might by the Warrant and Permission of his Holiness, shut up the King and Queen, in a Monastery, as Pepin his Predecessor had served Childeric.  
And so far was the Party of the League from expecting less, that they averred it openly. They called the King, The Doubtful King of France and the Imaginary King of Poland. One day these Verses were found written with a Coal in the chapel of the Blanes-Battus, in the 
* This was a Brotherhood of White Penitents, Instituted by Hen. 3. Of which Fraternity the greatest part of his Favourites were. This Prince had given himself over to such a ridiculous sort of bigotry, that he would sometimes run about the Streets of Paris all Night in Procession.  Augustines of Paris.  
The Bones of the poor Saints deceased  
In a Burgundian across here shown,  
Declare that all thy Prayers are ceased,  
And thou thyself shalt lose thy Crown.  
One of his Engravers having finished the Quadrant of the Sun-Dial in the Palace, and having put over head these words: 
— Who gave thee Two  
Before, a Triple-Crown shall give thee now.   
Two days after, over the Door of a Shop near the Sun-Dial, this Answer was writ: The Third shall so be given him, as he the Second held before. Which gave occasion to the following Distich: 
Who gave thee Two, took One away, the other shakes,  
The Third with Razor keen, the nimble Barber makes.   
And over the Motto of the Empress, which the King always bore, Manet ultima Coelo, were added these Verses: 
The heavy Pains for all thy Perjuries  
Attend thee last of all above the Skies.  
For God all Breakers of their Word contemns,  
And low depressed to utmost Hell condemns.  
Heaven owns thee not, no Crown can Tyrants claim;  
Unless at last a shaved Crown with shane.   
Even the very Preachers in their Pulpits publicly talked the same Treasons. But this was not all; for to facilitate the Design which they had projected of enclosing him in a cloister, some were for seizing him while he made his Nocturnal Processions; some while he was Masquerading, which was a sport very common with him. Eight days before the famous battle of the Barricado's, Madam de Montpensier having given a Dinner to four or five Curiassers, in a House in the Country, without St. Anthony's Gate, as the King was returning home with only four or five lackeys, and two Gentlemen, those Cuirassie●s were to have seized and run away with him; and then it was to be given out, that the huguenots had taken him. And you well know, Sir, that the Estates of Blois were assembled to no other purpose, but that the King might fall the more easily into the Hands of the Duke of guise; and Madam de Monpensier carried the soldiers at her Girdle, that were to have cut off his Hair, in order to the making his Crown. But the King being informed of this enterprise, caused the Duke, and the Cardinal his Brother to be both murdered. And it was well it came into his mind; for without that expedient, he had been in great danger of dying a Priest.  
I need not tell you what had like to have happened to Lewis the XIV. himself, in the time of the princes War, it being a thing which you know so well. The Prince of Conde was going to overturn the Throne, and if he proved unsuccessful, the King may thank the Religionaries, who would never forsake him.  
Know you, Sir, what would have happened had the Duke of guise, and the Prince of Conde attained their ends? They would have caused themselves to be crowned Kings; and they would have received ambassadors from all parts, to congratulate their Restauration to the Thrones of their Ancestors. The Pope himself has sent a Nuncio to make them Partakers of the Apostolic Benediction, and to absolve the Subjects of Henry and Lewis, from their Oaths of Fidelity and Allegiance. And all the rest of the Christian Princes would not have failed to say, That Henry had drawn upon himself all his Misfortunes, by his Leagues, by his Tyrannies, by his insane Biggottries, by his blind dotage upon his Minions, and that Lewis the XIV. as much a God as they looked upon him to be, ought to be deemed no other, than the Son of Mazarine, or some other Stallion of the Queen's.  
But as for the Duke of Guise, and the Prince of Condé, they would have been accounted real Princes; they would have been acknowledged for lawful Princes, so soon as they had been invested with the Regal Authority, thô it had been never so illegally usurped. They had made Alliances with them as France did with cronwell, after he had put to Death the King of England: And as she afterwards did with the King of Portugal, and the present Grand Seignor, thô they both dethroned their Brothers. Those Princes, in a word, had been looked upon as you look upon Hugh Capet; and all Europe would have the same Veneration for you, were you in possession of the Throne, after you had deposed a Prince, who is esteemed the Plague and Scourge of Mankind, as it was said of Attila.  
Either you must say, Sir, that all the Deposed Kings which I have reckoned up, was deposed unjustly, and by Consequence that Hugh Capet usurped the Crown of France, which you will be very wary how you aclowledge, for it is too much your own concern; or else you must grant that a Prince may be sometimes deposed, when there is a lawful Occasion. I have shewed you already, that it is for the Preservation of France; that it is to keep the Crown upon your own Head; and that it is for the salvation of the King's Soul. Are not these Arguments sufficiently prevalent? But I will go farther; I will prove that never any Prince deserved to be pulled by Head and Shoulders from his Throne, as Lewis the XIV.   

The Third Discourse.  
SIR,  
THere are some Politicians who maintain, That King's are above the Law; that as they may disannul the Laws, so they may violate them at their pleasure, without any fear of being called to an Account for so doing. In a word, that their sovereignty and their Power is nothing else but a Universal Impunity. So that according to this Maxim, a King can never injure his Subjects, let him use them never so barbarously; and that Subjects are always unjust, if they take up Arms against their King; nay, if they so much as murmur at their Oppression.  
David, according to these Morals, might lie with Bathsheba, and never fear being called to an account, and sand her Husband to be slaughtered, and the People never take it in dudgeon. These are the Prerogatives of sovereigns, with which the People have nothing to do. They also farther observe, That when the holy Prophet did Penance for his two Crimes of Adultery and Homicide, that he never asked Pardon, either of Bathsheba or Uriah, nor of his People, but acknowledges only that he had sinned against God, Against thee only have I sinned. They pretend also that St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, and some other Fathers of the Church are of their Opinion. But I am not bound to believe 'em for all that; the Fathers are not infallible Authors; a man might make a long Catalogue of the Errors of those Holy Doctors; and let the Fathers say what they please, 'tis not the Church that speaks.  
If I would turn Divine, I could unfold to you in what sense David expresses himself after that manner. I could inform you that the Holy Prophet was well satisfied that he had sinned against Bathsheba, in causing her to commit Adultery, one of the foulest Crimes with which a Woman can defile herself; that he had sinned against Uriah, by having dishonoured him in ravishing away his Wife, and afterwards causing him to be murdered. Lastly, that he had sinned against his People, whom he had scandalised by his own example. But that he had all this while more heinously offended God by transgressing his Holy Law; having thereby given an occasion to the uncircumcised Nations to blaspheme his Divinity: and in regard that God was without question, more considerable, than either Bathsheba or Uriah, or his People, he could not but express himself to God as he did, Against Thee only have I sinned: to show by that Confession, that it was God with whom he was principally concerned; and that it was of him that he was chiefly to beg Pardon; and that it was from him alone that he could obtain it, since he alone could only forgive him, and restore Peace to his Soul, and tranquillity to his Conscience.  
I could tell you moreover, that men may in some measure make amends for Transgressions committed against their Neighbour, but not for Offences committed against their Creator. If one man have committed an offence against another, a Reconciliation may be made; but if a man have sinned against God, who shall be his Judge? So that David had great reason to say, He had sinned against God only.  
I might say in the third place, That tho' the Prophet was willing to observe that tho' he were absolved by men; that tho' his People had forgiven him; that tho' no body could reproach him for the Murder and Adultery which he had committed; that tho' to flatter him, and alloy his Grief, his Courtiers might endeavour to excuse his Crimes, nevertheless that he did not believe himself to be really Absolved, unless God himself pardonned him, and therefore it was that he addresses himself only to him.  
Lastly, I might say, with several of the ancient Writers, that tho' that David had offended men, nevertheless he looked upon himself as not having otherwise offended them, then as God was the only Witness of his Crimes. For, Sir, you must not think that David debauched Uriah's Wife in the sight of all the People. A wise Prince may sometimes forget him, but he always takes care of being publicly observed. He knows that the Miscarriages of a Prince are like the eclipses of the Sun; that they come to the knowledge of all the World, and therefore he hides himself in a Cloud, when he gives himself over to his pleasure; we must not judge of the Conduct of a King of Judah by that of Lewis the XIV.  
But I need not so many Arguments. I am persuaded, Sir, that this same Maxim, that gives so much liberty to King's, without the fear of control, cannot but offend you; and indeed, it is your Interest to be offended at it. For otherwise the Bourbons would be the greatest Usurpers in Nature. For that then it would be true that the People of France had no lawful Authority to exclude the Duke of lorraine from the Succession, how undeserving soever he might be.  
We must allow that the greatest Politicians are not always to be followed; their politics are often politics of Interest. Their principal Aim is to court those Princes from whom they expect Rewards. On the other side, Princes are willing enough to be flattered; yet there is a Law that flows from Nature, which they cannot violate without losing the Quality of a King: and this Law is the Safety of the People. Kings are their Fathers and their Pastors, as the Ancients call them. And at the very same moment that they cease to be Fathers, or become incapable of being so, the People ought to Depose them, and elect others in their rooms. A Tyrant, a Mad-man, a weak and simplo Prince, are no way fit to govern a Kingdom. If Lewis the XIV. be guilty of any one of these Defects, you must aclowledge, Sir, that he ought to be deprived of the Government. Now that he is guilty of them altogether, is no difficult thing to prove.  
For as to the first Head, Sir, there needs no more but to take a view of his whole Life ever since his Minority. For never any Prince exercised a more tyrannick Power than he has done. His miraculous and unexpected Birth gave occasion to France to conceive that Heaven, favourable to her prayers and wishes, had sent her a Restorer. But she has had the misfortune to find, that if Heaven gave her a King, it was in its Anger. The French( or Franks) have but little cause to flatter themselves with bearing a Name that denotes their being a free people, when they are such slaves, as we see them to be, under the Reign of their King Lewis the XIV. For what rank or condition of men is there in the Kingdom, that can brag of any privileges? No, no, France is truly in Chains.  
I will not speak of the Abolishing of the States General, in which Assemblies our People had a Right to Depose and Elect their Kings; to appoint them Regents and Tutors; to nominate and recommend to the highest Trusts in the Kingdom; to enact Levies and Impositions of Taxes; to make Laws, and redress all Abuses that were crept into the Government. This was a Liberty which was wrested from them b● Lewis the XIII. when Cardinal Richlieu had the sole Government of that Monarch. For it was the Policy of that Minister to extinguish the very memory of the States General, if it were possible, as being the only Obstruction to absolute Royal Authority. And in that he acted only for the support of his own Interest. For I had forgot to tell you, that he aspired to the Crown, and caused Lewis the XIII. to be poisoned with a slowly operating poison, if we may believe what some Writers do say.  
However, I do not absolutely accuse that King, for having ravished this Liberty from the People; since it was properly the Master piece of him that reigned under the Reign of his Master, and ruled like a perfect Tyrant. Nevertheless, I may truly say in this Case, That the King is not altogether exempt from Tyranny. For if the Assembling of the States General be a Right and privilege due to the People of France; how comes it to pass, that being absolute, he would never summon any of these Assemblies? He was obliged, as a true King, to have return'd all things into their proper Channel, and to have restored to the People the Franchises which had been usurped from them in the preceding Reign. For in short, he that approves the Tyranny, is no less a Tyrant, than he that exercises it.  
I must confess there were substituted in the room of these General States, those things which you call Parliaments. Which at first indeed had some shadow of the Authority of the former.  
For at their first Institution, they had power to judge the Peers and Grandees of the Kingdom: They gave the Oaths to such as were advanced to Places of highest Trust; they had the power to verify the King's Edicts, and to prevent their being in force, unless they were verified by them. In a word, they had power to withstand the Will of the Prince, if his Will were unjust. But now these Courts have nothing of sovereignty but the Title. The Members that compose them are a sort of Illustrious Slaves, by nothing else distinguished by the common sort, but by their Purple. They blindly submit to all that comes from the Court. And if there be any Men of Integrity, that stand up at any time in resistance of the Court, for the Liberty of the People, they are either put out of their Places, or ignominiously sent away to the farther end of some Province, where they are either condemned to Death or perpetual Imprisonment, as Rebels and Refractories.  
Now the Grandees of the Kingdom aclowledge no other than the King, who Judges and Sentences them as he pleases by his Commissioners. They are sworn only by the King to their Allegiance, when they are preferred to any considerable Employment. And as for the Verification of the King's Edicts, that privilege was altogether disannulled in the Reign of Lewis the XIV. The Verifications at this day are merely Notifications, as has been well observed by a great Enemy of the French Tyranny. For all the King's Declarations and Edicts are only registered in the Parliaments, merely to give the Subjects notice what is the Will of the Prince. If they happen to refuse to Register them, the King sends them a new Command, and they must obey. Neither is it permitted them under this King to make any Remonstrances: which was a kind of shadow of Liberty, which, till of late, was never taken from them. But should they now Remonstrate, it would be a Crime that Lewis would never forgive them.  
These sovereign Courts, which were the Ramparts of the People's Freedom, and opposed the King's Decrees, when they ●ound them to be unjust, tremble at the sight of a single Letter under the King's Signet, or an Order of an Intendant. Nay, the King has so far advanced his despotic Power, that a Parliament dares not put to Death a Criminal, for whom the Court has any kindness, nor pronounce innocent and honest Man, that is disgusted at Court. We have seen of late, in the Case of the Protestants and their Members, that Father la Chaise made all the Decrees that were given out against them: and those poor People sometimes adventured to make it out, that they were no way Guilty of the Crimes that were laid to their Charge. Nevertheless, they were condemned for all that. And when they proved before their Judges that their Sentences were unjust, and that their Judges many times ingeniously confessed them so to be, yet they as ingeniously acknowledged that they had an Order from above, which they durst not disobey; and that it was not in the power of the Parliaments, either to do, or not to do Justice. So that the King has most exactly▪ executed the Cardinals Maxim to Lewis the XIII. That it was a Thing of great Importance to prevent his Officers of Justice from encroaching upon the Royal Authority: In regard, that if he once gave them the reins, he would never afterwards be able to restrain them within the Limits of their Duty.  
What are the Estates that assemble every year in certain Provinces? They consist of Bishops, Lords, and the Mayors and Sheriffs of the most considerable Cities, who are entirely at the King's Devotion; and dare not stand up for the Rights and privileges of the People, for fear of being turned out, and debarred for ever entrance into any of those Grand Assemblies. There they formerly were wont to debate, whether they should make a Present to the King, or no; and their Suffrages were free, to vote according to the Dictates of their own Consciences. When the Thing was concluded, 'twas necessary the King should be present, and they agreed upon a Sum, which was called a Free Gift, because they were at liberty to grant, or not to grant it. Sometimes they were whole Weeks together before they could agree upon the Sum, which at length was ascertained; and if the People were not overcharged, yet the King was to rest satisfied. Now the Face of things is quiter altered. The Free Gift is a forced Gift. The King demands what he pleases, and tho' the Sums be never so excessive, they must be granted him. For who would willingly be banished, or incur the disfavour of a Prince, who will not be contradicted, and punishes those sorts of Crimes, as if they were Treasons or Conspiracies against his Person. If the Bishops were now what they were in the times of the Apostles, they would laugh at the Court, and side with their Sheep that consided in them. But these Shepherds are too politic to run the Risco of losing their Rents: They are under the King's yoke, and they are always the chief Supports of Tyranny.  
The People in general are so overloaden with Taxes over all the Provinces of the Kingdom, they are so poor, so miserable, that the Condition to which they are reduced is the subject of all Foreigners Pity. They compare those afflicted People to the Subjects of the Ottoman Princes, and wonder they do not attempt to set themselves at liberty. In a word, they are overwhelmed with Taxes, loaden with an infinite number of Imposts; they are made to pay Free Gifts, and such intolerable Tolls, that these Oppressions of themselves were enough to reduce them to utter Beggary. But this is not all; they make them labour without any Salary in the public Works, they force them to the Wars against their wills; they set them to Guard the Frontiers, and quarter the Souldiers upon them in the Winter to complete their Ruin.  
I know well that the Politicians agree, that if the People lived at their ease, it would be impossible to keep them within the bounds of their Duty. They agree, that if they should not be laden with Taxes and Subsidies, they would by little and little lose the remembrance of their Condition, and think of nothing but withdrawing their Obedience from their Prince. And I know that some Princes have lost their Dominions for not having Forces sufficient in Pay, to preserve themselves, for fear of overcharging the People; and that several Subjects have become the Slaves of their Enemies for desiring too much Liberty under their Lawful sovereign. So that the People are to be compared to Carriage-Horses, which being accustomend to burdens, are injured more by long Repose than by continual travail; and yet they are not to be over-loaded, but their burdens must be proportionable to their strength. There ought to be a Medium observed, and a stop to be made at such a Point, beyond which it would be a great piece of Injustice to pass, and no less to the prejudice of the Peoples Interest. But this is not the King's Maxim; his Maxim is, to keep the People poor, and to this purpose he has so impoverished his Subjects that they are all Beggars.  
There is no Kingdom in the World wherein there are so many great Cities as in France: And the greatest part of these Villages enjoyed an infinite number of privileges, which equalled them to the Free Imperial Cities of Germany. They had their Revenues which the King could not touch. They were exempt from Taxes of all sorts of Imposts, except such as they imposed upon themselves when Necessity, when the welfare of the Kingdom required it. And lastly, they were the Refuge of the People when they were oppressed. But these Cities have lost all their privileges. The King has seized upon the greatest part of their Revenues. If he exempts them from Tolls, he makes them pay such excessive Subsidies, that they sink under the burden. And he has so bridled them with Forts and Citadels, that there is now no longer any shelter against Tyranny, only when the poor People are under Persecution, they must take the sad choice of voluntary Banishment, and seeking for Sanctuary in Foreign Kingdoms.  
How are they used that have the Administration of the Grand Affairs? They are advanced to be depressed. And thô that generally they are enriched in their Employments by the Gratifications which they receive from the King, in consideration of their good Services, yet many times they are Accused for having robbed the Exchequer: And whether it be true or false, their Estates are presently confiscated, and their Persons rendered as miserable, as they were opulent before.  
I know very well, there are some Officers of the Finances, that grow Rich to the prejudice of Orphans and Widows, and to the prejudice of the King himself: And I grant, Sir, that when they are Legally convicted, they are treated like Leeches, which they rub with Salt to make them vomit back all the blood which they have sucked, or sponges that are squeezed, to return the juice which they have drained up. But the King makes no Distinction. To be rich is sufficient to be a Criminal; or to be so thought at Court, is a Crime not to be pardonned.  
There must be a Restitution of what they have got, and sometimes of what they never had; and so they must end their days, either in Exile, or in a Dungeon.  
It may be said, and that truly too, that the King has despoiled, and every day does despoil an infinite number of honest People, when done him those Services which he ought never to forget, tho' perhaps he might find some defect in the Conduct of his Ministers. But one of the principal Characters of a Tyrant is Ingratitude. And it may be said of Lewis the XIV. what is usually said of Fortune, That many times she takes from her Minions the favours which she had before in plenty bestowed upon them.  
I could produce many Examples upon this Subject, but I shall only mention that of Monsieur Fouquet.  
This same superintendent of the Finances had a large and generous Soul, and had he been of any other Profession than that of the Long rob, his noble Qualities would have been more visible to the World. But Cardinal Mazarine had conceived an Aversion against him, for that being Advocate-General of the Parliament, he could not endure to hear that Body, of which he had the Honour to be one of the principal Members, evil spoken of.  
He had  told him however, that there were in the Parliament, Persons that he could wish were not there. But this satisfaction being not large enough for an Italian that will resent a small Occasion as long as he lives, therefore the Cardinal, who was very effeminate, and durst not show his disgust, in his life time, upon his Death-bed  told the King, that such a Person lived upon the waste of his Treasure, but appropriated them also to his own Use; that his Houses exceeded most of the King's Palaces, for beauty of Structure, and magnificence of the Furniture: That he gave Pensions to several persons at Court, which was a shrewd sign that he knew himself Guilty; that he fortified Belle Isle, a place which he had purchased from the House of Gondy, a place adjoining to the Territories of the English, with whom he was afraid he held a Correspondence. That the only way to pluck up these Inconveniences by the Root, was to secure so dangerous a Person: However, that the King should be careful what he did, while he was Advocate-General, for that then the Parliament would be his Judges, and without doubt acquit him; and that he should therefore so order his business, that the Thing should be put in Execution before he had the least suspicion of it.  
Thus went Cardinal Mazarine into the other World, a true Italian to his last gasp: for a little before he expired, he had embraced Monsieur Fouquet, as one of his best Friends: he had numbered up to him a thousand Kindnesses, which the superintendent had done him, in the time of the Civil Wars, and thanked him particularly for the Fifty thousand Crowns which he sent him, at the time he was forced to fly to Liege.  
However the King took no great heed of what the Cardinal  told him. For indeed, what a likely thing it was Monsieur Fouquet should hold private Correspondencies with the English, who were then in a strict Friendship with France, and that he should think of betraying his Country, who was advanced to one of the highest Places of Profit, to which one of the Long rob could aspire.  
Nevertheless the King was convinced that Monsieur Fouquet was very rich, and for that reason he determined his destruction, to the end he might seize upon his Estate. He kept this as a secret for some time; and when he declared his mind, 'twas only to Monsieur Tellier, whose Fidelity was well known to him, and to Monsieur Colbert, whom the Cardinal upon his Death-bed had recommended to him for his Chief Minister.  
These two Men, who were the Chief Ministers of the King's Injustice, failed not to confirm him in his Design; but withal advised him, not to do any thing, till he had put Monsieur Fouquet, out of his place of Advocate General, or force him to lay it down.  
Wanting therefore a pretence to engage Monsieur Fouquet to answer their Desires, Colbert insinuates into his head, that having such a multiplicity of Business at the Council, which indeed lay all upon his shoulders, since the death of the Cardinal, he would do well to quit his Affairs in Parliament, which it was impossible for him to look after as he ought to do. And to lull him the more easily a-sleep, the King looked upon him with a more Gracious Aspect than ever he had done before. So that Monsieur Fouquet falling into the Snare, sought for a Merchant for his Employment, which being the best that was in the Parliament, was contended for by all that had money enough to purchase it: and among the rest, Monsieur de Foubet offered sixteen hundred thousand Livers. But Monsieur Fouquet choose rather to surrender it to Monsieur de Harlay, who was one of his Friends, thô he gave him Two hundred thousand Franks less.  
Thus he had no sooner laid down his Employment, but the King caused him to be arrested. And because they were afraid least he should find a way to justify himself, in regard the Crimes alleged against him were only Chimerical, they were not only contented with hiring false Witnesses to swear dreadful things against him, but they took away from him all his Papers that could any way have served him to justify his Innocency. Nor was this all, for the King, who was resolved to ruin him at any rate, employed Colbert, to pick and cull out of all the Parliaments, such Judges as he thought were most devoted to his Service, to examine Monsieur Fouquets Charge, and to Judge him. To which purpose they were promised Rewards, and the King thought himself so Cocksure of Monsieur Fouquet's Death, that he had already commanded his Horse-Guard to be ready to attend him to charters. A Journey which he had premeditated, not out of Devotion, but to avoid the Importunities with which he foresaw he should be troubled in the behalf of that unfortunate Minister. For tho' Monsieur Fouquet were of no extraordinary or illustrious Descent, he had married one of his Daughters to the eldest Son of the Count of Charost, and the King was afraid of that Ladies throwing herself at his Feet.  
To be short, the Commissioners met and examined the business. But while the King, who was booted and spurred, and ready to take Horse, expected they should bring him News of the Prisoners being condemned, word was brought him, That the Judges had been more merciful. 'Tis true, there were some that would have condemned him to the Scaffold, according to the King's Orders; but others opposed so great a piece of Injustice, and they prevailed.  
Among the rest, one of the Commissioners who was a counselor in the Parliament of Aix, perceiving the greatest part of the Judges no way inclined to do Monsieur Fouquet Justice, stood up and  told them: He was extremely surprised, that there should be Men so much prejudiced in the Chamber, as to condemn a Man to Death, without examining beforehand, whether their Sentence were just or no. He shew'd them the weakness of the Proofs to convince the Prisoner of Treason. That if his Papers had not been taken from him by his Enemies, he might have found a way perhaps to have justified himself, as to that point. However it was certain, that he had cleared himself of the Charge of Bribery and Extortion, which they pretended he was guilty of: That he had made appear the Condition of his Estate when he first entred into the Ministry; what he had with his Wife, which was above a Million; what Pensions had been bestowed on him, and what other Advantages he had had to get Money: Notwithstanding all which, he had not only spent all, but was above two Millions in debt. So that they could not make him a Criminal because of his great expenses, since he had an Estate to spend without doing any wrong to his Majesty; and besides, that it appeared, that he was ruined in his Majesties Service.  
The greatest part of the Commissioners wondered not so much at the freedom and boldness which the counselor used in his Speech, but that he durst oppose the King's pleasure, since he knew how eagerly he sought the Superintendant's Death. Nevertheless, the good Example of one honest Man wrought such a Change in the Chamber, that they who spoken after the counsellor, agreed with him in Opinion, and they that were for putting Fouquet to Death before, then altered theirs. Nevertheless, because it is certain that Monsieur Fouquet had fortified Belle Isle of his own Head, without leave from the King, he was condemned to perpetual Banishment.  
But the King, who was extremely surprised at this unexpected Sentence, believing that if he should get out of his reach, he would writ in his own Justification, changed the Sentence of Banishment into perpetual Imprisonment, which was worse than Death itself. First therefore he was thrown into the Dungeon of Vincennes, and after that carried to Pigneroll, where he lay seventeen years, the most miserable of Men. But as terrible as that Prison was, it proved a happy Prison to him: For there he had leisure to repent him of his sins, which he had not at Court, which was at that time given over to all manner of Debauchery, the Great-men still believing themselves obliged to imitate their Prince, tho' never so dissolute and luxurious.  Regis ad exemplum totus componitur Orbis. 
In truth, he had lived in the Prison like a real Penitent: he made the place of his Punishment a House of Meditation and Prayer: There he learnt to draw off his Soul from the World; and thinking upon nothing in that miserable place but upon Eternity, he looked upon his past Prosperity as a great Obstacle to his Salvation, so that he would not have exchanged his Prison for all the Kingdoms in the World.  
I thought fit, Sir, to let you understand a Story, of which I was assured you were altogether ignorant. For I have always heard you talking of Monsieur Fouquet, as of a Minister that had conspired against his Majesty, and had enriched himself by robbing the Kingdom. Believe me, Sir, his pretended Riches were his Misfortune, and had like to have brought him to an Infamous Death. He was a Man of virtue and Honour, and had not the Government been Tyrannical, they would have erected Statues to his Memory, he had so well merited of the Commonwealth, to speak in the Language of ancient Rome.  
You will say perhaps, Sir, That Monsieur Fouquet was no more than one of the Long rob, and that the rest that were served after the same manner under the Reign of Lewis the Great, were only under Receivers, and Toll-gatherers: Fellows not thought worth the hanging, as being of mean and obscure Birth. In a word, that those Officers, being a sort of necessary Evils, and odious to the People, it is no great matter what becomes of 'em; and that it is good policy sometimes to fetch them down from the top of the Wheel whither Fortune has raised them, to make advantage of their ill-got Wealth.  
But what, Sir, will you conclude from hence? Let an Excise-man or a Toll-gather be never so mean, he ought to be punished when he is Guilty, and has devoured the People. But let his Birth be never so obscure, if he have discharged his Duty like an honest Man, is an abominable piece of Tyranny to rob him of his Estate. 'Tis the Law of Nature, that every man ought to enjoy his own; and 'tis a sin to violate this Law.  
But we have done with Monsieur▪ Fouquet, and the Officers of the Revenue. I do not find but they who are much higher in degree, are better or more kindly used than those ordinary sort of people. The same Tyranny reaches the very Princes of the Blood. For not to say any thing of that Hero the Prince of Condé, whom the King confined to Chantilly, because he would not give him an Employment in his Army; such Policies admitting Excuses for Reasons which all the World knows not; how does the King use several other Princes that never gave him any occasion of distrust. He suffers them to live a lazy and private Life: he would never permit them to appear upon any occasion wherein they might signalise themselves. If they are desirous to try their Courages, they must be forced to travail into Hungary, whither his Majesty will or no. Which proved fatal to the Prince of Conty, who was poisoned at his Return as most People believed. He has deprived them, and excluded them from Employments that were almost Hereditary to their Families, to bestow them upon Bastards. How do they use both you and Madam the Dauphiness your illustrious Spouse? You know it well enough, there is no need of telling you. And it may give credit to what is publicly talked abroad, Madam the Dauphiness has not long to live. The Nobility, which were formerly the Ornament and Strength of the Kingdom, are now under a diminution that renders them the Scorn of the Earth. And besides, that they are reduced to so small a number, they are reduced to such an extreme Poverty, that 'tis impossible they should long subsist.  
There are some Provinces where the Gentlemen go to Plough and Cart; and there are others who are forced to mary below themselves, to prevent their own starving in their Castles, or the being obliged to meaner Condescensions. 'Tis true, there are some Gentlemen whom their riotous expenses have impoverished; but generally 'tis the Tyrannical Government, and Oppression of the People, that causes these Disorders, to the reproach of France. Formerly the Nobility enjoyed several privileges, and were exempted from Taxes, Subsidies, and Imposts. Now 'tis, All Fellows at Foot-ball, as to that point. A Lord pays the same Duties as the meanest Vassal, and an Intendant of a Province, who sometimes happens to be one of the Drags of the People, will use them with the highest degree of Pride and Contempt. The Title of Noble is but a word, and there are only some few new Gentlemen that derive their Original from the public Revenue, that dare aspire to Military Employments, because they have wherewithal to purchase them. An ancient Nobleman, who shall have signalized himself a thousand times by his Courage and Gallantry, who has received several Wounds, and spent his Patrimony in the Service, shall die a Lieutenant, or a Captain of Foot or Dragoons, while the Son of a Subsidy-Gatherer shall ride at the Head of a Regiment, or some other considerable Employment. What respect is there showed to the Gentry? No, no more then for the Common Rabble. If they have happened at any time to have wronged their Vassals, there is an Extraordinary Session appointed by Commission, called the Grands-Jours, to chastise them; and these dreadful Chambers are always fatal to some considerable Family or other. And you, Sir, have seen some Persons of eminent Degree, who have lost their Heads upon Scaffolds for being accused, in imitation of the King, to set up for petty Tyrants in their Inheritances.  
What more crying piece of Injustice was there, than the Enquiry after False Nobles? How many real Gentlemen were there, who because they could not produce their Pedigrees, which they might loose by a thousand Accidents, were constrained to renounce their Nobility, and pay a hundred and thirteen liures, which was their forfeiture.  
I know that all that call themselves Noblemen, are not so; and that the most part of those that assume this Title, ground it upon their Merit: and what can be more unjust, than to wrest their honour out of their hands? Is not that true Nobility, Sir, that is achieved by Feats of Arms? Their Courage has acquired what their Birth refused them. Why should they be deprived of an Honour which they have merited by their Services? Stay till they have rendered themselves unworthy, and then let them be degraded. But the King would fain tyramnize over all the World. And this blind Passion reigns so strongly in him, that are most necessary for his Service, and who ought to be regarded as the support of the Kingdom.  
Formerly the Officers and Souldiers enriched themselves by being in the Army, or at least they could subsist in a comfortable manner: A younger Brother, who was of a reduced Family, had Bread to eat as long as he lived, if he could but get a Command, either by his own Merit, or the assistance of his Friends: It was the same thing with the Common soldier. But in this Man's Reign, there is no more of that. They that have any Estate, spend it in his Majesties Service. If the Souldiers will live, they put their Hosts to ransom their Goods. And which is more tyrannical, the Officers and Souldiers are forced to commit such infamous Actions, and so unbecoming Gentlemen Souldiers, that future Ages will hardly believe, that People wearing Swords by their sides, should have such dastardly Souls, as not to shake off the Yoke of a Prince that never employs them, for whole Campaigns together, but to do the Offices of Hangmen, Robbers and House burners.  
I should but give you too much trouble, Sir, to make a long Recital of these things. The King spares no body. He has exercised his Tyranny over the Protestants, who were his most faithful Subjects, and set the Crown upon his Head, as they did upon the Heads of Henry the IV. and Lewis the XIII. He has recalled their Edicts, thô he solemnly swore at his Coronation to observe and maintain them inviolable. And usurping the Rights of God himself, who is the sole Lord of Hearts and Consciences, and who in that respect, parts with his Honour to no Mortal. He has obliged them by force to embrace a Religion which they believe to be false and idolatrous; constraining them by that means to profane our most Sacred Mysteries, by how much the more he causes them to condemn and renounce them. For he that makes Profession of a Religion against his Conscience, commits the most horrid of all Crimes, thô the Religion which he professed were sincerely the only True Religion: For what is not of Faith, is sin: That is, whatever is not done according to Conscience is an offence against God.  
He has exercised his Tyranny over the most holy Party of the Church over those Disciples of St. Austin, who live such pious and exemplary lives. For those holy Fathers grounding their Doctrine upon the words of the Apostles, It is better to obey God than men: would not subscribe to a Formulary, which was a kind of Oath, which they could not in Conscience take. He has therefore despoiled them of their Churches, has exiled them, or shut them up in dark Prisons, where they starve to Death, or suffer the Extremities of Miseries. He has no regard for the most pious Virgins, under pretence that they were Jansenists, and refused to deny, that the Grace of Jesus Christ was sufficient of itself.  
This Prince, a Rebel to the Church, has extended a Supreme Power, as well over the Bishops, as over all Religious Houses. You know the business of the regal,( or Patronage of Bishops) and the Nuns of Santa Clara, commonly called Urbanists. And to carry his Tyranny to the highest degree, he has quarreled with the Vicar of Christ, whom we ought to look upon as a God upon Earth. Why do ye not Excommunicate him, Holy Father? Why do you not strike him with the terror of your anathemas? Why do you not dart upon his Head all the Thunder of the Vatican? You are but the Image of a Pope, in respect of the Gallican Church. Lewis the Great, the Most Christian King makes you inferior to Councils, and declares you subject to error, thô you ought to be Infallible, if you are St. Peter's Successor, and that the catholic Church be the Spouse of Jesus Christ. And yet there needs no more, then for your Children to have recourse to you, to incur the Indignation of this Prince, and to be dealt withal in the same manner as heretics.  
In a word, Sir, if the Bishops of Paniers, and D' Alet were exposed to the extremity of Persecution, it was because they addressed themselves to the Holy See, to the end the Pope might make use of his Authority to maintain the privileges of the Church. And for the same reason it was, that he so barbarously used the Congregation of Nuns, I mean the Nuns of the Enfance, or Infancy.  
The Society of Nuns, called, The Nuns of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, was instituted at Tholouse, in the Year 1662, by the Authority of M. de Marca, Arch-bishop of that place, and under the Government of M. de Ciron, Canon and Chancellor of that Church and University; by whose Advice Madam de Mondonville, a Widow of great Piety became the Foundress of the Society, and for the Maintenance of it, left them the best part of her Estate: The Employment of these Nuns was to educate young girls in the knowledge of the Duties to which they were obliged by their Baptism; and in other virtuous Exercises: They were also to teach them to red and writ, and work with their Needles. This Institution which could not but be looked upon as a thing very praise worthy, was approved by the whole Church, and confirmed by a Bull of Alexander the VII. But all this signified nothing. For because the King had not instituted this Order, he resolved to ruin it: and Madam Mondonville, because she addressed herself to the Holy See, was sent to a Prison, where she still remains.  
Lastly, Sir, the King does not only exercise his Tyranny with less rigour over those without, than over his natural Subjects. 'Tis the Custom of Conquerors to have some regard for the People whom they have newly conquered. And indeed, thô it were no piece of Justice to make them satisfaction by some kind of Lenity, for the Ravage committed upon their Lands before they could be subdued, yet there is something of Policy that requires it. Nevertheless, both Catalogne, Flanders, Franche Contè, and Alsatia have experienced the contrary. Those Countries groan under their Bondage, and are so weary of their Yoke, that they only wait the happy Moment of their Delivery, and Restoration to the Dominion of their Lawful sovereigns.   

The Fourth Discourse.  
SIR,  
I Have proved by Actions, which are onely too true, that the Government of France is wholly tyrannical, whether in respect of Spirituals or Temporals. Of which I could bring farther proofs of those which I have brought already, were not these unhappily more than sufficient.  
But this is not all, Sir; it remains that I prove to you, that the Tyranny which he exercises in this Kingdom, is the most cruel that ever was heard of. In a word, I am now to prove, That the King is a Mad-man of a Tyrant; and I am sure you must yield to what I say.  
What could I not tell you, if I would make a recital of all those unheard of Hostilities which he has committed during this last War, particularly in the Principality of Orange and Germany. What a dreadful landscape could I present to your eyes, if I should speak of the Persecution of the Jansenists; more especially if I would enlarge upon the Torment, unknown to Phalaris or Busiris, which he has invented to punish those that run from his Colours? I could show you whole Cities laid in Ashes; People exposed to the rage and fury of the Souldiers; Women and Virgins ravished; old Men and tender Infants expiring in the flames; Prisons filled with Priests, and infinite numbers of poor Wretches in Cains, some with their Noses, some with their Ears cut off, after they had exposed their Lives a thousand times for the most ingrateful of Princes.  
This last Prospect, I am sure, strikes you with horror: For certainly, Sir, a more dismal Prospect cannot be conceived. Thus to disfigure the Image of God! to make of a Man a hideous Monster! to dismember a Christian, and it may be one designed for Heaven! 'Tis an Accumulation of madness, rage, and barbarity altogether.  
What shall I say after all this? I will begin with the Protestant. What wrong had those People done the King? Had they not been always faithful to him? That was not their Crime, Sir; for we must aclowledge to the shane of our Religion, that while the greatest part of the catholics sided with the Princes in the last Civil Wars, that stood always firm to the King: and it was only to them that the King was beholding for his Crown. That which made them Criminals was, that they would not turn catholics, and that they would not yield him Obedience by changing their Religion. And yet they did all they could to let him understand that they should act against their Consciences, if they should abandon their Consciences, and the Doctrines of their Reformation; nevertheless, the King would have it so. And because they refused to obey his Orders, tho' with all the respect imaginable, his Fury kindled against them. There was neither Age nor Sex, neither Merit nor Quality, that was spared at that time. He let loose his Dragoons upon them. He set up Villains and Robbers to be their Converters; and like another Mahomet, he made use of Fire and Sword to force them to receive his Doctrine.  
With what Colours shall I draw the hideous Picture of these abominable Conversions, at which the Holy See trembles to this day, and which have drawn so many tears from the eyes of all real catholics? So soon as this Implacable Prince understood that his Protestant Subjects had return'd a generous Answer, That they would die in their Religion, because they believed it to be the Truth; and that bating only this point, they would sacrifice their Lives for his Honour; he gave order to his Converters to thunder into all the Provinces that abounded with the Religionaries, and to make use of all means to force their Return to the Church. He let them know, that whatever it cost him, he would have his Pleasure put in Execution, and save them harmless from all the Barbarities whatever they committed.  
There needed not half so much, Sir, to animate a Company of Brutes, that never signalized themselves for many years, but by their treacheries and infamous Actions. They forthwith hastened to execute the barbarous Commands of their Cruel Monarch; neither was there any sort of Inhumanity which those Infernal Legions forgot to put in practise. I might swell whole Volumes with the Oppressions and Violences of these lewd Converters, and the strange and unheard of Torments which they invented to preach up the King's Religion.  
They no sooner entred into any City, but they seized upon the Gates and all the Avenues, while others beat the Streets to stop the Fugitives, and bring them back to their Houses, on purpose to force them, in spite of their Teeths, to hear the Sermons of these abominable Apostles.  
They were quartered at discretion by order of the Intendants of the Province, and sometimes of the Bishops themselves, to the shane of the Episcopal Dignity. And they no sooner entred into any House, but they fill it with most horrible Cries, accompanied with a thousand Blasphemies. You would have said, Sir, that they were so many Devils let loose, and that they were broken out of Hell to make War upon Mankind. Neither Tears nor Submissions would move them. They hanged both Men and Women by the feet, or hair of their Heads upon the planks of the ceiling, or Hooks in the attorneys. They plunged them into Wells, or into Sloughs full of mud and filth. They half roasted them, and basted their naked Limbs with melted Grease. They thrust read hot Coals into the Palms of their Hands, then closed them by force. They poured Wine into their Bodies with Funnels. They blew them up with Bellows till their Bellies burst. They tore the Hair from their Chins and Heads, and their Nails from their Fingers and Toes. They stripped them naked, and after they had offered them a thousand Indignities, they larded them with Pins from Head to foot. They pinkt and gash'd their Skins with Pen-knives, and sometimes with read hot Pincers, nip'd the Flesh from their Arms, or else took them by the Noses, and so lead them from room to room.  
Modesty will not permit to tell the Ignominies that Women and Virgins were constrained to undergo. I shall only say that they ravished several, and some in the Presence of their Husbands and Fathers, whom they had tied to the Bed-posts.  
I should never have done, should I relate the various sorts of Torments which those Infernal Missionaries invented to plant the catholic Faith in the Hearts of the King's Subjects. They did those things which perhaps the Devils themselves would not have thought of. And when they found that those whom they so tormented, endured all, they bethought themselves at length how to make them mad, by hindering them from sleep for whole weeks together. Rich and Poor, Men and Women, Young and Old, Sick and Sound, all without distinction, deeply experienced their Barbarity. While the King and his Confessor laughed at their Inhumanities that drew so much Blood, and such showers of Tears from those Religious People.  
I confess, this new way of Conversion was infinitely more prevalent than the most Eloquent Sermons they could have preached. Nevertheless, it could not prevail upon a great number; and then it was that this same frantic Monarch, who would have no denials, filled all the cloisters, Dungeons, Galleys, and the new World with infinite Multitudes of these miserable Wretches, who in regard of the good Services they had done him, were worthy of a bett●r Reward.  
What was France all this while, but a theatre which Strangers beholded with dread and horror? The Hangmen were at work all hours: there was nothing to be seen but Executions; and they that dyed Rebels to the King's Orders, were dragged along the Streets, to be a Spectacle to the People, and then thrown into the Common Sewers.  Tantum Religio potuit suadare malorum. 
No, Sir, it was not any Zeal for Religion that occasioned all these Desolations; for Religion never thirsted after Blood. However, at the same time that the King was thus busy in Converting his own Subjects, he prevented the Emperour from Converting his. For who can be ignorant of his strict Confederacy at that time with the malcontents in Hungary, who are all Lutherans or Calvinists. But that will more clearly convince you than any thing else, that it was only an Impulse of blind Fury, and hairbrain'd frenzy, to make himself adored as a God, that inspired him to commit these Barbarities, was the Usage of those poor Nuns of the Infancy, already mentioned.  
Madam de Mondon Ville the Foundress of that Religious Society, upon the first Rumours that proved but too true, that the King had a design to overthrow that pious Institution, was advised to go to Paris, and throw herself at the King's Feet. Which Advice she took forthwith, but to no purpose: For the King was always inaccessible and at the same time that she was importunate for Admission, and was in hopes of obtaining it, she was by virtue of a Letter under the Privy Signet, commanded to go to Coutance. There was no refusing; she obeyed; and immediately after her Exilement, the council by Decree abolished the Foundation, and ordered the Nuns of the Infancy to go home to their Parents, or whither else they pleased.  
I know not whether you will find the like in any History. For a usual piece of Injustice to condemn People in their absence, before they be heard; but for a Lady of Quality, to come above a hundred and fifty Leagues, to throw herself at the King's Feet, and to be so barbarously used, is that for which there never was yet any President to be found.  
The Arrest, or Decree was made the 12th of May, 1686, and fifteen days after was signified at Tholouse to Madam de Mondonville, thô she were then banished to the farther end of Normandy.  
Nor was this all; for in regard the Tenor of the King's Decree was positive, That the Tabernacles in the Churches of those Nuns should be removed, that the Altars should be pulled down, the Ornaments and Holy Utensils carried away, and the Consecrated Places be profaned. The same day that the Decree was Notified, the chapel was pulled down, as if it had been a Mosque, or some notorious Brothel-House.  
Nor did the King stop here. For whereas there was a Clause in the Decree, That all the Nuns of the Infancy might stay in their Nunneries till the end of the Year; yet he sent down an Order to those of Tholouse, by which above Forty of the Nuns, who brought nothing to the Society, were commanded to depart immediately. To which purpose a Commissary, with a Guard of Souldiers was sent to dispossess them; but the Nuns being informed of it, hide themselves so privately, that not above two or three of them were found, who were carried away, after several Abuses offered them.  
As for the rest, some few days after the same Commissary had another Order, to take a Guard of Dragoons and Archers, and go and pull them out of the House, who found them upon their knees upon the ruins of their chapel, imploring the assistance of Heaven. Nor could the Tears of those pious Virgins, nor all their Sighs and Sobs, enough to mollify the Hearts of the most Cruel, prevail with those Miscreants who were sent to hale them from their Religious Residencies. Those Emissaries of the Devil, which the King made use of to Convert the heretics, laid their polluted hands, upon the Spouses of Jesus Christ, dragged them by the Feet like miserable Victims, beat them, tore them, and talked to 'em those broad Obscenities, enough to have made the most impudent of Prostitutes blushy.  
Lastly, Sir, some time after the same Violences were exercised upon the rest of the Nuns that remained. And that which was more lamentable, and cries loudest to heaven for Vengeance, was this: That they haul'd two out of the Nunnery that were Agonisantes, or in Swooning Fits. There was one that swooned away six times in the street, and when all the People cried out shane, the Souldiers answered, That the King's Orders were express, that the Nuns were obstinate, and the King must be obeyed. I shall say nothing of those other Nunneries of this Institution, in other Cities; their Destiny was the same; I pass by also the Cruelties committed upon the Foundress of the Order, with an infinite number of other mad Actions, with which this King has defiled his Government. I shall now show you, Sir, that the King is a weak Prince.  
You may think this hard to be done: because the King has been always accounted a Great Wit: But I assure you, Sir, he has little deserved that Title, as his Title of Most Christian King.  
Should I go about to make a History of the several Mistresses he has had, that have shortened the Life of the Queen, that Great and Pious Princess, I could show you such Weaknesses and Follies that few Men are guilty of. I could show him to you upon his knees, crying and blubbering sometimes at La Valiere's Feet, sometimes at the side of Madam de Montespan's, or Madamoselle de Fontanges Bed, to obtain those Favours which others had obtained without any trouble, and of which they  told such Tales, that all the Court knew of. I could show you the Copies of certain Letters, where you might see Lewis the Grand uttering those little Things, as would grieve your heart to hear them. But pardon him the Imbecillities of his youthful Inclinations. The Women had those Charms, that it is no wonder he should forget himself sometimes. Hercules spun for Omphales's sake; and you have red the Amours of Great Men. But what can you say, Sir, to his ridiculous Dotage upon Madam Maintenon: Let the Lady have Wit, let her have as much as you please; she has not been in a Condition to conquer hearts this long time. Were there no more in it, but only that she was Scarron's Wife, 'twere enough to make all the World stop their Noses at her. Besides, who can be ignorant of her Intrigues, both before, and after her Marriage. Nevertheless the King is so weak, that he moans to her the same Turtelisms of Tenderness and Affection, with which he would cocker and feddle a Princess, the chastest Woman in the World, or a blooming Beauty. He writes to her tender Billet douxs; cringes to her with a thousand Submissions. He lies publicly with her, when his Distempers will permit him; and he brought so under her Girdle, that he can deny her nothing in the World.  
It may be said, that Madam de Maintenon, and Father La Chaise, are the absolute controllers of his Heart. And because you cannot deny this to be true, because you are a Witness of it every day, you must allow it to be the height of folly for a Prince that all his Life-time hath usurped the Title of Great, to suffer himself to be governed by a Wench and a Priest.  
I could make some Reflections upon a thing which he did so pitiful, especially speaking of La Chaise, that the Hollanders painted him sometimes since, leading Lewis the Great by the Nose. But these are Reflections which you are able to make yourself. I must stop at Matters of Fact.  
What think you of the Marriages of the Prince of Conti last deceased; and the Duke of Enguien, now Prince of Condè. Were ever two such Examples known in a Prince pretending to Wit? It was not enough for him to have lived for twenty Years together in a double Adultery; to have deprived one of his most faithful Subjects of his Wife; to have enjoyed her in the face of the Church and his own Queen, but he must consummate his folly, by mixing the Illustrious Blood of the Bourbon's, with that of two Strumpets. I confess, the two Princesses descended from those Adulterous Coritons, are virtuous Ladies. But their Original is so ignominious, that it had become the Wisdom of the King, instead of matching them to two Princes of the Blood, he had never suffered them to appear in the World. But Princes like Lewis the Great, never consult their Reason.  
What judgement is to be made of a Prince, that after he has exercised upon his Subjects, all the most cruel Persecutions that can enter into Man's imagination, suffers himself to be impudently flattered: That he never made use of any other means than those of Sweetness and indulgence; that he converted the heretics without Arms and Force, and far less by the Terror of his Edicts, than by his Exemplary Piety; that the ways through which he caused them to pass, were ways strewed with flowers; that he had exterminated heresy without noise or effusion of Blood; and that far from suffering Torments, they never so much as heard them mentioned.  
The judgement which is to be made upon it is this, that there is no Prince in the World so weak and foolish as Lewis the Great. And it is a favour, Sir, that they say no more of him: For what is to be said to an infirm King, to a King that dotes, to a King that is half in his Coffin, but what his Treacherous 
* The Bishop of valemce, the Coadjutor de Rouer, Father Maimbourgh the Bishop of Meaux, and others.  Flatterers tell him in reference to the Persecution of the Protestants in his Kingdom.  
But this is nothing yet; here is an Accumulation of Folly. He permits his Statues to be erected, and to be adored in the Posture of Prosternation: He permits holidays to be dedicated to them; and Harangues to be made them, as if they were so many Deities; so that upon the Basis of these Idols, you shall see these Inscriptions in Capital Characters, TO THE IMMORTAL MAN.  
He suffers himself in public theme to be advanced above the Angels, and to be looked upon as a Proof of our Sublime Mysteries; and that the words once said of Jesus Christ should be applied to him; My Works are for the King; Who is the King? 'Tis Lewis the Great the King of Glory.  
Lastly, He suffers himself to be worshipped like a Deity. You saw this in the Fire-works upon the grieve, under the Title of the Temple of Honour, which were made to solemnize the Erecting the new Statute that was set up in the Court of the Common-Hall of the City. The Inscription which was upon the freeze, and upon the four Fronts of the Temple, was after the Jesuitical Manner, and no less Impious.  
The City of Paris, Pious, Loyal,  
Obedient, Devoted by public Vows  
To the Divinity and Majesty of  
Lewis the Great, the Father of his Country  
As a Monument of their Duty, Dedicate  
and Consecrate a Temple.  
I could number up a thousand things of this nature; but doubtless here is enough to prove what I have advanced, that Lewis the Great has three Characters, which justify his Deposal; you may consider of them, Sir; it concerns the Safety and Welfare of a Kingdom; it concerns the Preservation of a Crown that belongs to yourself.  
Damis in Philostratus, wonders to see an Elephant lead by a young Man not above fifteen Years of Age. But I should wonder more, if you should suffer Lewis the XIV. to hold the Reins of Government, after all that I have said to you. He is a Phaeton that ought to be pulled down from the Chariot of the Sun. He has been a long time unable to Govern. Do you not see, Sir, all the Kingdom in a flamme? If you do it not yourself, Sir, the People will do it for you; for they are no longer able to endure his Tyranny. If the People will not do it, foreigners will do it. They have explained themselves with their Arms in their hands: they can no longer brook the Madness and frenzy of a King that Burns, Massacrees, and lays desolate their most beautiful Cities, wherever his Troops get footing: And if neither his own Subjects, nor his Enemies can do it, the Vengeance of God will do it; for he is a jealous God, and never parts with his Honour to another.  
A King who usurps the Regalities of the God of Hosts, is a thousand times more criminal than a Subject that seizes unjustly upon the Crown of any Prince: for there is no proportion between the God of Heaven, and an earthly King; between the Almighty, and a mortal Man. Whereas there is some proportion and agreement between a King and his Subjects. But the King visibly sets himself up in God's Place. He will have Men to be of his Religion; not because his Religion is true, but because it is the Religion which he professes: that is, if he were a Mahometam, or the King of Siam, he would require the same thing from his Subjects. But what is more detestable, he permits himself to be adored as a God, and prostremation at the Feet of his Statues.  
But know, Sir, that God is no less just at this day, then when he sent Nebuchodonozer to graze among the Beasts of the Field, for suffering his Statue to be adored; or when he suffered Herod to be eaten up of Worms, for hearkening to the impious Acclamations of a hare-brained Rabble, that after he had made them a harangue, cried, This is the Voice of God, and not of Man. Alexander the Great was tickled with the Lies of his Flatterers, who  told him. He was the Son of Jupiter, and that Divine Honours ought to be paid him, was poisoned in the midst of his Triumphs. Antiochus the Illustrious, who like Lewis the XIV. had got a whim in his head, to have all People profess one Religion, commands all People to forsake the Laws of God, and follow his; but his end was sad and tragical. Nero, Caligula, Domitius, and several others that required to be adored as Gods, came to most fatal Exits, answerable to the Lives they had lead. And what can you expect less to befall your Father; he that has prized himself upon the Impiety of those Emperors, and never took notice of the defacing the Name of JESUS out of the Frontispiece of the Jesuit's college, to put his own in the room of it 
* The college of Clermont, which is at this day called the college of Lewis the Great. .  
Therefore, Sir, never tarry till Heaven shall Thunder-strike your Father. Summon an Assembly of the States General; call to your aid the Kings and States against whom he has waged such bloody Wars. Humble yourself to the Holy See: I dare be answerable for your good Success; nor can you wish for a more favourable Conjuncture. The People pant and thirst after Liberty; all France has her Eyes fixed upon you; the Nobility, the Clergy, the Officers both Military and Civil, all will rise to raise you to the Throne. The Princes and States of Europe are weary of the War. His Holiness holds you forth his Arms, and looks upon you as a Son that disclaims the Rebellions of a Father, that has declared himself an Enemy to the Church: And it will be your fault, if there be not a general Peace.  
I would not, Sir, that the King should be dealt with, as Henry IV. his Son Henry, who bereaved him of his Crown, reduced him to that extreme Poverty, that sometimes he wanted Bread. And such was the bestial fury of that young Prince, that his Father dying at L●ige, and the Citizens having butted him in their Cathedral Church, his Son caused his Body to be taken up again, and carried to Spire, where it lay five years in the chapel of St. Afren, as unworthy of Burial, because he died Excommunicated.  
A King is punished sufficiently by being deposed; and it is Impiety for a Son, to insult over his Father's Misfortunes, tho' he drew them upon himself Therefore it will be your best way to make choice of some devout and pleasant Place, where he may live in plenty, and have that Respect paid him by all People, that may convince him it was not your desire to Reign, but your own and the safety of the Kingdom that importuned you to depose him. I cannot set, Sir, before your eyes, a more Noble Example than that of the Prince and Princess of Orange. Let Men say what they please: James the II. according to the Laws, deserved to be Abdicated from the Throne. That same Prince, blinded by a false Zeal, had overturned all the Constitutions of England. Contrary to the privileges of the Kingdom he would have set up a Religion, to the prejudice of that established by Law.  
He had almost reduced the Nation into Slavery. What do the English in this Condition? They complain to the Presumptive Heirs of the Crown; and the Prince of Orange, as being one of those, Lands with an Army in England: upon which the King betakes himself to flight.  
The Prince of Orange was persuaded, that if a Parliament were called, and that the King his Father-in-Law were declared to have abdicated the Government, the Princess his Wife would be advanced to the Throne. There needed no more for him to do, when he saw he had the Hearts of all the English, but to have fallen upon the King's Army. Nevertheless the P. avoided fighting the K's Army, that he might not be obliged to fight against his Wife's Father. He sets forth in his Declaraion, that he came not to Dethrone him, but to restore the Laws of a Kingdom, of which the Princess his Wife was the Presumptive Heir: That he would call a Free Parliament, and leave the Nation to be the Judges of the King's Destiny. The King who knew himself guilty, betakes himself to an inglorious flight, after he had undone in four Days all that he had been four Years a doing, to attain a despotic Power. The Prince of Orange never pursued, but when luckily for the Prince of Orange, and unfortunately for James the II. he was looked upon as gone, the King was stopped; but the Prince declares him still to be at liberty, and that it was for him to call a Parliament, and refer it to their Decision, according to the Laws of the Kingdom.  
It is not very certain, Sir, whether a Parliament would have been very favourable to James the II. or No But by wha● several of the Bishops, and a good number of the Lords have since acted, we may guess that they had no intention to abdicate him. But however it were, according to the manner wherein the Prince of Orange proceeded; if James the II. had been abdicated in his favour, as he was afterwards by his Desertion, it is certain that he would have been so generous to that unfortunate Monarch, that it would have much lessened his Grief for being deprived of his Kingdoms.  
Follow then the Example of William the III. For whatsoever our French-men say, to ingratiate themselves with James II. and Lewis XIV. who is his Protector; the Prince of Orange is a Prince who merits no less Applause, for the Respect which he has shewed to James II. than for his heroic virtues.  
What would you have a Prince have done, when a whole Nation made their Complaint to him? Would you have had him suffered a Monarch to Reign, who had enslaved his People, who every day violated the Sacred Laws of the Kingdom, who extended his Arbitrary Power every day, and discountenanced the Grandees of his Court that opposed his Violences, and who like Lewis XIV. suffered himself to be governed by a jesuit.  
There was a necessity for him to do what he did; nor is there any Prince in the World, who would have done what he did, had he been in his place. But perhaps there would have been but few that would have behaved themselves with that respect to James the II. as he did; and who would not have made sure of Three Kingdoms by doing more than he did.  
Pardon me, Great Sir, that I have said thus much, in speaking of your Father; 'tis the Concern which I have for his Salvation, and your own Interest, and the love which ● have for my Country, that have wrested these Truths from me.  
How happy Sir, will you be, and how happy will France be, would you but listen to my Remonstrances, if you understand how to benefit by them. However there would be something wanting to your own, and the happiness of your Subjects, should you stop there: There must be something more done, than only the pulling down of Lew●s the XIV. from his Throne. You must expel the Jesuits, who are the Cause of all the Misfortunes that have befallen your Kingdom: For to that Society alone it is, that we must impute all those Overturnings that have brought it so near to Ruin. The Jesuits were the Men that put the King upon these unheard of Cruelties which he has exercised upon the Disciples of St. Austin, and the Nuns of the Infancy. The Jesuits were they that instigated him against Innocent the XI. because they suspected him to be a jesuit. They were the Men that forced him to use his faithful Subjects the Protestants after a manner so barbarous and unworthy of a Christian Prince. They were the Men, who to aggrandise themselves, forced him to declare a War against the Emperour and the King of Spain, who are both catholic Princes. In short, they are the Cause of all his Violences and Adulteries. For if his Confessor, who is a Jesuit, had ever refused to absolve him at his Confessions, would he ever have continued in such a deadly sin for so many years together? But these Fathers find out ways to reconcile Heaven and Earth together. 'Tis a piece of their Religion to permit sometimes the greatest sins, for the greater Glory as God.  
It is the Interest of all Princes to exterminate the Jesuits, for they are the Murderers of Kings. Nor is it the Interest of any Kingdom, so much as of France, which to this day declares the Tragical Death of Henry the Great. You can never be safe, so long as this Society has any footing in your Kingdom. A parricide costs them nothing, and they will always find Ravilliack's enough: for they always number them among the Martyrs that Assassinate Princes. But it will signify nothing, Sir, to expel the Jesuits out of your Kingdom, if you continue a Persecutor like Lewis the XIV. It would be no Persecution to banish a Society which is a public Nuisance; but it would be one of the most horrible things in the World not to give Toleration to the Protestants, who have nothing of Evil in their Morals, but have always stuck close to their Kings: you must therefore renew their Edicts, and heap your Favours upon them in a larger measure than ever Henry the IV.  
If Christianity did not instruct you that a Prince ought never to persecute his Subjects for their Belief, you are bound to allow them Toleration out of mere Policy. Cast your Eyes upon all Histories of past Ages, and you shall see the terrible Effects that a Restraint in Matters of Religion has produced: It has laid waste most flourishing and wealthy Provinces: It has rendered odious and execrable to Posterity, the Princes that have made use of it: It is the only Cause of Seditions and Insurrections, for the most part fatal to the Persecutors. What is Spain at this day, that great and flourishing Kingdom, which was heretofore so wealthy, and well stored with Inhabitants? What is it now but sad Solitude, dispeopled by the violance exercised upon Consciences, and the abominable Severities of the Inquisition Tribunal: and not to go farther in search of what you have before your Eyes, what is France at this day, but a frightful Desert, only because they would constrain the Protestants to abandon their Religion, and turn Roman catholics.  
On the other side, behold the happiness of those States where Liberty of Conscience reigns. There all things are in a flouri●hing Condition, Arts, Sciences, and Commerce. All People live there in Plenty You would think them so many swarms of People. Every one lives there at ease, and in so sweet a tranquillity, that there is nothing comparable to the Felicity which those People enjoy, whose Magistrates and Princes abhor Persecution.  
I shall conclude, Sir, with what Cardinal Richlieu concludes his politic Will and Testament. You will be happy, you will be rich, you will be potent, if you can but win the Affection of the People.  
The ancient Kings your Predecessors, had such a particular value for the hearts of their Subjects, that some of them thought it better to be King of the French, than King of France.  
And indeed this Nation has been always esteemed so passionately loyal to their Princes, that the People have been applauded by celebrated Authors, for being always ready to  shed their Blood, and spend their Estates for the Service and Honour of the Kingdom.  
Under the Kings of the first and second Race, and of the third also till Philip the Fair, the Treasure of Hearts was accounted the only public Good and Safety of the Kingdom.  
Live happy then, Sir, and long may Heaven preserve you for the welfare and safety of France. All honest French-men long to live under your illustrious Government, and Solace themselves for the Miseries they sustained under the Reign of Lewis the Fourteenth.   
THE END.