Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet
Encyclopedia
Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet (14 July 1736 – 27 June 1794), French
journalist
and advocate, was born in Reims
, where his father, the assistant principal in the Collège de Beauvais
of Paris
, had recently been exiled by lettre de cachet
for engaging in the Jansenist controversy.
He attended the College de Beauvais and won the three highest prizes there in 1751. He accompanied the count palatine of Zweibrücken to Poland
, and on his return to Paris he devoted himself to writing. He published partial French translations of Pedro Calderón de la Barca
and Lope de Vega
, and wrote parodies for the Opera Comique and pamphlets in favor of the Jesuits. Received at first in the ranks of the philosophes, he soon went over to their opponents, possibly more from contempt than from conviction, the immediate occasion for his change being a quarrel with Jean le Rond d'Alembert
in 1762. Thenceforth he violently attacked whatever was considered modern and enlightened, and while he delighted society with his numerous sensational pamphlets, he aroused the fear and hatred of his opponents by his stinging wit.
After wanderings which led him to Holland and back through the north of France, he found himself in the town of Abbeville, where he attracted the disapproval of Duval de Soicourt, the mayor, but also the patronage of an ex-mayor and Duval's rival, Douville de Maillefeu. His tangential involvement in their quarrels resulted in Duval's driving him from the town. He went to Paris, where he began to study law.
He was admitted to the bar in 1764, just in time to become involved in the case of Jean-François de la Barre
(the "Chevalier de La Barre"), whose case was being judged in Abbeville by Duval. Ultimately, he failed to save La Barre but his efforts contributed to the release of several others accused in the case, including Douville's son. This case also brought the new lawyer to instant prominence and he soon became one of the most famous pleaders of his century.
But in spite of his brilliant ability and the claim by some that he had only lost two cases, the bitter attacks which he directed against his fellow advocates, especially against Gerbier (1725-1788), caused his dismissal (on dubious charges) from the bar in 1775. He then turned to journalism and began the Journal de politique et de literature, which he employed for two years in literary, philosophical and legal criticisms. But a sarcastic article on the French Academy compelled him to turn over the Journal to La Harpe
and seek refuge abroad.
Linguet, however, continued his career of free lance, now attacking and now supporting the government, in the Annales politiques, civiles et litteraires, published from 1777 to 1792, first at London, then at Brussels and finally at Paris. Attempting to return to France in 1780 he was arrested for a caustic attack on the duc de Duras (1715-1789), an academician and marshal of France, and imprisoned nearly two years in the Bastille
.
He then went to London, and thence to Brussels, where, for his support of the reforms of Joseph II
, he was ennobled and granted an honorarium of one thousand ducats. In 1786 he was permitted by Vergennes
to return to France as an Austria
n counselor of state, and to sue the duc d'Aiguillon (1730-1798), the former minister of Louis XV
, for fees due him for legal services rendered some fifteen years earlier. He obtained judgment to the amount of 24,000 livres. Linguet received the support of Marie Antoinette
; his fame at the time surpassed that of his rival Pierre Beaumarchais
, and almost excelled that of Voltaire
. Shortly afterwards he visited the emperor at Vienna to plead the case of Van der Noot and the rebels of Brabant. During the early years of the French Revolution
he issued several pamphlets against Mirabeau, who returned his ill-will with interest, calling him the ignorant and bombastic M. Linguet, advocate of Neros, sultans and viziers.
On his return to Paris in 1791 he defended the rights of San Domingo before the National Assembly. His last work was a defense of Louis XVI
. He retired to Marnes near Vile d'Avray to escape the Terror, but was sought out and summarily condemned to death for having flattered the despots of Vienna and London. He was guillotined in Paris on the 27th June 1794.
Linguet was a prolific writer in many fields. Examples of his attempted historical writing are Histoire du siècle d'Alexandre (Amsterdam, 1762), and Histoire impartiale des Jésuites (Madrid, 1768), the latter condemned to be burned. His opposition to the philosophies had its strongest expressions in Fanatisme des philosophes (Geneva and Paris, 1764) and Histoire des revolutions de l'empire romain (Paris, 1766-1768). His Theorie des lois civiles (London, 1767) is a vigorous defense of absolutism and attack on the politics of Montesquieu
. His best legal treatise is Mémoire pour le comte de Morangies (Paris, 1772); Linguet's imprisonment in the Bastille afforded him the opportunity of writing his Mémoires sur la Bastille, first published in London in 1789; it has been translated into English (Dublin, 1783, and Edinburgh, 1884-1887), and is the best of his works though untrustworthy.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and advocate, was born in Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, where his father, the assistant principal in the Collège de Beauvais
Collège de Beauvais
The College of Beauvais was in Paris in what is now the Rue Jean de Beauvais. At the end of the 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century, it was one of the leading schools of France, educating pupils whose parents were prominent in the French establishment.The college was founded in...
of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, had recently been exiled by lettre de cachet
Lettre de cachet
Lettres de cachet were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal, or cachet...
for engaging in the Jansenist controversy.
He attended the College de Beauvais and won the three highest prizes there in 1751. He accompanied the count palatine of Zweibrücken to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and on his return to Paris he devoted himself to writing. He published partial French translations of Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
and Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega
Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...
, and wrote parodies for the Opera Comique and pamphlets in favor of the Jesuits. Received at first in the ranks of the philosophes, he soon went over to their opponents, possibly more from contempt than from conviction, the immediate occasion for his change being a quarrel with Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. He was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie...
in 1762. Thenceforth he violently attacked whatever was considered modern and enlightened, and while he delighted society with his numerous sensational pamphlets, he aroused the fear and hatred of his opponents by his stinging wit.
After wanderings which led him to Holland and back through the north of France, he found himself in the town of Abbeville, where he attracted the disapproval of Duval de Soicourt, the mayor, but also the patronage of an ex-mayor and Duval's rival, Douville de Maillefeu. His tangential involvement in their quarrels resulted in Duval's driving him from the town. He went to Paris, where he began to study law.
He was admitted to the bar in 1764, just in time to become involved in the case of Jean-François de la Barre
Jean-François de la Barre
Jean-François Lefevre de la Barre was a French nobleman, famous for having been tortured and beheaded before his body was burnt on a pyre along with Voltaire's "Philosophical Dictionary". He is often said to have been executed for not saluting a procession, but the elements of the case were far...
(the "Chevalier de La Barre"), whose case was being judged in Abbeville by Duval. Ultimately, he failed to save La Barre but his efforts contributed to the release of several others accused in the case, including Douville's son. This case also brought the new lawyer to instant prominence and he soon became one of the most famous pleaders of his century.
But in spite of his brilliant ability and the claim by some that he had only lost two cases, the bitter attacks which he directed against his fellow advocates, especially against Gerbier (1725-1788), caused his dismissal (on dubious charges) from the bar in 1775. He then turned to journalism and began the Journal de politique et de literature, which he employed for two years in literary, philosophical and legal criticisms. But a sarcastic article on the French Academy compelled him to turn over the Journal to La Harpe
Jean-François de La Harpe
Jean-François de La Harpe was a French playwright, writer and critic.-Life:La Harpe was born in Paris of poor parents. His father, who signed himself Delharpe, was a descendant of a noble family originally of Vaud...
and seek refuge abroad.
Linguet, however, continued his career of free lance, now attacking and now supporting the government, in the Annales politiques, civiles et litteraires, published from 1777 to 1792, first at London, then at Brussels and finally at Paris. Attempting to return to France in 1780 he was arrested for a caustic attack on the duc de Duras (1715-1789), an academician and marshal of France, and imprisoned nearly two years in the Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
.
He then went to London, and thence to Brussels, where, for his support of the reforms of Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, he was ennobled and granted an honorarium of one thousand ducats. In 1786 he was permitted by Vergennes
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes was a French statesman and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister from 1774 during the reign of Louis XVI, notably during the American War of Independence....
to return to France as an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n counselor of state, and to sue the duc d'Aiguillon (1730-1798), the former minister of Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
, for fees due him for legal services rendered some fifteen years earlier. He obtained judgment to the amount of 24,000 livres. Linguet received the support of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
; his fame at the time surpassed that of his rival Pierre Beaumarchais
Pierre Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French playwright, watchmaker, inventor, musician, diplomat, fugitive, spy, publisher, arms dealer, satirist, financier, and revolutionary ....
, and almost excelled that of Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
. Shortly afterwards he visited the emperor at Vienna to plead the case of Van der Noot and the rebels of Brabant. During the early years of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
he issued several pamphlets against Mirabeau, who returned his ill-will with interest, calling him the ignorant and bombastic M. Linguet, advocate of Neros, sultans and viziers.
On his return to Paris in 1791 he defended the rights of San Domingo before the National Assembly. His last work was a defense of Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
. He retired to Marnes near Vile d'Avray to escape the Terror, but was sought out and summarily condemned to death for having flattered the despots of Vienna and London. He was guillotined in Paris on the 27th June 1794.
Linguet was a prolific writer in many fields. Examples of his attempted historical writing are Histoire du siècle d'Alexandre (Amsterdam, 1762), and Histoire impartiale des Jésuites (Madrid, 1768), the latter condemned to be burned. His opposition to the philosophies had its strongest expressions in Fanatisme des philosophes (Geneva and Paris, 1764) and Histoire des revolutions de l'empire romain (Paris, 1766-1768). His Theorie des lois civiles (London, 1767) is a vigorous defense of absolutism and attack on the politics of Montesquieu
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu , generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment...
. His best legal treatise is Mémoire pour le comte de Morangies (Paris, 1772); Linguet's imprisonment in the Bastille afforded him the opportunity of writing his Mémoires sur la Bastille, first published in London in 1789; it has been translated into English (Dublin, 1783, and Edinburgh, 1884-1887), and is the best of his works though untrustworthy.