finishing it according to his first Design. Thus much I thought fit to
say, in order to abate the Edge of what he seems to speak hardly of the
_Francogallia_; tho' in several other Places he makes my Author amends:
And one may without scruple believe him, when he commends a Man, whose
Opinion he condemns. For this is the Character he gives of this Work:
_"C'est au fond un bel Ouvrage, bien ecrit, & bien rempli d'erudition:
Et d'autant plus incommode au partie contraire que l'Auteur se contente
de citer des faits."_ Can any thing in the World be a greater
Commendation of a Work of this Nature, than to say it contains only pure
Matter of Fact? Now if this be so, Monsieur _Bayle_ wou'd do well to
tell us what he means by those Words, _Tres indigne d'un jurisconsulte
Francois_. Whether a _French_ Civilian be debarr'd telling of Truth
(when that Truth exposes Tyranny) more than a Civilian of any other
Nation? This agrees, in some measure, with Monsieur _Teissier_'s
Judgment of the _Francogallia_, and shews, that Monsieur _Bayle_, and
Monsieur _Teissier_ and _Bongars_, were _Bons Francois_ in one and the
same Sense. "_Son Livre intitulè, Francogallia, luy attira AVEC RAISON_
(and this he puts in great Letters) _les blame des bons Francois_. For
(says he) therein he endeavours to prove, That _France_, the most
flourishing Kingdom in _Christendom_, is not successive, like the
Estates of particular Persons; but that anciently the Kings came to the
Crown by the Choice and Suffrages of the Nobility and People; insomuch,
that as in former Times the Power and Authority of _Electing_ their
Kings belonged to the _Estates of the Kingdom_, so likewise did the
Right of _Deposing_ their _Princes_ from their Government. And hereupon
he quotes the Examples of _Philip de Valois_, of _King John_, _Charles
the Fifth_, and _Charles the Sixth_, and _Lewis the Eleventh_: But what
he principally insists on, is to show, That as from Times Immemorial,
the _French_ judg'd Women incapable of Governing; So likewise ought they
to be debarr'd from all Administration of the Publick Affairs."