Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LINGUET, SIMON NICHOLAS HENRI (1736-1...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 730 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

LINGUET, See also:SIMON See also:NICHOLAS See also:HENRI (1736-1794) , See also:French journalist and See also:advocate, was See also:born on the 14th of See also:July 1736, at See also:Reims, whither his See also:father, the assistant See also:principal in the See also:College de See also:Beauvais of See also: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 See also:count See also:palatine of Zweibriicken to See also:Poland, and on his return to Paris he devoted himself to See also:writing. He published partial French See also:translations of See also:Calderon and Lope de See also:Vega, and, wrote parodies for the See also:Opera Comique and See also:pamphlets in favour of the See also: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 See also:change being a See also:quarrel with d'See also:Alembert in 1762. Thenceforth he violently attacked whatever was considered See also: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. He was admitted to the See also:bar in 1764, and soon became one of the most famous pleaders of his See also:century. But in spite of his brilliant ability and his See also:record of having lost but two cases, the See also:bitter attacks which he directed against his See also:fellow See also:advocates, especially against Gerbier (1725-1788), caused his dismissal from the bar in 1775. He then turned to journalism and began the See also:Journal de politique et de liteerature, which he employed for two years in See also:literary, philosophical and legal criticisms. But a sarcastic See also:article on the French See also:Academy compelled him to turn over the Journal to La Harpe and seek See also:refuge abroad. Linguet, however, continued his career of See also:free See also:lance, now attacking and now supporting the See also:government, in the Annales poliliques, dudes et litteraires, published from 1777 to 1792, first at See also:London, then at See also:Brussels and finally at Paris. Attempting to return to See also:France in 178o he was arrested for a See also:caustic attack on the duc de Duras (1715-1789), an academician and See also:marshal of France, and imprisoned nearly two years in the See also:Bastille.

He then went to London, and thence to Brussels, where, for his support of the reforms of See also:

Joseph II., he was ennobled and granted an honorarium of one thousand ducats. In 1786 he was permitted by See also:Vergennes to return to France as an See also:Austrian counsellor of See also:state, and to See also:sue the duc d'See also:Aiguillon (1730-1798), the former See also:minister of See also:Louis XV., for fees due him for legal services rendered some fifteen years earlier. He obtained See also:judgment to the amount of 24,000 livres. Linguet received the support of See also:Marie Antoinette; his fame at the See also:time surpassed that of his See also:rival See also:Beaumarchais, and almost excelled that of See also:Voltaire. Shortly afterwards he visited the See also:emperor at See also:Vienna to plead the See also:case of See also:Van der Noot and the rebels of See also:Brabant. During the See also:early years of the Revolution he issued several pamphlets against See also:Mirabeau, who returned his See also:ill-will with See also: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 See also:San Domingo before the See also:National See also:Assembly. His last See also:work was a See also:defence of Louis XVI. He retired to Marnes near Ville d'Avray to See also:escape the Terror, but was sought out and summarily condemned to See also:death " for having flattered the despots of Vienna and London." He was guillotined at Paris on the 27th of See also:June 1794. Linguet was a prolific writer in many See also:fields. Examples of his attempted See also:historical writing are Histoire du siecle d'See also:Alexandre le See also:Grand (See also:Amsterdam, 1762), and Histoire impartiale See also:des Jesuites (See also:Madrid, 1768), the latter condemned to be burned. His opposition to the philosophes had its strongest expressions in Fanatssme des philosophes (See also:Geneva and Paris, 1764) and Histoire des revolutions de l'See also:empire romain (Paris, 1766-1768).

His Theorie des Lois civiles (London, 1767) is a vigorous defence of See also:

absolutism and attack on the politics of See also:Montesquieu. His best legal See also:treatise is Memoire pour le See also:comte de Morangies (Paris, 1772) ; Linguet's imprisonment in the Bastille afforded him the opportunity of writing his Memoires sur la Bastille, first published in London in 1789; it has been translated into See also:English (See also:Dublin, 1783, and See also:Edinburgh, 1884–1887), and is the best of his See also:works though untrustworthy. See A. Deverite, See also:Notice pour servir a l'histoire de la See also:vie et des ecrits de S. N. H. Linguet (See also:Liege, 1782); Gardoz, Essai hsstorique sur la vie et See also:les ouvrages de Linguet (See also:Lyon, 1808) : J. F. Barriere, See also:Memoirs de Linguet et de See also:Latude (Paris, 1884) ; Ch,. Monselet, Les Oubliis et les dedaignes (Paris, 1885), pp. I-41; H. Monin, " Notice sur Linguet," in the 1889 edition of Memozres sur to Bastille; J.

Cruppi, Un avocat journaliste au 18' siecle, Linguet (Paris, 1895); A. Philipp. Linguet, etin Nationalokonom des X VIII Jahrhunderts in seinen rechtlichen, socialen and volkswirlschaftlichen Anschauungen (See also:

Zurich, 1896); A. Lichtenberger, Le Socialisme utopique (1898), pp. 77-131.

End of Article: LINGUET, SIMON NICHOLAS HENRI (1736-1794)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LINGEN, RALPH ROBERT WHEELER LINGEN, BARON (1819-19... 		[next]
LINK

Site © 2006 - Net Industries