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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	ask_v	know_v	tell_v	1,111	5	4.7163	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48266	Letters written by a French gentleman, giving a faithful and particular account of the transactions at the court of France, relating to the publick interest of Europe with historical and political reflexions on the ancient and present state of that kingdom / communicated by Monsieur Vassor.	Le Vassor, Michel, 1646-1718.	1695 (1695)	Wing L1795; ESTC R12280	36,438	62

acquainted his Brethern with the King's Menaces and these good Magistrates having put on their Habits of Ceremony went all in a body to the Louvre The King surpris'd to see his Parliament come to pay him a visit with so much solemnity ask'd suddenly what brought them thither I know all the story said my Friend interrupting me hastily and can tell you the chief President 's Answer we come Sir said he to the King to offer our Heads to Your Majesty since our Conscience will not permit us to Register the Edict which you sent to us Very well reply'd I but how did that cruel and haughty Prince receive so unexpected a Compliment He dissembled his Anger and endeavoured to pacify their Minds by assuring them that he would never desire them to enroll any Edict contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom or the Interest of his Subjects Why then will not you adventure to make a like Attempt I 'm perswaded that the King would be strangely daunted if the chief President at the Head of the Parliament should entertain him with a lively and passionate Representation of the deplorable condition of the Kingdom But I had forgotten that you have long ago exhausted all your eloquence in writing Panegyricks on our invincible Monarch 'T is pity that you have not reserv'd some part of it for Discourses of another nature which would certainly be more seasonable at this time of the Day Be not cruel to your Friends answer'd the President We do all that we are able to do but we are not under the Reign of a Lewis XI In those Days the Nobility and People of France had not lost all their Courage and the Court dreaded the effects of it I acknowledge that replyed I but are you sure that the King would not treat you with as much complaisance if you spoke to him with the same vigour and show'd your selves capable of enlivening the benumm'd Spirits of our Countreymen Believe me Mr. President the King despises you for your Cowardise and you might make the Court tremble in its turn if you had the Courage to imitate your Predecessors After these words we laid aside Politicks and began to talk of other Matters Yes Sir I am still of the same opinion I know that the Inhabitants of Paris and our other Cities are extreamly dispirited but I dare be bold to answer for them that they would quickly resume their former Vigour if the Princes of the Blood the Nobility or Parliament of Paris would give them the least encouragement They begin to murmur strangely and I know not whether all their Patience be not already exhausted 'T is true the flatterers of the Court have bellow'd in their Ears so long that The King is Master of all the Estates of his Subjects that the poor People seem in good earnest to give credit to the most detestable Lie that ever was invented But how easily will they be undeceiv'd when it shall be made appear to them what our subtle Ministers have so industriously hid from them that Taxes and Subsidies were formerly Levied in France as they are in England and that we never resign'd our ancient Priviledges You remember Sir when I had the pleasure to enjoy your Conversation in that solitary but delightful place whither you have chosen to retire that we spent part of our time in reading the History of France and that we could not find that any Impositions were laid upon the People before the Reign of Philip the Fair. Our King 's in those Days had no standing Forces but the Nobility serv'd them at their own charge in those Wars that were made with the consent of the States-General If ever any of our Princes rais'd a Subsidy by way of Taxation it was only when the pressing necessity of his Affairs constrain'd him to take that Method and the Tax was Levied but once And even on such urgent occasions those Monarchs that had any sense of Humanity or Religion were very loath to proceed to so rough an expedient The good St. Lewis by his Testament enjoin'd his Children not to Tax their Subjects but Alas they who boast of their descent from so Just so Chaste and so Religious a Prince have no more regard to the good Advice that he left them than they have to the Virtuous example of his Life His Nephew attempted to raise the Hundred and fiftieth Denier of the Revenues of his Subjects But what was the event Paris Rouen and Orleans revolted the Commissioners appointed to gather the Taxation were kill'd and the King was forc'd to dissemble his Indignation Nor was Philip the Fair more successful in his second attempt to lay an Imposition of Six Deniers in the Livre on the sale of Commodities his Orders were universally contemn'd and he was forc'd to call a Meeting of the States General at Paris to harangue them himself and represent to them the necessity of his Affairs after which he obtain'd his desire The succeeding Princes observ'd the same Method Sometimes on urgent occasions Aids and extraordinary Subsidies were Granted but were never made perpetual but by the Authority of the States The King could not augment those perpetual Subsidies that were granted to him and far less could he impose new ones The Court Parasites made it their business to perswade Lewis XI that it was a branch of his Prerogative to lay what Impositions he pleas'd on his Subjects I have already told you what Philip de Comines thinks of this Maxim We have at least as much Reason to complain of Tyranny and Violence now as the Subjects of that Prince had in those Days but our Tongues are ty'd Charles VII was engag'd in a long and chargeable War against England yet he never Levied above Eighteen hundred thousand Livres per Annum 'T is true Lewis XI augmented the Impositions to Three Millions and Seven hundred thousand Livres Tearly but he had the Character of a very bad Prince and to say all in one word a Tyrant His Son Charles VIII fearing to meet with the same Fate and desirous to live according to the Commandments of God says Philip de Comines resolv'd to content himself with the Crown-lands together with the Sum of Twelve hundred thousand Livres which the Estates assembled at Tours had granted him France was happy under the Reign of Lewis XII who was call'd the Father of the People whence we may reasonably infer that the Face of Affairs is wonderfully chang'd since that time Under the late King Lewis XIII the Impositions amounted to near Fourscore Millions of which not above Five and Thirty were brought into the Treasury the rest being exhausted by the great charges of the Scate M. Colbert has found means to raise the King's Revenues to One hundred and Twenty Millions and upwards This could not be done without ruining an infinite number of Families by imposing a prodigious number of new Taxations besides the enormous augmentation of those that were already established Now if One

sunt nisi dedecus sibi at que illis gloriam peperêre And those Princes who use such rigorous Methods do a far greater Injury to their own Reputation than to the Author of the piece that offends them The Book runs through all Hands and People are curious to know the Reason that procur'd the Author so severe a Treatment Judge then how great the curiosity of our Posterity will be and how eagerly they will examine those bitter Reflexions of the Dutch Gazettier which incensed the greatest Monarch in the World to such a degree that because he could not punish the Author he marched himself at the Head of a Hundred Thousand Men to destroy the Countrey where these Satyrs were Printed The Inhabitants of Antioch having broken to pieces the Statue of the Emperor Theodosius he resolv'd to raze that ungrateful and seditious City Immediatly the Bishop Flavian went to appease the incens'd Mind of that Prince whose indignation was far more just than that of Lewis the Great against the States General of the United Provinces * Chrysostom homil 4. ad popul Antloch The glory of Monarchs my Lord said the Prelate to Theodosius consists not so much in beating their Enemies as in subduing their Passions Victory is not wholly your own for your Officers and Soldiers claim a part of it but in an Action of Wisdom and Goodness you have no Companions and that is a Trophy to which none but your self has a Right to pretend 'T is not enough that you have Conquer'd the Barbarians if you do not also Conquer your own Anger Show those Infidels that no Power on Earth is able to stand in opposition to Jesus Christ Glorifie your Sovereign Master by pardoning the Faults of your Brethren that at the great and terrible Day of the Lord he may look upon your Errors with the Eye of a Father rather then of a Judge and that you may receive the same Forgiveness from him that you have granted to others Why do not those whose Dignity and Function oblige them to inform the King of His Duty speak to him with equal Freedom Theodosius had more Reason to be ill satisfied with the insolency of his own Subjects than His Majesty had to be Angry with the States The overthrowing of a Statue was a far more provoking Injury than the reverse of a Medal coin'd by strangers or the Jests of a disown'd Gazettier Theodosius design'd to destroy a Seditious City Lewis endeavoured to ruine entire Provinces Ought not the managers of his Conscience to have represented to him that so cruel a Revenge would not fail to fill the Hearts of Christians with Horror and give occasion of scandal to the Infidels Nevertheless instead of Offering him such good Advice the Bishops and Preachers employed all their Eloquence either in magnifying his Victories or in demonstrating even to himself that he was the greatest and most glorious Monarch in the Universe Do not tell me that the King undertook the War against a Protestant State a People who make it their boast to be the Protectors of Heresy in Europe and spread it through the other parts of the World For besides that a Christian ought to forgive Hereticks and even Infidels as well as Catholicks I dare assure you that a Zeal for Religion was not the motive of that War No sooner had Germany declar'd War against us but we detested those very Cities whose Churches Cardinal de Bouillon had blest and reconcil'd with so much Pomp and Ceremony I know not whether it was a sentiment of Devotion that made the Mareschal de Belfonds delay the Execution of the Orders that were sent to him to leave those places where the Catholick Religion was re-established but I am assur'd that the Court was very much dissatisfied with him for it Thus Sir we see that the Pretext for the Dutch War was even less specious than that which was formerly made use of for the War with Spain One of my Friends was so throughly convinc'd of the unjustness of this War that he left the Service Do not fancy that he was a Huguenot you know him he is a good Catholick And you may remember that at the same time the Mareschal de Scomberg and other Protestant Gentlemen were in the Army I had the curiosity to ask my Friend what made him leave a good Post at a time when Employments were so much courted by others He told me that his Conscience would not permit him to serve the King in a manifestly unjust War Why do you trouble your self with those things reply'd I 't is the King's business and that of his Ministers to examine that Controversy and Obedience is the Subject's only part You tell me nothing said he but what I believ'd before I had Read Grotius de jure belli pacis who has convinc'd me that I ought not to serve my Prince in a War which I know to be unjust Read that Book added he and you will be of the same opinion At that time I was taken up with other Matters and contented my self with doing what I saw others do before me But after the Peace of Nimeghen I began to reflect upon what my Friend said to me and resolv'd to consult the Book that he recommended to me No sooner had I cast my Eyes upon it but I observ'd with pleasure that it was dedicated to the late King Lewis XIII The moderation of that Learned Man is acknowledged by all the World and 't is also well known that he was a great Friend to the Soveraign Authority of Kings And yet in the first place he maintains that * Si aut ad deliberationem adhibentur aut libera ipsis optiodatur militandi aut quiescendi easdem regulas sequi debent quas illi qui suopte arbitrio pro se pro aliis bella suscipiunt Grotius de jure belli pacis lib. 2 cap. 26. when a Prince asks the Advice of his Subjects concerning a War which he desigus to undertake or gives them Liberty to chuse whether they will serve in his Armies or stay at home in Peace 't is their Duty to follow the same Maxims which their Sovereign ought to observe before he begin the War That is that they ought not to advise him to undertake the War without just and and indispensible Reasons and if he persist in his resolution they cannot without a crime offer him their assistance to shed innocent Blood What can there be alledged against so clear a Decision And indeed it makes me tremble as oft as I think of it not for the King's Ministers since these Gentlemen are not wont to consult either the light of Reason or Rules of the Gospel but for an infinite number of People who put themselves into His Majesty's Service without considering what they do and oftentimes even against the Dictates of their Conscience which tells them that the War is unjust But perhaps the Nobility who never march but when