Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	charles_n	john_n	sir_n	39,226	5	6.7660	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60932	The desolation of France demonstrated, or, Evident proofs that one half of the people of that kin[g]dom are destroyed two thirds of its captial stock consumed, and the nation reduc'd to such a condition that it cannot be restored to the flourishing state it was in thirty years ago, in less than two hundred years, and not then neither, except the whole frame of their government be new modell'd / by a person of duality, a native of France.	Souligné, de.	1697 (1697)	Wing S4718; ESTC R8752	142,366	298

THE Desolation OF FRANCE DEMONSTRATED OR Evident Proofs that one Half of the People of that Kindom are destroyed Two Thirds of its Capital Stock consumed And the Nation Reduc'd to such a Condition that it cannot be Restored to the Flourishing State it was in Thirty Years ago in less than Two hundred Years and not then neither except the whole Frame of their Government be new Modell'd By a Person of Quality a Native of FRANCE LONDON Printed for John Salusbury at the Rising-Sun in Cornhill 1697. THE Epistle Dedicatory To the Right Honourable Charles Mountague Esq one of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesties Treasury and Chancellour of the Exchequer SIR BEING a Foreigner and by consequence standing in need of a great Patronage I presume to beg yours not only as being a Personage of an Elevated Station but because you are yet more considerable for your surprizing Penetration of Mind and your incomparable Activity and Zeal for the Good of your Country by which you have merited those Honourable Posts that you do so worthily fill and which I have reason to-hope are but the earnest of greater Advancements But the chief Reason why I make bold to trouble your Honour with this Dedication is that amongst the many Persons of Quality who have done me the Honour to peruse this Book in Manuscript and to testifie their Approbation of it there was none who did so much encourage me to render it Publick as your self So that if it be any ways useful to the Nation as I hope it may they will be obliged to your Honour for it I confess Sir that my first intention was to Dedicate it to His Majesty as tending very much to the Glory of England and by consequence of his own Royal Diadem but the meanness of my present Condition abated my Confidence to sollicit Access to that great Prince and therefore Sir seeing you were always pleased out of your Zeal to the Publick welfare to give me a favourable Reception notwithstanding the narrowness of my Circumstances I resolved upon this Dedication to your self as one of His Majesties most faithful Ministers which I beg you would accept as a Token of the singular Esteem and profound Respect of Sir Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant De Soulignè Grandson to Monsieur du Plessis Mornay THE PREFACE TO THE READER I Have observed several times when in Company of Ingenious Men both English and Refugees that neither of them did know the State of this Kingdom nor that of France and that they did all judge England to be less populous rich and potent and France to be much more populous and rich than really it is and that they had no right Notions of the present condition of France and of her Ruine I observed also that several of the Refugees did long eagerly after their return into France not thinking the Nation to be destroyed to that degree that it really is fancying that she may be restored easily to her former Condition in a few years and having in a manner forgot the Cruelties and Prefidiousnesses of the Popish Church towards them I observed likewise that several English and French who have lent Money to the Publick or to whom some may be owing otherwise do vex themselves by fancying the Affairs of the Kingdom to be in a worse Condition than they really are because of the present scarcity of Money That the Jacobites and other Enemies of the Government do harden themselves in their obstinacy thinking the Kingdom not able to maintain the War any longer and France to be still potent enough to dispossess K. VVilliam by this War and restore the late K. James which makes them still to adhere to that Faction and is partly the cause of their frequent Conspiracies against the King's Life and of several other disorders France and her adherents in this Country deceiving themselves mutually by making one another believe that they are stronger than they are and fancying that England is ruined which has been perhaps hitherto one of the causes of France's delaying to make Peace because she seems to be always in great hopes of some fatal stroke and revolution in this Kingdom I confess I have also been often-times incensed against the French Court as being the Causers of so many mischiefs and having reduced that flourishing Kingdom to nothing by Cruelties and Treacheries as well against their Neighbours as their own Subjects and of so much Blood shed every-where in Europe Those Reasons did oblige me about a year ago to take the Pen in hand in Order to undeceive so many People which may be a Service to this Nation the Allies Refugees and all the World by shewing them plainly that France never was what they took her to be even in the height of her Prosperity and that she is utterly ruined now which is evident enough from the great Efforts Advances and Offers that she makes notwithstanding her pride towards obtaining a Peace Whereas England is still in a hopeful Condition notwithstanding the present scarcity of the Coin After I had made a considerable progress in the Work being dubious whether or no I should publish it I thought fit before I determined any thing to shew it to a Person of great Merit that did Communicate it to several other Persons of Quality in the Government who after the perusal of it did exhort me to make it Publick as being like to be useful to the World and to my self So that I did look upon those Encouragements and particularly those that I had from the Honourable Person that I Dedicate this Book to to whom I owe my Life for had it not been for him I might have starved I say I did look upon those Encouragements as Orders which I was obliged to obey because they came from Persons who had a right to command me Since that time I have added to it what the continuation of the War has added to the Desolation of the Kingdom of France and some Events which have happened since and made some other small Alterations I question not but those of the Contrary party will oppose it for fear it should prejudice their Faction and that some of my Country-men amongst others will for that reason do me all the ill Offices they can I have been accustomed to those things of a long time I consider France in all respects and in relation to all Orders and Ranks of People which are in it I shew plainly the great disorders of the French Government which are such that there was perhaps never any Nation amongst those that are called Christians so ill Governed In the several manners of considering France I am obliged to make use of Repetitions but always with some diversity and never but when the things are not common but important and which the Reader might let slip My design being rather to instruct and to be useful than to tickle the Ears or divert those wits who love trifles So that I