[263] ‘L'esprit religieux ne s'était mêlé en aucune manière aux querelles de la Fronde.’ Capefigue, vol. ii. p. 434. Lenet, who had great influence with what was called the party of the princes, says that he always avoided any attempt ‘à faire aboutir notre parti à une guerre de religion.’ Mém. de Lenet, vol. i. p. 619. Even the people said that it was unimportant whether or not a man died a Protestant; but that if he were a partizan of Mazarin he was sure to be damned: ‘Ils disoient qu'étant mazarin, il falloit qu'il fût damné.’ Lenet, vol. i. p. 434.
[264] Indeed he does not conceal this even in his memoirs. He says (Mém. vol. i. p. 3), he had ‘l'âme peut-être la moins ecclésiastique qui fût dans l'univers.’ At p. 13, ‘le chagrin que ma profession ne laissoit pas de nourrir toujours dans le fonds de mon âme.’ At p. 21, ‘je haïssois ma profession plus que jamais.’ At p. 48, ‘le clergé, qui donne toujours l'exemple de la servitude, la prêchoit aux autres sous le titre d'obéissance.’ See also the remark of his great friend Joly (Mém. de Joly, p. 209, edit. Petitot, 1825); and the account given by Tallemant des Réaux, who knew De Retz well, and had travelled with him, Historiettes, vol. vii. pp. 18-30. The same tendency is illustrated, though in a much smaller degree, by a conversation which Charles II., when in exile, held with De Retz, and which is preserved in Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion, p. 806, and is worth consulting merely as an instance of the purely secular view that De Retz always took of political affairs.
[265] ‘Cet homme singulier est le premier évêque en France qui ait fait une guerre civile sans avoir la religion pour prétexte.’ Siècle de Louis XIV, in Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. xix. p. 261.
[266] Hooker and Pascal may properly be classed together, as the two most sublime theological writers either country has produced; for Bossuet is as inferior to Pascal as Jeremy Taylor is inferior to Hooker.
[267] One of the most remarkable men they have ever possessed notices this connexion, which he expresses conversely, but with equal truth: ‘moins on sait, moins on doute; moins on a découvert, moins on voit ce qui reste à découvrir…. Quand les hommes sont ignorans, il est aisé de tout savoir.’ Discours en Sorbonne, in Œuvres de Turgot, vol. ii. pp. 65, 70.
[268] Mazarin, until his death in 1661, exercised complete authority over Louis. See Siècle de Louis XIV, in Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. xix. pp. 318, 319; and Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 195; so that, as Montglat says (Mém. vol. iii. p. 111), ‘On doit appeler ce temps-là le commencement du règne de Louis XIV.’ The pompous manner in which, directly after the death of Mazarin, the king assumed the government, is related by Brienne, who was present. Mém. de Brienne, vol. ii. pp. 154–158.
[269] By this I mean, that the divergence now first became clear to every observer; but the origin of the divergence dates from a much earlier period, as we shall see in the next chapter.
[270] That is to say, their practical recognition; theoretically, they are still denied by innumerable politicians, who, nevertheless, assist in carrying them into effect, fondly hoping that each innovation will be the last, and enticing men into reform under the pretext that by each change they are returning to the spirit of the ancient British constitution.