is a book equally remarkable in matter and in form, in circumstances
and in result. It is the first really great composition
in argumentative French prose. Its severe logic and careful
arrangement had as much influence on the manner of future
thought, both in France and the other regions whither its widespread
popularity carried it, as its style had on the expression
of such thought. It was the work of a man of only seven-and-twenty,
and it is impossible to exaggerate the originality of its
manner when we remember that hardly any models of French
prose then existed except tales and chronicles, which required
and exhibited totally different qualities of style. It is indeed
probable that had not the Institution been first written by its
author in Latin, and afterwards translated by him, it might have
had less dignity and vigour; but it must at the same time be
remembered that this process of composition was at least equally
likely, in the hands of any but a great genius, to produce a heavy
and pedantic style neither French nor Latin in character. Something
like this result was actually produced in some of Calvin’s
minor works, and still more in the works of many of his followers,
whose lumbering language gained for itself, in allusion to their
exile from France, the title of “style refugié.” Nevertheless,
the use of the vulgar tongue on the Protestant side, and the
possession of a work of such importance written therein, gave
the Reformers an immense advantage which their adversaries
were some time in neutralizing. Even before the Institution,
Lefèvre d’Étaples (1455–1537) and Guillaume Farel (1489–1565)
saw and utilized the importance of the vernacular. Calvin
(1509–1564) was much helped by Pierre Viret (1511–1571), who
wrote a large number of small theological and moral dialogues,
and of satirical pamphlets, destined to captivate as well as to
instruct the lower people. The more famous Beza (Théodore de
Bèze) (1519–1605) wrote chiefly in Latin, but he composed in
French an ecclesiastical history of the Reformed churches and
some translations of the Psalms. Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde
(1530–1593), a gentleman of Brabant, followed Viret as a satirical
pamphleteer on the Protestant side. On the other hand, the
Catholic champions at first affected to disdain the use of the
vulgar tongue, and their pamphleteers, when they did attempt
it, were unequal to the task. Towards the end of the century
a more decent war was waged with Philippe du Plessis Mornay
(1549–1623) on the Protestant side, whose work is at least as
much directed against freethinkers and enemies of Christianity
in general as against the dogmas and discipline of Rome. His
adversary, the redoubtable Cardinal du Perron (1556–1618),
who, originally a Calvinist, went over to the other side, employed
French most vigorously in controversial works, chiefly with
reference to the eucharist. Du Perron was celebrated as the first
controversialist of the time, and obtained dialectical victories
over all comers. At the same time the bishop of Geneva, St
Francis of Sales (1567–1622), supported the Catholic side, partly
by controversial works, but still more by his devotional writings.
The Introduction to a Devout Life, which, though actually
published early in the next century, had been written some time
previously, shares with Calvin’s Institution the position of the
most important theological work of the period, and is in remarkable
contrast with it in style and sentiment as well as in principles
and plan. It has indeed been accused of a certain effeminacy,
the appearance of which is in all probability mainly due to this
very contrast. The 16th century does not, like the 17th, distinguish
itself by literary exercises in the pulpit. The furious
preachers of the League, and their equally violent opponents,
have no literary value.
16th-Century Moralists and Political Writers.—The religious dissensions and political disturbances of the time could not fail to exert an influence on ethical and philosophical thought. Yet, as we have said, the century was not prolific of pure philosophical speculation. The Montaigne. scholastic tradition, though long sterile, still survived, and with it the habit of composing in Latin all works in any way connected with philosophy. The Logic of Ramus in 1555 is cited as the first departure from this rule. Other philosophical works are few, and chiefly express the doubt and the freethinking which were characteristic of the time. This doubt assumes the form of positive religious scepticism only in the Cymbalum mundi of Bonaventure des Periers, a remarkable series of dialogues which excited a great storm, and ultimately drove the author to commit suicide. The Cymbalum mundi is a curious anticipation of the 18th century. The literature of doubt, however, was to receive its principal accession in the famous essays of Michel Eyguem, seigneur de Montaigne (1533–1592). It would be a mistake to imagine the existence of any sceptical propaganda in this charming and popular book. Its principle is not scepticism but egotism; and as the author was profoundly sceptical, this quality necessarily rather than intentionally appears. We have here to deal only very superficially with this as with other famous books, but it cannot be doubted that it expresses the mental attitude of the latter part of the century as completely as Rabelais expresses the mental attitude of the early part. There is considerably less vigour and life in this attitude. Inquiry and protest have given way to a placid conviction that there is not much to be found out, and that it does not much matter; the erudition though abundant is less indiscriminate, and is taken in and given out with less gusto; exuberant drollery has given way to quiet irony; and though neither business nor pleasure is decried, both are regarded rather as useful pastimes incident to the life of man than with the eager appetite of the Renaissance. From the purely literary point of view, the style is remarkable from its absence of pedantry In construction, and yet for its rich vocabulary and picturesque brilliancy. The follower and imitator of Montaigne, Pierre Charron (1541–1603), carried his master’s scepticism to a somewhat more positive degree. His principal book, De la sagesse, scarcely deserves the comparative praise which Pope has given it. On the other hand Guillaume du Vair (1556–1621), a lawyer and orator, takes the positive rather than the negative side in morality, and regards the vicissitudes in human affairs from the religious and theological point of view in a series of works characterized by the special merit of the style of great orators.
The revolutionary and innovating instinct which showed itself in the 16th century with reference to church government and doctrine spread naturally enough to political matters. The intolerable disorder of the religious wars naturally set the thinkers of the age speculating on the doctrines of government in general. The favourite and general study of antiquity helped this tendency, and the great accession of royal power in all the monarchies of Europe invited a speculative if not a practical reaction. The persecutions of the Protestants naturally provoked a republican spirit among them, and the violent antipathy of the League to the houses of Valois and Bourbon made its partisans adopt almost openly the principles of democracy and tyrannicide.
The greatest political writer of the age is Jean Bodin (1530–1596), whose République is founded partly on speculative considerations like the political theories of the ancients, and partly on an extended historical inquiry. Bodin, like most lawyers who have taken the royalist side, is for unlimited Bodin. monarchy, but notwithstanding this, he condemns religious persecution and discourages slavery. In his speculations on the connexion between forms of government and natural causes, he serves as a link between Aristotle and Montesquieu. On the other hand, the causes which we have mentioned made a large number of writers adopt opposite conclusions. Étienne de la Boétie (1530–1563), the friend of Montaigne’s youth, composed the Contre un or Discours de la servitude volontaire, a protest against the monarchical theory. The boldness of the protest and the affectionate admiration of Montaigne have given la Boétie a much higher reputation than any extant work of his actually deserves. The Contre un is a kind of prize essay, full of empty declamation borrowed from the ancients, and showing no grasp of the practical conditions of politics. Not much more historically based, but far more vigorous and original, is the Franco-Gallia of François Hotmann (1524–1590), a work which appeared both in Latin and French, which extols the authority of the states-general, represents them as direct successors of the political institutions of Gauls and Franks, and maintains the
