The politicks of France by Monsieur P.H. ... ; with Reflections on the 4th and 5th chapters, wherein he censures the Roman clergy and the Hugonots, by the Sr. l'Ormegreny.

CHAP. VI.

1. What Nobility is. 2. Of the Nobles of France, of their Degrees, and the Ranks of Gentlemen. 3. Of the Orders of Knighthood. 4. In what respects Gentlemen may be useful to the King.

HAving examined what relates to the Cler∣gy, the First of the Three Orders that compose the Body Politick of France; it is time to speak of the Second, which is that of the Nobility: Nobility is a Quality that renders the Possessors of it Generous, and secretly dis∣ly disposeth their Soul unto an affection for Honourable things. The Virtue of Ancestors does make this excellent impression of Nobili∣ty upon persons; and there is in seminal mat∣ter, I know not what spirituous and energeti∣cal Principle, that transmitteth and propaga∣teth the inclinations of Parents unto their de∣scendants: as is obvious to remark; not only in Men, and in all the Animals, which have a natural Generation; but also in Plants, and in things evidently most inanimate. This Ance∣stral Virtue, verily, gives us the first tincture in order to a right Noble Accomplishment;

and every Man issued from great and illustri∣ous Bersonages, does continually feel a kind of elastick impulse in the secret recesses of his Heart, which thrusts him on to imitate them▪ and their Memory spurs him on to Glory, and brave Actions: but if through negligence, or the degeneracy of an ill nature, it so comes to pass, that he answers not the hope which the Grandeur of his Progenitors gave ground to conceive of his Deportment; in this case, all the Lustre of their Ancient Reputation which environ'd him from the instant of his Birth, and whether he will or no, accompa∣ny'd him all along the course of his life, it does, I say, by making him be noted, for (No∣bilitas a noscendo dicitur) but promote his shame, and the more conspicuously shew his defects un∣to the augmenting and justifying a contempt of his Person. Thus an actual Virtue is neces∣sary for Gentlemen, that they may be able to bear up the weight of their condition, which otherwise presseth them quite down. The grea∣ter the Rank and Honor of their House is, the greater their Dishonor; and so much the deep∣er that Precipice into which their dissoluteness doth cast them.

There are usually noted three kinds of No∣bility. The First is a Nobleness of Blood: when the source of a great extraction is hid∣den in the obscurity of a long succession of years, and cannot now be discovered. This kind is in greatest esteem among Men: and indeed we call things that are left us of this quality, Vene∣rable, and do bear a sort of Religious Respect to them: we are generally possess'd too with

a perswasion, that whatever is unknown, is full full of Mysteries; hence Objects of such a nature are apt to surprise us; and we here∣upon are awed at them, and do admire them. Such effects, the greatness of an unsearchable high-descending Pedigree does produce. Nor need we much scruple to affirm, that this kind is the only proper and genuine Nobility; and that the Two others are only Nobilitations. What difference is made between a person No∣ble, and one Ennobled, is familiarly known. This first kind of Nobility is thought to require a possession of the Virtue of Ancestors, and withal, a possession of their wealth; this too in so essential a manner, that if each of them be not joyntly possess'd, the Nobility is ex∣tinct. We daily see proofs that evince the Ju∣stice and the Truth of this Notion. Be it in∣timated by the way, that the Virtue here men∣tion'd is the Military Art.

The Second kind of Nobility, is that which takes its rise from Offices and eminent Em∣ployments, unto which the Laws have annex∣ed this mark of Honour.

The Third is acquir'd by the Prince's Let∣ters, which are called Letters of Nobilitation. It is a right peculiar to the Kind to give such Letters; as the Roman Panegyrist once said to the Emperor Trajan. It belongs not but to Cae∣sar to create a Nobility. It is for none but the King to Honour brave aud valiant Subjects with this Quality. This Third and last kind is least considered: because the Person who ac∣quires it, hath not the Virtue of Ancestors for a foundation and caution of his own. Yet it

is sometimes more considerable than either of the two others; and Marius in Salust had great reason to tell the Gentlemen of Rome; that he had rather begin the Nobility of his Race, than faintly continue it, or unworthily lose it; and that it was more Glorious for him to transmit to his Posterity a sparkling Virtue, hard to be follow'd, than plod slowly on upon the slight, and almost effaced tracks of a common Virtue which his Ancestors had left him. In all these three kinds of Nobility, there must be the per∣sonal Virtue of the Person invested with 'em: for when all is done, it is but Virtue that con∣fers effective worth.

All Nations have had a particular esteem for Nobility, nor can any well-order'd Common∣wealth be named, which hath not invented some singular mark of Honour to make it con∣spicuous. The French in this point, have sur∣pass'd and out-done all People upon Earth; as for the first, Antiquity, Caesar observes, that the Nobles, that is, the Gentlemen, had among the Gauls, as much power over the Plebeians, as Masters at Rome had over their Slaves. After Gaul was reduced to the State of a Province, Nobility preserved its ancient Prerogatives; and the Emperors knowing, that the Nobles loved Glory, and sought it above all things, stiled them Honorati, and gave them an abso∣lute precedency in all Assemblies of the Gauls. For the Romans had thought it necessary to weaken the Authority of the Druids. In the time of Christianity the same Order was con∣tinued; and the Nobility gave their Suffrage apart in the Election of Bishops, expresly be∣fore

the People; yea, even before the Clergy themselves. Upon the declining of the Em∣pire, the Gentlemen did, in France, judge the Causes of their equals; and hence, without doubt, came into use the Parliaments, Courts and Assemblies, which our Kings held of their Peers and Barons; that is, of the qualify'd Gen∣tlemen of their Kingdom, when a Case of some Peer or Grandee of the State was to be Tried. The Nobles were distinguish'd anciently from Plebeians, by their Hair, which they wore long, for a mark of their ancient Liberty; and when any one of them committed a fault that was unbeseeming his Birth, the rest Sen∣tenc'd him to depart the Country, or cut off his Hair; This was therefore a no less punish∣ment than Exile. In Charlemagne's time, the Gentlemen of France named themselves Franks, by way of Excellence. In fine, the French No∣bility hath alwavs had such an high degree of Excellency, and so great a pre-eminence, that it was preferr'd in all Cases; as when vacant Bishopricks or Abbies were to be provided for; or when the principal Magistracy and Seats of Judicature were to be fill'd up, or the Govern∣ment of important Places, Warlike imploy∣ment, and the Leading of Armies, were to be dispoled of. To conclude this Matter, it may be affirm'd, that Kings did take the Gentle∣men into a partnership with themselves, as I may term it, in the Regality; they honour'd them with part of their Power, by conferring on them Fiefs, and by entrusting them with the charge of doing Justice, and of Commissi∣oning Officers to that end.

Hereupon it was necessary to put a gradual difference between Gentlemen themselves: nor is it indeed sufficient that they all have so ma∣ny excellent Prerogatives above the vulgar, or common sort, as we call them. For Na∣ture is alike in every Man, and all Men are Born equal. Fortune on the contrary, and Virtue, distinguish one from another. But na∣tural Reason requires there be Order in all things. 'Tis Order that makes the Beauty and Symmetry of the Universe. Now as a Musical Consort doth not make a perfect har∣mony, but by a diversity of Notes; so a Poli∣tical State can be neither comely nor compleat, unless there be a difference between the parts that compose it. I know that Nobility, be∣ing as Philosophers call it, an Inherent Quali∣ty, does lodge with its whole Essence, in each of its Subjects: As the quality of a Soldier is, for its Essence, in the person of a Corporal, as well as of a Captain or General Officer. Yet there is a great distance, and many inter∣vening degrees, between a General and the meanest Musquetier in an Army. Thus the meanest Gentleman in the Kingdom is Noble; and to speak after the common Proverb, is Noble as well as the King; but the one is se∣vered from the other by an immense gradua∣tion. So, though all Gentlemen be equal in Nobility, yet they are not so in Riches, in Lands, in Alliance, in Friends, in Offices, in Authori∣ty, in Age, and in Reputation. Again, they are not equal in Spirit, in Knowledge, in Ex∣perience, nor in Wisdom; therefore it hath been with much prudence ordered, that they

should have some external marks of these diffe∣rences; and for this end, there have been crea∣ted Princes, Dukes, Counts, Marquesses, Ba∣rons, Knights, Batchelers, Esquires; leave hath been given them to bear Helmets and Crowns upon their Armories: In short, no pains have been spared to find out things that might any way adorn their Quality; and their Valour hath been publickly rewarded, for an excite∣ment of others to a generous emulation.

Here, I cannot forbear to blame those Gen∣tlemen who give themselves the Title of Knights, of Marquesses, or of Counts, by their own private Authority. This is a shameful Usurpation; and so far from heightening the Luster of Nobility, that it injures them. For a Gentleman who takes upon him the quality of a Marquess, and well knows he is none, makes a perpetual Lye, a thing directly contra∣ry to his Honour, and to the profession he makes, of being a devoted constant defender of Truth. Beside, this huge number of Mar∣quesses, Lords and Knights, does bring those Qualities into contempt; and is a cause, that true Marquesses are not considered now, as they of right ought to be. 'Tis therefore extream∣ly important, that provision be speedily made in the case. For this confusion destroys the usefulness of those Dignities, they being such as his Majesty should keep in his own hand, and Husband them with deliberation and fru∣gality; that they might be distributed on oc∣casion, to Men of Honour, and such as have evidenced a Zeal for his Service, and for the good of his Kingdom; that the persons also

to whom they are Granted, might fully enjoy them, with all the advantages and Preroga∣tives that are by custom annexed to them. I will not omit, that it is necessary to give the No∣lity the greatest respect that may be; to the end, that Citizens may conceive the greater desire to become Gentlemen; which should be granted them, when they have rais'd them∣selves to a Worthiness of it, either by just ac∣quiring a remarkable Estate, or doing some il∣lustrious exploit in War.

The whole Constitution of the Nobility is Military: Nevertheless there have been insti∣tuted in France, particular Orders of Knight∣hood, of which, the King is Grand Master Himself; and into which He admitteth such Gentlemen as He accounts most worthy of it. Such are the Orders of the Holy Ghost, and of St. Michael. There are others, of which the King is barely Protector; The Order of S. Lazarus is of that nature. But this is of no great advantage to the State: Because all Be∣neficences, all Favours, all Honours and Em∣ployments, should come directly and immedi∣ately from the Hand and Bounty of the King. For the continuation therefore of this Order of S. Lazarus, His Majesty might unite the Grand Mastership of it to the Regality, as the King of Spain does.