Aes. 1-7(0. HO MEMOIRS O F MAXIMILIAN de BETHUNE, DUKE of SULLY, PRIME MINISTER OF HENRY the GREAT. Newly tranflated from the French edition o.f M. de L’ECLLSE. To which is annexed. The TRIAL of FRANCIS RAVAILLAC, for the Murder of HENRY the GREAT. IN FIVE VOLUMES. VOLUME L. EDINBURGH: Printed and Sold by Gavin Alston* MjJDCC.LXXLU*- v, v o' A o"' T O THE MEMORY OF Sir JOSEPH YATES, ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE COURT OF KING’S BENCH, THIS NEW EDITION OF THE MEMOIRS OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS DUKE OF SULLY, IS HUMBLY DEDICATED BY The EDITOR. Edin. Auguft 1773. o M. de i^Ecluse’s Preface. THE Memoirs of Sully have always been ranked among the beft books we have. This truth being eilablilhed long ago, by the judgment of all our good critics, and of all the lovers of literature, I may fave my- felf the trouble of a diicuffion, ufelefs to thofe who know the book. With regard to thofe who have never read thefe Memoirs, it is fufficient to give them an idea of the work, to fay, that they compre- hend the hiftory of what pafled from the peace in 1570, to the firft year of Lewis XIII. that is to fay, the fpace of more than forty years ; a period-that has furnifhed the moil copious matter to the hiftorians of our mo- narchy ; and that they treat of the reign, or, to fpeak more properly, of almoll the whole life of Henry the Great. Thefe memoirs prefuppofe, indeed, fome knowledge of the preceding troubles, which are only occafion- ally mentioned; but they difplay all the fucceeding events in the moft minute detail. Events equally numerous and diverfified; wars, foreign and civil; interefts of hate and religion ; malterpieces of ftate-adminiftra- tion ; unexpected difcoveries ; efforts of am- bition ; ftratagems of policy; embaflles and negotiations; are all to be found here, and are but a part of what the book contains. The Memoirs of Sully derive another, perhaps a hill greater value, from an infini- b tude vi The French Editor’s Preface. tude of more particular recitals, which are not the province of hifiory, but an advan- tage peculiar to memoirs. They admit a multiplicity of fubjects, and all the variety of incidents which one pleafes to introduce; and, moreover, they are not fubjected to the yoke that neceflity has impofed upon hiftory, to omit nothing of thofe over- general things, in writing of which a man feels himfelf perfe&ly difgufted. Would one give a thorough knowledge of the Prince he is about to fpeak of? The picture of his private life mull inceffantly be compared with that of his public life. Tie muft exhibit him in the midll of his courtiers, with his domeftics, in the mo- ments when he obfervcs himfelf leaft; and e- ftablifh his character by his letters and his con- verfation. The paffions delineate themfelves better by a fimple word, related as it was originally fpoken, than by all the art which an hiftorian can employ. This idea of me- moirs is fo perfectly anfwered by thofe of Sully, with regard to the Prince who is the principal fubjed of them, that it is not till after having read them, that one truly knows Henry IV. What they exhibit to us of this great Prince, in his good as well as his bad fortune, viewed as a private man or a king, as a warrior or as a politician; in fine, as a hufband, father, friend, &c. is marked with traits fo fenfible, that one can- not keep himfelf from being interefted in the particularities of his life, even the moft indifferent. The French EditorV Preface. vii indifferent. At the moll-, I can only ex- cept fome military details, perhaps a little too frequent in the beginning of the work, and a fniall number of others lefs pleafing; though otherwife thefe recitals are always connefted with the public affairs, and di- verfified, like all the reft, with the part which was borne in them by the Duke of Sully. He is, fo to fpeak, the fecond a&or; and this double action makes no breach in the unity of intereft, if I may here be per- mitted this expreflion, becaufe that this minifter fays almofl nothing of himfelf, which has not fome relation to the ftate, or to the perfon of his matter. The reader will, doubtlefs, be pleafed to know what judgment was formed of thefe me- moirs when they firft began to fee the light j and I fhall give him information from the author of an old difcourfe, to be found a- mong the MSS. (vol. 9590 ) of the King’s library. “ One of the mott beautiful images “ of human prudence and fidelity,” fays he, <£ is to be found in the account left to the “ public by the Duke of Sully, in thefe two “ volumes, of the nature of the counfels he “ had given, and of the number of the fer- “ vices he had done, to his King and bene- “ factor, as well for the particular glory “ of his perfon, as for the profperity of hts “ kingdom. And, in truth, the fortune of “ Henry the Great, and the virtue of his b 2 u prime via The French Editor’s Prefacs- u prime minifter, are two things which ap- “ pear alternately, or more properly, go «* hand in hand. The minifter, in this “ work, ferves and obliges the King, in all “ the ways that a great Prince can receive “ fervice or obligation from a fubjeft, with “ his hand, his courage, his fword, and- “ even with his blood, and his wounds, by “ his valour or difcretion, as occafion re- “ quired. But he particularly ferved him. “ in his council and cabinet, w ith the great- “ eft good fenfe and moft quick-lighted pe- “ netration, the moft; uncommon difmter- “ eftednefs, and the moft lingular fincerity, “ that has ever been known in the hiftories, “ either of our own or of other countries.,> It is natural, in the reign of a Prince like Henry IV. to look for great generals, pro- found politicians, and able minifters ; but what muft furprife us is, to find in the fame perfon, the warrior, the politician, the w'ife manager of bulinefs, the fare and fevere fiiend, as well as the intimate confident and favourite of his mailer. And what muft appear ftill more uncommon, is to fee, in a w ork where the actions of two fuch extra- ordinary perfons are colle&ed after their deaths, a great King reduced to conquer his owm kingdom, occupied with a minifter in his w'ay, not Ids great, in contriving means to make his undertakings fuccefsfuf; labouring afterwards, in concert with him, to render this fame kingdom nor only peace- able but flouriftiing, regulating the finances, founding The French Editor’s Preface. ix founding trade, eftablifhing the police, and, in fhort, recovering every part of the go- vernment from confufion. In this work therefore are comprifed two illuftrious lives, mutually accompanying, enlightening, and embellilhing one another; that of a king, and that of a minifter, his confident, nearly of the fame age, carried on from the infancy of both to the death of the firft, and to the time when the fecond faw himfelf removed from the management of affairs. Add to this, that thefe Memoirs of Sully are yet further recommended by excellent principles of morality, by civil and political maxims derived from truth, and by an in- finite number of views, projects, and regu- lations, of aimoft every kind with which they are filled. “ He alone,” fays the fame co- temporary author, fpeaking of the Duke of Sully, *cfirftdifcovered the union of two things M which our fathers not only could not ac- <c commodate, but even imagined utterly “ incompatible - the increafe of the King’s “ revenue, and rthe eafe and relief of the w people. He that would have an idea of w a good fubject and an incorruptible “ minifter of hate, muft look for it in this 6‘ picture, where he will fee ceconomy in <c its beft light, and policy in all its advan- u tages; the art of ufing and the art of M gaining power *, the fcience of reigning “ as a man, and that of reigning as a King j ^ the fineft inftrmftions, and the richeib b 3 41 examples The French Editor’s Preface* <£ examples of morality are here exhaufted,. <£ and the whole lupported and adorned by a “ knowledge of every thing, from the high- “ eft arts, to mechanic occupations.” I fay it again, that as far as I know, the fe- vered critics are not at this very day of a much different way of thinking. One need only confult the Abbot Le Laboureur, in his additions to the Memoirs of Cafllenau, vol. 2.. book 2. p. 687. ^ Father Le Long; and a multitude of modern writers: for who is there that does not cfte with eulogiums the Memoirs of Sully, as the firft political treatife that has (hewn us the real power of this king- dom, that contains almoft all that has been done by Richelieu, Mazarine, and Colbert; and w hich, in a word, is to be confidered as the molt proper fchool of the art of govern- ment?, In the remaining part of; the preface, the French editor gives a particular account of his edition,, and of the various editions which Sull/s Me- tr.oirs have borne in France. But as this would afford very little inflrudion or entertainment to any reader, it.