CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS ORATOR}'. 547 



de Thou. In 1585 Jacques Muiigot spoke " for throe consecutive hours, and 

 was as fresh at the finish as at the beginning of his discourse," says Esticnnc 

 L'asquier. These harangues were printed, and they were considered "more 

 agreeable to read " than to listen to. Advocates and magistrates alike 

 distinguished themselves, and the names of Seguier, Dumoulin, the first of 

 the Lamoignons, Leraaitre, Cujas, Chopin, Brisson, and Pithou (Figs. 410 to 

 414), shed a lustre upon the history both of the Parliament and the bur. If 

 their discourses are not literary and oratorical masterpieces, they are at all 

 events, as regards logical argument, sentiment, and sincerity, worthy of all 

 praise. There is instinct in them, at all times, a consistent tradition of honour 

 and virtue, from Jean de la Vacquerie, First President of the Paris Parliament, 

 boldly replying to the threats of Louis XI., "Sire, we coine to remit our 



Fig. 410. Portrait of Fig. 411. Portrait of C. Dumoulin. Fig. 412.- Portrait of 



P. Seguier. G. Lemaitre. 



Fac-simile of lane Engravings by Leonard Gaultier, from the Series called " C'hronologie 

 collee." In the Library of M. Firmin-Didot, Paris. 



functions into your hands, and to suffer what it may be your good pleasure to 

 inflict upon us, rather than offend our consciences," to the Chancellor Olivier 

 enjoining the members of the Normandy Parliament (Oct. 8th, 1550), as he 

 showed them the crucifix, to " remember, as you fulfil your charges, that He 

 to whom all hearts are open is in your midst ; He to whom you will have to 

 render an account of your judgments, and whose sentence is inevitable, even 

 if you escape the hand of the King and of justice." 



Parliamentary eloquence became in a degree political when the great 

 magisterial bodies addressed themselves to the sovereign, who generally 

 listened to them with deference. But political eloquence had freer course in 



