Mirabeaa an Op2X)nent of xihsolutis'in 3 



beau family. But Louis de Lomenie did not live to complete 

 his work. It was taken up by his wife and by his son Charles 

 de Lomenie, finished and published in five large volumes. The 

 last three, dealing with Mirabeau himself, appeared in 1889-91/ 

 The value of this work can be estimated best by one who has 

 tilled the same field, and thus possessing a knowledge of the 

 wealth of information upon which the work is based, is in a 

 position to judge of the justness of the conclusions drawn from 

 it. Such a one is Professor Stern of Zurich, a man who has 

 done for Germany what the Lomenies did for France. He 

 declares that the work of the French historians has given "the 

 mightiest impulse toward a revision of the conception hitherto 

 held of Mirabeau's life."^ Mezicres, who dedicates his "Yie 

 de Mirabeau" to the elder Lomenie, writes of him in the most 

 enthusiastic terms and designates his work as definitive.^ Nor 

 is tl.is praise undeserved. Louis de Lomenie was a striking 

 proof of the fact that the French historian no longer sits at the 

 feet of the German scholar. Lomenie' s chapter on the origin 

 of the Mirabeau family^ — to cite but one example — is a match- 

 less bit of judicial criticism and lucid presentation. The five 



1 "'Grace a MM. de Lomenie, cette orageuse biographie n'a plus pour 

 personne aucun secret ; quiconque desormais parlera de Mirabeau, devra 

 chercher dans ces travaux precieux sa route et son guide." Rousse, p. 6. 



2 "Den machtigsten Anstoss zu einer Revision der bisherigen Gesamt- 

 anschauung von Mirabeau' s Leben hat aber die unschatzbare Arbeit des 

 verstorbenen Akademikers Louis de Lomenie gegeben, welche nach seinen 

 hinterlassenen Papieren von seinem Sohne Charles de Lomenie in wiir- 

 digster Weise fortgesetzt wird." Stern, I. p. 5. 



3 " Je dedie ce livre a la memoire de mon excellent ami et confrere, M. 

 Louis de Lomenie. J'ai ete le temoin, quelquefois le confident de ses 

 travaux. Personne ne poussait plus loin que lui les scrupules de Thistorien 

 et le souci de la v^rit^. La surety de ses informations donne h ses tStudes 

 sur Beaumarchais et sur les Mirabeau un prix inestimable. On pent •*- 

 siderer ce qu'il a ecrit sur ces deux sujets comme une ceuvre definitive." 

 Mezi^res, p. 5. 



■* Volume I, Chapter 2. 



47 



