T H O 



T H O 



Brown, Henry IV., at Clinteaudun. The king, fully ap- 

 prized of his excellent (jualities, repofed confidence in him, 

 and employed him in many intrrefting negociations. On 

 the death of Aniyot, the king's principal librarian, De 

 Thou was nominated his fuccefTor ; and in 1594 he fuc- 

 ceeded his uncle as " prefident a mortier." He officiated 

 as one of the Catholic commiffioners at the theological con- 

 ference of Foiitainebleau between Du Perron and Du Pleflis 

 Mornai ; an<l in the regency of Mary de Mcdicis, he was 

 one of the direftors-general of the finances. At the con- 

 ference of Loudun, he acquired diftinguiflied reputation by 

 his virtue and abiHty ; and he was joined with cardinal Du 

 Perron in a commiflion for the reform of the univerfity of 

 Paris, and the conllruftion of the college-royal, the edifice 

 of which was begun under his fnperintendance. Although 

 De Thou was occupied in a variety of public tranfaftions, 

 he referved time for the cultivation of literature, and par- 

 ticularly for that of Latin verfe, in whicii latter department 

 he publifhed, in 1584, a didaftic and defcriptive poem, 

 " De Re Accipitraria," (on Hawking,) which was well 

 received by the learned. He alfo gave to the public other 

 pieces of Latin poetry, fome of which were on fcriptnral 

 fubjeAs. But his " Opus majus," as we may call it, 

 which has eftablifhed his permanent fame, was " The Hif- 

 tory of his own Times," the firll part of which appeared 

 in 1604. The condemnation of this interelling work re- 

 flefts indelible difcredit on Henry IV. and his court : 

 the ground of their enmity feems to have been the freedom 

 with which he fpoke of the popes, clergy, and the houfe of 

 Guife, and the difpofition he manifefted to extenuate the 

 offences charged upon the Huguenots, and to extol the virtues 

 and abilities of that fe<Sl. Our author's Hiftory, when 

 completed, confifted of 138 books, comprehending the 

 events from 1545 to 1607. No pcrfon could be better qua- 

 lified for undertaking fuch a work ; and when we confider 

 his native candour and love of truth, no one was more 

 likely to execute it with impartiality. Mr. Hayley, in his 

 " Effay on Hiftory," has with equal juftice and eloquence 

 charafterized this illuftrious writer in the following lines : 



'• There, in the dignity of virtuous pride. 

 Thro' painful fcenes of public fervice try'd. 

 And keenly confcious of his country's woes, 

 The liberal fpirit of Thuanus rofe : 

 O'er earth's wide ftage a curious eye he caft. 

 And caught the living pageant as it paft : 

 With patriot care moft eager to advance 

 The rights of nature, and the weal of France ! 

 His language noble, and his temper clear 



■ From faftion's rage, and fuperftitious fear ! 

 In wealth laborious ! amid wrongs fedate ! 

 His virtue lovely, as his genius great ! 

 Ting'd with fome marks that from his climate fpring. 

 He priz'd his country, but ador'd his king ; 

 Yet with a zeal from flavifh awe refin'd. 

 Shone the clear model of a Gallic mind." 



To this work De Thou has annexed " Commentaries or 

 Memoirs of his own Life." 



Having loil his firft wife in 160 1, whofe virtues he cele- 

 brated ill a Latin poem ; and having no iffue, he married, 

 in 1603, a fecond wife, of a noble family, by whom he had 

 three fons and three daughters, and Ihe died in 1616. This 

 lofs, and the calamities that befcl his country on the murder 

 of Henry IV., are fuppofed to have haftened his own death, 

 which happened in 161 7, at the age of 64 years.' His library, 

 which was very valuable, and which by his will was to have 

 been kept undivided in his family, was neverthelefs fold 



after the death of one of his fons. The moft complete edition 

 of De Thou's Hiftory is that publilhed at London in 17J3, 

 by Buckley, in 7 vols fol. with memoirs of his life, and 

 other pieces not before publifticd. Dr. Mead, always dif- 

 tinguiflied as the munificent patron of letters, contributed 

 to render this edition peculiarly valuable, by the purchafc 

 of Carte's papers, which he had collofted during his refi- 

 dence in France. — Mem. of De Thou, by himfelf. Moreri. 

 Nouv. Dia. Hift. Gen. Biog. 



The cldeft ion of De Thou, viz. Francis Augujus de 

 Thou, born in 1607, inherited the virtue and talents of his 

 father, and became a mafti r of requefts, and afterwards 

 grand-mafter of the royal library, and acquired, by the 

 gentlenefs of his manners and profound learning, general 

 efteem. But falling under the dii'pleafure of cardinal Riche- 

 lieu, he was kept out of all confidential employments ; and 

 by this flight he was induced to join the party of the 

 favourite Cinqmars, who entered into a fecret negociation 

 with Spain. De Thou was implicated in the confpiracy, 

 and capitally condemned. He was beheaded at Lyons, in 

 1642, at the age of 35, dying with great refolution, and 

 univerfally lamented ; a viftim to the vindiftive feeling of 

 Richelieu, becaufe his father, in his Hiftory, had fpoken in 

 opprobrious terms of one of his family. 



THOUARCE', in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Mayne and Loire ; 1 2 miles S. of 

 Angers. 



THOUARE', a town of France, in the department of 

 the Lower Loire; 5 miles N.E. of Nantes. 



THOUARS, a town of France, and principal place of 

 a diftrift, in the department of the Two Sevres, near tlje 

 river Thoue. The place contains 2035, ^"<^ '^^ canton 

 13,950 inhabitants, on a territory of 3i7i kiliometres, in 

 24 communes ; 31 miles W. of Poitiers. N. lat. 46° 58'. 

 E. long, o'-" 8'. 



THOUE, a river of France, which runs into the Loire, 

 a little below St. Florent. 



THOUGHT, Sextiment, a general name for all the 

 ideas confequent on the operations of the mind, and even 

 for the operations themfelves. 



A.S, in the idea of thought, there is nothing included of 

 what we include in the idea of an extended fubftance ; and 

 that whatever belongs to body, may be denied to belong 

 to thought ; we may conclude, that thought is not a mode 

 of extended fubftance, it being the nature of a mode not to 

 be conceived, if the thing, of which it is the mode, be 

 denied. Hence we infer, that thought, not being a mode 

 of extended fubftance, muft be the attribute of fome other 

 fubftance very different. 



F. Malebranche, with the fpirit of a Cartefian, denies 

 that a man who thinks ferioufly on the matter, can doubt 

 but that the eftence of the mind confifts altogether in 

 thought, as that of matter does in extenfion ; and that, 

 according to the various modifications of thought, the mind 

 fometimes wills, fometimes imagines, &c. ; as, according to 

 the various modifications of extenfion, matter is fometimes 

 water, fometimes wood, fire, &c. By the way, by thought 

 he does not mean the particular modifications of the foul, 

 ;. c. fuch or fuch a thought, but thought, or thinking in the 

 general, confidered as capable of all kinds of modifications, 

 or ideas ; as by extenfion he does not mean fuch or fuch an 

 extenfion, as a fquare, oval^ or the like, but extenfion in the 

 abftraft, confidered as fufceptible of all kinds of modifi- 

 cations or figures. 



He adds, that he takes it to be impoflible to conceive a 

 mind which does not think, though it be eafy to conceive 

 one which docs not feel, or imagine, or will ; in like manner 



as 



