, counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux, was born there March 21, 1693,
, counsellor of the parliament of
Bourdeaux, was born there March 21, 1693, and at the
age of nine was sent for education to the college of the
Oratory at Juilly, in the diocese of Meaux. Although of
a weakly habit, he made great progress in his early studies,
and was liberally encouraged by one of the regent masters,
father de Vize“. In 1711 he returned to his family, where
he continued his studies, deriving some assistance from his
father, a man of talents, but austere and somewhat unsocial. Here, likewise, he found many young men of his
own age who like himself were intended for the bar or for
offices of the magistracy. After five or six years application, M. Bel employed his pen on various subjects of metaphysics and morals, and amused himself occasionally with
perusing the best poets. In 1720, he was received as a
counsellor of parliament, and conducted himself in the
causes entrusted to him, with strict probity and impartiality. In 1731, on the death of his father, he succeeded
him in the office of treasurer of France. During his residence at Paris, he formed an intimacy with the literati of
the metropolis, and projected two considerable works, for
which he had collected materials: the one on taste, its
history, progress and decline; the other on French poetry.
On his return to Bourdeaux in 1736, he was elected a
member of the Bourdeaux academy, and the following year
chosen director, on which occasion he made a speech
which included some part of the work on taste above-mentioned. Some time afterwards he resigned his office of
counsellor, and obtained letters of superannuation (lettres de veteran). In 1737, the academy having proposed
” muscular motion“as the subject of the prize of that year, which
was won by Mr. Alexander Stuart, a Scotchman, and physician to the queen of England, M. Bel, after examining
the various dissertations sent in on this occasion, read one
of his own on the same subject before the academy; and
in order to study this and similar subjects more fully, with
a view to his situation in the academy, he determined to
make another visit to Paris. But from the moment of his
arrival there, he gave himself up so unremittingly to study,
as to bring on a dangerous illness, of which he died August
15, 1738. He left to the academy of Bourdeaux, his
house and a fine and well-chosen library, with a fund for
the maintenance of two librarians. His principal publications were, 1.
” Apologie de M. Houdart de la Motte, de
l'academie Franchise, Paris, 1724,“8vo, a satirical attack on
M. de la Motte’s works, especially his dramas. 2.
” Dictionnaire Neologique," since considerably augmented by
the abbe* Fontaines, a work intended to ridicule the use of
new and affected words. He wrote also a criticism on the
Mariamne of Voltaire, and some similar criticisms inserted
in the Literary Memoirs published by father Moletz of the
oratory.
, of Sarlat, in Perigord, counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux, was born Nov. 1, 1530, and cultivated
, of Sarlat, in Perigord,
counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux, was born
Nov. 1, 1530, and cultivated both Latin and French
poetry with success. He was an author at the age of Sixt
teen, and died at thirty-two, in 1563, at Germignan, two
leagues from Bourdeaux. Montagne, his friend, to whom
he left his library, collected his works in 1571, 8vo. They
consist of translations of several works of Plutarch and
Xenophon, of political discourses, pieces of poetry, &c.
His “Authenoticon,
” or voluntary slavery, was published
in
, a French lawyer, was born in 1515, and was a counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux. He was an elegant writer in
, a French lawyer, was born
in 1515, and was a counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux. He was an elegant writer in Latin, an imitator of
the style of Terence, admired by Scaliger, and honoured
by him with the name of Atticus. --He continued the history of France in Latin (which Paulus Æmilius, a writer of Verona, had given from the reign of Pharamond to 1488) as far as the end of the reign of Francis I. This
work was published at Paris, by Vascosan, in 1554, fol.
and 1555, 8vo. It is copious, but not too long, and
abounds with curious anecdotes and very exact details.
He wrote also “Observations sur la Coutume de Bourdeaux,
” Lyons,
s did not deserve eternal punishment, but this he thought fit to suppress. In Feb. 1714, he became a counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux, and was received president amortier,
,
a very celebrated French writer, was descended of an ancient and noble family of Guienne, and born at the castle
of Brede near Bourdeaux, Jan. 18, 1639. The greatest
care was taken of his education; and, at the age of twenty,
he had actually prepared materials for his “Spirit of Laws,
”
by a well-digested extract from those immense volumes
which compose the body of the civil law; and which he
had studied both as a civilian and a philosopher. Maupertuis informs us that he studied this science almost from
his infancy, and that the first product of his early genius
was a work, in which he undertook to prove, that the idolatry of most part of the pagans did not deserve eternal
punishment, but this he thought fit to suppress. In Feb.
1714, he became a counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux, and was received president amortier, July 13, 1716,
in the room of an uncle, who left him his fortune and his
office. He was admitted, April 3, 1716, into the academy
of Bourdeaux, which was then only in its infancy. A taste
for music, and for works of entertainment, had, at first,
assembled the members who composed it; but the societies for belles lettres being grown, in his opinion, too numerous, he proposed to have physics for their chief object; and the duke de la Force, having, by a prize just
founded at Bourdeaux, seconded this just and rational proposal, Bourdeaux acquired an academy of sciences.
the regiment of Maulevrier. By this lady he had two daughters and a son, John. Baptista de Secondat, counsellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux, who died in that city in 1796,
Montesquieu married, in 1715, Jeanne de Lartigue,
daughter to Peter de Lartigue, lieutenant-colonel of the
regiment of Maulevrier. By this lady he had two daughters
and a son, John. Baptista de Secondat, counsellor of
the parliament of Bourdeaux, who died in that city in
1796, at the age of seventy-nine. He was author of many
works; particularly of “Observations de Physique et
d'Histoire Naturelle sur les Eaux Minerales de Pyrenees,
”
Considerations sur la Commerce et la Navigation
de la Grande Bretagne,
” Considerations sur la
Marine Militaire de France,
”