These
were the causes of the severe persecutions of which he was the unhappy
victim. He was fortunate enough to obtain a slight alleviation of his
terrible punishment by writing a _Complainte latine_, in which he showed
that the author, although _black_ in name (_le noir_), was _white_ in his
virtues and his character. He was released from the galleys, and sent to
prison instead, being confined at Saint Malo, Brest, and Nantes, where he
died in 1692.
In times less remote, Simon Linguet, a French political writer (born in
1736), found himself immured in the Bastille on account of his works,
which gave great offence to the ruling powers. His chief books were his
_Histoire Impartiale des Jesuites_ (1768, 2 vols., in-l2) and his _Annales
Politiques_. After his release he wrote an account of his imprisonment,
which created a great sensation, and aroused the popular indignation
against the Bastille which was only appeased with its destruction.
Linguet's _Annales Politiques_ was subsequently published in Brussels in
1787, for which he was rewarded by the Emperor Joseph II. with a present
of 1,000 ducats. Linguet's experiences in the Bastille rendered him a
_persona grata_ to the revolutionary party, in which he was an active
agent; but, alas for the fickleness of the mob! he himself perished at the
hands of the wretches whose madness he had inspired, and was guillotined
at Paris in 1794.
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