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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow LETTER LIX.: The Fragment of a Letter from M. de Montesquieu, to the King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine, to solicit his Majesty for a place in the Academy of Nantz. - Complete Works, vol. 4 Familiar Letters; Miscellaneous Pieces; The Temple of Gnidus; A Defence of the Spirit of Laws

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Subject Area: Political Theory

LETTER LIX.: The Fragment of a Letter from M. de Montesquieu, to the King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine, to solicit his Majesty for a place in the Academy of Nantz. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 4 Familiar Letters; Miscellaneous Pieces; The Temple of Gnidus; A Defence of the Spirit of Laws [1777]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 4.

Part of: Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols.

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LETTER LIX.

The Fragment of a Letter from M. de Montesquieu, to the King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine, to solicit his Majesty for a place in the Academy of Nantz.

IT is your majesty’s goodness in my behalf, that your academy is to form an opinion of whatever my pretensions to merit may be. From your royal vouching who doubt my being possest of a great deal. A laudable zeal impels me to seize on every occasion that may draw me nearer to the sphere of your royal influence: and when I reflect on the many great qualities that centre in your majesty, admiration would fain extort expressions from which respect commands me to with-hold.