[Ads-l] "L'=?UTF-8?Q?=C3=89tat_?=C'est Moi" Source

Wed Nov 1 16:54:09 UTC 2017

The quotation appeared in an English language periodical by 1793
although the quotation itself was presented in French.

Date: February 1793
Periodical: The Literary and Biographical Magazine and British Review
Volume 10
Article: Biographiana: Or, Anecdotes of Illustrious Persons, Number XI
Article Section: Louis XIV
Quote Page 91
Database: HathiTrust

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433104245141
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433104245141?urlappend=%3Bseq=97

[Begin excerpt]
Louis had so little notion of the separate interests of the monarch
and the state, that when some one was haranguing him, and mentioned
votre majeste & l'etat-"Etat," replied Louis, "c'est moi."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 10:39 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I don't read French much, but the preface seems to describe the origin,
> sources and past of the      > documents used.  Documents accessed after
> toppling the monarchy, perhaps?
>
> The preamble to the edict of the tenth is one
> less despotic than previous edicts.
> This prince, in his times of prosperity,
> shocked that a magistrate had said, the
> King and the State, interrupted him, saying,
> l'État c'est moi.
>
> On Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 7:44 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't read French much, but the preface seems to describe the origin,
>> sources and past of the documents used.  Documents accessed after toppling
>> the monarchy, perhaps?
>>
>> The quote appears in many books and periodicals published in 1791.  The
>> Memoires must have made a big splash.
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: ADSGarson O'Toole<mailto:adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Sent: ‎10/‎31/‎2017 16:40
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Re: "L'État C'est Moi" Source
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "L'=?UTF-8?Q?=C3=89tat_?=C'est Moi" Source
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------------
>>
>> Good work, Peter. I suspect that "M=C3=A9moires Secrets . . ." is the same
>> book that Fred found in Gallica. Google Books also has the volume, but
>> I do not see any pointer to an earlier source within the text.
>>
>> Year: 1791
>> Title: M=C3=A9moires secrets sur les r=C3=A8gnes de Louis XIV et de Louis
>> X=
>> V
>> Volume 1
>> Charles Duclos
>> Publisher: Buisson, Paris
>>
>> https://books.google.com/books?id=3DTpT9cfQ-APgC&q=3D%
>> 22c%27est+moi%22#v=3D=
>> snippet&
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Le pr=C3=A9ambule de l'=C3=A9dit du dixi=C3=A8me est d'un
>> stile moins despotique que les =C3=A9dits pr=C3=A9c=C3=A9dens.
>> Ce prince, dans ses temps de prosp=C3=A9rit=C3=A9,
>> choqu=C3=A9 qu'un magistrat e=C3=BBt dit, le
>> Roi et l'Etat, l'interrompit, en disant,
>> l'Etat c'est moi.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Garson
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 2:01 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > A German-language journal also published in April 1791<
>> https://babel.hath=
>> itrust.org/cgi/pt?id=3Dhvd.hxjuey;view=3D1up;seq=3D645> attributes the
>> anec=
>> dote to "Memoires secrets sur les regnes de Louis XIV. et Louis XV<https://
>> =
>> archive.org/stream/mmoiressecretss06duclgoog#page/n195/mode/2up/search/c%
>> 27=
>> est>. par feu Mr. Duclos, de l'academie Francoise, historiographe de
>> France=
>> . 1791. I Vol. 484 pages. II. 571 pages in Octavo."  That book, on
>> archive.=
>> org, has poor OCR text, so I was unable to easily search and find it in
>> the=
>>  book to see whether it listed an earlier source.
>> >
>> >
>> > G=C3=B6ttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen, Volume 1, 1791, Number
>> 6=
>> 4, page 645<https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=3Dhvd.hxjuey;
>> view=3D1up;=
>> seq=3D649>.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > If the "Memoires" were truly secret, it is possible that they first came
>> =
>> to light in that publication.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ________________________________
>> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> Shap=
>> iro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> > Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2017 10:28:24 AM
>> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > Subject: "L'=C3=89tat C'est Moi" Source
>> >
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------=
>> ------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> > Subject:      "L'=3D?iso-8859-1?Q?=3DC9tat_?=3DC'est Moi" Source
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------=
>> ------
>> >
>> > The Yale Book of Quotations cites an 1834 secondary source for Louis
>> XIV'=
>> s =3D
>> > famous remark, "L'=3DC9tat c'est moi."  When I search Gallica I find the
>> =
>> phra=3D
>> > se occurring in a 1791 book.  Can anyone help me to trace it to pre-1791
>> =
>> so=3D
>> > urces?
>> >
>> >
>> > Fred Shapiro
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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>> >
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>>
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>
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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