LINGUET

linguet, simon nicholas henri (1736-1794), french journalist and advocate, was born on the 14th of july 1736, at reims, whither his father, the assistant principal in the college de beauvais of paris, had recently been exiled by _lettre de cachet_ for engaging in the jansenist controversy. he attended the college de beauvais and won the three highest prizes there in 1751. he accompanied the count palatine of zweibrucken to poland, and on his return to paris he devoted himself to writing. he published partial french translations of calderon and lope de vega, and wrote parodies for the _opera comique_ and pamphlets in favour of the jesuits. received at first in the ranks of the _philosophes_, he soon went over to their opponents, possibly more from contempt than from conviction, the immediate occasion for his change being a quarrel with d'alembert in 1762. thenceforth he violently attacked whatever was considered modern and enlightened, and while he delighted society with his numerous sensational pamphlets, he aroused the fear and hatred of his opponents by his stinging wit. he was admitted to the bar in 1764, and soon became one of the most famous pleaders of his century. but in spite of his brilliant ability and his record of having lost but two cases, the bitter attacks which he directed against his fellow advocates, especially against gerbier (1725-1788), caused his dismissal from the bar in 1775. he then turned to journalism and began the _journal de politique et de litterature_, which he employed for two years in literary, philosophical and legal criticisms. but a sarcastic article on the french academy compelled him to turn over the journal to la harpe and seek refuge abroad. linguet, however, continued his career of free lance, now attacking and now supporting the government, in the _annales politiques, civiles et litteraires_, published from 1777 to 1792, first at london, then at brussels and finally at paris. attempting to return to france in 1780 he was arrested for a caustic attack on the duc de duras (1715-1789), an academician and marshal of france, and imprisoned nearly two years in the bastille. he then went to london, and thence to brussels, where, for his support of the reforms of joseph ii., he was ennobled and granted an honorarium of one thousand ducats. in 1786 he was permitted by vergennes to return to france as an austrian counsellor of state, and to sue the duc d'aiguillon (1730-1798), the former minister of louis xv., for fees due him for legal services rendered some fifteen years earlier. he obtained judgment to the amount of 24,000 livres. linguet received the support of marie antoinette; his fame at the time surpassed that of his rival beaumarchais, and almost excelled that of voltaire. shortly afterwards he visited the emperor at vienna to plead the case of van der noot and the rebels of brabant. during the early years of the revolution he issued several pamphlets against mirabeau, who returned his ill-will with interest, calling him "the ignorant and bombastic m. linguet, advocate of neros, sultans and viziers." on his return to paris in 1791 he defended the rights of san domingo before the national assembly. his last work was a defence of louis xvi. he retired to marnes near ville d'avray to escape the terror, but was sought out and summarily condemned to death "for having flattered the despots of vienna and london." he was guillotined at paris on the 27th of june 1794. linguet was a prolific writer in many fields. examples of his attempted historical writing are _histoire du siecle d'alexandre le grand_ (amsterdam, 1762), and _histoire impartiale des jesuites_ (madrid, 1768), the latter condemned to be burned. his opposition to the _philosophes_ had its strongest expressions in _fanatisme des philosophes_ (geneva and paris, 1764) and _histoire des revolutions de l'empire romain_ (paris, 1766-1768). his _theorie des lois civiles_ (london, 1767) is a vigorous defence of absolutism and attack on the politics of montesquieu. his best legal treatise is _memoire pour le comte de morangies_ (paris, 1772); linguet's imprisonment in the bastille afforded him the opportunity of writing his _memoires sur la bastille_, first published in london in 1789; it has been translated into english (dublin, 1783, and edinburgh, 1884-1887), and is the best of his works though untrustworthy. see a. deverite, _notice pour servir a l'histoire de la vie et des ecrits de s. n. h. linguet_ (liege, 1782); gardoz, _essai historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de linguet_ (lyon, 1808); j. f. barriere, _memoire de linguet et de latude_ (paris, 1884); ch. monselet, _les oublies et les dedaignes_ (paris, 1885), pp. 1-41; h. monin "notice sur linguet," in the 1889 edition of _memoires sur la bastille_; j. cruppi, _un avocat journaliste au 18^e siecle, linguet_ (paris, 1895); a. philipp. _linguet, ein nationalokonom des xviii jahrhunderts in seinen rechtlichen, socialen und volkswirtschaftlichen anschauungen_ (zurich, 1896); a. lichtenberger, _le socialisme utopique_ (1898), pp. 77-131. link. (1) (of scandinavian origin; cf. swed. _lank_, dan. _laenke_; cognate with "flank," and ger. _gelenk_, joint), one of the loops of which a chain is composed; used as a measure of length in surveying, being (1/100)th part of a "chain." in gunter's chain, a "link" = 7.92 in.; the chain used by american engineers consists of 100 links of a foot each in length (for "link work" and "link motions" see mechanics: § _applied_, and steam engine). the term is also applied to anything used for connecting or binding together, metaphorically or absolutely. (2) (o. eng. _hlinc_, possibly from the root which appears in "to lean"), a bank or ridge of rising ground; in scots dialect, in the plural, applied to the ground bordering on the sea-shore, characterized by sand and coarse grass; hence a course for playing golf. (3) a torch made of pitch or tow formerly carried in the streets to light passengers, by men or boys called "link-boys" who plied for hire with them. iron link-stands supporting a ring in which the link might be placed may still be seen at the doorways of old london houses. the word is of doubtful origin. it has been referred to a med. lat. _lichinus_, which occurs in the form _linchinus_ (see du cange, _glossarium_); this, according to a 15th-century glossary, meant a wick or match. it is an adaptation of gr. [greek: luchnos], lamp. another suggestion connects it with a supposed derivation of "linstock," from "lint." _the new english dictionary_ thinks the likeliest suggestion is to identify the word with the "link" of a chain. the tow and pitch may have been manufactured in lengths, and then cut into sections or "links." linkoping, a city of sweden, the seat of a bishop, and chief town of the district (_lan_) of ostergotland. pop. (1900) 14,552. it is situated in a fertile plain 142 m. by rail s.w. of stockholm, and communicates with lake roxen (1⁄2 m. to the north) and the gota and kinda canals by means of the navigable stanga. the cathedral (1150-1499), a romanesque building with a beautiful south portal and a gothic choir, is, next to the cathedral of upsala, the largest church in sweden. it contains an altarpiece by martin heemskerck (d. 1574), which is said to have been bought by john ii. for twelve hundred measures of wheat. in the church of st lars are some paintings by per horberg (1746-1816), the swedish peasant artist. other buildings of note are the massive episcopal palace (1470-1500), afterwards a royal palace, and the old gymnasium founded by gustavus adolphus in 1627, which contains the valuable library of old books and manuscripts belonging to the diocese and state college, and collection of coins and antiquities. there is also the ostergotland museum, with an art collection. the town has manufactures of tobacco, cloth and hosiery. it is the headquarters of the second army division. linkoping early became a place of mark, and was already a bishop's see in 1082. it was at a council held in the town in 1153 that the payment of peter's pence was agreed to at the instigation of nicholas breakspeare, afterwards adrian iv. the coronation of birger jarlsson valdemar took place in the cathedral in 1251; and in the reign of gustavus vasa several important diets were held in the town. at stangabro (stanga bridge), close by, an obelisk (1898) commemorates the battle of stangabro (1598), when duke charles (protestant) defeated the roman catholic sigismund. a circle of stones in the iron market of linkoping marks the spot where sigismund's adherents were beheaded in 1600.