Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet

Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet (14 July 1736 – 27 June 1794) was French journalist and advocate known for his conservative politics who was executed during the French Revolution.

He was born in Reims, where his father, the assistant principal in the Collège 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 Zweibrücken to Poland, and on his return to Paris he devoted himself to writing. He published partial French translations of Pedro Calderón de la Barca and Lope de Vega, and wrote parodies for the Opéra-Comique and pamphlets in favor 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 Jean le Rond 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.

After wanderings which led him to Holland and back through the north of France, he found himself in the town of Abbeville, where he attracted the disapproval of Duval de Soicourt, the mayor, but also the patronage of an ex-mayor and Duval's rival, Douville de Maillefeu. His tangential involvement in their quarrels resulted in Duval's driving him from the town. He went to Paris, where he began to study law.

He was admitted to the bar in 1764, just in time to become involved in the case of François-Jean de la Barre (the "Chevalier de La Barre"), whose case was being judged in Abbeville by Duval. Ultimately, he failed to save La Barre but his efforts contributed to the release of several others accused in the case, including Douville's son. This case also brought the new lawyer to instant prominence and he soon became one of the most famous pleaders of his century.

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