Note 813 — Chapter VI

Compare Sismondi, Hist. des Français, vol. i. pp. 176, 177, with Montlosier, Monarchie Française, vol. i. pp. 43, 44. Philippe de Comines, though superior to Sismondi and Montlosier in point of ability, lived in the middle ages, and therefore had no idea of doubting, but simply says, ‘Pharamond fut esleu roy, l'an 420, et régna dix ans,’ Mém. de Comines, livre viii. chap. xxvii. vol. iii. p. 232. But De Thou, coming a hundred years after Comines, evidently suspected that it was not all quite right, and therefore puts it on the authority of others. ‘Pharamond, qui selon nos historiens a porté le premier la couronne des François.’ De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. x. p. 530. See a singular passage on Pharamond in Mém. de Duplessis Mornay, vol. ii. p. 405.