Note 19 — INTRODUCTION
George Maidment translation
The name given to the constitutional struggles of the nobles and the Parlement of Paris against Mazarin and the royal power (1648-1654). The name is derived from fronde, a sling. A wit of the Parlement, one Bachaumont, “told the lawyers of that august body that they were like schoolboys playing in the town ditches with their slings, who run away directly the watchman appears, and begin again when his back is turned.” See Kitchin, iii. pp. 102-128.—T.