Note 119 — CHAP. XXXIX.

John Petit, professor of theology in the university of Paris, ‘ame venale,’ says Bayle, ‘et vendue à l’iniquitè.’ He was reputed a great orator, and had been employed twice before to plead on occasions of the first importance. The first was in favour of the university against some accusations of the cardinal-legate in 1406; the second, at Rome before pope Gregory, on the 20th of July 1407, on the subject of the king’s proposal for a termination of the schism. The very curious performance with which we are here presented was publicly condemned by the bishop of Paris and the university as soon as they were out of fear from the immediate presence of the duke of Burgundy, and burnt by the common hangman. See, in Bayle, further particulars of the work and its author.