the inspiration for countless French monarchists and Catholics. De Maistre came from an aristocratic background, was educated by Jesuits, and trained as a lawyer. He regarded the French revolution as a divine punishment for France’s hospitality to the Enlightenment, and advocated a return to an absolute monarchy, sanctified by the infallible Pope, the guarantor of morality and stability in Europe. Books included Du pape (1821), trs. as On the Pope (1850) and Essai sur le principe générateur des constitutions politiques (1814) trs. as Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions (1847). The somewhat disorganized Les Soirées de St Petersbourg (1821) trs. as St. Petersburg Dialogues (1993), contains a withering attack on Locke, and a panegyric on the role of the executioner in society.