A decree of the king's council (Feb.

7, 1752) suppressed both volumes, as containing maxims hostile to the royal authority and to religion.

The publishers were forbidden to reprint them, and the booksellers were forbidden to deliver any copies that might still be in hand.

The decree, however, contained no prohibition of the continuance of the work.

It was probably not meant to do anything more serious than to pacify the Jesuits, and lend an apparent justification to the officious pastorals of the great prelates.