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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Louis XIV., Makers of History Series, by
+John S. C. Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Louis XIV., Makers of History Series
+
+Author: John S. C. Abbott
+
+Release Date: October 26, 2008 [EBook #27056]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XIV. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Makers of History
+
+ Louis XIV.
+
+ BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT
+
+ WITH ENGRAVINGS
+
+ NEW YORK AND LONDON
+ HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+ 1904
+
+
+
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS,
+
+in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington
+
+Copyright, 1898, by LAURA A. BUCK.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XIV.]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+We all live a double life: the external life which the world sees, and
+the internal life of hopes and fears, joys and griefs, temptations and
+sins, which the world sees not, and of which it knows but little. None
+lead this double life more emphatically than those who are seated upon
+thrones.
+
+Though this historic sketch contains allusions to all the most
+important events in the reign of Louis XIV., it has been the main
+object of the writer to develop the inner life of the palace; to lead
+the reader into the interior of the Louvre, the Tuileries, Versailles,
+and Marly, and to exhibit the monarch as a man, in the details of
+domestic privacy.
+
+This can more easily be done in reference to Louis XIV. than any other
+king. Very many of the prominent members of his household left their
+autobiographies, filled with the minutest incidents of every-day life.
+
+It is impossible to give any correct idea of the life of this proud
+monarch without allusion to the corruption in the midst of which he
+spent his days. Still, the writer, while faithful to fact, has
+endeavored so to describe these scenes that any father can safely read
+the narrative aloud to his family.
+
+There are few chapters in history more replete with horrors than that
+which records the "Revocation of the Edict of Nantes." The facts given
+are beyond all possibility of contradiction. In the contemplation of
+these scenes the mind pauses, bewildered by the reflection forced upon
+it, that many of the actors in these fiend-like outrages were inspired
+by motives akin to sincerity and conscientiousness.
+
+The thoughtful reader will perceive that in this long and wicked reign
+Louis XIV. was sowing the wind from which his descendants reaped the
+whirlwind. It was the despotism of Louis XIV. and of Louis XV. which
+ushered in that most sublime of all earthly dramas, the French
+Revolution.
+
+          JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
+
+New Haven, Conn., 1870.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ Chapter                                                    Page
+
+    I. BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD                                   13
+
+   II. THE BOY-KING                                          49
+
+  III. MATRIMONIAL PROJECTS                                  86
+
+   IV. THE MARRIAGE OF THE KING                             121
+
+    V. FESTIVITIES OF THE COURT                             159
+
+   VI. DEATH IN THE PALACE                                  194
+
+  VII. THE WAR IN HOLLAND                                   234
+
+ VIII. MADAME DE MAINTENON                                  268
+
+   IX. THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES                302
+
+    X. THE SECRET MARRIAGE                                  330
+
+   XI. INTRIGUES AND WARS                                   359
+
+  XII. LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XIV.                              384
+
+
+
+
+ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+                                                            Page
+
+ LOUIS XIV.                                     _Frontispiece._
+
+ THE CASTLE OF BLOIS                                         18
+
+ PALACE OF ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE                               23
+
+ THE PALAIS ROYAL                                            31
+
+ PALACE OF THE LUXEMBOURG                                    52
+
+ THE TUILERIES                                               74
+
+ THE CASTLE OF VINCENNES                                     79
+
+ PALACE OF CHANTILLY                                         98
+
+ VIEW OF FONTAINEBLEAU                                      103
+
+ ISLE OF PHEASANTS                                          129
+
+ THE LOUVRE AND THE TUILERIES                               139
+
+ PALACE OF FONTAINEBLEAU                                    145
+
+ CHATEAU MAZARIN                                            157
+
+ CHATEAU DE VAUX                                            176
+
+ CONVENT OF VAL DE GRACE                                    198
+
+ THE PALACE OF ST. CLOUD                                    201
+
+ INTERIOR OF ST. DENIS                                      208
+
+ ST. DENIS                                                  236
+
+ PORTE ST. DENIS                                            254
+
+ MADAME DE MAINTENON                                        273
+
+ PALACE OF VERSAILLES                                       297
+
+ PARTERRE OF VERSAILLES                                     324
+
+ RACINE AND BOILEAU                                         339
+
+ THE TRIANON                                                351
+
+ MARLY                                                      354
+
+ LOUIS XIV. DIRECTING THE SIEGE                             362
+
+ FRONT VIEW OF ST. GERMAIN                                  376
+
+ ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV.                    409
+
+
+
+
+LOUIS XIV.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.
+
+1615-1650
+
+Marriage of Louis XIII.--Character of Louis XIII.--Character of
+Anne of Austria.--Cardinal Richelieu.--The Duke of Buckingham.--His
+death.--Estrangement of the king and queen.--Joy of the nation.--Birth
+of Louis XIV.--Gift of the Pope.--Condition of Paris.--Reconciliation
+of the king and queen.--Orders of Louis XIII. respecting the
+dauphin.--Ill health of Louis XIII.--The dauphin declared King Louis
+XIV.--Last hours of Louis XIII.--Death of Louis XIII.--Louis
+XIV. recognized king.--Palais Royal.--Apartments of the queen
+regent.--Educational arrangements for Louis XIV.--Speech of Louis
+at five years old.--Dislikes the change of teachers.--Interest in
+history.--Mazarin's wicked policy.--Henrietta, queen of Charles
+I.--Figure and bearing of the king.--His first campaign.--The
+cardinal's nieces.--Anecdote.--Feud between Mazarin and the
+Parliament.--Alarm of Mazarin.--Escape of the royal family from
+Paris.--Flight of the court.--Discomfort of the court at St.
+Germain.--Excitement in Paris.--Issue of a parliamentary
+decree.--Origin of the names Fronde and Mazarins.--Two rival
+courts.--Straw scarce.--Character of Mazarin.--Termination of the
+war.--Society reversed.
+
+
+Louis XIII. of France married Anne of Austria on the 25th of November,
+1615. The marriage ceremony was performed with great splendor in the
+Cathedral of Bordeaux. The bride was exceedingly beautiful, tall, and
+of exquisite proportions. She possessed the whitest and most delicate
+hand that ever made an imperious gesture. Her eyes were of matchless
+beauty, easily dilated, and of extraordinary transparency. Her small
+and ruddy mouth looked like an opening rose-bud. Long and silky hair,
+of a lovely shade of auburn, gave to the face it surrounded the
+sparkling complexion of a blonde, and the animation of a brunette.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: Louis XIV. et son Siecle.]
+
+The marriage was not a happy one. Louis XIII. was not a man of any
+mental or physical attractions. He was cruel, petulant, and jealous.
+The king had a younger brother, Gaston, duke of Anjou. He was a young
+man of joyous spirits, social, frank, a universal favorite. His moody,
+taciturn brother did not love him. Anne did. She could not but enjoy
+his society. Wounded by the coldness and neglect of her husband, it is
+said that she was not unwilling, by rather a free exhibition of the
+fascinations of her person and her mind, to win the admiration of
+Gaston. She hoped thus to inspire the king with a more just
+appreciation of her merits.
+
+Louis XIII., at the time of his marriage, was a mere boy fourteen
+years of age. His father had died when he was nine years old. He was
+left under the care of his mother, Mary de Medicis, as regent. Anne of
+Austria was a maturely developed and precocious child of eleven years
+when she gave her hand to the boy-king of France. Not much discretion
+could have been expected of two such children, exposed to the
+idleness, the splendors, and the corruption of a court.
+
+Anne was vain of her beauty, naturally coquettish, and very romantic
+in her views of life. It is said that the queen dowager, wishing to
+prevent Anne from gaining much influence over the mind of the king,
+did all she could to lure her into flirtations and gallantries, which
+alienated her from her husband. For this purpose she placed near her
+person Madame Chevreuse, an intriguing woman, alike renowned for wit,
+beauty, and unscrupulousness.
+
+Quite a desperate flirtation arose between Anne and little Gaston, who
+was but nine years of age. Gaston, whom the folly of the times
+entitled Duke of Anjou, hated Louis, and delighted to excite his
+jealousy and anger by his open and secret manifestation of love for
+the beautiful Anne. The king's health failed. He became increasingly
+languid, morose, emaciate. Anne, young as she was, was physically a
+fully developed woman of voluptuous beauty. The undisguised alienation
+which existed between her and the king encouraged other courtiers of
+eminent rank to court her smiles.
+
+Cardinal Richelieu, notwithstanding his ecclesiastical vows, became
+not only the admirer, but the lover of the queen, addressing her in
+the most impassioned words of endearment. Thus years of intrigue and
+domestic wretchedness passed away until 1624. The queen had then been
+married nine years, and was twenty years of age. She had no children.
+
+The reckless, hot-headed George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, visited
+the French court to arrange terms of marriage between Henrietta Maria,
+sister of Louis XIII., and the Prince of Wales, son of James I. of
+England. He was what is called a splendid man, of noble bearing, and
+of chivalric devotion to the fair. The duke, boundlessly rich,
+displayed great magnificence in Paris. He danced with the queen,
+fascinated her by his openly avowed admiration, and won such smiles in
+return as to induce the king and Cardinal Richelieu almost to gnash
+their teeth with rage.
+
+This flirtation, if we may not express it by a more emphatic phrase,
+created much heart-burning and wretchedness, criminations and
+recriminations, in the regal palace. In August, 1628, the Duke of
+Buckingham, then in England, terminated his wretched and guilty life.
+He fell beneath the dagger of an assassin. Anne, disdaining all
+dissimulation, wept openly, and, secluding herself from the gayeties
+of the court, surrendered herself to grief.
+
+A mutual spirit of defiance existed between the king and queen. Both
+were wretched. Such are always the wages of sin. Ten more joyless
+years passed away. The rupture between the royal pair was such that
+they could scarcely endure each other. Louis himself was the first to
+inform the queen of the news so satisfactory to him, so heart-rending
+to her, that a dagger had pierced the heart of Buckingham. After this
+they met only at unfrequent intervals. All confidence and sympathy
+were at an end. It was a bitter disappointment to the queen that she
+had no children. Upon the death of the king, who was in very feeble
+health, her own position and influence would depend almost entirely
+upon her having a son to whom the crown would descend. Louis resided
+generally at the Castle of Blois. Anne held her court at the Louvre.
+
+A married life of twenty-two years had passed away, and still the
+queen had no child. Both she and her husband had relinquished all hope
+of offspring. On the evening of the 5th of December, 1637, the king,
+having made a visit to the Convent of the Visitation, being overtaken
+by a storm, drove to the Louvre instead of Blois. He immediately
+proceeded to the apartments of the queen. Anne was astonished, and did
+not disguise her astonishment at seeing him. He, however, remained
+until the morrow.
+
+[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF BLOIS.]
+
+Soon after this, to the inexpressible joy of the queen, it appeared
+that she was to become a mother. The public announcement of the fact
+created surprise and joy throughout the nation. The king was equally
+astonished and delighted. He immediately hastened to the Louvre to
+offer the queen his congratulations.
+
+The queen repaired to St. Germain-en-Laye, about six miles from
+Versailles, to await the birth of her child. Here she occupied, in
+the royal palace, the gorgeous apartments in which Henry IV. had
+formerly dwelt. The king himself also took up his abode in the palace.
+The excitement was so great that St. Germain was crowded with the
+nobility, who had flocked to the place in anxious expectancy of the
+great event. Others, who could not be accommodated at St. Germain,
+stationed couriers on the road to obtain the earliest intelligence of
+the result.
+
+On the 5th of September, 1638, the king was greeted with the joyful
+tidings of the birth of a son. A vast crowd had assembled in front of
+the palace. The king, in the exuberance of his delight, took the child
+from the nurse, and, stepping out upon a balcony, exhibited him to the
+crowd, exclaiming, "A son! gentlemen, a son!"
+
+The announcement was received with a universal shout of joy. The happy
+father then took the babe into an adjoining apartment, where the
+bishops were assembled to perform the ordinance of baptism. These
+dignitaries of the Church had been kneeling around a temporary altar
+praying for the queen. The Bishop of Meaux performed the ceremony. A
+Te Deum was then chanted in the chapel of the castle. Immediately
+after this, the king wrote an autograph letter to the corporation of
+Paris, announcing the joyful tidings. A courier was dispatched with
+the document at his highest possible speed.
+
+The enthusiasm excited in the capital surpassed any thing which had
+ever before been witnessed. The common people, the nobles, the
+ecclesiastics, and the foreign embassadors, vied with each other in
+their demonstrations of joy. A few months after, in July, an
+extraordinary messenger arrived from the pope, to convey to the august
+mother and her child the blessing of the holy father. He also
+presented the queen, for her babe, swaddling-clothes which had been
+blessed by his holiness. These garments were exceedingly rich with
+gold and silver embroidery. They were inclosed in a couple of chests
+of red velvet, and elicited the admiration of the royal pair.
+
+The France of that day was very different from that magnificent empire
+which now stands in intellectual culture, arts, and arms, prominent
+among the nations of the globe. The country was split up into hostile
+factions, over which haughty nobles ruled. The roads in the rural
+districts were almost impassable. Paris itself was a small and dirty
+city, with scarcely any police regulations, and infested with robbers.
+There were no lamps to light the city by night. The streets were
+narrow, ill paved, and choked with mud and refuse. Immediately after
+nightfall these dark and crooked thoroughfares were thronged with
+robbers and assassins, whose depredations were of the most audacious
+kind.
+
+Socially, morally, and intellectually, France was at the lowest ebb.
+The masses of the people were in a degraded condition of squalid
+poverty and debasement. Still the king, by enormous taxation,
+succeeded in wresting from his wretched subjects an income to meet the
+expenses of his court, amounting to about four millions of our money.
+But the outlays were so enormous that even this income was quite
+unavailing, and innumerable measures of extortion were adopted to meet
+the deficit.
+
+The king was so much gratified by the birth of a dauphin that for a
+time he became quite reconciled to his beautiful and haughty queen.
+Two years after the birth of the dauphin, on the 21st of September,
+1640, Anne gave birth to a second son, who took the title of Philip,
+duke of Anjou. The queen and her two children resided in the
+beautiful palace of Saint Germain-en-Laye, where the princes were
+born.
+
+A company of French Guards, commanded by Captain Montigni, protected
+the castle. Madame de Lausac was the governess of the two children.
+The title by which the king's brother was usually designated was
+simply Monsieur. But for these children of the king, the crown, upon
+the death of the monarch, would descend immediately to Monsieur, the
+king's brother. The morals of the times were such that the king was
+ever apprehensive that some harm might come to the children through
+the intrigues of his brother. Monsieur lived in Paris. The king left
+orders with Madame de Lausac that, should his brother visit the queen,
+the officers of the household should immediately surround the dauphin
+for his protection, and that Monsieur should not be permitted to enter
+the palace should he be accompanied by more than three persons.
+
+[Illustration: PALACE OF SAINT GERMAIN-EN-LAYE.]
+
+To Montigni, the captain of the guard, the king gave half of a gold
+coin, of which he retained the other half. Montigni was commanded to
+watch over the persons of the princes with the utmost vigilance.
+Should he receive an order to remove them, or to transfer them to
+other hands, he was enjoined not to obey that order, even should it be
+in the handwriting of his majesty himself, unless he at the same time
+received the other half of the broken coin.
+
+The king, as we have mentioned, had been for some time in feeble
+health. Early in the spring of 1643 he became seriously ill. The
+symptoms were so alarming as to lead the king, as well as his friends,
+to think that death could not be far distant. There are few men so
+hardened as to be able to contemplate without some degree of anxiety
+death and the final judgment. The king was alarmed. He betook himself
+to prayer and to the scrupulous discharge of his religious duties.
+
+In preparation for the great change, he repaired to Saint Germain to
+invest the queen with the regency when he should die. His brother,
+Monsieur, who had taken the title of the Duke of Orleans, and all the
+leading nobles of the court, were present. The king, pale, emaciate,
+and with death staring him in the face, was bolstered in his bed. Anne
+of Austria stood weeping by his side. She did not love her
+husband--she did love power; but the scene was so solemn and so
+affecting as to force tears into all eyes. The dauphin was then four
+and a half years old. He was declared king, with the title of Louis
+XIV., under the regency of his mother until he should attain his
+majority.
+
+The next day, April 21st, the christening of the dauphin with his new
+title took place with great state in the chapel of the palace. After
+the celebration of the rite, the dauphin was carried into the chamber
+of his dying father, and seated upon the bed by his side. The poor
+king, dying in the prime of life, was oppressed with the profoundest
+melancholy. There was nothing in the memory of the past to give him
+pleasure; nothing in the future to inspire him with well-grounded
+hope. Turning to the little prince, who had just been christened with
+the royal title, he inquired,
+
+"What is your name, my child?"
+
+"Louis XIV.," the dauphin promptly replied.
+
+"Not yet," said the king, sadly, shaking his head; "but pray God that
+it may soon be so."
+
+A few more days of sickness and suffering passed away, during which it
+was almost hourly expected that the king would die. Death often comes
+to the palace invested with terrors unknown in the cottage. Beneath
+his sceptre all gradations and conditions of rank disappear. The
+sufferings of the king were such that he longed for release.
+
+On the 13th of May, as the shades of evening were gathering around his
+dying bed, he anxiously inquired of his physicians if it were possible
+that he could live until morning. They consulted together, and then
+informed him that they did not think it possible.
+
+"God be praised!" the king replied. "I think it is now time that I
+should take leave of all whom I love."
+
+The royal household was immediately assembled around the couch of the
+dying monarch. He had sufficient strength to throw his arms around the
+neck of the queen, and to press her tenderly to his heart. In such an
+hour past differences are forgotten. In low and broken tones of voice,
+the king addressed the queen in a few parting words of endearment.
+
+The dauphin was then placed in his arms. Silently, but with tearful
+eyes, he pressed his thin and parched lips to both cheeks and to the
+brow of the child, who was too young to comprehend the solemn import
+of the scene.
+
+His brother, Monsieur, the duke of Orleans, the king had never loved.
+In these later years he had regarded him with implacable hostility.
+But, subdued by the influences of death, he bade that brother an
+eternal adieu, with even fond caresses. Indeed, he had become so far
+reconciled to Monsieur that he had appointed him lieutenant general of
+the kingdom, under the regency of Anne of Austria, during the minority
+of the dauphin.
+
+Several of the higher ecclesiastics were present, who had assisted in
+preparing him to die. He affectionately embraced them all, and then
+requested the Bishop of Meaux to read the service for the dying. While
+it was being read he sank into a lethargy, and never spoke again. He
+died in the forty-second year of his age, after a reign of
+thirty-three years, having ascended the throne when but nine years
+old.
+
+Immediately after the death of the king, Anne of Austria held a
+private interview with Monsieur, in which they agreed to co-operate in
+the maintenance of each other's authority. The Parliament promptly
+recognized the queen as regent, and the Duke of Orleans as lieutenant
+general, during the minority of the dauphin.
+
+The Duke de Grammont, one of the highest nobles of France, and a
+distinguished member of the court of Louis XIII., had a son, the Count
+de Guiche, a few months older than the dauphin. This child was
+educated as the play-fellow and the companion in study of the young
+king. One of the first acts of Anne of Austria was to assemble the
+leading bodies of the realm to take the oath of allegiance to her son.
+The little fellow, four and a half years old, arrayed in imperial
+robes, was seated upon the throne. The Count de Guiche, a very sedate,
+thoughtful, precocious child, was placed upon the steps, that his
+undoubted propriety of behavior might be a pattern to the infant king.
+Both of the children behaved remarkably well.
+
+Soon after this, at the close of the year 1643, the queen, with her
+household, who had resided during the summer in the palace of the
+Louvre, took up her residence in what was then called the Cardinal
+Palace. This magnificent building, which had been reared at an
+enormous expense, had been bequeathed by the Cardinal Richelieu to the
+young king. But it was suggested that it was not decorous that the
+king should inhabit a mansion which bore the name of the residence of
+a subject. Therefore the inscription of _Cardinal Palace_ was effaced
+from above the doorway, and that of _Palais Royal_ placed in its
+stead. The palace had cost the cardinal a sum nearly equal to a
+million of dollars. This ungrateful disregard of the memory of the
+cardinal greatly displeased his surviving friends, and called forth
+earnest remonstrance. But all expostulations were in vain. From that
+day to this the renowned mansion has been known only as the "Palais
+Royal." The opposite engraving shows the palace as left by the
+cardinal. Since his day the building has been greatly enlarged by
+extending the wings for shops around the whole inclosure of the
+garden.
+
+Louis XIV. was at this time five years old. The apartments which had
+been occupied by Richelieu were assigned to the dauphin. His mother,
+the queen regent, selected for herself rooms far more spacious and
+elegant. Though they were furnished and embellished with apparently
+every appliance of luxury, Anne, fond of power and display, expended
+enormous sums in adapting them to her taste. The cabinet of the
+regent, in the gorgeousness of its adornments, was considered the
+wonder of Paris.
+
+[Illustration: THE PALAIS ROYAL.]
+
+Cardinal Mazarin had also a suite of rooms assigned him in the palace
+which looked out upon the Rue des bons Enfans. These households
+were quite distinct, and they were all surrounded with much of the
+pageantry of royalty. The superintendence of the education of the
+young prince was intrusted to the cardinal. He had also his governor,
+his sub-governor, his preceptor, and his valet de chambre, each of
+whom must have occupied posts of honor rather than of responsibility.
+The Marchioness de Senecey, and other ladies of high rank, were
+intrusted with the special care of the dauphin until he should attain
+the age of seven years.
+
+Thus the court of the baby-king was quite imposing. From his earliest
+years he was accustomed to the profoundest homage, and was trained to
+the most rigid rules of etiquette. The dauphin early developed a
+fondness for military exercises. Very eagerly he shouldered the
+musket, brandished the sword, and beat the drum. The temperament of
+his brother Philip, the duke of Anjou, was very different: he was
+remarkably gentle, quiet, and affectionate. Gradually the baby-court
+of the dauphin was increased by the addition of other lads. The young
+king was the central luminary around whom they all revolved. By them
+all the dauphin was regarded with a certain kind of awe, as if he
+were a being of a superior, almost of a celestial race. These lads
+were termed "children of honor." They always addressed the king, and
+were addressed in return, with the formality of full-grown men. One
+day a little fellow named Lomenie delighted the king with a gift. The
+king was amusing himself with a cross-bow, which for the time being
+happened to be in special favor. He loaned the bow for a few moments
+to Lomenie. Soon, however, anxious to regain the valued plaything, he
+held out his hand to take it back. His governess, the Marchioness de
+Senecey, said to him, aside,
+
+"Sire, kings give what they lend."
+
+Louis, immediately approaching his companion, said, calmly, "Monsieur
+de Lomenie, keep the cross-bow. I wish that it were something of more
+importance; but, such as it is, I give it to you with all my heart."
+
+This was a speech of a boy of five years old to a companion of the
+same age. When the dauphin reached his seventh birthday, a great
+change took place in his household. All his female attendants were
+withdrawn, and he was placed exclusively under the charge of men. It
+is said that this change was at first the occasion of much grief to
+him. He had become much attached to many of the ladies, who had
+devoted themselves to the promotion of his happiness. We are told that
+he was greatly chagrined to find that none of the gentlemen of his
+court could tell him any of those beautiful fairy tales with which the
+ladies had often lulled him to sleep. In conference with the queen
+upon the subject, it was decided that M. Laporte, his first valet de
+chambre, should read to him every night a chapter of a very popular
+history of France. The dauphin soon became greatly interested in the
+narrative. He declared that he, when he grew up, would be a
+Charlemagne, a St. Louis, a Francis First, and expressed great
+abhorrence of the tyrannical and slothful kings.
+
+The pleasure which the little king took in these historical readings
+daily increased. Cardinal Mazarin accidentally found out what was
+going on, and was greatly displeased. He was anxious that the
+intellectual powers of the king should not be developed, for the
+cardinal desired to grasp the reins of government with his own hands.
+To do this, it was necessary that the king should be kept ignorant,
+and should be incited only to enervating indulgence.
+
+Scornfully the cardinal remarked, "I presume the governor of the king
+must put on his shoes and stockings, as I perceive his valet de
+chambre is teaching him history."
+
+The young king entertained an instinctive aversion to the proud
+cardinal, who assumed imperial airs, and who was living in splendor
+far surpassing that of the regent or of the child-king. Those who
+surrounded the prince were equally inimical to the cardinal-minister,
+who, in that age of superstition and fanaticism, had attained such
+power that the regent herself stood in awe of him.
+
+Henrietta, queen of England, wife of the unfortunate Charles I., was a
+daughter of Henry IV., and sister of Louis XIII. She was consequently
+aunt to the dauphin. The troubles in England, which soon led to the
+beheading of the king her husband, rendered it necessary for her to
+escape to France. Her brother, Monsieur, duke of Orleans, went to the
+coast to receive his unhappy and royal sister. As they approached
+Paris, the queen regent and her son the king rode out to meet them.
+Henrietta took a seat in the same carriage with their majesties, and
+returned with them to the Louvre. The pallid cheeks and saddened
+features of the English queen proclaimed so loudly the woes with
+which she was stricken as to exert universal sympathy.
+
+The young king at seven years of age was tall, muscular, and excelled
+in all physical exercises; but the villainous cardinal had endeavored
+in every way to dwarf his intellect, so that his mind remained almost
+a blank. Both the young king and his brother at this early age had
+acquired a very remarkable degree of courtly grace. A chronicler of
+the times, speaking of the bearing of Louis at a court wedding, says,
+
+"The king, with the gracefulness which shines in all his actions, took
+the hand of the Queen of Poland, and conducted her to the platform,
+where his majesty opened the dance, and was followed by nearly all the
+princes, princesses, great nobles, and ladies of the court. At its
+termination, the king, with the same grace and majestic deportment,
+conducted the young queen to her place. The king then danced a second
+time, and led out the Duke of Anjou with such skill that every one was
+charmed with the polite bearing of these two young princes."
+
+Early in the year 1646, the king, not yet quite eight years old, was
+conducted upon what was singularly called his first campaign. The
+queen and her son repaired to Amiens, where they sojourned for a short
+time with the army, and established a very brilliant court. When the
+army left Amiens for Flanders, the regent and her son returned from
+their campaign.
+
+The infant court of the monarch was now established at Paris. The
+ambitious cardinal had brought from Italy several little children, his
+relatives, the eldest of whom had attained but her twelfth year. They
+were immediately introduced to the court of Louis XIV. The wealth of
+the cardinal was such, and his influence so great, that, young as
+these his nieces were, they were instantly surrounded by admirers. The
+Duke of Orleans, who hated the cardinal and all that belonged to him,
+bitterly remarked,
+
+"There is such a throng about those little girls that I doubt if their
+lives are safe, and if they will not be suffocated."
+
+The boy-king, however, notwithstanding his dislike for the cardinal,
+received the little girls with that gallantry for which throughout
+life he was distinguished.
+
+Very early he began to develop quite a positive character. On one
+occasion the courtiers were speaking in his presence of the absolute
+power exercised by the sultans of Turkey. Several very striking
+examples were given. The young prince, who had listened attentively,
+remarked,
+
+"That is as it should be; that is really reigning."
+
+"Yes, sire," pertinently replied Marshal d'Estrees, "but two or three
+of those sultans have, within my memory, been strangled."
+
+The Prince de Conde inquired of Laporte, the first valet of the king,
+respecting the character his young majesty was developing. Upon being
+told that he was conscientious and intelligent, he replied, "So much
+the better. There would be no pleasure in obeying a fool, and no honor
+in being commanded by a bad man."
+
+Cardinal Mazarin, the prime minister, who looked with jealousy upon
+any development of superior intelligence in the dauphin, said to
+Marshal de Grammont, "Ah! sir, you do not know his majesty. There is
+enough stuff in him to make four kings and an honest man."
+
+There had gradually sprung up a deadly feud between the court, headed
+by the tyrannical minister Mazarin on the one side, and by the
+Parliament on the other. The populace of Paris were in sympathy with
+the Parliament. Many of the prominent nobles, some even of royal
+blood, detesting the haughty prime minister, espoused the
+Parliamentary cause. There were riots in Paris. Affairs looked very
+threatening. Mazarin was alarmed, and decided to escape from Paris
+with the court to the palace of St. Germain. There he could protect
+the court with an ample military force. He thought, also, that he
+should be able to cut off the supply of provisions from the capital,
+and thus starve the city into subjection.
+
+It was necessary to move with much caution, as the people were greatly
+agitated, were filling the streets with surging crowds, and would
+certainly prevent the removal of the king should they suspect the
+design. The night of the 5th of January was selected as a time in
+which to attempt the escape. The matter was kept profoundly secret
+from most of the members of the royal household.
+
+At three o'clock in the morning a carriage was drawn up in the gate of
+the royal garden. The queen regent, who, to avoid suspicion, had
+retired to bed at the usual hour, had in the mean time risen and was
+prepared for her flight. The young king and his brother were awoke
+from their sleep, hurriedly dressed, and conveyed to the carriage in
+waiting. The queen regent, with several other prominent members of the
+court, descended the back stairs which led from the queen's apartment
+and joined the children. Immediately one or two other carriages drove
+up, and the whole party entered them, and by different routes, through
+the dark and narrow streets, left the city. It was a short ride of
+about twelve miles.
+
+Other prominent members of the court, residing in different parts of
+the city, had been apprised of the movement, so that at five o'clock
+in the morning twenty carriages, containing one hundred and fifty
+persons, drove into the court-yard of the palace. One of the ladies
+who accompanied the expedition, Mademoiselle Montpensier, gives the
+following graphic description of the scene:
+
+"When we arrived at St. Germain we went straight to the chapel to hear
+mass. All the rest of the day was spent in questioning those who
+arrived as to what they were doing in Paris. The drums were beating
+all over the city, and the citizens had taken up arms. The Countess
+de Fiesque sent me a coach, and a mattress, and a little linen. As I
+was in so sorry a condition, I went to seek help at the Chateau Neuf,
+where _Monsieur and Madame_ were lodged; but Madame had not her
+clothes any more than myself. Nothing could be more laughable than
+this disorder. I lodged in a large room, well painted and gilded, with
+but little fire, which is not agreeable in the month of January. My
+mattress was laid upon the floor, and my sister, who had no bed, slept
+with me. Judge if I were agreeably situated for a person who had slept
+but little the previous night, with sore throat and violent cold.
+
+"Fortunately for me, the beds of Monsieur and Madame arrived. Monsieur
+had the kindness to give me the room which he vacated. As I was in the
+apartment of Monsieur, where no one knew that I was lodged, I was
+awoke by a noise. I drew back my curtain, and was much astonished to
+find my chamber quite filled by men in large buff skin collars, who
+appeared surprised to see me, and who knew me as little as I knew
+them.
+
+"I had no change of linen, and my day chemise was washed during the
+night. I had no women to arrange my hair and dress me, which is very
+inconvenient. I ate with Monsieur, who keeps a very bad table. Still I
+did not lose my gayety, and Monsieur was in admiration at my making no
+complaint. It is true I am a creature who can make the best of every
+thing, and am greatly above trifles. I remained in this state ten
+days, at the end of which time my equipage arrived, and I was very
+glad to have all my comforts. I then went to lodge in the chateau
+Vieux, where the queen was residing."[B]
+
+[Footnote B: There were at that time two palaces at St. Germain. The
+old palace, originally built by Charles V., and in the alteration of
+which Louis XIV. spent over a million of dollars, still remains. The
+new palace, constructed by Henry IV. about a quarter of a mile from
+the other, is now in ruins.]
+
+At a very early hour in the morning the news was circulated through
+the streets of Paris that the court had fled from the city, taking
+with it the young king. The excitement was terrible, creating
+universal shouts and tumults. All who were in any way connected with
+the court attempted to escape in various disguises to join the royal
+party. The populace, on the other hand, closed the gates, and
+barricaded the streets, to prevent their flight. In the midst of this
+confusion, a letter was received by the municipal magistrates, over
+the signature of the boy-king, stating that he had been compelled to
+leave the capital to prevent the seizure of his person by the
+Parliament, and urging the magistrates to do all in their power for
+the preservation of order and for the protection of property. The king
+also ordered the Parliament immediately to retire from the city to
+Montargis.
+
+The Parliament refused to recognize the order, declaring "that it did
+not emanate from the monarch himself, but from the evil counselors by
+whom he was held in captivity." Upon the reception of this reply, the
+queen regent, who had surrounded her palace at St. Germain with a
+thousand royal troops, acting under the guidance of Mazarin, issued a
+decree forbidding the villages around Paris sending into the capital
+either bread, wine, or cattle. Troops were also stationed to cut off
+such supplies. This attempt to subdue the people by the terrors of
+famine excited intense exasperation. A decree was promptly issued by
+the Parliament stating,
+
+"Since Cardinal Mazarin is notoriously the author of the present
+troubles, the Parliament declares him to be the disturber of the
+public peace, the enemy of the king and the state, and orders him to
+retire from the court in the course of this day, and in eight days
+more from the kingdom. Should he neglect to do this, at the expiration
+of the appointed time all the subjects of the king are called upon to
+hunt him down."
+
+At the same time, men-at-arms were levied in sufficient numbers to
+escort safely into the city all those who would bring in provisions.
+The Parliament, from the populace of Paris, could bring sixty thousand
+bayonets upon any field of battle. Thus very serious civil war was
+inaugurated.
+
+As we have mentioned, many of the nobles, some of whom were allied to
+the royal family, assuming that they were not contending against their
+legitimate sovereign, the young king, but against the detested
+Mazarin, were in cordial co-operation with the Parliament. The people
+in the rural districts were also in sympathy with the party in Paris.
+
+The court party was now called "The _Mazarins_," and those of the
+Parliament "The _Fronde_." The literal meaning of the word fronde is
+sling. It is a boy's plaything, and when skillfully used, an
+important weapon of war. It was with the sling that David slew
+Goliath. During the Middle Ages this was the usual weapon of the foot
+soldiers. Mazarin had contemptuously remarked that the Parliament were
+like school boys, _fronding in the ditches_, and who ran away at the
+approach of a policeman. The Parliament accepted the title, and
+adopted the _fronde_ or _sling_ as the emblem of their party.
+
+There were now two rival courts in France. The one at St. Germain was
+in a state of great destitution. The palace was but partially
+furnished, and not at all capable of affording comfortable
+accommodations for the crowd which thronged its apartments. Nothing
+could be obtained from Paris. Their purses were empty. The rural
+population was hostile, and, while eager to carry their products to
+Paris, were unwilling to bring them to St. Germain. Madame de
+Motteville states in her memoirs "that the king, queen, and cardinal
+were sleeping upon straw, which soon became so scarce that it could
+not be obtained for money."
+
+The court of the Fronde was assembled at the Hotel de Ville in Paris.
+There all was splendor, abundance, festive enjoyment. The high rank
+of the leaders and the beauty of the ladies gave eclat to the
+gathering.
+
+Cardinal Mazarin was not only extortionate, but miserly. He had
+accumulated an enormous property. All this was seized and appropriated
+by the Fronde. Though there were occasional skirmishes between the
+forces of the two factions, neither of them seemed disposed to plunge
+into the horrors of civil war.
+
+The king sent a herald, clad in complete armor and accompanied by two
+trumpeters, to the Parliament. The Fronde refused to receive the
+herald, but decided to send a deputation to the king to ascertain what
+overtures he was willing to make. After a lengthy conference a not
+very satisfactory compromise was agreed upon, and the royal fugitives
+returned to Paris. It was the 5th of April, 1650. A Te Deum was
+chanted with great pomp at the cathedral of Notre Dame.
+
+"Thus terminated the first act of the most singular, bootless, and, we
+are almost tempted to add, burlesque war which, in all probability,
+Europe ever witnessed. Throughout its whole duration society appeared
+to have been smitten with some moral hallucination. Kings and
+cardinals slept on mattresses, princesses and duchesses on straw.
+Market-women embraced princes, prelates governed armies, court ladies
+led the mob, and the mob, in its turn, ruled the city."[C]
+
+[Footnote C: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. i., p, 262.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE BOY-KING.
+
+1650-1653
+
+M. de Retz.--Fears of Mazarin.--Escape of the cardinal.--Dangers
+of civil war.--Alarm and energy of De Retz.--The populace
+aroused.--Palace of the Luxembourg.--Discovery of the attempted flight
+of the royal family.--Haughty reply of Anne of Austria.--Courage of
+the queen mother.--Respectful conduct of the populace.--Fortitude of
+the regent.--The queen regent dissembles.--Vigilance of
+Monsieur.--Cardinal Mazarin in exile.--Majority of the dauphin
+attained.--Imposing ceremony.--Appearance of Louis XIV.--Address of
+Louis.--Address of the queen regent.--Reply of Louis.--Power of the
+King of France.--Gallantry of Louis.--Influence of Anne and Mazarin
+upon Louis.--Conflict between the court and Parliament.--Mazarin
+arrives in France.--Civil war inaugurated.--Mazarin's army
+defeated.--Depression of the regent.--_Monsieur._--Ludicrous quarrel
+of Louis and his brother.--Embarrassment of the court.--Conflict at
+Etampes.--Destitution of Louis XIV.--Scenes of the conflict at
+Etampes.--Retreat of Conde.--Battle at St. Antoine.--Cardinal Mazarin
+forced to retire.--The king invited to return.--The Duke of Orleans
+retires to Blois.--Doom of the leaders of the Fronde.--Respectful
+refusal of De Retz.--Orders for his arrest.--Treachery of Anne of
+Austria.--Arrest of De Retz.--Return of Mazarin.--First care of
+Mazarin.--Festivities at court.--Approaching coronation.--Paucity of
+notabilities at the coronation.--The king repairs to Stenay.--Louis in
+the trenches.--Defeat of Conde.
+
+
+The reconciliation between the court and the Fronde was very
+superficial. The old antagonism soon reappeared, and daily grew more
+rancorous. To add to the embarrassment of the court, _Monsieur_, the
+duke of Orleans, became alienated from Mazarin, and seemed inclined to
+join the Fronde. The most formidable antagonist of the cardinal in the
+Parliament was M. de Retz. He was coadjutor of the Archbishop of
+Paris, a man of consummate address and great powers of eloquence.
+
+The struggle between De Retz and Mazarin soon became one of life and
+death. The coadjutor was at length imboldened to offer a decree in
+Parliament urging the king to banish from his presence and his
+councils Cardinal Mazarin. This measure threw the court into
+consternation. The cardinal was apprehensive of arrest. Some of his
+friends urged him to retire immediately to a fortress. Others
+proposed to garrison the Palais Royal and its neighborhood with an
+efficient guard.
+
+From the saloons of the palace the shouts were heard of the excited
+populace swarming through the streets. No one could tell to what
+extremes of violence they might proceed. Warned by these hostile
+demonstrations, the cardinal decided to escape from Paris. At ten
+o'clock at night he took leave of the queen regent, hastened to his
+apartments, exchanged his ecclesiastical costume for a dress in which
+he was entirely disguised, and on foot threaded the dark streets to
+escape from the city. Two of his friends accompanied him. At the
+Richelieu Gate they took horses, which were awaiting them there, and
+in two hours alighted at the palace of St. Germain.
+
+M. de Retz, through his spies, was immediately informed of the flight
+of the cardinal. He at once hastened to communicate the intelligence
+to _Monsieur_. The duke at first could not credit the statement, as he
+felt assured that Mazarin would not have left without taking the young
+king with him. Should the cardinal, in his retreat, gain possession of
+the king, in whose name he would issue all his orders, it would be
+hardly possible to avoid the horrors of a desolating civil war. All
+minds in Paris, from the highest to the lowest, were thrown into a
+state of the most intense excitement.
+
+On the night of the second day after the cardinal's flight, M. de Retz
+was awakened by a messenger, who informed him that the Duke of Orleans
+was anxious to see him immediately at the palace of the Luxembourg.
+The coadjutor rose, hastily dressed, and in great anxiety repaired to
+the palace. The duke, though lieutenant general of the kingdom, was a
+very timid man, and exceedingly inefficient in action. As they entered
+the chamber of the duke, he listlessly said to M. de Retz,
+
+"It is just as you said. The king is about to leave Paris; what shall
+we do? I do not see what can be done to prevent it."
+
+The resolute coadjutor replied, "We must immediately take possession
+of the city gates."
+
+But the inert and weak duke brought forward sundry silly excuses. He
+had not sufficient force of character or moral courage to commit
+himself to any decisive course of action. The only measure he could be
+induced to adopt was to send a message to the queen regent, imploring
+her to reflect upon the consequences which would inevitably result
+from the removal of the king from Paris. In the mean time, the
+resolute and fearless coadjutor sent his emissaries in all directions.
+The populace were aroused with the cry that Mazarin was about to carry
+off the king. The gates of the city were seized. Mounted patrols
+traversed the streets urging the citizens to arms. An enormous crowd
+of excited men and women rushed toward the Palais Royal.
+
+[Illustration: PALACE OF THE LUXEMBOURG.]
+
+The carriages were, in fact, at that hour, at the appointed rendezvous
+for the midnight flight of the king and his attendants. The young
+monarch was already in his traveling dress, just about to descend the
+stairs of the palace, when the queen was apprised, by the tumult in
+the streets, that the design was discovered, and that consequently its
+execution was impracticable.
+
+With the utmost precipitancy, the traveling dress of the king was
+removed, and he was robed in his night garments, replaced in bed, and
+urged to feign that he was asleep. Scarcely was this accomplished ere
+one of the officers of the household entered and announced to the
+queen that the exasperated mob was threatening the palace, insisting
+upon seeing the king, that they might satisfy themselves that he had
+not been carried away. While he was speaking, another messenger
+entered with the announcement that the mob had already proceeded to
+violence, and were tearing down the palisades of the palace. While he
+was yet speaking, a messenger from the Duke of Orleans arrived,
+imploring the queen regent not to attempt the removal of the king, and
+assuring her that it was impossible to do so, since the citizens were
+resolved to prevent it.
+
+The queen, with dignity, listened to all. To the messenger of the Duke
+of Orleans she haughtily replied,
+
+"Say to the duke that he, instigated by the coadjutor, has caused this
+tumult, and that he has power to allay it. That nothing can be more
+unfounded than the idea that there has been any design to remove the
+king. That both his majesty and his brother, the Duke of Anjou, are
+asleep in their beds, as I myself had been until the uproar in the
+streets had caused me to rise." To satisfy the messenger, M. de
+Souches, she led him into the chamber of the king, and showed him his
+majesty apparently soundly asleep.
+
+As they were softly retiring from the room, the outcry of the populace
+filling the court-yard was heard shouting "The king! the king! we must
+see the king." The queen regent hesitated for a moment, and then, with
+wonderful presence of mind, and with moral and physical courage rarely
+equaled, turning to the envoy of _Monsieur_, said,
+
+"Say to the people that the doors of the palace shall be immediately
+thrown open, and that every one who wishes may enter the chamber of
+the king. But inform them that his majesty is asleep, and request them
+to be as quiet as is possible."
+
+M. Souches obeyed. The doors were opened. The mob rushed in.
+Nevertheless, contrary to all expectation, they had no sooner reached
+the royal apartment than their leaders, remembering that their king
+was sleeping, desired the untimely visitors to proceed in perfect
+quiet. As the human tide moved onward, their very breathing was
+suppressed. They trod the floor with softest footsteps. The same
+tumultuous multitude that had howled, and yelled, and threatened
+outside the gates, now, in the chamber of the sovereign, became calm,
+respectful, and silent. They approached the royal bed with a feeling
+of affectionate deference, which restrained every intruder from
+drawing back the curtains.
+
+The queen herself performed this office. She stood at the pillow of
+her son, beautiful in features, of queenly grace in form and stature.
+Pale, calm, and dignified as though she were performing some ordinary
+court ceremonial, she gathered back the folds of the velvet drapery,
+and revealed to the gaze of the people their young sovereign in all
+the beauty of youth, and apparently in profound slumber.
+
+This living stream of men and women from the streets of Paris
+continued to flow through the chamber until three o'clock in the
+morning, entering at one door and passing out at its opposite.
+Through this trying scene the queen never faltered.
+
+"Like a marble statue," writes Miss Pardoe, "she retained her
+position, firm and motionless, her majestic figure drawn haughtily to
+its full height, and her magnificent arm resting in broad relief upon
+the crimson draperies. And still the boy-king, emulating the example
+of his royal parent, remained immobile, with closed eyes and steady
+breathing, as though his rest had remained unbroken by the incursion
+of his rebellious subjects. It was a singular and marked passage in
+the life of both mother and son."[D]
+
+[Footnote D: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. i., page 351.]
+
+In those days and at that court falsehood was deemed an indispensable
+part of diplomacy. In the afternoon of the same day in which the scene
+we have described occurred, the queen assembled in her saloon in the
+palace the prominent magistrates of the city. With firm voice and
+undaunted eye, she assured them that she had never entertained the
+slightest idea of removing his majesty from the city. She enjoined it
+upon them vigilantly to continue to guard the gates, that the populace
+might be convinced that no design of escape was cherished. Her words
+were not believed; her directions were obeyed. The gates were rigidly
+closed. Thus the king was a prisoner.
+
+The apprehensions of the Fronde, that by some stratagem the king might
+be removed, were so great that _Monsieur_ dispatched a gentleman of
+his household every night to ascertain if the king were quietly in his
+bed. The messenger, M. Desbuches, carried a nightly greeting to the
+queen, with orders not to leave the Palais Royal without seeing the
+young sovereign. The excuse for this intrusion was, that _Monsieur_
+could not, without this evidence, satisfy the excited citizens that
+the king was safe. This was a terrible humiliation to the queen
+regent.
+
+Cardinal Mazarin, having passed the night at St. Germain, commenced
+traveling by slow stages toward Havre. He was expecting every hour to
+be joined by the queen regent and other members of the royal
+household. He was, however, overtaken by a courier, who announced to
+him what had transpired in Paris, and that the escape of the royal
+family was impossible. The cardinal thus found himself really in
+exile, and earnest endeavors were made by the Fronde to induce the
+queen regent to secure a cardinal's hat for M. de Retz, and make him
+her prime minister. The last act of the queen regent was the issuing
+of a decree that Mazarin was banished forever from the kingdom.
+
+Such was the posture of affairs when, on the 5th of September, 1651,
+the minority of the dauphin ceased. He now entered upon his fourteenth
+year, and, immature boy as he was, was declared to be the absolute
+monarch of France.
+
+It was immediately announced to the Parliament by the grand master of
+ceremonies that on the seventh day of the month the king would hold
+his bed of justice. This name was given to the throne which the king
+took at extraordinary meetings of Parliament. The bed, or couch, was
+furnished with five cushions, and stood under a gorgeous canopy. Upon
+this couch the king extended himself, leaning upon the cushions.
+
+The ceremony was attended with all the pomp which the wealth and taste
+of the empire could create. As, in the morning, the court left the
+Palais Royal, a band of trumpeters led the van, causing the air to
+resound with their bugle peals. These were followed by a troop of
+light-horse, succeeded by two hundred of the highest nobility of
+France, splendidly mounted and in dazzling array. But it is vain to
+attempt to describe the gorgeous procession of dignitaries, mounted on
+tall war-horses, caparisoned with housings embroidered with silver and
+gold, and accompanied by numerous retainers. The attire of these
+attendants, from the most haughty man of arms to the humblest page,
+was as varied, picturesque, and glittering as human ingenuity could
+devise.
+
+The young king himself rode upon a magnificent cream-colored charger.
+He was a beautiful boy, well formed and tall for his age. Apparently
+deeply impressed with the grandeur of the occasion, he appeared calm
+and dignified to a degree which attracted the admiration of every
+beholder. As he sat gracefully upon his horse, he appeared almost like
+a golden statue, for his dress was so elaborately embroidered with
+gold that neither its material or its color could be distinguished.
+His high-mettled charger became frightened by the shouts of "Long live
+the king" which burst so enthusiastically from the lips of the crowd.
+But Louis managed the animal with so much skill and self-possession
+as to increase the admiration with which all seemed to regard him.
+After attending mass, the young monarch took his seat in the
+Parliament. Here the boy of thirteen, covering his head, while all the
+notabilities of France stood before him with heads uncovered, repeated
+the following words:
+
+"GENTLEMEN,--I have attended my Parliament in order to inform you
+that, according to the law of my kingdom, I shall myself assume its
+government. I trust that, by the goodness of God, it will be with
+piety and justice. My chancellor will inform you more particularly of
+my intentions."
+
+The chancellor then made a long address. At its conclusion the queen
+mother rose and said to her son:
+
+"SIRE,--This is the ninth year in which, by the last will of the
+deceased king, my much honored lord, I have been intrusted with the
+care of your education and the government of the state. God having by
+his will blessed my endeavors, and preserved your person, which is so
+precious to your subjects, now that the law of the kingdom calls you
+to the rule of this monarchy, I transfer to you, with great
+satisfaction, the power which had been granted me to govern. I trust
+that God will aid you with his strength and wisdom, that your reign
+may be prosperous."
+
+To this the king replied, "I thank you, madame, for the care which it
+has pleased you to take of my education and the administration of my
+kingdom. I pray you to continue to me your good advice, and desire
+that, after myself, you should be the head of my council."
+
+The mother and the son embraced each other, and then resumed their
+conspicuous seats on the platform. The king's brother, Philip, duke of
+Anjou, next rose, and, sinking upon his knee, took the oath of
+allegiance to his royal brother. He was followed in this act by all
+the civil and ecclesiastical notabilities. The royal procession
+returned to the gates of the Palais Royal, greeted apparently by the
+unanimous acclamations of the people.
+
+Thus a stripling, who had just completed his thirteenth year, was
+accepted by the nobles and by the populace as the absolute and
+untrammeled sovereign of France. He held in his hands, virtually
+unrestrained by constitution or court, their liberties, their
+fortunes, and their lives. It is often said that every nation has as
+good a government as it deserves. In republican America, it seems
+incredible that a nation of twenty millions of people could have been
+guilty of the folly of surrendering themselves to the sway of a pert,
+weak, immature boy of thirteen years.
+
+The young king, in those early years, was celebrated for his
+gallantry. A bevy of young beauties, from the most illustrious
+families in the realm, crowded his court. The matter of the marriage
+of the king was deemed of very great moment. According to the
+etiquette of the times, it was thought necessary that he should marry
+a lady of royal blood. It would have been esteemed a degradation for
+him to select the daughter of the highest noble, unless that noble
+were of the royal family. But these pretty girls were not unconscious
+of the power of their charms. The haughty Anne of Austria was
+constantly harassed by the flirtations in which the young king was
+continually engaging with these lovely maidens of the court.
+
+Louis by nature, and still more by education, was egotistical,
+haughty, and overbearing. His brother Philip, on the contrary, was
+gentle, retiring, and effeminate. The young king wished to be the
+handsomest man of his court, the most brilliant in wit, and the most
+fascinating in the graces of social life. He was very jealous of any
+one of his companions who might be regarded as his rival in personal
+beauty, or in any intellectual or courtly accomplishment. His mother
+encouraged this feeling. She desired that her son should stand in his
+court without a peer.
+
+Still Anne of Austria, in conjunction with Cardinal Mazarin, had done
+what she could to check the intellectual growth of her son. Wishing to
+retain power as long as possible, they had manifested no disposition
+to withdraw young Louis from the frivolities of childhood. His
+education had been grossly neglected. Though entirely familiar with
+the routine of his devotional exercises, and all the punctilios of
+court etiquette, he was in mental culture and general intelligence far
+below ordinary school-boys of his age.
+
+Though the king was nominally the absolute ruler of France, still
+there were outside influences which exerted over him a great control.
+There is no such thing as independent power. All are creatures of
+circumstances. There were two antagonistic forces brought to bear upon
+the young king. Anne of Austria for nine years had been regent. With
+the aid of her prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, she had governed the
+realm. This power could not at once and entirely pass from their hands
+to the ignorant boy who was dallying with the little beauties in the
+saloons of the Palais Royal. Though Mazarin was in exile--an exile to
+which the queen regent had been compelled to assent--still he retained
+her confidence, and an influence over her mind.
+
+On the other hand, there was the Parliament, composed mainly of proud,
+haughty, powerful nobles, the highest dignitaries of Church and State.
+This body was under the leadership of the coadjutor, M. de Retz. The
+antagonism between the Parliament and the court was by no means
+appeased. The great conflict now rose, which continued through months
+and years, between them, as to which should obtain the control of the
+king. Impelled by the action of the Parliament, the king had applied
+to the pope for a cardinal's hat to be conferred upon M. de Retz. This
+dignity attained would immeasurably increase the power of the
+coadjutor.
+
+In the mean time, Cardinal Mazarin, who had fled to Spain, had
+re-entered France with an army of six thousand men. Paris was thrown
+into a state of great agitation. Parliament was immediately assembled.
+The king sent them a message requesting the Parliament not to regard
+the movements of the cardinal with any anxiety, "since the intentions
+of his eminence were well known by the court." This, of course,
+increased rather than diminished the fears of the nobles.
+Notwithstanding the message of the king, a decree was immediately
+passed declaring the cardinal and his adherents disturbers of the
+public peace. The cardinal was outlawed. A sum equal to thirty
+thousand dollars, the proceeds of the sale of some property of the
+cardinal, was offered to any one who should deliver him either dead or
+alive. Unintimidated, Mazarin continued his march toward Paris,
+arriving at Poictiers at the end of January, one month after having
+re-entered France. The king, the queen regent, and the whole court
+advanced there to meet him. They received him with the greatest
+demonstrations of joy.
+
+When the news reached the capital that Mazarin had thus triumphantly
+returned, Parliament and the populace were thrown into a state of
+great excitement. The Duke of Orleans was roused as never before. The
+hostile demonstrations in Paris became so alarming, that the royal
+family adopted the bold resolve to return immediately to the capital.
+The king commenced his march at the head of the troops of the
+cardinal. When he reached Blois, he tarried there for a couple of days
+to concentrate his forces. Civil war was now inaugurated, though on
+rather a petty scale, between the hostile forces in various parts of
+the kingdom. The Prince of Conde was the prominent leader of the
+Parliamentary troops.
+
+The city of Blois is situated on the right bank of the River Loire,
+about forty-five miles below the city of Orleans, which is also on the
+northern side of the same stream. At Blois, the court learned to its
+consternation that the Mazarin army had been attacked at Orleans by
+the Prince de Conde and utterly routed, with the loss of many
+prisoners, nearly three thousand horses, and a large part of its
+ordnance stores. The royal party, which was at this time in a state of
+great destitution, was quite overwhelmed by the disaster. The queen
+ordered all the equipages and baggage to be transported to the south
+side of the Loire, and the bridge to be broken down. At midnight, in
+the midst of a scene of great terror and confusion, this movement was
+accomplished. As the morning dawned, the carriages, crowded with the
+ladies of the court, were seen on the left bank of the stream, ready
+for flight. The queen was, for the only time in her life, so dejected
+as to seem utterly in despair. She feared that the triumph of the
+Fronde at Orleans would induce every city in the kingdom to close its
+gates against the court.
+
+The royal fugitives retreated to Montereau. In the disorder of the
+flight they were exposed to great privation. Even the young king lost
+several of his best horses. Thence they proceeded to Corbeil, on the
+right bank of the Seine, about twelve leagues from Versailles. Here a
+scene occurred which is graphically described by M. Laporte, an
+eye-witness, who was a prominent attendant of his majesty.
+
+"The king," writes Laporte, "insisted that _Monsieur_[E] should sleep
+in his room, which was so small that but one person could pass at a
+time. In the morning, as they lay awake, the king inadvertently spat
+upon the bed of _Monsieur_, who immediately spat upon the king's bed
+in return. Thereupon Louis, getting angry, spat in his brother's face.
+When they could spit no longer, they proceeded to drag each other's
+sheets upon the floor, after which they prepared to fight. During this
+quarrel I did what I could to restrain the king. As I could not
+succeed, I sent for M. de Villeroi, who re-established peace.
+_Monsieur_ lost his temper sooner than the king, but the king was much
+more difficult to appease."
+
+[Footnote E: As Louis XIV. was now king, his brother Philip, eleven
+years of age, according to usage, took the title of _Monsieur_. The
+title for a time adhered still to the Duke of Orleans, brother of
+Louis XIII.]
+
+It is very evident that aristocratic titles, and all the formalities
+of court etiquette, do not change the nature of boyhood. Though one of
+these little belligerents bore the title of Louis XIV., king of
+France, and the other was called Monsieur, the duke of Anjou, they
+were in character like all other ungoverned and ungovernable boys.
+
+The court, not venturing to enter Paris, pursued its way by a
+circuitous route to St. Germain, leaving the city on the left. Here an
+additional gloom was cast over their spirits by the intelligence of
+very decided acts of hostility manifested against them by the
+inhabitants of the metropolis. The court was in a state of great
+embarrassment, without any money, and without possibility of obtaining
+stores from the capital. It was supposed that Cardinal Mazarin, noted
+for his selfishness, had taken good care of himself. But he declared
+that he was as poor as the meanest soldier in the ranks.
+
+While at St. Germain, there was another petty conflict between the
+Parliamentary forces and those of the court in the vicinity of
+Etampes, about forty miles from Versailles. The Fronde was routed with
+loss. The glad tidings was brought by a courier at night to St.
+Germain. The news was too good to be kept till morning. M. Villeroi,
+to whom it was at first communicated, hastened to the chamber of the
+king and the Duke of Anjou, to awake them from sleep and inform them
+of the victory. They both, Laporte informs us, sprang from their beds,
+and rushed, in their slippers, night caps, and dressing-gowns, to the
+chamber of the cardinal, whom they awakened with the joyful tidings.
+He hurried in his turn with them, and in the same unsophisticated
+costume, to the chamber of the queen, to announce the intelligence to
+her.
+
+The destitution of Louis XIV. while at St. Germain was such that he
+borrowed one hundred and ten francs from Moreau, one of his valets,
+for some replenishment of his wardrobe. Subsequently the valet,
+learning that the king had obtained possession of one hundred _louis
+d'or_, applied for payment of the debt; but the king had already
+expended the coin.
+
+The routed troops of Conde took refuge within the walls of Etampes.
+The court, in its elation, immediately proceeded from St. Germain to
+the scene of conflict, to take part in the siege. This was the first
+serious campaign of the young king. As, attended by his suite, he
+examined the works, he was at one time under fire, and several bullets
+passed near him. Still young as he was, he had sufficient regard for
+his reputation and control over himself not to manifest the slightest
+fear.
+
+The scenes of war which here presented themselves to the young monarch
+were painful in the extreme. He was every where surrounded by sick and
+dying soldiers. But he had no money with which to relieve their
+misery, and when finally the city of Etampes was taken, the spectacle
+of starvation, woe, and death was more awful than words can express.
+
+As the king was entering the city, he passed a group lying upon the
+ground, consisting or a mother and three children, huddled closely
+together. The mother had died of starvation. Two of the skeleton
+children were also dead by her side, and the third, a babe, was
+straining at the exhausted breast, which could no longer afford it any
+nourishment.
+
+The Prince de Conde retreated to Paris with about three thousand men.
+The royal troops, eight thousand in number, pursued. Each party
+gathered re-enforcements, so that the Prince de Conde, with about five
+thousand men, held at bay the royal troops, then numbering about ten
+thousand. The citizens, as we have mentioned, were in sympathy with
+the Parliament. They hated Cardinal Mazarin, and with good reason
+regarded the king as a prisoner in his hands. The king also detested
+Mazarin personally, while the force of circumstances compelled him to
+regard the cardinal as the advocate of the royal cause.
+
+A very severe battle was fought between the two parties in the
+Faubourg St. Antoine. The ranks of the Fronde, shattered by
+overpowering numbers, were, in a disordered retreat, hotly pursued by
+their foes under Marshal Turenne. The carnage was dreadful. Suddenly
+the cannon of the Bastile flamed out in rapid succession, hurling
+their deadly shot through the compact masses of the Royalists. They
+recoiled and fled in confusion. Paris was in the hands of the Fronde.
+The populace surged through the streets, shouting "Long live the king!
+Death to Mazarin!"
+
+The cardinal, taking the king with him, retired to St. Denis. Turenne
+re-collected his scattered forces at Pontoise, about twenty miles
+north from Versailles. The cardinal, with the king, took refuge at
+that place in the centre of Turenne's army. Here the king issued an
+ordinance, transferring the Parliament from Paris to Pontoise; but the
+Parliament replied "that they could not obey the royal command so long
+as Cardinal Mazarin, whom they had outlawed, remained in France." They
+also issued an ordinance of their own, forbidding any member of the
+Parliament to leave Paris. The king, we know not under what
+influences, acquiesced in both of these decrees. This led the cardinal
+immediately to tender his resignation and retire. This important step
+changed the whole aspect of affairs. After the removal of the
+cardinal, all opposition to the court became rebellion against the
+king, to whom the Fronde professed entire allegiance.
+
+[Illustration: THE TUILERIES.]
+
+Parliament immediately issued a decree, thanking the king for
+banishing the cardinal, and imploring him to return to his good city
+of Paris. After some negotiation the king acceded to their wishes, and
+on the 17th of October arrived at St. Germain. Here a numerous civic
+guard and deputation hastened to greet him, and to conduct him to the
+metropolis. On the 20th he proceeded to Ruel, where he passed the
+night.
+
+The king decided to enter the city at the head of his army. In order
+to render the scene more imposing, it was to take place at night, by
+the light of thousands of torches. The spectacle was such as Paris had
+rarely witnessed. The fickle people, ever ready to vibrate between the
+cry of hosanna and crucify, pealed forth their most enthusiastic
+rejoicings. The triumphant boy-king took possession of the Tuileries.
+Cardinal de Retz, who had now gained his long-coveted ecclesiastical
+distinction, hastened to congratulate the king and his mother upon
+their return to the city, from which they had so long been banished.
+The Duke of Orleans, chagrined and humiliated, retired to Blois.
+
+The king soon held what was called a bed of justice, in which,
+instead of granting a general amnesty, he denounced the princes Conde
+and Conti, and other of the prominent leaders of the Fronde, as
+traitors to their king, to be punished by death. These doomed ones
+were nobles of high rank, vast wealth, with thousands of retainers.
+Many throughout the kingdom were in sympathy with them. They would not
+die without a struggle. Hence the war, which had hitherto raged
+between Mazarin and the Fronde, was renewed between the king and the
+Fronde. All over the provinces the hostile forces were rallying
+themselves for the conflict.
+
+It was necessary that the Parliament should register this decree of
+the king. It did so, but Cardinal de Retz refused to give his vote. He
+very respectfully declared to the king that he, having been on
+friendly terms and in co-operation with the Prince de Conde, it would
+be neither courteous nor just for him to vote his condemnation.
+
+This enraged both the king and his mother. They said it proved that he
+was in sympathy with their enemies. The court did not venture at once
+to strike down one so formidable. A mission was assigned the cardinal
+at Rome, to remove him from the country. He refused to accept it. The
+boy-king was growing reckless, passionate, self-willed. He began to
+feel the power that was in his hand. The cardinal was warned of his
+danger. He smiled, and said "that, sustained by his ecclesiastical
+rank, he had nothing to fear."
+
+The court issued an order for the arrest of the cardinal. It was
+placed in the hands of Pradelle for execution. But the king was told
+that the cardinal would never suffer himself to be arrested without
+resistance; that, to secure his seizure, it might be necessary to take
+his life. The king seized a pen and wrote at the bottom of the order,
+
+"I have commanded Pradelle to execute the present order on the person
+of De Retz, and even to arrest him, dead or alive, in the event of
+resistance on his part.
+
+                    "LOUIS."
+
+It was deemed very important to arrest the cardinal, if possible,
+without exciting a popular tumult. The palace of the cardinal was well
+guarded. He never went out without a numerous retinue. Should the
+populace of Paris see him endangered, they would spring to his rescue.
+
+At length De Retz was earnestly invited to visit the queen at the
+Louvre, in token that he was not hostile to the court. It was one of
+the most dishonorable of stratagems. The cardinal was caught in the
+trap. As he was entering the antechamber of the queen upon this visit
+of friendship, all unsuspicious of treachery, the captain of the
+guard, who had been stationed there for the purpose with several
+gendarmes, seized him, hurried him through the great gallery of the
+Louvre, and down the stairs to the door. Here a royal carriage was
+awaiting him. He was thrust into the carriage, and five or six
+officers took seats by his side. To guard against any possibility of
+rescue, a numerous military escort was at hand. The horses were driven
+rapidly through the streets, and out through the Porte St. Antoine.
+
+At nine o'clock the cardinal found himself a prisoner at the castle of
+Vincennes. The apartment assigned him was cold and dreary, without
+furniture and without a bed. Here the prisoner remained a fortnight,
+in the middle of December, with no fire.
+
+The arrest of the cardinal created a great sensation throughout Paris.
+But the chateau was too strong, and too vigilantly guarded by the
+royal troops, to encourage any attempt at a rescue.
+
+[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF VINCENNES.]
+
+In the mean time, Mazarin had placed himself at the head of the royal
+troops in one of the provinces, where he gained several unimportant
+victories over the bands of the Fronde. These successes were trumpeted
+abroad as great achievements, so as to invest the cardinal with the
+renown of a great conqueror. Mazarin was well aware of the influence
+of military glory upon the populace in Paris. The king also began to
+feel the need of his dominant mind. He was invited to return to Paris.
+Louis himself rode out six miles beyond the walls to receive him. The
+cardinal entered the city in triumph, in the same carriage with his
+sovereign, and seated by his side. All the old idols were forgotten,
+and the once detested Mazarin was received as though he were an angel
+from heaven. Bonfires and illuminations blazed through the streets;
+the whole city resounded with demonstrations of rejoicing. Thus
+terminated the year 1652.
+
+The first care of Cardinal Mazarin, after his return to Paris, was to
+restore the finances, which were in a deplorable condition. Louis was
+fond of pleasure. It was one great object of the cardinal to gratify
+him in this respect, in every possible way. Notwithstanding the
+penury of the court, the cardinal contrived to supply the king with
+money. Thus, during the winter, the royal palaces resounded with
+festivity and dissipation. The young king became very fond of private
+theatricals, in which he, his brother Philip, and the young ladies of
+the court took prominent parts. Louis often appeared upon the stage in
+the character of a ballet-dancer. He was proud of the grace with which
+he could perform the most difficult pirouettes. He had plays written,
+with parts expressly composed for his aristocratic troop.
+
+The scene of these masqueradings was the theatre of the Hotel du Petit
+Bourbon, which was contiguous to the Louvre. When royalty plays and
+courtiers fill pit and gallery, applause is without stint. The
+boy-king was much elated with his theatric triumphs. The queen and
+Cardinal Mazarin were well pleased to see the king expending his
+energies in that direction.
+
+These entertainments cost money, which Mazarin was greatly embarrassed
+in obtaining. The hour was approaching for the coronation of Louis.
+The pageant would require large sums of money to invest the occasion
+with the desirable splendor. But gold was not all that was wanted.
+Rank, brilliance, beauty were requisite suitably to impress the
+masses of the people. But the civil war had robbed the court of many
+of its most attractive ornaments.
+
+Monsieur, the duke of Orleans, was sullenly residing at Blois. Here he
+held a somewhat rival court to the king. He refused to attend the
+coronation unless certain concessions were granted, to which Mazarin
+could not give his consent. Mademoiselle, the duchess of Montpensier,
+daughter of Monsieur by his first wife, a young lady of wonderful
+heroism and attractions, who possessed an enormous property in her own
+right, and who was surrounded by a brilliant court of her own, could
+not consistently share in festivities at which her father refused to
+appear.
+
+The Prince of Conde, one of the highest nobles of the realm, and who
+had many adherents of the most illustrious rank, was in arms against
+his king at the head of the Spanish forces, and sentence of death had
+been pronounced upon him.
+
+Cardinal de Retz was a prisoner at Vincennes. His numerous followers
+in Church and State refused to sanction by their presence any
+movements of a court thus persecuting their beloved cardinal.
+
+It was thus impossible to invest the coronation with the splendor
+which the occasion seemed to demand.
+
+The coronation took place, however, at Rheims. Cardinal Mazarin
+exerted all his ingenuity to render the pageant imposing; but the
+absence of so many of the most illustrious of the realm cast an
+atmosphere of gloom around the ceremonies.
+
+France was at the time at war with Spain. The Fronde co-operated with
+the Spanish troops in the civil war. Immediately after the coronation,
+the king, then sixteen years of age, left Rheims to place himself at
+the head of the army. He repaired to Stenay, on the Meuse, in the
+extreme northeastern frontier of France. This ancient city, protected
+by strong fortifications, was held by Conde. The royal troops were
+besieging it. The poverty of the treasury was such that Mazarin could
+not furnish Louis even with the luxury of a carriage. He traveled on
+horseback. He had no table of his own, but shared in that of the
+Marquis de Fabert, the general in command.
+
+It seems difficult to account for the fact that the young king was
+permitted to enter the trenches, and to engage in skirmishes, where
+he was so exposed to the fire of the enemy that the wounded and the
+dead were continually falling around him. He displayed much courage on
+these occasions.
+
+The Prince of Conde left a garrison in one of the strong fortresses,
+and marched with the main body of his troops to Arras. The movements
+of the two petty armies, their skirmishes and battles, are no longer
+of any interest. The battles were fought and the victories gained by
+the direction of the generals Turenne and Fabert. Though the boy-king
+displayed intrepidity which secured for him the respect of the
+soldiers, he could exert but little influence either in council or on
+the field. Both Stenay and Arras were soon taken. The army of the
+Prince of Conde was driven from all its positions.
+
+The king returned to Paris to enjoy the gratulation of the populace,
+and to offer public thanksgiving in the cathedral of Notre Dame.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MATRIMONIAL PROJECTS.
+
+1653-1656
+
+Gayeties in Paris.--Poverty of the court.--Death of the Archbishop of
+Paris.--Murmurings.--Escape of Cardinal de Retz.--Manoeuvres of Anne
+of Austria.--Olympia de Mancini.--Henrietta of England.--Embarrassment
+of Henrietta.--Rudeness of Louis XIV.--Royal quarrel.--Independence
+of the king.--Order of the king.--Audacity of Louis.--Submission of
+Parliament.--A tournament.--Christina of Sweden.--Reception of
+Christina.--Her eccentric character.--Astonishment of Anne of
+Austria.--Varied information of Christina.--Rudeness of the
+ex-queen.--She visits Mademoiselle.--Christina returns to
+Sweden.--Outbreak of Christina.--Letter to Cardinal Mazarin.--Count
+de Soissons.--Marriage of Olympia Mancini.--Mademoiselle
+d'Argencourt.--The Pope's choir.--Mary Mancini.--Description of Mary
+Mancini.--Mary Mancini becomes a member of the court.--Her influence
+over Louis.--Ambitious views of Mazarin.--Projects for the marriage
+of Louis XIV.--Diplomatic efforts with Spain.--The Princess of
+Orange.--Power of Mary Mancini.--The Princess Marguerite.--Anger of
+the queen regent.--Decision of the cabinet.--New negotiations.--The
+two courts arrange to meet at Lyons.--Fickleness of Louis.--The
+royal parties meet.--The Princess Marguerite.--Sorrows of Mary.
+
+
+"There is nothing so successful as success." The young king returned
+to Paris from his coronation and his brief campaign a hero and a
+conqueror. The courage he had displayed won universal admiration. The
+excitable populace were half frenzied with enthusiasm. The city
+resounded with shouts of gladness, and the streets were resplendent
+with the display of gorgeous pageants.
+
+The few nobles who still rallied around the court endeavored to
+compensate by the magnificence of their equipages, the elegance of
+their attire, and the splendor of their festivities, for their
+diminished numbers. There were balls and tournaments, where the dress
+and customs of the by-gone ages of chivalry were revived. Ladies of
+illustrious birth, glittering in jewels, and proud in conscious
+beauty, contributed to the gorgeousness of the spectacle. Still, in
+the midst of all this splendor, the impoverished court was greatly
+embarrassed by straitened circumstances.
+
+Cardinal Mazarin, eager to retain his hold upon the king, did
+everything he could to gratify the love of pleasure which his royal
+master developed, and strove to multiply seductive amusements to
+engross his time and thoughts.
+
+But a few days after Cardinal de Retz had been conducted a prisoner to
+Vincennes, his uncle, the Archbishop of Paris, died. The cardinal
+could legally claim the succession. The metropolitan clergy, who had
+been almost roused to rebellion by his arrest, were now still more
+deeply moved, since he had become their archbishop. They regarded his
+captivity as political martyrdom, and their murmurs were deep and
+prolonged. The pope also addressed several letters to the court,
+soliciting the liberation of his cardinal. The excitement daily
+increased. Nearly all the pulpits more or less openly denounced his
+captivity. At length a pamphlet appeared urging the clergy to close
+all their churches till their archbishop should be released.
+
+Mazarin was frightened. He sent an envoy to the captive cardinal
+presenting terms of compromise. We have not space to describe the
+diplomacy which ensued, but the conference was unavailing. The
+cardinal was soon after removed, under an escort of dragoons, to the
+fortress of Nantes. From this place he almost miraculously escaped to
+his own territory of Retz, where he was regarded as sovereign, and
+where he was surrounded by retainers who, in impregnable castles,
+would fight to the death for their lord. These scenes took place early
+in the summer of 1653.
+
+In the mean time, the young king was amusing himself in his various
+palaces with the many beautiful young ladies who embellished his
+court. Like other lads of fifteen, he was in the habit of falling in
+love with one and another, though the transient passion did not seem
+very deeply to affect his heart. Some of these maidens were
+exceedingly beautiful. In others, vivacity and intellectual brilliance
+quite eclipsed the charms of the highest physical loveliness.
+
+Anne of Austria, forgetting that the all-dominant passion of love had
+led her to regret that she was the wife of the king, that she might
+marry the Duke of Buckingham, did not deem it possible that her son
+could stoop so low as to marry any one who was not of royal blood. She
+therefore regarded without much uneasiness his desperate flirtations,
+while she was scanning the courts of Europe in search of an alliance
+which would add to the power and the renown of her son.
+
+One of the nieces of Cardinal Mazarin, an Italian girl by the name of
+Olympia Mancini, was among the first to whom the boy-king of fifteen
+became specially attached. Olympia was very beautiful, and her
+personal fascinations were rivaled by her mental brilliance, wit, and
+tact. She was by nature and education a thorough coquette, amiable and
+endearing to an unusual degree. She had a sister a little older than
+herself, who was also extremely beautiful, who had recently become the
+Duchess of Mercoeur. Etiquette required that in the balls which the
+king attended every evening he should recognize the rank of the
+duchess by leading her out first in the dance. After this, he devoted
+himself exclusively, for the remainder of the evening, to Olympia.
+
+It will be remembered that Henrietta, the widowed queen of Charles
+II., who was daughter of Henry IV. and sister of Louis XIII., was then
+residing in France. She had no pecuniary means of her own, and,
+chagrined and humiliated, was a pensioner upon the bounty of the
+impoverished French court. Henrietta had with her a very pretty
+daughter, eleven years of age. Being the granddaughter of Henry IV.
+and daughter of Charles II., she was entitled, through the purity of
+her royal blood, to the highest consideration in the etiquette of the
+court. But the mother and the daughter, from their poverty and their
+misfortunes, were precluded from any general participation in the
+festivities of the palace.
+
+The queen, Anne of Austria, on one occasion, gave a private ball in
+honor of these unfortunate guests in her own apartments. None were
+invited but a few of her most intimate friends. Henrietta attended
+with her daughter, who bore her mother's name. There are few
+situations more painful than that of poor relatives visiting their
+more prosperous friends, who in charity condescend to pay them some
+little attention. The young Henrietta was a fragile and timid girl,
+who keenly felt the embarrassment of her situation. As, with her face
+suffused with blushes, and her eyes moistened with the conflicting
+emotions of joyousness and fear, she entered the brilliant saloon of
+Anne of Austria, crowded with those below her in rank, but above her
+in prosperity and all worldly aggrandizement, she was received
+coldly, with no marks of sympathy or attention. As the music summoned
+the dancers to the floor, the king, neglecting his young and royal
+cousin, advanced, according to his custom, to the Duchess of
+Mercoeur, to lead her out. The queen, shocked at so gross a breach
+of etiquette, and even of kindly feeling, rose from her seat, and,
+advancing, withdrew the hand of the duchess from her son, and said to
+him, in a low voice, "You should dance first with the English
+princess." The boy-king sulkily replied, "I am not fond of little
+girls." Both Henrietta and her daughter overheard this uncourteous and
+cruel remark.
+
+Henrietta, the mother, hastened to the queen, and entreated her not to
+attempt to constrain the wishes of his majesty. It was an exceedingly
+awkward position for all the parties. The spirit of Anne of Austria
+was aroused. Resuming her maternal authority, she declared that if her
+niece, the Princess of England, were to remain a spectator at the
+ball, her son should do the same. Thus constrained, Louis very
+ungraciously led out Henrietta upon the floor. The young princess,
+tender in years, sensitive through sorrow, wounded and heart-crushed,
+danced with tears streaming down her cheeks.
+
+Upon the departure of the guests, the mother and the son had their
+first serious quarrel. Anne rebuked Louis severely for his shameful
+conduct. The king rebelled. Haughtily facing his mother, he said, "I
+have long enough been guided by your leading-strings. I shall submit
+to it no longer." It was a final declaration of independence. Though
+there were tears shed on both sides, and the queen made strenuous
+efforts at conciliation, she felt, and justly felt, that the control
+of her son had passed from her forever. It was a crisis in the life of
+the king. From that hour he seemed disposed on all occasions to assert
+his manhood.
+
+A remarkable indication of this soon occurred. It was customary, when
+the king, through his ministers, issued any decrees, that they should
+be registered by the Parliament, to give them full authority. Some
+very oppressive decrees had been issued to raise funds for the court.
+It was deemed very important that they should be registered. The king
+in person attended Parliament, that the influence of his presence
+might carry the measure. No one dared to oppose in the presence of the
+king.
+
+Louis had now established his summer residence at the castle of
+Vincennes. Arrangements had been made for a magnificent hunt in the
+forest the next day, to be attended by all the ladies and gentlemen of
+the court. The king, after leaving the Parliament, returned to
+Vincennes, which is about three miles from Paris. He had scarcely
+arrived at the castle when he received information that, immediately
+upon his leaving the Parliament, a motion had been made to reconsider
+the approval of the decrees.
+
+The king dispatched a courier ordering the Chamber to reassemble the
+next morning. The pleasure-loving courtiers were dismayed by this
+order, as they thought it would interfere with the hunt. But the king
+assured them that business should not be allowed to interfere with his
+pleasures.
+
+At half past nine o'clock the next morning the king entered the
+chamber of deputies in his hunting-dress. It consisted of a scarlet
+coat, a gray beaver hat, and high military boots. He was followed by a
+large retinue of the nobles of his court in a similar costume.
+
+"In this unusual attire," writes the Marquis de Montglat, "the king
+heard mass, took his place with the accustomed ceremonies, and, with
+a whip in his hand, declared to the Parliament that in future it was
+his will that his edicts should be registered, and not discussed. He
+threatened them that, should the contrary occur, he would return and
+enforce obedience."
+
+How potent must have been the circumstances which the feudalism of
+ages had created. These assembled nobles yielded without a murmur to
+this insolence from a boy of eighteen. Parliament had ventured to try
+its strength against Cardinal Mazarin, but did not dare to disobey its
+king.
+
+Soon after this, Louis, having learned that Turenne had gained some
+important victories over the Fronde, decided to join the army to
+witness the siege of the city of Conde and of St. Quilain. Both of
+these places soon fell into the hands of the Royalist troops. The king
+had looked on. Rapidly he returned to Paris to enjoy almost a Roman
+triumph for his great achievement.
+
+As one of the festivities of the city, the king arranged a tournament
+in honor of his avowed lady-love, Olympia Mancini. She occupied a
+conspicuous seat among the ladies of the court, her lovely person
+decorated with a dress of exquisite taste and beauty. The king was
+prominent in his attire among all the knights assembled to contest the
+palm of chivalry. He was dressed in robes of brilliant scarlet. A
+white scarf encircled his waist, and snow-white plumes waved
+gracefully from his hat.
+
+The scene was as gorgeous as the wealth and decorative art of the
+court could create. There were retainers surrounding the high lords,
+and heralds, and pages, and trumpeters, all arrayed in the most
+picturesque costume. No one could be so discourteous or impolitic as
+to vanquish the king. He consequently bore away all the laurels. This
+magnificent tournament gave the name of "The Carousal" to the space
+where it was held, between the Louvre and the Tuileries.
+
+Early in the summer the court removed to Compiegne, to spend the
+season in rural amusements there. Christina, the young queen of
+Sweden, who had just abdicated the throne, and whose eccentricities
+had attracted the attention of Europe, came to the frontiers of France
+with an imposing retinue, and, announcing her arrival, awaited the
+invitation of the king to visit his court. She was one of the most
+extraordinary personages of that or any age. Good looking, "strong
+minded" to the highest degree, masculine in dress and address, always
+self-possessed, absolutely fearing nothing, proud, haughty, speaking
+fluently eight languages, familiar with art, and a consummate
+_intriguante_, she excited astonishment and a certain degree of
+admiration wherever she appeared.
+
+The curiosity of Louis was so greatly excited and so freely expressed
+to see this extraordinary personage as to arouse the jealousy of
+Olympia. The king perceived this. It is one of the most detestable
+traits in our fallen nature that one can take pleasure in making
+another unhappy. The unamiable king amused himself in torturing the
+feelings of Olympia.
+
+[Illustration: PALACE OF CHANTILLY.]
+
+Christina proceeded at first to Paris. Here she was received with the
+greatest honor. For a distance of nearly six miles from the Louvre the
+streets were lined with armed citizens, who greeted her with almost
+unintermitted applause. The crowd was so great that, though she
+reached the suburbs of Paris at two o'clock in the afternoon, she did
+not alight at the Louvre until nine o'clock in the evening. This
+eccentric princess was then thirty years of age, and, though youthful
+in appearance, in dress and manners she affected the Amazon. She
+had great powers of pleasing, and her wit, her entire self-reliance,
+and extensive information, enabled her to render herself very
+attractive whenever she wished to do so.
+
+After spending a few days in Paris, she proceeded to Compiegne to
+visit the king and queen. Louis and his brother, with Mazarin and a
+crowd of courtiers, rode out as far as Chantilly, a distance of nearly
+twenty miles, to meet her. Christina also traveled in state,
+accompanied by an imposing retinue. Here there was, at that time, one
+of the largest and finest structures in France. The castle belonged to
+the family of Conde. The opposite cut presents it to the reader as it
+then appeared.
+
+The king and his brother, from some freak, presented themselves to her
+at first _incognito_. They were introduced by Mazarin as two of the
+most nobly born gentlemen in France. Christina smiled, and promptly
+replied,
+
+"Yes, I have no doubt of it, since their birthright is a crown."
+
+She had seen their portraits in the Louvre the day before, and
+immediately recognized them.
+
+Christina was to be honored with quite a triumphal entrance to
+Compiegne. The king accordingly returned to Compiegne, and the next
+day, with the whole court in carriages, rode out a few leagues to a
+very splendid mansion belonging to one of the nobles at Fayet. It was
+a lovely day, warm and cloudless. Anne of Austria decided to receive
+her illustrious guest upon the spacious terrace. There she assembled
+her numerous court, resplendent with gorgeous dresses, and blazing
+with diamonds. Soon the carriage of the Swedish queen drove up, with
+the loud clatter of outriders and the flourish of trumpets. Cardinal
+Mazarin and the Duke de Guise assisted her to alight. As she ascended
+the terrace the queen advanced to meet her.
+
+Though Anne was at first struck with amazement at the ludicrous
+appearance of the attire of Christina, she was immediately fascinated
+by her conversational tact and brilliance. Some allusion having been
+made to the portrait of the king in the Louvre, the queen held out her
+arm to show a still more faithful miniature in the clasp of her
+bracelet. Anne of Austria had a very beautiful arm, and was very proud
+of it. Christina, instead of looking at the bracelet, surveyed the
+undraped arm and hand with admiration.
+
+"How beautiful! how beautiful!" she exclaimed. "Never did I see an arm
+and hand of such lovely hue and such exquisite symmetry. I would
+willingly have made the journey from Rome to Paris to see this arm."
+
+The queen's heart was won, Christina knew it. The next achievement was
+to win the king.
+
+Christina was apparently as familiar with the French court, and all
+the intrigues there, from the information which she had obtained, as
+if she had always been a resident at that court. She immediately
+turned with very marked attention to Olympia Mancini, and seemed
+dazzled by her beauty. The heart of the boy-king was won in seeing his
+own good taste thus highly appreciated and sanctioned. Having thus
+secured the queen and the king, Christina was well aware that she had
+captivated the whole court.
+
+An elegant collation was prepared. The plump little queen ate like a
+hungry dragoon. The royal cortege, enveloping the Swedish princess,
+returned to the palace of Compiegne. Several days were spent at
+Compiegne, during which she astonished every one by the remarkable
+self-poise of her character, her varied information, and the
+versatility of her talents. She conversed upon theology with the
+ecclesiastics, upon politics with the ministers, upon all branches of
+science and art with philosophers and the _virtuosi_, and eclipsed the
+most brilliant of the courtiers in the small-talk of gallantry.
+
+She attended the theatre with the queen. During the tragedy she wept
+like a child, heartily and unaffectedly. During the farce, which was
+one of those coarse and pungent compositions by the poet Scarron,
+which would now be scarcely tolerated, her shouts of laughter echoed
+through the theatre. She astonished the court by clapping her hands
+and throwing her feet upon the top of the royal box, like a rowdy in a
+smoking-room.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF FONTAINEBLEAU.]
+
+From Compiegne, Christina, by invitation, went to Fontainebleau to
+visit Mademoiselle de Montpensier. The piquant pen of Mademoiselle has
+described this interview. Some allowance must perhaps be made for the
+vein of satire which pervaded nearly all the utterances of this
+haughty princess. The dress of Christina consisted of a skirt of gray
+silk, trimmed with gold and silver lace, with a bodice of gold-colored
+camlet trimmed like the skirt. She wore a kerchief of Genoa point
+about her neck, fastened with a knot of white ribbon. A light wig
+concealed her natural hair. Her hat was profusely decorated with white
+plumes. She looked, upon the whole, Mademoiselle thought, like a
+handsome boy.
+
+Mademoiselle, accustomed to the rigid propriety of the French court,
+was not a little surprised to hear Christina, during the comedy,
+interlard her conversation with hearty oaths, with all the volubility
+of an old guardsman. She flung about her legs in the most astonishing
+manner, throwing them over the arms of her chair, and placing herself
+in attitudes quite unprecedented in Parisian circles.
+
+Soon after this, this Amazonian princess returned by a circuitous
+route to her Northern home. Before taking leave of her, it may be well
+to remark that subsequently Christina made a second visit to France
+uninvited--not only uninvited, but very unwelcome. She took possession
+of the palace of Fontainebleau with her attendants, where with cold
+courtesy she was tolerated. In a freak of passion, she accused her
+grand equerry, M. Monaldeschi, of high treason, and actually put him
+to death. So high-handed an outrage, even in those days of feudal
+barbarism, excited throughout France a universal feeling of disgust
+and indignation. The sentiment was so strong and general that the king
+deemed it necessary to send her a letter through his minister,
+Mazarin, expressive of his extreme displeasure.
+
+Christina, much exasperated, sent a reply containing the following
+expressions:
+
+"MR. MAZARIN,--Those who acquainted you with the details regarding
+Monaldeschi, my equerry, were very ill informed. Your proceeding ought
+not, however, to astonish me, silly as it is. But I should never have
+believed that either you or your haughty young master would have dared
+to exhibit the least resentment toward me. Learn all of you, valets
+and masters, little and great, that it was my pleasure to act as I
+did; that I need not, and I will not account for my actions to any one
+in the world, and particularly to bullies of your description. I wish
+you to know, and to say to all who will hear it, that Christina cares
+very little about your court, and still less about yourself; and that,
+in order to revenge my wrongs, I do not require to have recourse to
+your formidable power. Believe me, therefore, Jules,[F] you had better
+conduct yourself in a manner to deserve my favor, which you can not
+study too much to secure. God preserve you from ever risking the least
+indiscreet remark upon my person. Although at the end of the earth, I
+shall be informed of your plots. I have friends and courtiers in my
+service who are as clever and far-sighted as yours, although they are
+not so well paid.
+
+                    "CHRISTINA."
+
+[Footnote F: Jules, the Christian name of Mazarin.]
+
+Soon after this her Swedish majesty disappeared from France, to the
+great relief of the court, and was seen there no more.
+
+Olympia Mancini had ever increasing evidence that the love of the king
+for her was but a frivolous and heartless passion. The Count de
+Soissons, of Savoy, a young prince who had just become the head of his
+house, visited the court of Louis XIV. The marvelous beauty of
+Olympia, at first glance, won his heart. He was young, handsome,
+chivalric, high-born, and was just entering upon a magnificent
+inheritance. Olympia had recently lost by death a mother whom she
+greatly revered, and a beloved sister. She was overwhelmed with grief.
+The entire want of sympathy manifested by the king shocked her. He
+thought of nothing but his own personal pleasure. Regardless of the
+grief of Olympia, he exhibited himself, evening after evening, in
+court theatricals, emulating the agility of an opera-dancer, and
+attired in spangled robes.
+
+Wounded and irritated by such conduct, Olympia accepted the proffered
+hand of the Count de Soissons, who was grandson of Charles V. The
+marriage was attended with great splendor at the palace of the Louvre.
+All the court was present. The king himself seemed not at all
+discomposed that another should marry the beautiful maiden whom he had
+professed so ardently to love. Indeed, he was already beginning to
+transfer his attentions to Mademoiselle d'Argencourt, a queenly beauty
+of the high family of Conti. Her figure was perfect, her manners were
+courtly in the highest degree, and all who approached her were charmed
+with her conversational vivacity and tact.
+
+But Mademoiselle's affections were already engaged, and, being fully
+aware that the king flitted from beauty to beauty, like the butterfly
+from flower to flower, she very frankly intimated to the king that she
+could not receive his attentions. Louis was heart-broken; for such
+fragile hearts are easily broken and as easily repaired. He hastened
+to his mother, and told her that he must leave Paris to conquer his
+passion. The love-sick monarch retired to Vincennes, spent ten days
+there, and returned quite cured.
+
+The marriage of Olympia, as we have mentioned, was celebrated with
+very great brilliance. The ambitious cardinal, in heart disappointed
+that he had not been able to confer the hand of Olympia on the king,
+was increasingly desirous of investing the members of his family with
+all possible eclat. He had imported for the occasion the principal
+members of the Pope's choir. These wonderful vocalists from the
+Sistine Chapel astonished the French court with melody and harmony
+such as had never been heard in the Louvre before.
+
+Olympia had a younger sister, Mary, fifteen years of age. She had come
+from her school in a convent to witness the marriage festivities. The
+music and the impressive scene affected the artless child deeply, and
+her tears flowed freely. The king, surrounded by the brilliant
+beauties of his court, accidentally caught sight of this child. Though
+not beautiful, there was something in her unaffected attitude, her
+tears, her entire absorption in the scene, which arrested his
+attention.
+
+Mary had early developed so bold, independent, and self-reliant a
+spirit as to induce her father, on his death-bed, to entreat Madame de
+Mancini to compel her to take the veil. In compliance with this
+injunction, Mary had been placed in a convent until she should attain
+the fitting age to assume the irrevocable vows. Thus trained in
+seclusion, and with no ambitious aspirations, she had acquired a
+character of perfect simplicity, and her countenance bore an
+expression of intelligence and sensibility far more attractive than
+ordinary beauty. A contemporaneous writer says,
+
+"Her movements, her manners, and all the bearing of her person were
+the result of a nature guided by grace. Her look was tender, the
+accents of her voice were enchanting. Her genius was great,
+substantial, and extensive, and capable of the grandest conceptions.
+She wrote both good prose and pleasing poetry; and Mary Mancini, who
+shone in a courtly letter, was equally capable of producing a
+political or state dispatch. She would not have been unworthy of the
+throne if among us great merit had been entitled to obtain it."
+
+The king inquired her name. Upon learning that she was a niece of the
+cardinal, and a sister of Olympia, he desired that she might be
+presented to him.
+
+Mary was an enthusiast. The young king was very handsome, very
+courtly, and a perfect master of all the phrases of gallantry. Mary
+fell in love with him, without knowing it, at first sight. It was not
+the _monarch_ which had won her, but the _man_, of exquisitely
+symmetrical proportions, so princely in his bearing, so fascinating in
+his address. The young schoolgirl returned to her convent with the
+image of the king indelibly engraven on her heart. The few words which
+passed between them interested the king, for every word she said bore
+the impress of her genius. Ere long she was added to the ladies of the
+queen's household.
+
+The king, having closed his flirtation with Mademoiselle d'Argencourt,
+found himself almost insensibly drawn to Mary Mancini. Though there
+were many in his court more beautiful in person, there were none who
+could rival her in intellect and wit. Though naturally timid, her
+reserve disappeared when in his presence. Though ever approaching him
+with the utmost possible deference and respect, she conversed with him
+with a frankness to which he was entirely unaccustomed, and which, at
+the same time, surprised and charmed him.
+
+His vanity was gratified with the almost religious devotion with which
+she unaffectedly regarded her sovereign, while at the same time she
+addressed him with a bold simplicity of utterance which astounded the
+courtiers and enthralled the king. He was amazed and bewildered by the
+grandeur of a character such as he had never encountered before. She
+reproved him for his faults, instructed him in his ignorance,
+conversed with him upon themes beyond the ordinary range of his
+intellect, and endeavored to enkindle within him noble impulses and a
+lofty ambition. The king found himself quite unable to compete with
+her strength of intellect. His weaker nature became more and more
+subject to one endowed with gifts far superior to his own. In every
+hour of perplexity, in every serious moment, when the better nature of
+the king gained a transient ascendency, he turned from the frivolity
+of the gay and thoughtless beings fluttering around him to Mary
+Mancini for guidance and strength.
+
+The ambition of Cardinal Mazarin was again excited with the hope that
+he might yet place a niece upon the throne of France. But there was
+no end to the intrigues of ambitious aspirants, directly or
+indirectly, for the hand of the young king. Mademoiselle de
+Montpensier had enormous wealth, was of high birth, and was endowed
+with marvelous force of character. She had long aspired to share the
+throne with her young cousin. When it was evident that this plan had
+failed, the Duke of Orleans brought forward a younger daughter by a
+second wife. But Mazarin succeeded in thwarting this arrangement. The
+Princess Henrietta of England, whom the young king had treated so
+cruelly at the ball, was urged upon him. She was lovely in person,
+amiable in character, but in poverty and exile. Cromwell was in the
+plenitude of his power. There was no probability that her family would
+be restored to the throne. The king turned coldly from her.
+
+Portugal was then one of the most wealthy and powerful courts of
+Europe. The Queen of Portugal was exceedingly anxious to unite her
+daughter with the King of France. Through her embassadors she
+endeavored to effect an alliance. A portrait of the princess was sent
+to Louis. It was very beautiful. The king made private inquiries. She
+was very plain. This settled the question. The Portuguese princess was
+thought of no more.
+
+The King of Spain had a very beautiful daughter, Maria Theresa. The
+Spanish monarchy then, perhaps, stood second to none other on the
+globe. Spain and France were engaged in petty and vexatious
+hostilities. A matrimonial alliance would secure friendship. The
+matter was much talked of. The proud queen-mother, Anne of Austria,
+was very solicitous to secure that alliance, as it would gratify her
+highest ambition. Mazarin professed warmly to favor it. He probably
+saw insuperable obstacles in the way, but hoped, by co-operating
+cordially with the wishes of the queen, to be able finally to secure
+the marriage of the king with Mary Mancini.
+
+Maria Theresa was heiress to the throne of Spain. Should she marry
+Louis XIV., it would be necessary for her to leave Spain and reside in
+Paris. Thus the Queen of France would be the Queen of Spain. In fact,
+Spain would be annexed to France as a sort of tributary nation, the
+court being at Paris, and all the offices being at the disposal of the
+Queen of France, residing there. The pride of the Spaniards revolted
+from this, and still the diplomatists were conferring upon the matter.
+
+Henrietta, the unfortunate widow of Charles I. of England, had an
+elder daughter, who had married the Prince of Orange, the head of the
+illustrious house of Nassau. This Princess of Orange was very
+beautiful, young, in the enjoyment of vast possessions, and a widow.
+She aspired to the hand, and to share the crown of the King of France.
+Surrounded by great magnificence and blazing with jewels, she visited
+the court of Louis XIV. Her mission was signally unsuccessful. The
+king took a strong dislike to her, and repelled her advances with
+marked discourtesy.
+
+While matters were in this state, Charles II. offered his hand to Mary
+Mancini. But the proud cardinal would not allow his niece to marry a
+crownless and impoverished king. In the mean time, Mary Mancini, by
+her increasing beauty and her mental superiority, was gaining daily
+more influence over the mind of the king. With a voice of singular
+melody, a brilliant eye, a figure as graceful and elastic as that of a
+fairy, and with words of wonderful wisdom flowing, as it were,
+instinctively from her lips, she seemed effectually and almost
+unconsciously to have enthralled the king. All his previous passions
+were boyish and ephemeral. But Mary was very different from any other
+lady of the court. Her depth of feeling, her pensive yet cheerful
+temperament, and her full-souled sympathy in all that was truly noble
+in conduct and character, astonished and engrossed the susceptible
+monarch.
+
+The Duchess of Savoy had a daughter, Marguerite, whom she wished to
+have become the wife of the French king. The princess was by birth of
+the highest rank, being a descendant of Henry IV. The duchess sent as
+an envoy a young Piedmontese count to treat secretly with the cardinal
+for the marriage of the king with the Princess Marguerite. The count
+was unsuccessful. It was quite evident that Mazarin was intending to
+secure the marriage of the king with his niece.
+
+The proud queen, Anne of Austria, became greatly alarmed. She mortally
+offended the cardinal by declaring to him that nothing should induce
+her to consent to such a degradation of her son as to permit his
+marriage with the niece of the cardinal. She declared that in such an
+event she herself would head an insurrection against the king, and
+that the whole of France would revolt both against him and his
+minister. These bitter words ever after rankled in the bosom of the
+cardinal.
+
+The queen summoned a secret assembly of the cabinet, and put to them
+the question whether the marriage of her son without her consent would
+be a valid one. The unanimous decision was in the negative. She then
+had this decision carefully drawn up, and made effectual arrangements
+to have it registered by the Parliament, should the king secretly
+marry Mary Mancini.
+
+The cardinal now found himself compelled to abandon his ambitious
+hopes for his niece, and opened again negotiations with Spain for the
+hand of the Infanta Maria Theresa, and with the court of Savoy for the
+Princess Marguerite. The Spanish marriage would terminate the war. The
+union with Savoy would invest France with new powers for its vigorous
+prosecution.
+
+Every day the attachment of the king to Mary Mancini became more
+undisguised. She guided his reading; she taught him the Italian
+language; she introduced to him the names of great men in the works of
+literature and art, and labored heroically to elevate his tastes, and
+to inspire him with the ambition of performing glorious deeds.
+
+The queen, in her anxiety, made arrangements for the king to meet the
+Princess Marguerite at Lyons, that they might be betrothed. She
+greatly preferred the alliance with Spain; but as there seemed to be
+insuperable objections to that, she turned her attention to Savoy. The
+king continued his marked and almost exclusive attentions to Mary, and
+she loved him with the full flow of her ardent affections.
+
+The whole court was to proceed in great magnificence to Lyons, to meet
+the court of Savoy. Mary was compelled to accompany the court. She
+knew full well the errand upon which Louis was bound. Though her heart
+was heavy, and tears dimmed her eyes, she was obliged to appear
+cheerful. She had made an earnest effort to avoid the journey, but
+Anne of Austria was obdurate and cruel. She assured Mary that she
+could not spare her presence when she wished to impress the Princess
+Marguerite with the magnificence and beauty of the French court.
+
+The court of Savoy left Turin at the same time that the French court
+left Paris. The pledge had been given that, should the king be
+pleased with the appearance of Marguerite, the marriage should take
+place without delay. During the journey, the heartless and fickle
+king, ever charmed by novelty, was in buoyant spirits. Though he still
+clung to the side of Mary, giving her a seat in his own carriage, and,
+when the weather was fine, riding by her side on horseback, he
+tortured her heart by the joyousness with which he spoke of the
+anticipated charms of Marguerite and of his approaching marriage.
+
+At Lyons the royal party was received with great magnificence. The
+next day it was announced that the court of Savoy was approaching. The
+queen-mother and her son, with two ladies in the royal coach,
+preceded, and, followed by a considerable retinue, advanced to meet
+their guests. The king mounted his horse and galloped forward to get a
+sight of Marguerite without being known by her. She was riding in an
+open barouche. He soon returned in great glee, and, springing from the
+saddle, re-entered the carriage, and informed his mother that the
+Princess Marguerite was very beautiful. Scarcely had he said this ere
+the two royal coaches met. Both parties alighted. The princess was
+introduced to Louis. Then the queen-mother and her son, the Duchess
+of Savoy and the Princess Marguerite, and an elder daughter, who was a
+widow, entered the royal coach and returned to Lyons. The king was in
+exuberant spirits. He at once entered into the most animated and
+familiar conversation with the princess.
+
+The Princess Marguerite fully appreciated the embarrassment of her own
+situation. She was going to Lyons to present herself to Louis XIV. to
+see if he would take her for his wife. The humiliation of being
+rejected would be dreadful. In vain she implored her mother to spare
+her from such a possibility. But the question seemed to be at once
+settled favorably. The king was manifestly much pleased with
+Marguerite, and the princess could see nothing but attractions in the
+young, handsome, and courtly sovereign of France.
+
+Poor Mary, who was informed of every thing that transpired, was
+suffering martyrdom. She was immediately forsaken and forgotten. In
+public, all her force of character was called into requisition to
+dress her face in smiles. In her secret apartment she wept bitterly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF THE KING.
+
+1658-1661
+
+Marguerite of Savoy.--Sudden change of prospects.--An heir to the
+Spanish throne.--Rejection of Marguerite.--Mazarin communicates
+with the Duchess of Savoy.--Private interview of Mazarin and the
+Duchess of Savoy.--Conduct of the king.--Movements of Mazarin.--Power
+of the cardinal.--Mary exiled from the court.--Mary's parting with
+the king.--The Isle of Pheasants.--Interview of Louis with
+Mary.--Negotiations with Spain.--Marriage preparations according to
+Spanish etiquette.--Appearance of the Infanta.--Interview of Anne of
+Austria and her brother.--Meeting of Louis XIV. and his bride.--Tedious
+ceremonies.--Gorgeous entrance into the capital.--Cruelty of the
+queen-mother.--The Prince Colonna.--Mary is presented to the young
+Queen of France.--Misery of Mary Mancini.--Mary concludes to accept
+the hand of Prince Colonna.--Marriage of Mary Mancini.--Character of
+Louis XIV. and Maria Theresa.--Magnificent ceremonies.--Festivities
+continued.--Revolting state of society.--Mazarin guilty of great
+extortion.--Fatal accident.--Sufferings of the cardinal.--Oppressive
+measures of the cardinal.--Confession of Mazarin.--Advice of M.
+Colbert.--Suspense of the cardinal.--His property restored.--Death
+of Mazarin.--His immense wealth.--Legacies of Mazarin.--Views of
+Louis XIV.
+
+
+The Princess Marguerite of Savoy was very beautiful. She was a
+brunette, with large, lustrous eyes, fairy-like proportions, queenly
+bearing, and so graceful in every movement that she scarcely seemed to
+touch the ground as she walked. Her reception by the king, the queen,
+and the whole court was every thing that could be desired. The duchess
+and her daughter that night placed their heads upon their pillows with
+the undoubting conviction that Marguerite was to be the Queen of
+France. The king ordered his suite to be ready, in their gala dresses,
+to attend him on the morrow to the apartments of the princess.
+
+The morning came. To the surprise and bewilderment of the court, every
+thing was changed. The king was thoughtful, distant, reserved. With
+great formality of etiquette, he called upon the princess. His
+countenance and manner indicated an entire change of feeling. With the
+coldest phrases of court etiquette he addressed her. He was civil,
+and civil only. The warmth of the lover had disappeared entirely. The
+Duchess of Savoy was astounded. Even the French court seemed stupefied
+by so unexpected and decisive an alteration in the aspect of affairs.
+
+The explanation which gradually came to light was very simple. During
+the night a courier had arrived, in breathless haste, with the
+announcement that the Queen of Spain had given birth to a son. Maria
+Theresa was no longer heir to the throne. The way was consequently
+open to the Spanish marriage. This alliance would secure peace with
+Spain, and was altogether a more powerful and wealthy connection than
+that with the court of Savoy. The cardinal immediately communicated
+the intelligence to the queen-mother and the king. They alone knew it.
+Marguerite was to be rejected, and the hand of Maria Theresa to be
+claimed.
+
+Mary Mancini was utterly bewildered by the change, so inexplicable to
+her, in the posture of affairs. The face of the queen was radiant with
+joy. The king seemed a little embarrassed, but very triumphant. The
+Duchess of Savoy betrayed alternately surprise, indignation, and
+despair. The eagle eye and painful experience of Mary taught her that
+the Princess Marguerite was struggling to retain her self-possession,
+and to maintain a cheerful spirit, while some terrible blow had fallen
+upon her.
+
+The news from Spain was such that Mazarin, upon receiving it after
+midnight, hastened to the bedchamber of the queen with the
+announcement. As he entered, the queen rose upon her pillow, and the
+cardinal said:
+
+"I have come to tell you, madame, a piece of news which your majesty
+never anticipated."
+
+"Is peace proclaimed?" inquired the queen, earnestly.
+
+"More than peace," the cardinal exultantly replied; "for the Infanta
+brings peace in her hand as but a portion of her dower."
+
+This extraordinary scene took place on the night of the 29th of
+November, 1658. It was the task of the wily cardinal to break the
+humiliating intelligence to the Duchess of Savoy. He assured her that
+he felt bound to seek, above all things else, the interests of France;
+that an opportunity had unexpectedly occurred for an alliance with
+Spain; that this alliance was far more desirable than any other; but
+that, should any thing occur to interrupt these negotiations, he
+would do every thing in his power to promote the marriage of the king
+with the Princess Marguerite.
+
+Notwithstanding the intense irritation which this communication
+excited, there was too much self-respect and too much good breeding in
+the court of Savoy to allow of a sudden rupture, which would provoke
+the sarcastic remarks of the world. Still the duchess, in a private
+interview with Mazarin, could not restrain her feelings, but broke out
+into passionate upbraidings. The thought that she had been lured to
+expose herself and her daughter to the derision of all Europe stung
+her to the quick. The Princess Marguerite, however, by her graceful
+composure, by her courtesy to all around her, and by the skill with
+which she concealed her wounded feelings, won the admiration of all in
+both courts.
+
+For several days the two courts remained together, engaged in a round
+of festivities. This seemed necessary to avoid the appearance of an
+open rupture. The fickle king, in these assemblies, treated Marguerite
+with his customary courtesy; but he immediately turned to Mary Mancini
+with his marked attentions and devotion, dancing with her repeatedly
+on the same evening, and keeping her constantly by his side. Indeed,
+his attentions were so very marked as to lead the courtiers to think
+that the king rejoiced at his escape from his marriage with Marguerite
+from the hope that it might yet lead to his securing Mary for his
+bride. But it is more probable that the king, utterly selfish,
+reckless of the feelings of others, and devoted to his own enjoyment,
+sought the society of Mary because it so happened that she was the
+one, more than any other then within his reach, who, by her personal
+beauty and her mental attractions, could best beguile his weary hours.
+He was ready at any moment, without a pang, to lay her aside for
+another who could better minister to his pleasure or to the aspirings
+of his ambition.
+
+The king, with his court, returned to Paris. The secret communicated
+by the mysterious visitor from Spain was still undivulged. The mystery
+was so great, and its apparent bearing upon the destiny of Mary so
+direct, that she resolved to interrogate one of the most influential
+ministers of the court upon the subject. He, thinking in some degree
+to evade the question, replied that the courier had come simply to
+inform Anne of Austria that the Queen of Spain had given birth to a
+son. This revealed the whole to Mary.
+
+In the mean time, arrangements were made for Cardinal Mazarin to meet
+the Spanish minister on the frontiers of the two kingdoms to negotiate
+for the Spanish marriage. The cardinal, fully convinced that now it
+would be impossible to secure the hand of the king for his niece Mary,
+and anxious to convince the queen that he was heartily engaged in
+promoting the Spanish alliance, ordered Mary immediately to withdraw
+from the court, and retire to Brouage. This was a fortified town on
+the sea-coast many leagues from Paris. The king heard of the
+arrangement, and, forbidding the departure of Mary from the court,
+hastened to the cardinal demanding an explanation. Mazarin informed
+him that the Infanta of Spain would be very indignant should she learn
+that, while he was making application for her hand, he was retaining
+near him one whom he had long treated with the most devoted and
+affectionate attentions; that her father, Philip IV., would be
+disgusted; that there would be a probable rupture of the negotiations;
+and that the desolating war between France and Spain would continue.
+
+Louis declared that he should not allow his pleasure to be disturbed
+by such considerations. Roused by opposition, he went so far as to say
+that he was quite ready to carry on the war with Spain if that power
+so wished; that the war would afford him an opportunity to acquire
+glory in the eyes of his countrymen, and in that case he would marry
+Mary Mancini.
+
+But the cardinal was fully conscious that neither the queen nor France
+would now submit to such an arrangement. He had with great skill
+retained his attitude of command over the young monarch, holding his
+purse and governing the realm, while the boy-king amused himself as a
+ballet-dancer and a play-actor. The cardinal remained inexorable. It
+is said that the king wept in the excess of his chagrin as he felt
+compelled to yield to the representations of his domineering minister.
+As he unfolded to him the miseries which would be inflicted, not only
+upon the kingdom, but upon the court, should the desolating and
+expensive war be protracted, the king threw himself upon a sofa, and
+buried his face in his hands in silent despair. It was decided that
+Mary should be exiled from the court.
+
+The king, thwarted, vexed, wretched, repaired to the cabinet of his
+mother. They conversed for an hour together. As they retired from the
+cabinet, Madame de Motteville says, "the eyes of both were red with
+weeping. The orders were immediately issued for Mary's departure. She
+was to go with an elder sister and her governess. The morrow came; the
+carriage was at the door. Mary, having taken leave of the queen,
+repaired to the apartment of Louis to bid him adieu. She found him
+deluged in tears. Summoning all her resolution to maintain
+self-control, she held out her trembling hand, and said to him
+reproachfully, 'Sire, you are a king; you weep; and yet I go.'"
+
+The king uttered not a word, but, burying his face in his hands upon
+the table, sobbed aloud. Mary saw that it was all over with her; that
+there was no longer any hope. Without speaking a word, she descended
+the stairs to her carriage. The king silently followed her, and stood
+by the coach door. She took her seat with her companions, and, without
+the interchange of a word or a sign, the carriage drove away. Louis
+remained upon the spot until it disappeared from sight.
+
+[Illustration: ISLE OF PHEASANTS.]
+
+The Isle of Pheasants, a small Spanish island in the Bidassoa, a
+boundary river between France and Spain, was fixed upon as the
+rendezvous for the contracting parties for the royal marriage. Four
+days after the exile of Mary, the king and court, with a magnificent
+civil and ecclesiastical retinue, set out for the island. The king
+insisted, notwithstanding the vehement remonstrances of the queen,
+upon visiting Mary Mancini on the journey. As the splendid cortege
+passed through the streets of Paris, the whole population was on the
+pavement, shouting a thousand blessings on the head of their young
+king.
+
+Mary Mancini had received orders from the queen to proceed with her
+sister to Saint Jean d'Angely, where, upon the passage of the court,
+she was to have an interview with the king. "Her interview," writes
+Miss Pardoe, "was, however, a bitter one. Divided between vanity and
+affection, Louis was at once less firm and less self-possessed than
+Mary. He wept bitterly, and bewailed the fetters by which he was
+shackled. But as he remarked the change which nights of watching and
+of tears had made in her appearance, he felt half consoled. The only
+result of this meeting was to harrow the heart of the poor victim of
+political expediency, and to prove to her upon how unstable a
+foundation she had built her superstructure of hope."[G]
+
+[Footnote G: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 23, 24.]
+
+From Saint Jean d'Angely the court proceeded, by way of Bordeaux, to
+Toulouse. Here they awaited the conclusion of the treaty. The
+negotiation was tedious, as each party was anxious to gain all that
+was possible from the other. Many questions of national moment and
+pride were involved. At length the conference was amicably concluded.
+The king agreed to pardon the Prince of Conde, and restore to him all
+his honors; and the Infanta Maria Theresa renounced for herself and
+her descendants all claim to the inheritance of her parents. She was
+to receive as a dowry five hundred thousand golden crowns. There were
+several other articles included in the treaty which have now ceased to
+be of any interest.
+
+Much surprise was soon excited in the court of Louis XIV. by the
+intimation that the marriage ceremony must be postponed until the
+spring. Philip IV. stated that his infirm health would not allow him
+to take so long a journey in the inclement weather of winter. Louis
+XIV. had never yet seen his affianced bride. We do not learn that he
+was at all annoyed by the delay. The intervening weeks were passed in
+journeyings and a round of amusements. Early in May, 1660, the king
+returned to the vicinity of the Isle of Pheasants, where he was to
+meet the King of Spain and Maria Theresa.
+
+The most magnificent preparations had been made at the Isle of
+Pheasants for the interview between the two courts and the royal
+nuptials. Bridges were constructed to the island from both the French
+and Spanish sides of the river. These bridges were covered, and so
+decorated as to present the aspect of beautiful galleries. Upon the
+island a palace was erected, consisting of one immense and gorgeous
+apartment, with lateral chambers and dressing-rooms. This apartment
+was carpeted, and furnished with all the splendor which the combined
+monarchies of France and Spain could command.
+
+Two doors, directly opposite each other, enabled the two courts to
+enter simultaneously. A straight line across the centre of the room
+divided it into two portions, one half of which was regarded as
+French, and the other as Spanish territory. The Spanish court took up
+its residence at Fontarabia, on the eastern or Spanish bank of the
+river. Louis and his court occupied Saint Jean de Luz, on the French
+or western side of the stream.
+
+There are many exactions of court etiquette which to republican eyes
+seem extremely irrational and foolish. Louis could not cross the river
+to take his Spanish bride, neither could Maria Theresa cross the
+stream to be married on French soil; therefore Don Luis de Haro, as
+the proxy of Louis XIV., having the French Bishop of Frejus as his
+witness, was married to Maria Theresa in the church at Fontarabia. The
+ceremony was conducted with the most punctilious observance of the
+stately forms of Spanish etiquette.
+
+Madame de Motteville gives the following account of the appearance of
+the bride:
+
+"The Infanta is short, but well made. We admired the extreme fairness
+of her complexion. The blue eyes appeared to us to be fine, and
+charmed us by their softness and brilliancy. We celebrated the beauty
+of her mouth, and of her somewhat full and roseate lips. The outline
+of her face is long, but, being rounded at the chin, pleased us. Her
+cheeks, rather large, but handsome, had their share of our praise. Her
+hair, of a very light auburn, accorded admirably with her fine
+complexion."
+
+The Infanta was dressed in white satin, ornamented with small bows of
+silver serge. She wore a large number of brilliant gems, and her head
+was decorated with a mass of false hair. The first lady of her
+household bore her train.
+
+During the ceremony Philip IV. stood between his daughter and the
+proxy of Louis. The princess did not present her hand to Don Luis, nor
+did he present to her the nuptial ring. At the close of the ceremony
+the father embraced his child, and silently the gorgeous train swept
+from the church.
+
+The next day Anne of Austria, accompanied by her second son, then Duke
+of Orleans, repaired to the Isle of Pheasants to meet her brother,
+Philip IV., and the royal bride. Court etiquette did not yet allow
+Louis XIV. to have an interview with the lady to whom he was already
+married by proxy. He, however, sent to his young queen, by one of his
+nobles, a present of some very fine jewels.
+
+Though Philip IV. was the brother of Anne of Austria, and though they
+had not met for many years, Spanish etiquette would not allow any
+demonstrations of tenderness. The interview was chillingly stately and
+dignified. Anne, for a moment forgetting the icy restraints of the
+court, in sisterly love endeavored to salute her brother on the cheek.
+The Spanish king held back his head, rejecting the proffered fondness.
+The young bride threw herself upon her knees, requesting permission to
+kiss the hand of Anne of Austria. The queen-mother lifted her from the
+floor, and tenderly embraced her.
+
+After some time had elapsed, Cardinal Mazarin entered, of course from
+the French side, and, advancing to their majesties, informed them that
+there was a distinguished stranger at the door who begged permission
+to enter. Anne and Philip affected to hold a brief conference upon the
+subject, when they gave their consent for his admission.
+
+Louis XIV. entered in regal attire to see for the first time, and to
+be seen for the first time by, his bride. As he approached, Maria
+Theresa fixed her eyes upon him, and blushed deeply. Philip IV. smiled
+graciously, and said audibly to Anne of Austria, "I have a very
+handsome son-in-law."
+
+As we have mentioned, there was a line separating the Spanish half of
+the room from the French half. Louis advanced to the centre of the
+apartment, and kneeled upon a cushion which had been provided for him
+there. The King of Spain kneeled also upon a similar cushion. Cardinal
+Mazarin then brought in a Bible, with a cross upon the volume. One of
+the high Spanish church officials did the same on his side. The treaty
+of peace was then read simultaneously to Philip IV. in Spanish, to
+Louis XIV. in French. At its conclusion, they each placed their hands
+upon the Bible, and took a solemn oath to observe its stipulations.
+During this scene one sovereign was ceremonially in France, and the
+other in Spain. Having taken the oath, they rose, and in stately
+strides advanced to the frontier line. Here they cordially embraced
+each other.
+
+At the conclusion of sundry other ceremonies, some tedious, some
+imposing, the two courts returned each to its own side of the river.
+Maria Theresa accompanied her father. The next morning the
+queen-mother, with a suitable retinue, returned to the island palace,
+where she met again the bride of her son, and conducted her to her own
+apartments at Saint Jean de Luz. Two days elapsed, while preparations
+were made again to solemnize the marriage beneath the skies of France.
+
+A platform was constructed, richly carpeted, from the residence of
+Anne of Austria to the church. The young maiden-queen was robed in
+French attire for this repetition of the nuptial ceremony. She wore a
+royal mantle of violet-colored velvet, sprinkled with fleur de lis,
+over a white dress. A queenly crown was upon her brow. Her gorgeous
+train was borne by three of the most distinguished ladies of France.
+At the conclusion of this ceremony Louis XIV. received his bride. The
+king was then in the twenty-second year of his age.
+
+Until within a week of the royal marriage, the king wrote frequently
+to Mary Mancini. Then the correspondence was suddenly dropped. The
+king never after seemed to manifest any interest in her fate.
+
+After a few days of festivity, the court commenced, on the 15th of
+June, its leisurely return toward Paris. Having reached Vincennes, the
+illustrious cortege tarried for several days in the royal chateau
+there, until preparations could be completed for a magnificent
+entrance into the capital. The gorgeous spectacle took place on the
+26th of August, 1660. For many weeks the saloons of the Louvre and the
+Tuileries resounded with unintermitted revelry.
+
+[Illustration: THE LOUVRE AND THE TUILERIES.]
+
+Very cruelly the queen-mother sent a message to Mary Mancini,
+expressing her regret that she could not be present at the royal
+nuptials, and requiring her to come immediately to be present at the
+entree of the king and queen into the metropolis, and to share in the
+festivities of the palace. The order came to the crushed and bleeding
+heart of Mary like a death-summons. Accompanied by her two sisters,
+and with suitable attendants, she set forth on her sad journey. All
+France was rejoicing over the royal marriage, and as her carriage
+rapidly approached Paris, every hour pierced her heart with a new
+pang. With all the fortitude she could summon, she could not retain
+the roseate glow of health and happiness. Her cheeks were pale and
+emaciate, and her forced smile only proclaimed more loudly the grief
+which was consuming her heart. She alighted at the new palace of her
+uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, and hastily retired to her apartment.
+
+She had scarcely entered her room ere a letter from the cardinal was
+presented to her, soliciting her hand for Prince Colonna, one of the
+most illustrious nobles in wealth and rank in Europe. This marriage
+would give her position scarcely second to that of any lady not seated
+on a throne. The ambitious cardinal, not fully understanding the
+delicate mechanism of a young lady's heart, had negotiated this
+matter, hoping thus to rescue his niece from the humiliating sympathy
+of the courtiers. But the noble nature of Mary recoiled from such a
+rescue. She had instinctively resolved that in her own person, and by
+her own individual force of character, however great might be her
+sufferings, she would maintain her womanly dignity. Consequently, to
+the surprise of the cardinal, she returned a cold and positive refusal
+to the proposition.
+
+Soon after this she received a communication to repair to the palace
+of Fontainebleau, there to be presented to the young queen, with her
+two sisters, and many others of the notabilities of the realm. The
+presentation was to take place on the ensuing Sunday, immediately
+after high mass. Her elder sister, the Countess de Soissons, assisted
+by the Princess de Conti, was to preside at the ceremony.
+
+Mary had just entered the audience-hall, and was approaching the queen
+to be presented, when Louis XIV. entered the apartment to invite Maria
+Theresa to accompany him in a walk in the park. Just at that moment
+Madame de Soissons was presenting Mademoiselle _Mancini_. The king
+heard the name which had once been apparently so dear to him. Without
+the slightest emotion or the least sign of recognition, he bowed, as
+if in the presence of a perfect stranger, and inquired of Mary
+respecting her uncle the cardinal. He then exchanged a few courteous
+words with the other ladies in the room with the same assumed or real
+indifference, and invited all the ladies of the circle to attend the
+queen in a hunt in which she was about to engage.
+
+It seemed as if the fates had combined to expose poor Mary to every
+species of mental torture. Her brain reeled, and, scarcely able to
+retain her footing, she withdrew a little apart to rally her
+disordered senses. Unable any longer to endure these sufferings, she
+begged to be excused from attending the hunt, alleging that the feeble
+health of her uncle the cardinal rendered it necessary for her to
+return to Paris. Her carriage was ordered for her departure, but, at a
+short distance from the chateau, she encountered the whole
+hunting-party, filling the road with its splendor. Her carriage was
+compelled to stop, that the king and queen and royal train might pass.
+
+"And thus again she saw Louis, who preceded the cavalcade on
+horseback, surrounded by the nobles of his court. The heart of Mary
+throbbed almost to bursting. It was impossible that the king should
+not recognize the livery of her uncle--the carriage in which he had so
+often been seated by her side; he would not, he _could_ not pass her
+by without one word. She deceived herself. His majesty was laughing at
+some merry tale, by which he was so much engrossed that he rode on
+without even bestowing a look upon the gilded coach and its
+heart-broken occupant."[H]
+
+[Footnote H: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 48.]
+
+Mary returned to Paris pondering deeply her awful destiny. She saw
+that she was fated to meet continually the king and queen in their
+festivities; that with a broken heart she must feign gayety and
+smiles; that by lingering torture she must sink into the grave. There
+was no refuge for her but to escape from Paris and from the court.
+Apparently the only way to accomplish this was to accept the proffered
+hand of the Prince Colonna, who would remove her from Paris to Rome.
+
+[Illustration: PALACE OF FONTAINEBLEAU.]
+
+The next morning, pale and tearless, Mary drove to Vincennes, where
+Cardinal Mazarin then was, and informed him that she was ready to
+marry Prince Colonna, provided the marriage could take place
+immediately, and that the cardinal would, without an hour's delay,
+write to the king to obtain his consent. The cardinal was rejoiced,
+and proceeded with energy. The king, without one kind word, gave his
+cold and indifferent consent. In accordance with the claims of
+etiquette, he sent her some valuable gifts, which she did not dare to
+decline.
+
+"Mary walked to the altar," says Miss Pardoe, to whom we are indebted
+for many of these details, "as she would have walked to the scaffold,
+carrying with her an annual dower of one hundred thousand livres, and
+perjuring herself by vows which she could not fulfill. Her after
+career we dare not trace. Suffice it that the ardent and enthusiastic
+spirit which would, had she been fated to happiness, have made her
+memory a triumph for her sex, embittered by falsehood, wrong, and
+treachery, involved her in errors over which both charity and
+propriety oblige us to draw a veil; and if all Europe rang with the
+enormity of her excesses, much of their origin may safely be traced to
+those who, after wringing her heart, trampled it in the dust beneath
+their feet."
+
+A few days after the scenes of presentation at Fontainebleau, the
+royal pair made their triumphal entry into Paris. In those days of
+feudal oppression and ignorance, the masses looked up to kings and
+queens with a degree of superstitious reverence which, in our
+enlightened land, seems almost inconceivable. Louis XIV. was a
+heartless, selfish, pleasure-loving young man of twenty-one, who had
+never in his life done any thing to merit the especial esteem of any
+one. Maria Theresa was an amiable and pretty girl, who never dreamed
+that she had any other function than to indulge in luxuries at the
+expense of others. Millions were to be impoverished that she and her
+husband might pass through life reveling in luxury and charioted in
+splendor. One can not contemplate such a state of things without being
+agitated by the conflicting emotions of pity for such folly and
+indignation for such outrages. Louis and Maria Theresa were received
+by the populace of Paris with as much reverence and enthusiasm as if
+they had been angels descending from heaven, fraught with every
+blessing.
+
+Scarcely had the morning dawned ere the whole city was in commotion.
+The streets were thronged with countless thousands in the most
+brilliant gala dresses. Triumphal arches spanned the thoroughfares
+through which the royal procession was to pass. Garlands of flowers
+and hangings of brilliantly colored tapestry concealed the fronts of
+the houses from view. The pavements were strewn with flowers and
+sweet-scented herbs, over which the wheels of the carriages and the
+hoofs of the horses would pass without noise. At the barrier a
+gorgeous throne was erected. Here the young queen was seated in royal
+state, to receive the homage of the several distinguished officers of
+the city and of the realm. At the close of these ceremonies, which
+were rendered as imposing as civil and ecclesiastical pomp could
+create, the apparently interminable procession of carriages, and
+horsemen, and footmen, with the most dazzling adornments of
+caparisons, and uniforms, and banners, with resounding music, and
+shouts of acclaim which seemed to rend the skies, commenced its
+entrance into the city.
+
+An antique car had been constructed, of massive and picturesque
+proportions, emblazoned with gold. Upon this car the young queen was
+seated. She was, in reality, very beautiful, but in this hour of
+triumph, with flushed cheek and sparkling eye, robed in the richest
+attire, brilliant with gems, and so conspicuously enthroned as to be
+visible to every eye, she presented an aspect of almost celestial
+loveliness.
+
+The young king rode by her side, magnificently mounted. His garments
+of velvet, richly embroidered with gold and jewels, had been prepared
+for the occasion at an expense of considerably more than a million of
+dollars. The splendors of this gala-day were never forgotten by those
+who witnessed them.
+
+For succeeding weeks and months the court luxuriated in one continued
+round of gayety and extravagance. Night after night the magnificent
+saloons of the Louvre and the Tuileries resounded with music, while
+proud lords and high-born dames trod the floors in the mazy dance, and
+inflamed their passions with the most costly wines. It can not be
+denied that a man who is trained from infancy amidst such scenes could
+acquire elegance of manner which those engrossed in the useful and
+ennobling employments of life rarely attain. Neither can it be denied
+that this is as poor a school as can possibly be imagined to prepare
+one wisely to administer the affairs of a nation of twenty millions of
+people. In fact, Louis XIV. never dreamed of consulting the interests
+of the people. It was his sole object to aggrandize himself by
+promoting the splendor, the power, and the glory of the monarchy.
+
+One does well to be angry when he reflects that, to maintain this
+reckless and utterly useless extravagance of the king and the court,
+the millions of the peasantry of France were compelled to live in mud
+hovels, to wear the coarsest garb, to eat the plainest food, while
+their wives and their daughters toiled barefooted in the fields. One
+would think that guilty consciences would often be appalled by the
+announcement, "Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee
+into judgment?"
+
+Though this revolting state of society was the slow growth of time,
+and though no one there could have regarded this aristocratic
+oppression as it is now estimated in the clearer light of the present
+day, still these outrages, inflicted by the strong upon the weak, by
+the rich upon the poor, merit the unmitigated condemnation of men, as
+they have ever incurred the denunciations of God.
+
+Cardinal Mazarin, more than any other man in France, was accountable
+for the enormous luxury of the court, and the squalid misery of the
+people. He knew better. He was professedly a disciple of Jesus Christ,
+and yet a more thorough worldling could hardly have been in Christian
+or in pagan lands. He was one of the most gigantic robbers of the poor
+of which history gives any mention.
+
+In the midst of these festivities, Mazarin decided to invite the court
+to a grand ballet, which should transcend in splendor every thing
+which Paris had witnessed before. To decorate the saloons, a large
+amount of costly draperies were manufactured at Milan. In arranging
+these tapestries, by some accident they took fire. The flames spread
+rapidly, utterly destroying the room, with its paintings and its
+magnificently frescoed roof. The fire was eventually extinguished, but
+the shock was a death-blow to the cardinal. He was then in feeble
+health. His attendants conveyed him from the blazing room to the
+Chateau Mazarin.
+
+The terror of the scene so aggravated the maladies from which the
+cardinal had for a long time suffered, that he was prostrated upon his
+bed, and it soon became evident that his dying hour was near at hand.
+There are many indications that the haughty cardinal was tortured by
+the pangs of remorse. He was generally silent, though extremely
+dejected. His body was subjected to the most extraordinary
+convulsions, while inaudible murmurs escaped his lips.
+
+Count de Brienne, in his memoirs, states that, on one occasion, he
+entered the chamber of the cardinal on tiptoe, his valet informing him
+that his eminence was asleep. He found Mazarin bolstered in an
+arm-chair before the fire, apparently in a profound slumber, "and
+yet," writes the count, "his body rocked to and fro with the greatest
+rapidity, from the back of his chair to his knees, now swinging to the
+right, and again to the left. These movements of the sufferer were as
+regular and rapid as the vibrations of the pendulum of a clock. At the
+same time inarticulate murmurs escaped his lips."
+
+The count, much moved by the wretched spectacle, summoned the
+attendant, and awoke the cardinal. Mazarin, in awaking, betrayed that
+troubled state of soul which had thus agitated his body. In most
+melancholy tones, he said,
+
+"My physician, M. Guenaud, has informed me that I can live but a few
+days."
+
+Count de Brienne, wishing to console him, said, "But M. Guenaud is
+not omniscient. He may be deceived."
+
+The cardinal, uttering a heavy sigh, exclaimed, "Ah! M. Guenaud well
+understands his trade."
+
+Mazarin, as we have mentioned, had acquired enormous wealth. The
+resources of the kingdom had been in his hands. The poor had been
+oppressed by as terrible a system of taxation as human nature could
+endure and live. With the sums thus extorted, he had not only
+maintained the army, and supported the voluptuousness of the court,
+but he had also appropriated vast sums, without the slightest right to
+do so, to his own private enrichment. He was now dying. The thought of
+going to the bar of God with his hands full of this stolen gold
+tortured him. Constrained by the anguish of a death-bed, he sent for a
+Theatine monk to act as his confessor, and to administer, in his last
+hours, the services of the Church.
+
+The virtuous monk was quite startled when the cardinal, with pale and
+trembling lips, informed him that he had accumulated a fortune of over
+forty millions of francs--$8,000,000. Mazarin allowed that he
+considered it a sin that he had by such means accumulated such vast
+wealth. His pious confessor boldly declared that the cardinal would
+peril his eternal salvation if he did not, before his death, make
+restitution of all his ill-gotten gains, reserving only that for which
+he was indebted to the bounty of the king.
+
+The dying sinner, trembling in view of the judgment, replied in
+faltering accents, "In that case I must relinquish all. I have
+received nothing from the king. My family must be left in utter
+beggary."
+
+The confessor was deeply moved by the aspect of despair presented by
+the cardinal. Embarrassed by the difficulties of the position, he sent
+for a distinguished member of the court, M. Colbert, to confer with
+upon the situation.
+
+The shrewd courtier, after a little deliberation, suggested that, as
+it would be manifestly impossible to restore the money to the
+different individuals, scattered all over the realm, from whom it had
+been gathered in the ordinary collection of the taxes, the cardinal
+should make a transfer of it, as a donation, to the sovereign. "The
+king," added M. Colbert, "will, without any question, annul so
+generous an act, and restore the property to you. It will then be
+yours by royal grant."
+
+The cardinal, who had lived, and moved, and had his being in the midst
+of trickery and intrigue, highly approved of the suggestion. The
+papers were immediately made out, transferring the property to the
+king. It was the 3d of March, 1661. Three days passed, and there was
+no response of rejection--no recognition of the gift. The cardinal was
+terror-stricken. As he sat bolstered in his chair, he wrung his hands
+in agony, often exclaiming, "My poor family! my poor family! they will
+be left without bread."
+
+At the close of the third day M. Colbert entered the dying chamber
+with a document in his hand, announcing that the king had restored to
+the cardinal all his property, authorizing him to dispose of it as he
+judged to be best.
+
+It is scarcely possible that this trickery could have satisfied the
+conscience of the cardinal. His confessor professed to be satisfied,
+and granted the dying man that absolution which he had previously
+withheld. Still Mazarin was extremely reluctant to die. He dressed
+with the utmost care; painted his wrinkled brow and emaciate cheeks,
+and resorted to all the appliances of art to maintain the aspect of
+youth and vigor. But death could not thus be deceived. The destroying
+angel on the 9th of March bore his spirit away to the judgment seat of
+Christ. He died in the Chateau Mazarin, at the age of fifty-two,
+having been virtually monarch of France for eighteen years.
+
+[Illustration: CHATEAU MAZARIN.]
+
+It appeared by the will of Mazarin that his property was vastly
+greater even than the enormous sum which he had reluctantly admitted.
+That portion of it which might be included under the term real estate,
+consisting of houses, lands, etc., amounted to over fifty millions of
+francs, while his personal effects, embracing the most costly
+furniture, diamonds, and other jewels, of which he strictly forbade
+any inventory to be taken, amounted to many millions more. The
+legacies to his nieces and to other aristocratic friends were truly
+princely. To the _poor_ he left a miserable pittance amounting to
+about twelve hundred dollars.
+
+The cardinal was a heartless, avaricious man, of but little ability,
+and yet endowed with a very considerable degree of that cunning which
+sometimes proves to be temporarily so successful in diplomatic
+intrigues. The king was probably glad to be rid of him, for he could
+not easily throw off a yoke to which he had been habituated from
+childhood. During most of the cardinal's illness Louis continued his
+usual round of feasting and dancing. Upon his death he manifested no
+grief. It seems that he had previously made up his mind no longer to
+be troubled by a prime minister, but to rule absolutely by his own
+will.
+
+Two days before the death of Mazarin, when he was no longer capable of
+transacting any business, the president of the ecclesiastical assembly
+inquired of the king "to whom he must hereafter address himself on
+questions of public business." The emphatic and laconic response was,
+"_To myself_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FESTIVITIES OF THE COURT.
+
+1661-1664
+
+Influence and reputation of Mazarin.--Character of M.
+Fouquet.--Information given by M. Colbert.--Appearance of Louis
+XIV.--Charles II., King of England, and family.--The Princess
+Henrietta.--Marriage of Philip.--Fascinations of Henrietta.--Grief
+of Maria Theresa.--The queen-mother appealed to.--Mademoiselle de
+la Valliere.--Visit to the palace of Blois.--Fascination
+of Louis.--Louise captivated.--Festivities at
+Fontainebleau.--Discussion of the court ladies.--Vexation of
+Louise.--Discovery by Louis.--Louis and Mademoiselle de
+Valliere.--Sudden interruption of festivities.--Attentions of
+Louis.--Anecdote.--The lottery and the bracelets.--The palace of
+Vaux.--Splendor of the palace.--Rebuke of Louis.--Magnificent
+scenes.--Continued festivities.--Significant motto.--Fouquet
+in danger.--Intervention of Louise.--M. Fouquet
+imprisoned.--Continued gayety at court.--Important
+dispatches.--The king's orders.--Relationship of the French and
+Spanish courts.--The apology of Philip IV.--Conduct of M.
+Crequi.--The Pope humbled.--Remorse of de la Valliere.--Illness
+of Anne of Austria.--Trials of Mademoiselle de la
+Valliere.--Disappointment.--Flight of Mademoiselle de la
+Valliere.--Seeks admission to the convent, and is
+denied.--Reproaches of the queen-mother.--Fury of Louis.--Power
+of Louis over Mademoiselle de la Valliere.--Return of Mademoiselle
+de la Valliere to the court.--Reinstated.--Resolve of
+Louis.--Versailles.--Extravagance of the king.--Magnificent fetes.
+
+
+Cardinal Mazarin was exceedingly unpopular both with the court and the
+masses of the people. Haughty, domineering, avaricious, there was
+nothing in his character to win the kindly regards of any one. His
+death gave occasion to almost universal rejoicing. Indeed, it was with
+some difficulty that the king repressed the unseemly exhibition of
+this joy on the part of the court. The cardinal, as we have mentioned,
+had been for many years virtually monarch of France. He, in the name
+of the king, imposed the taxes, appointed the ministry, issued all
+orders, and received all reports. The accountability was so entire to
+him that the monarch, immersed in pleasure, had but little to do with
+reference to the affairs of the realm.
+
+Immediately upon the death of Mazarin, the king summoned to his
+presence Tellier, minister of War, Lionne, minister of State, and
+Fouquet, minister of the Treasury. He informed them that he should
+continue them in office, but that henceforth he should dispense with
+the services of a prime minister, and that they would be responsible
+to him alone. The young king was then twenty-two years of age. He was
+very poorly educated, had hitherto developed no force of character,
+and appeared to all to be simply a frivolous, pompous, self-conceited
+young man of pleasure.
+
+Fouquet had held the keys of the treasury. When the king needed money
+he applied to him for a supply. The almost invariable reply he
+received was,
+
+"Sire, the treasury is empty, but his eminence will undoubtedly
+advance to your majesty a loan."
+
+The money came, the king little cared where from while reveling in
+luxury, and dancing and flirting with the beauties who crowded his
+court.
+
+Fouquet was an able but thoroughly unprincipled man. He had grown
+enormously rich by robbing the treasury. The king disliked him. But
+Fouquet knew that the king could not dispense with his services. He
+was a marvelously efficient financier, and well knew how to wrench
+gold from the hands of the starving millions. The property he had
+acquired by fraud was so great that he often outvied the king in the
+splendor of his establishments. Conscious of his power, he doubted not
+that he should still be able to hold the king, in a measure, subject
+to his control.
+
+Scarcely had Louis returned from his brief conference with his
+ministers to his cabinet at the Louvre, ere the secretary of the
+deceased cardinal, M. Colbert, entered, and requested a private
+audience. He informed the king, to his astonishment and inexpressible
+delight, that the cardinal had concealed fifteen millions of money
+(three millions of dollars) in addition to the sums mentioned in his
+will; that it was doubtless his intention that this money should
+immediately replenish the utterly exhausted treasury of his majesty.
+
+The king was overjoyed. He could scarcely believe the intelligence.
+Concealing the tidings from Fouquet, he speedily and secretly
+recovered the money from the several places in which it had been
+deposited. Fifteen millions of francs would be a large sum at any
+time, but two hundred years ago it was worth three or four times as
+much as now. Fouquet was utterly bewildered in attempting to imagine
+where the king had obtained the sums he was so lavishly expending.
+
+Louis XIV. by nature and by education was excessively fond of the pomp
+and the punctilios of court etiquette. As this new era of independence
+dawned upon him, it was his first and most anxious object to regulate
+even to the minutest details the ceremonies of the court. He was of
+middling stature. High-heeled shoes added between two and three inches
+to his height. His hair was very fine and abundant, and he wore it
+long, in masses of ringlets upon his shoulders. Deep blue eyes, a fair
+complexion, and well moulded features formed an unusually handsome
+countenance. He was stately in his movements, pompous in his
+utterance, and every word of every sentence was pronounced slowly and
+with distinct enunciation, as if an oracle were giving out its
+responses.
+
+There was no resemblance morally, intellectually, or physically
+between the king and his only brother Philip. They did not love each
+other. During their whole lives there had been one perpetual struggle
+on the part of the king to domineer over his brother, and on the part
+of Philip to resist that domination. Philip was gentle in
+disposition, effeminate in manners, and, though a voluptuary in his
+tastes, a man of chivalric courage. As Duke of Orleans he had large
+wealth, many retainers, and feudal privileges, which invested him with
+power which even the king was compelled to respect.
+
+Charles II. was now King of England. The whole nation had apparently
+received him with exultation. Suddenly, from being a penniless and
+crownless wanderer, he had become a sovereign, second in rank and
+power to no other sovereign in Europe. His mother Henrietta, his
+widowed sister the Princess of Orange, and his younger sister
+Henrietta, of course, shared in the prosperity and elevation of
+Charles. They were no longer pensioners upon the charity of their
+French relatives, but composed the royal family of the British court.
+
+It will be remembered how cruelly Louis treated his young cousin in
+the ball-room in the days of her adversity. Charles in those days had
+solicited of Mazarin the hand of his niece, Mary Mancini. But the
+proud cardinal promptly rejected the offer of a wandering prince,
+without purse or crown. Very soon after Charles II. ascended the
+throne of England, Mazarin hastened to inform him that he was ready
+to confer upon him his niece. Charles, a profligate fellow, declined
+the proffered alliance, to the great chagrin of the haughty cardinal.
+
+Prosperity is sometimes a great beautifier. The young Princess
+Henrietta, upon whom the sun of prosperity was now shining in all its
+effulgence, seemed like a new being, radiantly lovely and self
+reliant. Philip fell desperately in love with her. With a form of
+exquisite symmetry, with the fairest complexion and lovely features,
+she suddenly found herself the sister of a monarch, transformed into
+the principal ornament, almost the central attraction, of the court.
+She went to England to attend the coronation of her brother. She then
+returned to Paris. On the 31st of March, 1661, she was married to
+Philip in the Palais Royal, in the presence of the royal family and
+the prominent members of the court.
+
+A few weeks after this the whole court removed to Fontainebleau. Here
+a month was spent in an incessant round of festivities. The fickle
+king, as soon as his brother had married Henrietta, saw in her new
+personal beauty and mental charms. It is not improbable that she
+almost unconsciously, in order to avenge the past neglect of the
+king, had studied all courtly graces, all endearments of manner, all
+conversational charms, that she might compel the king to do justice to
+the fascinations of person and character with which she was conscious
+of being richly endowed. Unhappily, she was triumphantly successful;
+perhaps far more so than she had intended. The changeful and
+susceptible king became completely entranced. He was continually by
+her side, exasperating Philip by his gallantry, and keenly wounding
+the feelings of his young queen.
+
+The marriage of the king with Maria Theresa had been merely a matter
+of state policy. The connection had not been inspired by any ardent
+affection on either side. Though the king treated her with great
+politeness as the Queen of France, her enthusiastic nature claimed a
+warmer sentiment from her young husband. When she saw the attentions
+to which she was entitled lavished upon Henrietta, the wife of his
+brother, her affectionate heart was chilled. She became reserved,
+wept, sought retirement, withdrawing from all those gayeties in which
+her husband attracted the attention of the whole court by his
+undisguised admiration for Henrietta. At last her secret anguish so
+far overcame her that she threw herself, trembling and in tears, at
+the feet of Anne of Austria, and confided to her the grief of her
+heart.
+
+The queen-mother could not have been surprised at this avowal. Her
+eyes were open to that which all the court beheld; and, besides,
+Philip had already complained to his mother that Louis was endeavoring
+to rob him of the love of his bride. The remonstrances of the
+queen-mother were of no avail. The selfish king, ever seeking only his
+own pleasure, cared little for the wreck of the happiness of others.
+He devoted himself with increasing assiduity to the society of
+Henrietta, frequently held his court in her apartments, and instituted
+a series of magnificent fetes in her honor.
+
+Philip, then Duke of Orleans, and in the enjoyment of magnificent
+revenues and of much independent feudal power as brother of the king,
+was designated in the court as _Monsieur_. There was at that time in
+the court a young lady, one of Henrietta's maids of honor,
+Mademoiselle de la Valliere. Her romantic career, which subsequently
+rendered her famous throughout Europe, merits a brief digression.
+
+Louise Francoise, daughter of the Marquis de la Valliere, was born at
+Tours in the year 1644. She was, consequently, seventeen years of age
+at the time of which we write. Her father died in her infancy. Her
+mother, left with an illustrious name and a small income, took for a
+second husband a member of the court, Gaston, duke of Orleans, to whom
+we have previously alluded, who was brother of Louis XIII. and uncle
+of the king. He resided at Blois.
+
+As the king and court were on their way to the frontiers of Spain for
+the marriage of Louis with Maria Theresa, it will be remembered that
+he stopped for a short visit to his uncle at his magnificent palace of
+Blois. This grand castle, with its gorgeous architectural
+magnificence, its shaded parks and blooming gardens, was to Louise and
+her many companions an earthly paradise. Here, in an incessant round
+of pleasures, she had passed her girlhood.
+
+The sight of the young monarch, so graceful in figure, so handsome in
+features, so marvelously courteous in bearing, aroused all the
+enthusiasm of the susceptible young maiden of sixteen. He was her
+sovereign, as well as to her eyes the most fascinating specimen of a
+man. She felt as though she were gazing upon a superior, almost a
+celestial being. She dreamed not of having fallen in love with him.
+The feeling of admiration, and almost of adoration, was altogether too
+elevated for earthly passion. In the presence of the king she was but
+an obscure child. In the crowded assemblage of wealth, and rank, and
+beauty which greeted the king at Blois, Louise was unnoticed. The king
+went on his way, leaving an impression on the heart of the young girl
+which could never be effaced. She thought it would be heaven to live
+in his presence, to watch his movements, to listen to his words, even
+though no word were addressed to her.
+
+Soon after this the Duke of Orleans died. His court was broken up.
+Louise was appointed to a place as one of the maids of honor of the
+Princess Henrietta. She joined the court of _Madame_ in Paris just
+before their departure for Fontainebleau, to which place, of course,
+she accompanied them.
+
+Here, in the midst of scenes of most brilliant festivities, Louise
+feasted her eyes with the sight of the king. Louis was exceedingly
+fond of exhibiting his grace as a dancer. Among these entertainments,
+the king took part in a ballet with Henrietta, he, in very
+picturesque dress, representing the goddess Ceres. At the close of the
+ballet, Louise, bewildered by the scene, and oppressed by inexplicable
+emotions, proposed to three of her lady companions that they should
+take a short walk into the dim recesses of the forest. It was a
+brilliant night, and the cool breeze fanned their fevered cheeks. As
+the four young ladies retired, one of the companions of the king
+laughingly suggested to him that they should follow them, and learn
+the secret of their hearts.
+
+The ladies seated themselves at the foot of a large tree, where they
+began to discuss the scenes and actors of the evening. The king and
+his companion, concealed at a short distance, heard every word they
+uttered. Louise was for a time silent, but, being appealed to upon
+some subject, with very emphatic utterance remarked that she wondered
+that they could see any body, or think of any body but the king, when
+he was present. Upon her companions rallying her for being so much
+carried away by the splendors of royalty, she declared "that it was
+not the king, as a _king_, who excited her admiration, but it was
+Louis, as the most perfect of men; that his crown added nothing to
+his splendor of person or mind."
+
+The king could not see the speaker; he could only hear her
+enthusiastic and impassioned voice. The parties returned to the
+chateau. Louise was very much chagrined that she should have allowed
+herself so imprudently to express her feelings. She knew that the
+conversation would be repeated, and feared that she should become a
+subject of ridicule for the whole court. In the interesting account
+which she gives of these events in her autobiography, she says that
+she retired to her room and wept bitterly.
+
+The next morning Louise repaired to the apartments of Henrietta. She
+was surrounded by her suite of ladies. The king was already there. As,
+with his accustomed gallantry, he passed down the room addressing a
+few words to each, he approached Louise. Her heart throbbed violently.
+He had never spoken to her before.
+
+In response to his question, "And what did you think of the ballet
+last night?" she, greatly agitated, attempted an answer. The king
+observed her confusion, and instantly recognized her voice. It was the
+same which he had heard the evening before in the forest expressing
+such enthusiastic admiration for his person. The king started, and
+fixed his eyes so intently upon her as to increase her embarrassment
+and attract the observation of all around. With a profound bow the
+king passed on, but again and again was seen to turn his eyes to the
+blushing girl. From that time Mademoiselle de la Valliere became the
+object of the marked and flattering attention of the king.
+
+The unaffected timidity and modesty of her demeanor, her brilliant
+complexion, large and languishing blue eyes, and profusion of flaxen
+hair, were enough of themselves to excite the admiration of one so
+enamored of beauty as was Louis XIV. But, in addition to this, the
+self-love of Louis was gratified by the assurance that Louise admired
+him for his personal qualities, and not merely for his kingly crown.
+As the king was well aware of the gossip with which the court was
+filled in view of his devotion to Madame Henrietta, he perhaps deemed
+it expedient, by special attention to Louise, to divert the current of
+thought and conversation.
+
+A few days after this a great hunt took place in the park. It was a
+hot summer's day. At the close of the hunt a table was spread loaded
+with delicacies. As the king and the courtiers, in the keenest
+enjoyment of the merry scene, were partaking of the sumptuous repast,
+almost unobserved a thunder-cloud arose, and there descended upon them
+a flood of rain so deluging that the company scattered in all
+directions for shelter. Louise running, she knew not where, soon found
+the king by her side. Politely taking her by the hand, he hurried her
+to a large tree, whose dense canopy of leaves promised some protection
+from the shower. There they stood, the young and handsome king, the
+beautiful maiden, the rain falling upon them in floods. It is
+interesting to record that the homage which rank paid to beauty was
+such that the king stood bareheaded, with his plumed hat in his hand,
+engaged during the hour the rain descended in animated conversation.
+After this it was observed that in the evening drives in the park he
+would ride on horseback for a short time by the carriage of the queen,
+or of the Princess Henrietta, and would then gallop to the coach of
+Louise.
+
+He soon commenced a daily correspondence with her. Louis was by no
+means a well-educated man. In fact, he might be almost regarded as
+illiterate; but his letters were written with so much delicacy of
+sentiment and elegance of expression, that Louise was embarrassed in
+knowing how to return suitable replies. She was mortified at the
+thought of having her awkward letters compared with the elegant
+epistles which she received. In her embarrassment, she applied to the
+Marquis of Dangeau, a man of superior talents and culture, to write
+her responses for her.
+
+Louise was a very noble girl, frank, sincere, confiding. On one
+occasion, when the king was complimenting her upon the rare beauty of
+her letters, the artless child confessed that she was not the author
+of them, but that they were written by the Marquis of Dangeau. The
+king smiled, and had the grace to admit that his letters to her were
+written by the same individual!
+
+It had become a common entertainment of the court to put up in a
+lottery some beautiful article of jewelry. On one occasion the king
+drew a very costly pair of bracelets. All were looking with some
+curiosity to see to whom he would present them. Pausing for a moment,
+the king admiringly contemplated the sparkling gems, and then,
+threading his way through the throng of ladies, advanced to
+Mademoiselle de la Valliere, who stood a little apart, and placed them
+in her hands. Henrietta turned pale, and bit her lip with vexation.
+The queen, Maria Theresa, looked on with a marble smile, which
+revealed nothing of her feelings. Louise was embarrassed, but with
+admirable tact she assumed that the king had merely presented them to
+her for inspection. After carefully examining them, she handed them
+back to him, saying, with a courtesy, "They are indeed very
+beautiful." Louis, instead of receiving them, said, with a stately
+bow, "In that case, mademoiselle, they are in hands too fair to resign
+them," and returned to his seat.
+
+As we have mentioned, the minister of the treasury was rolling in
+ill-gotten wealth. His palace of Vaux,[I] upon which he had expended
+fifteen millions of francs, eclipsed in splendor the royal palaces of
+Fontainebleau and Saint Germain. The king disliked him as a man. He
+knew very well that he was robbing the treasury, and it was annoying
+to have a subject live in state surpassing that of the sovereign. M.
+Fouquet very imprudently invited Louis and all his court to a
+magnificent fete at his chateau. All the notabilities of France were
+bidden to this princely festival, which the minister resolved should
+surpass, in splendor, any thing that France had hitherto witnessed.
+
+[Footnote I: The chateau of Vaux was a spacious and magnificent palace
+in the small village of Maincy, about three miles from Melun. M.
+Fouquet purchased it, and expended enormous sums in enlarging the
+buildings, ornamenting the gardens, and decorating the walls with
+paintings. His expenditures were so lavish that the chateau exceeded
+in magnificence any of the royal palaces.]
+
+The king, with an imposing escort, reached the gates of the chateau.
+Fouquet met him there, and conducted him and all the court, first, to
+the park. Here a spectacle of splendor presented itself which
+astonished the king. Notwithstanding all he had heard of the
+gorgeousness of his minister's palace, he was still not prepared for
+such a scene of luxury and enchantment. Instead of being gratified, he
+turned to Fouquet, and said to him bitterly,
+
+"I shall never again, sir, venture to invite you to visit me. You
+would find yourself inconvenienced."
+
+Fouquet felt the keen rebuke. For a moment he turned pale. He soon,
+however, rallied, and did all in his power to gratify his guests by
+the gorgeous spectacles and sumptuous entertainments of his more than
+regal home. The king, led by his host, passed through all the
+apartments of the chateau, and acknowledged that in its interior
+adornings there was not probably another edifice in Europe which could
+equal it in magnificence.
+
+[Illustration: CHATEAU DE VAUX.]
+
+In the evening there was a ball in the grand saloon of the castle. The
+king having danced several times with Louise, she became fatigued, and
+expressed the desire to leave, for a short time, the heated room.
+Louis drew her arm through his own, and, conducting her through the
+magnificent suite of apartments, which had already excited his
+displeasure, pointed out to her the armorial bearings of the proud
+minister, which were conspicuous in every room. The shield represented
+a squirrel ascending the topmost branches of a tree, with the motto
+"_quo non ascendam_."
+
+Neither the king nor his fair companion understood Latin. Just then
+the king's secretary, M. Colbert, entered. He hated Fouquet. He had
+already detected the minister in many falsifications of the treasury
+accounts, and had explained the robbery to the king. Louis had been
+for some time contemplating the arrest of Fouquet, but hardly dared,
+as yet, to strike one so powerful.
+
+As M. Colbert entered, Louise inquired of him the significance of the
+motto.
+
+"It signifies," he replied, "_to what height may I not attain_, and
+this significance is well understood by those who know the boldness of
+the squirrel or that of his master."
+
+Just at that moment another courtier came up, who remarked, "Your
+majesty has probably not observed that in every instance the squirrel
+is pursued by a serpent."
+
+The king turned pale with anger, and ordered the captain of his
+musketeers to attend him. Louise understood full well what this meant.
+She threw herself at his feet, and entreated him not to sully his
+reputation by arresting a man whose guest he was, and who was
+entertaining him and his court with the highest honors. With the
+greatest difficulty, the king was dissuaded from immediate action. For
+a time he smothered his vengeance, and the court returned to
+Fontainebleau.
+
+The king's displeasure not only remained unabated, but increased with
+added evidence of the pride, display, and fraudulent transactions of
+his minister. At length he ordered him to be secretly arrested,
+conveyed in close confinement to Angers, while a seal was placed on
+all his property. But for the interposition of the kind-hearted
+Louise, the degraded minister would have lost his life. It was easy
+for the king, immersed in pleasure, to forget the miserable. M.
+Fouquet was left in his imprisonment, almost as entirely lost to the
+world as if he had been consigned to the _oubliettes_ of the Bastile.
+
+Soon after this, the 1st of November, 1661, Maria Theresa gave birth
+to a dauphin. Louis was greatly elated. Still, the pride which he
+took in the child as the heir to the throne did not secure for his
+neglected wife any more tenderness of regard. He treated her with
+great courtesy, while his affections were vibrating between Henrietta
+and Louise. Every thing seemed to combine to magnify the power of the
+king. Still, the pleasure-loving monarch, while apparently wholly
+resigning himself to the career of a voluptuary, was with instinctive
+sagacity striving to undermine the resources of the haughty nobility,
+and to render his own court the most magnificent in Europe.
+
+For several months the court continued immersed in gayety. Dancing, in
+all variety of costumes, was the great amusement of the king. There
+were balls every evening. Mademoiselle de la Valliere became more and
+more the object of the marked attentions of Louis. All his energies
+seemed absorbed in the small-talk of gallantry; still there were
+occasional indications that there were latent forces in the mind of
+the king which events might yet develop.
+
+One evening the king was attending a brilliant ball in the apartments
+of Henrietta. As he was earnestly engaged in conversation with the
+beautiful Louise, some important dispatches were placed in his hands.
+He seated himself at a table to examine them. Many eyes watched his
+countenance as he silently perused the documents. It was observed at
+one moment that he turned deadly pale, and bit his lip with vexation.
+Having read the dispatches to the end, he angrily crushed them in his
+hand, and said to several of the officers of the court who were around
+him,
+
+"Our embassador in London has been publicly insulted by the Spanish
+embassador." Then turning to M. Tellier, the Minister of War, he said,
+"Let my embassador at Madrid leave that city immediately. Order the
+Spanish envoy to quit Paris within twenty-four hours. The conferences
+at Flanders are at an end. Unless Spain publicly recognizes the
+superiority of our crown, she may prepare for a renewal of the war."
+
+These orders of the king created general consternation. It was
+virtually inaugurating another war, with all its untold horrors. M.
+Tellier seemed thunderstruck. The king, perceiving his hesitation,
+said to him imperiously,
+
+"Do you not understand my orders? I wish you immediately to assemble
+the council. I will meet them in an hour."
+
+The king then returned to the ladies, and entered into trifling
+small-talk with them, as if nothing of moment had occurred.
+
+It seems that a dispute had arisen in London between the French and
+Spanish embassadors upon the point of precedence. This had led to a
+bloody encounter in the streets between the retinues of the two
+ministers. The French were worsted. The Spaniards gained the contested
+point.
+
+The King of Spain was the brother of Anne of Austria. His first wife,
+the mother of Maria Theresa, was sister of Louis XIII., and
+consequently aunt of Louis XIV. Thus there was a peculiar bond of
+relationship between the French and Spanish courts. Still Louis was
+unrelenting in the vigorous action upon which he had entered. In
+addition to the hostile measures already adopted, a special messenger
+was sent to Philip IV. to inform him that, unless he immediately
+recognized the supremacy of the French court, and made a formal
+apology for the insult offered the French minister, war would ensue.
+The Spanish king, unwilling, for so trivial a cause, to involve the
+two nations in a bloody conflict, very magnanimously yielded to the
+requirements demanded by the hot blood and wounded pride of his
+son-in-law. In the presence of all the foreign ministers and the
+assembled court at Fontainebleau, the Spanish embassador made a humble
+apology, and declared that never again should the precedence of the
+embassador of France be denied.
+
+A very similar difficulty occurred a short time after at Rome. The
+French embassador there, the Duke of Crequi, an old feudal noble,
+accompanied by troops of retainers armed to the teeth, had, by his
+haughty bearing, become extremely unpopular both with the court and
+the people of Rome. The myrmidons of the duke were continually engaged
+in night-brawls with the police. On one occasion they even attacked,
+sword in hand, the Pope's guard, and put them to flight. The brother
+of Pope Alexander VII., who hated Crequi, instigated the guard to take
+revenge. In an infuriated mob, they surrounded the palace of the
+embassador, and fired upon his carriage as it entered his court-yard.
+A page was killed, and several other attendants wounded. Crequi
+immediately left the city, accusing the Pope of instigating the
+outrage.
+
+Louis XIV. demanded reparation, and the most humble apology. The
+proud Pope was not disposed to yield to his insolent demands. Affairs
+assumed so threatening an aspect, that the Pope ordered two of the
+guard, one an officer, to be hung, and the Mayor of Rome, who was
+accused of having instigated the outrage, to be banished. This
+concession, however, by no means satisfied the irascible Louis. He
+commenced landing troops in Italy, threatening to besiege Rome. The
+Pope appealed to the Roman Catholic princes of Germany for aid. They
+could not come to his rescue, for they were threatened with war by the
+Turks. The unhappy Pope was thus brought upon his knees. He was
+compelled to banish from Rome his own brother, Don Mario Chigi, and to
+send an embassador to Paris with the most humble apology.
+
+These events were but slight episodes in the gay life of the
+pleasure-loving king. He was still reveling in an incessant round of
+feasting and dancing, flitting with his gay court from one to another
+of his metropolitan and rural palaces.
+
+There are few so stern as not to feel emotions of sympathy rather than
+of condemnation for Louise de la Valliere. She was a child of
+seventeen, exposed to all the fascinations and temptations of the most
+luxurious court then upon the globe. But God has implanted in every
+bosom a sense of right and wrong. She wept bitterly over her fall. Her
+remorse was so great that she withdrew as far as possible from
+society, and the anguish of her repentance greatly embarrassed her
+royal lover.
+
+Henrietta was greatly annoyed at the preference which the king had
+shown for Louise over herself. She determined to drive the unfortunate
+favorite from the court. Anne of Austria, with increasing years, was
+growing oblivious of her own youthful indiscretions, and was daily
+becoming more stern in her judgments. A cancer had commenced its
+secret ravages upon her person. Its progress no medical skill could
+arrest. She tried to conceal the terrible secret which was threatening
+her with the most loathsome and distressing of deaths. In this mood of
+mind the haughty queen sent for the weeping Louise to her room.
+Trembling in every nerve, the affrighted child attended the summons.
+She found Anne of Austria with Henrietta by her side. The queen,
+without assigning any cause, sternly informed her that she was
+banished from the court of France, and that suitable attendants would
+immediately convey her to a distant castle. Upon Louise attempting to
+make some inquiry why she was thus punished, the haughty queen sternly
+interrupted her with the reply "that France could not have two
+queens."
+
+Louise staggered back to her room overwhelmed with despair. Both God
+and man will declare that, whatever fault there might have been in the
+relations then existing between the king and this unprotected girl,
+the censure should have rested a thousand fold more heavily upon the
+king than upon his victim. And yet Louise was to be driven in ignominy
+from the court, to enter into a desolated world utterly ruined.
+Through the remainder of the day no one entered her apartment. She
+spent the hours in tears and in the fever of despair. In the evening
+Louis himself came to her room and found her exhausted with weeping.
+He endeavored to ascertain the cause of her overwhelming distress.
+She, unwilling to be the occasion of an irreconcilable feud between
+the mother and the son, evaded all his inquiries. He resorted to
+entreaties, reproaches, threats, but in vain. Irritated by her
+pertinacious refusal, he suddenly left her without speaking a word of
+adieu.
+
+Louise seemed now truly to be alone in the world, without a single
+friend left her. But she then recalled to mind that she had formerly
+entered into an agreement with the king that, in case of any
+misunderstanding arising between them, a night should not pass without
+an attempt at reconciliation. A new hope arose in her mind that the
+king would either return, or send her a note to inform her that his
+anger no longer continued.
+
+"And so she waited and watched, and counted every hour as it was
+proclaimed from the belfry of the palace. But she waited and watched
+in vain. When at length, after this long and weary night, the daylight
+streamed through the silken curtains of her chamber, she threw herself
+upon her knees, and praying that God would not cast away the victim
+who was thus rejected by the world, she hastened, with a burning cheek
+and a tearless eye, to collect a few necessary articles of clothing,
+and throwing on her veil and mantle, rushed down a private staircase
+and escaped into the street. In this distracted state of mind she
+pursued her way to Chaillot,[J] and reached the convent of the
+Sisters of St. Mary, where she was detained some time in the parlor.
+At length the grating was opened and a portress appeared. On her
+request to be admitted to the abbess, she informed her that the
+community were all at their devotions, and could not see any one.
+
+[Footnote J: Chaillot was a village on the banks of the Seine, about a
+mile and a half from the Tuileries, near the present bridge of Jena.
+The nuns of the order of St. Mary had a celebrated convent here, where
+persecuted grandeur often sought an asylum. Within the walls of this
+convent the widowed queen of Charles I. and daughter of Henry IV. died
+in the year 1669.]
+
+"It was in vain that the poor fugitive entreated and asserted her
+intention of taking the vows. She could extort no other answer, and
+the portress withdrew, leaving her sitting on a wooden bench desolate,
+heart-sick. For two hours she remained motionless, with her eyes fixed
+upon the grating, but it continued closed. Even the dreary refuge of
+this poor and obscure convent was denied her. Even the house of
+religion had barred its doors against her. She could bear up no
+longer. From the previous evening she had not tasted food, and the
+fatigue of body and anguish of mind which she had undergone, combined
+with this unaccustomed fast, had exhausted her slight remains of
+strength. A sullen torpor gradually overcame her faculties, and
+eventually she fell upon the paved floor cold and insensible."[K]
+
+[Footnote K: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 125.]
+
+The king had probably passed a very uncomfortable night. Early in the
+morning he learned that Louise had disappeared. Much alarmed, he
+hastened to the apartments of Madame Henrietta in the Tuileries. She
+unfeelingly expressed entire ignorance of the movements of
+Mademoiselle de la Valliere. He immediately repaired to the rooms of
+his mother. She was unable to give him any information respecting the
+lost favorite. Bitterly, however, she reproached her son with his want
+of self-control in allowing himself to cherish so strong an attachment
+to Mademoiselle de la Valliere. She accused him of having no mastery
+over himself.
+
+The king's eyes flashed with indignation. He was fully convinced that
+his mother was in some way the cause of the departure of Louise.
+Angrily he replied,
+
+"It may be so that I do not know how to control myself, but I will at
+least prove that I know how to control those who offend me."
+
+Turning upon his heel, he left the apartment. By some means he
+obtained a clew to the retreat of Louise. Mounting his horse,
+accompanied by a single page, he galloped to the convent of Chaillot.
+As there had been no warning of his approach, the grating still
+remained closed. He arrived just after the poor girl had fallen from
+the wooden bench upon the tesselated floor of the cold and cheerless
+anteroom. Her beautiful form lay apparently lifeless before him. Tears
+fell profusely from his eyes. He chafed her hands and temples. In
+endearing terms he entreated her to awake. Gradually she revived.
+Frankly she related the cause of her departure, and entreated him to
+permit her to spend the remainder of her saddened life buried in the
+cloisters of the convent.
+
+The king insisted, with all his authority as a monarch, and with all
+his persuasive influence as a man, that Louise should return with him
+to the Louvre. He was inspired with the double passion of love for
+her, and anger against those who had driven her from his court.
+Louise, saddened in heart and crushed in spirit, with great reluctance
+at last yielded to his pleadings. The page was dispatched for a
+carriage. Seated by the side of the king, Mademoiselle de la Valliere
+returned to the palace, from which she supposed a few hours before she
+had departed forever. Louis immediately repaired to the apartment of
+Madame Henrietta, and so imperiously insisted that Louise should be
+restored to her place as one of her maids of honor, that his
+sister-in-law dared not refuse. The influence of Anne of Austria was
+now nearly at an end. She was dying of slow disease, and,
+notwithstanding all her efforts to conceal the loathsome malady which
+was devouring her, she was compelled to spend most of her time in the
+seclusion of her own chamber.
+
+Louis XIV., in the exercise of absolute power, with all the court
+bowing before him in the most abject homage, had gradually begun to
+regard himself almost as a God. He had never recovered from the
+mortification which he had experienced at the palace of Vaux, in
+finding a subject living in splendor which outvied that of the crown.
+He determined to rear a palace of such extraordinary magnificence that
+no subject, whatever might be his resources, could equal it. For some
+time he had been looking around for the site of the building, which
+he had resolved should, like the Pyramids, be a monument of his reign,
+and excite the wonder and admiration of future ages.
+
+About twelve miles from Paris there was a little village of
+Versailles, surrounded by an immense forest, whose solemn depths
+frequently resounded with the baying of the hounds of hunting-parties,
+as the gayly dressed court swept through the glades.
+
+On one occasion, Louis XIV., in the eagerness of the chase, became
+separated from most of the rest of the party. Night coming on, he was
+compelled, and the few companions with him, to take refuge in a
+windmill, where they remained till morning. The mill was erected upon
+the highest point of ground. The king caused a small pavilion to be
+erected there for his accommodation, should he again chance to be
+overtaken by night or a storm. Pleased with the position, the king ere
+long removed the pavilion, and ordered his architect, Lemercier, to
+erect upon the spot an elegant chateau according to his own taste. A
+landscape gardener was also employed to ornament the grounds. The
+region soon was embellished with such loveliness as to charm every
+beholder. It became the favorite rural resort of the king.
+
+The chateau and its grounds soon witnessed a series of festivities,
+the fame of which resounded through all Europe. Republican America
+will ponder the fact, which the aristocratic courts of Europe ignored,
+that these entertainments of boundless extravagance were at the
+expense of the overtaxed and starving people. That king and courtiers
+might riot in luxury, the wives and daughters of peasants were
+harnessed by the side of donkeys to drag the plow.
+
+Early in the spring of 1664, the king, accompanied by his court of six
+hundred individuals, gentlemen and ladies, with a throng of servants,
+repaired to Versailles. The personal expenses of all the guests were
+defrayed by the king with the money which he wrested from the people.
+With almost magical rapidity, the artificers reared cottages, stages,
+porticoes, for the exhibition of games, and the display of splendor
+scarcely equaled in the visions of Oriental romances.
+
+The first entertainment was a tournament. The cavaliers were
+gorgeously dressed in the most glittering garb of the palmiest days of
+feudalism, magnificently mounted with wondrous trappings, with their
+shields and devices, with their attendant pages, equerries, heralds
+at arms. Among them all the king shone pre-eminent. His dress, and the
+housings of his charger, embellished with the crown jewels, glittered
+with a profusion of costly gems which no one else could equal.
+
+The queen, with three hundred ladies of the court, brilliant in
+beauty, and in the most attractive dress, sat upon a platform, beneath
+triumphal arches, to view the procession as it passed. The gleaming
+armor of the cavaliers, their prancing steeds, the waving of silken
+banners, and the flourish of trumpets, presented a spectacle such as
+no one present had ever conceived of before.
+
+The tilting did not cease till evening. Suddenly the blaze of four
+thousand torches illumined the scene with new brilliance. Tables were
+spread for a banquet, loaded with every delicacy.
+
+"The tables were served by two hundred attendants, habited as dryads,
+wood deities, and fawns. Behind the tables, which were in the form of
+a vast crescent, an orchestra arose as if by magic. The tables were
+illuminated by five hundred girandoles. A gilt balustrade inclosed the
+whole of the immense area."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+DEATH IN THE PALACE.
+
+1664-1670
+
+Continued festivities.--Moliere.--Cost of
+Versailles.--Lenotre.--Mansard.--Large sum squandered.--Magnificent
+room at Versailles.--Ill feeling toward La Valliere.--Anne of Austria
+becomes more ill.--Illness of Maria Theresa.--The king sick.--Abode of
+Madame Henrietta.--Sufferings of the queen-mother.--Death of Philip
+IV. of Spain.--Increasing ambition of Louis XIV.--Festivities at St.
+Cloud.--Dying scene.--Death of the queen-mother.--Funeral
+ceremonies.--The Abbey of St. Denis.--Duchess of Vaujours.--Madame de
+Montespan.--Daily developments.--Duke de Mazarin--his cynicism.--He
+is silenced by the king.--Sale of Dunkirk.--Inconsistencies in
+the character of Louis.--Treachery of Montespan.--Sorrows of
+Louise.--Letters of the Marquis de Montespan.--Alarm of the
+marchioness.--Cowardice of the Pope.--Sorrow of the marquis.--Vexation
+of Louis.--Petty jealousies.--Employments of the king.--Remarks of
+Louis upon court etiquette.--They are unanswerable.--Conquest of
+Holland determined on.--Henrietta embassadress to England.--Louise
+Renee.--The bribe.--Constant bickerings.--Alliance between France
+and England.--Festivities thereon.--Maria Theresa.--Vivacity of
+Henrietta.--Henrietta poisoned.--Intense suffering.--Arrival of the
+king.--Death scene of Henrietta.--Suspicion of Louis.--Development of
+facts.--Statements of M. Pernon.--Testimony of M. Pernon.--Return of
+Chevalier de Lorraine.--Marriage of Monsieur.--Portrait of Charlotte
+Elizabeth.--Her power of sarcasm.--Sharp reproof of Madame de Fienne.
+
+
+The festivities to which we have alluded in the last chapter, the
+expenses of which were sufficient almost to exhaust the revenues of a
+kingdom, lasted seven days. The prizes awarded to the victors in the
+lists were very costly and magnificent. The renowned dramatist Moliere
+accompanied the court on this occasion, to contribute to its amusement
+by the exhibition of his mirth-moving farces on the stage.
+
+It was during these scenes that Louis XIV. selected Versailles as the
+site of the stupendous pile of buildings which was to eclipse all
+other palaces that had ever been reared on this globe. This
+magnificent structure, alike the monument of munificence in its
+appointments, and of infamy in the distress it imposed upon the
+overtaxed people, eventually swallowed up the sum of one hundred and
+sixty-six million of francs--thirty-three million dollars. It is to be
+remembered that at that day money was far more valuable, and far more
+difficult of acquisition than at the present time.
+
+For seven years an army of workmen was employed on the palace, parks,
+and gardens. No expense was spared to carry into effect the king's
+designs. The park and gardens were laid out by the celebrated
+landscape gardener Lenotre. The plans for the palace were furnished by
+the distinguished architect Mansard. Over thirty thousand soldiers
+were called from their garrisons to assist the swarms of ordinary
+workmen in digging the vast excavations and constructing the immense
+terraces. "It is estimated that not less than forty millions
+sterling--two hundred million dollars--were exhausted upon the laying
+out of these vast domains and the erection of this superb chateau.
+Such was the extraordinary vigor with which the works were pushed,
+that in 1685, hardly twenty-five years after its commencement, the
+whole was in readiness to receive its royal occupants. Here the royal
+family and the court resided until the Revolution of 1789. Every part
+of the interior as well as the exterior was ornamented with the works
+of the most eminent masters of the times."[L]
+
+[Footnote L: Bradshaw's Guide through Paris and its Environs.]
+
+The most magnificent room in the palace, called the grand gallery of
+Louis XIV., was two hundred and forty-two feet long, thirty-five feet
+broad, and forty-three feet high. The splendors of the court of Louis
+XIV. may be inferred from the fact that this vast apartment was daily
+crowded with courtiers. The characteristic vanity of the king is
+conspicuously developed in that he instituted an order of nobility as
+a reward for personal services. The one great and only privilege of
+its members was that they were permitted to wear a blue coat
+embroidered with gold and silver precisely like that worn by the king,
+and to follow the king in his hunting-parties and drives.
+
+The position of Mademoiselle de la Valliere was a very painful one.
+Though the austere queen-mother was so ill in her chamber that she
+could do but little to harass Louise, Madame Henrietta, who had been
+constrained to receive her as one of her maids of honor, did every
+thing in her power to keep her in a state of perpetual anxiety. The
+courtiers generally were hostile to her, from the partiality with
+which she was openly regarded by the king. The poor child was alone
+and desolate in the court, and scarcely knew an hour of joy.
+
+[Illustration: CONVENT OF VAL DE GRACE.]
+
+The queen-mother was rapidly sinking, devoured by a malady which not
+only caused her extreme bodily suffering, but, from its loathsome
+character, affected her sensitive nature with the most acute mental
+pangs. She retired to the convent of Val de Grace, where, with
+ever-increasing devotion as death drew near, she consecrated herself
+to works of piety and prayer.
+
+This vast structure is situated upon the left bank of the Seine, and
+is now in the limits of the city of Paris.
+
+"Anne of Austria had enjoyed the rare privilege, so seldom accorded to
+her sex, of growing old without in any very eminent degree losing her
+personal advantages. Her hands and arms, which had always been
+singularly beautiful, remained smooth and round, and delicately white.
+Not a wrinkle marred the dignity of her noble forehead. Her eyes,
+which were remarkably fine, lost neither their brightness nor their
+expression; and yet for years she had been suffering physical pangs
+only the more poignant from the resolution with which she concealed
+them."[M]
+
+[Footnote M: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 145.]
+
+The queen-mother had made the most heroic exertions to assume in
+public the appearance of health and gayety. None but her physicians
+were made acquainted with the nature of her malady.
+
+The young queen, Maria Theresa, who appears to have been an amiable,
+pensive woman, endowed with many quiet virtues, was devotedly attached
+to the queen-mother. She clung to her and followed her, while
+virtually abandoned by her royal spouse. She had no heart for those
+courtly festivities where she saw others with higher fascinations
+command the admiration and devotion of her husband. The queen was
+taken very ill with the measles. It speaks well for Louis XIV., and
+should be recorded to his honor, that he devoted himself to his sick
+wife, by day and by night, with the most unremitting attention. The
+disease was malignant in its form, and the king himself was soon
+stricken down by it. For several days it was feared that he would not
+live. As he began to recover, he was removed to the palace of St.
+Cloud. The annexed view represents the rear of the palace. The
+magnificent saloons in front open upon the city, and from the elevated
+site of the palace command a splendid view of the region for many
+leagues around.
+
+[Illustration: THE PALACE OF ST. CLOUD.]
+
+This truly splendid chateau, but a few miles from the Tuileries, had
+been assigned to Madame Henrietta. Here she resided with her court,
+and here the king again found himself under the same roof with
+Mademoiselle de la Valliere.
+
+In the mean time the health of the queen-mother rapidly declined. She
+was fast sinking into the arms of death. The young queen, Maria
+Theresa, having recovered, was unwilling to leave her suffering
+mother-in-law even for an hour.
+
+"The sufferings of Anne of Austria," writes Miss Pardoe, "must indeed
+have been extreme, when, superadded to the physical agony of which she
+was so long the victim, her peculiar fastidiousness of scent and touch
+are remembered. Throughout the whole of her illness she had adopted
+every measure to conceal, even from herself, the effects of her
+infirmity. She constantly held in her hand a large fan of Spanish
+leather, and saturated her linen with the most powerful perfumes. Her
+sense of contact was so acute and irritable that it was with the
+utmost difficulty that cambric could be found sufficiently fine for
+her use. Upon one occasion, when Cardinal Mazarin was jesting with
+her upon this defect, he told her 'that if she were damned, her
+eternal punishment would be sleeping in linen sheets.'"
+
+Louis XIV. was too much engrossed with his private pleasures, his
+buildings, and rapidly multiplying diplomatic intrigues to pay much
+attention to his dying mother. It was not pleasant to him to
+contemplate the scenes of suffering in a sick-chamber. The gloom which
+was gathering around Anne of Austria was somewhat deepened by the
+intelligence she received of the death of her brother, Philip IV. of
+Spain. It was another admonition to her that she too must die. Though
+Philip IV. was a reserved and stately man, allowing himself in but few
+expressions of tenderness toward his family, Maria Theresa, in her
+isolation, wept bitterly over her father's death.
+
+The ties of relationship are feeble in courts. Louis XIV. was growing
+increasingly ambitious of enlarging his domains and aggrandizing his
+power. The news of the death of the King of Spain was but a source of
+exultation to him. Though scrupulous in the discharge of the
+ceremonies of the Church, he was a stranger to any high sense of
+integrity or honor. In the treaty upon his marriage with Maria
+Theresa he had agreed to resign every claim to any portion of the
+Spanish kingdom. The death of Philip IV. left Spain in the hands of a
+feeble woman. Louis XIV., upon the plea that the five hundred thousand
+crowns promised as the dower of his wife had not yet been paid,
+resolved immediately to seize upon the provinces of Flanders and
+Franche-Comte, which then belonged to the Spanish crown.
+
+Notwithstanding the queen-mother had become so exhausted, from
+long-continued and agonizing bodily sufferings, that she could not be
+moved from one bed to another without fainting, still the festivities
+of the palace continued unintermitted. The moans of the dying queen in
+the darkened chamber could not be heard amidst the music and the
+revelry of the Louvre and the Tuileries. On the 5th of January, 1666,
+Philip, the Duke of Orleans, gave a magnificent ball in the palace of
+St. Cloud. Louis XIV. was then in deep mourning for his father-in-law.
+Decorously he wore the mourning dress of violet-colored velvet adopted
+by the court; he, however, took care so effectually to cover his
+mourning garments with glittering and costly gems that the color of
+the material could not be discerned.
+
+While her children were engaged in these revels, the queen-mother
+passed a sleepless night of terrible suffering. It was apparent to her
+that her dying hour was near at hand. She was informed by her
+physician that her life could be continued but a few hours longer. She
+called for her confessor, and requested every one else to leave the
+room. What sins she confessed of heart or life are known only to him
+and to God. Having obtained such absolution as the priest could give,
+she prepared to partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Her son
+Philip, with Madame his wife, were admitted to her chamber, where the
+king soon joined them. The Archbishop of Auch, accompanied by quite a
+retinue of ecclesiastics, approached with the holy viaticum. The most
+scrupulous regard was paid to all the punctilious ceremonials of
+courtly etiquette.
+
+When the bishop was about to administer the oil of extreme unction,
+the dying queen requested an attendant very carefully to raise the
+borders of her cap, lest the oil should touch them, and give them an
+unpleasant odor. It was one of the most melancholy and impressive of
+earthly scenes. The king, young, sensitive, and easily overcome by
+momentary emotion, could not refrain from seeing in that sad
+spectacle, as in a mirror, his own inevitable lot. He fainted entirely
+away, and was borne senseless from the apartment.
+
+On the morning of the 7th or 8th of January, 1666, Anne of Austria
+died. Her will was immediately brought from the cabinet and read. She
+bequeathed her _heart_ to the convent of Val de Grace. It was taken
+from her body, cased in a costly urn, and conveyed to the convent in a
+carriage. The Archbishop of Auch seated himself beside the senseless
+relic, while the Duchess of Montpensier occupied another seat in the
+coach.
+
+At 7 o'clock of the next evening the remains of the queen left the
+Louvre for the royal sepulchre at St. Denis. It was a gloomy winter's
+night. Many torches illumined the path of the procession, exhibiting
+to the thousands of spectators the solemn pageant of the burial. The
+ecclesiastics and the monks, in their gorgeous or picturesque robes,
+the royal sarcophagus, the sombre light of the torches, the royal
+coaches in funereal drapery, and the wailing requiems, now swelling
+upon the breeze, and now dying away, blending with the voices of
+tolling bells, presented one of the most mournful and instructive of
+earthly spectacles. The queen had passed to that tribunal where no
+aristocratic privileges are recognized, and where all earthly wealth
+and rank are disregarded.
+
+The funeral services were prolonged and imposing. It was not until two
+hours after midnight that the remains were deposited in the vaults of
+the venerable abbey, the oldest Christian church in France.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ST. DENIS.]
+
+The death of the queen-mother does not seem to have produced much
+effect upon the conduct of her ambitious and pleasure-loving son. He
+had cruelly betrayed the young and guileless Mademoiselle de la
+Valliere, and she never ceased to weep over her sad fate. The king,
+however, conferred upon her the duchy of Vaujours, and the title of
+Madame. Her beauty began to fade. Younger and happier faces attracted
+the king. He became more and more arrogant and domineering.
+
+There was at that time rising into notice in this voluptuous court a
+young lady who was not only magnificently beautiful, but extremely
+brilliant in her intellectual endowments. She was of illustrious
+birth, and was lady of the palace to the young queen. She deliberately
+fixed her affections upon Louis, and resolved to employ all the arts
+of personal loveliness and the fascinations of wit to win his
+exclusive favor. She had given her hand, constrained by her family, to
+the young Marquis de Montespan. She had, however, stated at the time
+that with her hand she did not give her heart.
+
+The young marquis seems to have been a very worthy man. Disgusted with
+the folly and the dissipation of the court, he was anxious to
+withdraw with his beautiful bride to his ample estates in Provence.
+She, however, entirely devoted to pleasure, and absorbed in her
+ambitious designs, refused to accompany him, pleading the duty she
+owed her royal mistress. He went alone. Madame de Montespan was thus
+relieved of the embarrassment of his presence.
+
+Louis XIV., while apparently immersed in frivolous and guilty
+pleasures, was developing very considerable ability as a sovereign. It
+daily became more clearly manifest that he was not a man of pleasure
+merely; that he had an imperial will, and that he was endowed with
+unusual administrative energies.
+
+The Duke de Mazarin, a relative and rich heir of the deceased
+cardinal, and who assumed an austere and cynical character, ventured
+on one occasion, when displeased with some act of the king, to
+approach him in the presence of several persons and say,
+
+"Sire, Saint Genevieve appeared to me last night. She is much offended
+by the conduct of your majesty, and has foretold to me that if you do
+not reform your morals the greatest misfortunes will fall upon your
+kingdom."
+
+The whole circle stood aghast at his effrontery. But the king,
+without exhibiting the slightest emotion, in slow and measured
+accents, replied,
+
+"And I, Monsieur de Mazarin, have recently had several visions, by
+which I have been warned that the late cardinal, your uncle, plundered
+my people, and that it is time to make his heirs disgorge the booty.
+Remember this, and be persuaded that the very next time you permit
+yourself to offer me unsolicited advice, I shall act upon the
+mysterious information I have received."
+
+The duke attempted no reply. Such developments of character
+effectually warded off all approaches of familiarity.
+
+The fugitive and needy Charles II. had sold to Louis XIV., for about
+one million of dollars, the important commercial town of Dunkirk, in
+French Flanders. The king, well aware of the importance of the
+position, had employed thirty thousand men to fortify the place.
+
+Louis now sent an army of thirty-five thousand men, in the highest
+state of military discipline, to seize the coveted Spanish provinces
+of Flanders and Franche-Comte. At the same time, he sent a reserve of
+eight thousand troops to Dunkirk. The widowed Queen of Spain, acting
+as regent for her infant son, could make no effectual resistance. She
+had but eight thousand troops, in small garrisons, scattered over
+those provinces. The march of the French army was but as a holiday
+excursion. Fortress after fortress fell into their hands. Soon the
+banners of Louis floated proudly over the whole territory. The king
+displayed his sagacity by granting promotion for services rendered
+rather than to birth. This inspired the army with great ardor. He also
+boldly entered the trenches under fire, and exposed himself to the
+most imminent peril.
+
+The opposite side of the king's character is displayed in the fact
+that he accompanied the camp with all the ladies of his court,
+eighteen in number. In each captured city, the king and court, in
+magnificent banqueting-halls and gorgeous saloons, indulged in the
+gayest revelry. Amidst the turmoil of the camp, these haughty men and
+high-born dames surrounded themselves with the magnificence of the
+Louvre and the Tuileries, and were served with every delicacy from
+gold and silver plate.
+
+The king, by the advice of his renowned minister of war, Marshal
+Louvois, placed strong garrisons in the cities he had captured, while
+the celebrated engineer, M. Vauban, was intrusted with enlarging and
+strengthening the fortifications. From this victorious campaign Louis
+XIV. returned to Paris, receiving adulation from the courtiers as if
+he were more than mortal.
+
+Madame de Montespan accompanied the court on this military pleasure
+tour. She availed herself of every opportunity to attract the
+attention of the king and ingratiate herself in his favor. She so far
+succeeded in exciting the jealousy of the queen against Madame de la
+Valliere, upon whom she was at the same time lavishing her most tender
+caresses, that her majesty treated the sensitive and desponding
+favorite with such rudeness that, with a crushed spirit, she decided
+to leave the court and retire to Versailles, there to await the
+conclusion of the campaign. The king, however, interposed to prevent
+her departure, while at the same time he was daily treating her with
+more marked neglect, as he turned his attention to the rival, now
+rapidly gaining the ascendency. The unfortunate Louise was doomed to
+daily martyrdom. She could not be blind to the fact that the king's
+love was fast waning. Conscience tortured her, and she wept bitterly.
+Before her there was opened only the vista of weary years of neglect
+and remorse.
+
+But the Marchioness of Montespan was mingling for herself a cup of
+bitterness which she, in her turn, was to drain to its dregs. Her
+noble husband wrote most imploring letters, beseeching her to return
+to him with their infant child.
+
+"Come," he wrote in one of his letters, "and take a near view, my dear
+Athenais, of these stupendous Pyrenees, whose every ravine is a
+landscape, and every valley an Eden. To all these beauties yours alone
+is wanting. You will be here like Diana, the divinity of these noble
+forests."
+
+The excuses which the marchioness offered did by no means satisfy her
+husband. His heart was wounded and his suspicions aroused. At last he
+was apprised of her manifest endeavors to attract the attention of the
+king. He wrote severely; informed her of the extent of his knowledge.
+He threatened to expose her conduct to her own family, and to shut her
+up in a convent. At the same time, he commanded her to send to him, by
+the messenger who bore his letter, their little son, that he might not
+be contaminated by association with so unworthy a mother.
+
+It was too late. The marchioness was involved in such guilty relations
+with the king that she could not easily be extricated. Still she was
+much alarmed by the angry letter of her husband. The king perceived
+her anxiety, and inquired the cause. She placed the letter in his
+hands. He read it, changing color as he read. He then coolly remarked,
+
+"Our position is a difficult one. It requires much precaution. I will,
+however, take care that no violence shall be offered you. You had
+better, however, send him your son. The child is useless here, and
+perhaps inconvenient. The marquis, deprived of the child, may be
+driven to acts of severity."
+
+A mother's love was strong in the bosom of the marchioness. She wept
+aloud, and declared that she would sooner die than part with her son.
+Her husband soon after came to Paris. He addressed the king in a very
+firm and reproachful letter, and for three months made earnest
+applications to the pope for a divorce. But the pope, afraid of
+offending Louis XIV., turned a deaf ear to his supplications. It was
+in vain for a noble, however exalted his rank, to contend against the
+king.
+
+The injured marquis, finding all his efforts vain, returned wifeless
+and childless to his chateau. Announcing that to him his wife was
+dead, he assumed the deepest mourning, draped his house and the
+liveries of his servants in crape, and ordered a funeral service to
+take place in the parish church. A numerous concourse attended, and
+all the sad ceremonies of burial were solemnized.
+
+The king was greatly annoyed. The scandal, which spread throughout the
+kingdom, placed him in a very unenviable position. The marquis would
+probably have passed the rest of his life in one of the _oubliettes_
+of the Bastile had he not escaped from France. Madame de Montespan, in
+her wonderfully frank Memoirs, records all these facts without any
+apparent consciousness of the infamy to which they consign her memory.
+She even claims the merit of protecting her injured husband from the
+dungeon, saying,
+
+"Not being naturally of a bad disposition, I never would allow of his
+being sent to the Bastile."
+
+There were continual antagonisms arising between Madame de la Valliere
+and Madame de Montespan. They were both ladies of honor in the
+household of the queen, who, silent and sad, and ever seeking
+retirement, endeavored to close her eyes to the guilty scenes
+transpiring around her. Sin invariably brings sorrow. The king,
+supremely selfish as he was, must have been a stranger to any peace of
+mind. He professed full faith in Christianity. Even lost spirits may
+believe and tremble. The precepts of Jesus were often faithfully
+proclaimed from the pulpit in his hearing. Remorse must have
+frequently tortured his soul.
+
+From these domestic tribulations he sought relief in the vigorous
+prosecution of his plans for national aggrandizement. He plunged into
+diplomatic intrigues, marshaled armies, built ships, multiplied and
+enlarged his sea-ports, established colonies, reared magnificent
+edifices, encouraged letters, and with great sagacity pushed all
+enterprises which could add to the glory and power of France.
+
+The king had never been on good terms with his brother Philip. Louis
+was arrogant and domineering. Philip was jealous, and not disposed
+obsequiously to bow the knee to his imperious brother. The king was
+unrelenting in the exactions of etiquette. There were three seats used
+in the presence of royalty: the arm-chair, for members of the royal
+family; the folded chair, something like a camp-stool, for the highest
+of the nobility; and the bench, for other dignitaries who were honored
+with a residence at court. Philip demanded of his brother that his
+wife, Henrietta, the daughter of Charles I. of England, and the sister
+of Louis XIII., being of royal blood, should be allowed the privilege
+of taking an arm-chair in the saloons of the queen. The king made the
+following remarkable reply:
+
+"That can not be permitted. I beg of you not to persist in such a
+request. It was not I who established these distinctions. They existed
+long before you and I were born. It is for your interest that the
+dignity of the crown should neither be weakened or encroached upon. If
+from Duke of Orleans you should one day become King of France, I know
+you well enough to believe that this is a point on which you would be
+inexorable.
+
+"In the presence of God, you and I are two beings precisely similar to
+our fellow-men; but in the eyes of men we appear as something
+extraordinary, superior, greater, and more perfect than others. The
+day on which the people cast off this respect and this voluntary
+veneration, by which alone monarchy is upheld, they will see us only
+their equals, suffering from the same evils, and subject to the same
+weaknesses as themselves. This once accomplished, all illusion will be
+over. The laws, no longer sustained by a controlling power, will
+become black lines upon white paper. Your chair without arms and my
+arm-chair will be simply two pieces of furniture of equal importance."
+
+To these forcible remarks, indicating deep reflection, the Duke of
+Orleans, a nobleman rioting in boundless wealth, and enjoying amazing
+feudal privileges, could make no reply. The coronet of the noble and
+the crown of the absolute king would both fall to the ground so soon
+as the masses of the people should escape from the thrall of ignorance
+and deception. Philip left his brother silenced, yet exasperated. A
+petty warfare was carried on between them, by which they daily became
+more alienated from each other.
+
+The king, elated by his easy conquest of Flanders, resolved to seize
+upon Holland, and then proceed to annex to France the whole of the Low
+Countries. The Dutch, a maritime people, though powerful at sea, had
+but a feeble land force. Holland was in alliance with England. The
+first object of Louis was to dissolve this alliance.
+
+There were two influences, money and beauty, which were omnipotent
+with the contemptible Charles II. Henrietta, the wife of Philip, was
+sent as embassadress to the court of her brother. The whole French
+court escorted her to the coast. The pomp displayed on this occasion
+surpassed any thing which had heretofore been witnessed in France. The
+escort consisted of thirty thousand men in the van and the rear of the
+royal cortege. The most beautiful women of the court accompanied the
+queen. Maria Theresa, the queen, and Henrietta, occupied the same
+coach. The ladies of their households followed in their carriages.
+
+The king's two favorites--Madame de la Valliere, whose beauty and
+power were on the wane, and Madame de Montespan, who was then in the
+zenith of her triumph--were often invited by the king to take a seat
+in the royal carriage by the side of the queen and Madame. The most
+beautiful woman then in the French court was Louise Renee,
+subsequently known in English annals as the Duchess of Portsmouth. She
+was to accompany her royal mistress to the court of Charles II., and
+had received secret instructions from the king in reference to the
+influence she was to exert. Louise Renee was to be the bribe and the
+motive power to control the king.
+
+Brilliant as was this royal cortege, the journey, to its prominent
+actors, was a very sad one. The queen, pliant and submissive as she
+usually was, could not refrain from some expressions of bitterness in
+being forced to such intimate companionship with her rivals in the
+king's favor. There were also constant heart-burnings and bickerings,
+which etiquette could not restrain, between Philip and his spouse
+Henrietta. _Madame_ was going to London as the confidential messenger
+of the king, and she refused to divulge to her husband the purpose of
+her visit. Louis XIV. was embarrassed by three ladies, each of whom
+claimed his exclusive attention, and each of whom was angry if he
+smiled upon either of the others. In such a party there could be no
+happiness.
+
+As this gorgeous procession, crowding leagues of the road, swept
+along, few of the amazed peasants who gazed upon the glittering
+spectacle could have suspected the misery which was gnawing at the
+heart of these high-born men and proud dames. Upon arriving at the
+coast, Henrietta, with her magnificent suite, embarked for England.
+The negotiation was perfectly successful. The fascinating Louise Renee
+immediately made the entire conquest of the king. Her consent to
+remain a member of his court, and the offer of several millions of
+money to Charles II., secured his assent to whatever the French king
+desired. It is said that he the more readily abandoned his alliance
+with Holland, since he hated the Protestants there, whose religion so
+severely condemned his worthless character and wretched life. A treaty
+of alliance was speedily drawn up between Charles II. and Louis XIV.
+
+His Britannic majesty then, with a splendid retinue, accompanied his
+sister Henrietta to the coast, where she embarked for Calais. The
+French court met her there with all honors. The return to Paris was
+slow. At every important town the court tarried for a season of
+festivities. Henrietta, or _Madame_, as the French invariably entitled
+her, established her court at St. Cloud. Her husband, Monsieur, was
+very much irritated against her. Neither of them took any pains to
+conceal from others their alienation.
+
+Madame was in the ripeness of her rare beauty, and enjoyed great
+influence in the court. The poor queen, Maria Theresa, was but a
+cipher. She was heart-crushed, and devoted herself to the education of
+her children, and to the society of a few Spanish ladies whom she had
+assembled around her. The king, grateful for the services which
+Henrietta had rendered him in England, and alike fascinated by her
+loveliness and her vivacity, was lavishing upon her his constant and
+most marked attentions, not a little to the chagrin of her irritated
+and jealous husband.
+
+On the 27th of June, 1669, Henrietta rose at an early hour, and, after
+some conversation with Madame de Lafayette, to whom she declared she
+was in admirable health, she attended mass, and then went to the room
+of her daughter, Mademoiselle d'Orleans. She was in glowing spirits,
+and enlivened the whole company by her vivacious conversation. After
+calling for a glass of succory water, which she drank, she dined. The
+party then repaired to the saloon of _Monsieur_. He was sitting for
+his portrait. Henrietta, reclining upon a lounge, apparently fell into
+a doze. Her friends were struck with the haggard and deathly
+expression which her countenance suddenly assumed, when she sprang up
+with cries of agony. All were greatly alarmed. Her husband appeared as
+much so as the rest. She called for another draught of succory water.
+It was brought to her in an enameled cup from which she was accustomed
+to drink.
+
+She took the cup in one hand, and then, pressing her hand to her side
+in a spasm of pain, exclaimed, "I can scarcely breathe. Take me
+away--take me away! I can support myself no longer." With much
+difficulty she was led to her chamber by her terrified attendants.
+There she threw herself upon her bed in convulsions of agony, crying
+out that she was dying, and praying that her confessor might
+immediately be sent for. Three physicians were speedily in attendance.
+Her husband entered her chamber and kneeled at her bedside. She threw
+her arms around his neck, exclaiming,
+
+"Alas! you have long ceased to love me; but you are unjust, for I have
+never wronged you." Suddenly she raised herself upon her elbow, and
+said to those weeping around her, "I have been poisoned by the succory
+water which I have drank. Probably there has been some mistake. I am
+sure, however, that I have been poisoned. Unless you wish to see me
+die, you must immediately administer some antidote."
+
+Her husband did not seem at all agitated by this statement, but
+directed that some of the succory water should be given to a dog to
+ascertain its effects. Madame Desbordes, the first _femme de chambre_,
+who had prepared the beverage, declared that the experiment should be
+made upon herself. She immediately poured out a glass, and drank it.
+
+Various antidotes for poisons were administered. They created the most
+deadly sickness, without changing the symptoms or alleviating the
+pain. It soon became evident that the princess was dying. The livid
+complexion, glassy eyes, and shrunken nose and lips, showed that some
+agent of terrific power was consuming her life. A chill perspiration
+oozed from her forehead, her pulse was imperceptible, and her
+extremities icy cold.
+
+The king soon arrived, accompanied by the queen. Louis XIV. was
+greatly affected by the changed appearance and manifestly dying
+condition of Henrietta. He sat upon one side of the bed and _Monsieur_
+upon the other, both weeping bitterly. The agony of the princess was
+dreadful. In most imploring tones she begged that something might be
+done to mitigate her sufferings. The attendant physicians announced
+that she was dying. Extreme unction was administered, the crucifix
+fell from her hand, a convulsive shuddering shook her frame, and
+Henrietta was dead.
+
+"Only nine hours previously, Henrietta of England had been full of
+life, and loveliness, and hope, the idol of a court, and the centre of
+the most brilliant circle in Europe. And now, as the tearful priest
+arose from his knees, the costly curtains of embroidered velvet were
+drawn around a cold, pale, motionless, and livid corpse."
+
+A post-mortem examination revealed the presence of poison so virulent
+in its action that a portion of the stomach was destroyed. Dreadful
+suspicion rested upon her husband. The king, in a state of intense
+agitation, summoned his brother to his presence, and demanded that he
+should confess his share in the murder. Monsieur clasped in his hand
+the insignia of the Holy Ghost, which he wore about his neck, and took
+the most solemn oath that he was both directly and indirectly innocent
+of the death of his wife. Still the circumstantial evidence was so
+strong against him that he could not escape the terrible suspicion.
+
+Notwithstanding the absolute proof that the death of the princess was
+caused by poison, still an official statement was soon made out,
+addressed to the British court, and widely promulgated, in which it
+was declared that the princess died of a malignant attack of bilious
+fever. Several physicians were bribed to sign this declaration.
+
+Notwithstanding this statement, the king made vigorous exertions to
+discover the perpetrators of the crime. The following facts were soon
+brought to light. The king, some time before, much displeased with the
+Chevalier de Lorraine, a favorite and adviser of Monsieur, angrily
+arrested him, and imprisoned him in the Chateau d'If, a strong and
+renowned fortress on Marguerite Island, opposite Cannes. Here he was
+treated with great rigor. He was not allowed to correspond, or even to
+speak with any persons but those on duty within the fortress.
+_Monsieur_ was exceedingly irritated by this despotic act. He ventured
+loudly to upbraid his brother, and bitterly accused _Madame_ of having
+caused the arrest of his bosom friend, the chevalier.
+
+Circumstances directed the very strong suspicions of the king to M.
+Pernon, controller of the household of the princess, as being
+implicated in the murder. The king ordered him to be secretly
+arrested, and brought by a back staircase to the royal cabinet. Every
+attendant was dismissed, and his majesty remained alone with the
+prisoner. Fixing his eyes sternly upon the countenance of M. Pernon,
+Louis said, "If you reveal every circumstance relative to the death of
+_Madame_, I promise you full pardon. If you are guilty of the
+slightest concealment or prevarication, your life shall be the
+forfeit."
+
+The controller then confessed that the Chevalier de Lorraine had,
+through the hands of a country gentleman, M. Morel, who was not at all
+conscious of the nature of the commission he was fulfilling, sent the
+poison to two confederates at St. Cloud. This package was delivered to
+the Marquis d'Effiat and Count de Beuvron, intimate friends of the
+chevalier, and who had no hope that he would be permitted to return to
+Paris so long as _Madame_ lived. The Marquis d'Effiat contrived to
+enter the closet of the princess, and rubbed the poison on the inside
+of the enameled cup from which Henrietta was invariably accustomed to
+drink her favorite beverage.
+
+The king listened intently to this statement, pressed his forehead
+with his hand, and then inquired, in tones which indicated that he was
+almost afraid to put the question, "And _Monsieur_--was he aware of
+this foul plot?"
+
+"No, sire," was the prompt reply. "_Monsieur_ can not keep a secret;
+we did not venture to confide in him."
+
+Louis appeared much relieved. After a moment's pause, he asked, with
+evident anxiety, "Will you swear to this?"
+
+"On my soul, sire," was the reply.
+
+The king asked no more. Summoning an officer of the household, he
+said, "Conduct M. Pernon to the gate of the palace, and set him at
+liberty."
+
+Such events were so common in the courts of feudal despotism in those
+days of crime, that this atrocious murder seems to have produced but a
+momentary impression. Poor Henrietta was soon forgotten. The tides of
+gayety and fashion ebbed and flowed as ever through the saloons of the
+royal palaces. No one was punished. It would hardly have been decorous
+for the king to hang men for the murder of the princess, when he had
+solemnly announced that she had died of a bilious fever. The Chevalier
+de Lorraine was ere long recalled to court. There he lived in
+unbridled profligacy, enjoying an annual income of one hundred
+thousand crowns, till death summoned him to a tribunal where neither
+wealth nor rank can purchase exemption from crime.
+
+Henrietta, who was but twenty-six years of age at the time of her
+death, left two daughters, but no son. _Monsieur_ soon dried his
+tears. He sought a new marriage with his rich, renowned cousin, the
+Duchess of Montpensier. But she declined his offered hand. With
+inconceivable caprice, she was fixing her affections upon a worthless
+adventurer, a miserable coxcomb, the Duke de Lauzun, who was then
+disgracing by his presence the court of the Louvre. This singular
+freak, an additional evidence that there is no accounting for the
+vagaries of love, astonished all the courts of Europe. _Monsieur_ then
+turned to the Princess Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria. The alliance
+was one dictated by state policy. _Monsieur_ reluctantly assented to
+it under the moral compulsion of the king. The advent of this most
+eccentric of women at the French court created general astonishment
+and almost consternation. She despised etiquette, and dressed in the
+most _outre_ fashion, while she displayed energies of mind and
+sharpness of tongue which brought all in awe of her. The following is
+the portrait which this princess, eighteen years of age, has drawn of
+herself:
+
+"I was born in Heidelberg in 1652. I must necessarily be ugly, for I
+have no features, small eyes, a short, thick nose, and long, flat
+lips. Such a combination as this can not produce a physiognomy. I have
+heavy hanging cheeks and a large face, and nevertheless am short and
+thick. To sum up all, I am an ugly little object. If I had not a good
+heart, I should not be bearable any where. To ascertain if my eyes
+have any expression, it would be necessary to examine them with a
+microscope. There could not probably be found on earth hands more
+hideous than mine. The king has often remarked it to me, and made me
+laugh heartily. Not being able with any conscience to flatter myself
+that I possessed any thing good looking, I have made up my mind to
+laugh at my own ugliness. I have found the plan very successful, and
+frequently discover plenty to laugh at."
+
+Notwithstanding the princess was ready to speak of herself in these
+terms of ridicule, she was by no means disposed to grant the same
+privilege to others. She was a woman of keen observation, and was ever
+ready to resent any offense with the most sarcastic retaliation. She
+perceived very clearly the sensation which her presence, and the
+manners which she had very deliberately chosen to adopt, had excited.
+Madame de Fienne was one of the most brilliant wits of the court. She
+ventured to make herself and others merry over the oddities of the
+newly-arrived Duchess of Orleans, in whose court both herself and her
+husband were pensioners. The duchess took her by the hand, led her
+aside, and, riveting upon her her unquailing eye, said, in slow and
+emphatic tones,
+
+"Madame, you are very amiable and very witty. You possess a style of
+conversation which is endured by the king and by _Monsieur_ because
+they are accustomed to it; but I, who am only a recent arrival at the
+court, am less familiar with its spirit. I forewarn you that I become
+incensed when I am made a subject of ridicule. For this reason, I was
+anxious to give you a slight warning. If you spare me, we shall get on
+very well together; but if, on the contrary, you treat me as you do
+others, I shall say nothing to yourself, but I shall complain to your
+husband, and if he does not correct you, I shall dismiss him."
+
+The hint was sufficient. Neither Madame de Fienne nor any other lady
+of the court ventured after this to utter a word of witticism on the
+subject of the Duchess of Orleans.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE WAR IN HOLLAND.
+
+1670-1679
+
+Louis's fondness for jewels.--Anecdote.--Superstitions of Louis.--His
+dread of the towers of St. Denis.--Ambition of Louis.--He abandons St.
+Germain.--Severity of Louis to Madame de la Valliere.--A second flitting
+to Chaillot.--Night in the convent.--Disappointment.--Return of Louise
+to the palace.--Madame de Montespan.--Louis reproved by the
+clergy.--Power of France.--Alarm in Holland.--Humble inquiry of the
+Dutch.--Haughty reply of Louis.--Body-guard of the king.--Reply of
+the Dutch merchant.--Forces of William, prince of Orange.--Louis's
+march unresisted.--The French cross the Rhine.--Death of the Duke
+of Longueville.--Passage of the Rhine.--Louis a bigoted
+Catholic.--Consternation.--Reception of the Dutch deputies.--Terms
+of Louis XIV.--Heroic conduct of the Dutch.--The dikes pierced.--Naval
+battle.--Efforts of the Prince of Orange.--Louis returns to Paris.--His
+extraordinary energy.--Arch of triumph.--Skill and strategy of
+Turenne.--Barbarities of Turenne.--Opinion of Voltaire.--Death of
+Turenne.--Peace of Nimeguen.--Penitence and anguish of Louise de la
+Valliere.--Takes leave of her children and the queen.--Again at the
+convent.--Faithfulness to duty.--Marriage of the Duchess of Orleans
+with the King of Spain.--The Countess de Soissons.--Character of the
+dauphin.--Monseigneur's indifference.--Francoise d'Aubigne.--Her
+apparent death and recovery.--Francoise a Protestant.--Persecutions
+in consequence.--Sufferings of Francoise.--Death of her mother.
+
+
+Madame de Montespan was now the reigning favorite. The
+conscience-stricken king could not endure to think of death. He
+studiedly excluded from observation every thing which could remind him
+of that doom of mortals. All the badges of mourning were speedily laid
+aside, and efforts were made to banish from the court the memory of
+the young and beautiful Princess Henrietta, whose poisoned body was
+mouldering to dust in the tomb.
+
+The king had a childish fondness for brilliant gems. In his cabinet he
+had a massive and costly secretary of elaborately carved rosewood.
+Upon its shelves he had arrayed the crown jewels, which he often
+handled and examined with the same delight with which a miser counts
+his gold.
+
+Mademoiselle de Montpensier, in her interesting Memoirs, relates the
+following anecdote, which throws interesting light upon the character
+of the king at this time. It will be remembered that Louis XIV. was
+born in one of the palaces at St. Germain, about fifteen miles from
+Paris. The magnificent terrace on the left bank of the winding Seine
+commands perhaps as enchanting a view as can be found any where in
+this world. The domes and towers of Paris appear far away in the
+north. The wide, luxuriant valley of the Seine, studded with villages
+and imposing castles, lies spread out in beautiful panorama before the
+eye. The king had expended between one and two millions of dollars in
+embellishing the royal residences here. But as the conscience of the
+king became more sensitive, and repeated deaths forced upon him the
+conviction that he too must eventually die, St. Germain not only lost
+all its charms, but became a place obnoxious to him. From the terrace
+there could be distinctly seen, a few leagues to the east, the tower
+and spire of St. Denis, the burial-place of the kings of France. To
+Louis it suddenly became as torturing a sight as to have had his
+coffin ostentatiously displayed in his banqueting-hall.
+
+When Anne of Austria was lying on her bed of suffering, the king was
+one day pacing alone the terrace of St. Germain. Dark clouds were
+drifting through the sky. One of these clouds seemed to gather over
+the towers of St. Denis. To the excited imagination of the king, the
+vapor wreathed itself into the form of a hearse, surmounted by the
+arms of Austria. In a few days the king followed the remains of his
+mother to the dark vaults of this their last resting-place. Just
+before the death of the hapless Henrietta, the same gloomy towers
+appeared to the king in a dream enveloped in flames, and in the midst
+of the fire there was a skeleton holding in his hand a lady's rich
+jewelry. But a few days after this the king was constrained to follow
+the remains of the beautiful Henrietta to this sepulchre. God seems to
+have sent warning upon warning upon this wicked king. Absorbed in
+ambitious plans and guilty passions, Louis had but little time or
+thought to give to his neglected wife or her children. In the same
+year his two daughters died, and with all the pageantry of royal woe
+they were also entombed at St. Denis.
+
+[Illustration: ST. DENIS.]
+
+It is not strange that, under these circumstances, the king, to whom
+the Gospel of Christ was often faithfully preached, and who was living
+in the most gross violation of the principles of the religion of
+Jesus, should have recoiled from a view of those towers, which were
+ever a reminder to him of death and the grave. He could no longer
+endure the palace at St. Germain. The magnificent panorama of the
+city, the winding Seine, the flowery meadows, the forest, the
+villages, and the battlemented chateaux lost all their charms, since
+the towers of St. Denis would resistlessly arrest his eye, forcing
+upon his soul reflections from which he instinctively recoiled. He
+therefore abandoned St. Germain entirely, and determined that the
+palace he was constructing at Versailles should be so magnificent as
+to throw every other abode of royalty into the shade.
+
+Madame de la Valliere was daily becoming more wretched. Fully
+conscious of her sin and shame, deserted by the king, supplanted by a
+new favorite, and still passionately attached to her royal betrayer,
+she could not restrain that grief which rapidly marred her beauty. The
+waning of her charms, and the reproaches of her silent woe,
+increasingly repelled the king from seeking her society. One day Louis
+entered the apartment of Louise, and found her weeping bitterly. In
+cold, reproachful tones, he demanded the cause of her uncontrollable
+grief. The poor victim, upon the impulse of the moment, gave vent to
+all the gushing anguish of her soul--her sense of guilt in the sight
+of God--her misery in view of her ignominious position, and her
+brokenness of heart in the consciousness that she had lost the love of
+one for whom she had periled her very soul.
+
+The king listened impatiently, and then haughtily replied, "Let there
+be an end to this. I love you, and you know it. But I am not to be
+constrained." He reproached her for her obstinacy in refusing the
+friendship of her rival, Madame de Montespan, and added the cutting
+words, "You have needed, as well as Madame de Montespan, the
+forbearance and countenance of your sex."
+
+Poor Louise was utterly crushed. She had long been thinking of
+retiring to a convent. Her decision was now formed. She devoted a few
+sad days to the necessary arrangements, took an agonizing leave, as
+she supposed forever, of her children, to whom she was tenderly
+attached, and for whom the king had made ample provision, and,
+addressing a parting letter to him, entered her carriage, to seek, for
+a second time, a final retreat in the convent of Chaillot.
+
+It was late in the evening when she entered those gloomy cells where
+broken hearts find a living burial. To the abbess she said, "I have no
+longer a home in the palace; may I hope to find one in the cloister?"
+The abbess received her with true Christian sympathy. After listening
+with a tearful eye to the recital of her sorrows, she conducted her to
+the cell in which she was to pass the night.
+
+"She could not pray, although she cast herself upon her knees beside
+the narrow pallet, and strove to rejoice that she had at length
+escaped from the trials of a world which had wearied her, and of which
+she herself was weary. There was no peace, no joy in her rebel heart.
+She thought of the first days of her happiness; of her children, who
+on the morrow would ask for her in vain; and then, as memory swept
+over her throbbing brain, she remembered her former flight to
+Chaillot, and that it was the king himself who had led her back again
+into the world. Her brow burned as the question forced itself upon
+her, Would he do so a second time? would he once more hasten, as he
+had then done, to rescue her from the living death to which she had
+consigned herself as an atonement for her past errors?
+
+"But hour after hour went by, and all was silent. Hope died within
+her. Daylight streamed dimly into the narrow casement of her cell.
+Soon the measured step of the abbess fell upon her ear as she advanced
+up the long gallery, striking upon the door of each cell as she
+approached, and uttering in a solemn voice, 'Let us bless the Lord.'
+To which appeal each of the sisters replied in turn, 'I give him
+thanks.'"
+
+The deceptive heart of Louise led her to hope, notwithstanding she had
+voluntarily sought the cloister, that the king, yearning for her
+presence, would come himself, as soon as he heard of her departure,
+and affectionately force her back to the Louvre. Early in the morning
+she heard the sound of carriage-wheels entering the court-yard of the
+convent. Her heart throbbed with excitement. Soon she was summoned
+from her cell to the parlor. Much to her disappointment, the king was
+not there, but his minister, M. Colbert, presented to her a very
+affectionate letter from his majesty urging her return. As she
+hesitated, M. Colbert pleaded earnestly in behalf of his sovereign.
+
+The feeble will of Louise yielded, while yet she blushed at her own
+weakness. Tears filled her eyes as she took leave of the abbess,
+grasping her hand, and saying, "This is not a farewell; I shall
+assuredly return, and perhaps very soon." The king was much moved in
+receiving her, and, with great apparent cordiality, thanked her for
+having complied with his entreaties. Even the heart of Madame de
+Montespan was touched. She received with words of love and sympathy
+the returned fugitive, whose rivalry she no longer feared, and in
+whose sad career she perhaps saw mirrored her own future doom.
+
+Madame de Montespan was then in the zenith of her power. The king had
+assigned her the beautiful chateau of Clagny, but a short distance
+from Versailles. Here she lived in great splendor, entertaining
+foreign embassadors, receiving from them costly gifts, and introducing
+them to her children as if they were really princes of the blood.
+
+Notwithstanding the corruptions of the papal Church, there were in
+that Church many faithful ministers of Jesus Christ. Some of them, in
+their preaching, inveighed very severely against the sinful practices
+in the court. Not only Madame de Montespan, but the king, often knew
+that they were directly referred to. But the guilty yet sagacious
+monarch carefully avoided any appropriation of the denunciations to
+himself. Still, he was so much annoyed that he seriously contemplated
+urging Madame de Montespan to retire to a convent. He even authorized
+the venerable Bossuet, then Bishop of Condom, to call upon Madame de
+Montespan, and suggest in his name that she should withdraw from the
+court and retire to the seclusion of the cloister. But the haughty
+favorite, conscious of the power of her charms, and knowing full well
+that the king had only submitted to the suggestion, peremptorily
+refused. She judged correctly. The king was well pleased to have her
+remain.
+
+The preparations which the king was making for the invasion of Holland
+greatly alarmed the Dutch government. France had become powerful far
+beyond any other Continental kingdom. The king had the finest army in
+Europe. Turenne, Conde, Vauban, ranked among the ablest generals and
+engineers of any age. While Louis XIV. was apparently absorbed in his
+pleasures, Europe was surprised to see vast trains of artillery and
+ammunition wagons crowding the roads of his northern provinces. In his
+previous campaign, Louis had taken Flanders in three months, and
+Franche-Comte in three weeks. These rapid conquests had alarmed
+neighboring nations, and Holland, Switzerland, and England had entered
+into an alliance to resist farther encroachments, should they be
+attempted.
+
+Louis affected to be very angry that such a feeble state as Holland
+should have the impudence to think of limiting his conquests. Having,
+as we have mentioned, detached England from the alliance by bribing
+with gold and female charms the miserable Charles II., Louis was
+ready, without any declaration of war, even without any _openly
+avowed_ cause of grievance, to invade Holland, and annex the territory
+to his realms. The States-General, alarmed in view of the magnitude of
+the military operations which were being made upon their borders, sent
+embassadors to the French court humbly to inquire if these
+preparations were designed against Holland, the ancient and faithful
+ally of France, and, if so, in what respect Holland had offended.
+
+Louis XIV. haughtily and insolently replied, "I shall make use of my
+troops as my own dignity renders advisable. I am not responsible for
+my conduct to any power whatever."
+
+The real ability of the king was shown in the effectual measures he
+adopted to secure, without the chance of failure, the triumphant
+execution of his plans. Twenty millions of people had been robbed of
+their hard earnings to fill his army chests with gold. An army of a
+hundred and thirty thousand men, in the highest state of discipline,
+and abundantly supplied with all the munitions of war, were on the
+march for the northern frontiers of France. These troops were
+supported by a combined English and French fleet of one hundred and
+thirty vessels of war. It was the most resistless force, all things
+considered, Europe had then ever witnessed. We shall not enter into
+the details of this campaign, which are interesting only to military
+men. Twelve hundred of the sons of the nobles were organized into a
+body-guard, ever to surround the king. They were decorated with the
+most brilliant uniforms, glittering with embroideries of gold and
+silver, and were magnificently mounted. The terrible bayonet was then,
+for the first time, attached to the musket. Light pontoons of brass
+for crossing the rivers were carried on wagons. A celebrated writer,
+M. Pelisson, accompanied the king, to give a glowing narrative of his
+achievements.
+
+As there had been no declaration of war and no commencement of
+hostilities, the king purchased a large amount of military stores even
+in the states of Holland, which, no one could doubt, he was preparing
+to invade. A Dutch merchant, being censured by Prince Maurice for
+entering into a traffic so unpatriotic, replied,
+
+"My lord, if there could be opened to me by sea any advantageous
+commerce with the infernal regions, I should certainly go there, even
+at the risk of burning my sails."
+
+Louis made arrangements that money should be liberally expended to
+bribe the commandants of the Dutch fortresses. To oppose all these
+moral and physical forces, Holland had but twenty-five thousand
+soldiers, poorly armed and disciplined. They were under the command of
+the Prince of Orange, who was in feeble health, and but twenty-two
+years of age. But this young prince proved to be one of the most
+extraordinary men of whom history gives any account; yet it was
+manifestly impossible for him now to arrest the torrent about to
+invade his courts.
+
+Louis rapidly pushed his troops forward into the unprotected states of
+Holland which bordered the left banks of the Rhine. His march was
+unresisted. Liberally he paid for whatever he took, distributed
+presents to the nobles, and, preparing to cross the river, placed his
+troops in strong detachments in villages scattered along the banks of
+the stream. The king himself was at the head of a choice body of
+thirty thousand troops. Marshal Turenne commanded under him.
+
+The whole country on the left bank of the Rhine was soon in
+possession of the French, as village after village fell into their
+hands. The main object of the Prince of Orange was to prevent the
+French from crossing the river. Louis intended to have crossed by his
+pontoons, suddenly moving upon some unexpected point. But there came
+just then a very severe drouth. The water fell so low that there was a
+portion of the stream which could be nearly forded. It would be
+necessary to swim the horses but about twenty feet. The current was
+slow, and the passage could be easily effected. By moving rapidly, the
+Prince of Orange would not be able to collect at that point sufficient
+troops seriously to embarrass the operation.
+
+Fifteen thousand horsemen were here sent across, defended by artillery
+on the banks, and aided by boats of brass. But one man in the French
+army, the young Duke de Longueville, was killed. He lost his life
+through inebriation, and its consequent folly and crime. Half crazed
+with wine, he refused quarter to a Dutch officer who had thrown down
+his arms and surrendered. Reeling in his saddle, he shot down the
+officer, exclaiming, "No quarter for these rascals." Some of the Dutch
+infantry, who were just surrendering, in despair opened fire, and the
+drunken duke received the death-blow he merited.
+
+This passage of the Rhine was considered a very brilliant achievement,
+and added much to the military reputation of Louis XIV., though it
+appears to have been exclusively the feat of the Prince of Conde. The
+cities of Holland fell in such rapid succession into the power of the
+French, that scarcely an hour of the day passed in which the king did
+not receive the news of some conquest. An officer named Mazel sent an
+aid to Marshal Turenne to say,
+
+"If you will be kind enough to send me fifty horsemen, I shall with
+them be able to take two or three places."
+
+It was on the 12th of June, 1672, that the passage of the Rhine was
+effected. On the 20th the French king made his triumphal entrance into
+the city of Utrecht. The king was a Catholic--a bigoted Catholic.
+Corrupt as he was in life, regardless as he was in his private conduct
+of the precepts of Jesus, he was extremely zealous to invest the
+Catholic Church with power and splendor. It was with him a prominent
+object to give the Catholic religion the supremacy.
+
+Amsterdam was the capital of the republic. The capture of that city
+would complete the conquest. Not only the republic would perish, but
+Holland would, as it were, disappear from the earth, her territory
+being absorbed in that of France. The consternation in the metropolis
+was great. The most noble and wealthy families were preparing for a
+rapid flight to the north. Amsterdam was then the most opulent and
+influential commercial town in Europe. It contained a population of
+two hundred thousand sagacious, energetic, thrifty people. As is
+invariably the case in days of disaster, there were discordant
+counsels and angry divisions among the bewildered defenders of the
+imperiled realm. Some were for fiercely pressing the war, others for
+humbly imploring peace.
+
+At length four deputies were sent to the French camp to intercede for
+the clemency of the conqueror. They were received with raillery and
+insult. After contemptuously compelling the deputation several times
+to come and go without any result, the king at last condescended to
+present the following as his terms:
+
+He demanded that the States of Holland should surrender to him the
+whole of the territory on the left bank of the Rhine; that they
+should place in his hands, to be garrisoned by French troops, the most
+important forts and fortified towns of the republic; that they should
+pay him twenty millions of francs, a sum equal to several times that
+amount at the present day; that the French should be placed in command
+of all the important entrances to Holland, both by sea and land, and
+should be exempted from paying any duty upon the goods they should
+enter; that the Catholic religion should be established every where
+through the realm; and that every year the republic should send to
+Louis XIV. an embassador, with a golden medal, upon which there should
+be impressed the declaration that the republic held all its privileges
+through the favor of Louis XIV. To these conditions were to be added
+such as the States-General should be compelled to make with the other
+allies engaged in the war.
+
+The nations of Europe have been guilty of many outrages, but perhaps
+it would be difficult to find one more atrocious than this. In
+reference to the cause of the war, Voltaire very truly remarks, "It is
+a singular fact, and worthy of record, that of all the enemies, there
+was not one that could allege any pretext whatever for the war." It
+was an enterprise very similar to that of the coalition of Louis XII.,
+the Emperor Maximilian, and Spain, who conspired for the overthrow of
+the Venetian republic simply because that republic was rich and
+prosperous.
+
+These terms, dictated by the insolence of the conqueror, were quite
+intolerable. They inspired the courage of despair. The resolution was
+at once formed to perish, if perish they must, with their arms in
+their hands. The Prince of Orange had always urged the vigorous
+prosecution of the war. Guided by his energetic counsel, they pierced
+the dikes, which alone protected their country from the waters of the
+sea. The flood rushed in through the opened barriers, converting
+hundreds of leagues of fertile fields into an ocean. The inundation
+flooded the houses, swept away the roads, destroyed the harvest,
+drowned the flocks; and yet no one uttered a murmur. Louis XIV., by
+his infamous demands, had united all hearts in the most determined
+resistance. Amsterdam appeared like a large fortress rising in the
+midst of the ocean, surrounded by ships of war, which found depth of
+water to float where ships had never floated before. The distress was
+dreadful. It was the briny ocean whose waves were now sweeping over
+the land. It was so difficult to obtain any fresh water that it was
+sold for six cents a pint.
+
+Maritime Holland, though weak upon the land, was still powerful on the
+sea. The united fleet of the allies did not exceed that of the
+republic. The Dutch Admiral Ruyter, with a hundred vessels of war and
+fifty fire-ships, repaired to the coasts of England in search of his
+foes. He met the allied fleet on the 7th of June, 1672, and in the
+heroic naval battle of Solbaie disabled and dispersed it. This gave
+Holland the entire supremacy on the sea. Thus suddenly Louis XIV.
+found himself checked, and no farther progress was possible.
+
+The Prince of Orange gave all his private revenues to the state, and
+entered into negotiations with other powers, who were already alarmed
+by the encroachments of the French king. The Emperor of Germany, the
+Spanish court, and Flanders, entered into an alliance with the heroic
+prince. He even compelled Charles II. to withdraw from that union with
+Louis XIV. which was opposed to the interests of England, and into
+which his court had been reluctantly dragged. Troops from all quarters
+were hurrying forward for the protection of Holland.
+
+The villainy of Louis XIV. was thwarted. Chagrined at seeing his
+conquest at an end, but probably with no compunctions of conscience
+for the vast amount of misery his crime had caused, he left his
+discomfited army under the command of Turenne and the other generals,
+and returned to his palaces in France.
+
+The troops which remained in Holland committed outrages which rendered
+the very name of the French detested. Louis, from the midst of the
+pomp and pleasure of his palaces, still displayed extraordinary
+energies. Agents were dispatched to all the courts of Europe with
+large sums of money for purposes of bribery. By his diplomatic
+cunning, Hungary was roused against Austria. Gold was lavished upon
+the King of England to induce him, notwithstanding the opposition of
+the British Parliament, to continue in alliance with France. Several
+of the petty states of Germany were bought over. Louis greatly
+increased his naval force. He soon had forty ships of war afloat,
+besides a large number of fire-ships.
+
+But Europe had been so alarmed by his encroachments and his menaces
+that, notwithstanding his efforts at diplomacy and intrigue, he was
+compelled to abandon his enterprise, and withdraw his troops from the
+provinces he had overrun.
+
+[Illustration: PORTE ST. DENIS.]
+
+In the early part of his campaign, Louis, flushed with victory and
+assured of entire success, had commenced building, as a monument of
+his great achievement, the arch of triumph at the gate of St. Denis.
+The structure was scarcely completed ere he was compelled to withdraw
+his troops from Holland, to meet the foes who were crowding upon him
+from all directions.
+
+Louis XIV. now found nearly all Europe against him. He sent twenty
+thousand men, under Marshal Turenne, to encounter the forces of the
+Emperor of Germany. The Prince de Conde was sent with forty thousand
+troops to assail the redoubtable Prince of Orange. Another strong
+detachment was dispatched to the frontiers of Spain, to arrest the
+advance of the Spanish troops. A fleet was also sent, conveying a
+large land force, to make a diversion by attacking the Spanish
+sea-ports.
+
+Turenne, in defending the frontiers of the Rhine, acquired reputation
+which has made his name one of the most renowned in military annals.
+The emperor sent seventy thousand men against him. Turenne had but
+twenty thousand to meet them. By wonderful combinations, he defeated
+and dispersed the whole imperial army. It added not a little to the
+celebrity of Turenne that he had achieved his victory by following his
+own judgment, in direct opposition to reiterated orders from the
+minister of war, given in the name of the king.
+
+Turenne, a merciless warrior, allowed no considerations of humanity to
+interfere with his military operations. The Palatinate, a country on
+both sides the Rhine, embracing a territory of about sixteen hundred
+square miles, and a population of over three hundred thousand, was
+laid in ashes by his command. It was a beautiful region, very fertile,
+and covered with villages and opulent cities. The Elector Palatine saw
+from the towers of his castle at Manheim two cities and twenty-five
+villages at the same time in flames. This awful destruction was
+perpetrated upon the defenseless inhabitants, that the armies of the
+emperor, encountering entire desolation, might be deprived of
+subsistence. It was nothing to Turenne that thousands of women and
+children should be cast houseless into the fields to starve.
+
+Alsace, with nearly a million of inhabitants, encountered the same
+doom. Another province, Lorraine, which covered an area of about ten
+thousand square miles, and contained a population of one and a half
+millions, was swept of all its provisions by the cavalry of the French
+commander. In reference to these military operations, Voltaire writes,
+
+"All the injuries he inflicted seemed to be necessary. Besides, the
+army of seventy thousand Germans, whom he thus prevented from
+entering France, would have inflicted much more injury than Turenne
+inflicted upon Lorraine, Alsace, and the Palatinate."
+
+On the 27th of June, 1675, a cannon ball struck Turenne, and closed in
+an instant his earthly career. His renown filled Europe. He was a
+successful warrior, a dissolute man; and few who have ever lived have
+caused more wide-spread misery than could be charged to his account.
+Such is not the character which best prepares one to stand before the
+judgment seat of Christ.
+
+The war continued for two years with somewhat varying fortune, but
+with unvarying blood and misery. At last peace was made on the 14th of
+August, 1678--the peace of Nimeguen, as it is styled. Louis XIV.
+dictated the terms. He was now at the height of his grandeur. He had
+enlarged his domains by the addition of Franche-Comte, Dunkirk, and
+half of Flanders. His courtiers worshiped him as a demigod. The French
+court conferred upon him, with imposing solemnities, the title of
+_Louis le Grand_. The ambition of Louis was by no means satiated. He
+availed himself of the short peace which ensued to form plans and
+gather resources for new conquests.
+
+Let us now return from fields of blood to life in the palace. Madame
+de la Valliere, upon her return from the convent, soon found herself
+utterly miserable. She had hoped that reviving affection had been the
+inducement which led Louis to recall her. Instead of this, his
+attentions daily diminished. Madame de Montespan had accompanied the
+king in his brief trip to Holland, and returned with him to Paris. She
+was all-powerful at court, and seemed to delight, by word and deed, to
+add to the anguish of her vanquished rival. After a dreary year of
+wretchedness, Louise could endure no longer a residence in the palace.
+Her mother, who had been exceedingly distressed in view of the
+ignominious position occupied by her daughter, entreated her to retire
+to the Duchy of Vaujours with her children. Her mother promised to
+accompany her to that quiet yet beautiful retreat. But the spirit of
+Louise was broken. She longed only to sever herself entirely from the
+world, and to seek a living burial in the glooms of the cloister. In
+those days of sorrow, penitence and the spirit of devotion sprang up
+in her weary heart.
+
+Louise was still young and beautiful. Her passionate love for the
+king still held strong dominion over her. Grief brought on a long and
+dangerous illness. For many days her life was in danger. In view of
+the approaching judgment, where she felt that she soon must stand, the
+greatness of her transgression harrowed her soul, and increased her
+desire to spend the rest of her life in works of piety and in prayer.
+When convalescent, the king consented to her retirement to the
+Carmelite convent. Like one in a dream, she took leave of her children
+without a tear. Then, entering the apartment of the queen, she threw
+herself upon her knees, and with the sobbings of a remorseful and
+despairing heart implored her pardon for all the sorrow she had caused
+her. The generous Maria Theresa raised her up, embraced her, and
+declared her entirely forgiven.
+
+The morning of her departure arrived. The king, who was that day to
+leave Paris to visit the army in Flanders, attended high mass. Louise
+also attended. Absorbed in prayer, she did not raise her eyes during
+the service. She then, pale as death, and leaning upon the arm of her
+mother, but for whose support she must have fallen, advanced to take
+leave of the king. The selfish monarch, with a dry eye and a firm
+voice, bade her adieu, coldly expressing the hope that she would be
+happy in her retreat. Without the slightest apparent emotion, he saw
+Louise, with her earthly happiness utterly wrecked, enter her carriage
+and drive away, to pass the remainder of her joyless years in the
+gloomy cell of the convent. He then turned and conversed with his
+companions with as much composure as if nothing unusual had happened.
+
+Louise, upon her arrival at the convent, cast herself upon her knees
+before the abbess, saying that hitherto she had made so ill a use of
+her free will that she came to resign it to the abbess forever. For
+thirty-six years the heart-broken penitent endured the hardships of
+her convent life--its narrow pallet, its hard fare, its prolonged
+devotions, its silence, and its rigid fastings. Under the name of
+Louisa of Mercy she with the most exemplary fidelity performed all her
+dreary duties, until, in her sixty-sixth year, she fell asleep, and
+passed away, we trust, to the bosom of that Savior who is ever ready
+to receive the returning penitent.
+
+The hapless Henrietta, duchess of Orleans, left a very beautiful
+daughter, Maria Louisa. Her charms of countenance, person, and
+manners attracted the admiration of the whole court, where she was a
+universal favorite. She was compelled by the king, as a matter of
+state policy, to marry Charles II., the young King of Spain, for whom
+she felt no affection. Bitterly she wept in view of the terrible
+sacrifice she was compelled to make. But the will of the king was
+inexorable. Her melancholy marriage was solemnized with much splendor
+in the great chapel at St. Germain. She then left, with undisguised
+reluctance, for Madrid. The King of Spain, feeble in body, more feeble
+in mind, moody and melancholy, was charmed by her youth and beauty.
+Her mental endowments were such that she soon acquired entire
+ascendency over him. He became pliant as wax in her hands.
+
+The cabinet at Vienna were alarmed lest Maria Louisa should influence
+her husband to unite with France against Germany. The Countess de
+Soissons was sent as a secret agent to the Spanish court. Beautiful
+and fascinating, she soon became exceedingly intimate with the queen.
+One day Maria Louisa, oppressed by the heat, expressed regret at the
+scarcity of milk in Madrid, saying how much she should enjoy a good
+draught. The countess assured her that she knew where to obtain some
+of excellent quality, and that, with her majesty's permission, she
+would have it iced and present it with her own hands. The queen
+received the cup with a smile, and drank it at once. In half an hour
+she was taken ill. After a few hours of horrible agony, such as her
+unhappy mother had previously endured from the same cause, she died.
+In the confusion, the countess escaped from the capital. She was
+pursued, but her arrangements for escape had been so skillfully made
+that she could not be overtaken.
+
+Maria Theresa, the neglected queen of France, had borne six children;
+but of these, at this period, there was but one surviving son, the
+dauphin. In his character there appeared a combination of most
+singular anomalies and contradictions. Though exceedingly impulsive
+and obstinate in obeying every freak of his fancy, he seemed incapable
+of any affection, and alike incapable of any hostility, except that
+which flashed up for the moment.
+
+"The example of his guardians had inspired him with a few amiable
+qualities, but his natural vices defied eradication. His
+constitutional tendencies were all evil. His greatest pleasure
+consisted in annoying those about him. Those who were most conversant
+with his humor could never guess the temper of his mind. He laughed
+the loudest and affected the greatest amiability when he was most
+exasperated, and scowled defiance when he was perfectly unruffled. His
+only talent was a keen sense of the ridiculous. Nothing escaped him
+that could be tortured into sarcasm, although no one could have
+guessed, from his abstracted and careless demeanor, that he was
+conscious of any thing that was taking place in his presence. His
+indolence was extreme, and his favorite amusement was lying stretched
+upon a sofa tapping the points of his shoes with a cane. Never, to the
+day of his death, had even his most intimate associates heard him
+express an opinion upon any subject relating to art, literature, or
+politics."[N]
+
+[Footnote N: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 268.]
+
+Such was the imbecile young man who, by the absurd law of hereditary
+descent, was the destined heir to the throne of more than twenty
+millions of people. The king was anxious to obtain for his son a bride
+whose alliance would strengthen him against his enemies. With that
+policy alone influencing him, he applied for the hand of the Princess
+Mary Ann of Bavaria. It so chanced that she was in personal appearance
+exceedingly unattractive. The king said that, "though she was not
+handsome, he still hoped that Monseigneur would be able to live
+happily with her."
+
+The dauphin, or Monseigneur as he was called, seemed to be perfectly
+indifferent to the whole matter. He at one time inquired if the
+princess were free from any deformity. Upon being told that she was,
+he seemed quite contented, and asked no farther questions. In
+anticipation of the marriage, a lady, Madame de Maintenon, whose name
+henceforth became inseparably connected with that of Louis XIV., was
+appointed to the distinguished post of "mistress of the robes" to the
+dauphiness. We must now introduce this distinguished lady to our
+readers.
+
+The Marchioness Francoise d'Aubigne was born of a noble Protestant
+family, in the year 1635, in the prison of Niort. Her mother, with her
+little boy, had been permitted to join her imprisoned husband in his
+captivity. Here Francoise was born, amidst scenes of the most extreme
+poverty and misery. The emaciate mother was unable to afford
+sustenance to her infant. A sister of Baron d'Aubigne, Madame de
+Vilette, took Francoise to her home at the Chateau de Marcey, where
+she passed her infancy. After an imprisonment of four years, the baron
+was released; but, as he refused to abjure Calvinism, Cardinal
+Richelieu would not permit him to remain in France. He consequently,
+with his family, embarked for Martinique. During the passage,
+Francoise was taken ill and apparently died. As one of the crew was
+about to consign the body to its ocean burial, the grief-stricken
+mother implored the privilege of one parting embrace. As she pressed
+the child to her heart, she perceived indications of life. The babe
+recovered, to occupy a position which filled the world with her
+renown.
+
+Upon the island of Martinique prosperity smiled upon them. Madame
+d'Aubigne was a Catholic, though her husband was a Protestant. She at
+length took ship for France, hoping to save some portion of her
+husband's sequestered estates, but was unsuccessful. Upon her return
+to Martinique, she found that Baron d'Aubigne, during her absence,
+deprived of her restraining influence, had utterly ruined himself by
+gambling. Overwhelmed by regret and misery, he almost immediately
+sank into the grave. Madame d'Aubigne and her two children, in the
+extreme of poverty, returned to France. Madame de Vilette again took
+the little Francoise to the chateau of Marcey. As her mother was a
+Catholic, Francoise had been baptized by a Romish priest, and reared
+in the faith of her mother. The Countess de Neuillant, who was
+attached to the household of Anne of Austria, was her godmother, and a
+very intense Catholic; but Madame de Vilette, the sister of the
+child's father, was a Protestant. The susceptible child was soon led
+to adopt the faith of her protectress. Catholic zeal was such in those
+days that Madame de Neuillant obtained an order from the court to
+remove the little girl from the Protestant family, and to place her
+under her own guardianship. Here every effort was made to induce
+Francoise to return to the Catholic faith, but neither threats nor
+entreaties were of any avail. She remained firm in her Protestant
+principles. The persecution she endured amounted almost to martyrdom.
+Madame de Neuillant, in her rage, imposed upon her the most
+humiliating and onerous domestic services. She was the servant of the
+servants. She fed the horses. She suffered from cold and hunger. Thus
+she, who subsequently caused the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
+and thus exposed the Protestants to the most dreadful sufferings, was
+a martyr of the religion of which she later became so terrible a
+scourge.
+
+The mother, witnessing the distress of her child, succeeded in
+withdrawing her from Madame de Neuillant, and placing her in a
+convent. Here the Ursuline nuns won her over to the Catholic faith.
+Proud of their convert, who was remarkably intelligent and attractive,
+they kept her for a year. But as neither Madame de Neuillant, from
+whom she had been removed, nor Madame de Vilette, who dreaded her
+return to Romanism, would pay her board, they refused to give her any
+longer a shelter. Francoise left the convent, and joined her mother
+only in time to see her sink in sorrow to the grave. She was thus
+left, at fourteen years of age, in utter destitution, dependent upon
+charity for support.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+MADAME DE MAINTENON.
+
+1649-1685
+
+Beauty and intelligence of Francoise--Francoise d'Aubigne and
+the poet Scarron.--Scarron's proposal of marriage.--Marriage of
+Francoise d'Aubigne.--Becomes a governess.--Elevation of Madame
+Scarron.--Personal appearance of Madame de Maintenon.--Portrait
+of Ann of Austria.--The Princess of Tuscany.--Unhappiness of the
+dauphiness.--Louis's providence for his children.--Mademoiselle de
+Blois.--Marriage of Mademoiselle de Blois.--The man with the iron
+mask.--Measures adopted to prevent discovery.--Madame de Montespan
+and her son.--Mary Angelica Roussille.--Intrigue of Madame
+de Montespan.--Display of the Duchess de Fontanges.--A
+quarrel.--Virtuous endeavors of Madame de Maintenon.--Madame de
+Maintenon's efforts unsuccessful.--Sickness and distress of the
+Duchess de Fontanges.--Death of the Duchess de Fontanges.--Madame
+de Montespan rejoices.--Supremacy of Madame de Maintenon.--Pere la
+Chaise.--Remorse of Louis.--Degradation of the people.--Birth of
+the Duke of Burgoyne.--Louis taken ill.--Dismissal of Madame de
+Montespan.--Resolves to build a convent.--Her great wealth.--The
+convent of St. Joseph completed.--The king recovers, and goes to
+Flanders.--Return to Versailles.--Political ambition of Louis
+XIV.--Sickness and death of the queen, Maria Theresa.--Tribute to
+her worth.--Masses.--Versailles.--Heartlessness of the king
+and of the courtiers.--Accident.--Death of the minister of
+finance.--Ingratitude.--Remarkable condescension on the part
+of Louis.--Genoa assailed.--Capture.--The Doge humbled.
+
+
+The extreme distress and destitution of Francoise touched the heart of
+Madame de Neuillant. She again took the orphan child under her charge
+and returned her to school in the convent. Francoise gradually
+developed remarkable beauty and intelligence. Her quiet, unobtrusive,
+instinctive tact gave her fascinating power over most who approached
+her. She often visited the countess, where she attracted much
+admiration from the fashionable guests who were ever assembled in her
+saloons. The dissolute courtiers were lavish in their attentions to
+the highly-endowed child. Established principles of virtue alone saved
+her from ruin. Misfortune and sorrow had rendered her precocious
+beyond her years. It was her only and her earnest desire to take the
+veil, and join the sisters in the convent. But money was needed for
+that purpose, and she had none.
+
+There was residing very near Madame de Neuillant, a very remarkable
+man, Paul Scarron. He was born of a good family, and had traveled
+extensively. Having run through the disgraceful round of fashionable
+dissipation, he had become crippled by the paralysis of his lower
+limbs, and was living a literary life in the enjoyment of a
+competence. He was still young. Imperturbable gayety, wonderful
+conversational powers, and celebrity as a poet, caused his saloons to
+be crowded with distinguished and admiring friends. Some one mentioned
+to him the situation of Francoise d'Aubigne, and her desire to enter
+the convent. His kindly heart was touched, and, heading a
+subscription-list, he soon obtained sufficient funds from among his
+friends to enable her to secure the retreat she desired.
+
+Quite overjoyed, the maiden hastened to the apartments of the poet to
+express her gratitude. Scarron was astonished when the apparition of a
+beautiful girl of fifteen, full of life, and with a figure whose
+symmetric grace the sculptor could with difficulty rival, appeared
+before him. Her heart was glowing with gratitude which her lips could
+hardly express, that he was furnishing her with means for a life-long
+burial in the glooms of the cloister. The poet gazed upon her for a
+moment quite bewildered, and then said, with one of those beaming
+smiles which irradiated his pale, intellectual face with rare beauty,
+
+"I must recall my promise; I can not procure you admission into a
+religious community. You are not fitted for a nun. You can not
+understand the nature of the sacrifice which you are so eager to make.
+Will you become my wife? My servants anger and neglect me. I am unable
+to enforce obedience. Were they under the control of a mistress, they
+would do their duty. My friends neglect me; I can not pursue them to
+reproach them for their abandonment. If they saw a pretty woman at the
+head of my household, they would make my home cheerful. I give you a
+week to decide."
+
+Francoise returned to the convent bewildered, almost stunned. She was
+alone in the world, living upon reluctant charity. There was no one to
+whom she could confidingly look for advice. The future was all dark
+before her. Scarron, though crippled, was still young, witty, and
+distinguished as one of the most popular poets of the day. His saloon
+was the intellectual centre of the capital, where the most
+distinguished men were wont to meet. At the close of the week
+Francoise returned an affirmative answer. They were soon married. She
+found apparently a happy home with her crippled but amiable husband.
+The brilliant circle in the midst of which she moved strengthened her
+intellect, enlarged her intelligence, and added to that wonderful ease
+and gracefulness of manner with which she was by nature endowed.
+
+In the year 1660 Monsieur Scarron died. He had lived expensively, and,
+as his income was derived from a life annuity which ceased at his
+death, his wife found herself again in utter destitution. She was then
+forty-five years of age. Madame de Montespan, who had frequently met
+her in those brilliant circles, which had been rendered additionally
+attractive by her personal loveliness and mental charms, persuaded the
+king to appoint Madame Scarron governess for her children. A residence
+was accordingly assigned her near the palace of the Luxembourg, where
+she was installed in her responsible office. She enjoyed a princely
+residence, horses, a carriage, and a suite of servants. The many
+attractions of Madame Scarron were not lost upon the king. He often
+visited her, loved to converse with her, and soon the jealousy of
+Madame de Montespan was intensely excited by the manifest fondness
+with which he was regarding the new favorite.
+
+Greatly to the disgust of Madame de Montespan, whose influence was
+rapidly waning, the king appointed Madame Scarron to the responsible
+office of _Mistress of the Robes_ to the dauphiness, Mary Ann of
+Bavaria, who was soon to arrive. He also conferred upon her the fine
+estate of Maintenon, with the title of Marchioness of Maintenon. It
+was now the turn of Madame de Montespan to experience the same neglect
+and humiliation through which she had seen, almost exultingly, the
+unhappy Madame de la Valliere pass.
+
+[Illustration: MADAME DE MAINTENON.]
+
+The haughty favorite had reached her thirty-ninth year. The charms of
+youth were fast leaving her. Louis had attained his forty-second year.
+Bitter reproaches often rose between them. The king was weary of her
+exactions. He made several efforts, but in vain, to induce her to
+retire to one of the estates which he had conferred upon her. The
+daily increasing alienation led the king more frequently to seek the
+soothing society of the calm, gentle, serious Madame de Maintenon.
+Her fascinations of person and mind won his admiration, while her
+virtues commanded his respect.
+
+Such was the posture of affairs when preparations were made for the
+reception of the dauphiness with the utmost magnificence. The costumes
+of Madame de Maintenon were particularly remarked for their splendor,
+being covered with jewels and embroidered with gold.
+
+"Madame de Maintenon, although in her forty-fifth year, had lost no
+charm save that of youth, which had been replaced by a stately grace,
+and a dignified self-possession that rendered it almost impossible to
+regret the lighter and less finished attractions of buoyancy and
+display. Her hands and arms were singularly beautiful; her eyes had
+lost nothing of their fire; her voice was harmoniously modulated, and
+there was in the whole of her demeanor unstudied ease, which was as
+far removed from presumption as from servility."[O]
+
+[Footnote O: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 274.]
+
+Madame de Montespan was so annoyed by the honors conferred upon Madame
+de Maintenon that she was betrayed into saying, "I pity the young
+foreigner, who can not fail to be eclipsed in every way by her
+_Mistress of the Robes_."
+
+Early in the year 1680 Madame de Maintenon and M. Bossuet, bishop of
+Meaux, who had educated the dauphin, accompanied by a suitable
+retinue, proceeded to Schelestadt to receive the dauphiness. Here the
+ceremony of marriage by proxy was to be solemnized. The king and the
+dauphin proceeded as far as Vitry le Francais to receive the bride.
+She was not beautiful, "but she was," writes Madame de Sevigne, "very
+graceful; her hands and arms were exquisitely moulded. She had so fine
+a figure, so admirable a carriage, such handsome teeth, such
+magnificent hair, and so much amiability of manner, that she was
+courteous without being insipid, familiar without losing her dignity,
+and had so charming a deportment that she might be pardoned for not
+pleasing at first sight."
+
+Louis seemed quite delighted with his new daughter-in-law, and devoted
+himself much to her entertainment. She was accompanied by her sister,
+the Princess of Tuscany, who was extremely beautiful. The king, in
+conversation with Mary Ann, remarked, "You never mentioned to me the
+fact that the Princess of Tuscany was so singularly lovely." With tact
+which gave evidence of her self-possession and ready wit, the
+dauphiness replied, "How can I remember, sire, that my sister
+monopolized all the beauty of the family, when I, on my part, have
+monopolized all its happiness."
+
+The young dauphiness had sufficient penetration soon to perceive that
+the attentions which the king was apparently devoting to her were due
+mainly to his desire to enjoy the society of the beautiful and
+agreeable _Mistress of the Robes_. The dauphiness was annoyed.
+Naturally of a retiring disposition, very fond of books and of music,
+she soon wearied of the perpetual whirl of fashion and frivolity, and
+gradually withdrew as much as possible from the society of the court.
+She imbibed a strong dislike to Madame de Maintenon, which dislike
+Madame de Montespan did every thing in her power to increase. The
+dauphiness became very unhappy. She soon found that her husband was a
+mere cipher, whom she could neither regard with respect nor affection.
+Louis XIV. allowed the dauphiness to pursue her own course. While ever
+treating her with the most punctilious politeness, he continued, much
+to her chagrin, and especially to that of Madame de Montespan, to
+manifest his admiration for Madame de Maintenon, and constantly to
+seek her society. Thus the clouds of discontent, jealousy, and bitter
+hostility shed their gloom throughout the court. There was splendor
+there, but no happiness.
+
+It was a good trait in the character of the king that he was
+affectionately attached to _all_ of his children. He provided for them
+sumptuously, and did every thing in his power to provide abundantly
+for those of dishonorable birth. Royal decrees pronounced them
+legitimate, and they were honored and courted as princes of the blood.
+
+Mademoiselle de Blois, a daughter of Madame de la Valliere, was one of
+the most beautiful and highly accomplished women ever seen at the
+French court. Her mother had transmitted to her all her many virtues
+and none of her frailties. Tall and slender, her figure was the
+perfection of grace. A slightly pensive air enhanced the charms of a
+countenance remarkably lovely, and of a bearing in which were combined
+the highest attractions of self-respect and courtly breeding. Her
+voice was music. Her hands and feet were finely modeled. Several
+foreign princes had solicited her hand. But the king, her father, had
+invariably declined these offers. He declared that the presence of
+his daughter was essential to his happiness--that he could not be
+separated from her.
+
+In 1680 Mademoiselle de Blois was married to the Prince de Conti,
+nephew of the great Conde. It was as brilliant a marriage as exalted
+rank, gorgeous dresses, superb diamonds, and courtly etiquette could
+create. The king could not have honored the nuptials more had he been
+giving a daughter of the queen to the proudest monarch in Europe. Her
+princely dowry was the same as would have been conferred on such an
+occasion. It amounted to five hundred thousand golden crowns. This was
+the same sum which the Spanish monarchy assigned Maria Theresa upon
+her marriage with the King of France.
+
+It is difficult to imagine what must have been the emotions of Madame
+de la Valliere when she heard, in her narrow cell, the details of the
+brilliant nuptials of her child. Her loving heart must have
+experienced conflicting sensations of joy and of anguish. Madame de la
+Valliere had also a son, Count Vermandois. He became exceedingly
+dissipated, so much so as to excite the severe displeasure of the
+king. Rumor says that on one occasion he had the audacity to strike
+the dauphin. The council condemned him to death. Louis XIV., through
+paternal affection, commuted the punishment to imprisonment for life.
+The report was spread that he had died of a contagious disease, while
+he was privately conveyed to the prison of St. Marguerite, and
+subsequently to the Bastile, his face being ever concealed under an
+iron mask. Here he died, it is said, on the 19th of November, 1703,
+after an imprisonment of between thirty and forty years. The true
+explanation of this great historical mystery will probably now never
+be ascertained.
+
+The story of the "Man with the Iron Mask" is one of the most
+remarkable in the annals of the past. Probably no information will
+ever be obtained upon this subject more full than that which Voltaire
+has given. He says that a prisoner was sent in great secrecy to the
+chateau in the island of St. Marguerite; that he was young, tall, and
+of remarkably graceful figure. His face was concealed by an iron mask,
+with coils of steel so arranged that he could eat without its removal.
+Orders were given to kill him instantly if he should announce who he
+was. He remained at the chateau many years in close imprisonment.
+
+In 1690, M. St. Mars, governor of the prison at St. Marguerite, was
+transferred to the charge of the Bastile in Paris. The prisoner, ever
+masked, was taken with him, and was treated on the journey with the
+highest respect. A well-furnished chamber was provided for him in that
+immense chateau. The governor himself brought him his food, and stood
+respectfully like a servile attendant while he ate. The captive was
+extremely fond of fine linen and lace, and was very attentive to his
+personal appearance. Upon his death the walls of his chamber were
+rubbed down and whitewashed. Even the tiles of the floor were removed,
+lest he might have concealed a note beneath them.
+
+It is very remarkable that, while it can not be doubted that the
+prisoner was a person of some great importance, no such personage
+disappeared from Europe at that time. It is a plausible supposition
+that the king, unwilling to consign his own son to death, sent him to
+life-long imprisonment; and that the report of his death by a
+contagious disease was circulated that the mother might be saved the
+anguish of knowing the dreadful fate of her child. Still there are
+many difficulties connected with this explanation, and there is none
+other which has ever satisfied public curiosity.
+
+Madame de Montespan had eight children, who were placed under the care
+of Madame de Maintenon. Her eldest son, Count de Vixen, died in his
+eleventh year. Her second son, the Duke de Maine, was a lad of
+remarkable character and attainments. He loved Madame de Maintenon. He
+did not love his mother. Unfeelingly he reproached her with his
+ignoble birth. Madame de Montespan, though still a fine-looking woman,
+brilliant, witty, and always conspicuous for the splendor of her
+equipage and her attire, felt every hour embittered by the
+consciousness that her power over the king had passed away. She
+regarded the serious, thoughtful Madame de Maintenon as her successful
+rival, though her social relations with the king were entirely above
+reproach.
+
+The character of the discarded favorite is developed by the measure
+she adopted to lure the susceptible and unprincipled monarch from the
+very agreeable society of Madame de Maintenon. In the department of
+Provence there was a young lady but eighteen years of age, Mary
+Angelica Roussille. She was of such wonderful beauty that its fame had
+reached Paris. Her parents had educated her with the one sole object
+of rendering her as fascinating as possible. They wished to secure for
+her the position of a maid of honor to the queen, hoping that by so
+doing she would attract the favor of the king. Madame de Montespan
+heard of her. She plotted to bring this young and extraordinary beauty
+to the court, that, by her personal charms, she might outrival the
+mental and social attractions of Madame de Maintenon. She described
+her intended protege to the king in such enthusiastic strains that his
+curiosity was roused. She was brought to court. The monarch, satiated
+by indulgence, oppressed by ennui, ever seeking some new excitement,
+was at once won by the charms of the beautiful Mary Angelica. She
+became an acknowledged favorite. He lavished upon her gifts of jewels
+and of gold, and dignified her with the title of the _Duchesse de
+Fontanges_. The court blazed again with splendor to greet the new
+favorite; and, let it not be forgotten, to meet this royal splendor,
+millions of peasants were consigned to hovels, and life-long penury
+and want.
+
+There was a constant succession of theatric shows, ballets, and
+concerts. Mary Angelica was a gay, frivolous, conceited, heartless
+girl, who recklessly squandered the gold so profusely poured into her
+lap. The insolent favorite even ventured to treat the queen with
+disdain, assuming the priority. In the streets she made a truly regal
+display in a gorgeous carriage drawn by eight cream-colored horses,
+while the clustering ringlets, the floating plumes, and the truly
+radiant beauty of the _parvenue_ duchess attracted all eyes. If she
+had ever heard, she refused to heed the warning voice of the prophet,
+saying, "Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into
+judgment."
+
+The scheme of Madame de Montespan had succeeded far more fully than
+she had expected or desired. The absorption of the king in the
+new-comer was so entire that the discarded favorite was tortured with
+new pangs of jealousy and remorse. Implacably she hated the Duchess of
+Fontanges. With her sharp tongue she mercilessly cut the luxurious
+beauty, who had intelligence enough to feel the sarcasms keenly, but
+had no ability to retort. A disgraceful quarrel ensued, in which the
+most vulgar epithets and the grossest witticisms were bandied between
+them. The king himself at length found it necessary to interpose. He
+applied to Madame de Maintenon for counsel and aid. She had quietly
+attended to her duties, observing all that was passing, but taking no
+part in these shameful intrigues. Conscious that any attempt to
+influence Madame de Montespan, hardened as she was in her career,
+would be futile, she ventured to address herself to the young and
+inexperienced Duchess de Fontanges. Gently she endeavored to lead her
+to some conception of the enormity of the life she was leading, and of
+the indecency of compromising the king and the court by undignified
+brawls.
+
+The vain and heartless beauty received her counsels with bitter
+derision and passionate insult, and attributed every annoyance to
+which, as she averred, she was continually subjected, to the jealous
+envy of those with whose ambitious views she had interfered; more than
+hinting that Madame de Maintenon herself was among the number. She
+was, however, only answered by a placid smile, and instructed to
+remember that those who sought to share her triumphs and her splendor
+must be content at the same time to partake her sin. It was a price
+too heavy to pay even for the smiles of a monarch. In vain did the
+flushed and furious beauty plead the example of others, higher born
+and more noble than herself. The calm and unmoved monitress instantly
+availed herself of this hollow argument to bid her, in her turn, to
+set an example which the noblest and the best-born might be proud to
+follow.
+
+"And how can I do this?" was the sullen inquiry.
+
+"By renouncing the society of the king," firmly replied Madame de
+Maintenon. "Either you love him, or you love him not. If you love him,
+you should make an effort to save both his honor and your own. If you
+do not love him, it will cost you no effort to withdraw from the
+court. In either case you will act wisely and nobly."
+
+"Would not any one believe who heard you," passionately exclaimed the
+duchess, "that it was as easy to leave a king as to throw off a
+glove?"[P]
+
+[Footnote P: Louis XIV and the Court of France.]
+
+This was the only reply. The mission of Madame de Maintenon had
+entirely failed. The proud, unblushing beauty, whose effrontery passed
+all bounds, was greatly enraged against Madame de Maintenon; and when
+she perceived that the king was again beginning to take refuge in her
+virtuous society and conversation, she vowed the most signal
+vengeance.
+
+But the day of retribution soon came--far sooner than could have been
+expected. The guilty and pampered duchess was taken ill--hopelessly
+so, with a sickness that destroyed all her beauty. She became sallow,
+pallid, gaunt, emaciate, haggard. The selfish, heartless king wished
+to see her no more. He did not conceal his repugnance, and quite
+forsook her. The humiliation, distress, and abandonment of the guilty
+duchess was more than she could bear. She begged permission, either
+sincerely or insincerely, to retire to the convent of Port Royal.
+Louis, whose crime was far greater than that of his wrecked and ruined
+victim, was glad to be rid of her. But she was too far gone, in her
+rapid illness, to be removed. It was soon manifest that her life was
+drawing near to its close. She begged to see the king once more before
+she died.
+
+Louis XIV. dreaded every thing which could remind him of that tomb
+toward which all are hastening, and especially did he recoil from
+every death-bed scene. The wretched man would not have listened to the
+plea of the dying girl had not the remonstrances of his confessor
+constrained him. Thus, reluctantly, he entered the dying chamber. He
+found Mary Angelica faded, withered, and ghastly--all unlike the
+radiant beauty whom for a few brief months he had almost worshiped.
+Egotist as he was, he could not restrain his tears. Her glassy eyes
+were riveted upon his countenance. Her clammy hand almost convulsively
+clasped his own. Her livid lips quivered in their last effort as she
+besought him to pay her debts, and sometimes to remember her. Louis
+promised all she asked. As she sank back upon her pillow, she gasped
+out the declaration that she should die happy, as she saw that the
+king could weep for her. Immediately after she fell into a swoon and
+died.
+
+The exultation of Madame de Montespan at her death was so indecent and
+undisguised as to excite the disgust of the king. Her very name became
+hateful to him. Wicked man as he was, Louis XIV. believed in
+Christianity, and in its revelations of responsibility at the bar of
+God. He was shocked, and experienced much remorse in view of this
+death-bed without repentance. He could not conceal from himself that
+he was in no inconsiderable degree responsible for the guilt which
+burdened the soul of the departed. His aversion to Madame de Montespan
+was increased by the report, then generally circulated, that the
+duchess had died from poison, administered through her agency. The
+poor victim of sin and shame was soon forgotten in the grave. The
+court whirled on in its usual round of frivolous and guilty pleasures,
+such as Babylon could scarcely have rivaled.
+
+The supremacy of Madame de Maintenon over Louis XIV. was that of a
+strong mind over a feeble one. The king had many very weak points in
+his character. He was utterly selfish, and the slave of his vices.
+Madame de Maintenon, with much address, strove to recall him to a
+better life. In these efforts she was much aided by the king's
+confessor, Pere la Chaise. This truly good man reminded the king that
+he had already passed the fortieth year of his age, that his youth had
+gone forever, that he would soon enter upon the evening of his days,
+and that, as yet, he had done nothing to secure his eternal salvation.
+He had already received many warnings as he had followed one after
+another to the grave. The king was naturally thoughtful, and perhaps
+even religiously inclined. Not a few events had already occurred
+calculated to harrow his soul with remorse. He had seen his mother
+die, one of the saddest of deaths. He had seen his sister Henrietta,
+his brother's bride, whom he had loved with more than a brother's
+love, writhing in death's agonies, the victim of poison. He had
+followed several of his children to the grave. Madame de la Valliere,
+whom he had loved as ardently as he was capable of loving any one, now
+a ruined, heart-broken victim of his selfishness and sin, was
+consigned to living burial in the glooms of the cloister. He could not
+banish from his mind the dreadful scenes of the death of the Duchess
+of Fontanges.
+
+Just at this time the dauphiness gave birth to a son. This advent of
+an heir to the throne caused universal rejoicing throughout the court
+and the nation. It is melancholy to reflect that the people, crushed
+and impoverished as they were by the most atrocious despotism, were so
+unintelligent that they regarded their oppressors with something of
+the idolatrous homage with which the heathen bow before their hideous
+gods.
+
+The king himself, at times, manifested a kind of tender interest in
+the people, who were so mercilessly robbed to maintain the splendor of
+his court and the grandeur of his armies. Upon the birth of the young
+prince, who received the title of the Duke of Burgoyne, the populace
+of Paris crowded to Versailles with their rude congratulations. Every
+avenue was thronged with the immense multitude. They even flooded the
+palace and poured into the saloons. The king, whose heart was softened
+by the birth of a grandson to whom the crown might be transmitted,
+received all very graciously.
+
+The birth of an heir to the crown added much to the personal
+importance of the dauphiness. But, neglected by her husband and
+annoyed by the scenes transpiring around her, she was a very unhappy
+woman. No efforts on the part of the court could draw her from the
+silence and gloom of her retirement. Madame de Maintenon and the
+king's confessor, Pere la Chaise, were co-operating in the endeavor to
+lure the king from his life of guilty indulgence into the paths of
+virtue. Fortunately, at this time the monarch was attacked by severe
+and painful illness. Death was to him truly the king of terrors. He
+was easily influenced to withdraw from his criminal relations with
+one whom he had for some time been regarding with repugnance. Madame
+de Maintenon was deputed to inform Madame de Montespan of the king's
+determination never again to regard her in any other light than that
+of a friend.
+
+It was a very painful and embarrassing commission for Madame de
+Maintenon to fulfill. But the will of the king was law. She discharged
+the duty with great delicacy and kindness. Deeply mortified as was the
+discarded favorite, she was not entirely unprepared for the
+announcement. She had for some time been painfully aware of her waning
+influence, and had been preparing for herself a retreat where she
+could still enjoy opulence, rank, and power.
+
+In pursuit of this object, she had determined to erect and endow a
+convent. The sisterhood, appointed by her and entirely dependent upon
+her liberality, would treat her with the deference due to a queen. The
+king had lavished such enormous sums upon her that she had large
+wealth at her disposal. She had already selected a spot for the
+convent in the Faubourg St. Germain, and had commenced rearing the
+edifice. It so happened that the corner-stone was laid at the very
+moment in which the unhappy Duchess de Fontanges was breathing her
+last. Madame de Montespan had no idea of taking the veil herself. The
+glooms of the cloister had for her no attractions. Her only object was
+to rear a miniature kingdom, where she, having lost the potent charms
+of youth and beauty, could still enjoy an undisputed reign.
+
+The marchioness already owned a dwelling, luxuriously furnished, which
+the king had presented her, in the Rue St. Andre des Arcs. Her wealth
+was so great that, in addition to the convent, she also planned
+erecting for herself a magnificent hotel, in imitation of the palace
+of the Tuileries. The estimated expense was equal to the sum of one
+million five hundred thousand dollars at the present day.
+
+The workmen upon the convent were urged to the most energetic labor,
+and the building was soon completed. The marchioness gave it the name
+of St. Joseph. One room was sumptuously furnished for her private
+accommodation. She appointed the abbess. The great bell of the convent
+was to ring twenty minutes whenever she visited the sisterhood. As the
+founder of the community, she was to receive the honors of the incense
+at high mass and vespers. The marchioness richly enjoyed this
+adulation, and was a frequent visitor at the convent.
+
+The king, having recovered from his illness, decided upon a journey to
+Flanders. Oppressed with ennui, he sought amusement for himself and
+his court. He wished also to impress his neighbors by an exhibition of
+his splendor and power. The queen, with the dauphin and dauphiness,
+attended by their several suites, accompanied him on this expedition.
+Madame de Montespan was excessively chagrined in finding her name
+omitted in the list of those who were to make up the party. But the
+name of Madame de Maintenon headed the list of the attendants of the
+princess.
+
+The gorgeous procession, charioted in the highest appliances of regal
+splendor, swept along through cities and villages, every where
+received with triumphal arches, the ringing of bells, the explosions
+of artillery, and the blaze of illuminations till the sea-port of
+Dunkirk was reached. Here there was a sham-fight between two frigates.
+It was a serene and lovely day. The members of the royal suite, from
+the deck of a bark sumptuously prepared for their accommodation,
+witnessed with much delight the novel spectacle. At the close, the
+king repaired to one of the men-of-war, upon whose deck a lofty throne
+was erected, draped with a costly awning. Here the splendor-loving
+monarch, surrounded by that ceremonial and pageantry which were so
+dear to him, received the congratulations of the dignitaries of his
+own and other lands upon his recent recovery from illness. At the end
+of a month the party returned to Versailles.
+
+Devoted as Louis XIV. was to his own selfish gratification, he was
+fully aware of the dependence of that gratification upon the
+aggrandizement of the realm, which he regarded as his private
+property. Upon this tour of pleasure he invested the city of
+Luxembourg with an army of thirty thousand men, and took it after a
+siege of eight days. He then overrun the Electorate of Treves,
+demolished all its fine fortifications, and by the energies of
+pillage, fire, and ruin, rendered it impossible for the territory
+hereafter to render any opposition to his arms. The destructive genius
+of Louvois had suggested that these unnecessary spoliations would tend
+to increase the authority of his royal master by inspiring a greater
+terror of his power.
+
+Soon after this, the queen, Maria Theresa, was suddenly taken sick.
+Her indisposition, at first slight, rapidly increased in severity, and
+an abscess developed itself under her arm. The pain became
+excruciating. Her physician opened a vein and administered an emetic
+at 11 o'clock in the morning. It was a fatal prescription. At 3
+o'clock in the afternoon she died. As this unhappy queen, so gentle,
+so loving, so forgiving, was sinking away in death, she still, with
+woman's deathless love, cherished tenderly in her heart the memory of
+the king. Just as she was breathing her last, she drew from her finger
+a superb ring, which she presented to Madame de Maintenon saying,
+
+"Adieu, my very dear marchioness. To you I confide the happiness of
+the king."
+
+Maria Theresa was one of the most lovely of women. Her conduct was
+ever irreproachable. Amiable, unselfish, warm-hearted, from the time
+of her marriage she devoted herself to the promotion of the happiness
+of her husband. His neglect and unfaithfulness caused her, in secret,
+to shed many tears. Naturally diffident, and rendered timid by his
+undisguised indifference, she trembled whenever the king approached
+her. A casual smile from him filled her with delight. The king could
+not be insensible to her many virtues. Perhaps remorse was mingled
+with the emotions which compelled him to weep bitterly over her death.
+As he gazed upon her lifeless remains, he exclaimed,
+
+"Kind and forbearing friend, this is the first sorrow that you have
+caused me throughout twenty years."
+
+[Illustration: PALACE OF VERSAILLES.]
+
+The royal corpse lay in state at Versailles for ten days. During this
+time perpetual masses were performed for the soul of the departed from
+7 o'clock in the morning until dark. The king had reared the gorgeous
+palace of Versailles that he might not be annoyed, in his Babylonian
+revelry, by the sight of the towers of St. Denis. But God did not
+allow the guilty monarch to forget that kings as well as peasants were
+doomed to die. The king was compelled to accompany the remains of
+Maria Theresa from the sumptuous palace, where she had found so
+splendid and so unhappy a home, to the gloomy vaults of the abbey,
+where, in darkness and silence, those remains were to moulder to dust.
+
+The queen was forgotten even before she was buried. The gay courtiers,
+anxious to banish as speedily as possible from their minds all
+thoughts of death and judgment, sought, in songs, and mirth, and wine,
+to bury even the grave in oblivion. The funeral car was decorated with
+the most imposing emblems of mourning. A numerous train of carriages
+followed, filled with the great officers of the crown and with the
+ladies of the royal household. The procession was escorted by a
+brilliant and numerous body of mounted troops.
+
+"But nothing could exceed the indecency with which the journey was
+performed. From all the carriages issued the sounds of heartless jest
+and still more heartless laughter. The troops had no sooner reached
+the plain of St. Denis than they dispersed in every direction, some
+galloping right and left, and others firing at the birds that were
+flying over their heads."[Q]
+
+[Footnote Q: Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier.]
+
+The king, on the day of the funeral, in the insane endeavor to
+obliterate from his mind thoughts of death and burial, ordered out the
+hounds and plunged into the excitement of the chase. His horse pitched
+the monarch over his head into a ditch of stagnant water, dislocating
+one of his shoulders.
+
+About this time, Jean Baptiste Colbert, the king's minister of
+finance, and probably the most extraordinary man of the age, died,
+worn out with toil, anxiety, and grief. Few men have ever passed
+through this world leaving behind them such solid results of their
+labors. As minister of finance, he furnished the king with all the
+money he needed for his expensive wars and luxurious indulgence. As
+superintendent of buildings, arts, and manufactures, he enlarged the
+Tuileries, completed the gorgeous palace of Versailles, reared the
+magnificent edifices of the Invalides, Vincennes, and Marly, and
+founded the Gobelins. These and many other works of a similar nature
+he performed, though constantly struggling against the jealousy and
+intrigues of powerful opponents.
+
+The king seldom, if ever, manifested any gratitude to those who served
+him. Colbert, in the 64th year of his age, exhausted by incessant
+labor, and harassed by innumerable annoyances, was on a dying bed. Sad
+reflections seemed to overwhelm him. Not a gleam of joy lighted up his
+fading eye. The heavy taxes he had imposed upon the people rendered
+him unpopular. He could not be insensible to imprecations which
+threatened to break up his funeral and to drag his remains
+ignominiously through the streets. The king condescended, as his only
+act of courtesy, to send a messenger to ask tidings of the condition
+of his minister. As the messenger approached the bed, the dying
+sufferer turned away his face, saying,
+
+"I will not hear that man spoken of again. If I had done for God what
+I have done for him, I should have been saved ten times over. Now I
+know not what may be my fate."
+
+The day after his death, without any marks of honor, his remains were
+conveyed, in an ordinary hearse, to the church of St. Eustache. A few
+of the police alone followed the coffin.
+
+Genoa had offended the king by selling powder to the Algerines, and
+some ships to Spain. Louis seized, by secret warrant, _lettre de
+cachet_, the Genoese embassador, and plunged him into one of the
+dungeons of the Bastile. He then sent a fleet of over fifty vessels of
+war to chastise, with terrible severity, those who had offended him.
+The ships sailed from Toulon on the 6th of May, 1684, and entered the
+harbor of Genoa on the 19th. Immediately there was opened upon the
+city a terrific fire. In a few hours fourteen thousand bombs were
+hurled into its dwellings and its streets. A large portion of those
+marble edifices, which had given the city the name of _Genoa the
+Superb_, were crumbled to powder. Fourteen thousand soldiers were then
+disembarked. They advanced through the suburbs, burning the buildings
+before them. The whole city was threatened with total destruction. The
+authorities, in terror, sent to the conqueror imploring his clemency.
+The haughty King of France demanded that the Doge of Genoa, with four
+of his principal ministers, should repair to the palace of Versailles
+and humbly implore his pardon. The doge, utterly powerless, was
+compelled to submit to the humiliating terms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES.
+
+1680-1686
+
+Character of Madame de Maintenon.--Depression of the
+dauphiness.--Pere la Chaise.--The Edict of Nantes.--The Catholic
+clergy indignant.--Ravaillac.--Confirmation of the Edict of
+Nantes.--La Rochelle.--Sufferings of the Huguenots.--Policy of
+Louis.--Influence of Madame de Maintenon.--Religious zeal of the
+king.--False-hearted.--Persecution of the Protestants.--Severe
+measures to force proselytism.--The _dragonnades_.--Moral suasion
+of the dragoons.--Brutality of the soldiery.--Enactments of
+intolerance.--Zeal of the king.--The revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes.--Severe enactments against the Protestants.--Flight of the
+Protestants.--Numbers of the emigrants.--Scenes of suffering.--Louis
+alarmed.--Historical accounts of the emigration.--Multiplied
+outrages.--Reactions.--Secret assemblies.--Rage of the Jesuits.--New
+measures of the court.--Remonstrances of honorable
+Catholics.--Intrigues of the king.--Madame de Montespan to be
+removed.--Banishment of Madame de Montespan.--Parterre of
+Versailles.--A successful mission.--Egotism and heartlessness of the
+king.--Singular interview.--The king defends Madame de Maintenon's
+character.--Scene of frenzy and despair.--Madame de Maintenon and
+Madame de Montespan.
+
+
+It is the undisputed testimony of all the contemporaries of Madame de
+Maintenon that she possessed a character of rare excellence. Her
+personal attractions, sound judgment, instinctive delicacy of
+perception, and conversational brilliance, gave her a certain
+supremacy wherever she appeared. The fidelity with which she fulfilled
+her duties, her high religious principles, and the bold, yet tender
+remonstrances with which she endeavored to reclaim the king from his
+unworthy life, excited first his astonishment, and then his profound
+admiration.
+
+Every day the king, at three o'clock, proceeded to the apartments of
+Madame de Maintenon, and, taking a seat in an arm-chair, sat in a
+reclining posture, sometimes silently watching the progress of her
+tapestry-work, and again engaged in quiet conversation. Occasionally
+some of Racine's tragedies were read. The king took a listless
+pleasure in drawing out Madame de Maintenon to remark upon the merits
+or defects of the production.
+
+"In truth, a weariness of existence was rapidly growing upon Louis
+XIV. He had outlived his loves, his griefs, and almost his ambition.
+All he wanted was repose. And this he found in the society of an
+accomplished, judicious, and unassuming woman, who, although he
+occasionally transacted business in her presence with Louvois, never
+presumed to proffer an opinion save when he appealed to her judgment,
+and even then tendered it with reluctance and reserve."[R]
+
+[Footnote R: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, by Miss Pardoe, vol.
+ii., p. 339.]
+
+Upon the death of the queen the dauphiness was raised to the first
+rank at court. Still she was gloomy and reserved. No allurements could
+draw her from her retirement. Madame de Maintenon was a very decided
+Roman Catholic, and was very much influenced by the king's confessor,
+Pere la Chaise, who seems to have been a man of integrity and of
+conscientiousness, though fanatically devoted to what he deemed to be
+the interests of the Church. In former reigns the Protestants had
+endured from the Catholics the most dreadful persecutions. After
+scenes of woe, the recital of which causes the blood to curdle in
+one's veins, Henry IV., the grandfather of Louis XIV., feeling the
+need of the support of the Protestants to protect the kingdom from the
+perils by which it was surrounded, and having himself been educated a
+Protestant, granted the Protestants the world-renowned Edict of
+Nantes.
+
+By this edict, which took its name from the place in which it was
+published, and which was issued in April, 1598, certain privileges
+were granted to the Protestants, which, in that dark age, were
+regarded as extraordinarily liberal.
+
+Protestants were allowed liberty of conscience; that is, they were not
+to be punished for their religious faith. In certain designated places
+they were permitted to hold public worship. The highest lords of the
+Protestant faith could celebrate divine service in their castles.
+Nobles of the second rank could have private worship, provided but
+thirty persons attended. Protestants were declared to be eligible to
+offices of state, their children were to be admitted to the public
+schools, their sick to the hospitals, and their poor to the public
+charities. In certain places they could publish books; they were
+allowed four academies for scientific and theological instruction, and
+were permitted to convoke synods for Church discipline.
+
+The Catholic clergy were very indignant in view of these concessions.
+Pope Clement VIII. declared that the ordinance which permitted liberty
+of conscience to every one was the most execrable which was ever
+made.[S]
+
+[Footnote S: History of the Protestants of France, by Professor G. de
+Felice, p. 275.]
+
+There were then seven hundred and sixty churches in France of the
+Protestant communion. No such church was allowed in Paris. Protestants
+from the city, rich and poor, were compelled to repair, for public
+worship, to the little village of Ablon, fifteen miles from the city.
+The Edict of Nantes probably cost Henry IV. his life. The assassin
+Ravaillac, who plunged his dagger twice into the bosom of the king,
+said, in his examination,
+
+"I killed the king because, in making war upon the pope, he made war
+upon God, since the pope is God."
+
+The Protestants were thrown into the utmost consternation by the death
+of Henry IV. They apprehended the immediate repeal of the edict, and
+a renewal of the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. But the regent,
+Mary de Medici, and the court immediately issued a decree confirming
+the ordinance. Louis XIII. was then a child but eight and a half years
+of age. As he came into power, he was urged by the Jesuits to
+exterminate the Protestants. But they were too powerful to be wantonly
+assailed. They held two hundred fortified places. Many of the highest
+lords were among their leaders. Their soldiers were renowned for
+valor, and their churches numbered four hundred thousand men capable
+of bearing arms. It was not deemed safe to rouse such a people to the
+energies of despair. Still, during the reign of Louis XIII., there
+were many bloody conflicts between the royal troops and the
+Protestants.
+
+In this religious war, the Protestants, or Huguenots, as they were
+then called, defended themselves so valiantly, that the king felt
+constrained, in October, 1622, to relinquish his attempt to subjugate
+the Protestants by force of arms, and to confirm the Edict of Nantes.
+The sword was scarcely sheathed ere it was drawn again. All over
+France the Catholics and Protestants faced each other upon fields of
+blood. The battle raged for seven years with every conceivable
+concomitant of cruelty and horror. The eyes of all Europe were
+directed to the siege of La Rochelle, in 1627, where the Huguenots
+made their most decisive stand. All that human nature could suffer was
+endured. When two thirds of the population of the city had perished,
+and the streets and dwellings were encumbered with the unburied dead,
+and the remaining soldiers, reduced to skeletons, could no longer lift
+their weapons, the city surrendered on the 28th of October, 1628.
+
+By this war and the fall of La Rochelle, the Protestants were
+hopelessly weakened. Though they were deprived of many of their
+privileges, and were greatly diminished in numbers and influence,
+still the general provisions of the Edict of Nantes were not repealed.
+
+In the year 1662, Louis XIV., then upon the throne, in recognition of
+some support which he had received from the Protestants, issued a
+decree in which he said,
+
+"Inasmuch as our subjects of the pretended Reformed religion have
+given us proofs of their affection and fidelity, be it known that,
+for these reasons, they shall be supported and guarded, as in fact we
+do support and guard them, in the full enjoyment of the Edict of
+Nantes."
+
+The king had even appointed, the year before, two commissaries, the
+one a Catholic, the other a Protestant, to visit every province, and
+see that the requisitions of the Edict of Nantes were faithfully
+observed. This seemed very fair. But, in appointing these
+commissioners, a Catholic was always appointed who was a high
+dignitary of the state, a man of wealth and rank, distinguished for
+his devotion to the interests of the Catholic Church. On the other
+hand, the Protestant was always some poor country gentleman, timid and
+irresolute, and often one who had been secretly sold to the court to
+betray his duties.
+
+The Protestants had hoped much from the influence of Madame de
+Maintenon over the king, as she was the granddaughter of Agrippa
+d'Aubigne, one of the most illustrious defenders of the Calvinistic
+faith, and as she herself had been a Protestant until she had attained
+the age of sixteen years.
+
+But the king was fanatically Catholic, hoping, in some measure, to
+atone for his sins by his supreme devotion to the interests of the
+Church. Madame de Maintenon found it necessary, in promotion of her
+ambitious plans, to do all in her power to conceal her Protestant
+origin. She was fully aware of the king's great dislike to the
+Protestants, and of the necessity of cordially co-operating with him
+in these views. Still she could not refrain from manifesting some
+compassion at times for the sufferings of the friends of her earlier
+years.
+
+Louis XIV., while assuring the Protestant powers of Europe that he
+would continue to respect the Edict of Nantes, commenced issuing a
+series of ordinances in direct opposition to that contract. First he
+excluded Protestants from all public offices whatever. A Protestant
+could not be employed as a physician, lawyer, apothecary, bookseller,
+printer, or even as a nurse. This decree was issued in 1680. In some
+portions of the kingdom the Protestants composed nearly the entire
+population. Here it was impossible to enforce the atrocious decree. In
+other places it led to riots and bloodshed.
+
+This ordinance was followed by one forbidding marriages between
+Catholics and Protestants. Catholic servants were forbidden to serve
+in Protestant families, and Protestant servants could not be employed
+by Catholics.
+
+Rapidly blow followed blow. On the 17th of June, 1680, the king issued
+the following ordinance: "We wish that our subjects of the pretended
+Reformed religion, both male and female, having attained the age of
+seven years, may, and it is hereby made lawful for them to embrace the
+Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion, and that to this effect they be
+allowed to abjure the pretended Reformed religion, without their
+fathers and mothers and other kinsmen being allowed to offer them the
+least hinderance, under any pretext whatever."
+
+The effect of this law was terrible. Any malignant person, even a
+servant, could go into a court of justice and testify that a certain
+child had made the sign of the cross, or kissed an image of the
+Virgin, or had expressed a desire to enter the Catholic Church, and
+that child was immediately taken from its parents, shut up in a
+convent, and the parents were compelled to pay the expenses of its
+education. Even Madame de Maintenon availed herself of this law in
+wresting from her relative, the Marquis de Vilette, his children.
+
+A decree was then issued that all Protestants who should become
+Catholics might defer the payment of their debts for three years, and
+for two years be exempt from taxation, and from the burden of having
+soldiers quartered upon them. To save the treasury from loss, a double
+burden of taxation and a double quartering of soldiers was imposed
+upon those Protestants who refused to abjure their faith.
+
+If any Protestant was sick, officers were appointed whose duty it was
+to visit the sick-bed, and strive to convert the sufferer to the
+Catholic faith. Any physician who should neglect to give notice of
+such sickness was punished by a severe fine. The pastors were
+forbidden to make any allusions whatever in their sermons to these
+decrees of the court. Following this decree came the announcement that
+if any convert from Catholicism should be received into a Protestant
+Church, his property should be confiscated, he should be banished, and
+the privilege of public worship should no longer be enjoyed by that
+Church. Under this law several church edifices were utterly
+demolished.
+
+One of the severest measures adopted against the Protestants was
+quartering brutal and ferocious soldiers in their families. In March,
+1681, Louvois wrote to the governor of Poitou that he intended to send
+a regiment of cavalry into that province.
+
+"His majesty," he said, "has learned with much satisfaction the great
+number of persons who are becoming converts in your province. He
+desires that you continue to give great care to this matter. He thinks
+it best that the chief part of the cavalry and officers should be
+lodged in the houses of the Protestants. If, after a just
+distribution, the Calvinists would have to provide for ten soldiers,
+you can make them take twenty."
+
+The governor, Marillac, lodged from four to ten dragoons in the house
+of every Protestant. The soldiers were directed not to kill the people
+with whom they lodged, but to do every thing in their power to
+constrain them to abjure Protestantism. Thus originated that system of
+_dragonnades_ which has left an indelible stain upon the character of
+Louis XIV., and the recital of which has inspired every reader with
+horror.
+
+"The cavalry attached crosses to the muzzles of their muskets to force
+the Protestants to kiss them. When any one resisted, they thrust
+these crosses against the face and breasts of the unfortunate people.
+They spared children no more than persons advanced in years. Without
+compassion for their age, they fell upon them with blows, and beat
+them with the flat side of their swords and the butt of their muskets.
+They did this so cruelly that some were crippled for life."[T]
+
+[Footnote T: Histoire de l'Edit de Nantes, t. iv., p. 479.]
+
+It does not reflect credit upon Madame de Maintenon that she was eager
+to enrich her friends from the spoils of these persecuted Christians.
+Her brother was to receive a present of one hundred and eight thousand
+francs ($21,600). This sum was then three or four times as much as the
+same amount of money now.
+
+A law was now passed prohibiting the Protestants from leaving the
+kingdom, and condemning to perpetual imprisonment in the galleys all
+who should attempt to escape. France was ransacked to find every book
+written in support of Protestantism, that it might be burned. A
+representation having been made to the king of the sufferings of more
+than two millions of Protestant Frenchmen, he sternly replied,
+
+"To bring back all my subjects to Catholic unity, I would readily,
+with one hand, cut off the other."
+
+In some places the Protestants were goaded to an appeal to arms. With
+the most merciless butchery they were cut down, their houses razed,
+while some were put to death by lingering torture. In September, 1685,
+Louvois wrote,
+
+"Sixty thousand conversions have taken place in the district of
+Bordeaux, and twenty thousand in that of Montauban. The rapidity with
+which they go on is such that, before the end of the month, there will
+not remain ten thousand Protestants in all the district of Bordeaux,
+where there were one hundred and fifty thousand the 15th of last
+month."
+
+The Duke of Noailles wrote to Louvois, "The number of Protestants in
+the district of Nismes is about one hundred and forty thousand. I
+believe that at the end of the month there will be none left."
+
+On the 18th of October, 1685, the king, acceding to the wishes of his
+confessor and other high dignitaries of the Church, signed the
+_Revocation of the Edict of Nantes_.
+
+In the preamble to this fatal act, it was stated,
+
+"We see now, with the just acknowledgment we owe to God, that our
+measures have secured the end which we ourselves proposed, since the
+better and greater part of our subjects of the pretended Reformed
+religion have embraced the Catholic faith, and the maintenance of the
+Edict of Nantes remains therefore superfluous."
+
+In this act of revocation it was declared that the exercise of the
+Protestant worship should nowhere be tolerated in the realm of France.
+All Protestant pastors were ordered to leave the kingdom within
+fifteen days, under pain of being sent to the galleys. Those
+Protestant ministers who would abjure their faith and return to
+Catholicism were promised a salary one third more than they had
+previously enjoyed. Parents were forbidden to instruct their children
+in the Protestant religion. Every child in the kingdom was to be
+baptized and educated by a Catholic priest. All Protestants who had
+left France were ordered to return within four months, under penalty
+of the confiscation of their possessions. Any Protestant layman, man
+or woman, who should attempt to emigrate, incurred the penalty of
+imprisonment for life.
+
+This infamous ordinance caused an amount of misery which can never be
+gauged, and inflicted upon the prosperity of France the most terrible
+blow it had ever received. Hundreds of thousands persevered in their
+faith, notwithstanding all the menaces of poverty, of the dungeon, and
+of utter temporal ruin. Only one year after the revocation, Marshal
+Vauban wrote,
+
+"France has lost one hundred thousand inhabitants, sixty millions of
+coined money, nine thousand sailors, twelve thousand disciplined
+soldiers, six hundred officers, and her most nourishing manufactures."
+
+From this hour the fortunes of Louis XIV. began manifestly to decline.
+The Protestant population of France at that time was between two and
+three millions. The edict of revocation was enforced with the utmost
+severity. Many noble-hearted Catholics sympathized with the
+Protestants in their dreadful sufferings, and aided them to escape.
+The tide of emigration flowed steadily from all the provinces. The
+arrival of the pastors and their flocks upon foreign soil created an
+indescribable sensation. From all the courts in Protestant Christendom
+a cry of indignation rose against such cruelty. Though royal guards
+were posted at the gates of the towns, on the bridges, at the fords
+of the rivers, and upon all the by-ways which led to the frontiers,
+and though many thousands were arrested, still many thousands escaped.
+Some heroic bands fought their way to the frontiers with drawn swords.
+Some obtained passports from kind-hearted Catholic governors. Some
+bribed their guards. Some traveled by night, from cavern to cavern, in
+the garb of merchants, pilgrims, venders of rosaries and chaplets,
+servants, mendicants.
+
+Thousands perished of cold, hunger, and exhaustion. Thousands were
+shot by the soldiers. Thousands were seized and condemned to the
+dungeon or the galleys. The galleys of Marseilles were crowded with
+these victims of fanatical despotism. Among them were many of the most
+illustrious men in France, magistrates, nobles, scholars of the
+highest name and note.
+
+The agitation and emigration were so immense that Louis XIV. became
+alarmed. Protestant England, Switzerland, Holland, Prussia, Denmark,
+Sweden, hospitably received the sufferers and contributed generously
+to the supply of their wants. "Charity," it is said, "draws from an
+exhaustless fountain. The more it gives the more it has to give."
+
+It is now not possible to estimate the precise number who emigrated.
+Voltaire says that nearly fifty thousand families left the kingdom,
+and that they were followed by a great many others. One of the
+Protestant pastors, Antoine Court, placed the number as high as eight
+hundred thousand. A Catholic writer, inimical to the Protestants,
+after carefully consulting the records, states the emigration at two
+hundred and thirty thousand souls. Of these, 1580 were pastors, 2300
+elders, and 15,000 nobles. It is also equally difficult to estimate
+the numbers who perished in the attempt to escape. M. de Sismondi
+thinks that as many died as emigrated. He places the number at between
+three and four hundred thousand.
+
+As we have mentioned, the Protestants were compelled to place their
+children in Catholic schools, to be taught the Catechism by the
+priests. A new ordinance was soon issued, which required that the
+children, between five and sixteen, of all _suspected_ of
+Protestantism, should be taken from their parents and placed in
+Catholic families. A general search was made throughout the kingdom
+for all books which could be deemed favorable to the Protestant
+faith. These were destroyed to the last copy. Thus perished many very
+valuable works. "The Bible itself, the Bible above all, was
+confiscated and burned with persevering animosity."[U]
+
+[Footnote U: History of the Protestants of France, by Prof. G. De
+Felice.]
+
+But there is no power of persecution which can utterly crush out two
+or three millions of people. There were occasional reactions. Louis
+XIV. himself became, at times, appalled by the atrocities his dragoons
+were perpetrating, and he commanded more moderation. In some of the
+provinces where the Protestants had been greatly in the majority, the
+king found it very difficult to enforce his despotic and sanguinary
+code. The persecuted people who could not fly from the kingdom, some
+having given a compulsory and nominal assent to Catholicism, held
+secret assemblies in forests, on mountain summits, and in wild
+ravines. Some of the pastors ventured to return to France, and to
+assist in these scenes of perilous worship.
+
+"On hearing this, the king, his ministers, and the Jesuits were
+transported with uncontrollable rage. Sentence of death was
+pronounced in the month of July, 1686, against the pastors who had
+returned to France. Those who lent them an asylum, or any assistance
+whatever, were condemned to the galleys for life. A reward of five
+thousand five hundred livres was promised to any one who seized or
+secured the seizure of a minister. The sentence of death was
+pronounced against all who should be taken in any of these religious
+assemblies."[V]
+
+[Footnote V: M. G. De Felice.]
+
+Soldiers were sent in all directions to hunt the Protestants. "It
+was," writes Voltaire, "a chase in a grand cover." If the voice of
+prayer or of a psalm were heard in any wild retreat, the soldiers
+opened fire upon the assembly of men, women, and children, and hewed
+them down without mercy with their blood-stained swords. In several of
+these encounters, three or four hundred men, women, and young children
+were left dead and unburied upon the spot.
+
+If any sick persons, apparently near death, refused to receive the
+sacraments of the Catholic Church from the hands of a Catholic priest,
+should they recover, they were punished with confiscation of property
+and consignment to the galleys for life. If they did not recover,
+their bodies were refused respectful burial, and were dragged on a
+hurdle and thrown into a ditch, to be devoured by carrion crows.
+
+Many honorable Catholics cried out with horror against these
+enormities. All humane hearts revolted against such cruelty. The voice
+of indignant remonstrance rose from every Protestant nation. The
+French court became embarrassed. Two millions of people could not be
+put to death. The prisons were filled to suffocation. The galleys were
+crowded, and could receive no more. Many were transported to America.
+
+The Jansenists remonstrated. The good Catholic bishops of Grenoble and
+St. Poins boldly addressed the curates of their dioceses, directing
+them not to force communion upon the Protestants, and forbidding all
+violence. Many pious curates refused to act the part of accusers, or
+to torment the dying with their importunities. But the Jesuits and the
+great mass of the clergy urged on the persecution.
+
+Madame de Maintenon became greatly troubled by these atrocities,
+against which she did not dare to remonstrate. Louis XIV. was somewhat
+alarmed by the outcry which these measures aroused from Protestant
+Europe, but his pride revolted against making the admission, before
+his subjects and foreign courts, that he could have been guilty of a
+mistake. He could not endure the thought of humbling himself by a
+retraction, thus confessing that he had failed in an enterprise upon
+which he had entered with such determination. Thus influenced, the
+king, on the 13th of April, 1662, issued a decree solemnly confirming
+the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. "Not one law of torture and
+blood was abolished."
+
+The king, meanwhile, urged by his growing passion for Madame de
+Maintenon, determined to remove from court Madame de Montespan, whom
+he had come to thoroughly dislike. But he had not the courage to
+announce his determination in person. He therefore commissioned Madame
+de Maintenon to make the painful communication. She, shrinking from so
+unwelcome a task, persuaded the Marquis de Vivonne, brother of the
+marchioness, to break the tidings to his sister. He invited her to
+take a ride with him in his carriage, gradually introduced the
+subject, and at last plainly informed her that she must either, of her
+own accord, immediately and forever retire from Versailles, or submit
+to the indignity of being arrested by the police and removed by them.
+
+Madame de Montespan was in a fearful rage. Though fully aware of her
+waning power over the king, the menace of arrest and banishment was an
+indignity the thought of which had never entered her mind. But the
+calm firmness of her brother soon convinced her of the impotence of
+all exhibitions of indignation. The splendor-loving marchioness was,
+as we have mentioned already, wealthy. She was, however, informed that
+the king had decided to settle upon her an annual pension of six
+hundred thousand livres. When we consider the comparative value of
+money then and now, it is estimated that this amount was equivalent to
+about four hundred and eighty thousand dollars at the present day.
+
+"Madame de Montespan," writes Miss Pardoe, "buried her face in her
+hands, and remained for a considerable time lost in thought. When, at
+length, she looked up, her lips were pale and her voice trembled. She
+had not shed a tear, but her breast heaved, and she had evidently come
+to a decision. Folding her shawl about her, she requested the marquis
+immediately to drive her to Versailles, it being necessary, as she
+asserted, that she should collect her money, her jewels, and her
+papers, after which she declared that she was ready, for the sake of
+her family, to follow his advice."
+
+[Illustration: PARTERRE OF VERSAILLES.]
+
+They returned to the palace. Madame de Maintenon hastened to her
+apartments. The Marquis de Vivonne informed her of the success of his
+mission, and she communicated the intelligence to the king.
+
+The marchioness had been in her apartments but about twenty minutes,
+when, to her surprise, the door opened, and the king entered
+unannounced. The marchioness, with her own graphic pen, has given an
+account of the singular and characteristic interview which ensued.
+
+The king came forward smiling very complacently at the thought that
+with so little embarrassment he was to get rid of a companion whose
+presence had become an annoyance to him--that he could discard her as
+easily as he could lay aside a pair of soiled gloves. He congratulated
+the marchioness upon the great good sense she had shown in thus
+readily sundering ties which, after existing for eighteen years, had
+become embarrassing. He spoke of their children as his property, and
+assured her that he should do all in his power to promote their
+welfare; that he had already, by act of Parliament, conferred upon
+them statute legitimacy, and had thus effaced the dishonor of their
+birth. He apologized for not having her name mentioned in Parliament
+as their mother, this being impracticable, since she was the wife of
+another man.
+
+With smiling complacency, as if he were communicating very gratifying
+intelligence, he informed this crushed and discarded mother that,
+since her children were now princes, they would, of course, reside at
+court, and that she, their dishonored mother, might occasionally be
+permitted to visit them--that he would issue an order to that effect.
+And, finally, he coolly advised her to write to her husband, whom she
+had abandoned eighteen years ago, soliciting a renewal of their
+relationship, with the assurance that it was her intention to return
+to the paths of virtue.
+
+Almost gasping with indignation, the haughty marchioness succeeded in
+restraining herself until the king had finished his harangue. She then
+burst forth in a reply which astonished and even alarmed the king.
+
+"I am amazed," said she, "at the indifference with which a monarch,
+who boasts of his magnanimity, can throw from him a woman who has
+sacrificed every thing to his pleasure. For two years your majesty, in
+devotion to others, has been estranged from me, and yet never have I
+publicly offered one word of expostulation. Why is it, then, that I am
+now, after silently submitting for two years to this estrangement, to
+be ignominiously banished from the court? Still, my position here has
+become so hateful, through the perfidy and treachery of those by whom
+I am compelled to associate, that I will willingly consent never again
+to approach the person of the king upon condition that the odious
+woman who has supplanted me[W] shall also be exiled."
+
+[Footnote W: Madame de Maintenon.]
+
+The proud monarch was enraged. Pale with anger, he replied, "The kings
+of Europe have never yet ventured to dictate laws in my palace, nor
+shall you, madame, subject me to yours. The lady whom I have too long
+suffered you to offend is as nobly born as yourself. If you were
+instrumental in opening the gates of the palace to her, you thus
+introduced there gentleness, talent, and virtue. This lady, whom you
+have upon every occasion slandered, has lost no opportunity to excuse
+and justify you. She will remain near the court which her fathers
+defended, and which her wise councils now strengthen. In seeking to
+remove you from the court, where your presence and pretensions have
+long since been misplaced, I wished to spare you the evidence of an
+_event_ calculated to irritate your already exasperated nature. But
+stay you here, madame," he added, sarcastically, "stay you here, since
+you love great catastrophes and are amused by them. Day after
+to-morrow you will be more than ever a _supernumerary_ in the palace."
+
+This heartless announcement, that Madame de Maintenon was to take the
+place of Madame de Montespan in the affections of the king, and
+probably as his wedded wife, pierced, as with a dagger's point, the
+heart of the discarded favorite. She fell senseless to the floor. The
+king, without the slightest exhibition of sympathy, looked on
+impatiently, while her women, who were immediately summoned,
+endeavored to restore consciousness. As the unhappy marchioness
+revived, the first words which fell upon her ears were from the king,
+as he said,
+
+"All this wearies me beyond endurance. She must leave the palace this
+very day."
+
+In a frenzy of rage and despair, the marchioness seized a
+dessert-knife which chanced to lay upon the table, and, springing from
+the arms of her attendants, rushed upon her youngest child, the little
+Count de Toulouse, whom the king held by the hand, and from whom she
+was to be cruelly severed, and endeavored to plunge the knife into his
+bosom, exclaiming,
+
+"Yes, I will leave this palace, but first--"
+
+At that moment, before the sentence was finished, the door opened, and
+Madame de Maintenon, who had probably anticipated some tragic scene,
+sprang upon the wretched woman, seizing the knife with one hand, and
+with the other thrusting the child away. The maniacal marchioness was
+seized by her attendants. The king tottered to the chimney-piece,
+buried his face in his hands, and, from a complicity of emotions not
+easily disentangled, wept convulsively.
+
+Madame de Maintenon's hand was cut by the knife. As she was binding up
+the bleeding wound with her handkerchief, the half-delirious
+marchioness said to her, referring to the fact that the king had at
+first been unwilling to receive her as the guardian of the children,
+
+"Ah! madame, had I believed what the king told me fourteen years ago,
+my life would not have been in your power to-day."
+
+Madame de Maintenon, her eyes suffused with tears, looked sadly upon
+her, then taking her hand, pressed it feelingly, and, without uttering
+a word, left the apartment. The king followed her. The heart-broken
+marchioness, in most imploring tones, entreated the king not thus to
+leave her. He paid no heed to her supplications. The agitation of this
+scene threw Madame de Montespan into such a burning fever that for
+several days she could not be removed from her bed of pain and woe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE SECRET MARRIAGE.
+
+1685-1689
+
+Temptation resisted.--Rumors of marriage.--Preparations for
+the marriage.--The archbishop summoned.--An extraordinary
+scene.--Ceremonies.--The _Widow Scarron_.--Etiquette.--Humiliation
+of Madame de Montespan.--Routine of a day at Versailles.--The _First
+Entree_.--The ceremony of dressing.--The _Grand Entree_.--Dressing
+the king.--The royal breakfast.--Formalities.--The dressing
+completed.--The king prays.--The king attends mass.--Etiquette at
+the royal dinner.--Visits the kennel.--The morning drive.--The royal
+supper.--Tasting and trying.--"Drink for the king!"--He feeds his
+dogs at midnight.--Madame de Maintenon's apartments.--Her
+tact.--Sickness of the king.--A surgical operation
+necessary.--World-weariness of the king.--Dissatisfied with
+Versailles.--The royal palaces unsatisfactory.--The "hermitage"
+at Marly.--War with Germany.--The dauphin in command.--Devastation
+of the Palatinate.--Designs upon England.--Civil war in
+France.--Complications of the royal family.
+
+
+The king exerted all his powers of persuasion to induce Madame de
+Maintenon to enter into the same relations with him which Madame de
+Montespan had occupied. At last she declared, in reply to some
+passionate reproaches on his part, that she should be under the
+necessity of withdrawing from the court and retiring to the cloister,
+rather than continue to expose herself to a temptation which was
+destroying her peace of mind and undermining her health. Under these
+circumstances the king had been led to think of a private marriage. At
+first his pride revolted from the thought. But in no other way could
+he secure Madame de Maintenon.
+
+Rumors of the approaching marriage were circulated through the court.
+The dauphin expostulated with his father most earnestly against it,
+and succeeded in inducing the king to consult the Abbe Fenelon and
+Louvois. They both protested against the measure as compromising the
+dignity of the monarch and the interests of the nation. Bossuet,
+however, urged the marriage. Boldly he warned the king against
+entering again into such connections as those which had hitherto
+sullied his life, wounded his reputation, and endangered his eternal
+welfare.
+
+Pure as Madame de Maintenon was, the devotion of the king to her was
+so marked that her reputation began to suffer. She felt the unjust
+imputations cast upon her very keenly. The king at last resolved that
+it should be so no longer. Having come to a decision, he acted very
+promptly. It was a cold night in January, 1686. A smothering
+snow-storm swept the streets of Paris. At half past ten o'clock a
+court messenger entered the archiepiscopal palace with a sealed
+packet, requesting the archbishop to repair immediately to Versailles
+to perform the marriage ceremony. The great clock of the Cathedral was
+tolling the hour of eleven as the prelate entered his carriage in the
+darkness and the storm. At half past twelve he reached the gate of the
+chateau. Here Bontems, the first valet de chambre of the king,
+conducted the archbishop to the private closet of his majesty. Madame
+de Maintenon was there in full dress. Louis XIV. stood by her side.
+In the same apartment were the Marquis de Montechevreuil and the
+king's confessor, Pere la Chaise.
+
+Miss Pardoe thus describes the scene that ensued:
+
+"As the eye of the king rested upon the archbishop, he exclaimed, 'Let
+us go.' Taking the hand of the lady, he led her forward through the
+long suite of rooms, followed by the other actors in this
+extraordinary scene, who moved on in profound silence, thrown for an
+instant into broad light by the torch carried by Bontems, and then
+suddenly lost in the deep darkness beyond its influence. Nothing was
+to be heard as the bridal party proceeded save the muffled sound of
+their footsteps, deadened by the costly carpets over which they trod.
+But it was remarked that as the light flashed for an instant across
+the portraits of his family which clothed the walls, Louis XIV.
+glanced eagerly and somewhat nervously upon them, as though he dreaded
+the rebuke of some stern eye or haughty lip for the weakness of which
+he was about to become guilty."
+
+The marriage ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Paris. There
+were eight persons present as witnesses, most of them of high
+distinction. The king was in the forty-eighth year of his age, and
+Madame de Maintenon in her fifty-second. The marriage was celebrated
+with all the established ceremonies of the Church, the solemnization
+of the mass, the exchange of marriage rings, and the pronouncing of
+the benediction by the archbishop. A magnificent suite of apartments
+was prepared for Madame de Maintenon at Versailles. She retained her
+own liveries, but thenceforward appeared in public only in the
+carriage of the king. Though by her own private attendants she was
+addressed as "your majesty," she was never publicly recognized as the
+queen. The king addressed her simply as _Madame_.
+
+Though the morning after the nuptials the astounding rumor spread
+through the court that the king had actually married the _Widow
+Scarron_, still there were no positive vouchers found for the fact. As
+she was never recognized as the queen, for a long time many doubts
+rested upon the reality of the marriage.
+
+It was a matter of necessity that Madame de Montespan should call upon
+Madame de Maintenon, and pay her respects to her as the real though
+unrecognized wife of the monarch. Dressed in her richest robes, and
+glittering with jewels, the discarded favorite entered the apartment
+of her hated rival. The king was seated by her side. His majesty rose,
+bowed formally, and took his seat. Madame de Maintenon did not rise,
+but, with a slight flush upon her cheek, motioned to Madame de
+Montespan to take a seat upon a _tabouret_ which stood near by. The
+king scarcely noticed her. Madame de Maintenon addressed her in a few
+words of condescension. The unhappy visitor, after a short struggle to
+regain her composure, rose from the humble stool upon which she had
+been seated, and, repeating the stately reverences which etiquette
+required, withdrew from the room.
+
+With crushed heart she retired to her apartment, and, weeping
+bitterly, threw herself upon a sofa. She soon sent for her son, the
+Duke du Maine, hoping to hear, from his lips at least, words of
+sympathy. But the duke, who had reproached his mother with his
+dishonorable birth, and who, by a royal decree, had been recognized as
+a prince, was not at all disposed to cultivate intimate relations with
+that mother, now that the memory of disgrace only would be perpetuated
+by that recognition. Without the exhibition of the slightest emotion,
+the duke addressed his mother in a few cold, formal words, and left
+her. The marchioness summoned her carriage, and left Versailles and
+the court forever. As she cast a last look upon the palace, she saw
+the king standing at the balcony of a window watching her departure.
+
+The reader will be interested in learning the routine of a day as
+passed by this most sumptuous of earthly kings amidst the splendors of
+Versailles. At eight o'clock in the morning the under valets carefully
+entered the bedchamber, opened the shutters, replenished the wood
+fire, if cold, and removed the ample refreshments which were always
+placed by the royal bedside in case the king should need food during
+the night.
+
+The first valet then entered, carefully dressed, and took his stand
+respectfully by the side of the bed-curtains. At half past eight
+precisely he drew the curtains and awoke the king, assuming always
+that he was asleep. The valet then immediately retired to an adjoining
+room, where several distinguished members of the court were in
+waiting, and communicated to them the important intelligence that the
+king no longer slept.
+
+The folding doors were thrown open, and the dauphin, attended by his
+two sons, the eldest of whom was entitled _Monsieur_, and the youngest
+the Duke of Chartres, entered, and inquired of the king how he had
+passed the night. They were immediately followed by the Duke du Maine
+and the Count de Toulouse, sons of Madame de Montespan, and by the
+first lord of the bedchamber and the grand master of the robes. They
+were succeeded by the first valet of the wardrobe, and by several
+officers, each bearing a portion of the royal vestments. The two
+medical attendants of the king, the physician and surgeon, also
+entered at the same time.
+
+The king, still remaining pillowed in his gorgeous bed, held out his
+hands, and his first valet de chambre poured upon them a few drops of
+spirits of wine, holding beneath them a basin of silver. The first
+lord of the bedchamber presented a vase of holy water, with which the
+king made the sign of the cross upon his brow and breast. His majesty
+then repeated a short prayer. A collection of wigs was presented to
+him. He selected the one which he wished to wear. As the king rose
+from his couch, the first lord of the bedchamber drew upon him his
+dressing-gown, which was always a richly embroidered and costly robe.
+
+The king then sat down, and, holding out one sacred foot after the
+other, his valet, Bontems, drew on his stockings and his slippers of
+embroidered velvet. The monarch condescended to place upon his head,
+with his own hand, the wig which he had selected. Again the devout
+monarch crossed himself with holy water, and, emerging from the
+balustrade which inclosed the bed, seated himself in a large
+arm-chair. He was now prepared for what was called _The First Entree_.
+
+The chief lord of the bedchamber, with a loud voice, announced _The
+First Entree_. A number of courtiers, who were peculiarly favored,
+were then admitted to the distinguished honor of seeing his majesty
+washed and shaved. The barber of the king removed his beard and gently
+washed his face with a sponge saturated with spirits of wine and
+water. The king himself wiped his face with a soft towel, while
+Bontems held the glass before him.
+
+And now the master of the robes approached to dress the king. Those
+who had been present at what was called the _petit lever_ retired. A
+new set of dignitaries, of higher name and note, crowded the anteroom
+to enjoy the signal honor of being present at the _Grand Entree_, that
+is, of witnessing the sublime ceremony of seeing shirt, trowsers, and
+frock placed upon his sacred majesty.
+
+Three of the highest officers of the court stood at the door, attended
+by several valets and door-keepers of the cabinet. Admission to the
+_Grand Entree_ was considered so great an honor that even princes
+sought it, and often in vain.
+
+As each individual presented himself, his name was whispered to the
+first lord of the bedchamber, who repeated it to the king. When the
+monarch made no reply the visitor was admitted, and the duke walked
+back to his station near the fireplace, where he marshaled the
+new-comers to their several places in order to prevent their pressing
+too closely about his majesty. Princes and governors, marshals and
+peers, were alike subjected to this tedious and somewhat humiliating
+ceremony, from which three individuals alone were excepted, Racine,
+Boileau, and Mansard. On their arrival at the guarded door they simply
+scratched against the panel, when the usher threw open the folding
+door, and they stood in the presence of the monarch.
+
+[Illustration: RACINE AND BOILEAU.]
+
+In the mean time, a valet of the wardrobe delivered to a gentleman of
+the chamber the socks and garters, which the _gentleman_ presented to
+the monarch, and which socks his majesty deigned to draw on himself.
+Even with his own hand he clasped the garters with their diamond
+buckles. Etiquette did not allow the king to unclasp them at night.
+The head valet de chambre enjoyed the privilege of unclasping the
+garter of the right leg, while a more humble attendant performed the
+same office for the left leg.
+
+A distinguished officer of the household presented the monarch with
+his _haut de chausses_ (breeches), to which silk stockings were
+attached; the king drew them on; another gentleman put on his shoes;
+another gentleman buckled them. Two pages, richly dressed in crimson
+velvet embroidered with gold, removed the slippers which the king had
+laid aside.
+
+And now came the royal breakfast. Two officers of the household
+entered, in picturesque attire, one bearing a loaf of bread on an
+enameled salver, and another a folded napkin between two enameled
+plates. The royal cup-bearer handed a golden vase, richly decorated,
+to one of the lords. He poured into it a small quantity of wine and
+water. Another lord tasted of it, to prove that it contained no
+poison. The vase was then carefully rinsed, and being again filled
+with the wine and water, was presented to the king on a gold salver.
+
+His majesty drank. Then the dauphin, who was always present at these
+solemnities, handed his hat and gloves to the first lord in waiting,
+and presented the monarch with a napkin with which to wipe his lips.
+Breakfast was a very frugal repast. Having partaken of these slight
+refreshments, the king laid aside his dressing-gown. One of his lordly
+attendants then assisted him in removing his night-shirt by the left
+sleeve. It was Bontems's peculiar privilege to draw it off by the
+right sleeve.
+
+The royal shirt, which had been carefully warmed, was then given to
+the first lord. He presented it to the dauphin, who approached and
+presented it to the king. Some one of the higher lords, previously
+designated for the honor, assisted the king in the arrangement of his
+shirt and breeches. A duke enjoyed the honor of putting on his inner
+waistcoat. Two valets presented the king with his sword, vest, and
+blue ribbon. A nobleman then stepped forward and buckled on the sword,
+assisted in putting on the vest, and placed over his shoulders a
+scarf bearing the cross of the Holy Ghost in diamonds, and the cross
+of St. Louis.
+
+The king then drew on his under coat, with the assistance of the grand
+master of the robes, adjusted his cravat of rich lace, which was
+folded round his neck by a favorite courtier, and finally emptied into
+the pockets of the loose outer coat, which was presented to him for
+that purpose, the contents of those which he had worn the previous
+day. He then received two handkerchiefs of costly point from another
+attendant, by whom they were carried on an enameled saucer of oval
+shape called salve. His toilet once completed, Louis XIV. returned to
+the _ruelle_ of his bed, where he knelt down upon two cushions already
+prepared for him, and said his prayers; all the bishops and cardinals
+entering within the balustrade in his suite, and reciting their
+devotional exercises in a suppressed voice.
+
+The king, being thus dressed, retired from his chamber to his cabinet.
+He was followed, in solemn procession, by all those dignitaries of
+Church and State who had enjoyed the privilege of the _Grand Entree_.
+He then issued the orders of the day, after which all withdrew
+excepting some of his children, whom a royal decree had legitimatized
+and raised to the rank of princes, with their former tutors or
+governors.
+
+In the mean time a crowd of courtiers were assembled in the great
+gallery of Versailles, to accompany the king to mass. The captain of
+the royal guard awaited orders at the door of the cabinet. At 12
+o'clock the door was thrown open, and the king, followed by a splendid
+retinue, proceeded to the chapel.
+
+The service was short. At one o'clock the king returned to his room,
+and dined sumptuously and alone. He was waited upon, at the table, by
+the first gentleman of the chamber. Sometimes the dauphin or other
+lords of highest rank were present, but they stood respectfully at a
+distance. No one was permitted to be seated in the royal presence. The
+brother of the king stood at times by the chair of his majesty,
+holding his napkin for him. Upon the king's twice requesting him to be
+seated, he was permitted to take a seat upon a stool, behind the king,
+still holding his napkin.
+
+Upon rising from the table the king repaired to the grand saloon,
+where he tarried for a few moments, that persons of high distinction,
+who enjoyed the privilege of addressing him, might have an
+opportunity to do so. He then returned to his cabinet. The door was
+closed, and the king had a brief interview with his children, of whom
+he was very fond. He then repaired to the kennel of his dogs, of whom
+he was also fond, and amused himself, for a time, in feeding them and
+playing with them.
+
+He now made some slight change in his dress. A small number of
+persons, of high rank, enjoyed the distinguished honor of being
+present in his chamber as the monarch, with all suitable stateliness
+of ceremony, exchanged one royal garment for another. The carriage
+awaited the king in the marble court. He descended by a private
+staircase. His craving for fresh air was such that he took a drive
+whatever the weather. Scarcely any degree of heat or cold, or floods
+of rain, could prevent him from his drive, or his stag-hunt, or his
+overlooking the workmen. Sometimes the ladies of his court rode out
+with him on picnic excursions to the forests of Fontainebleau or
+Marly.
+
+Upon returning from the drive, the king again changed his dress and
+repaired to his cabinet. He then proceeded to the apartments of Madame
+de Maintenon, where he remained conversing with her, or reading, and
+sometimes transacting business with his minister, until ten o'clock.
+The hour for supper had now arrived. The house-steward, with his badge
+of office in hand, gave the information to the captain of the guard.
+He, entering the royal presence from the antechamber, announced the
+fact to the king, and opened wide the door. After the delay of a
+quarter of an hour, which etiquette required, his majesty advanced to
+the supper-room. During the quarter of an hour which had elapsed, the
+officers of the household had made preparations for the royal repast
+by tasting the bread and the salt, and by testing the plates, the
+fork, the spoon, the knife, and the tooth-pick of the king, so as to
+be assured that no poison could be thus conveyed.
+
+As the king, preceded by the house-steward and two ushers with
+flambeaux, entered the supper-room, he found there awaiting him the
+princes and princesses of France, with a numerous assemblage of
+courtiers, gentlemen, and ladies. The king, having taken his seat,
+requested the others to be seated also. Six noblemen immediately
+stationed themselves at each end of the table, to wait upon the king.
+Each one, as he presented a dish to the king, first tasted of it
+himself. When the king wished for a drink, his cup-bearer exclaimed
+aloud, "Drink for the king." Two of the principal officers, making a
+profound obeisance, approached his majesty, one bearing an enameled
+cup and two decanters upon a salver. The other poured out the wine,
+tasted it, and presented the goblet to the king. With another low
+salutation, the two officers replaced the decanters upon the
+sideboard.
+
+The repast being finished, the king rose, and, preceded by two guards
+and an usher, and followed by all the company, proceeded to the
+bedchamber. He there bowed adieu to the company, and, entering the
+cabinet, took a seat in a large arm-chair. The members of the royal
+family were introduced. His brother, Monsieur, was permitted to take
+an arm-chair. All the rest remained standing except the princesses,
+who were indulged with stools. After an hour or so of such converse as
+these stately forms would admit, the king, about midnight, went again
+to feed his dogs. He then retired to his chamber, with great pomp said
+his prayers, and was undressed and put to bed with ceremonies similar
+to those with which he had been dressed in the morning.
+
+Such was the ordinary routine of the life of the king at Versailles.
+Its dreary monotony was broken by occasional fetes, balls, and
+theatric shows. Madame de Maintenon testifies to the almost
+insupportable tedium of such a life. "If you could only," she
+exclaims, "form an idea of what it is!"
+
+Magnificent apartments were prepared for Madame de Maintenon at
+Versailles, opposite the suite of rooms occupied by the king. Similar
+arrangements were made for her in all the royal palaces. Royalty alone
+could occupy arm-chairs in the presence of the sovereign. In each of
+her apartments there were two such, one for the king and the other for
+herself. The king often transacted business with his minister,
+Louvois, in her room. She had sufficient tact never to express an
+opinion, or to take a part in the conversation except when appealed
+to.
+
+Madame de Maintenon was exceedingly anxious that the king should
+publicly recognize her as his wife. It is said that the king,
+tormented by the embarrassments which the secret marriage had brought
+upon him, seriously contemplated this. His minister, Louvois,
+remonstrated even passionately against such a recognition. At the
+close of a painful interview upon this subject, he threw himself upon
+his knees before his majesty, and, presenting to him the hilt of a
+small sword which the minister usually wore, exclaimed,
+
+"Take my life, sire, that I may not become the witness of a disgrace
+which will dishonor your majesty in the eyes of all Europe."
+
+Others of the most influential members of the court joined in the
+opposition, and so strenuously that the king commanded Madame de
+Maintenon never again to allude to the subject.
+
+Premature old age was fast advancing upon the king, though he had as
+yet attained only his forty-ninth year. He was tortured by the gout.
+He was also attacked by a very painful and dangerous internal malady.
+His sufferings were dreadful. It became necessary for him to submit to
+a perilous surgical operation. The king met the crisis with much
+heroism. Four persons only, including Madame de Maintenon, were
+present during the operation. Indeed, the greatest precautions had
+been adopted to keep the fact that an operation was to be performed a
+profound secret. During the operation the king uttered not a groan. It
+was successful. In gratitude he conferred upon the skillful operator
+who had relieved him from anguish and saved his life an estate valued
+at more than fifty thousand crowns.
+
+Weary of every thing else, the king now sought to find some little
+interest in building. The renowned architect, Mansard, whose genius
+still embellishes our most beautiful edifices, was commissioned to
+erect a pavilion on the grounds of Versailles in imitation of an
+Italian villa. Thus rose, within a year, the _Grand Trianon_, which
+subsequently became so celebrated as the favorite rural residence of
+Maria Antoinette.
+
+[Illustration: THE TRIANON.]
+
+[Illustration: MARLY.]
+
+Most men who, with vast wealth, attempt to build a mansion which shall
+eclipse that of all their neighbors, and which shall be perfect in all
+the appliances of comfort and luxury, find themselves, in the end,
+bitterly disappointed. This was pre-eminently the case with Louis XIV.
+The palace of Versailles, still unfinished, had already cost him
+countless millions. But it did not please the king. It had cold and
+cheerless grandeur, but no attractions as a home. The king looked with
+weary eyes upon the mountain pile of marble which had risen at his
+bidding, and found it about as uncongenial for a home as would be
+the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Disgusted with the etiquette which
+enslaved him, satiated with sensual indulgence, and having exhausted
+all the fountains of worldly pleasure, with waning powers of body and
+of mind, it is not possible that any thing could have satisfied the
+world-weary king.
+
+He had other palaces. None suited him. The Tuileries and the Louvre
+were in the heart of the noisy city. The banqueting hall at St.
+Germain overlooked the sepulchre of St. Denis, where the grave-worm
+held its banquet. Fontainebleau was at too great a distance from the
+capital. To reach it required a carriage drive of four or five hours.
+Vincennes, notwithstanding the grandeur of the antique, time-worn
+castle, was gloomy in its surroundings, inconvenient in its internal
+arrangements--a prison rather than a palace.
+
+About nine miles from Paris, upon the left bank of the Seine, there
+reposed the silent village of Marly. The king selected that as the
+spot upon which he would rear a snug "hermitage" to which he could
+retire "from noise and tumult far." The passion for building is a
+fearful passion, which often involves its victim in ruin. The plans of
+the king expanded under his eye. The little hermitage became a
+spacious palace, where a court could be entertained with all the
+appliances of regal elegance.
+
+But dark and stormy days were rapidly gathering around the path of the
+king. He became involved in war with Germany. The complicated reasons
+can scarcely be unraveled. The king sent his son, the dauphin, at the
+head of one hundred thousand men, to invade Holland. Situated upon
+both sides of the Rhine there was a territory called the Palatinate.
+It embraced one thousand five hundred and ninety square miles, being
+not quite so large as the State of Delaware. It contained an
+intelligent, industrious, and prosperous population of a little over
+three hundred thousand. The beautiful city of Manheim was the capital
+of the province.
+
+Though the dauphin was nominally at the head of the invading army,
+that the glory of its victories might redound to his name, the ablest
+of the French generals were associated with him, and they, in reality,
+took the direction of affairs. One city after another speedily fell
+into the hands of the French. The king mercilessly resolved, and
+without any justification whatever, to convert the whole province into
+a desert. An order was issued by the king that every city, village,
+castle, and hut should be laid in ashes.
+
+It was midwinter--the month of February, 1689. There were many
+beautiful cities in the province, such as Manheim, Philipsbourg,
+Franckendal, Spire, Treves, Worms, and Oppendeim. There were more than
+fifty feudal castles in the territory, the ancestral homes of noble
+families. The citizens had but short warning. Houses, furniture, food,
+all were consumed. The flames rose to heaven, calling upon God for
+vengeance. Smouldering ruins every where met the eye. Men, women, and
+children wandered starving through the fields.
+
+Nearly all Europe soon became banded against this haughty monarch, and
+he found it necessary to raise an army of four hundred thousand men to
+meet the exigencies.
+
+Intoxicated by the pride of past success, he thought that he should be
+able to force upon England a Roman Catholic king, and the Roman
+Catholic faith, and thus expel _heresy_ from England, as he dreamed
+that he had expelled it from France. He equipped a fleet, and manned
+it with twenty thousand soldiers, to force upon the British people
+King James II., whom they had indignantly discarded.
+
+Civil war was now also desolating unhappy France. The Protestants,
+bereft of their children, robbed of their property, driven from their
+homes, dragged to the galleys, plunged into dungeons, broken upon the
+wheel, hanged upon scaffolds, rose in several places in the most
+desperate insurrectionary bands. And the man who was thus crushing
+beneath the heel of his armies the quivering hearts of the Palatinate,
+and who was drenching his own realms with tears and blood, was clothed
+in purple, and faring sumptuously, and reclining upon the silken sofas
+of Marly and Versailles. It is not strange that Faith, with uplifted
+hands and gushing eyes, should have exclaimed, "O Lord, how long!"
+
+The singular complication of the royal family, with the various
+mothers and the various children, some of which children were
+recognized by royal decree as princes, and some of whom were not,
+filled the palaces with bickerings, envyings, and discontent in every
+form. The unhappy dauphiness, who had long been immersed in the
+profoundest gloom, at last found a welcome retreat in the grave.
+Neither her husband nor the king shed a single tear over her remains,
+which were hurried to the vaults of St. Denis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+INTRIGUES AND WARS.
+
+1690-1711
+
+Exhaustion of the treasury.--The royal plate sacrificed.--Assumptions
+of Louvois.--Disgrace, sickness, and death of Louvois.--Louis
+suspicious of Madame de Maintenon.--Letters.--Court life.--The
+dauphin.--His sons.--Graces of the Duchess of Burgoyne.--Misery of
+the people.--Extravagance of the court.--Brilliant assembly.--Death
+of Charles II.--The Duke of Anjou proclaimed King of Spain.--Anecdote
+of the princes.--Preparations for the coronation.--Exultation of Louis
+XIV.--Final meeting of the royal family.--Last interview between
+Madame de Montespan and the king.--Penance of Madame de
+Montespan.--Her death.--Heartless conduct of the king.--His health
+failing.--Quarrel with Philip.--He is stricken with apoplexy.--Death
+of the king's brother.--The king dispels his gloom.--The Princess des
+Ursins.--Civil war.--Insurrection of the Protestants.--Enthusiasm of
+the Camisards.--Cruelty of the persecutors.--Distress in France.--The
+dauphin taken sick.--Death and burial of the dauphin.
+
+
+The treasury of the king was empty. Extravagant building, a voluptuous
+court, and all the enormous expenses of civil and foreign wars, had
+quite exhausted the finances of the realm. It became necessary to call
+upon the cities for contributions. New offices were invented, which
+were imposed upon the wealthy citizens, and for which they were
+compelled to pay large sums. Even the massive silver plate and
+furniture, which had attracted the admiration of all visitors to
+Versailles, were sent to the Mint and coined. Most of the value of
+these articles of ornament consisted of the skill with which the
+materials had been wrought into forms of beauty. In melting them down,
+all this was sacrificed, and nothing remained but the mere value of
+the metal. Large as were the sums attained by these means, they were
+but trifling compared with the necessities of the state.
+
+Louvois, the minister of Louis, had for a long time held the reins of
+government. It was through his influence that the king had been
+instigated to revoke the Edict of Nantes, to order the dragonnades,
+and to authorize those atrocities of persecution which must ever
+expose the name of Louis XIV. to the execrations of humanity. It was
+Louvois who, from merely contemptible caprice, plunged France into war
+with Germany. It was through his persuasions that the king was induced
+to order the utter devastation of the Palatinate.
+
+But the influence of Louvois was now on the wane. The jealous king
+became weary of his increasingly haughty assumptions. The
+conflagration of the Palatinate raised a cry of indignation which the
+king could not but hear. The city of Treves had escaped the flames.
+Louvois solicited an order to burn it. The king refused to give his
+consent. Louvois insolently gave the order himself. He then informed
+the king that he had done so that he might spare the conscience of the
+king the pain of issuing such an edict.
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XIV. DIRECTING THE SIEGE.]
+
+Louis was furious. In his rage he forgot all the restraints of
+etiquette. He seized from the fireplace the tongs, and would have
+broken the head of the minister had not Madame de Maintenon rushed
+between them. The king ordered a messenger immediately to be
+dispatched to countermand the order. He declared that if a single
+house were burned, the head of the minister should be the forfeit.
+The city was saved.
+
+In 1691 the French army was besieging Mons. The king visited the
+works. The haughty minister, unintimidated even by the menace of the
+tongs, ventured to countermand an order which the king had issued. The
+lowering brow of the monarch convinced him that his ministerial reign
+was soon to close.
+
+The health of the minister began rapidly to fail. He became emaciate,
+languid, and deeply depressed. A few subsequent interviews with the
+king satisfied him that his disgrace and ruin were decided upon.
+Indeed, the king had already drawn up the _lettre de cachet_ which was
+to consign him to the Bastile. About the middle of June, 1691, Louvois
+met the king in his council chamber, and, though the monarch was
+unusually complaisant, Louvois so thoroughly understood him that he
+retired to his residence in utter despair. Scarcely had he entered his
+apartment ere he dropped dead upon the floor. Whether his death were
+caused by apoplexy, or by poison administered by his own hand or that
+of others, can never be known. The king forbade all investigation of
+the case.
+
+Immediately after the death of Louvois, the king began to devote
+himself to business with an energy which he had never before
+manifested. Madame de Maintenon made some farther efforts to induce
+him to proclaim their marriage, but she soon perceived that nothing
+would induce him to change his resolution, and she accepted the
+situation. Louis now yielded more than ever to her influence; but he
+was always apprehensive that she might be engaged in some secret
+intrigue, and kept a vigilant watch over her. In letters to a friend,
+she gives some account of her splendid misery.
+
+"The king is perpetually on guard over me. I see no one. He never
+leaves my room. I am compelled to rise at five in the morning in order
+to write to you. I experience more than ever that there is no
+compensation for the loss of liberty."
+
+Again she writes, in reference to the weary routine of court life:
+"The princesses who have not attended the hunt will come in, followed
+by their cabal, and wait the return of the king in my apartment in
+order to go to dinner. The hunters will come in a crowd, and will
+relate the whole history of their day's sport, without sparing us a
+single detail. They will then go to dinner. Madame de Dangeau will
+challenge me, with a yawn, to a game of backgammon. Such is the way in
+which people live at court."
+
+It will be remembered that the king and queen had an only son, the
+dauphin. He was a man of ignoble character and of feeble mind. Still,
+as heir to the throne, he was, next to the king, the most important
+personage in the realm. The dauphin had three sons, who were in the
+direct line of succession to the crown. These were Louis, duke of
+Burgoyne, Philip, duke of Anjou, and Charles, duke of Berri.
+
+The eldest, the Duke of Burgoyne, who, of course, next to the dauphin,
+was heir to the throne, was thirteen years of age. The king selected
+for his wife Adelaide, the daughter of the Duke of Savoy, a remarkably
+graceful, beautiful, and intelligent child of eleven years. The pretty
+little girl was brought to France to spend a few months in the court
+previous to her marriage, which was to take place as soon as she
+should attain her twelfth year. She came in great splendor, with her
+retinue, her court, and her ladies of honor. Both the king and Madame
+de Maintenon were charmed with the princess. Sumptuous apartments were
+assigned her in the palace of Versailles. Madame de Maintenon wrote to
+the Duchess of Savoy,
+
+"The king is enchanted with her. He expatiates on her deportment, her
+grace, her courtesy, her reserve, and her modesty. She has all the
+graces of girlhood, with the perfections of a more mature age. Her
+temper appears as perfect as her figure promises one day to become.
+She only requires to speak to display the extent of her intellect. I
+can not resist thanking your royal highness for giving us a child who,
+according to all appearance, will be the delight of the court, and the
+glory of the century."
+
+The king resolved that the festivities at the marriage of these two
+children should be the most splendid which France had ever witnessed.
+He announced the intention of appearing himself, upon the occasion, in
+the most sumptuous apparel which the taste and art of the times could
+furnish. This intimation was sufficient for the courtiers.
+Preparations were made for such a display of folly and extravagance
+as even alarmed the king. All ordinary richness of dress, of satin,
+and velvet, and embroidery of gold, was discarded for fabrics of
+unprecedented costliness, for bouquets of diamonds, and wreaths of the
+most precious gems.
+
+"I can not understand," exclaimed the king, "how husbands are mad
+enough to suffer themselves to be ruined by the folly of their wives."
+
+The marriage took place between the bride of twelve years and the
+bridegroom of fourteen at six o'clock in the evening of the 7th of
+December, 1697. The ceremony was performed in the chapel of the palace
+at Versailles. The ensuing festivals exceeded in magnificence all that
+Versailles had previously witnessed. But there was no rejoicing among
+the people. They listened, some silently, some sullenly, some
+murmuringly, to the chiming bells and the booming cannon. The elements
+of discontent and wrath were slowly beginning to collect for bursting
+forth one hundred years later, in that most sublime of moral tempests,
+the French Revolution.
+
+The grand avenue to Versailles day after day was crowded with gorgeous
+equipages. At night it blazed with illuminations. The highest
+ingenuity was taxed to devise new scenes of splendor and amusement,
+which followed each other in rapid succession. Three days after the
+marriage, the king gave a special assembly which was to eclipse all
+the rest. All the ladies were directed to appear in dresses of black
+velvet, that the precious gems, which were almost literally to cover
+those dresses, might sparkle more brilliantly. The great gallery of
+Versailles was illuminated by four thousand wax-lights. The young
+bride wore upon her apron alone jewels estimated at a sum equal to
+fifty thousand dollars.
+
+On the 1st of November, 1700, Charles II., the half crazed King of
+Spain, died, leaving no heir. The pope, Innocent XII., bribed by Louis
+XIV., sent a nuncio to the dying king, enjoining upon him to transmit
+his crown to the children of the Dauphin of France, as the legitimate
+heirs to the monarchy. As the Duke of Burgoyne was the direct heir to
+the throne of France, the second son of the dauphin, the Duke of
+Anjou, still a mere boy, was proclaimed King of Spain, with the title
+of Philip V.
+
+On the 14th of the month the Spanish embassador was summoned to an
+audience with Louis XIV. at Versailles. The king presented his
+grandson to the minister, saying, "This, sir, is the Duke of Anjou,
+whom you may salute as your king."
+
+A large crowd of courtiers was soon assembled. The Spanish minister
+threw himself upon his knees before the boy with expressions of
+profound homage. There was a scene of great excitement. The king,
+embracing with his left arm the neck of the young prince, pointed to
+him with his right hand, and said to those present,
+
+"Gentlemen, this is the King of Spain. His birth calls him to the
+crown.[X] The late king has recognized his right by his will. All the
+nation desires his succession, and has entreated it at my hands. It is
+the will of Heaven, to which I conform with satisfaction."
+
+[Footnote X: The claim of the young prince was founded upon the fact
+that his grandmother, Maria Theresa, was the eldest daughter of Philip
+IV. of Spain. She had, however, upon her marriage, renounced all claim
+to the succession. Her younger sister, Margarita, had married the
+Emperor Leopold of Austria without this renunciation. The emperor
+claimed the crown for her daughter, who had married the Elector of
+Bavaria. Hence the war of _The Spanish Succession_.]
+
+The Duke of Anjou was quite delighted in finding himself thus
+liberated from all the restraints of tutors and governors, and of
+being, in his boyhood, elevated to the dignity of a crowned king. As
+soon as these stately forms of etiquette were concluded, and he was
+alone with his brothers, he kicked up his heels and snapped his
+fingers, exclaiming with delight,
+
+"So I am King of Spain. You, Burgoyne, will be King of France. And
+you, my poor Berri, are the only one who must live and die a subject."
+
+The little prince replied, perhaps upon the principle that "the grapes
+were sour," perhaps because he had observed how little real happiness
+regal state had brought to his grandfather,
+
+"That fact will not grieve me. I shall have less trouble and more
+pleasure than either of you. I shall enjoy the right of hunting both
+in France and Spain, and can follow a wolf from Paris to Madrid."
+
+Preparations were immediately made for the departure of the boy-king
+to take possession of his Spanish throne and crown. The pomp-loving
+French king had decided to invest the occasion with great splendor. He
+regarded it as a signal stroke of policy, and a great victory on his
+part, that he had been enabled, notwithstanding the remonstrances of
+other nations, to place a French Bourbon prince upon the throne of
+Spain, thus virtually uniting the two nations. He thought he had thus
+extended the domain of France to the Straits of Gibraltar.
+"Henceforth," exclaimed Louis XIV., exultingly, "there are no more
+Pyrenees."
+
+To his grandson, the new king, he said, "Be a good Spaniard, but never
+forget that you were born a Frenchman. Carefully maintain the union of
+the two nations. Thus only can you render them both happy."
+
+There was a final meeting of the royal family to take leave of the
+young monarch as he was departing for his realm. All the young
+nobility of France, with a numerous military escort, were to compose
+his brilliant retinue. The Duchess du Maine, the legitimatized
+daughter of Madame de Montespan, and thus the half brother of the
+dauphin, persuaded the dauphin to invite her mother to the palace on
+this occasion. Here occurred the last interview between the heartless
+king and his discarded favorite.
+
+As the king made the tour of the room, he found himself opposite
+Madame de Montespan. She was greatly overcome by her emotions, and,
+pale and trembling, was near fainting. The king coldly and
+searchingly, for a moment, fixed his eye upon her, and then said,
+calmly,
+
+"Madame, I congratulate you. You are still as handsome and attractive
+as ever. I hope that you are also happy."
+
+The marchioness replied, "At this moment, sire, I am very happy, since
+I have the honor of presenting my respectful homage to your majesty."
+
+The king, with his studied grace of courtesy, kissed her hand, and
+continued his progress around the circle. The monarch and his perhaps
+equally guilty victim never met again. She lived twenty-two years
+after her expulsion from the palace. They were twenty-two years of
+joylessness. Her confessor, who seems to have been a man of sincere
+piety, refused her absolution until she had written to her husband,
+the Marquis de Montespan, whom she had abandoned for the guilty love
+of the king, affirming her heartfelt repentance, imploring his
+forgiveness, and entreating him either to receive her back, or to
+order her to any place of residence which he should think proper. The
+indignant marquis replied that he would neither admit her to his
+house, nor prescribe for her any future rules of conduct, nor suffer
+her name ever again to be mentioned in his presence.
+
+The reverend father compelled her, in atonement for her sins, to sit
+at a frugal table; to consecrate her vast wealth to objects of
+benevolence; to wear haircloth next her skin, and around her waist a
+girdle with sharp points, which lacerated her body at every movement.
+She was also daily employed in making garments of the coarsest
+materials with her own hands for the sick in the hospitals, and for
+the poor in their squalid homes.
+
+The guilty marchioness was dreadfully afraid of death. Every night a
+careful guard of women watched her bedside. In a thunder-storm she
+would take an infant in her lap, that the child's innocence might be
+her protection. In the night of the 26th of May, 1707, she was
+attacked in her bed by very distressing suffocation. One of her sons,
+the Marquis of Antin, was immediately sent for. He found his mother
+insensible. Seizing a casket which contained her jewels, he demanded
+of an attendant the key. It was suspended around the neck of his dying
+mother, where she ever wore it. The young man went to the bedside,
+tore away the lace which veiled his mother's bosom, seized the key,
+unlocked the casket, emptied its contents into his pockets, descended
+to his carriage, and hurried away with the treasure, leaving his
+mother to die without a relative to close her eyes. An hour after she
+breathed her last.
+
+The king was informed of the death of Madame de Montespan just as he
+was setting out on a shooting excursion. "Ah! indeed," he said, "and
+so the marchioness is dead. I should have thought that she would have
+lasted longer. Are you ready, M. de la Rochefoucald? I have no doubt
+that after this last shower the scent will lie well for the dogs.
+Come, let us be off at once."
+
+We have slightly anticipated the chronological sequence of events in
+this narrative of the death of Madame de Montespan, which took place
+in the year 1707. James II. of England died in exile at St. Germain in
+September, 1701. The Prince of Orange then occupied the British throne
+with the title of William III. He formed what was called the "Grand
+Alliance" against the encroachments of France. For several years the
+war of the "Spanish Succession" raged with almost unprecedented fury
+throughout all Europe.
+
+[Illustration: FRONT VIEW OF ST. GERMAIN.]
+
+The king's health was now failing, and troubles in rapid succession
+came crowding upon him. His armies encountered terrible defeats. The
+king had thus far lived on friendly terms with his only brother
+Philip, duke of Orleans, the playmate of his childhood, and the
+submissive subject of maturer years. They were now both soured by
+misfortune. In a chance meeting at Marly they fell into a violent
+altercation respecting the conduct of one of the sons of the duke. It
+was their first quarrel since childhood. The duke was so excited by
+the event that he hastened to his palace at St. Cloud with flushed
+cheeks and trembling nerves, where he was stricken down by apoplexy. A
+courier was immediately dispatched to the king. He hastened to the
+bedside of his brother, and found him insensible.
+
+Philip was two years younger than Louis. To see him die was a louder
+appeal to the conscience of the king than the view of St. Denis from
+the terrace at St. Germain. Death was, to this monarch, truly the king
+of terrors. He could not endure the spectacle of his brother's dying
+convulsions. Burying his face in his hands, he wept and sobbed
+bitterly. It was a midnight scene, or rather it was the sombre hour of
+three o'clock in the morning.
+
+At 8 o'clock in the morning the king took his carriage and returned to
+Marly, and repaired immediately to the apartment of Madame de
+Maintenon. At 11 o'clock his physician arrived with the intelligence
+that the duke was dead. Again the king was overcome with emotion, and
+wept almost convulsively; but, soon recovering himself, he apparently
+resolved to make every effort to throw off these painful thoughts.
+
+Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Madame de Maintenon, he persisted
+in his determination to dine, as usual, with the ladies of the court.
+Much to the astonishment of the ladies, he was heard, in his own room,
+singing an air from a recent opera which was far from funereal in its
+character.
+
+In the month of May of this same year, 1701, the Duke of Anjou, the
+young King of Spain, who was uneasily seated upon his beleaguered
+throne, entered into a matrimonial alliance with Maria Louisa of
+Savoy, younger sister of Adelaide, the duchess of Burgoyne. She was of
+fairy-like stature, but singularly graceful and beautiful, with the
+finest complexion, and eyes of dazzling brilliance. Her mental
+endowments were also equal to her physical charms. Louis XIV., ever
+anxious to retain the control over the court of Spain, appointed the
+Princess des Ursins to be the companion and adviser of the young
+queen. This lady was alike remarkable for her intelligence, her
+sagacity, her tact, and her thorough acquaintance with high and
+courtly breeding. The young King of Spain was perfectly enamored of
+his lovely bride. She held the entire control over him. The
+worldly-wise and experienced Princess des Ursins guided, in obedience
+to the dictates of Louis XIV., almost every thought and volition of
+the young queen. Thus the monarch at Marly ruled the court at Madrid.
+
+While foreign war was introducing bankruptcy to the treasury of
+France, civil war was also desolating the kingdom. The sufferings of
+the Protestants equaled any thing which had been witnessed in the days
+of pagan persecution. The most ferocious of all these men, who were
+breathing out threatenings and slaughter, was the Abbe de Chayla. This
+wretch had captured a party of Protestants, and, with them, two young
+ladies from families of distinction. They were all brutally thrust
+into a dungeon, and were fettered in a way which caused extreme
+anguish, and crushed some of their bones. It was the 24th of July,
+1702. At ten o'clock in the evening, a party of about fifty resolute
+Protestants, thoroughly armed, and chanting a psalm, broke into the
+palace of the infamous ecclesiastic, released the prisoners from the
+dungeon vaults, seized the abbe, and, after compelling him to look
+upon the mangled bodies and broken bones of his victims, put him to
+death by a dagger-stroke from each one of his assailants. The torch
+was then applied, and the palace laid in ashes.
+
+Hence commenced the terrible civil war called _The War of the
+Camisards_. The Protestants were poor, dispersed, without arms, and
+without leaders. Despair nerved them. They fled to rocks, to the
+swamps, the forests. In their unutterable anguish they were led to
+frenzies of enthusiasm. They believed that God chose their leaders,
+and inspired them to action. Thus roused and impelled, they set at
+defiance an army of twenty thousand men sent against them.
+
+The terrible war lasted two years. Fiends could not have perpetrated
+greater cruelties than were perpetrated by the troops of the king. It
+is one of the mysteries of divine providence that _one man_ should
+have been permitted to create such wide-spread and unutterable woe.
+Louis XIV. wished to exterminate Protestantism from his realms.
+Millions were made wretched to an intensity which no pen can describe.
+Louis XIV. wished to place his grandson, without any legal title, upon
+the throne of Spain. In consequence, Europe was deluged in blood.
+Cities were sacked and burned. Provinces were devastated. Hundreds of
+thousands perished in the blood of the battle-field. The book of final
+judgment alone can tell how many widows and orphans went weeping to
+their graves.
+
+The Pope Clement IX. fulminated a bull against the Camisards, and
+promised the absolute remission of sins to those engaged in their
+extermination. Protestant England and Holland sent words of cheer to
+their fellow-religionists. We can not enter into the details of this
+conflict. The result was that the king found it impossible to
+exterminate the Protestants, or to blot out their faith. A policy of
+semi-tolerance was gradually introduced, though in various parts of
+the kingdom the persecuting spirit remained for several years
+unbroken. The king, chagrined by the failure of his plans, would not
+allow the word Protestant or Huguenot to be pronounced in his
+presence.
+
+The distress in France was dreadful. A winter of unprecedented
+severity had even frozen the impetuous waters of the Rhone. Provisions
+commanded famine prices. The fields were barren, the store-houses
+exhausted, the merchant ships were captured by the enemy, and the
+army, humiliated by frequent defeats, was perishing with hunger. The
+people became desperate. The king was ignominiously lampooned and
+placarded. He dared not appear in public, for starving crowds gathered
+around his carriage clamoring for bread. Even the king and the
+nobility sent their plate to the Mint. The exhaustion of the realm had
+become so complete that the haggard features of want seemed to be
+staring in even at the windows of the palace. Madame de Maintenon
+practiced so much self-denial as to eat only oaten bread.
+
+In April of 1711 the dauphin was taken sick with apparently an attack
+of fever. It proved to be malignant smallpox. After a brief sickness,
+which terrified and dispersed the court, he died, almost alone, in a
+burning fever, with a frightfully swollen face, and in delirium. Even
+the king could not visit the dying chamber of his son. He fainted upon
+his sofa when he heard that the dauphin was in his last agonies.
+
+The terror-stricken courtiers fled from the palace of Meudon, where
+the loathsome remains of the heir to the throne of France awaited
+burial. The corpse was hurried into a plain coffin, which was not even
+covered by the royal pall. Not a single mourning coach followed the
+only legitimate son of Louis XIV. to the grave. He had two sisters,
+the Princess of Conti and the Duchess of Bourbon Conde. Neither of
+them ventured to join the funeral procession of their only brother. He
+had three sons, Louis, Philip, and Charles. Philip was king of Spain.
+Louis and Charles were at home. But they kept at a safe distance, as
+did the king his father, from the meagre funeral procession which
+bore, with indecent haste, the remains of the prince to the vaults of
+St. Denis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XIV.
+
+1712-1715
+
+The Duke of Burgoyne.--His character.--The dauphiness poisoned by
+means of snuff.--Anguish of the king.--Death.--The dauphin taken
+ill.--Death of the dauphin.--Death of the child-dauphin.--The Duke
+of Orleans.--He is suspected as the poisoner.--A quarrel and its
+result.--Death of the Duke de Berri.--Anguish of the Duke of
+Orleans.--Feelings of the king.--The regency.--Intrigues and
+plots.--Louis harassed.--The Duke of Orleans removes to St.
+Cloud.--Policy.--Wretchedness of the king.--The Duchess de
+Berri.--Plottings.--The council of regency.--The last testament of
+the king.--Unsatisfactory.--Sickness of the king.--The last
+review.--Struggles against death.--Affects youthfulness.--Summons
+a band.--Scene in the death-chamber.--The last offices of the
+Church.--The king resigned.--Remorse of the king.--Energy of
+fanaticism.--Deplorable condition of France.--Testimony of Thomas
+Jefferson.--Napoleon.--Devotion of Madame de Maintenon.--Last
+messages.--Melancholy spectacle.--The young heir to the throne.--Dying
+advice.--The king blesses the dauphin.--Dying confession.--Scenes
+of suffering.--Last words.--The death of the king.--Louis XV.
+proclaimed.--Ignominious burial of Louis XIV.--Louis XV.--Louis
+XVI.--The Revolution.
+
+
+Upon the death of the king's son, the Duke of Burgoyne assumed the
+title of Dauphin, which his father had previously borne, and became
+direct heir to the crown. He was a retiring, formal man, very much
+devoted to study, and somewhat pedantic. He was also religiously
+inclined. In his study, where he passed most of his time, he divided
+his hours between works of devotion and books of science. His sudden
+advent to the direct heirship to the French throne surrounded him with
+courtiers and flatterers. The palace at Meudon, where he generally
+resided, was now crowded with noble guests.
+
+He became affable, frequently showed himself in public, entered into
+amusements, and was soon regarded as a general favorite. Taught by
+Madame de Maintenon, he succeeded, by his marked respect for the king
+and his submission to his slightest wishes, in gaining the good will
+of the homage-loving monarch. The years had rolled rapidly along, and
+the young dauphin was thirty years of age. He had three children,
+and, being irreproachable in his domestic relations, was developing a
+very noble character. The dauphiness had attained her twenty-seventh
+year. She was an extremely beautiful and fascinating woman.
+
+The dauphiness was fond of snuff. On the 3d of February, 1712, the
+Duke de Noailles, a true friend, presented her with a box of Spanish
+snuff, with which she was delighted. She left the box upon the table
+in her boudoir. It was there for a couple of days, she frequently
+indulging in the luxury of a pinch. On the 5th she was attacked with
+sudden sickness, accompanied by shivering fits, burning fever, and
+intense pain in the head. The attack was so sudden and extraordinary
+that all the attendants thought of poison, though none ventured to
+give utterance to the surmise. For four days she grew worse, with
+frequent seasons of delirium. The dauphin was almost frantic. The king
+sat in anguish, hour after hour, at her bedside.
+
+No remedies were of any avail. Her sufferings were so great that the
+dauphin could not remain in her dying chamber to witness her agony.
+She was greatly surprised when informed that she must die. All the
+offices of the Church were attended to. She received the rite of
+extreme unction, and, in the wildness of delirium, lost all
+recognition of those who were around her. The king, bowed down with
+anguish, was with difficulty prevailed upon to retire. He had but
+reached the door of the palace when she expired.
+
+The king was now a world-weary, heart-stricken old man, who had
+numbered more than his threescore years and ten. He seemed crushed
+with grief, and his eyes were flooded with tears as he returned, with
+Madame de Maintenon, to Marly. The apartment which the dauphin paced
+in agony was immediately above the dying chamber. As soon as the
+death-struggle was over, he was induced to retire to Marly, that he
+might be spared the anguish of witnessing the preparations for the
+funeral.
+
+As the dauphin entered the chamber of the king, the monarch was
+startled in witnessing the change which had taken place in his
+appearance. His face was flushed with fever; his eyes were dilated and
+inflamed, and livid stains covered his face. It was manifest that the
+same disease, whatever it was, which had stricken down the
+dauphiness, had also attacked the dauphin. The malady made rapid
+progress. In the intensity of his anguish, the sufferer declared his
+entrails were on fire. Conscious that his dying hour had come, he, on
+the night of the 17th, partook of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
+and almost immediately expired.
+
+The dreadful tidings were conveyed to the king as he sat in the
+apartment of Madame de Maintenon, with the younger brother of the
+dauphin, Charles, the duke de Berri, by his side. The king,
+anticipating the announcement, sat with his head bent down upon his
+breast, and clasping almost convulsively the hand of the prince who
+sat at his feet. Throwing his arms around the neck of the Duke de
+Berri, the king exclaimed, in accents of despair, "Alas! my son, you
+alone are now left to me."
+
+The Duke of Burgoyne had buried three children. There were two then
+living. The eldest, the Duke of Bretagne, was five years of age. The
+youngest, the Duke of Anjou, had just attained his second year. By the
+death of the Duke of Burgoyne, his eldest child became the dauphin and
+the immediate heir to the crown. The next day both of these children
+were taken sick, evidently with the same malady, whether of natural
+disease or the effect of poison, which had proved so fatal to their
+parents. The eldest immediately died. The same funeral car conveyed
+the remains of the father, the mother, and the child to the gloomy
+vaults of St. Denis.
+
+The youngest child, the Duke of Anjou, by the most careful nursing
+recovered to ascend the throne with the title of Louis XV., and to
+present to the world, in his character, one of the most infamous kings
+who had ever worn an earthly crown.
+
+We have previously mentioned the death of the king's only brother,
+Philip, duke of Orleans. He left a son, the Duke of Chartres. Upon the
+death of the Duke of Orleans his son inherited the title and the
+estate of his father. He was an exceedingly dissolute man. Should all
+the legitimate descendants of the king die, he would be heir to the
+throne. With the exception of Philip, who was King of Spain, and thus
+precluded from inheriting the throne of France, all were now dead
+except the infant Duke of Anjou. The death of that child would place
+the crown upon the brow of Philip, duke of Orleans.
+
+As it was evident that all these victims had died of poison, suspicion
+was so directed against the Duke of Orleans that the accusation was
+often hooted at him in the streets. There is, however, no convincing
+evidence that he was guilty. One of the daughters of the Duke of
+Orleans had married the Duke de Berri. She was as wicked as she was
+beautiful, and scarcely condescended to disguise her profligacy. The
+duke intercepted some letters which proved her guilty intimacy with an
+officer of her household. A violent quarrel took place in the royal
+presence. The husband kicked his wife with his heavy boot, and the
+king lifted his cane to strike the duke.
+
+A sort of reconciliation was effected. The duchess, who, beyond all
+doubt, was a guilty woman, professed to be satisfied with the
+apologies which her husband made. Soon after they went on a wolf-hunt
+in the forest of Marly. Both appeared in high spirits. The run was
+long. Heated by the race and thirsty, the duke asked the duchess if
+she had any thing with her with which he could quench his thirst. She
+drew from the pocket of her carriage a small bottle, which contained,
+she said, an exquisite cordial with which she was always provided in
+case of over-fatigue. The duke drained it, and returned the empty
+bottle to the duchess. As she took it she said, with a smile, "I am
+very glad to have met you so opportunely."
+
+Thus they parted. In a few hours the duke was a corpse. It was so
+manifestly for the interest of the dissolute and unprincipled Duke of
+Orleans that the princes which stood between him and the throne should
+be removed, that all these cases of poisoning were attributed to him.
+Indeed, one of the motives which might have influenced his daughter,
+the Duchess de Berri, to poison her husband, whom she loathed, may
+have been the hope of seeing her father upon the throne. When the
+funeral procession passed near the Palais Royal, the residence of the
+duke, the tumult was so great that it was feared that the palace might
+be sacked.
+
+The anguish of the duke, thus clamorously assailed with the crime of
+the most atrocious series of assassinations, was great. A friend, the
+Marquis de Canillac, calling upon him one day, found him prostrate
+upon the floor of his apartment in utter despair. He knew that he was
+suspected by his uncle the king, and by the court as well as by the
+populace. At last he went boldly to the king, and demanded that he
+should be arrested, sent to the Bastile, and put upon trial. The king
+sternly, and without any manifestation of sympathy, refused, saying
+that such a scandal should not, with his consent, be made any more
+public than it already was. The king also recoiled from the idea of
+having a prince of the blood royal tried for murder.
+
+As it was known that the king could not live long, and a babe of but
+two years was to be his successor--a feeble babe, who had already
+narrowly escaped death by poison, the question of the regency, during
+the minority of this babe, and of heirship to the throne in case the
+babe should die, became a matter of vast moment. The court was filled
+with intrigues and plots. The Duke of Orleans had his numerous
+partisans, men of opulence and rank. He was but a nephew of the
+king--son of the king's brother.
+
+On the other hand was the Duke du Maine, an acknowledged _son_ of the
+king--the legitimated son of Madame de Montespan. But no royal
+decree, no act of Parliament could obliterate the stain of his birth.
+He had many and powerful supporters, who, by his accession to power,
+would be placed in all the offices of honor and emolument. Madame de
+Maintenon, in herself a host, was one of the most devoted of his
+friends. She had been his tutor. She had ever loved him ardently. He
+had also pledged her, in case of his success, that she should be
+recognized as Queen of France.
+
+The monarch was harassed and bewildered by these contending factions.
+The populace took sides. The Duke of Orleans could not leave his
+palace without being exposed to the hootings of the rabble. He
+withdrew from his city residence, the Palais Royal, to the splendid
+palace of St. Cloud. He was accompanied by a magnificent train of
+nobles, and, being a man of almost boundless wealth, he established
+his court here in regal splendor.
+
+There was no _proof_ that the Duke of Orleans was implicated in the
+poisonings. The king was unwilling to receive evidence that his
+brother's son could be guilty of such a crime. Being superstitiously a
+religionist, the king recoiled from the attempt to place upon the
+throne a son of Madame de Montespan, who was the acknowledged wife of
+another man. He therefore favored the claims of the Duke of Orleans,
+and sent him word at St. Cloud that he recognized his innocence of
+the crime of which public rumor accused him.
+
+It is, however, very evident that this was a measure of policy and not
+of sincere conviction. He entered into no friendly relations with the
+duke, and kept him at a respectful distance. The disastrous war of the
+Spanish Succession was now closed, through the curious complications
+of state policy. Philip VI. retained his throne, but France was
+exhausted and impoverished. The king often sat for hours, with his
+head leaning upon his hand, in a state of profound listlessness and
+melancholy. Famine was ravaging the land. A wail of woe came from
+millions whom his wars and extravagance had reduced to starvation.
+
+The Duchess de Berri, the unblushing profligate, the undoubted
+murderess, was, as the daughter of the king's brother, the only
+legitimate princess left to preside over the royal court. She was
+fascinating in person and manners, with scarcely a redeeming virtue to
+atone for her undisguised vices.
+
+"Thus the stately court of Anne of Austria, the punctilious circle of
+Maria Theresa, and the elegant society of the Duchess of Burgoyne
+were--at the very period of his life when Louis XIV., at length
+disenchanted of the greatness, and disgusted with the vices of the
+world, was seeking to purify his heart and to exalt his thoughts that
+they might become more meet for heaven--superseded by the orgies of a
+wanton, who, with unabashed brow and unshrinking eye, carried her
+intrigues into the very saloons of Marly."[Y]
+
+[Footnote Y: Louis XIV. and the Court of France, vol. ii., p. 588.]
+
+Madame de Maintenon resorted to every measure she could devise to
+induce the king to appoint her favorite pupil, the Duke du Maine,
+regent during the minority of the infant Duke of Anjou. The king was
+greatly harassed. Old, infirm, world-weary, heart-stricken, and pulled
+in opposite directions, by powers so strong, he knew not what to do.
+At last he adopted a sort of compromise, which gave satisfaction to
+neither party.
+
+The king appointed a council of regency, of which the Duke of Orleans
+was president. But the Duke du Maine was a member of the council, and
+was also intrusted with the guardianship and education of the young
+heir to the throne. This will was carefully concealed in a cavity
+opened in the wall of a tower of the state apartment. The iron door of
+this closet was protected by three keys, one of which was held by the
+president of the chambers, one by the attorney general, and one by the
+public registrar.
+
+A royal edict forbade the closet to be opened until after the death of
+the king, and then only in the presence of the assembled Parliament,
+the princes, and the peers. The document had been extorted from the
+king. It was not in accordance with his wishes. Indeed, it satisfied
+no one. As he placed the papers in the hands of the president of the
+chambers, he said to him, gloomily,
+
+"Here is my will. The experience of my predecessors has taught me that
+it may not be respected. But I have been tormented to frame it. I have
+been allowed neither peace nor rest until I complied. Take it away.
+Whatever may happen to it, I hope that I shall now be left in
+quiet."[Z]
+
+[Footnote Z: Memoires de St. Simon.]
+
+The advanced age of the king and his many infirmities rendered even a
+slight indisposition alarming. On the evening of the 3d of May, 1715,
+the king, having supped with the Duchess de Berri, retired to bed
+early, complaining of weariness and exhaustion. The rumor spread
+rapidly that the king was dangerously sick. The foreign embassadors
+promptly dispatched the news to their several courts.
+
+The jealous king, who kept himself minutely informed of every thing
+which transpired, was very indignant in view of this apparent
+eagerness to hurry him to the tomb. To prove, not only to the court,
+but to all Europe, that he was still every inch a king, he ordered a
+magnificent review of the royal troops at Marly. The trumpet of
+preparation was blown loudly. Many came, not only from different parts
+of the kingdom, but from the other states of Europe, to witness the
+spectacle. It took place on the 20th of June, 1715. As the troops, in
+their gorgeous uniforms, defiled before the terrace of Marly, quite a
+spruce-looking man, surrounded by obsequious attendants, emerged from
+the principal entrance of the palace, descended the marble steps and
+mounted his horse. It was the poor old king. Inspired by vanity, which
+even dying convulsions could not quell, he had rouged his pale and
+haggard cheeks, wigged his thin locks, padded his skeleton limbs, and
+dressed himself in the almost juvenile costume of earlier years.
+Sustained by artificial stimulants, this poor old man kept his
+tottering seat upon his saddle for four long hours. He then, having
+proved that he was still young and vigorous, returned to his chamber.
+The wig was thrown aside, the pads removed, the paint washed off, and
+the infirm septuagenarian sought rest from his exhaustion upon the
+royal couch.
+
+Day after day the king grew more feeble, with the usual alternations
+of nervous strength and debility, but with no abatement of his chronic
+gloom. The struggles which he endured to conceal the approaches of
+decay did but accelerate that decay. He was restless, and again
+lethargic. Dropsical symptoms appeared in his discolored feet and
+swollen ankles. Still he insisted every day upon seeing his ministers,
+and exhibited himself padded, and rouged, and costumed in the highest
+style of art. He even affected, in his gait and gesture, the
+elasticity of youth. In his restlessness, the king repaired, with his
+court, from Marly to Versailles.
+
+Here the king was again taken seriously sick with an attack of fever.
+With unabated resolution, he continued his struggles against the
+approaches of the angel of death. While the fevered blood was
+throbbing in his veins, he declared that he was but slightly
+indisposed, and summoned a musical band to his presence, with orders
+that the musicians should perform only the most animating and cheerful
+melodies.
+
+But the fever and other alarming symptoms increased so rapidly that
+scarcely had the band been assembled when the court physicians became
+apprehensive that the king's dissolution was immediately to take
+place. The king's confessor and the Cardinal de Rohan were promptly
+summoned to attend to the last services of the Catholic Church for the
+dying. There was a scene of confusion in the palace. The confessor, Le
+Tellier, communicated to the king the intelligence that he was
+probably near his end. While he was receiving the _confession_ of the
+royal penitent, the cardinal was hurrying to the chapel to get the
+viaticum for administering the communion, and the holy oil for the
+rite of extreme unction.
+
+It was customary that the _pyx_, as the box was called in which the
+host was kept, should be conveyed to the bedside of expiring royalty
+in formal procession. The cardinal, in his robes of office, led the
+way. Several attendants of the royal household followed, bearing
+torches. Then came Madame de Maintenon. They all gathered in the
+magnificent chamber, and around the massive, sumptuous couch of the
+monarch. The cardinal, after speaking a few words in reference to the
+solemnity of a dying hour, administered the sacrament and the holy
+oils. The king listened reverently and in silence, and then sank back
+upon his pillow, apparently resigned to die.
+
+To the surprise of all, he revived. Patiently he bore his sufferings,
+which at times were severe. His legs began to swell badly and
+painfully. Mortification took place. He was informed that the
+amputation of the leg was necessary to save him from speedy death.
+
+"Will the operation prolong my life?" inquired the king.
+
+"Yes, sire," the surgeon replied; "certainly for some days, perhaps
+for several weeks."
+
+"If that be all," said the king, "it is not worth the suffering. God's
+will be done."
+
+The king could not conceal the anguish with which he was agitated in
+view of his wicked life. He fully believed in the religion of the New
+Testament, and that after death came the judgment. He tried to believe
+that the priest had power to grant him absolution from his sins. How
+far he succeeded in this no one can know.
+
+Openly he expressed his anguish in view of the profligacy of his
+youth, and wept bitterly in the retrospect of those excesses. We know
+not what compunctions of conscience visited him as he reflected upon
+the misery he had caused by the persecution of the Protestants. But he
+had been urged to this by his highest ecclesiastics, and even by the
+holy father himself.
+
+It would not be strange, under these circumstances, if a man of his
+superstitious and fanatical spirit should, even in a dying hour,
+reflect with some complacency upon these crimes, believing that thus
+he had been doing God service. It is this which gives to papal
+_fanaticism_ its terrible and demoniac energy. The _sincere_ papist
+believes "_heresy_" to be poison for the soul infinitely more dreadful
+than any poison for the body. Such poison must be banished from the
+world at whatever cost of suffering. Many an ecclesiastic has gone
+from his closet of prayer to kindle the flames which consumed his
+victim. The more _sincere_ the papist is in his belief, the more
+mercilessly will he swing the scourge and fire the fagot.
+
+Loudly, however, he deplored the madness of his ambition which had
+involved Europe in such desolating wars. Bitterly he expressed his
+regret that he left France in a state of such exhaustion,
+impoverished, burdened with taxation, and hopelessly crushed by debt.
+
+The condition of the realm was indeed deplorable. A boy of five years
+of age was to inherit the throne. A man so profligate that he was
+infamous even in a court which rivaled Sodom in its corruption was to
+be invested with the regency of the kingdom--a man who was accused, by
+the general voice of the nation, of having poisoned those who stood
+between him and the throne. That man's sister, an unblushing wanton,
+who had poisoned her own husband, presided over the festivities of the
+palace. The nobles, abandoned to sensual indulgence, were diligent and
+ingenious only in their endeavors to wrench money from the poor. The
+masses of the people were wretched beyond description, and almost
+beyond imagination in our land of liberty and competence. The
+execrations of the starving millions were rising in a long wail around
+the throne.
+
+Thomas Jefferson, subsequently President of the United States, who,
+not many years after this, was the American embassador at Paris,
+wrote, in 1785, to Mrs. Trist, of Philadelphia,
+
+"Of twenty millions of people supposed to be in France, I am of the
+opinion that there are nineteen millions more wretched, more accursed
+in every circumstance of human existence than the most conspicuously
+wretched individual of the whole United States."
+
+Even the Duke of Orleans, the appointed regent, said, "If I were a
+subject I would certainly revolt. The people are good-natured fools to
+suffer so long."
+
+These sufferings and these corruptions were the origin and cause of
+the French Revolution.[AA] Napoleon, the great advocate of the rights
+of the people in antagonism to this aristocratic privilege, said, at
+St. Helena,
+
+[Footnote AA: Abbott's French Revolution, as viewed in the Light of
+Republican Institutions.]
+
+"Our Revolution was a national convulsion as irresistible in its
+effects as an eruption of Vesuvius. When the mysterious fusion which
+takes place in the entrails of the earth is at such a crisis that an
+explosion follows, the eruption bursts forth. The unperceived workings
+of the discontent of the people follow exactly the same course. In
+France, the sufferings of the people, the moral combinations which
+produce a revolution, had arrived at maturity, and the explosion took
+place."[AB]
+
+[Footnote AB: Napoleon at St. Helena, p. 374]
+
+Such was the condition in which unhappy France was left by Louis XIV.,
+after a reign of seventy years. He was now seventy-seven years of age.
+Madame de Maintenon, two years his senior, was entering her eightieth
+year. With unwearied devotion she watched at the bedside of that
+selfish husband whose pride would never allow him to acknowledge her
+publicly as his wife.
+
+Feeling that his end was drawing near, the king summoned the Duke of
+Orleans to his bedside, and informed him minutely of the measures he
+wished to have adopted after his death. The duke listened
+respectfully, but paid no more regard to the wishes of the now
+powerless and dying king than to the wailing of the wind. The king had
+penetration enough to see that his day was over. He sank back upon his
+pillow in despair.
+
+On the 26th of August several prominent members of his court were
+invited to the dying chamber of the king. His voice was almost gone.
+He beckoned them to gather near around his bed. Then, in feeble tones,
+tremulous with emotion, the pitiable old man, conscious of his summons
+to the tribunal of God, said,
+
+"Gentlemen, I ask your pardon for the bad example I have set you. I
+thank you for your fidelity to me, and beg you to be equally faithful
+to my grandson. Farewell, gentlemen. Forgive me. I hope you will
+sometimes think of me when I am gone."
+
+          "By many a death-bed I have been,
+          By many a sinner's parting scene,
+          But never aught like this."
+
+It was, indeed, a spectacle mournfully sublime. The dying chamber was
+one of the most magnificent apartments in the palace of Versailles.
+The royal couch, massive in its architecture, richly curtained in its
+embroidered upholstery of satin and gold, presented a bed whose
+pillowed luxury exhibited haggard death in the strongest possible
+contrast.
+
+Upon this gorgeous bed the gray-haired king reclined, wrinkled and
+wan, and with a countenance which bore the traces both of physical
+suffering and of keen remorse. The velvet hangings of the bed were
+looped back with heavy tassels of gold. A group of nobles in gorgeous
+court costumes were kneeling around the bed. Dispersed over the vast
+apartment were other groups of courtiers and ladies, in picturesque
+attitudes of real or affected grief. The gilded cornices, the
+richly-painted ceilings, the soft carpet, yielding to the pressure of
+the foot, the lavish display of the most costly and luxurious
+furniture, all conspired to render the dimmed eye, and wasted cheek,
+and palsied frame of the dying more impressive.
+
+At a gesture from the king nearly all retired. For a few moments there
+was unbroken silence. The king then requested his great grandchild,
+who was to be his successor, to be brought to him. A cushion was
+placed by the side of the bed, and the half-frightened child, clinging
+to the hand of his governess, kneeled upon it. Louis XIV. gazed for a
+few moments with almost pitying tenderness upon the infant prince, and
+then said,
+
+"My child, you are about to become a great king. Do not imitate me
+either in my taste for building or in my love of war. Live in peace
+with the nations. Render to God all that you owe him. Teach your
+subjects to honor His name. Strive to relieve the burdens of your
+people, in which I have been so unfortunate as to fail. Never forget
+the gratitude you owe to the Duchess de Ventadour."[AC]
+
+[Footnote AC: The Duchess de Ventadour, by the most careful nursing,
+to which she entirely devoted herself, had rescued the infant Duke of
+Anjou from the effect of the poison to which his father, mother, and
+brother had fallen victims.]
+
+"Madame," said the king, addressing Madame de Ventadour, "permit me to
+embrace the prince."
+
+The dauphin was placed upon the bed. The king encircled him in his
+arms, pressed him fondly to his breast, and said, in a voice broken by
+emotion,
+
+"I bless you, my dear child, with all my heart." He then raised his
+eyes to heaven, and uttered a short prayer for God's blessing upon the
+boy.
+
+The next day, after another night of languor and suffering, the
+restless, conscience-stricken king again summoned the dignitaries of
+the court to his bedside, and said to them, in the presence of Madame
+de Maintenon and of his _confessor_, who had mainly instigated him in
+the persecution of the Protestants,
+
+"Gentlemen, I die in the faith and obedience of the Church. I know
+nothing of the dogmas by which it is divided. I have followed the
+advice which I have received, and have done only what I was desired to
+do. If I have erred, my guides alone must answer before God, whom I
+call upon to witness this assertion."
+
+The succeeding night the king was restless and greatly agitated. He
+could not sleep, and seemed to pass the whole night in agonizing
+prayer. In the morning he said to Madame de Maintenon,
+
+"At this moment I only regret yourself. I have not made you happy. But
+I have ever felt for you all the regard and affection which you
+deserved. My only consolation in leaving you exists in the hope that
+we shall, ere long, meet again in eternity."
+
+Hours of agony, bodily and mental, were still allotted to the king.
+His limbs were badly swollen. Upon one of them mortification was
+rapidly advancing. He was often delirious, with but brief intervals of
+consciousness. The service for the dying was performed. The ceremony
+seemed slightly to arouse him from his lethargy. His voice was heard
+occasionally blending with the prayers of the ecclesiastics as he
+repeated several times,
+
+"Now, in the hour of death, O my God, come to my aid."
+
+These were his last words. He sank back insensible upon his pillow. A
+few hours of painful breathing passed away, and at eight o'clock in
+the morning of the 1st of September, 1715, he expired, in the
+seventy-seventh year of his age and the seventy-second of his reign.
+It was the longest reign in the annals of France. Had he been governed
+through this period by enlightened Christian principle, how many
+millions might have been made happy whom his crimes doomed to
+life-long woe!
+
+An immense concourse was assembled in the court-yard at Versailles,
+anticipating the announcement of his death. The moment he breathed his
+last sigh, the captain of the body-guard approached the great balcony,
+threw open the massive windows, and, looking down upon the multitude
+below, raised his truncheon above his head, broke it in the centre,
+threw the fragments down into the court-yard, and cried sadly, "The
+king is dead!"
+
+Then, instantly seizing another staff from the hands of an attendant,
+he waved it joyfully above his head, and shouted triumphantly, "Long
+live the king, Louis XV.!" A huzza burst from the lips of the
+assembled thousands almost loud enough to pierce the ear of the king,
+now palsied in death.
+
+[Illustration: ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV.]
+
+There were few to mourn the departed monarch. As his remains were
+hurried to the vaults of St. Denis, those vaults which he had so much
+dreaded, the populace shouted execrations and pelted his coffin with
+mud. Not the slightest regard was paid to his will. The Duke of
+Orleans assumed the regency with absolute power. His reign was
+execrable, followed by the still more infamous reign of Louis XV. Then
+came the Revolution, as the sceptre of utterly despotic sway passed
+into the hands of the feeble Louis XVI. The storm, which had been
+gathering for ages, burst with fury which appalled the world. A more
+tremendous event has not occurred in the history of our race. The
+story has too often been told by those who were in sympathy with the
+kings and the nobles. The time will come when the _people's_ side of
+the story will be received, and the terrible drama will be better
+understood.
+
+                    THE END.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
+1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors, and to
+ensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise,
+every effort has been made to remain true to the original book.
+
+2. The chapter summaries in this text were originally published as
+banners in the page headers, and have been moved to beginning of the
+chapter for the reader's convenience.
+
+3. Typesetting for italics was very inconsistent in this book; no
+attempt has been made to regularize the use of italics.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Louis XIV., Makers of History Series, by
+John S. C. Abbott
+
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