The Old Régime. Court, salons and theatres

Front matter

THE OLD REGIME. Woodbury ; . LOUIS XV. From a Picture fy Vanloo. > THE OLD REGIME COURT, SALONS, AND THEATRES. BY (&at\jttine Charlotte, Hang Jackson. " Le dixseptieme siecle fut l'epoque du genie et des œuvres d'imagination ; le dixhuitieme fut celle du doute, des recherches et des sciences exactes." " Aux elans de 1' imagination succede F emulation du savoir, et le bel-esprit remplace le ge"nie. L'orgueil huniain met en doute tout ce qu'il ne comprend pas, et le siecle savant devient sceptique." De Tocqueville IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON Publishers in ©rbinarg to fitr Ulajtstg tbe tynun. i88o. PiGt t 18 29 4i CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Introductory Chapter .

Chapter II

The Council of Regency. — Le Due d'Orleans declared Regent. — Courting Popularity.— First Acts of the Regent. — Golden Opinions. — The Young King. — His First Lit-de-Justice.— The King and his Governor. — The King's First Public Speech. — Popularity of the Regent .

Chapter III

The Regency. — Its Libertinage.— The Regent's Roues. — Seeking Interviews with Satan. — Madame Lucifer. — Madame, the Regent's Mother. — Audacity of Voltaire. — Character of the Regent. — " Un Fanfaron de Vices ;" — Yet Generally Popular. — The Regent's Gallantry

Chapter IV

Un Salon tres Respectable. — The Hotel Lambert. — La Marquise de Lambert. — The Palais Mazarin. — Weekly Literary Dinners. — French Cooks of the Eighteenth Century. — The Wealthy Financiers.— A Party of Old Friends. — La Motte-Houdart. — Homer and Madame Dacier. — The Salon Lambert. — The Bureau d'Esprit. — The Goddess of Sceaux. — The Marquis de St. Aulaire. — The Due du Maine. — A Desperate Little Woman.— Portrait of the Duchess.— Genealogical Researches.— Drowsy Reading ...... VOL. I. b CONTENTS. VI PAGE 61 73 79 96

Chapter V

Royal Academy of Music. — Opera, Paniers, and Masks. — "See Paris and Die !" — Watteau's Early Studies.— Costumes a la Watteau.— Bals de l'Ope'ra.— La Duchesse de Berri. — La Duchesse, en reine. — La Duchesse, en penitence. — Le Comte de Riom. — Mdme. de Maintenon's Nieces. . . . .

Chapter VI

Return of the Italian Troupe. — Les Troupes Foraines. — Vaudeville and OpeVa Comique. — Winter and Summer Fairs. — Thdatre de la Foire suppressed

Chapter VII

Michael Baron. — Bembourg as Ndron. — Horace and Camille. — Adrienne Le Couvreur. — Ths. Corneille's "Comte d'Essex." — Baron Returns to the Stage — A Cæsar ; a Baron ; a Roscius. — A Second Triumphant Debut. — Le Premier Baron de France. — The Grand Pretre in "Athalie." — The Prince and the Actor. — " Mon Pauvre Boyron." — An Actress's Dinners and Suppers. — Results of Popularity. — Voltaire and his Nurse. — Galland's "Arabian Nights "......

Chapter VIII

Racine's Academic Address. — A Political Intrigante. — The Spanish Plot. — Arrest of the Duchesse du Maine. — Confessions and Apologies. — A Traitor in the Camp. — A General Lover. — The Eye's Eloquence. — A Persevering Lover. — Results of Gallantry.— La Duchesse de Richelieu. — The Due de Modena. — A Desponding Bride. — A Heartless Lover. — A Learned Academician. — A Noble Badaud ......

Chapter IX

Une Ne'glige'e— Louis XV.— The Financier's Wife.— A Fashionable Financier. — The Vicomte and Vicomtesse de F .—John Law.— La Banque du Roi.— The Mississippi Company— The Rue Quincampoix — Cupidity CONTENTS. VII PACE "3 131 148 165 171 and Despair. — Grand Hotels and Opera Boxes. — The Courtiers Pay their Debts. — The "Regent" and the "Sancy." — The First Blow to the Systeme. — Deceived and Ruined. — Law escapes to Flanders. — A Change fiom Paris to Brussels. — Order out of Disorder .

Chapter X

Death of Madame de Maintenon. — The Czar's Visit to St. Cyr. — A Complimentary Salutation. — The Czar Peter in Paris. — Thirst for Useful Knowledge. — Special " Interviewing." — The Invitation to the Ball. — Effect of Peter s Visit to Paris. — Madame de Caylus. — Palais Royal Banquets. — Be'chamel, Marin, Soubise. — Supper after the Opera. — Fashions of the Period. — The Ladies' Toilettes. — Les Belles Dames at Supper. — An example to the Czar ........

CHAPTER XL

The Turkish Ambassador. — The Turk's Blessing. — The King's Unwonted Docility. — The Young King's Amusements. — The King's Pastors and Masters. — The King and his Confessor. — Massillon's Petit Careme. — The Preaching of Massillon. — Massillon in Society. — Villeroi's Devotion to his King. — A Youthful Gambler. — Projected Marriages. — The Bulle Unigenitus. — A Very Vicious Bull. — Taken by the Horns. — The Marriages Arranged .......

Chapter XII

The New Cardinal Archbishop. — An Unwilling Bridegroom. — A Sorrowful Fate. — The Chateau de Rambouillet.— The Rambouillet Menage.

Chapter XIII

Madame de Tencin. — Gambling at the Hotel Tencin. — A Terrible Reputation. — " Le Grand Cyrus." — " Le Comte de Comminges." — A Delighted Audience. — Voltaire on his Knees. — Destouches and Marivaux. — Veteran Leaders of Society. — The Literary Menagerie. — Madame de Tencin's Suppers. — Up to the Ankles in Mud. — Fontenelle's Mistake ....... CONTENTS.

Chapter XIV. Page

Exuberant Joy.— Dining in Public— Public Rejoicings.— Loyalty still Flourishes.— The Marshal de Villeroi — When Louis XIV. was Young.— The Majestic Perruque. —A Grand Seigneur of the Old Regime.— Fireworks of the Eighteenth Century.— The Young King's Greeting. — The Grand Bow Louis XIV.— Villeroi Dismissed.— Un Abbs* Elegant.— The Bishop Retires to Issy.— Coronation of Louis XV.— Death of Dubois.— Dubois' Immense Wealth.— Political Lessons.— The Regent First Minister. — Death of the Regent. . i8S

Chapter XV

Monsieur le Due. — Taking Time by the Forelock. — The New Limits of Paris. — The Reverbere Invented. — Dark Streets of Old Paris. — Crossing the Gutters. — What became of the Children. — The Liveliest City in Europe. — Shopkeepers' Signboards. — The Lieutenant de Police. — The Terrible "DamneV' — Police Espionnage. — A Keeper of Secrets ....... 206

Chapter XVI

The Palais Royal Gardens. — Married, but Unattached, Couples. — Que voulez-vous ? C'est la Mode. — Le Haute Bourgeoisie. — Ennobled Bourgeoises. — Summer Evening Strolls. — The Chestnut Avenue. — Expulsion of the Infanta. — Supplanting the Bishop. — The Regent's Daughters. — Mdlle. de Vermandois. — Portrait of Louis XV. — The Infanta. — The Rambouillet Circle. — Marie Leczinska. — L'Eveque de Frejus. — The King's Preceptor. — The Royal Bride. — The Young Bridegroom. — The Queen's Dowry ....... 220

Chapter XVII

Sledging at Versailles.— La Dame du Palais.— The Queen's Secluded Life. — Piety of the Queen and King. — The Sound of the Hunting Horn. — The Good Old Days. — The Rain and the Sunshine. — Intrigues of Mdme. de Prie.— The Bishop Retires to Issy.— A Domestic Tempest. — A Scene at the Theatre. — Two Lettres-de-Cachet. — Paris- Duvernay. — Fortune's Wheel Moves Round. — An Old Normandy Chateau.— Death of Madame de Prie . CONTENTS. IX PAGE 258 275 294 307

Chapter XVIII

Fleury's Economy. — Mimi and Titite. — " Notre Toulouse." — Mdlle. de Vichy-Chamroud. — A Singular Caprice. — The Epidemic — Ennui. — An Interesting Couple. — A Desolate Normandy Chateau. — The Menagerie in Eclipse. — Emerging from the Cloud. — " Le Poeme de la Ligue." — A Pious Theft. — A Noble Chevalier. — " Rohan je suis." — Homage to Madame du Deffant. — " Adieu, la belle France." ......

Chapter XIX

Prayers for a Dauphin. — The Prayer is granted. — Louis XV. a Model Husband. — Baron's Final Retirement. — Death of Adrienne Le Couvreur. — Jealous Rivals. — Generosity of Adrienne. — Burial of Mdlle. Le Couvreur. — Voltaire's Lines on Adrienne. — Zaire, ou Les Enfants Trouve's. — Grandval the Actor. — The Prime Donne — Rameau. — The Abbd Pelligem. — A Musical Cabal. — Voltaire et les Danseuses. — The Apotheosis of Hercules. — Boucher's Painting Room .......

Chapter XX

A Drawing-Room Picture. — The Young Comte de Mirabeau. — Rival Gambling Salons. — The Foundling, d'Alembert. — The Irrepressible Bull. — Mdlle. Daucour. — The Rich Fermier-Ge'n^ral. — The Hotel La Popliniere. — A Scene of Enchantment. — A French Mephistophiles. — The Banished Wife. — The Infamous de Richelieu.

Chapter XXI

Thd a l'Anglaise and a Lecture. — The Queen's Privy Purse. — The President Hdnault. — Le Marquis d'Argenson. — Defence of the Cardinal. — The Cardinal's' Petit Coucher. — Mademoiselle Aisse\ — The Chevalier d'Aydie. — The Sleep of Death. — History of the Fair Haidee. — Les Devotionnettes. — A Warning Sign from on High- — Miss Black ......

Chapter XXII

Conspiracy of the Marmosets. — The Due de Gevres. — The Ducal Gambling-house. — An interesting Invalid. — Court Secrets. — Tapestry-working Statesmen. — The Queen CONTENTS. X PAGE 321 337 349 grows Jealous. — The Coiffure of Madame de Gontaut. — Madame de Mailly. — The King accepts a Mistress. — The Petits-Soupers at Choisy. — Stanislaus Leczinski. — The Brave Br^hant de Pleto. — The Court of Lorraine.— Death of Madame de Vintimille ....

Chapter XXIII

Jean-Jacques Rousseau. — The Salon of Mdme. Dupin. — Jean-Jacques and Mdme. de Crequy. — Fausses Confidences. — Jean-Jacques returns to Paris. — Voltaire's Grand Homme. — Un Mari, a la Mode Louis XV. — Voltaire's " Mahomet."— Ddbut of Mdlle. Clairon.— A Triumph. — Sensation for the Salons

Chapter XXIV

Death of Cardinal Fleury. — His Government of France. — Proposed Monument to Fleury. — Disappointed Ambition. — Threatened Descent on England. — A Rival to Maurice de Saxe. — Seeking Refuge at Versailles. — The King's Hospitality.— The "Mutual Friend."— The Cardinal's Successor. — Going to the Wars — A Solemn Thanksgiving. — Mdme. Le Normand d'Etioles. — Illness of the King. — "Le Bien-Aime\" — Louis' Letter to the Duchess. — Death of the Duchess.— Her Last Words LIST OF PORTRAITS. LOUIS XV. . . . . Frontispiece. To face page JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU . . 336 MDLLE. CLAIRON .... THE OLD REGIME. COURT, SALONS, AND THEATRES.

Chapter I. Introductory

FEELING of joy thrills through every pulse in the nation. The French people are aware that their Grand Monarque is stricken down by disease which seems likely to terminate in death. De liverance at last, then, is at hand. Deliverance from a moral incubus, as it were, that has long weighed heavily on all classes, and, ever in creasing in oppressiveness, is become a burden to them well-nigh intolerable. During the past year the king's health had been visibly declining. He had undergone also TESTAMENT OF LOUIS XIV. 2 unusual mental anxiety. The expediency of nominating a Council of Regency, and giving his legitimated sons prominent posts in it, had been urged on him with extreme persistency, by Madame de Maintenon and the Duchesse du Maine. They suggested that thus would the recently-conferred rights of those princes, who, in the possible failure of the legitimate line, were to be called on to ascend the throne, be more firmly secured to them.

At the same time, a needful check would be placed on the ambitious, even criminal, views attributed to the dissolute Due d'Orleans, in the near prospect of his assuming the regency. The king adopted the course recommended, to free himself, it has been said, from further importunity. But, as if foreseeing how little consideration such an arrangement would receive when the time came for giving effect to it, Saint-Simon asserts that when Louis XIV. had signed this important testament, he exclaimed, "II deviendra ce qu'il pourra; mats au morns je serai trajiquille, et je n'en entendrai plus parler." This was in 17 14. He had made these concessions, then, to purchase repose for the brief span of time that remained to him. But he did not yet allow that he felt any symptoms THE KING'S FAILING HEALTH. 3 of disease.

He said he was perfectly well, he indeed resented the allusions to his impaired state of health conveyed in the recommenda tions of his physician, at the suggestion of Madame de Maintenon, that his majesty would eat fewer strawberries and green peas. His constitution had been vigorous. Habitually he drank little wine, but he ate voraciously ; often in the course of the night. He had always had a very large appetite, which he still retained and continued to indulge, not only with im moderate quantities of strawberries and peas, but with a variety of highly-seasoned dishes.* For another twelve months he bore up bravely enough ; neither discontinued nor shortened his accustomed daily walks, notwithstanding uncomfortable sensations in the legs, nor ab sented himself from the royal hunts, though he returned from them much out of temper, being prostrated by fatigue.

But, on the 13th of August, 171 5, still heed less of the warnings he had received to menager his failing strength, he gave audience, standing, to the Persian ambassador and his suite, and conversed with him, through an interpreter, fora * Lettres de Mde. de Maintenon. THE FETE OF ST. LOUIS. 4 I considerable time. The next day he was compelled to succumb. His despotic will had subdued and crushed out the spirit of a great nation, but its strength was found weakness in the struggle -with failing nature. So the Grand Monarque kept his bed that day, hoping to rise on the morrow with strength recruited and well braced up for his customary part in the ceremonial to be observed on the great Fete of St. Louis. After receiving the Eucharist, the solemn farce of touching for the king's evil was then usually performed, the suppliants kneeling in a line on either side of the corridor leading from the chapel to the palace.

As the shadow of the superb Louis fell upon these poor creatures, and the act of grace conveyed in the touch of the royal hand of the " Anointed of the Lord and eldest son of the Church " was vouchsafed to them, the Cardinal Grand Almoner, with attendant bishops, followed, en tenue, repeating the formula, " Le roi'We louche, Dieu te guSrisse!' It appears that an unusually large number of suffering children had been brought from various parts of France, for this particular fete, as a favourable occasion for the cure of their ailments by the royal touch. Great, therefore, TOUCHING FOR THE KING'S EVIL. 5 was the disappointment and despair of the friends of these unfortunates, when it was announced that the ceremony could not take place. The king was very languid and weak that morning, and his physicians declared that an attempt to attend would be fatal to him.

To weakness succeeded pain, but it was not until the 25th, though daily growing worse, sight and hearing also failing him, that he would believe death to be so near at hand. It was then that the Grand Almoner, Cardinal de Rohan, thinking the occasion one likely to be productive of much spiritual consolation to the ailing monarch, and of especial benefit to the halt and the maimed who sought healing from his touch, mentioned to the king that the presbytery was crowded with poor sick folk, come from afar, for his Majesty's Fete. The cure of Versailles had charitably assembled them there, and, as means offered, was despatching them to their homes. But the cardinal interfered and prevented this, and obtained the king's consent to the ceremony of the attouchemenc being performed in his bedchamber, on the morning of the 26th.

The fatigue of it was so great that, although his hands were supported by the ecclesiastics at his bedside, it was not fully THE KING MUCH FATIGUED. 6 completed when the king fell heavily back on his cushions, as if dead. For upwards of five hours he remained in a state of utter unconsciousness. So little was he expected to revive, that Madame de Main tenon was prevailed on to leave for St. Cyr, and as no signs of returning life were perceived after three hours' anxious watching, the courtiers who crowded the salons and antechambers of the palace, gradually departed to fill the hither to deserted apartments of the Due d'Orleans. But Louis XIV. still lives, recovers from his lengthened swoon and inquires for Madame de Maintenon, for whom a courier is instantly despatched. The news, the unwelcome news, swiftly reaches the Palais Royal.

Immediately the worshippers of the rising sun flyback to pay homage to the setting luminary ; whom, in their precipitancy, when but obscured by a passing cloud, they believed already sunk below the horizon. Versailles again swarms with anxious inquirers, and the Due d'Orleans is left once more alone. He laughs cynically at the practical lesson he has received of the truth of the maxim of his former preceptor, the Abbe Dubois, who had striven to impress it indelibly on his mind, that " the mainspring of all men's HIS TEMPORARY REVIVAL. 7 actions is sheer self-interest." It is the basis of the duke's moral creed, that virtue is wholly non existent, and that the so-called moral qualities, though invested with names, are but the senti mental imaginings of the inexperienced and weak-minded. An empiric, who had treated with success some complaints of the same sciatic nature as that from which the king was supposed to be suffering, was permitted to prescribe for him a so-called elixir.

Its effects were speedy, and apparently beneficial ; a satisfaction to the very few who desired the prolongation of a reign already too long by fifteen years, as most persons thought. The revival, however, was but as a transitory gleam from a fading fire ; the spark of life was too nearly extinct to be rekindled. Louis himself was quite conscious of it, and expressed a wish that his successor should be brought to him, and his family assemble around him. He remarked on the 29th that he had not heard the aubade, or military reveil, which it was customary, at dawn of day, to play under his chamber windows ; and he gave orders that neither it, nor the usual daily performance in the Salle des Gardes, at his dinner hour, of the sixty musicians of his private band, should be dis- DEATH-BED OF LOUIS XIV. continued, until the Grand Aumonier announced the administration of the last sacraments.

The regret, the remorse, said to have been evinced by Louis XIV. for many of the acts of his past life ; his injunctions to his youthful heir to avoid treading in the path of vain-glory he had himself pursued, and which had brought so much sorrow and suffering on the nation ; his recommendation of the aged Madame de Maintenon to the kindness and generosity of his nephew ; and his somewhat specious state ment to that nephew respecting the provisions of his testament, need not here be enlarged upon. Nor is it necessary to repeat the speeches attributed to him on his death-bed. Those stagey, oratorical death-beds are the reverse of edifying ; and it is probable that the king was as little loquacious as poor human nature at its last gasp usually is. The Grand Monarque died on the first of September, and the announcement of " his death was hailed throughout France with an explosion of delight ; " for it was regarded as the end of a public calamity, the removal of the yoke of bondage he had bound on the neck of the nation.

Such was the agitated state of public feeling in the first frenzied burst of popular joy, that it THE KING'S RE LI QUES. 9 was deemed expedient, in order to avoid insult from a turbulent crowd that surrounded Ver sailles, to convey Madame de Maintenon to St. Cyr, in the private carriage of Marechal de Villeroi ; also to post small parties of guards at short intervals along the road, to protect her from ill-treatment should she be recognized. The reliques worn by the king, and which, probably, were her gifts, were handed to her. They became objects of fervent adoration at St. Cyr. A piece of the " wood of the true cross," amongst " des mieux averees de reliques" she says, she presented to her niece, Madame de Caylus, a lady of very wavering faith and worldly tastes. Louis XIV. had, doubtless, succeeded in convincing himself, as well as his subjects, that he was the incarnation of glory and grandeur.

He was actually the centre of authority, and the possessor of power more irresponsible and absolute than any French monarch before or since has wielded. To stamp out the vigour of the nation, to suppress the slightest manifestation of national sentiment, were the great objects of his reign, from the time of the Fronde. If he DESPOTISM OF LOUIS XIV. 10 had acquired little else, he had thoroughly acquired the art of reigning with despotic and uncontrolled sway. In that sense, and in that alone, Louis XIV. was a great king; though very far indeed from being a great man. He was the light and glory, the sun and centre, of the system of government of which he was the creator. It was his sublime good pleasure, as ruler of France, to be all things to all men ; to allow them no will of their own, but to make his the pivot on which opinion and feeling through out the nation should turn.

And he succeeded ; so readily do the French yield to a high-handed despot. Men fell into the habit of saying, " Sa Majeste men garde" instead of, " a Dieu ne plaise," and generally of speaking of their Grand Monarque with far more humility and reverence than of the Ruler of the universe. "L'etat, c'etait lui — La France, c'etait lui " — La palrie had become an obsolete term, merged in that of " Le Roi." The dissolute pleasures of his younger days, when vice was so exquisitely varnished that it was said to have put on the dignified aspect of virtue, naturally, with advancing years, grew less attractive to him. He turned then to de votion. His court followed suit. Piety was THE SANCTIMONIOUS COURT. 11 the fashion ; even the bourgeoisie became more devout, and all who aspired to win favour wore a sanctimonious air.

" Lorsque le grand Louis brula d'un tendre amour, Paris devint Cythere, et tout suivit la cour ; Quand il se fit deVot, ardent a la priere, Tout z€l6 citadin marmota son breViaire." Epit. du Gd. Frederic. Primness was good taste with lesjolies dames, who, however, contrived to invest it with a certain air of espieglerie that was Ires coquette, and very effective under a " sad-coloured " coiffe. Court balls were not wholly given up ; they were only less frequent, and the hours devoted to them fewer ; perhaps because they were somewhat formal and dull, notwithstanding the romping and boisterous gaiety of the young Duchess of Burgundy. State concerts also sometimes took place. Madame de Maintenon would have had them solely devoted to the singing of the canticles of the Church. But Louis was, in this respect, less rigid than she.

He still loved to hear his own praises, and to sing them himself, in the fulsome verses of Quinault, set to music by Lulli. Lulli's music was then thought rather out of date, but the king, who piqued himself on his musical taste, "PREMIERS AMOURS DE RICHELIEU." 12 would listen to the works of no other composer, ignoring altogether the rising reputation of Compra and Rameau. In the absence of other excitement, play was pursued with increased avidity. The stakes were higher, the losses more ruinous. It should be remembered that it was when piety was most in favour with Louis XIV., the greatest roue of the eighteenth century made his debut at Marly, and was petted and caressed by the whole court, including both Madame de Maintenon and the king. " C'est un prodige," writes the former ; " c'est la plus aimable poupec du monde."

This prodigy was the young Due de Fronsac, afterwards de Richelieu — a libertine from his youth. He danced, we are told, with wonder ful grace ; fenced with inimitable skill ; rode with the ease and dashing bearing of an accom plished cavalier ; and sought the good graces of the ladies with extraordinary success. The pious court of Marly was the real scene of "Les premiers amours de Richelieu." He was then in his fifteenth year. From twenty to thirty thousand francs were lost by this brilliant youth in the course of an evening at a tete-a-tete game of cards. He made love with exceeding persistency to the UN LETTRE-DE-CACHET. 13 Duchess of Burgundy, who at least appears to have been amused by it, and to have smiled so graciously upon him that it gave rise to many plaisanteries, which reached the king's ears and displeased him extremely.

Idle tongues were immediately silenced ; and this dangerous young gentleman — already married to Mdlle. de Noailles — was dismissed the court. A lettre-de-cachet, enclosed in a letter of strong complaint, was despatched to his father, who himself took charge of his hopeful son, and con veyed him to the Bastille. To amuse him, for inability to ramble about Paris was his only punishment, a clever, pleasant-tempered Abbe was sent to him, as companion and tutor. During his confinement he acquired some notions of reading and writing, and, assisted by the Abbe, was supposed to have translated Virgil. De Fronsac was not a solitary instance of vicious propensities in the rising generation of courtiers at that period of hypocritical devotion. Many of the young nobility resembled him, and were looking forward no less anxiously than the bourgeoisie for the ardently desired liberty then anticipated from a change of rulers.

Famine and pestilence, meanwhile, were fre quent in the provinces, and their victims were DISTRESS IN FRANCE. 14 numerous. Distress was general, and so ex tremely severe during the terrible winter of 1709-10, that of the mass of the French people a large proportion could scarcely obtain bread to appease hunger. Yet letters and memoirs attest that the king was as selfishly extravagant and reckless in expenditure as ever. New taxes were imposed on the suffering people, for the State's coffers were empty. The needs of the king and his armies were pressing, and money must be wrung from some quarter. Were not the possessions of his subjects his to their last ecu ? — the control of their purses, no less than the control of their consciences, the indisputable prerogative of his kingly power? Louis XIV. was convinced that it was so.

Yet he conscientiously sought for his conviction the sanction of high ecclesiastical authority. " Mankind," says Dr. Moore, "are governed by force and opinion. They were the agents made use of by Louis XIV. in a supreme degree. Aided by them he had brought his subjects to submit with alacrity to heavier exac tions than were ever wrung by tyranny from man." But although national pride, love of independence, and every noble and elevating sentiment seemed to be extinguished in France, THANKSGIVING TO GOD. 15 yet, as the reign of Louis XIV. drew towards its close, the misery and ruin he had wrought in the land kindled in men's hearts the fire of an intense hate, a feverish impatience of the existing order of things, and an ardent longing for the end of it. No wonder, then, that when the end came it was hailed throughout the land with delirious joy, and that the people, as with one voice, shouted thanksgiving to God for the deliverance vouchsafed to them.

To the infant prince who succeeded him Louis XIV. left a kingdom drained to the utmost of its resources ; an empty treasury, and a debt of near two hundred millions sterling ; lands ravaged by foreign foes ; commerce de stroyed, and once flourishing manufactures ex tinct. In the ruined provinces, a despairing, depressed population ; and amongst the ener vated and corrupt aristocracy, reared amidst the idle pleasures of a vicious, hypocritical court, not one able statesman to take the helm of a government, long isolated in the person of an absolute ruler whose place was now filled by so feeble an image of royalty. Louis XIV. left his heart to the Jesuits. His body, on the 9th of September, was borne with little ceremony to the Abbey of St. Denis. FUNERAL OF LOUIS XIV. As at the funeral of his father, near seventy-three years before, " the people " — to use the words of Tallemant des Reaux on that occasion — " followed as joyously as though going to a wedding."

But even greater indecorum was anticipated. In consequence, the funeral procession, forsaking the high road, reached St. Denis by the way of the fields and bye-paths. A frantic multitude had assembled in the faubourg, and received " with gibes and curses the coffin of the conqueror, whom they accused of being the cause of their troubles, and of wars which sprang only from his arrogance, ambition, and injustice."* Throughout the day a sort of fair was held on the Place near the abbaye, and dancing and singing, drinking and jesting, were kept up with vociferous glee until nightfall. "On aurait dit," says De Tocqueville, "que la licence des pctits soupers du regent descendait de/d sur la place publique'Z Thus, preluding, as it were, to that fero ciously insane joy with which, eighty years later on, his tomb was violated and his ashes scattered to the wind, was celebrated the pass ing away of the Grand Monarque, and, with it, * Soulavie.

THE OLD FRENCH MONARCHY. 17 as it is customary to say, the grandeur and glory of the old French Monarchy. The revolution to be accomplished towards the end of the cen tury may be said to have begun at this time. The intervening period, though too generally characterized by frivolity and freedom — even licence — in the manners of the day, was, never theless, in its social aspects often animated and dramatic. Distinct, be it observed, from those political events and changes of government which led to anarchy, strife, and bloodshed, and eventually to the overthrow of the monarchy. These are matters to be left to the grave his torian to descant upon. Here they need be but very cursorily glanced at ; it being attempted only in the following pages to present a brief sketch of the society of the eighteenth century, in its various phases, from the death of Louis XIV. to the fall of absolutism and the old French Regime, in the person of Louis XVI. and of Marie Antoinette.