LOUIS XIV. 



551 



oF greatness "This was," as John Muller says of 

 him, " the source of the benefits which he rendered 

 to the arts and sciences, of the disturbances of Europe, 

 <tf the violation of all treaties, in short, of the re- 

 markable character of his reign." The king was 

 unfortunately ignorant, and destitute of settled 

 principles. // aima la gloire et la religion, says 

 Montesquieu, et on Fempecha toutesa viede connailre 

 ni rune ni I'antre. His person was vigorous and 

 noble.* With handsome features and a tall form he 

 united a peculiar dignity of language and manner. 

 The noble and charming tone of his voice won the 

 heart ; but the loftiness of his whole demeanour 

 inspired respect. His kindness never passed into 

 familiarity. One look of his kept the witling in 

 check. The Spanish gravity, which he inherited 

 from his mother, was tempered by the graces of 

 French politeness. Naturally so grave, that even 

 the oldest courtiers never recollected to have heard 

 more than one jest from his mouth, he loved, never- 

 theless, gaiety in others, applauded Moliere's come- 

 dies, and laughed at the witty sallies of madame de 

 Montespan. At his court, which became a model 

 for all the others of Europe, every thing had refer- 

 ence to the king, and tended to augment his dignity. 

 The nearer you approached his person, the higher 

 rose your awe. It was a reverence resembling 

 worship, which was paid to the throne, the person of 

 the king, and the pride of the nation. On the whole, 

 to use an expression of Bolingbroke's, hardly ever 

 has a king played his part better. But a theatrical 

 representation he always would maintain, even in 

 trifles ; for example, in his latter years, he never 

 appeared in the presence of any one without his 

 great peruke. But he possessed, nevertheless, 

 qualities which are requisite for playing well the part 

 of a monarch. " The qualities of his mind," says 

 Grouvelle, " were justness, solidity, constancy, and 

 application. He united therewith habitual discre- 

 tion and the seriousness which conceals deficiencies. 

 He was naturally silent, and inclined to observa- 

 tion." Louis had nothing of the hero, but he pos- 

 sessed the art of ruling those who surrounded him. 

 He was no general, but was able to appropriate to 

 himself the reputation of his generals. Resoluteness 

 and energy elevated him, at times, above the restric- 

 tions of courtly etiquette. Early in life, he danced 

 in the ballets. But hearing at the theatre, when 

 Britannicus was performed, the verse in which it is 

 said of Nero, as a reproach, II excelle d se donner 

 lui-meme en spectacle aux Romains, he never again 

 danced in public. The manners of his time favoured 

 his natural disposition to gallantry. He loved with 

 enthusiasm, and expressed his feelings with dignity 

 and tenderness. With an excellent memory, his 

 judgment was sound; he knew how to say what was 

 suitable at the right time, and with dignity and deli- 

 cacy; he understood how to punish and reward witli 

 words. Thus after the widow of Scarron, supported 

 by many friends, had solicited in vain, for several 

 years, her husband's pension of 1500 livres, he gave 

 her a pension of 2000 livres, with the words, Madame, 

 je vous ai fait attendre long terns, mats vous avez 

 tant d'amis, quefai voulu avoir seul ce meritc aupres 

 de vous. The following trait shows, that, even in 

 generosity, he had a dash of ostentation. The mar- 

 quis of Uxelles, having been compelled to surrender 

 Mayence, thirty-two days after the opening of the 

 trenches, threw himself at the feet of the king, whose 

 displeasure he feared, while he related the reasons 

 of the surrender. " Rise, marquis," said the king ; 

 " you have defended the fortress like a man of spirit, 



John Kettler, of Zurich, cast an c>que*fcian statue of Louis 

 XIV., at Pnris, in 1699. 



and capitulated like a man of sense." He intimated 

 to the aged Boileau, who had retired to Auteuil, and 

 appeared but seldom at court, that when his health 

 permitted him to come to Versailles, he would al- 

 ways have a half an hour for him. Louis was above 

 the praise of trifles. When De Grammont found 

 fault with a madrigal of the king's, Louis was 

 pleased, that the courtier, being ignorant of the 

 author, had spoken so freely. Boileau, also, ventured 

 to blame some verses which met the king's approba- 

 tion, and Louis was by no means displeased. " He 

 understands such things ; it is his business," was 

 his remark. Low flattery he repelled : thus he 

 rejected the prize-question of the French academy 

 " Which of the virtues of the king deserves the 

 preference ?" By the esteem which he manifested 

 for Boileau, Moliere, Bossuet, Massillon, &c., he 

 contributed to inspire the higher classes with a 

 respect for the arts and sciences, and a taste for the 

 society of men of learning and genius. But this was 

 only meant to give splendour to his reign. Corneille 

 and Lafontaine, and the meritorious scholars of the 

 Port Royal, remained unnoticed by him. The great 

 Arnaud, doctor of the Sorbonne, was compelled to 

 live almost entirely concealed, from 1641, and died 

 in exile. Louis was twenty years of age, and de- 

 voted to the pleasures of the court and chase, when 

 Mazarin died. " To whom shall we now apply?' 

 asked his secretaries of state : " To me," he replied 

 with dignity; and the handsomest man of the king- 

 dom, who had grown up in perfect ignorance, with 

 his heart full of romantic gallantry, devoted himself 

 sedulously to business and the acquisition of informa- 

 tion. In the first half of his reign, he laboured daily 

 eight hours. But his natural pride often degener- 

 ated into haughtiness, his love of splendour into 

 useless extravagance, his firmness into despotism. 

 Determined no longer to tolerate Calvinism in 

 France, he said "My grandfather loved the Hugue- 

 nots without fearing them ; my father feared, with- 

 out loving them ; I neither fear nor love them." 

 He evinced his severity, also, in the case of Fouquet 

 superintendent of finance, from whom he accepted a 

 fete, when he was on the point of condemning him 

 to perpetual imprisonment, in 1661; with equal 

 cruelty he took revenge for his offended pride, on 

 the pope, in 1662. He was, as may be seen from 

 his Instructions pour le Dauphin, a despot from 

 religious conviction. As an absolute sovereign, he 

 regarded himself as the proprietor of all the posses- 

 sions of his subjects, but deemed himself bound to 

 make a wise use of his power. He rarely, however, 

 mistook the extraordinary men who signalized his 

 age and France. He manifested an interest in the 

 advancement of his nation ; but, deceived by self- 

 love, he submitted to the influence of others. While 

 he believed himself free and independent, madame 

 de Maintenon exercised the strongest power over 

 him by her talents, piety, and virtue. His credulity 

 went so far, that he assured the nuncio, in 1685, 

 that whole cities, such as Uzes, Nismes, Montpellier, 

 &c., had been converted! While the Protestants 

 were robbed of their property and freedom, he was 

 engaged in splendid hunting expeditions. Two 

 meritorious naval officers, who had taken the liberty 

 to offer some modest suggestions respecting a naval 

 school, were imprisoned for a year, and cashiered. 



The reputation of Louis is the work of his minis- 

 ters and generals. (See Turenne, Conde, Luxem- 

 bourg, Catinat, and Pillars ) Feuquieres raised the 

 art of war into a science. Louvois introduced disci- 

 pline into the army. Vauban greatly improved the 

 art of fortification. Men like Estrudes and D' Avaux, 

 made diplomacy at home in France. Louis himself 

 was capable of negotiating immediately with ambas- 



