THE STYLES OF HENRY IV. AND LOUlS XIII. 2O9 



and brilliance but lost in elasticity and colour ; while in prose the 

 Classical Age is unsurpassed, its poetry, apart from the perfection of 

 form, shines rather in the qualities which it shares with prose, and "the 

 true lyrical cry was hushed for nearly two centuries." Architecture in 

 the same way loses in delicacy and picturesqueness, and triumphs in 

 clearness, order, balance, majesty, and unity of conception. It was an 

 age of reason rather than imagination, of exposition rather than 

 suggestion, of concentration, uniformity, and law, rather than of pro- 

 fusion, variety, or liberty. And it is in the achievement of excellence in 

 these qualities that its greatness lies. 



This chapter deals with the movements in architecture from the 

 accession of Henry IV. to a little beyond the death of Louis XIII. with 

 special reference to the Flemish barocco influence, while the growth of 

 the classical reaction will be reserved for the following chapter. 



REIGN OF HENRY IV. Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre, 

 became legally King of France on the assassination of his cousin 

 Henry III. of Valois, but it was long before he was undisputed master 

 of his kingdom. After the defeat of the Leaguers at Arques (1589) 

 and Ivry (1590), the disaffected elements began to join the moderates 

 in rallying to him. His conversion to Catholicism (1593) removing 

 the principal barrier to his general recognition, he received the sub- 

 mission of Paris and other great cities (1594), and of the great nobles 

 of the League (1596), while the war with Spain was terminated by the 

 Treaty of Vervins (1598). After more than a generation of wars and 

 tumults, France had peace and unity once more. Unlike the Valois 

 princes whom he succeeded, Henry understood kingship not solely as a 

 means~"to personal enjoyment, but also as a trust for the benefit of his 

 subjects, and set on foot the needed work of re-organisation and 

 appeasement even before his final triumph. His minister, Sully, reduced 

 the finances to order and created a revenue, while diminishing taxation. 

 He promoted agriculture and industries, trade and colonisation. In- 

 ternal communications were improved by means of bridges, roads, and 

 waterways, and by the creation of public posts. The conditions of city 

 life were ameliorated by better sanitation and water supply, the widening, 

 correcting, and paving of streets, the building of new quarters and 

 rebuilding of old ; by the erection of hospitals and asylums, of municipal 

 and other public buildings. The general security was assured by a 

 reorganised army and navy, by fortresses, arsenals, and harbours. 

 Moral well-being was promoted by the encouragement of art, literature, 

 and education, the foundation of libraries and colleges, the building 

 and reopening of places of worship and reforms in the Church. The 

 administrative unity of the kingdom was increased by curtailing the 

 powers of nobles and cities, and the extension of the royal justice, 

 administration, police, and taxation. 

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