FRA 
duke or Orleans fvrore folemnly to preferve inviolate the 
deed which they had {ubfcribed ; arid Louis, to render 
it dill more authentic, commanded it to be regiftered in 
parliament. 
He now prepared to meet, with firm compofure, the 
laft fcene of human greatnefs ; when his phyfician, at his 
earned defire, numbered the fleeting minutes that remain¬ 
ed, and pronounced that his life could not exceed two or 
three hours, he received the fatal intelligence with forti¬ 
tude and refignation, and looking fervently up to heaven, 
added, “ Well! my God, 1 confent with all my heart!” 
The prediction was verified ; he expired foon after, in 
the forty-fecond year of his age, and on the very day that 
lie had completed the thirty-third of his reign, A.D. 
1648. In edimating his character, on feveral occafions 
his perfonal courage fhone with fuperior ludre; but 
though jealous of his authority, he reluctantly yielded to 
the afcendancy of Richelieu ; and the. furname of Juft, 
which he attained, was frequently impeached by lud of 
dominion, and fometimes by hafly and unrelenting aCts of 
cruelty : yet he was extremely religious, and compofed 
a manual of private devotions. 
As the late king, during almod his whole life had been 
continually oppofed ; fo, after his death, his will was 
openly violated. His refolution of edabliihing a council 
of regency was rejected; and his widow, Anne of 
Audria, by an arret of the parliament of Paris, was in- 
veded with unlimited powers. She foon refigned herfelf 
to the influence of cardinal Mazarin, a native of Pifcina, 
in the Abruzzo ; his political knowledge and addrefs had 
introduced him to the confidence of Richelieu ; and he 
now acquired that afcendancy over the mind of his royal 
midrefSjwhichRichelieu had maintained over herdeceafed 
confort. 
Louis XIV. the ludre of whofe reign afterwards at¬ 
tached to his name the deferved appellation of Great, 
had not yet completed his fifth yea and the kingdom 
was left involved in a bloody war with the houfe of 
Audria ; but the fituation of Europe was favourable to 
the general intereds of France. The kingdom of Portu¬ 
gal had fhaken ofl' the Spanifh yoke, and edabliflied the 
duke of Braganza, as John IV. on the throne ; the Ca¬ 
talans dill difplayed the banner of revolt ; the United 
Provinces had been cherifhed and protected by Henry IV. 
and Louis XIII. the fceptre of Sweden was in the hands 
of Chridina, the celebrated daughter of the great Guf- 
tavus, and her generals maintained in war the glory of 
their country ; while, in England, Charles I. inheriting 
from his father his lofty ideas of royal prerogative, was 
involved in the flame of civil war. 
Louis of Bourbon duke of Enguien, fon to the prince 
of Conde, had been appointed to the command of the 
French forces on the frontiers of Flanders, previous to 
the death of the late king. This great commander began 
to flame like a blazing flar in the hemifphere. He deter¬ 
mined immediately to attack the army of Spain, engaged 
in the fiege of Rocroi. The remonltrances of marefchal 
de l’Hopital were overborne by his ardour ; and in the 
execution of his defign, the fire of youth was happily 
united with (kill and judgment. The Spanifh infantry, 
till then deemed invincible, was broken by his impetuous 
charge ; the count of Fuentes, who commanded it, 
periffied on the field ; nine thoufand flaughtered enemies, 
and twenty pieces of cannon, attefted the decifive victory 
of France, and ufhered in the dawning glory of her 
general. Thionville, on the banks of the Mofelle, alfo 
yielded to the arms of the duke of Enguien ; who ra¬ 
pidly traverfed the Rhine, and advanced to avenge the 
death of the count of Guebriant, who had glorioufly 
fallen in the fiege of Rotwil. The Imperialifts, in 1644, 
had availed themfelves of the fate of that general, and 
the dilfenlions in his army, by the total defeat of the 
French near Tudelingen ; but this difgrace was effaced 
by the valour and fkill of the duke of Enguien, who at- 
N C E. 727 
tacked and forced the imperial army from the walls of 
Fribourg, and defeated it in three fucceffive battles. But 
the imperial general Merci, though vanquifhed, fiill main¬ 
tained his reputation, and, by his retreat, extorted the 
admiration of his adverfary ; who fwept with his victori¬ 
ous troops Philipfburgh and Menrz, Worms and Oppen- 
heim, with the forts along the courfe of the Rhine. 
In Flanders, the duke of Orleans reduced Gravelines, 
Mardyke, and Courtrai ; but the marefchal de la Mothe 
Houdancourt was defeated in Catalonia ; and the victory 
of Tortenfon, the Swedifh general, over the imperialifts 
at Tabor, was more than balanced by the furprife of 
marefchal Turenne at Mariendal. This difgrace, the 
greateft that ever befel that celebrated commander, fum- 
moned once more the duke of Enguien to the frontiers of 
Germany. The laurels which Merci had fo lately ac¬ 
quired, were torn from his brow in the plains of Nord- 
lingen ; but the indignant hero fcorned to furvive de¬ 
feat, and he obtained a glorious death, which even the 
viCtor could not but envy; three thoufand imperialifts 
periflied on the field with their general ; two thoufand 
acknowledged, in captivity, the fuperior fortune of the 
duke of Enguien ; who, after adding Dunkirk to the 
dominions of France, in 1645, returned to Paris, to reftore 
his health, and to meditate new triumphs. But his fplen- 
did career of glory, inftead of exciting the gratitude, 
awakened the envy of the court ; by whofe influence 
Mazarin detached him into Catalonia with a feeble and 
ill-provided army. The death of his father, in 1646, had 
devolved on him the title of prince of Conde; but his 
flender force allowed him not to rival his former aCtions ; 
and he was compelled to retire from the walls of Lerida, 
which had been fucceflively and ineffectually aflaulted by 
La Mothe Houdancourt and the count of Grammont. 
Naples had revolted againfl the authority of Spain, 
and was long defended by the duke of Guife, the laft: 
prince of that branch of the houfe of Lorrain. In Ger¬ 
many the marefchal Turenne, in conjunction with the 
Swedes, defeated the imperial generals Melander and 
Montecuculi ; his fuccefs influenced Spain, in 1647, to 
acknowledge the United Provinces as free and independent. 
Hates; and by a fecond treaty fubfcribed at Munfter in 
1648, the emperor, alarmed at the progrefs of the Swedes, 
wdio had infulted and plundered part of Prague, confent- 
ed to purchafe peace by ceding to France the bifhoprics 
of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, with his pretenfions to Pig- 
nerol,’ Brifac, and Alface ; he permitted that crown alio 
to retain a garrifon in Philipfhurg and Pomerania, con- 
ceflions ftill more liberal and important. 
Philip IV. by his treaty with the Dutch, had deprived 
France of an important ally, and had delivered himfelf 
from a ftubborn and perfevering enemy. He now renew¬ 
ed his operations in Flanders, w here the prince of Conde 
had refnmed the command. That general invefted and 
reduced Ypres; and the archduke Leopold, to balance 
this acquifition, aflaulted and carried Courtrai, pofTeffed 
himfelf of Furnes, and laid fiege to Lens ; to the relief 
of that place the prince of Conde advanced, and had the 
mortification of beholding it lurrendered in his view. 
But this tranfient difgrace was effaced by a victory the 
mod fplendid and decifive ; five thoufand Andrians pe¬ 
riflied on the field, three thoufand became pi ifoners, and 
the archduke himfelf with difficulty efcaped the purfuit 
of the victors. Yet while France triumphed in thefe 
fucceffes, her internal ftrength and fecurity were endan¬ 
gered by the rage of contending factions. Though Ma¬ 
zarin had affected moderation, and banifhed all the pomp 
of Richelieu, yet his adminiftration was far from accepta¬ 
ble to the public. As a foreigner they regarded him 
with jealoufy ; and the taxes that the profufion or the 
neceffities of the government compelled him to impofe, 
converted that paffion into hatred. The parliament of 
Paris refufed to regifter the edidls for the new imports ; 
and the court, to inforce its authority, arrefted Blanc- 
menil 
