His education.

the King of Spain, was a prince of whom high hopes were entertained. Great care had been taken with his education, and that of his brothers, the superintendence of which had been entrusted to Fénelon, afterwards Archbishop of Cambray, a man famous alike for learning and for the gentleness of his character. The Duke of Burgundy was Fénelon's favourite pupil, and the one whose character he had been able to mould most nearly after the pattern of his own. Fénelon's famous romance, the 'Adventures of Telemachus,' was written to serve as a model for this young prince. Its author did not wish to publish the book, but a servant stole a copy from which it was printed. Passages in it, finding fault by implication with matters in France, were too outspoken for the Court of Lewis, and the work was for a time suppressed. But Fénelon hoped that the princely virtues which he had inculcated would not so readily pass from the mind of his pupil. Three years before his father's death the Duke of Burgundy was in the field, the nominal commander of the French troops before Oudenarde. Want of harmony between him and Marshal Vendôme may be considered as one of the chief reasons of the loss of the battle there fought. He married the daughter of Victor Amadeus, of Savoy, his brother the king of Spain marrying her sister. The Duchess of Burgundy was a graceful, winning princess, the life of the whole Court and the especial darling of the old king. But in less than a year after the death of the Dauphin, the Duchess of Burgundy was carried off Death of by malignant fever; and within a week Duke and her husband fell a victim to the same disDuchess of Burgundy. ease. Then their eldest son died; and their second son, Lewis, Duke of Anjou, was now heir to the throne.

On these losses in the royal family of France followed the Peace of Utrecht, which Lewis survived a little more than two years. His great-grandson suc

Lewis XV.
Contrast.

ceeded him. Born in 1710, he was now five years old. Lewis XIV. also had been five when he succeeded to the throne: but what a contrast the beginning and close of that long reign presents, and what a lesson does the contrast read upon the hollowness which its so-called magnificence hid? Lewis had succeeded to a throne with power consolidated by wise government. He had squandered its resources in the attempt to extend that power and to prop up falling causes. He possessed all the externals of a king, but he was lacking in the true virtues of a ruler. His condemnation is that he left France exhausted, and that under him her people

endured years of misery. In all the reign that followed, since true statesmen were wanting, there was no recovery from this wretchedness. In Lewis XIV.'s despotism, misgovernment, and cruel persecution of the Huguenots, the seeds of the Revolution were sown. When the Camisards were being tortured, the drummers played. Drums were beaten also when Lewis the Great's own descendant perished by the guillotine.

of Lewis XIV.

No sooner had the old king closed his eyes in death, than there passed through France a sigh of relief, one Joy at death might almost say a cry of delight. Whatever the future might be, men thought that it could not be as bitter as the past. Nobles banished from the Court were glad to return; men of religious creeds not tolerated in it again held up their heads. The power of the Jesuits was thought to have passed away; so that even the late king's Jesuit confessor was hardly safe from the popular fury.

The new king was five years old. Who then was to govern the country during his infancy? Of the princes of the blood royal, the nearest akin to him, Who shall be regent? except the King of Spain, was Philip, Duke of Orleans, a man of considerable ability, but unscrupulous, an avowed infidel, and of dissolute life. The last years of Lewis XIV. had been embittered with the thought that this man, his nephew, was the rightful regent to his grandson. He had therefore made a will, by which a Council of Regency was appointed, with the Duke of Orleans as president, for in France at least the hereditary principle must not be entirely set aside; Lewis however, even when drawing his will up, did not deceive himself as to its value. 'As soon as I am dead,' said he, know too well what was done

'they will put it aside. with my own father's will.'

I

His prophecy came true.

The Duke of Orleans be

His

Duke of
Orleans.
His policy.

came regent without any council to limit his power. policy also was in many respects a reversal of that of the old king. He formed a close alliance with England, under George I. and his Whig ministers, and a little later with Holland against Spain, whose king disputed his title to the regency. The duke caused strict investigation to be made into the finances, and often by harsh and unjustifiable measures materially reduced the burden on the country. But the reign of Lewis XV. had received from its predecessor too vast a heritage of disorder, and before its distant close it was marked by terrible and costly wars, and by misgovernment greater than the nation could endure.

CHAPTER XX.

THE FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN.

THERE are several who have played parts more or less important in this history, and whose later careers we must follow to an end before parting with them.

Duke of

Marl

borough.

The great Duke of Marlborough had lived in dignified retirement on the Continent during all the latter part of the queen's reign. Hearing that the queen was not likely to live, he made preparations to return to England. Having been for some time detained by contrary winds at Ostend, on landing at Dover he received the news of the queen's death and of the quiet accession of the new sovereign. When George I. reinstated the Whigs in office, Marlborough was made captain-general or commander-in-chief of the army. In that capacity he superintended the military arrangements that suppressed the rising of 1715. A little later he suffered from a severe attack of paralysis,

but not such as to hinder his attendance in the House of Lords and the performance of official duties. In 1722 he died, and was honoured with a splendid funeral in Westminster Abbey. The Duchess of Marlborough survived her husband many years, and died at the advanced age of eighty-four. She occupied herself in drawing up a vindication of the duke's conduct and her own, which offers valuable material to the historian.

The Cata

In the treaty of Utrecht, the interests of one people had been shamefully neglected by the allies. The people of Catalonia had taken up arms at the instilonians. gation of the English, especially of Lord Peterborough. They had fought valiantly for the cause of the Austrian claimant. But in the negotiations the allies deserted them. When the English made peace they withdrew the remnant of their troops from Barcelona. When the emperor continued the war by himself, in order to concentrate his forces he was obliged to withdraw his soldiers also. The King of Spain was about to treat them as subdued rebels. But the inhabitants determined to resist to the uttermost. They fought valiantly, and gallantly defended Barcelona; but the Spanish king was able to procure French soldiers, and the services of Marshal Berwick; and thus the heroic resistance was in vain. In the September after the death of Queen Anne, Barcelona was stormed and taken.

By the treaty of Utrecht, Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, was made King of Sicily. Five years later,

Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy and King of Sicily, then of Sardinia.

Sicily was exchanged for Sardinia. His descendants remained kings of Sardinia, until in our own time the title was merged in the greater title of King of Italy. During this period of peace he displayed as great talents for administration of his kingdom as he had previously shown for war.