and Italy, and the statuary of Michael Angelo. His own equestrian
statue was placed side by side with that of Louis XIII because they had
ridden together to great victory. The King survived his minister only
a few months; Richelieu died on December 4th, 1642, and Louis XIII in
the following May. They left the people of France submissive to an
absolute monarchy.

{128}

Chapter XI

The Grand Monarch

Richelieu bequeathed his famous Palais Cardinal to the royal family of
France. He left the reins of tyranny in the hands of Mazarin, a
Spaniard, who had complete ascendancy over the so-called Regent, Anne
of Austria.

There was not much state in the magnificent palace of little Louis XIV
during his long minority, and he chafed against the restrictions of a
parsimonious household. Mazarin was bent on amassing riches for
himself and would not untie the purse-strings even for those gala-days
on which the court was expected to be gorgeous. He stinted the
education of the heir to the Crown, fearing that a well-equipped youth
would demand the right to govern for himself. His system was so
successful in the end that the mightiest of the Bourbon kings could
barely read and write.

Yet Louis XIV grew strong and handsome, with a superb bearing that was
not concealed by his shabby clothes, and a dauntless arrogance that
resented all slights on the royal prerogative. He refused to drive in
the dilapidated equipage which had been provided for his use, and made
such a firm stand against Mazarin's avarice in this case that five new
carriages were ordered.

The populace rose, too, against the first minister of the State, whose
wealth had increased enormously {129} through his exactions from the
poorer classes. France was full of abuses that Richelieu himself had
scarcely tried to sweep away. The peasants laboured under heavy
burdens, the roads were dangerous for all travellers, and the streets
of cities were infested after nightfall by dangerous pickpockets and
assassins. There had been a great victory won at Rocroy by the Due
d'Enghien, who routed the Spanish and sent two hundred and sixty
standards to the church of Notre Dame; but this glorious feat of arms
brought neither food nor clothing to the poor, and the fierce internal
strife, known as La Fronde, broke out. The very name was undignified,
being derived from a kind of sling used by the urchins of the Paris
streets. It was a mere series of brawls between