philosophical unity. Taken altogether, and in a very
general manner, this is a very just idea; ... it must be admitted that
at no other epoch has the genius of France manifested itself in the
divers branches of human activity in a manner so complete, so abundant,
and so united." "France was really," says M. Duruy, "at the head of
modern civilization, and, by the recognized superiority of her genius
and of her taste, she caused to be accepted by the whole of Europe the
pacific empire of her artists and of her writers."

[Illustration: PARISIENNE. From a drawing by L. Marold.]

Apparently, at least, the visible instrument that accomplished this
great result was the dogma of absolute power, the monarchical regime;
the king was the earthly image of God, divine, inviolable: _loyalisme_
was a veritable religion, it had its symbols, its mysteries, and its
rites. "If the king were not afraid of the devil," said Saint-Simon, "he
would cause himself to be worshipped." This faith and this worship were
already manifested "in their incomparable splendor by the ceremonies
attending the opening of the _Etats Generaux_ in 1614, dominated, not,
as in 1789, by the august and abstract idea of the nation, but by the
pale and melancholy figure of a boy of thirteen." For the tremendous
and elaborate pomp of his court, the ceremonial ostentation which hedged
around his own redoubtable figure, the tedious and suffocating etiquette
which attended all approach to his person, Louis XIV himself had very
definite reasons, which he expressed with an appreciable logic in his
_Memoires_. "Those who deem that these are only matters of ceremony
deceive themselves greatly. The people over whom we reign, not being
able to penetrate to the depths of things, form their judgments usually
on that which they see on the surface, and most frequently measure their
respect and their obedience by precedence and rank. As it is important
to the public to be governed by one only, it is also of importance to it
that he who fills this function should be elevated in such a manner
above the others that there should be no person who can be either
confounded or compared with him, and it is not possible, without injury
to the whole body of the State, to deprive its chief of the slightest
marks of superiority which distinguish him from all the other members."

Hence, three conditions were imposed absolutely upon all those who
sought in any way to find favor with the head of