the State,--to ask and
to obtain a residence at Versailles; to follow the court everywhere,
even when sick, even when dying, and to approve of everything. Of the
universal abasement of spirit which this regime brought about, the
memoirs of the time are full. La Bruyere said: "Whoever considers how
the happiness of the courtier lies wholly in the face of the prince,
that he makes it the one occupation of his life to look on it, and to be
seen by it, may, in some degree, comprehend how, in looking on the face
of God, consists all the glory and happiness of the saint." The Duc de
Richelieu wrote: "I pray the king on my knees that he will permit me to
come sometimes to pay my court to him, for I had rather die than be two
months without seeing him." A court-preacher, preaching one day before
the king on the familiar topic, dwelt upon it: "We shall all die, all,
all!" A sudden and involuntary movement of the monarch reminded him that
he had touched upon a theme displeasing to royalty. In his dismay and
confusion he hastened to qualify his assertion: "Yes, sire, almost all."
Louis XIV, it is said, looked forward to continuing his _role_ of Grand
Monarque, even in the next world.

[Illustration: "AUX COURSES." By F. Fournery.]

His education had been much neglected in his youth,--it was said,
designedly, by Mazarin, who wished to perpetuate his own powder. One of
the first of the royal preceptors, M. Le Vayer, discovered that Louis
was less intelligent than his younger brother, Philippe, and proposed to
devote himself to developing the character of the latter, but was
speedily checked by the astute cardinal. Like his mother, Anne of
Austria, the king had but little taste for literature. "Of what use is
reading?" he said one day to the Marechal de Vivonne. His appetites,
however, were fully developed. The Duchesse d'Orleans relates that she
had very frequently seen him eat, at one sitting, four platefuls of
different soups, an entire pheasant, a partridge, a great dish of salad,
a dish of mutton with its gravy, garnished with garlic, two good pieces
of ham, a large plateful of pastry, and end with fruit and preserves.
However, he drank only water reddened with a little wine. The _etat de
maitresse en titre du roi_ was as formally recognized in his court as
that of confessor or chamberlain. Frequently there were two at once. The
"three queens" were legitimate objects of curiosity to all those who
were permitted to bask in the r