eir majesties, and
returned with them to the Louvre. The pallid cheeks and saddened
features of the English queen proclaimed so loudly the woes with
which she was stricken as to exert universal sympathy.

The young king at seven years of age was tall, muscular, and excelled
in all physical exercises; but the villainous cardinal had endeavored
in every way to dwarf his intellect, so that his mind remained almost
a blank. Both the young king and his brother at this early age had
acquired a very remarkable degree of courtly grace. A chronicler of
the times, speaking of the bearing of Louis at a court wedding, says,

"The king, with the gracefulness which shines in all his actions, took
the hand of the Queen of Poland, and conducted her to the platform,
where his majesty opened the dance, and was followed by nearly all the
princes, princesses, great nobles, and ladies of the court. At its
termination, the king, with the same grace and majestic deportment,
conducted the young queen to her place. The king then danced a second
time, and led out the Duke of Anjou with such skill that every one was
charmed with the polite bearing of these two young princes."

Early in the year 1646, the king, not yet quite eight years old, was
conducted upon what was singularly called his first campaign. The
queen and her son repaired to Amiens, where they sojourned for a short
time with the army, and established a very brilliant court. When the
army left Amiens for Flanders, the regent and her son returned from
their campaign.

The infant court of the monarch was now established at Paris. The
ambitious cardinal had brought from Italy several little children, his
relatives, the eldest of whom had attained but her twelfth year. They
were immediately introduced to the court of Louis XIV. The wealth of
the cardinal was such, and his influence so great, that, young as
these his nieces were, they were instantly surrounded by admirers. The
Duke of Orleans, who hated the cardinal and all that belonged to him,
bitterly remarked,

"There is such a throng about those little girls that I doubt if their
lives are safe, and if they will not be suffocated."

The boy-king, however, notwithstanding his dislike for the cardinal,
received the little girls with that gallantry for which throughout
life he was distinguished.

Very early he began to develop quite a positive character. On one
occasion the courtiers were speaking in his presence of the absolute