of Europe would
have been happier without him.

The country over which the young king was called to rule was the most
populous and the most brilliant nation of that day. Louis came to the
throne when Mazarin and Richelieu, the two great Cardinals, had just
hammered the ancient French Kingdom into the most strongly centralised
state of the seventeenth century. He was himself a man of extraordinary
ability. We, the people of the twentieth century, are still surrounded
by the memories of the glorious age of the Sun King. Our social life
is based upon the perfection of manners and the elegance of expression
attained at the court of Louis. In international and diplomatic
relations, French is still the official language of diplomacy and
international gatherings because two centuries ago it reached a polished
elegance and a purity of expression which no other tongue had as yet
been able to equal. The theatre of King Louis still teaches us lessons
which we are only too slow in learning. During his reign the French
Academy (an invention of Richelieu) came to occupy a position in
the world of letters which other countries have flattered by their
imitation. We might continue this list for many pages. It is no matter
of mere chance that our modern bill-of-fare is printed in French. The
very difficult art of decent cooking, one of the highest expressions of
civilisation, was first practiced for the benefit of the great Monarch.
The age of Louis XIV was a time of splendour and grace which can still
teach us a lot.

Unfortunately this brilliant picture has another side which was far less
encouraging. Glory abroad too often means misery at home, and France
was no exception to this rule Louis XIV succeeded his father in the year
1643. He died in the year 1715. That means that the government of France
was in the hands of one single man for seventy-two years, almost two
whole generations.

It will be well to get a firm grasp of this idea, "one single man."
Louis was the first of a long list of monarchs who in many countries
established that particular form of highly efficient autocracy which we
call "enlightened despotism." He did not like kings who merely played
at being rulers and turned official affairs into a pleasant picnic. The
Kings of that enlightened age worked harder than any of their subjects.
They got up earlier and went to bed later than anybody else, and felt
their "divine responsibility" quite as strongly as their "divin