*

compared with the frightful war of the past year, whose motive is stil! a mystery, and whose sole object seems to have been to occupy the leisure time of an army of a hundred thousand men, at the expense of an inoffensive nation. And even if this war had been as just as it was the opposite, would that be any reason for cherishing in the aggressor's mind the idea that he had been glorious in his successes in arms? This famous passage of the Rhine,† I have heard people who were present, say that it was mere absurdity to make such a commotion about an engagement without difficulty, and almost without danger. These forty cities captured in a month; it is well known that many of them were but paltry towns, and that the best fortified of them had scarcely any one to defend them. Crushed, but not conquered, Holland is ready to revolt; the politicians say, that by the end of this year the French will not have an inch of ground left there;‡ all this glory will one day in the eyes of history be as false as it now is in the eyes of religion, and as it ought to be to yours. Forced, however, to remember that the glory of heaven is preferable to that of earth, you told the king so, but in what terms? Do you think it a good way to induce him to look higher, to repeat over and over to him that there is nothing under the sun to be compared to him? In order to tell him in a few words that the day will come when he will no longer be anything, you exhaust your eloquence in showing him that he is now every

* The war in Holland, 1672.

"If the king had only thrown himself, mounted, into the river, as he might have done almost without danger, Alexander and his Granicus might have hid their diminished heads." Memoirs of CHOISY. Choisy appeared convinced, however, that Louis XIV. possessed much natural courage; "but," he says, "he could not take a step forwards, that twenty courtiers did not hasten to form themselves into a rampart around him, conjuring him not to endanger himself."

This was really the case.

thing. You do not exactly conceal from him that his glory will pass away; but you speak to him of this glory as the most brilliant and the most legitimate that any man has ever possessed. As for its brilliancy, perhaps you are right; but it is not in the pulpit that you need speak of it; as for its legitimacy, I know that all his enterprises have not been campaigns of Holland, yet this is not the only one from which it would be well to obliterate much.

"After the hero comes the saint.* Here, allow me to quote. "The subject was perseverance; you had described and inculcated it. But who will persevere ?" you asked; 'where are these faithful and steady souls? Thou alone, oh God, thou alone knowest them. I have reason also, however, to console myself; I know, and the whole universe knows with me, that there is one heart here, formed by thy hand, a heart opposed to all fickleness, consistent in its conduct, steadily attached to the laws which it takes to guide it; who having formed mighty designs, has performed prodigies of valor in their execution; in order to do this, has sacrificed not only its repose and pleasures, but even its advantage and interests. How far may not the perfection of thy law carry this firm and fearless heart, oh God! And in this sense who ever has been fitter than it is for the kingdom of heaven?'t

"This, Monsieur, is more than flattery; it is blasphemy. And among those things which posterity will scarce credit,—again to employ one of your expressions, these your words are not what will be found least strange, least incredible.

"That which you really do know, and which all the universe

* Would it be very difficult to find saints in the Calendar who were not even so good as Louis XIV. The Church has sometimes bestowed this title with a liberality most embarrassing to those of its defenders who know something of history. + Literal.

knows also, which posterity will know still better, trust me,-is that at the very moment when you wrote, studied, and recited these lines, the man to whom they are addressed, was abandoning himself to the most shameful scandals; that the king of whom you were making a saint, was actually in a state of mortal sin.

"The Scripture declares, that adulterers shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; you, you affirm in the presence of God, to an adulterous prince, that he is fitter than any other to do so.

"Morality,-I will not say the Scriptures,—but simple morality, teaches us to conside: its laws as innate in the minds of men, and consequently binding upon all; and you praise the king for being steadily attached to those-which he has dictated to himself.

"The king has formed mighty designs. Yes, but besides those which have been mighty, in the proper sense of the word, are you ignorant how many there have been which were only for the misery of France and Europe? And the expression, prodigies of valor, (the passage of the Rhine, probably !) of which you make use in the same sentence, leads me to believe but too certainly, that his military designs are those whose grandeur you allude to most particularly.

"The king is opposed to all fickleness. But in what? If not so in his most sacred engagements, can you commend him for being so in the carrying out of his designs?

"The king sacrificed his repose. Why that is the thing which is the smallest sacrifice to an ambitious man. Do you believe, in all sincerity, that it is a drudgery for him to go now and then to see the taking of a city?"* Do you consider the owner of

* It is remarkable that Louis XIV. never fought a battle, and that all his exploits were sieges; and further, that he left to his generals, his brother, or his son, all those of which the success was not perfectly cer

a field very praiseworthy for going thither once a year in order to return loaded with the grain which has been sowed there and reaped for him! These campaigns of the king are actual pleasure trips; he takes thither his wife, his mistresses,* his poets, his whole court; he is followed by all his conveniences, by all the luxuries of a princely life, and all this is depicted to him as a life of fatigues and privations!†

"Further, you say that he has sacrificed his pleasures; sometimes for a few days, but the remainder of his time has he not given himself up to them without bounds? Are not he and his court immersed in splendor and luxury!

"And this, Monsieur, is what consoles you! Ah! tears ought rather to fail you for lamenting the fate of a man exposed to such temptations; you should not be able to find words strong enough to delineate to him his dangers! But no, you seem to delight in this idea. A little further on you say, 'Yes, Sire, it is your Majesty who is here my whole consolation. And as if it were not enough to give yourself as security for the sanctity which he does not possess, Why do I speak of myself?' you continue; let me go further! The angels who protect your

tain. This circumstance did not escape those few critics who allowed themselves to remain undazzled by his glory. In the mocking little circle of the Prince de Conti, he was called "the besieging king."

* The Queen, Madame de la Vallière, and Madame de Montespan were once seen together in the same carriage. A peasant remarked naïvely, that he had just seen the three queens.

† “If he carries on so tedious a war," wrote La Bruyère in 1693, “it is only to secure for us a happy peace; it is to arrive at that height of his wishes, public happiness, that he devotes himself to the labors and fatigues of a troublesome war, that he exposes his person, and that he braves the inclemency of the heavens and of the seasons." An eulogium of Louis XIV. could not be written without some phrases in this style. It is almost like begging for pity for this poor king, exposed from time to time to a shower of rain?

kingdom, the saints, who day and night continue their prayers for your sacred person, even God, if I may venture to say so, will he not find, in the stability of your character, a consolation for the unfaithfulness of the greater number of Christians?'* The king, then, is unquestionably saved; you assure him, that the gates of heaven will be opened wide to receive him. But this is still not sufficient; he possesses too many virtues for one solitary man; God will console himself through him for the vices and imperfections of others. If I may venture to say

so,' you add, and you do venture! And your hand did not wither when tracing such impiety! At Rome, under a religion which permitted worship to be emperors, I do not believe that it was ever carried further than this.*

"I became heated, Monsieur. I resolved, nevertheless, to be calm, to confine myself to drawing your attention to words, upon which I prefer to believe that you did not reflect seriously. My grief has conquered me. Strong in the rectitude of my intentions, I have set aside the man of genius, and have been so bold as to consider you but as a brother; I have used, perhaps have abused the right bestowed upon me by this name. I have too great an esteem for you, to think that you will be offended by it.

"The power of speech is a mighty power. If the monarch be responsible for the use he shall make of his,-the orator also has an account to give. The more talent and power given him for the bringing of souls to Christ, the more will be required of

*Literal.

"But for that fear of the devil, which God left to him, even in the midst of his greatest irregularities, he would have set himself up to be worshipped, and would have found worshippers."-Saint-Simon.

An inscription composed by the Jesuit Ménestrier, contained,—

“Numini majestatique Regis.”

It is true that numen has not altogether the meaning divinity; but it is nct far from it.