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660 LOUIS XV. tate me either in my taste for building or in my love of war. Endeavor, on the contrary, to live in peace with the neighboring nations ; render to God all that you owe him, and cause his name to be honored by your subjects. Strive also to relieve the burdens of your people, which I myself have been unable to do." The most noted French works upon this reign are Voltaire's Siecle de Louis XIV., St. Simon's Hemoires, and Louis XIV, et son siecle, by Alexandre Dumas. See also "Louis XIV. and the Court of France in the 17th Century," by Miss Pardoe (London, 1847). LOUIS XV., king of France, great-grandson and successor of the preceding, born in Ver- sailles, Feb. 15, 1710, died there, May 10, 1774. He was the third son of Louis, duke of Bur- gundy, and of Maria Adelaide of Savoy. He bore at first the title of duke of Anjou, and afterward, his elder brothers having died, of dauphin. The will of Louis XIV. had provided that during the minority of his successor the kingdom should be governed by a regency, with the duke of Orleans, cousin of the young king, at its head. The duke, however,1nduced the parliament of Paris to set aside the will and declare him sole regent as first prince of the blood. The regent at first restored to the parliament some of the rights which it had lost in the preceding reigns, and took mea- sures to promote agriculture, commerce, and the other public interests. Though the in- trigues of Cardinal Alberoni, the ambitious and able Spanish minister, drove France into war with Spain (1719-'21), the policy of the regent was on the whole pacific. He en- gaged with eagerness in the financial and com- mercial schemes of Law, which finally, threw the country into confusion and produced al- most universal bankruptcy. (See LAW, JOHN.) In 1723 Louis was declared to be of age, and the regent became prime minister; but he died the same year, and was succeeded by the duke of Bourbon, and he in turn by Cardinal Fleury, who had been tutor to the king in childhood, and had won the love and confi- dence of his pupil. In September, 1725, the king was married to Maria Leszczynski, daugh- ter of Stanislas, ex-king of Poland, a princess of little personal beauty, but of amiable dis- position and most exemplary and pious life. The policy of Fleury was even more pacific than that of the duke of Orleans. He was so averse to war, that even when compelled to undertake it he carried it on without vigor and with most reluctant acquiescence in the neces- sary expenditures. He labored incessantly to preserve peace among his neighbors, and hos- tilities in Europe were repeatedly averted by his mediation. In 1733 Augustus II. of Poland died, and Stanislas, the father-in-law of Louis, claimed the vacant throne. His pretensions were supported by France, and those of Fred- erick Augustus of Saxony by Austria and Rus- sia. This led to war (1733-'5), in which the French armies won several victories ; and though Stanislas failed to recover the kingdom of Poland, he acquired the duchy of Lorraine. The war was closed by the treaty of Vienna, Nov. 18, 1738. On the death of the emperor Charles VI. of Germany in 1740, Louis, who had some claims himself to the succession, maintained the claims of Charles Albert, elec- tor of Bavaria, against those of Maria Theresa, who was supported by England. The French armies were at first beaten and driven out of Bohemia and Bavaria, and the navy, which had been neglected by the parsimonious Fleury, suffered greatly from the English fleets. Louis himself took the field in May, 1744, and the genius of Marshal Saxe restored the honor of the French arms in the victories of Fontenoy, Raucoux, and Lawfeldt, by which the Austrian Netherlands were almost entirely conquered (l745-'7). The war was ended by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Oct. 18, 1748, and result- ed in no gain to France but military fame, though the treaty gave her back Louist^urg in America, which had been taken by the New Englanders in 1745. For several years after his marriage Louis had shown a regard for chastity and decency unusual among the mon- archs of Europe at that period ; but about 1737 his profligate courtiers had systematically ex- erted themselves to corrupt his principles and his life. They ultimately succeeded, and Louis plunged into the grossest debauchery. Multi- tudes of ladies became suitors for the royal favor, and the highest nobles of France emu- lated each other in their endeavors to have the honor of pandering to the appetites of the mon- arch. The queen was wholly neglected, and the history of the government soon became intimately connected with the changes of the king's mistresses. The most noted of these were Chateauroux, Pompadour, and Du Barry. The debaucheries of the king culminated at length in the establishment at Versailles of the pare aux cerfs, or deer park, as it was face- tiously called, a harem in which were kept for the pleasures of the king a number of young girls enticed or torn from their homes by the royal agents. They were changed in rapid succession, and Louis spent much of his time in teaching them to read and write, and in instructing them in religious matters. He was in the habit of praying with them, and after he became tired of their charms took pains to have them married, and gave them each a considerable dower. In 1756 disputes with England about the boundaries of the French and English territories in America resulted in the seven years' war (l756-'63), in which France lost Quebec and Canada by the victory of Wolfe over Montcalm, Sept. 13-18, 1759, lost India by the victories of Olive, and lost hei' navy by the victories of Hawke and other Eng- lish admirals. The French armies were beaten at Rossbach and at Minden ; and at last, by the peace of Paris, in February, 1763, France ceded to England Canada, Nova Scotia, all the rest of her possessions in North America east