Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/535

LOUIS XIV. 477 LOUIS XV. and his reign witnessed an extraordinary devel- opment in letters and arts. Among those wliose names adorn this so-called Augustan Age are Corneille, Racine, Moli&re, Pascal. Boileau, Bos- suet, FCnelon, La Fontaine. La Rochefoucauld, Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Mansart, and Claude Perrault. The glory of the French monarchy passed away with Louis XlV.'s death. Consult: CEurres de Louis XIV. (6 vols., Paris, 1806 ) , annotated edition of historical, polit- ical, and military papers and letters of Louis XIV., prepared during the reign of Louis XVI. ; Saint-Simon, Membires, 22 vols., ed. by ChCruel and Regnier, and a useful abridged English trans, by Saint-John in 3 vols. (London, 1876 and 1883) : in connection with the foregoing, ChC-ruel, ft'oin<-.S'i»io/i considere comme historien de Louis XIV. (Paris, 1865), and Boissier, Saint-Simon (Paris, 1892) ; Gaillardin, Histoire du regne de Louis XIV. (Paris, 1871-7.5) ; Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV.; Bourgeois, France Under Louis XIV., trans, from the French (New York, 1897) ; Hassall, Louis XIV. and the Zenith of the French Monarchy (New York, 1895): Philippson, Das Zeitalter Ludwigs des Vierzehnten, in the "One- ken Series" (Berlin, 1879); Gerin, Louis XIV. et le Saint-Siege (Paris, 1894) ; for bibliography, Lavisse and Rambauld, Ilistoire generate, vol. vi. LOUIS XV. (1710-74). King of France from 1715 to 1774. He was the son of the Duke of Burgundy, who died in 1712, and a great- grandson of Louis XIV. He was born at Ver- sailles, February 15, 1710, and succeeded to the throne September 1. 1715. The Duke of Orleans, as first prince of the blood, was Regent during the minority of the King, whose education was intrusted to Marshal Villoroi and Cardinal rieury. The country was brought to the verge of ruin during the regency, by the folly of the Regent and the financial schemes of the Scotch- man .Jolm Law ( q.v. ) . When Louis was fifteen years of age he married JIaria Leszczynska, daughter of Stanislas, the dethroned King of Poland. Fleury was at the head of affairs from 1726, when he succeeded the Duke of Bourbon as Prime Minister, to 1743, and by parsimony succeeded in improving the condition of the finances. It was his policy also to avoid war, in which, however, Louis was involved in 1733, in support of his father-in-law's claim to the throne of Poland. (See section on War of Polish Succes- sion under SrccEssiON V.rs.) By the Peace of Vienna (1738) Stanislas renounced his claims to Poland, but received Lorraine and Bar, which devolved upon France at his death (1766). In 1740 France was drawn into the War of the Aus- trian Succession. After Fleury's death the King, whose life had been passed in idle sensuality, made a spasmodic return to virtue. He took the field in 1745, but in the following year was struck down by a dangerous illness at Metz. The grief of the nation, expressed in general prayers for his recovery, gained him the title of le bien-aime, 'the well-ljeloved.' The King recovered and in 1745 was present at the battle of Fontenoy, but speedily relapsed into his old life and fell completely under the influence of Madame de Pompadour, who ruled Louis and France for nearly twenty years, directing es- pecially the foreign policy of the country'. Vast sums of money were lavished on llio all-power- ful mistress and on the bacchanalian pleasures with which she knew so well how to please the jaded sen.ses of the profligate King. The Peace of .ix-la-Chapelle, which terminated the War of the Austrian Succession (1748), was but an intermission in the great struggle which was finally to be fought out between France and Eng- land and between .Austria and Prussia. In 1756 an extraordinary alliance between France and Austria, contrary to the historic policv of the two great rivals, was efTeeted bv the diplo- macy of Kaunitz (q.v.) and the influence of Madame de Pompadour. There followed the Seven Years' War (q.v.), which resulted in the humili- ation of France, defeated by land and sea. and the loss of her colonial empire in .raerica and India by the Peace of Paris (1703). In 1761 a contest broke out between the Parlements and the .Jesuits, the former being actuated by motives of traditional hatred, inasmuch as they" were the strongholds of .Jansenism. The influence of Madame de Pompadour and her favorite, the first Minister Choiseul, were thrown into the scale against the .Jesuits, and, though the King was at first inclined to favor them for fear of Rome, the Parlements won the day. In 1762 the .Jesuits were declared a corporation hostile to the inter- ests of the State and in 1764 the Order was sup- pressed. (See Je.slit.s.) The Parlements. em- boldened by their success in this contest, now attempted to limit the power of the Crown by refusing to register edicts of taxation; but the King acted with unusual vigor, maintaining his own absolute and supreme authority, and treat- ing the attempts of the Parlements" to unite for one object as rebellious. Choiseul, who had con- ducted foreign affairs with a certain skill, was displaced from office (1770). a new mistress, Madame Du Barry (q.v.), having now come into the place which had been so long occupied by Madame de Pompadour, and a Ministry was fonncd under the Due d'.Aiguillon. the most prom- inent member of which was the Chancellor Mau- peou (q.v.), who immediately showed himself a relentless enemy of the Parlements. The Par- lement of Paris was abolished, its members ban- ished to the provinces, and a more facile in- strument of the royal will, the con.teil du rot, took its place. This arbitrary act deeply moved the popular indignation. The King, when told of the ruin of the country and the misery and discontent of the people, only remarked that the monarchy would last as long as his life (Aprds moi le deluge), and continued immersed in sensual pleasures. Notwithstanding the bank- rupt state of the finances, it is estimated that in five years he lavished more than 100.000.000 livres on Madame Du Barry. He died of small- pox. May 10. 1774, universally disliked and in extreme misery. His reign was fruitful in promoting the French Revolution, the way for which was paved by tlie writings of Rousseau, Voltaire, and the Encyclopa>dists. He was suc- ceeded by his grandson. Louis XVI. Consult the Memoirs of Choiseul, .Argenson, De Luynes. and others ; Broglie, Le secret du roi. secret corre- spondence of the King with his diplomatic agents, 1752-74 (Paris. 1879); id.. Frederic IT. et Louis XV., 17.',S-li (>!>•. 1885); Boutaric, Correspondance secrete incite de Louis XV. (ib., 1866) ; Goncourt, Les mattresses de Louis XV., lettres et doeuments inedits (ib.. 1800) : Saint .-Vrniand, The Last Years of Louis XV.. trans, from the French (New York, 1893) ; Raynal. Le mariage d'un roi (Paris, 1887) ; De Toequeville,