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If the combined efforts of a nation of courtiers could ever raise a man out of humanity, it was done in the case of Louis le Grand : yet here he is, a dying god, on his bed, discovering, as the film comes across his physical sight, and at the same time drops from his intellectual vision, that his apotheosis has been a mistake. His only regret was, that he had neglected the interests of his subjects. His advice to the little dauphin (his great-grandson), not to build, not to make war, but to study the interests of his people, was as much as to say, "take the precisely opposite course which I myself have followed."

He was long in dying: when he appeared at the worst, the courtiers deserted his apartments, and flocked about the Duke of Orleans, his successor as regent; when he rallied somewhat, the reaction was sudden and complete, and the duke was left for a whole day without a visit from a single individual.'

Perhaps no man who ever sat upon a throne possessed greater power of doing good than Louis, yet no one with these advantages ever did greater mischief. His payment of bribes, or rather a sort of annual salary, to Charles II. of England, gave him no permanent power over this country; while in his warlike views he was completely set at nought by Marlborough. His revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which stamps everlasting infamy on his reign, led to the unforeseen result of making England the place of refuge of thousands of Protestants, the most industrious among his subjects, and whose knowledge of certain manufactures tended alike to enrich their adopted country, and impoverish that which they had left. While the example which he ostentatiously set of the wildest profligacy, had the effect of sapping the morals of his people, his extravagance in building palaces and laying out of pleasure-grounds, in his mode of living, and in his continual wars, exhausted the national resources, and laid the foundation of that misery and discontent which broke out in the Revolution of 1789. Till the present hour, France has not recovered from the deplorable prostration of morals and pecuniary exhaustion produced through his

with the minister: the fact all the time being, that the minister and she had previously settled the points in agitation. If, for instance, the matter in hand was a list of candidates for a particular employment, the minister went over the names until he came to the one Madame de Maintenon had previously consented to, and after balancing the merits of the various competitors, at last summed up in favour of the name he had stopped at. If the king preferred another, and was obstinate, he was led away from the subject; other things were started, and the appointment was brought upon the carpet at another interview, when in all probability the humour had shifted. If the minister rebelled against the female sway, he was lost; but if, on the other hand, he was adroit and obedient, Madame de Maintenon took care of his reward.

"To a woman of De Maintenon's ambition, the declaration of her marriage must necessarily have been an object near to her heart. On two several occasions, she had so far succeeded with the king, that he was on the point of acknowledging her, and twice he was prevented: first, by the ardent solicitation of Louvois; and the second time, by the advice of Bossuet and Fénélon. Louvois was poisoned, and Fénélon disgraced. The Bishop of Meaux's authority with the king, the weight of his eloquence and character, and, more than all, the need of his services, prevented him from sharing the fate of the Archbishop of Cambray.

The death-bed of this extraordinary man was as fine a piece of acting as any other in his life: if anything could have gone deeper than the external surface of form and etiquette, assuredly it would have been the last agony. But Louis died as he had lived-with all the grace and decorum he loved in his brightest moments. His several addresses to his different friends and attendants, and lastly to his heir, were distinguished by that neatness and propriety for which he was famous: in fact, so studied and so perfect is the whole scene, as described in the faithful pages of Saint-Simon, that it produces the effect of a well-acted play, and may almost be said to be affecting.

If the combined efforts of a nation of courtiers could ever raise a man out of humanity, it was done in the case of Louis le Grand : yet here he is, a dying god, on his bed, discovering, as the film comes across his physical sight, and at the same time drops from his intellectual vision, that his apotheosis has been a mistake. His only regret was, that he had neglected the interests of his subjects. His advice to the little dauphin (his great-grandson), not to build, not to make war, but to study the interests of his people, was as much as to say, "take the precisely opposite course which I myself have followed."

He was long in dying: when he appeared at the worst, the courtiers deserted his apartments, and flocked about the Duke of Orleans, his successor as regent; when he rallied somewhat, the reaction was sudden and complete, and the duke was left for a whole day without a visit from a single individual.'

Perhaps no man who ever sat upon a throne possessed greater power of doing good than Louis, yet no one with these advantages ever did greater mischief. His payment of bribes, or rather a sort of annual salary, to Charles II. of England, gave him no permanent power over this country; while in his warlike views he was completely set at nought by Marlborough. His revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which stamps everlasting infamy on his reign, led to the unforeseen result of making England the place of refuge of thousands of Protestants, the most industrious among his subjects, and whose knowledge of certain manufactures tended alike to enrich their adopted country, and impoverish that which they had left. While the example which he ostentatiously set of the wildest profligacy, had the effect of sapping the morals of his people, his extravagance in building palaces and laying out of pleasure-grounds, in his mode of living, and in his continual wars, exhausted the national resources, and laid the foundation of that misery and discontent which broke out in the Revolution of 1789. Till the present hour, France has not recovered from the deplorable prostration of morals and pecuniary exhaustion produced through his

efforts. Such was Louis le Grand-one of the greatest and one of the worst monarchs of whom modern history gives us a description.

STORY OF A PARISH BOY.

GEORGE DALE was an orphan boy left in infancy to the charge of a parish in Nottinghamshire. His mother had not survived his birth, and his remaining parent, a poor but honest man, had soon followed her to the grave. In his early days, accordingly, George had a taste of all the comforts and discomforts attending a life dependent on public beneficence. But fortune was kinder to him than it is to the generality of youngsters in the same circumstances. A lady of the neighbourhood, the widow of a respectable landed proprietor, chanced to see the boy in the course of her charitable visitations, and was struck by his fine, cheerful, healthy looks. Mrs Blakely had lost several of her own children, and her anxiety for the two yet remaining predisposed her to feel an interest in other children of a similar age. Such was the effect, at least, of her situation, operating upon a kindly and generous heart. She had, besides, thought of training up some boy to be a companion and attendant upon her own son, and the sight of George Dale determined her upon making choice of him for this purpose. Her charitable feelings were thus at once gratified, and a desirable object attained.

When George Dale removed to Blakely Hall, he became, as had been intended, the attendant and companion of Frank Blakely, a boy of his own age; and also of Harriet Blakely, a girl about two years younger, or nearly five years old. Not only did George participate in the sports of these children, but he was also fortunate enough to partake, by permission of his kind patroness, in the instructions given to them by their family tutor. He became a great favourite with his young master and

mistress two children whose naturally good qualities had been carefully fostered and improved by an anxious and sensible mother. The hardier early training of the orphan boy, indeed, fitted him admirably for being a useful and agreeable companion to Frank and Harriet in their out-of-door amusements. To gratify their slightest wish, he was ever ready to clamber up any height, to travel any distance, and, in short, to undertake any feat of boyish adventure, however difficult and perilous. At the same time, he profited so much by the advantages afforded to him in the way of education, as to be no unfit or unworthy associate for them in other respects.

The distinction of station between children in their early years is little heeded, and is felt least of all by themselves. They almost reach the age when serious attachments are formed, ere they begin to feel the distinctions of rank. This circumstance, as will be found, materially influenced the fate of the Blakelys and George Dale. The difference between them in point of rank was scarcely seen or felt until Frank reached the age of sixteen, and left home for Eton. Harriet was then left alone. As she was an only daughter, her mother deemed it better to take a personal charge of her education at home than to send her to a boarding-school. Exercise in the open air being an essential part of Mrs Blakely's system of training, Harriet still had to take walks and pony-rides, and still George Dale was for the most part her companion, her mother being unequal to any lengthened excursions abroad. Harriet also had from childhood shewn a great affection for birds, perhaps chiefly because George's boyish adventurousness had enabled her to procure and train numbers of them herself, so fixing her tastes on the subject. Be this as it may, as she grew up she had formed a considerable aviary, to which she went on adding from time to time with George's continued assistance.

Several years ran by, and found the persons of our story in the same relative circumstances, and engaged with the same amusements and occupations. Frank had

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