The House of Bourbon - France under Louis XIV and the Regency (Illustrated) by James Perkins

Author:James Perkins [Perkins, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Didactic Press
Published: 2015-02-04T02:00:00+00:00

THE REGENCY, 1715

THE FAMILY OF THE DAUPHIN OF FRANCE

THE monarchical feeling was strong among the French, but it extended only to living sovereigns. It was the personal embodiment of royalty for which the people entertained respect and affection. No nation showed less regard for its rulers when the breath was out of their bodies. To this Louis XIV. was no exception. His death excited no regret among his subjects, and his obsequies received no attention. The heart of the monarch was deposited with the Jesuits, who claimed its custody in death, as they had possessed it in life. Not half a dozen of all his court were sufficiently interested to attend the ceremony. When his remains were taken to their resting-place at St. Denis, they received scanty marks of respect. Where the funeral cortége was not the object of insult, the people viewed it with indifference. Louis's death was the signal for the appearance of numerous satirical verses, which were bitter beyond precedent. "Our eyes were too full of tears during his life to have any left for his death," said one, while another declared that, however cruel and heartless the king had been in his lifetime, he had imitated the Messiah in dying for the good of the world. Thirty funeral orations preserved at the National Library, all of which describe with eloquence the virtues and achievements of Louis the Great, do not offset these lampoons as indications of popular feeling.

When so little respect was paid to the obsequies of the king, it was unlikely that his last wishes should be regarded. Louis XIV. left a will, solemnly deposited in the custody of the Parliament, by which he sought to regulate the government during the minority of his successor. There were many reasons which led him to regard this period with special solicitude. Louis XV. was but five years of age when he succeeded to the throne of an old man of seventyseven. His minority would continue for eight years, and, though upon completing his thirteenth year a king of France was by law supposed to assume the control of the state, it was impossible that he should become his own master at so immature an age. The disturbances in which France had been involved during the minority of Louis XIV. suggested the possibilities which might be in store for his successor. Even if the altered condition of the country rendered unlikely any recurrence of the troubles of the Fronde, Louis was desirous of the continuance of the policy and the principles which he had adopted.

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