The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-25 00:00:00

And again :

Louis XV. had no vulgar notions about death : a Chris.
tian philosopher, he contemplated it without turning pale ;
a fervent Catholic, he believed in the resurrection of the
flesh and the life eternal. Convictions like these do not
give to death the same cruel form that it has for the
impious.

Among the reproaches brought (and unani-
mously brought) against this model king, that of
a passion for the chase, indulged to the notorious
detriment and neglect of all State affairs, occu-
pies a prominent position. Gross and ridiculous
prejudice ! The chase, according to M. Cape-
figue, is one of the most efficient aids to political
wisdom. The more a man hunts, the more pro-
found will his statesmanship become; and in
pursuing the stag Louis XV. was merely throw-
ing himself into that state of mental abstraction
which his deeply-felt responsibilities imperiously
required :

The agitation (says our author) which the chase imparts
to the frame, and the leisure it leaves to the mind, were
admirably suited to the character of the King, who was
profoundly affected by the state of the country. The chase
gave him time to reflect, to repress the impetuosity of
certain counsels, to wait for fresh intelligence, to beguile
his melancholy, and to consult his friends in the closest
intimacy. Almost everywhere, in the midst of these vast
forests, he had created rendezvous de chasm, vast pavillions
where he often supped and slept, and where, amid those
grand woods, the council was held. Solitude inspired all
minds—just as, in antiquity, the nymph-peopled forests
murmured oracles around.
We confess that, on reading the above passage—
especially the classic allusion to the " nymphs"
—the idea crossed our minds that the whole book
must be a quiz, and that M. Capefigue's real
object in composing it was precisely the reverse
of his ostensible one. A mental survey, how-
ever, of other hicubrations from :the same pen,
relieves us from the humiliating suspicion of
having played the gobemouche ; and, with re-
sumed self-respect, we continue our extracts :
I consider the reign of Louis XV. (observes M. Cape-
ligue ) as the last and most fascinating reflex of the esprit
gentilhomme. . . . Under Louis XV. the nobility were
at the same time brave, chivalrous, and fascinating, as they
are represented to us in the pastels of Latour, on the
canvas of Boucher, in the battle•pieces of Charles Par-
rooel.

And this enthusiastic admiration for the " chi-
valresque noblesse " of the day is repeated almost
in every page, until we really begin to expect it,
as a sort of refrain, at the end of each paragraph.
Now, among the qualities comprised in the epi-
thet " chivalresque," we have always imagined
that a high and refined sensitiveness in matters
affecting woman's honour—the honour of those
women, above all, who are nearest and dearest to
us—stands pre-eminent. Here again we have
the misfortune to differ from M. Capefigue, as
the following extract will plainly show :

An historic remark presents itself here. As long as
the King addressed himself to ladies of noble birth for
his adulterous distractions, the Court around neither
complained nor expressed surprise. If any of his liaisons
were really scandalous and immoral, his strange love for
the four daughters of the illustrious house of Neale was
so ; and yet no one was astonished at this. Nay, praise
even was accorded to the pious (I) gentleness of Mme. de
Mailly, to the elegant and rather forward (ltardie) grace of
Mme. de Flavencourt, and, above all, to the courage and
pride, so truly French, of the Duchess of ChSteauroux in
the midst of war. But everything changes as soon as Louis
no longer chooses his amours in the ranks of the high
nobility, among ladies of title. Then they begin to accuse
him of dissolute morals—of vulgar passions. It is a little
bourgeoise who preoccupies now the attention of the King,
and the high nobility can neither understand nor forgive him.
The above does not require—indeed, scarcely
bears—comment. But we cannot refrain from

observing that the man who plainly tells us (in
his Preface) that " Mme. Pompadour and her
" works of art are more to his taste than Mme.
" Roland and her pedantic dissertations on po-
litics and philosophy " cannot be expected to
place much value upon female virtue.

Were we to extract every illustration this book
affords of the peculiar historic method pursued
by M. Capefigue, we should render ourselves
liable to an action for piracy. A few more of
the most glaring, and we have done.
History has marked out the eighteenth cen-
tury as pre-eminently and distinctively the age
of scepticism and analysis—the age which wit-
nessed the last bitter agony of feudalism, and