New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-28
THE sun KING.
Pictures of the Reign of LOUIS
XIV.

VERSAILLES AND THE COURT UNDER LOUIS
XIV. BY James Eugene Farmer. NJ A. SVo
PIP Az. The Century Company
gentlemen. the King!"
AS, when the Roi Soleil. following the ushers
announcement into the great gallery where his
courtiers awaited him, drew all eyes and doull-
mated every thought, so he dominates this bulky
volume The magnificent palace which he
created and IN which he developed his absolutist
policy is described by the author with adequate
particularly and picturesqueness; the men ana
women of his blood good and bad-nostly bad
pace through its stately rooms in a fashion very
much alive; his courtiers and officers of state
fatter and lie and toll and idle and spend and
shine in reflected light such as France has never
seen since that wonderful and terrible seven
teenth century But the glittering figure Of
Louis XIV casts into shadow everything but
the appropriate gorgeousness of his background
What a stage 1t was-that dream Of luxury
and beauty called VersaillesI Marvellous are
the details of its construction, OF Its fairylike
gardens, its magic transformations of earth and
water of the lavish ornament In which art and
nature united. What did Versailles cost the
Kingf In our modern American coin the sum
is reckoned at S1OO,O00.0O0. 1t cost the peasant
more than money, as we know. 1t was not
only the making of the palace that cost-that'
as the author reminds us. was a small part of
the whole.
In Ills there was hardly. noble family at court
and the cost supporting the nobility crippled the
ang anf the peope Came the Surface even
Versailles, and the beggars became SO numerous tD
the King appointed certain Swiss guards to take
proepeTons years Of Cohorts administration the
set sp f wn the bad years
he sit
was forced maintain large part OF the nonn-
posed heavy measure OF taxation the King hest.
tated; and when the Minister remarked that 1t
moS 15S interrupted him by saying do not
ably did not. but they were used severely none
backs to the plough, still believing that their fTst
duty was to seek the spencor Of Louis and ms
m gnifcence. because the nation entire resioeo
in the person of the King"
In painting the portrait of the King Mr.. Farm
er has, of course. drawn constantly upon the
pages of Saint Simon, but he has not neglected
other chroniclers. Louis reigns upon the stage
as an uncommonly handsome man, with a pierre
ing glance and grand air, which was not pom
posity, but something real and powerful
Whatever was the secret of that grand air, be
hind 1t lay the real force of the man, his faith IN
himself and his firm belief in his divine right.
He kept in general g. kindly tongue-if he could
not say anything pleasant, we are told, he SAID
nothing. He knew how to control MS temper
and he had great tact His intellectual capacity
was good but he had had a wretched education
and we can only wonder that any judgment ana
taste should have survived 1t. He had pride
which was not altogether ignoble, he had cour-
age to endure. He declared at twenty-three that
the first business of a king was work. and for
hfty-four years he worked regularly and syste-
matically day by day. Recalling the period OF
Iouis's minority, when Mazarin ruled ana
when he, the King. fshed out of basin
in the garden of the Paas Royal, and was
bundled by night out of Paris to sleep on straw
at ST Germain." the author says:
In those hard years he had torn sheets on his
he learned valuable lessons. lessons which we're Of
much more seFy d e h Par than he he
took the reius in his hands, resolved to rule as
w gorio aus resolved to raise France proud pre-
enence resolved to be G d}ne6 hands to aid him
in his work Nature had favored his person fort fort
had placed him t on the t tbnes From az
and when they believed In the divine right OF OF
bot sOveTeg Lo od f9nl def eT s b aaGe
become the king ne was re aSoh gt n cbsnce
ne tsnt his king ship as close to him as his skin;
s as4 aeRoa fs
the great exempar of naJesty ~ shsed not less
~ secure for her supremacy in manners 10 De me
exenplar Of majesty was not he oiteness he de-
rne I'd nom others he himself displayed
We must look TO other commentators thah Air'
rarnoer for the deeper shadows on the portrait
hs does not dwell at length upon those which ne
must perforce show us, while ne does lay stress
IRON Ioutss more admirable traits Some OF the
,,1ea.antest passages In the volume are devoted
n Marie Adelaide. that sprife OF savoy VINO
captured the Kings heart from the iiioitien' sre
a.r,,.es in France. a little girl. to marry the
-. srarsson. She became his pet and dar-
-. the only human being with whom he could
son kineship and be Louis the man. she oleo
.sar,e. hut while she lived she was sunshine IL
self in that artificial court.
s.-. .p,hor has used his authorities with skill.
,,ae6 not complain that his requisitions
@.s heavy. He gives due credit and has siLe
CO.. the right quotation. The illustrations IN
eI',d,re various reproductions OF poftfats' ''o
ell interesting.