CHAP. XLII.]

THE FRENCH COURT.

5

colour-in short, of influencing the taste of their producers; and this is precisely what the Courts of Augustus and Louis XIV. effected. The literature and art of the Athenian Commonwealth were subject to somewhat different conditions. Greek literature

was not so much the literature of books as the Roman, and still more the modern. The appeal was chiefly oral, and made more directly to the public, but a public that has not been found elsewhere-a body of judges of the most critical taste and discernment. Hence Attic literature and art present an unrivalled combination of excellences; all the vigour and fire of originality, subdued by the taste of a grand jury of critics. We mean not, however, to assert that the writers of the age of Augustus and Louis possessed no original genius, but only that it was kept more in check. cannot be doubted, for instance, that Virgil and Horace, Racine and Molière, possessed great original powers, which, in another -state of society, they might probably have displayed in a different, and, perhaps, more vigorous fashion, but at the sacrifice of that propriety and elegance which distinguish their writings.

It

If Louis XIV. claimed to represent the State in his own person, still more did he represent the Court, which set the fashion in dress and manners, as well as in literature. There was much, fortunately, in Louis's character that was really refined and elegant, and which left an unmistakeable impress on the nation. Although unrestrained in his earlier days by any notions of morality, he was far removed from coarseness and indecency. His manner towards women was marked by a noble and refined gallantry; towards men, by a dignified and courteous affability. He is said never to have passed a woman even of the lowest condition without raising his hat. There was no doubt a great deal of acting in all this; but it was good acting. He had made it his study to support the character of a great king with a becoming dignity and splendour, for he felt himself to be the centre of Europe as well as of France. His fine person was also of much service to him. Hence, as regards merely external manner, his Court has, perhaps, never been surpassed, and it is not surprising that it should have become a model to all Europe. It combined a dignified etiquette with graceful ease. Every one knew and acquiesced in his position, without being made to feel his inferiority. The King exacted that the higher classes should treat their inferiors with that polite consideration of which he himself gave the example. Thus the different ranks of society were brought nearer together without being confounded. The importance of the great nobility was reduced by

6

THE FRENCH COURT.

[CHAP. XLII. multiplying the number of dukes and peers; while civic ministers and magistrates were loaded with titles, and brought almost to a level in point of ceremonial with persons of the highest birth. At the same time certain honorary privileges were reserved for the latter which afforded some compensation to their self-love. They alone could dine in public with the King; they alone could wear the cordon bleu and the justaucorps à brevet; a sort of costume adopted by the King, which could be worn only by royal licence, and established a sort of equality among the wearers. All these regulations tended to produce a mutual affability between the different classes, which spread from the Court through the nation, and produced a universal politeness. Hence French society attained an unrivalled elegance of manner, which it retained down. to the Revolution. There was nothing that could be compared to the Court of France and French society. Hence also the French language attained a grace and polish which render it so apt an instrument of polite conversation, and caused its general diffusion in Europe. The Courts of Austria and Spain were shackled by a cold and formal etiquette, destructive of all wit, taste, and fancy. The only Court which approached the French was that of England under Charles II. Essentially, perhaps, Charles was not more immoral than Louis; but he wanted that refinement which deprives immorality of its grossness. The result is manifest in the contemporary literature of the two nations, and especially the drama, the best test of the manners of a people. The English dramatists of that age, tragedians as well as comedians, with quite as much fire and genius as their French contemporaries, were grossly indecent.

In patronizing literature and art, Louis XIV. only followed the example given by Richelieu, with whom it was a part of policy. He knew that literature glorifies a country, and gives it a moral strength; that it makes the prince who patronizes it popular at home, respected and influential abroad. The benefits which Louis bestowed on literary men were not confined to those of his own country. Many foreign literati of distinction were attracted to France by honourable and lucrative posts; pensions, honorary rewards, flattering letters, were accorded to others. There were few countries in Europe without some writer who could sound the praises and proclaim the munificence of Louis XIV.

Even if it were compatible with the scope of this work, space would not allow us to enter into any critical examination of the great writers who adorned the reign of Louis. The dramas of

CHAP. XLII.]

FRENCH ACADEMIES.

7

Racine and Molière, the poems of Boileau and La Fontaine, the sermons and other writings of Bossuet and Bourdaloue, besides the works of numerous other authors, are still in the hands of all persons of taste, not only in France, but also throughout Europe. For a like reason we pass over the great French writers who adorned the eighteenth century, many of whom will not suffer by a comparison with their immediate predecessors. A bare list of names-and our space would allow us to give but little more— would afford neither instruction nor amusement. During this period, however, arose that school of philosophical writers whose works contributed so much to produce the Revolution. To writings of this class, having a direct political bearing, it will be necessary to advert with considerable attention in a future chapter, when we come to consider the causes of that event.

If royal patronage can give a tone to works of imagination, it can still more directly assist the researches of learning and science. The King, in person, declared himself the protector of the Académie Française, the centre and representative of the national literature, and raised it, as it were, to an institution of the State, by permitting it to harangue him on occasions of solemnity, like the Parliament and other superior courts. In the state of society which then existed, this was no small addition to the dignity of letters. Under the care of Louis and Colbert arose two other learned institutions: the Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres, and the Académie des sciences. The origin of the former was sufficiently frivolous. It was at first designed to furnish inscriptions for the public monuments, motives and legends for medals, subjects for artists, devices for fêtes and carousals, with descriptions destined. to dazzle foreign nations with the pomp and splendour of French royalty. It was also to record the great actions achieved by the King; in short, it was to be the humble handmaid of Louis's glory. But from such a beginning it became by degrees the centre of historical, philological, and archæological researches. The Académie des sciences was founded in 1666, after the example of the Royal Society of London. In the cultivation of science, England had, indeed, taken the lead of France, and could already point to many eminent names. The French Academy of Architecture was founded in 1671, and the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, originated by Mazarin in 1648, received a fresh development at the hands of Louis and his ministers.

If we turn from the Court to the Cabinet of Louis, we find him 'Martin, t. xiii. p. 161.

8

COLBERT.

[CHAP. XLII. here also affecting the first part. But it was in reality by the ability of his ministers, Le Tellier, Colbert, Lionne, Louvois, that he found the means of sustaining the glories of his reign. After the death of Louvois, who, though a detestable politician, was an excellent military administrator, the affairs of Louis went rapidly to decay. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, one of the ablest ministers that France had ever seen, was born in 1619, the son of a trader of Rheims. After receiving the rudiments of a commercial education, he became successively a clerk to a merchant, a notary, and an attorney, and finally entered the service of the Government by becoming clerk to a treasurer of what were called the parties casuelles. Thus Colbert, though subsequently a warm patron of art and literature, had not received the slightest tincture of a classical education, and began at the age of fifty to study Latin, to which he applied himself while riding in his carriage. He owed his advancement to Le Tellier, who saw and appreciated his merit. In 1649 that minister caused him to be appointed a counsellor of state, and from this period his rise was rapid. He obtained the patronage of Mazarin, for whom, however, he felt but little esteem. The Cardinal on his death-bed is said to have recommended Colbert to the King; and, in 1661, after the fall of Fouquet, he obtained the management of the finances. The mind of Colbert, however, did not confine itself merely to his official department, but embraced the whole compass of the State. He had already conducted all the affairs of France during eight years, before he obtained, in 1669, the office of Secretary of State, with the management of the Admiralty, commerce, colonies, the King's household, Paris, the government of the Isle of France and Orleans, the affairs of the clergy, and other departments.

Colbert had taken Richelieu as his model, and like that statesman had formed the grandest plans for the benefit of France by promoting her agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and by developing the moral and intellectual as well as the material resources of the kingdom. He increased the revenue by making the officers of finance disgorge their unjust profits, by reforming the system of taxation, and reducing the expenses of collection. He improved the police and the administration of justice. He facilitated the internal communications of France by repairing the highways and making new ones, and by causing the canal of Languedoc to be dug, which connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic. He also formed the scheme of the canal of Burgundy. He caused Marseilles and Dunkirk to be declared free ports, and

CHAP. XLII.] POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION. 9 he encouraged the nobility to engage in commerce by providing that it should be no derogation to their rank. He formed the harbour of Rochefort, enlarged and improved that of Brest, and established large marine arsenals at Brest, Toulon, Havre, and Dunkirk; while, by the care which he bestowed upon the fleet, France was never more formidable at sea than at this period. His commercial system, however, though perhaps suited to the wants and temper of France in those days, would not meet the approbation of modern political economists. He adopted the protective system, and instead of encouraging private enterprise, established monopolies by forming the East and West India Companies, as well as those of the Levant and of the North. Colbert retained office till his death, in 1683. His end seems to have been hastened by the ingratitude of the King in appreciating his great services.

We will now take a brief view of some of the political consequences which attended the close of the era of the Reformation. It can scarcely be doubted that Germany, the chief scene of that event, viewed as a confederate State, was much enfeebled by it. Had the Empire remained united in its allegiance to Rome, or had it become, as it at one time promised, universally Protestant, France and Sweden would not have been able to play the part they did in the Thirty Years' War, and to aggrandize themselves at its expense. The bad political constitution of the Empire, which naturally contained within itself the seeds of perpetual discord, was rendered infinitely more feeble by the introduction of Protestantism. Having become permanently divided into two or three religious parties, with opposite views and interests, materials were provided for constant internal dissensions, as well as for the introduction of foreign influence and intrigues. The same was also the case in Poland. On the other hand, in those countries where the Reformation was entirely successful, as England and the Scandinavian Kingdoms, its tendency was to develop and increase the national power. It is true that the different German Princes, and especially the more important ones, grew individually stronger by the Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia. Such was the case even with the House of Habsburg, which, after the battle of Prague, in 1620, was enabled to render the Crown of Bohemia hereditary. The maintenance of a standing force of mercenaries, which obtained in most of the German States after the war, contributed to the same result, by enabling the Princes to usurp the rights of their subjects. The provisions of