cour, dont la honteuse dexterité à ce jeu enlevait les plus grands bénéfices, et savait le mieux les assurer On les avait nommés les seigneurs mississipiens, ils souriaient à ce nom. L'arrière petit-fils du grand Condé, le Duc de Bourbon, était à leur tête.'-i. 303.

In proportion as the promise of inexhaustible wealth had fascinated the minds of the Parisians, they gave way to the wildest rage and disappointment, when the ideal fabric suddenly vanished; and it required all the address and courage of the regent to prevent a general insurrection, and to save the impostor from the fury of an exasperated populace.

With the chimeras of Law every vestige of popularity, which had hitherto attached to the regent's administration, was irrecoverably lost. Desirous of banishing the recollection of his folly, he indulged in still greater excesess, till he entirely lost all aptitude and inclination for business, and sunk into a state of almost brutal insensibility. Under pretence of relieving his patron from the weight of affairs, Dubois did every thing in his power to encourage this cynical humour, and contrived gradually to exclude from the regent's society all those libertine companions, who had either knowledge or honour to recommend them. But as he was convinced that, unles, he should attain the highest dignities of the church, he could never hope to govern the nation, he openly aspired to a mitre, and a cardinal's hat, as a step to farther exaltation. No man less acquainted with the weakness of the regent's character, could have presumed to entertain the remotest hope of success. Destitute of every quality to which the most impudent flattery could attribute even the shadow of a virtue; universally despised for the meanness, no less than for the publicity of his vices; incapable of uttering a single sentence without shocking the feelings of the least scrupulous modesty; a blasphemer from habit; an atheist from vanity ;-he had still the presumption to aspire to the mitre which had recently encircled the venerable brow of the pious and benevolent Fenelon.

At no period of history had the dignities of the Gallican church been dispensed with greater discrimination, then during the reign of Louis XIV.; nor had the clergy in general been ever more conspicuous for purity of morals, and splendour of talent. Upon his first accession to power, the Duke of Orleans had pursued a similar course, and the names of Fleury and Massillon did credit to his choice; but it would have been inconsistent with his natural levity to persevere long in any regular system, and the heart of Dubois was so thoroughly depraved as to be unconscious of the advantage which he might personally have derived from allowing his master to patronize merit. Encouraged by the exhortations of Cardinal Rohan, who wanted his support in favour of

the Jesuits, he asked for the archbishopric of Cambray. Unaccustomed as he was to delicate scruples, the regent was startled at the idea of encountering the scandal to which such a prostitution of honours must expose him. But in spite of his reason, he ultimately yielded, and insulted the nation by raising Dubois to one of the highest ecclesiastical dignities.

The rapid progress of infidelity during the last century has given scope for much curious research, respecting the causes from which it proceeded; and it has generally been ascribed to the profane and licentious theories of those who assumed the majestic garb of philosophy, more securely to aim their envenomed shafts against the sacred truths of christianity. That the writings of Diderot and Voltaire contributed to taint the public mind, no person in the least acquainted with their works, will attempt to deny; but other causes, and those of general efficacy, must have assisted in spreading the contagion, or it never could have produced such baneful effects. Example is far better understood by the generality of mankind than precept; and the consecration of Dubois, in all probability, conduced no less to scatter the seeds of impiety, than all the blasphemous buffoonery of all the encyclopedists. It was thus that atheism spread with alarming rapidity in Italy during the pontificate of Alexander VI.

Notwithstanding an archbishop and a favourite had very strong claims to the Roman purple, it required all the influence of France, in the conclave, during the election of a pope, to induce Cardinal Conti to enter into an engagement for the promotion of Dubois, in case he should obtain the tiara. Too honourable to recede from a solemn promise, and too conscientious to disregard so flagrant a violation of duty, it was supposed that his death, which shortly followed, was in great measure occasioned by remorse.

Nothing was now wanting to satisfy the ambition of Dubois, but the post of prime minister, and to this he was soon after promoted. This last act of condescension on the part of the regent, has been imputed to motives of a political nature. The king was rapidly approaching to that age when a man in France was deemed capable of conducting the affairs of a powerful nation, though unfit to be trusted with the management of his private concerns; and it was not likely that the people, the parliaments, or the nobility, all of whom looked forward to the new reign with an anxiety which they disdained to conceal, should patiently endure the prolongation of the Duke's authority, though disguised under a different title. But he flattered himself that by allowing a tool of his own to occupy, for a little time, the post of prime minister (the duke had been assured by his physician that it was

impossible for the Cardinal to live above six months) he might slide without difficulty into the vacant post.

The physician's prediction was shortly verified; and the death of Dubois enabled the Duke of Orleans to carry his project into execution. Aware that it was necessary to retrieve his character by popular measures, he attended to the duties in which he had engaged with indefatigable industry, while, by the vivacity of his conversation, and his various accomplishments, he captivated the affections of Lewis. But the reform was merely apparent; for though the day was devoted to national concerns, the evening was consecrated to licentious pleasures. Three months after assuming the direction of affairs, the duke perished, the victim of sensuality.

Aucun des descendans de Henri IV. ne retraça davantage, son ar deur dans les combats, son esprit fin, étendu, son adroite familiarité, ses reparties piquantes, enfin cet ensemble de dons qui gagne les cœurs, et soumet les volontés. Henri commit l'imprudence de céder trop souvent, et trop long-temps, à l'amour. Philippe fut sans frein, sans pudeur, et sans délicatesse, dans ses honteuses voluptés. Ce trait de différence dans leur caractère, en établit une telle dans leur conduite, qu'un parallèle serait une profanation. Outre les vices qui entraînaient le désordre de ses mœurs, Philippe en avait un plus nuisible encore à la bonté, et qui cependant n'effaça point la sienne; c'était une défiance collective, un mépris raisonné, pour les hommes. Il consentit à être trompé par eux, mais il voulait les tromper à son tour avec de certains raffinemens. Les moyens obliques lui avaient souvent réussi; il ne cessait d'y recourir; il manquait à sa parole, il se jouait de ses promesses. Son cœur était inaccessible à la haine, mais son amitié n'avait que la chaleur du moment: elle manquait de consistence parceque rarement elle avait été cimenté par l'estime. Dans l'habitude d'une vie, tantôt molle, tantôt effrénée, ses qualitiés les plus brillantes dormaient souvent; on était étonné de les retrouver toutes dans une grande occasion. On prétend qu'il connaissait à fond toutes les parties de la science militaire. Régent, il évita la guerre ; un tel service rendu à la France, au genre humain, atténuerait beaucoup tous les reproches qu'on fait à sa mémoire, s'il eu porté plus de précautions dans la paix, et s'il n'eut pas imprudemment secondé la puissance maritime de l'Angleterre. Son impiété, son athéisme, ne ressemblaient point à la fatale erreur d'un systême; c'était une excuse pour ses vices, un assaisonnement pour ses débauches. Il se dirigea vers la tolérance, sans l'établir par des loix ; mais il propagea l'incrédulité par son exemple.'-i. 387.

We have been more circumstantial in our account of the regent's administration, because we are firmly persuaded that its influence upon the national character was far more extensive and permanent than is generally admitted. In a country like this, the vices of a sovereign are attended with less pernicious consequences; the prineiples of Englishmen being established upon too solid a founda

VOL. XI. NO. XXI,

K

tion to be shaken by the example of any individual, however exalted his rank or situation. In France it was different. There the court was every thing, the nation nothing. Economy or profusion, devotion or scepticism, licentiousness or temperance, were assumed and laid aside, by a volatile people, with the same ease and indifference with which they copied the fashion of their sovereign's cloak or the cumbersome structure of his wig.

The second volume commences with the administration of the Duke of Bourbon, who succeeded to the office of prime minister. There was little in the character of this prince to inspire either affection or respect. To an avidity as insatiable as that of Dubois, and an austerity of temper which he was hardly able to conceal under the external forms of politeness, he united an understanding in which flattery could discover neither brilliancy, depth, nor acuteness. And lest these defects should fail to excite universal contempt, he suffered himself to be governed by Madame de Prie, a woman as systematically profligate as the Duchess of Berri, and as ostentatiously impious as her father. The new administration commenced with the revival or rather extension of those intolerant edicts which had been issued by Lewis XIV. for the of extirpating heresy, and which now appeared still more odious than when promulgated at the instigation of Maintenon and Le Tellier, because it was no longer possible to allege in their defence even the despicable apology of bigotry.

purpose

No good could result from such an administration: we therefore hasten to the period when the king ostensibly assumed the direction of affairs, stopping only to notice the consequences of an intrigue, in which, as our author expresses it, 'tous les vices conspirèrent en faveur de la vertu.'

An infant daughter of the King of Spain had been selected by the Duke of Orleans to share the throne of Lewis XV., and had in consequence been sent at an early age to Paris, in order to acquire the habits and language of a nation over which she was destined to preside. But as the extreme youth of the princess prevented the marriage from taking place for several years, and the people were displeased at the prospect of the kingdom's remaining so long without an heir,-the Duke of Bourbon availed himself of the opportunity to propose sending back the infanta, and marrying the king to a princess capable of gratifying the wishes of the nation by the birth of a dauphin. The beauty and accomplishments of Mademoiselle de Vermandois, inspired him with the hope of confirming his authority by placing his sister upon the throne: but as talents and beauty were likely to enslave an indolent monarch, Madame de Prie resolved to visit the intended bride, before she consented to the union, in order to decide how far her under

standing coincided with the lustre of her charms. Presenting herself to Mademoiselle de Vermandois under a borrowed name, she, in the course of conversation, expatiated at large upon the brilliant destiny which awaited her. Accustomed to conceal every emotion of the soul under the unruffled mask of composure, the princess manifested neither joy nor surprize. Madame de Prie considered this as an unfavourable symptom, but determined, before she finally decided, to bring her to a more satisfactory trial. She accordingly seized an opportunity to speak of herself, as of a person unjustly calumniated. The princess, giving way to virtuous indignation, immediately declared that, determined as she was to discountenance vice, she would never allow a woman so notoriously profligate to appear in her presence, in case she should marry the king. That shall not be your fate,' muttered the mistress of Bourbon, as she hastily retired to stifle her fury.

6

There was a want of decision in the minister's character which laid it open to every impression. It was therefore no difficult task to persuade him that the projected marriage, if it should fail, as it was likely to do from the cabals of those who envied his power, must infallibly involve him in ruin. It became necessary therefore to provide a substitute, with rank sufficient to justify his choice, and upon whose gratitude he might firmly rely. These considerations directed his attention toward Maria Lechinska, daughter to the unfortunate Stanislaus, who had been placed by Charles XII. on the throne of Poland, and driven from it by Peter the Great. The exiled monarch was living in a dilapidated castle, near Weisenberg in Germany, when he received a letter from the Duke of Bourbon announcing the intelligence. The delighted father hastened to his daughter's apartment, exclaiming with extasy, Tombons à genoux, ma fille, et remércions Dieu.-Mon père, s'écria celle-ci, seriez vous appellé au trône de Pologne ? Le ciel, reprit Stanislaus, nous est bien plus favorable; ma fille, vous êtes reine de France.'-ii. 34.

Fleury, Bishop of Frejus, concealed a boundless ambition under habits of almost patriarchal simplicity. In quality of preceptor to the king, he had acquired such influence over the weak mind of his pupil, that, by threatening to retire from court, he was able to carry the most difficult points. The ascendancy of a man too proud, or too honest, to second the views of a corrupt administration, kept the minister and his mistress in constant alarm; and a plot was in consequence formed, with the connivance of the queen, whom gratitude rendered imprudent, for the purpose of driving him into retirement, but which terminated in the banishment of the duke and Madame de Prie, and established Fleury's power on so solid a foundation, that he governed France till the