n was regarded
as an extraordinary, if not a miraculous event, especially by the devout
people of the nation, who called the child the "God-given."

Louis XIII. was personally a brave man, and had some good qualities; but
as a ruler he was weak and incapable of governing his kingdom. He
admitted Cardinal Richelieu to his cabinet, and the astute politician
became his prime-minister, and was the actual ruler of France. The king
fully appreciated the vast abilities of his great minister, even while
he feared, if he did not hate him, and became but a pliant tool in the
hands of the greatest statesman of his time.

It is said that Richelieu was fascinated by the beauty and grace of Anne
of Austria, and that she made a bitter enemy of the minister by
repelling his courtesies. Be this as it may, they were never friends,
except so far as the relations of state compelled them to be such. He
died in 1642, naming Cardinal Mazarin as his successor. Before his death
he had built up the power of France, and won for her an influential
position among the governments of Europe. But he had repressed
constitutional liberty, and severely burdened the people with taxation
to carry on the wars he advocated.

Two years after the birth of the Dauphin, as the heir to the throne was
then called, another son was born to the king, the Duke of Anjou, who
afterward became the Duke of Orleans. The brother of the king is called
"Monsieur" in France, by courtesy; and he is so designated in various
works of the time. Louis XIII. died when his two sons were respectively
five and three years old, naming the queen as regent during the minority
of the young king. Richelieu had died the year before, and Mazarin had
been installed in his place.

The Palais-Royal, which claims the attention of every visitor in Paris
at the present time, was built by Richelieu for his own residence, and
was called the Palais-Cardinal. At his death he bequeathed it to the
king, and it became the residence of Anne of Austria and her two
children. The official in charge of the palaces represented that it was
not proper for the king to live in the mansion of a subject, and the
inscription bearing the former name was removed, and that of the present
day was substituted for it; which seemed to many to be an act of
ingratitude to the statesman who had presented it to the crown. The
chamber which had been occupied by Richelieu was given to Louis, then
only five years old. It was a