t Scarron, who had
rescued her from poverty. She had a powerful influence over the king,
which was unfortunate for him, for she was a bigot, though a better
woman than most of those who had been his intimates. Throughout his
reign Louis maintained the most severe system of court etiquette. He
regarded himself as the absolute owner of his realm, and the arbiter of
the existence of all his subjects. His habits were methodical. He rose
at eight, and was dressed by his valets in the presence of many
courtiers, after he had performed his devotions. He breakfasted at ten,
and dined alone at one, waited upon by the highest officers of the
court. His presence awed those who came before him.

He patronized and encouraged poets, authors, and artists; and Moliere,
both author and actor, was a great favorite with him, and appears to
have been the only man of his profession who was ever admitted to the
honor of dining with the king. Though Louis was not known to make a joke
himself, he greatly enjoyed the witty conversation of Moliere, who is
commemorated in Paris by a fountain and street named after him.

The last years of the reign of Louis XIV. are in strong contrast with
the glorious period of the zenith of his prosperity. Several bloody
defeats of his armies darkened the military splendor of his reign, the
treasury was well-nigh bankrupt, and his court for the speedy trial and
punishment of offenders, political or otherwise, had estranged the
people; but he remained arbitrary and absolute to the end. At the age of
seventy-seven he died, after intense suffering, in 1715. He died a great
king, but not a great man.

[Signature of the author.]

WILLIAM PENN

(1644-1718)

[Illustration: William Penn. [TN]]

William Penn was born in London, October 14, 1644. He was the son of a
naval officer of the same name, who served with distinction both in the
Protectorate and after the Restoration, and who was much esteemed by
Charles II. and the Duke of York. At the age of fifteen he was entered
as a gentleman-commoner at Christchurch, Oxford. He had not been long in
residence, when he received, from the preaching of Thomas Loe, his first
bias toward the doctrines of the Quakers; and in conjunction with some
fellow-students he began to withdraw from attendance on the Established
Church, and to hold private prayer-meetings. For this conduct Penn and
his friends were fined by the college for non-conformity: and the former
was so