e crown in a voice as strong as ever
when he was banished to the sick-room in 1715, and upbraided the
weeping attendants, asking them if they had indeed come to consider him
immortal.

The reign of seventy-two years, so memorable in the annals of France,
drew to a close with the life that had embodied all its royalty. Louis
XIV died "as a candle that goes out"--deserted even by Madame de
Maintenon, who determined to secure herself against adversity by
retirement to the convent of Saint-Cyr. There was no loud mourning as
the King's corpse was driven to the tomb on a car of black and silver,
for the new century knew not the old reverence for kings. It was the
age of Voltaire and the mocking sceptic.

{137}

Chapter XII

Peter the Great

On the very day when the Grand Monarch watched his army cross the Rhine
under the generals--Turenne and Conde--a man was born possessed of the
same strong individuality as Louis XIV, a man whose rule was destined
to work vast changes in the mighty realms to the extreme east of Europe.

On 30th May, 1672, Peter, son of Alexis, was born in the palace of the
Kreml at Moscow. He was reared at first in strict seclusion behind the
silken curtains that guarded the windows of the _Terem_, where the
women lived. Then rebellion broke out after his father's death; for
Alexis had children by two marriages, and the offspring of his first
wife, Mary Miloslavski, were jealous of the influence acquired by the
relatives of Nathalie Naryshkin, Peter's mother.

Peter found a strange new freedom in the village near Moscow which gave
him shelter when the Miloslavski were predominant in the State. He
grew up wild and boisterous, the antithesis in all things of the
polished courtier of the western world, for he despised fine clothing
and hated the external pomp of state. He ruled at first with his
half-brother Ivan, and had reason to dread the power of Ivan's sister,
Sophia Miloslavski, who was Regent, and gave lavish emoluments to
Galitzin, {138} her favourite minister. There was even an attempt upon
Peter's life, which made him something of a coward in later times,
since he was taken unawares by a terrible rising that Sophia inspired
and escaped her only by a hurried flight.

The rising was put down, however; Sophia was sent to a convent, and
Galitzin banished before Peter could be said to rule. He did not care
at first for State affairs, being absorbed by youthful pleasures which
he