d; his manners
were grace personified; he possessed considerable penetration when his
native indolence would permit him to attend to public affairs; and he
was not destitute, like his predecessor Charles VI., when roused by
necessity, or the entreaties of a high-minded and generous mistress, of
noble and heroic qualities. His conduct at Foutenoy, and during the few
occasions when he made war in person, in company with Marshal Saxe,
sufficiently proved this. Nay, what is still more extraordinary, he was
at first a model of conjugal fidelity. Though married at nineteen to his
Queen, Marie Leczinska, daughter of the king of Poland, who was six
years older than himself, and possessed of no remarkable personal
attractions, he resisted for long all the arts of the ladies of the
court, who were vieing with each other for his homage, saying constantly
to those who urged the beauty of any one upon him, "the Queen is
handsomer." The Queen had already borne him nine children, before a
suspicion even of his infidelities came to be entertained; and he was
led into them at first, rather by the efforts of those around him than
his own inclination. So timid was his disposition in these respects in
early years--so strong the religious scruples to which throughout life
he continued subject, that, on the first occasion on which he obtained
an interview with his future mistress, Madame de Chateauroux, the visit
passed over without the desired result, and on the second his valet had,
literally speaking, to throw him into her arms. "C'est le premier pas
qui coute." He became less scrupulous in subsequent years.

Of the Regent Orleans, who succeeded Louis XIV. in the government, and
preceded Louis XV. in its abuse, M. de Tocqueville gives the following
masterly character:--

"Nature had bestowed on the Duke of Orleans all those gifts which
usually captivate mankind. His physiognomy was agreeable and
prepossessing: to a natural eloquence he joined uncommon sweetness of
manner. Brave, full of liveliness, his penetration was never at fault,
and his abilities would have procured for him distinction at the head of
councils or armies. Those Who were about his person became attached to
him, because they found him amiable and indulgent. They lamented his
faults, without ceasing to love him, carried away by the graces of his
character and amiability of his manners, which recalled, they said,
those of his grandfather, Henry IV. He had the good fortune