e took place in his household. All his female attendants were
withdrawn, and he was placed exclusively under the charge of men. It
is said that this change was at first the occasion of much grief to
him. He had become much attached to many of the ladies, who had
devoted themselves to the promotion of his happiness. We are told that
he was greatly chagrined to find that none of the gentlemen of his
court could tell him any of those beautiful fairy tales with which the
ladies had often lulled him to sleep. In conference with the queen
upon the subject, it was decided that M. Laporte, his first valet de
chambre, should read to him every night a chapter of a very popular
history of France. The dauphin soon became greatly interested in the
narrative. He declared that he, when he grew up, would be a
Charlemagne, a St. Louis, a Francis First, and expressed great
abhorrence of the tyrannical and slothful kings.

The pleasure which the little king took in these historical readings
daily increased. Cardinal Mazarin accidentally found out what was
going on, and was greatly displeased. He was anxious that the
intellectual powers of the king should not be developed, for the
cardinal desired to grasp the reins of government with his own hands.
To do this, it was necessary that the king should be kept ignorant,
and should be incited only to enervating indulgence.

Scornfully the cardinal remarked, "I presume the governor of the king
must put on his shoes and stockings, as I perceive his valet de
chambre is teaching him history."

The young king entertained an instinctive aversion to the proud
cardinal, who assumed imperial airs, and who was living in splendor
far surpassing that of the regent or of the child-king. Those who
surrounded the prince were equally inimical to the cardinal-minister,
who, in that age of superstition and fanaticism, had attained such
power that the regent herself stood in awe of him.

Henrietta, queen of England, wife of the unfortunate Charles I., was a
daughter of Henry IV., and sister of Louis XIII. She was consequently
aunt to the dauphin. The troubles in England, which soon led to the
beheading of the king her husband, rendered it necessary for her to
escape to France. Her brother, Monsieur, duke of Orleans, went to the
coast to receive his unhappy and royal sister. As they approached
Paris, the queen regent and her son the king rode out to meet them.
Henrietta took a seat in the same carriage with th