t with twenty thousand soldiers, to force upon the British people
King James II., whom they had indignantly discarded.

Civil war was now also desolating unhappy France. The Protestants,
bereft of their children, robbed of their property, driven from their
homes, dragged to the galleys, plunged into dungeons, broken upon the
wheel, hanged upon scaffolds, rose in several places in the most
desperate insurrectionary bands. And the man who was thus crushing
beneath the heel of his armies the quivering hearts of the Palatinate,
and who was drenching his own realms with tears and blood, was clothed
in purple, and faring sumptuously, and reclining upon the silken sofas
of Marly and Versailles. It is not strange that Faith, with uplifted
hands and gushing eyes, should have exclaimed, "O Lord, how long!"

The singular complication of the royal family, with the various
mothers and the various children, some of which children were
recognized by royal decree as princes, and some of whom were not,
filled the palaces with bickerings, envyings, and discontent in every
form. The unhappy dauphiness, who had long been immersed in the
profoundest gloom, at last found a welcome retreat in the grave.
Neither her husband nor the king shed a single tear over her remains,
which were hurried to the vaults of St. Denis.

CHAPTER XI.

INTRIGUES AND WARS.

1690-1711

Exhaustion of the treasury.--The royal plate sacrificed.--Assumptions
of Louvois.--Disgrace, sickness, and death of Louvois.--Louis
suspicious of Madame de Maintenon.--Letters.--Court life.--The
dauphin.--His sons.--Graces of the Duchess of Burgoyne.--Misery of
the people.--Extravagance of the court.--Brilliant assembly.--Death
of Charles II.--The Duke of Anjou proclaimed King of Spain.--Anecdote
of the princes.--Preparations for the coronation.--Exultation of Louis
XIV.--Final meeting of the royal family.--Last interview between
Madame de Montespan and the king.--Penance of Madame de
Montespan.--Her death.--Heartless conduct of the king.--His health
failing.--Quarrel with Philip.--He is stricken with apoplexy.--Death
of the king's brother.--The king dispels his gloom.--The Princess des
Ursins.--Civil war.--Insurrection of the Protestants.--Enthusiasm of
the Camisards.--Cruelty of the persecutors.--Distress in France.--The
dauphin taken sick.--Death and burial of the dauphin.

The treasury of the king was empty. Extravagant building, a voluptuous
court, and all the e