which he had disturbed.  With all Europe in arms against him, he, an old and broken-hearted man, contrived to preserve, by his fortitude and will, the territories he had inherited; and he died peacefully upon his bed, at the age of seventy-six, still the most absolute king that ever reigned in France.  A man so strong, so fortunate until his latter years; so magnificent in his court, which he made the most brilliant of modern times; so lauded by the great geniuses who surrounded his throne, all of whom looked up to him as a central sun of power and glory,—­is not to be flippantly judged, or ruthlessly hurled from that proud pinnacle on which he was seated, amid the acclamations of two generations.  His successes dazzled the world; his misfortunes excited its pity, except among those who were sufferers by his needless wars or his cruel persecutions.  His virtues and his defects both stand out in bold relief, and will make him a character to meditate upon as long as history shall be written.

The reign of Louis XIV. would be remarkable for the great men who shed lustre on his throne, if he had himself been contemptible.  Voltaire doubted if any age ever saw such an illustrious group, and he compares it with the age of Pericles in Greece, with that of Augustus in Rome, and that of the Medici in Italy,—­four great epochs in intellectual excellence, which have never been surpassed in brilliancy and variety of talent.  No such generals had arisen since the palmy days of Roman grandeur as Conde, Turenne, Luxembourg, Vauban, Berwick, and Villars, if we except Gustavus Adolphus, and those generals with whom the marshals of Louis contended, such as William III., Marlborough, and Eugene.  No monarch was ever served by abler ministers than Colbert and Louvois; the former developing the industries and resources of a great country, and the latter organizing its forces for all the exigencies of vast military campaigns.  What galaxy of poets more brilliant than that which shed glory on the throne of this great king!—­men like Corneille, Boileau, Fontanelle, La Fontaine, Racine, and Moliere; no one of them a Dante or a Shakspeare, but all together shining as a constellation.  What great jurists and lawyers were Le Tellier and D’Aguesseau and Mole!  What great prelates and preachers were Bossuet, Fenelon, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Flechier, Saurin,—­unrivalled for eloquence in any age!  What original and profound thinkers were Pascal, Descartes, Helvetius, Malebranche, Nicole, and Quesnel!  Until the seventeenth century, what more respectable historians had arisen than Dupin, Tillemont, Mabillon, and Fleury; or critics and scholars than Bayle, Arnauld, De Sacy, and Calmet!  La Rochefoucauld uttered maxims which were learned by heart by giddy courtiers.  Great painters and sculptors, such as Le Brun, Poussin, Claude Lorrain, and Girardon, ornamented the palaces which Mansard erected; while Le Notre laid out the gardens of those palaces which are still a wonder.