LEWIS XIV

LEWIS XIV. le Grand, (king at five years of age), anno 1643. He was at first styled Dieu-donne, because the French considered him as the gift of heaven, granted to their prayers after the queen had been barren 22 years. This princess (Ann of Austria) was declared regent by Lewis XIII. and saw herself under a necessity to continue the war against Philip IV. king of Spain, her brother. The duke d'Enquin was made general of the French armies; and so signal was the success of this renowned warrior, (afterwards prince

Lewis, prince of Condé, and known by the style of the Great Condé,) that his victories brought on the advantageous treaties of Munster in 1648, between France, the emperor Ferdinand III. and Christina queen of Sweden: the basis of the aggrandisement of France in this reign; the principal events of which, and of the next, are related under the articles BRITAIN, UNITED PROVINCES, &c. Lewis XIV. died in 1715, aged 77.

Lewis XV. (his great-grandson) succeeded in 1715. He was styled, in the course of his reign, the well-beloved, which he lost some years before he died; and was detested and despised by his subjects for his shameful attachment to a young girl, under the title of his mistress, who, by the ministry of her patron the duke d'Aiguillon, governed the kingdom, and invaded the ancient rights and privileges of the people. He died in 1774, in the 64th year of his age, and 59th of his reign.