Opening the text

France and England in North America, Part IV: The Old Régime In CanadaParkman, Francis

History

France and England in North America, Part IV: The Old Régime In Canada

Name: France and England in North America, Part IV: The Old Régime In Canada
Author: Parkman, Francis

Parkman, Francis

Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France)

There was little thought of the past at Fontainebleau in June, 1661. The
present was too dazzling and too intoxicating; the future, too radiant
with hope and promise. It was the morning of a new reign; the sun of
Louis XIV. was rising in splendor, and the rank and beauty of France
were gathered to pay it homage. A youthful court, a youthful king;
a pomp and magnificence such as Europe had never seen; a delirium
of ambition, pleasure, and love,--wrought in many a young heart an
enchantment destined to be cruelly broken. Even old courtiers felt the
fascination of the scene, and tell us of the music at evening by the
borders of the lake; of the gay groups that strolled under the shadowing
trees, floated in gilded barges on the still water, or moved slowly
in open carriages around its borders. Here was Anne of Austria, the
king’s mother, and Marie Thérèse, his tender and jealous queen; his
brother, the Duke of Orleans, with his bride of sixteen, Henriette of
England; and his favorite, that vicious butterfly of the court, the
Count de Guiche. Here, too, were the humbled chiefs of the civil war,
Beaufort and Condé, obsequious before their triumphant master. Louis
XIV., the centre of all eyes, in the flush of health and vigor, and the
pride of new-fledged royalty, stood, as he still stands on the canvas
of Philippe de Champagne, attired in a splendor which would have been
effeminate but for the stately port of the youth who wore it. *

Fortune had been strangely bountiful to him. The nations of Europe,
exhausted by wars and dissensions, looked upon him with respect and
fear. Among weak and weary neighbors, he alone was strong. The death
of Mazarin had released him from tutelage; feudalism in the person of
Condé

     *  On the visit of the court at Fontainebleau in the summer
     of 1661, see Mémoires de Madame de Motteville, Mémoires de
     Madame de La Fayette, Mémoires de l’Abbé de Choisy, and
     Walckenaer, Mémoires sur Madame de Sevigné.

was abject before him; he had reduced his parliaments to submission;
and, in the arrest of the ambitious prodigal Fouquet, he was preparing a
crashing blow to the financial corruption which had devoured France.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

France and England in North America, Part IV: The Old Régime In CanadaParkman, Francis

History

France and England in North America, Part IV: The Old Régime In Canada

Parkman, Francis

Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France)

There was little thought of the past at Fontainebleau in June, 1661. The
present was too dazzling and too intoxicating; the future, too radiant
with hope and promise. It was the morning of a new reign; the sun of
Louis XIV. was rising in splendor, and the rank and beauty of France
were gathered to pay it homage. A youthful court, a youthful king;
a pomp and magnificence such as Europe had never seen; a delirium
of ambition, pleasure, and love,--wrought in many a young heart an
enchantment destined to be cruelly broken. Even old courtiers felt the
fascination of the scene, and tell us of the music at evening by the
borders of the lake; of the gay groups that strolled under the shadowing
trees, floated in gilded barges on the still water, or moved slowly
in open carriages around its borders. Here was Anne of Austria, the
king’s mother, and Marie Thérèse, his tender and jealous queen; his
brother, the Duke of Orleans, with his bride of sixteen, Henriette of
England; and his favorite, that vicious butterfly of the court, the
Count de Guiche. Here, too, were the humbled chiefs of the civil war,
Beaufort and Condé, obsequious before their triumphant master. Louis
XIV., the centre of all eyes, in the flush of health and vigor, and the
pride of new-fledged royalty, stood, as he still stands on the canvas
of Philippe de Champagne, attired in a splendor which would have been
effeminate but for the stately port of the youth who wore it. *

Fortune had been strangely bountiful to him. The nations of Europe,
exhausted by wars and dissensions, looked upon him with respect and
fear. Among weak and weary neighbors, he alone was strong. The death
of Mazarin had released him from tutelage; feudalism in the person of
Condé

     *  On the visit of the court at Fontainebleau in the summer
     of 1661, see Mémoires de Madame de Motteville, Mémoires de
     Madame de La Fayette, Mémoires de l’Abbé de Choisy, and
     Walckenaer, Mémoires sur Madame de Sevigné.

was abject before him; he had reduced his parliaments to submission;
and, in the arrest of the ambitious prodigal Fouquet, he was preparing a
crashing blow to the financial corruption which had devoured France.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

France and England in North America, Part IV: The Old Régime In Canada

France and England in North America, Part IV: The Old Régime In Canada

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