He lacked decision of character, and clearness of purpose or perception. He was incapable of reading the signs of the times, or of reforming the vicious system of government he had inherited from his forefathers. So he, who was in many respects the best of the later Bourbons, had to pay the penalty for the crimes, the cruelty, and the follies of his ancestors. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF PASQUIER DE MESSANGE, 1792.] In the best period of French heraldry, supporters were less frequently found than in British heraldry, and it was a rule, or a tradition, that, as marking the divine right of kings, only members of the royal family of France should carry angels as supporters. They were, however, assumed by the illegitimate descendants of the kings, who carried the royal arms with the usual differences. [Illustration: THE ACHIEVEMENT OF LOUIS XVI.] [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF MONSIEUR LEJOURDAN, CONSEILLER EN L’AMIRAUTÉ, 1786] [Illustration] CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST REPUBLIC. In Great Britain political changes have had comparatively little effect upon the development of art, whereas in France the great events of her history have left their impress deeply on her arts, and during the last hundred years especially, nearly every political convulsion (and there have been many) has been rapidly followed by some great change in the fashion of her book-plates. It therefore becomes absolutely necessary to refer to some of the leading features in French history in order properly to appreciate the ex-libris of the various periods. For the antiquary, the prints produced in France before the Revolution must ever possess the greatest interest, indicating as they do so clearly the tastes, the vanity, the luxury of that _beau monde_ which was the France of those days when the lower orders counted for nothing, being but the hewers of wood, the drawers of water, and the _chair-à-canon_ with which her kings and marshals won glory. No attempt was made to hide the corruption and immorality which prevailed at Court--the amours of the kings were openly acknowledged, the highest titles were bestowed upon their mistresses, and the royal arms of France were borne by their almost innumerable offspring.