Latest / Story of Old France / 89 - Story of Old France by H. A. Guerber

Transcript

89 - Story of Old France by H. A. Guerber · Story of Old France

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Section eighty eight of the Story of Old France. This
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Mark Dessanzo. The Story of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Old France by H. A. Gerber, Section eighty eight, Later
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Wars of Louis the Fourteenth. Louis the fourteenth not only
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: paid Charles the Second of England a yearly sum of
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: money to favor French policies, but also encouraged Charles' successor,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: James the Second, in his attempts to rule as an
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: absolute monarch and to convert the English to Catholicism. This
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: roused an English revolt. Louise old foe William of Orange,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: crossed over to England, and when James the Second fled,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: gladly accepted the crown tendered to him and to his wife,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a daughter of the deposed king. James naturally turned to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Louis for a home during his exile, as well as
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: for means to recover the throne for himself and his
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: infant son, later known in England as the Old Pretender. Thus,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth became involved in war with England, while
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: William headed the League of Augsburg against him, having secured
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the aid of Germany, Spain, Holland and Sweden. As a result,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: France waged war sixteen eighty eight to sixteen ninety seven
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: against great odds, and this struggle marks the beginning of
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the great Monarch's decline. Until then, Louis had always gone
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to war in person, but he now sent the Dauphin
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: in his stead, saying, quote, my son, in sending you
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to command my armies, I afford you an opportunity of
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: making your merits known. Go and so act on the
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: face of Europe, that when I am no more, it
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: shall not perceive that the king is dead end quote.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: The war was waged on all side of France at once,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and for years we hear of nothing but battles and destruction.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: The French, for instance, ravaged the Rhine country and ruined
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: many castles there. Then against England were fought the naval
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: battles of Beechey Head sixteen eighty nine, la'ougue sixteen ninety
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: two and Cape Saint Vancant sixteen ninety three, in which
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the great French Admiral Tourville and other sailors won many laurels.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: But one of these mariners, gen Bards, showed his great
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: conceit when the king remarked one day, I wish I
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: had ten thousand men like you, by coolly replying, I
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: can well believe it, sire. In sixteen ninety a great
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: land battle was fought at Fleru, where the French general Luxembourg,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: a hunchback, won a brilliant victory over the imperialists, capturing
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: many standards which were hung in the church of Notre
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Dame in Paris. Another victory of his so irritated William
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: of Orange that he angrily exclaimed, shall I then never
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: beat this accursed hunchback? When this exclamation was repeated to Luxembourg,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: he proudly cried, hunchback, what does he know about it?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: He has never seen my back. He further proved his
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: courage by winning two more battles, Steinkirch sixteen ninety two
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: and Nirvnden sixteen ninety three over this same foe, while Catannin,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: another famous French general, won a battle in Italy over
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the Duke of Savois. In spite of all these victories,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the cost of The war proved so great and the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: losses so heavy, that Louis the fourteenth was glad to
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: put an end to hostilities by the Treaty of Reisvick
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: sixteen ninety seven, whereby he gave up all his recent
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: conquests save Strasbourg, and promised no longer to support James
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the Second in his vain attempts to recover the English throne.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: This Treaty of Reisvick, however necessary to France and acceptable
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to the rest of Europe, was intensely disappointing to Vaubant,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: who dejectedly said, we have always beaten the enemy, and
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: yet we make a peace which dishonors the king and
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the nation. While the war was going on, Louis the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: fourteenth spent most of his time at Versailles, directing everything
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and working hard on his plans for the erection of
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the Hotel Desenvalide and of the Louvers Colonnade. His principal
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: recreation consisted in hearing the plays written by Moliere, Corney
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: and Racine. He also took an interest in helping Madame
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: de Matinan found Saint cyr at the other end of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the Park of Versailles a boarding school for the daughters
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: of his officers. The institution, now bearing the name Saint Cyr,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: is for young men only and furnishes officers for the army.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: When these damsels left school, their patroness often arranged marriages
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: for them and even supplied their dowries. Now, as Madame
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: de Matinan had no money of her own, it was
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: only by interesting the King in this establishment that she
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: could obtain the fre to continue her good work. She
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: therefore asked the poet Racine to write tragedies which the
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: young ladies could play before the King, introducing choruses so
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: that all the pupils could take part at once. As
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: a result of this request we have the two famous
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: tragedies of Attalie and Esther, based on episodes of Old
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Testament history, and hence suited to the youthful actresses who
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: first played them. The King, although old, still kept open court,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: insisting upon the nobles appearing there frequently. Indeed, even elderly
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: peers were not exempt. Once, when the gaudy Conde slowly
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: advanced to meet the waiting King, he had to excuse
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: himself by saying, sire, I beg your Majesty's pardon for
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: keeping you waiting. The King, on this occasion graciously replied,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: do not hurry, cousin. When one is so waited with laurels,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: one cannot, of course proceed any faster to an unfortunate general.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Broken heart at having to capitulate and fearing the royal wrath,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Louis once kindly said, Marquis, you showed your courage in
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the defense and your wisdom in the capitulation. Arbitrary as
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Louis was, he occasionally showed that he did not object
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: to hearing the truth. Once, for instance, when he insisted
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: upon pardoning a criminal, his chancellor objected, and only upon
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the king's positive order, produced the seals. But when Louis
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: handed them back, the chancellor proudly refused to accept them,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: declaring they had been defiled. This made the King pause
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: and think, after which he flung the paper he had
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: just sealed into the fire. Delighted at having thus made
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: justice prevail, the chancellor rapturously cried, I take back the seals, sire,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: for fire purifies everything. End of Section eighty eight