The happy combination
of the right man in the right country at the right moment is very
rare in History. Louis XIV was a realisation of this ideal, as
far as France was concerned, but the rest of Europe would
have been happier without him.
The country over which the young king was called to rule
was the most populous and the most brilliant nation of that
day. Louis came to the throne when Mazarin and Richelieu,
the two great Cardinals, had just hammered the ancient French
Kingdom into the most strongly centralised state of the seventeenth
century. He was himself a man of extraordinary ability.
We, the people of the twentieth century, are still
surrounded by the memories of the glorious age of the Sun King.
Our social life is based upon the perfection of manners and the
elegance of expression attained at the court of Louis. In
international and diplomatic relations, French is still the official
language of diplomacy and international gatherings because
two centuries ago it reached a polished elegance and a purity
of expression which no other tongue had as yet been able to
equal. The theatre of King Louis still teaches us lessons
which we are only too slow in learning. During his reign the
French Academy (an invention of Richelieu) came to occupy
a position in the world of letters which other countries have
flattered by their imitation.
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