By ARVÈDE BARINE

The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle1627-1652

Authorized English Version. Octavo. FullyIllustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00

Louis XIV. and La Grande Mademoiselle1652-1693

Authorized English Version. Octavo. FullyIllustrated. (By mail, $3.25.) Net, $3.00

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

New York London

Cliché Braun, Clément & Cie.

MADEMOISELLE DE MONTPENSIER

She is holding the portrait of her father, Gaston d'Orléans

From the painting by Pierre Bourgnignon in the Musée de Versailles

By permission of Messrs. Hachette & Co.

Louis XIV

and

La Grande Mademoiselle

By

Arvède Barine

Author of "The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle"

Authorised English Version

G. P. Putnam's Sons

New York and London

The Knickerbocker Press

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

iii

PREFACE

IN the volume entitled The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle I havetried to present the conditions of France during the period in which theancient liberties of the people and the turbulent society which hadabused its privileges suffered, in the one case death, in the otherextinction.

As is always the case, a lack of proper discipline had prepared the wayfor absolute rule, and the young King who was about to assume full powerwas an enigma to his subjects. The nearest relatives of Louis had alwaysfound him impenetrable. The Grande Mademoiselle had been brought up sideby side with her cousin, but she was entirely ignorant of his realcharacter, knowing only that he was silent and appeared timid. In herfailure to understand the King, Mademoiselle showed herself again a truechild of her century.

At the moment in which the Prince assumed full power, his truedisposition, thoughts, and beliefs were entirely hidden from the public,and Saint-Simon has contributed to this ignorance by prolonging it toposterity. Louis XIV. was over fifty when this terrible writer appearedat Court. The Mémoires of Saint-Simon present the portrait of a manalmost old; this portrait however is so powerful, so living that it[iv]obliterates every other. The public sees only the Louis of Saint-Simon;for it, the youthful King as he lived during the troubled and passionateperiod of his career, the period that was most interesting, because mostvital, has never existed.

The offic

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