By

THOMAS CARLYLE


VOLUME I.--THE BASTILLE


BOOK 1.I.

DEATH OF LOUIS XV.


Chapter 1.1.I.

Louis the Well-Beloved.

President Henault, remarking on royal Surnames of Honour how difficult
it often is to ascertain not only why, but even when, they were
conferred, takes occasion in his sleek official way, to make a
philosophical reflection. 'The Surname of Bien-aime (Well-beloved),'
says he, 'which Louis XV. bears, will not leave posterity in the same
doubt. This Prince, in the year 1744, while hastening from one end of
his kingdom to the other, and suspending his conquests in Flanders that
he might fly to the assistance of Alsace, was arrested at Metz by a
malady which threatened to cut short his days. At the news of this,
Paris, all in terror, seemed a city taken by storm: the churches
resounded with supplications and groans; the prayers of priests and
people were every moment interrupted by their sobs: and it was from an