Chapter 1.1.IV: Louis the Unforgotten
Synopsis
Finally, Louis XV dies. He had lingered on awkwardly long, well past the point when everyone knew he was going and had mentally prepared for his death. His funeral was unceremonious and somewhat perfunctory.
Louis XVI, grandson of the dead king, is crowned king at age 19 (his father having died in 1765). He and his wife, Marie Antoinette (age 18), fill the philosophes with hope that France will be rejuvenated.
Notes
Wood of Senart The Forest of Sénart is located in Northern France’s Essonne department.
Rossbach to Quebec Rossbach: see supra, Chapter 1. Quebec: Throughout Louis’ reign, and especially during the Seven Years’ War, French troops were in conflict with the English in Quebec. In 1759, Quebec city surrended to the English and the government of New France moved to Montreal.
that thy Harlot might take revenge for an epigram In 1749, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas, Louis’s Minister of the Marine, was exiled from Paris for an epigram against Madame de Pompadour, exacerbating France’s naval woes.
Griffin The griffin is a legendary figure with the body, torso, and back legs of a lion, and the head, wings, an talons of an eagle
Flyings Tables Louis had installed at Choisy (a royal retreat) a circus-like contraption consisting of a table that could be raised and lowered to deliver him food in privacy. At Versailles, he used a similar contraption to surreptitiously deliver his mistresses.
“Mother of Dead Dogs” We thank Frederick W. Hilles for in 1927 connecting this obscure reference to the Fleet Ditch, a subterranean river in London. Carlyle is quoting himself.
cabriolets Not the two-wheeled horse carriage, but a certain style of chair came into fashion during Louis XV’s reign.
Mayor of the Palace Developed under the Merovingian dynasty, the manager of the household under the Frankish king. Continued under the Carolingians, hence Pepin.
Dame Dubarry issues from the sick-room, with perceptible “trouble in her visage.” In the days before his death, Louis renounced Madame du Barry (as he had renounced, briefly, Madame de Pompadour after the stabbing incident in 1757) in a last effort at salvation
to the guillotine-axe Madame du Barry is to meet the guillotine in 1793
pyxes The pyx is the container in which the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is kept
Clotaire Chlothar I, Merovingian king, son of Clovis I
Amende honorable Used figuratively here, originally a mode of punishment in France whereby the offender was led barefoot and stripped into a church with a torch in his hand and a rope around his neck to beg forgiveness from God. One of the more famous people to undergo this ritual was Robert-François Damiens, stabber of Louis.
flambeaux A flaming torch or large candlestick with many branches
que cela finît That it might end
Too young indeed. Louis XVI was 19, Marie Antoinette 18
Horologe A timepiece
Monseigneur d’Artois Louis XVI’s brother the future King Charles X. This title was reserved for a high-ranking member of the royal family.
palfreniers Coach attendants
St. Denis Since Dagobert I in around 639, almost every French king has been buried at the Basilica of St. Denis