[521] This is another flattery intended for Louis XIV., who thought that his ministers got their talents “by virtue of their office.” The word subalternes, “subordinates,” seems also out of place applied to such men as Colbert and Louvois.
[522] Louis XIV. was certainly not displeased when his presence awed those who were presented to him.
[523] All those excellent qualities, which La Bruyère thinks are necessary to a sovereign, were those generally attributed to Louis XIV., and which Saint-Simon also ascribes to him in his Mémoires.
[524] Another hit at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
[525] A reference to the royal edicts against duelling.
[526] Louis XIV., from 1667 to 1685, promulgated several laws reforming abuses in civil and criminal jurisprudence, and abolishing certain restrictions on trade, commerce, etc.
[527] To say that Louis XIV. increased by his example the influence of religion and virtue, can only apply to him after his marriage with Madame de Maintenon. See page [258], note 508.
[528] An allusion to the declaration of the liberties of the Gallican Church, published in 1682, and said to be written by Bossuet.
[529] The commentators of La Bruyère do not explain why the subsidies to be granted to the king were lighter in the provinces. Can it be that in certain provinces, called pays dʼétat, the subsidies voted by the provincial states were smaller than those voted by the authorities appointed by the king in those provinces not belonging to the pays dʼétat, and called pays dʼélections?
[530] This allusion must greatly have pleased Louis XIV., who thought himself great as a strategist and as a politician.