Excerpt from France Under Louis XV, Vol. 1 of 2 A just idea cannot be formed Of the character of the French monarchy, nor of the probability of the king exercising wisely his great authority, without considering his modes of life, his social surroundings, the barriers of etiquette in which he was inclosed, the artificial panoply in which he 'was encased. Ver sailles, in the early part of the eighteenth century, wit nessed an existence, splendid indeed, but the formality of which had stiflr'ened into rigidity not unlike that of the courts of ancient Assyrian and Babylonian kings; if its etiquette was not SO benumbing as the sombre state Of Madrid, yet it did not help a monarch to understand the needs of his people, nor to perform the duties of his Office. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.