Louis XV., King of France; born In Versailles, France, Feb. 15, 1710. He was great-grandson and successor of the preceding; and Louis XIV. dying when he was only five years of age, the king dom was placed under the regency of Philip, Duke of Orleans. Louis was crowned in 1722, and declared of age the following year. In 1725 the king married the daughter of the King of Poland. On the death of the last-men tioned monarch, in 1733, Louis supported the election of his father-in-law, Stanis laus, against the Elector of Saxony, which occasioned a war between France and the emperor. The French were suc cessful in Italy, and a peace was con cluded in 1738. The death of the Em peror Charles opened a new scene. In the struggle for the succession Louis sup ported the pretensions of the Elector of Bavaria, who called himself Charles VII. In 1744 Louis took the field in person, and captured Courtray, Menin, and Ypres. On the other hand, the troops of the Duke of Saxony and of the Queen of Hungary ravaged Provence, and the English com pletely ruined the French commerce at sea, and negotiations were opened which ended in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. In 1755 a new war broke out between France and England, in which the latter power had Prussia for an ally, while Austria leagued with France. At first the French were successful, taking Port Mahon, defeating the Duke of Cum berland at Hastenbeck, and forcing the English general and his army to capitu late at Closter-Seven. The electorate of Hanover was conquered; but in 1757 the French and Austrians were defeated by Frederick the Great at Rossbach; this was followed by other losses, both by land and sea, particularly by the con quest of Canada by the English, and Louis, humiliated, despised by his sub jects, and given up to the grossest im moralities with his mistresses, died in Versailles, France, May 10, 1774.
Louis XVI., King of France; born in Versailles, France, Aug. 23, 1754. He was son of Louis the dauphin and Maria Josephine, daughter of Frederic Augus tus, King of Poland, and immediately created Duke of Berri. On the death of his father, in 1765, he became the heir to the throne; and in 1770 he married Marie Antoinette, an Austrian princess of great beauty and accomplishments. In 1774 he succeeded to the crown. France, at this time, was in a desperate finan cial and economic condition. Louis chose Turgot and Malesherbes for his first min isters. In 1774 the Parliament was re called, and affairs began to assume a favorable aspect. On Feb. 6, 1778, he concluded the treaty of alliance with the United States, which in a few months resulted in the declaration of hostilities between France and Great Britain. The war cost France 1,400,000,000 ]ivres; and besides the irreparable deficit it pro duced in the already disordered finances, it tended greatly to weaken the monarchy by diffusing republican and revolution ary ideas. Necker became, by his at tempts at reform, so obnoxious to the court and the aristocracy that he was obliged to resign in 1781. Louis, at the suggestion of Necker, again in office, con vened the states-general in May, 1789. The public mind was agitated. Mirabeau was the leader of the popular party. At his voice the people of Paris arose, and on July 14 of that year stormed the Bastille. Revolution had begun; and in
October the armed mob, with a prodi gious number of women, marched to Ver sailles, forced the palace, murdered the guards, and searched in vain for the queen, who would have shared the same fate had she not escaped. The result of this insurrection was the leading of the king and his family in triumph to Paris, amid the insults of a lawless rabble. In February, 1790, Louis was forced to ac cept the new constitution; but, notwith standing all his concessions, finding him self a mere prisoner at Paris, and ex posed daily to new injuries, he resolved to escape. Accordingly, on the night of June 21, 1791, he and his family quitted the Tuileries; but at Varennes he was recognized and conducted back to Paris, where he became a prisoner in his own palace. The Legislative Assembly gave way to the National Convention, which brought Louis to trial. His defense was conducted by Malesherbes, Tronchet, and De Seze, and his own deportment was, as it had uniformly been during his confine ment, firm and modest, dignified and re signed. On Jan. 17, 1793, he was ad judged to death for conspiring against the public good. On Jan. 21 he was led to the scaffold, where he showed the calm fortitude which had distinguished him through all the scenes of suffering and indignity to which he had been exposed. His body was thrown into a pit filled with lime, and no vestige left of the place of his interment.
Louis XVII., titular King of France; n in Versailles, France, March 27, . He was second son of the preced •tit, was at first styled Duc de Norman , and after the death of his elder ther, Louis-Jos.ph, in 1789, became Mphin of France. Imprisoned in the ,nnple with his relatives, he was, after h s father's death, styled monarch by he Roya,ists and foreign powers. A ,i)'ir, named Simon, was appointed his jailer, with the derisive title of tutor. He died June 8, 1795, it is suspected of poison.
Louis XVIII. (Stanislas Xavier), sur named Le Desire, King of France; born in Versaille s, France, Nov. 17, 1755. He was the second son of the dauphin (the sun of Louis XV.), and was originally known as the Count de Provence. At the accession of his brother, Louis XVI., in 1774, he received the title of Mon sil and after the d ath of his nephew, in 1795, from which time he reckoned his reign, he took the name and title of Louis XVIII., King of France and Navarre. When Louis XVI., at t mpting to escape to the frontiers of the kingdom, took the road to Montmedy, and was arrested at Varennes, Monsieur took that of Mons and reached Brussels in safety; and in 1792 he and the Count d'Artois joined the Prussian army at the head of 6,000 cavalry. The progress or the republican arms, however, com pelled them to make a retreat, first to Turin, and afterward to rona, where he assumed the name of Count de Lille, a title which he retained till h's accession to the French throne. The Russian gov ernment allowed him to reside at War saw. After the peace of Tilsit he took refuge in England, where he was hospi taly received, and whore he remained till the fall of Napoleon, in 1814, drew him from his retreat to reascend the throne of his ancestors.