"The reign of Louis XIV extended over seventy years, and in so long a period it largely modified the institutions and the power of France. Her European position was far more commanding at the close of the seventeenth century than at its beginning. Alike in political power, in the influence exercised by her society, in the attention attracted by her literature, France was confessedly the leading state of Europe. Additions of new territory had increased her strength and her prestige; they had gratified the pride of a people which has always been eager to extend the boundaries and the influence of the fatherland. The aggrandizement of France during the seventeenth century is not to be condemned as the result of a series of piratical excursions. The growth of nations by the absorption of smaller communities, adapted by situation and by race to assimilate with the larger body, has been the law of European progress. Thus France has been built up..." - James Breck Perkins
Contents: France in the Eighteenth Century. The Early Years of the Administration of Louis XIV, 1661-1670. Wars with Spain and Holland, 1667-1679. Colbert, 1661-1683. Louis the Great. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685. Coalitions against France, 1680-1697. The Spanish Succession, 1698-1713. The Close of the Reign of Louis XIV, 1712-1715. The Regency, 1715. Dubois and the English Alliance, 1715-1717. The Quadruple Alliance and War with Spain, 1718-1720. Law and his System. The Mississippi Company, 1717-1720. The Failure of the System, 1720-1721. The Ministry of Dubois, 1717-1721. The Close of the Regency, 1721-1723. The Morals of the Regency.
Contents: France in the Eighteenth Century. The Early Years of the Administration of Louis XIV, 1661-1670. Wars with Spain and Holland, 1667-1679. Colbert, 1661-1683. Louis the Great. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685. Coalitions against France, 1680-1697. The Spanish Succession, 1698-1713. The Close of the Reign of Louis XIV, 1712-1715. The Regency, 1715. Dubois and the English Alliance, 1715-1717. The Quadruple Alliance and War with Spain, 1718-1720. Law and his System. The Mississippi Company, 1717-1720. The Failure of the System, 1720-1721. The Ministry of Dubois, 1717-1721. The Close of the Regency, 1721-1723. The Morals of the Regency.