Identifier: greatestnations05elli (find matches)
Title: The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century : a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and a pronouncing vocabulary of each nation
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916 Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis), 1870-1942
Subjects: World history
Publisher: New York : F.R. Niglutsch
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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to the hands of a newmistress, the wife of an army-contractor, and ennobled her with the title ofMadame de Pompadour. Until her death, in 1764, she was the real ruler ofFrance, and ruled it to its ruin. It was she who had urged the weak peace of 1748; and when the terribleSeven Years War between Prussia and Austria broke out, she insisted thatFrance should interfere and support Maria Theresa, her only reason beingthat the Austrian Empress, eager for the alliance, had condescended to be gra-cious to the Pompadour, and had treated her as if she were a real queen. Herincompetent favorites were made the generals of France, and led their armiesto defeat and disgrace. You may recall how they fled from the Prussians atRossbach. When peace was made in 1763, Frances naval power had been de-stroyed, and she surrendered to England all the best of her enormous colonialpossessions in India and America. The War had settled decisively that Eng-land and not France should be the great colonial empire.
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France—Madame Pompadour 899 Yet in her frivolous, incompetent way, Madame Pompadour meant well.She would have liked to improve the condition of the poor people, had it not■been too troublesome. She wanted to patronize art, but failed to recognize itstrue expression, so that her period has been nicknamed the age of bad taste.She did, indeed, receive and make quite a fuss over the grandest of musicians,Mozart; but alas, it was only because he came to her, not as a man, but as aninfant prodigy, barely six years old, to bow and scrape like a little courtier andperform upon a piano which he could hardly reach. Can you imagine the court that surrounded Louis and this mistress.^ Ithas been aptly said that, through each of the Bourbon reigns, the courtiers ac-quired the vices of their King, without his virtues. From Henry IV. theycaught his licentiousness, without his glory; from Louis XIII. his weakness,without humility; from Louis XIV. haughty pride, without perseverance; fromthe Duke o

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