libertate et Protestante religione. William landed without obstacle at Torbay, on the 15th of November; on the 4th of January, King James, abandoned by everybody, arrived in France, whither he had been preceded by his wife, Mary of Modena, and the little Prince of Wales; the convention of the two Houses in England proclaimed William and Mary kings (rois—? king and queen); the Prince of Orange had declined the modest part of mere husband of the queen.  “I will never be tied to a woman’s apron-strings,” he had said.

By his personal qualities as well as by the defects and errors of his mind Louis XIV. was a predestined acquisition to the cause of James II.; he regarded the revolution in England as an insolent attack by the people upon the kingly majesty, and William of Orange was the most dangerous enemy of the crown of France.  The king gave the fallen monarch a magnificent reception.  “The king acts towards these majesties of England quite divinely,” writes Madame de Sevigne, on the 10th of January, 1689:  “for is it not to be the image of the Almighty to support a king out-driven, betrayed, abandoned as he is?  The king’s noble soul is delighted to play such a part as this.  He went to meet the Queen of England with all his household and a hundred six-horse carriages; he escorted her to St. Germain, where she found herself supplied, like the queen, with all sorts of knick-knacks, amongst which was a very rich casket with six thousand louis d’or.  The next day the King of England arrived late at St. Germain; the king was there waiting for him, and went to the end of the Guards’ hall to meet him; the King of England bent down very low, as if he meant to embrace his knees; the king prevented him, and embraced him three or four times over, very cordially.  At parting, his Majesty would not be escorted back, but said to the King of England, ’This is your house; when I come hither you shall do me the honors of it, as I will do you when you come to Versailles.’  The king subsequently sent the King of England ten thousand louis.  The latter looked aged and worn, the queen thin and with eyes that have wept, but beautiful black ones; a fine complexion, rather pale, a large mouth, fine teeth, a fine figure and plenty of wits; all that makes up a very pleasing person.  All she says is quite just and full of good sense.  Her husband is not the same; he has plenty of spirit, but a common mind which relates all that has passed in England with a want of feeling which causes the same towards him.  It is so extraordinary to have this court here that it is the subject of conversation incessantly.  Attempts are being made to regulate ranks and prepare for permanently living with people so far from their restoration.”

In his pride and his kingly illusions, Louis XIV. had undertaken a burden which was to weigh heavily upon him to the very end of his reign.