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21IST0HY OF EXGLAND.

CIIAPTEE XX.

CHAP.

XX.

It is now time to relate the events which, since the battle of

State ofthe Court

La Hogue, had taken place at Saint Germains.

James, after seeing the fleet which was to have convoyed

or saint him back to his kingdom burned down to the water edge, hadmains, returned in no good humour to his abode near Paris. Misfor-tune generally made him devout after his own fashion; and henow starved himself and flogged himself till his spiritual guideswere forced to interfere.*

It is difficult to conceive a duller place than Saint Germainswas when he held his Court there; and yet there was scarcely inall Europe a residence more enviably situated than that whichthe generous Lewis had assigned to his suppliants. The woodswere magnificent, the air clear and salubrious, the prospectsextensive and cheerful. No charm of rural life was wanting;and the towers of the most superb city of the Continent werevisible in the distance. The royal apartments were richlyadorned with tapestry and marquetry, vases of silver and mir-rors in gilded frames. A pension of more than forty thousandpounds sterling was annually paid to James from the FrenchTreasury. He had a guard of honour composed of some of thefinest soldiers in Europe. If he wished to amuse himself withfield Sports, he had at his command an establishment far moresumptuous than that which had belonged to him when he wasat the head of a great kingdom, an army of huntsmen andfowlers, a vast arsenal of guns, spears, buglehorns and tents,miles of network, staghounds, foxhounds, harriers, packs for

* Life of James, ii. 497.