WILLIAM AND MARY.

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of the provinces which he had surprised and overrun, chap.An atrocious thought rose in the mind of Louvois, who, in —military affairs, had the chief sway at Versailles. He wasa man distinguished by zeal for what he thought the publicinterests, by capacity, and by knowledge of all that related tothe administration of war, but of a savage and obdurate nature.

If the cities of the Palatinate could not be retained, they mightbe destroyed. If the soil of the Palatinate was not to furnishsupplies to the French, it might be so vmsted that it would atleast furnish no supplies to the Germans. The ironheartedstatesman submitted his plan, probably with much managementand with some disguise, to Lewis; and Lewis, in an evil hourfor his fame, assented. Duras received orders to turn one ofthe fairest regions of Europe into a wilderness. Fifteen yearsearlier Turenne had ravaged part of that fine country. But theravages committed by Turenne, though they have left a deepstain on his glory, were mere sport in comparison with thehorrors of this second devastation. The French commanderannounced to near half a million of human beings that hegranted them three days of grace, and that, within that time,they must shift for themselves. Soon the roads and fields,which then lay deep in snow, were blackened by innumerablemultitudes of men, women, and children flying from theirhomes. Many died of cold and hunger: but enough survivedto fill the streets of all the cities of Europe with lean andsqualid beggars, who had once been thriving farmers andshopkeepers. Meanwhile the work of destruction began. Theflames went up from every marketplace, every hamlet, everyparish church, every country seat, within the devoted pro-vinces. The fields where the corn had been sowm were ploughedup. The orchards were hewn down. No promise of a harvestwas left on the fertile plains near what had once been Franken-tlial. Not a vine, not an almond tree, w'as to be seen on the