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The quarrel grew so bitter that all the thirteen
Parlements of France were suppressed (1771), and in their stead new
royal courts were established.
Opposition was only temporarily crushed; and Louis XV knew that graver
trouble was brewing. He grew afraid to ride openly among the
discontented crowds of Paris; the peasants saluted him sullenly; the
treasury was empty; the monarchy was tottering. Yet Louis XV felt
neither responsibility nor care. "It will surely last as long as I," he
cynically affirmed; "my successor may take care of himself."
[Sidenote: Louis XVI, 1774-1792]
His successor was his grandson, Louis XVI (1774-1792), a weak-kneed
prince of twenty years, very virtuous and well-meaning, but lacking in
intelligence and will-power. He was too awkward and shy to preside with
dignity over the ceremonious court; he was too stupid and lazy to
dominate the ministry. He liked to shoot deer from out the palace
window, or to play at lock-making in his royal carpentry shop.
Government he left to his ministers.


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