In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Prophet_101-150.indd 141 3/2/12 10:29 PM IV ... I The Trial of "Le Stuart Fran~ais" l LOUIS XVI AND CHARLES 1: A CoNDEMNED KINe's MEDITATIONS We remember that during Hume's visit to Versailles in 1763 the historian of the Stuarts had been complimented on his great reputation in France by a nine-year-old boy, the future king, Louis XVI. As it turned out, the young prince was to remain an avid and faithful reader of history all his life. No study, everyone agreed, was more suited to form part of the education of a future ruler: The second way to gain knowledge of men is to compare them to men of the past, and that comparison is made by reading history. Of all the sciences, history is the one that a prince must study most. . . . He must read it as one who seriously wishes to discover the true principles of government and to learn how to know men. He will derive far more enlightenment from the history of monarchies than from the history of republics, which are driven by mechanisms that he will be unable to make use of in a monarchy.... 1 1. Rijlexions sur mes entretiens avec M. le Due de La Vauguyon, par LouisAuguste , Dauphin, in Oeuvres de Louis XVI, Paris, 1864, I. 310. ...

Share