Louis XV

Bien-Aimé ( i. e . Well-Beloved), great-grandson of the preceding, and only five at his death, the country during his minority being under the regency of Philip, Duke of Orleans; the regency was rendered disastrous by the failure of the Mi i ippi Scheme of Law and a war with Spain, caused by the rejection of a Spanish prince for Louis, and by his marriage to Maria Lesczynski, the daughter of Stan is las of Poland; Louis was crowned king in 1722 and declared of age the following year; in 1726 Cardinal Fleury, who had been his tutor, became his minister, and under him occurred the war of the succe ion to Poland, concluded by the treaty of Vienna, and the war of the Austrian succe ion, concluded by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; with the death of his minister Louis gave way to his licentious propensities, and in all matters of state allowed himself to be swayed by unworthy favourites who pandered to his lusts, the most conspicuous among them being Madame de Pompadour and Dame de Barry, her succe or in crime; under them, and the corrupt court they presided over, the country went step by step to ruin, and she was powerle to withstand the military ascendency of England, which deprived her of all her colonies both in the East and in the West; though Choiseul, his last "substantial" minister, tried hard by a family compact of the Bourbons to collect her scattered strength; the situation did not trouble Louis; "it will last all my time," he said, and he let things go; suffering from a disease contracted by vice, he was seized with confluent smallpox, and died in misery, to the relief of the nation, which could not restrain its joy (1710-1774).