0,000 in Flanders; and besides, was paying £1,666,666 a year to

monarchical and diplomatic Europe, a sort of prostitute the English

people has always had in keeping. Parliament having voted a patriotic

loan of thirty-four million francs of annuities, there had been a crush

at the Exchequer to subscribe it. England was sending a squadron to the

East Indies, and a squadron to the West of Spain under Admiral Leake,

without mentioning the reserve of four hundred sail, under Admiral Sir

Cloudesley Shovel. England had lately annexed Scotland. It was the

interval between Hochstadt and Ramillies, and the first of these

victories was foretelling the second. England, in its cast of the net at

Hochstadt, had made prisoners of twenty-seven battalions and four

regiments of dragoons, and deprived France of one hundred leagues of

country--France drawing back dismayed from the Danube to the Rhine.

England was stretching her hand out towards Sardinia and the Balearic

Islands. She was bringing into her ports in triumph ten Spanish

line-of-battle ships, and many a galleon laden with gold. Hudson Bay and

Straits were already half given over by Louis XIV. It was felt that he

was about to give up his hold over Acadia, St. Christopher, and

Newfoundland, and that he would be but too happy if England would only

tolerate the King of France fishing for cod at Cape Breton. England was

about to impose upon him the shame of demolishing himself the

fortifications of Dunkirk. Meanwhile, she had taken Gibraltar, and was

taking Barcelona. What great things accomplished! How was it possible to

refuse Anne admiration for taking the trouble of living at the period?

From a certain point of view, the reign of Anne appears a reflection of

the reign of Louis XIV. Anne, for a moment even with that king in the

330

The Man Who Laughs