28 APRIL 1928, Page 26

The best which can be said of Mr. C. S.

Forrester's historicaj biography, Louis XIV. (Methuen, 10s. 6d.), is that it goes with a swing from beginning to end. The writer quotes no ro authorities, accepts doubtful matter as proved, and races through the long reign, leaping from love to war as though all were fair where an historian deals with either. The colours are laid on very thick and a good deal of scurrilous matter incorporated in the paint. Madame de 'Montespan was no doubt a " bad lot," but that she constantly dedicated herself to the Devil, assisted at the performance of the Black Mass, and allowed a child to be murdered for the carrying out of that horrible ritual is unbelievable. However, the book is interesting.

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