He had in himself that title which comes of superior merit, and which nothing can make up for, nothing can equal.

He might have said, as Marshal Lannes said to the Marquis of Montesquieu, who was exhibiting a coat taken out of his ancestors' drawers, "I am an ancestor myself." Louvois remained henceforth alone, without rival and without check.

The work he had undertaken for the reorganization of the army was pretty nearly completed; he had concentrated in his own hands the whole direction of the military service, the burden and the honor of which were both borne by him.

He had subjected to the same rules and the same discipline all corps and all grades; the general as well as the colonel obeyed him blindly.

M.de Turenne alone had managed to escape from the administrative level.