Fortune had me born the poorest gentleman in France, but in requital she honored me with an honest heart, so free from all sorts of swindles that it cannot bear even the thought of them without a shudder." It was not until eight years after the death of Louvois, in 1699, when Vauban had directed fifty-three sieges, constructed the fortifications of thirty-three places, and repaired those of three hundred towns, that he was made a marshal, an honor that no engineer had yet obtained.

"The king fancied he was giving himself the baton," it was said, "so often had he had Vauban under his orders in besieging places." [Illustration: Vauban----534] The leisure of peace was more propitious to Vauban's fame than to his favor.

Generous and sincere as he was, a patriot more far-sighted than his contemporaries, he had the courage to present to the king a memorial advising the recall of the fugitive Huguenots, and the renewal, pure and simple, of the edict of Nantes.

He had just directed the siege of Brisach and the defence of Dunkerque when he published a great economical work entitled _la Dime royale,_ the fruit of the reflections of his whole life, fully depicting the misery of the people and the system of imposts he thought adapted to relieve it.

The king was offended; he gave the marshal a cold reception and had the work seized.