Note 158 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
"The great Colbert introduced order into the French finances in the reign of Louis XIV.; he encouraged the arts, promoted manufactures with extraordinary success (only arrested by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes), and may be said to have created the French navy. 'Je vous dois tout, sire,' said the dying Mazarin to Louis XIV., 'mais je crois m'acquitter en quelque sorte avec votre Majesté en vous donnant Colbert.'"—Biographie Universelle, art. Colbert.