He had stripped it of all its tinsel and pretension, and laid the ragged framework bare.

"He wrote like the Devil for posterity!" exclaimed Chateaubriand.

But the work at once became universally read and quoted, both in France and England.

Macaulay made frequent use of it in his historical essays.

It was, in a word, recognised as the chief authority upon an important period of thirty years (1694-1723).
Since then it has passed through many editions, finally receiving an adequate English translation at the hands of Bayle St.John, who has been careful to adhere to the peculiarities of Saint-Simon's style.