92 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON.

transport, " Oh, the nice bed, the nice bed!" took a spring, leaped
upon the bed, rolled himself upon it seven or eight times, then
descended and made his excuses to the Mardchale, saying that
her bed was so clean and so well-made, that he could not hinder
himself from jumping upon it; and this, although there had
never been anything between them; and when the Mar^chale,
who all her life had been above suspicion, was at an age at
which she could not give birth to any. Her servants remained
stupefied, and she as much as they. She got out of the diffi-
culty by laughing and treating it as a joke. It was whispered
that there were times when M. le Prince believed himself a
dog, or some other beast, whose manners he imitated; and I
have known people very worthy of faith who have assured me
they have seen him at the going to bed of the King suddenly
throw his head into the air several times running, and open
his mouth quite wide, like a dog while barking, yet without
making a noise. It is certain, that for a long time nobody saw
him except a single valet, who had control over him, and who
did not annoy him.

In the latter part of his life he attended in a ridiculously
minute manner to his diet and its results, and entered into dis-
•cussions which drove his doctors to despair. Fever and gout
at last attacked him, and he augmented them by the course he
pursued. Finot, our physician and his, at times knew not what
to do with him. What embarrassed Finot most, as he related
to us more than once, was that M. le Prince would eat nothing,
for the simple reason, as he alleged, that he was dead, and that
dead men did not eat! It was necessary, however, that he
.should take something, or he would have really died. Finot,
and another doctor who attended him, determined to agree
with him that he was dead, but to maintain that dead men
sometimes eat. They offered to produce dead men of this
kind; and, in point of fact, led to M. le Prince some per-
sons unknown to him, who pretended to be dead, but who
ate nevertheless. This trick succeeded, but he would never
eat except with these men and Finot. On that condition he
ate well, and this jealousy lasted a long time, and drove