120 MEMOJBS OF THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON.

Ducliesse de Bourgogne did marvels of her own accord; and the

Due de Bourgogne, also, being urged by M. de Beauvilliers. f*

Monseigneur alone remained irritated, on account of the Spanish

affair.

I must here mention the death of M. le Due. He was en-
gaged in a trial which was just about to be pleaded. He had
for some time suffered from a strange disease., a mixture of
apoplexy and epilepsy, which he concealed so .carefully, that he
drove away one of his servants for speaking of it to his fellows.
For. some time he had had a continual headache. This state £

troubled the gladness he felt at being delivered from his- ••

troublesome father and brother-in-law. One evening he was j<

riding in his carriage, returning from a visit to the Hotel de I

Coislin, without torches, and with only one servant behind, \\

when he felt so ill that he drew the string, and made his lackey j,

get up to teU him whether his mouth was not all on one side. |

This was not the case, but he soon lost speech and conscious- 1

ness after having requested to be taken in privately to the £

Hotel de Conde. They there put him in bed. Priests and '{

doctors came. But he only made horrible faces, and died
about four o'clock in the morning. • 1

Madame la Ducliesse did not lose her presence of mind, and,
whilst heim husband was dying, took steps to secure her future
fortune. Meanwhile she managed to cry a little, but nobody
believed in her grief. As for M. le Due, I have already men- J

tioned some anecdotes of him that exhibit his cruel character. I

He was a marvellously little man, short, without being fat. A
dwarf of Madame la Princesse was said to be the cause. He
of a livid yellow, nearly always looked furious, and was
ever so proud,, so audacious, that it was difficult to get used to
Lim. His cruelty and ferocity were so extreme that people"
avoided him, and his pretended friends would not invite him to
join in any merriment. They avoided him : he ran after them
to from solitude, and would sometimes "burst upon them 9

during their jovial repasts, reproach them with turning a
cold shoulder to him, and change their merriment to desola-

•f iivn