208 MEMOIKS OF THE DUKE OP SAINT-SIMON.

the midst of the amusements and occupations of the Court,
seriousness, silence and consternation were spread.*

The King, as I have said, went to Marly on Monday, the
18th of January, 1712. The Dauphine came there early with
a face very much swelled, and went to bed at once; yet she rose
at seven o'clock in the evening, because the King wished her to
preside in the salon. She played there, in morning dress, with
her head wrapped up, visited the King in the apartment of
Madame de Maintenon just before his supper, and then again
•went to "bed, where she supped. On the morrow, the 19th,
she rose only to play in the salon, and see the King, returning
to her bed and supping there. On the 20th, her swelling di-
minished, and she was better. She was subject to this com-
plaint, which was caused by her teeth. She passed the fol-
lowing days as usual. On Monday, the 1st of February, the
Court returned to Versailles.

On Friday, the 5th of February, the Due de Noailles gave a
very fine box full of excellent Spanish snuff to the Dauphine,
who took some, and liked it. This was towards the end of
the morning. Upon entering her cabinet (closed to everybody
else), she put this box upon the table, and left it there. To-
wards the evening she was seized with trembling fits of fever.
She went to bed, and could not rise again even to go to the
King's cabinet after the supper. On Saturday, the Gfch of
February, the Dauphine, who had had fever all night, did not
fail to rise at her ordinary hour, and to pass the day as usual;
but in the evening the fever returned. She was but middling
all that night, a little worse the next day; but towards ten
o'clock at night she was suddenly seized by a sharp pain under
the temple. It did not extend to the dimensions of a ten sous
piece, but was so violent that she begged the King, who was
coming to see her, not to enter. This kind of madness of suf-
fering lasted without intermission until Monday, the 8th, and

* These stories, and the subsequent events that seemed to confirm them,,
have never been explained. It is unf ortunate, however, that Saint-Simon
should just previously have brought about an intimacy between the Due
d'Orleans and the Dauphin, the Due having so repeatedly been accused of
poisoning practices.