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make of a bastard a crown prince,—IB a crime more black, more
vast, more terrible, than that of high treason against the chief
of the state.*

* I have endeavoured to preserve the tone of majestic indignation whidb
Saint-Simon indulges in on this inadequate occasion. After all, the T^ing
merely exercised the imperial right of adoption ; and it is perfectly imma-
terial whether the persons chosen were his natural children or not. The
Due du Maine was not a very estimable person, though we must remember
that Saint-Simon visits on him the sins of his father; but the Comte de
Totdouse seems to have been more respectable than any member of the
Eoyal family then living, legitimate or not.