DISPOSITIONS OF THE WILL. 309

of the royal house, and all the peers who might be there, should
assemble and open the will; and that after it was read, all its
dispositions should be made public and executed, nobody to be
permitted to oppose them in any way.

Notwithstanding all this secrecy, the terms of the will were
pretty generally guessed, and as I have said, the consternation
was general. It was the fate of M. du Maine to obtain, what
lie wished; but always with the maledictions of the public.
This fate did not abandon him now, and as soon as he felt it,
he was overwhelmed, and Madame de Maintenon exasperated,
and their attentions and their care redoubled, to shut up the
King, so that the murmurs of the world should not reach, him.
They occupied themselves more than ever to amuse and to please
him, and to fill the air around him with praises, joy, and public
adoring at an act so generous and so grand, and at the same
time so wise and so necessary to the maintenance of good order
and tranquillity, which would cause him to reign so gloriously
even after his reign.

This consternation was very natural, and is precisely why
the Due du Maine found himself deceived and troubled by it.
He believed he had prepared everything, smoothed everything,
in rendering M. d'Orleans so suspected and so odious ; he had
succeeded, but not so much as he imagined. His desires and his
emissaries had exaggerated everything; and he found himself
overwhelmed with astonishment, when instead of the public
acclamations with which he had flattered himself, the will
would be accompanied, it was precisely the opposite.

It was seen very clearly that the will assuredly could not
Lave been made in favour of M. d'Orleans, and although public
feeling against him had in no way changed, no one was so
blind as not to see that he must be Eegent by the incontestable
right of his birth ; that the dispositions of the testament could
not weaken that right, except by establishing a power that
should balance his; and that thus two parties would be formed
in the state, the chief of each of which would be interested in
vanquishing the other, everybody being necessitated to join one
.side or other, thereby running a thousand risks without any