THE KING'S HEALTH DECLINES. 343

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The King's Health Declines—Bets about his Death—Lord Stair—My new
Friend—The King's last Hunt—And last Domestic and Public Acts—Doc-
tors—Opium—The King's Diet—Failure of his Strength—His hopes of
Recovery—Increased Danger—Codicil to his "Will—Interview with the
Due d'Orl^ans—With the Cardinal de Noailles—Address to his Attendants
—The Dauphin brought to him—His Last Words—An Extraordinary

! Physician—The Courtiers and the Due d'Orleans—Conduct of Madame
de Maintenon—The King's Death.

Louis XIV. began, as I have before remarked, sensibly to de-
cline, and his appetite, which had always been good and
uniform, very considerably diminished. Even foreign countries
became aware of this. Bets were laid in London that his life
would not last beyond the first of September, that is to say,
about three months, and although the King wished to know
everything, it may be imagined that nobody was very eager to
make him acquainted with the news. He used to have the
Dutch papers read to him in private by Torcy, often after the
Council of State. One day as Torcy was reading, coming un-
expectedly—for he had not examined the paper—upon the
account of these bets, he stopped, stammered, and skipped it
The Bang, who easily perceived this, asked him the cause of
his embarrassment; what he was passing over, and why ?
Torcy blushed to the very whites of his eyes, and said that it
was a piece of impertinence unworthy of being read. The
King insisted; Torcy also : but at last thoroughly confused, he
could not resist the reiterated command he received, and read
the whole account of the bets. The King pretended not to be
touched by it, but he was, and profoundly, so that sitting down