LAST WORDS OF THE KING. 353

these words, which were stored up in their memory :—" Gentle-
men, I ask your pardon for the bad example I have given yon*
I have much to thank you for the manner in whicli you have
served me, and for the attachment and fidelity you have always
shown for me. I am very sorry I have not done for you all I
should have wished to do; bad times have been the cause. I ask
for my grandson the same application and the same fidelity you
have had for me. He is a child who may experience many
reverses. Let your example be one for all my other subjects.
Follow the orders my nephew will give you; he is to govern
the realm; I hope he will govern it well; I hope also that you
will all contribute to keep up union, and that if any one falls
away you will aid in bringing him back. I feel that I am
moved, and that I move you also. I ask your pardon. Adieu,
gentlemen, I hope you will sometimes remember me."

A short time after he called the Marechal de "Villeroy to
him, and said he had made him governor of the Dauphin. He
then called to him M. ie Due and M. le Prince de Conti, and
recommended to them the advantages of union among princes.
Then, hearing women in the cabinet, questioned who were
there, and immediately sent word they might enter. Madame
la Duchesse de Berry, Madame la Duchesse d'Orl^ans, and the
Princesses of the blood forthwith appeared, crying. The King
told them they must not cry thus, and said a few friendly words
to them, and dismissed them. They retired by the cabinet, weep-
ing and crying very loudly, which caused people to l>elieve out-
side that the King was dead; and, indeed, the rumour spread
to Paris, and even to the provinces.

Some time after the King requested the Duchesse de Venta-
dour to bring the little Dauphin to him. He made the child
approach, and then said to him, before Madame de Maintenon
and the few privileged people present, " My child, you are going
to be a great king; do not imitate me in the taste I have had for
building, or in that I have had for war; try, on the contrary,
to be at peace with your neighbours. Render to God what you
owe Him; recognise the obligations you are under to Him;
make Him honoured by your subjects. Always follow good

VOL. II, ^