. The day was a
decisive one; the legitimatized princes were present, "the Duke of Maine
bursting with joy," says St. Simon; "a smiling, satisfied air overrippled
that of audacity, of confidence, which nevertheless peeped through, and
the politeness which seemed to struggle against it. He bowed right and
left, piercing every one with his looks. Towards the peers, the
earnestness, it is not too much to say the respectfulness, the slowness,
the profoundness of his bow was eloquent. His head remained lowered even
on recovering himself." The Duke of Orleans had just begun to speak; his
voice was not steady; he repeated the terms of which the king had made
use, he said, for the purpose of confiding the dauphin to his care. "To
you I commend him; serve him faithfully as you have served me, and labor
to preserve to him his kingdom. I have made such dispositions as I
thought wisest; but one cannot foresee everything; if there is anything
that does not seem good, it will of course be altered."

The favor of the assembly was plainly with him, and the prince's accents
became more firm. "I shall never," said he, "have any other purpose but
to relieve the people, to reestablish good order in the finances, to
maintain peace at home and abroad, and to restore unity and tranquillity
to the church; therein I shall be aided by the wise representations of
this august assembly, and I hereby ask for them in anticipation." The
Parliament was completely won; the right of representation (or
remonstrance) was promised them; the will of Louis XIV. was as good as
annulled; it was opened, it was read, and so were the two codicils. All
the authority was intrusted to a council of regency of which the Duke of
Orleans was to be the head, but without preponderating voice and without
power to supersede any of the members, all designated in advance by Louis
XIV. The person and the education of the young king, as well as the
command of the household troops, were intrusted to the Duke of Maine.

"It was listened to in dead silence, and with a sort of indignation,
which expressed itself in all countenances," says St. Simon. "The king,
no doubt, did not comprehend the force of what he had been made to do,"
said the Duke of Orleans; "he assured me in the last days of his life
that I should find in his dispositions nothing that I was not sure to be
pleased with, and he himself referred the ministers to me on business,
with all the orders to be giv