ruggles and bitter
pain. It was hard for him to die, but he composed himself to enter
eternity "with the piety becoming a Christian, and the resolution
becoming a king;" as his brother narrates. About ten o'clock on Friday
morning, February 6th, 1685, he found relief in unconsciousness; before
midday chimed he was dead. He had reached the fifty-fifth year of his
life, and the twenty-fifth year of his reign.

His illegitimate progeny was numerous, numbering fifteen, besides those
who died in infancy. These were the Duke of Monmouth and a daughter
married to William Sarsfield, children of Lucy Walters; the Dukes of
Southampton, Grafton, and Northumberland, the Countesses of Litchfield
and of Sussex, and a daughter Barbara, who became a nun, children of
the Duchess of Cleveland; the Duke of Richmond, son of the Duchess of
Portsmouth; the Duke of St. Albans, and a son James, children of Nell
Gwynn; Lady Derwentwater, daughter of Moll Davis; the Countess of
Yarmouth, daughter of Lady Shannon; and the Earl of Plymouth, son of
Catherine Peg.

For seven days the remains of the late king lay in state; on the eighth
they were placed in Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was of necessity
conducted in a semi-private manner for by reason of his majesty dying
in the Catholic religion, his brother considered it desirable the
ceremonies prescribed for the occasion by the English church should be
dispensed with. Therefore, in order to avoid disputes or scandal, the
king was laid in the tomb without ostentation. At night his remains were
carried from the painted chamber in Westminster sanctuary to the abbey.
The procession, headed by the servants of the nobility, of James II.,
and his queen, of the dowager queen, and of the late king, was followed
by the barons, bishops, and, peers according to their rank; the officers
of the household, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Then came all
that was mortal of his late majesty, borne under a canopy of velvet,
supported by six gentlemen of the privy chamber, the pall being held
by six earls. Prince George of Denmark--subsequently husband of Queen
Anne--acted as chief mourner, attended by the Dukes of Somerset and
Beaufort, and sixteen earls. One of the kings of Arms carried the crown
and cushion, the train being closed by the king's band of gentlemen
pensioners, and the yeomen of the guard.

At the abbey entrance the dean and prebendaries, attended by torch
bearers, and followed by a surpliced ch