and courtier so nearly resemble each other in many particulars, as to
have become well nigh amalgamated into one; but I claim your indulgence
to make me an exception to the general rule, and to class me as a
soldier and a man of honour; besides which, you are too lovely ever to
be forgotten, and your past goodness to me will ensure you my services
let what may occur."

"Well, then," said I, extending my hand, "as a reward for your candour,
which I receive as genuine, I will request your forgiveness for any
annoyance I may have caused you on your family's account, I ought never
to have resented any thing they have done. My presence here could not
fail of being highly disagreeable to them; however, they will soon be
relieved from that source of uneasiness, my stay draws rapidly to a
close."

The prince de Soubise, with a ready grace and obliging manner, for which
I shall ever remember him with a grateful recollection, endeavoured
to dispel my apprehensions as to the state of the king; but whilst I
acknowledged the kindness of his intention, my heart refused all comfort
in a case, which I too well knew was utterly hopeless.

The state of affairs was now so manifest, that already an obsequious
crowd beseiged the doors of the dauphin, anxious to be first in the
demonstration of their adoration of the rising sun; but the young
prince, aided by the clear-minded advice of his august spouse, refused,
with admirable prudence, to receive such premature homage; and since he
was interdicted by the physicians from visiting the royal invalid, he
confined himself within his apartments, admitting no person but a select
few who possessed his confidence.

The disappointed satellites, frustrated in their endeavours to in
gratiate themselves with the dauphin, turned their thoughts towards
the comte de Provence, imagining that this prince, spite of his extreme
youth, might have considerable influence over the mind of his brother,
the dauphin. But this idea, however plausible, was by no means correct;
it was too much the interest of ambitious and mercenary men to create a
want of harmony between the royal pair, and up to the moment in which
I am writing, no attempts have been made to produce a kinder and more
fraternal feeling between two such near relatives.

I quitted the king as little as possible, watching with deep concern the
progress of a malady, the nature of which was a secret to himself alone;
for, in the dread of incurring my