d the slave of his vices.
Madame de Maintenon, with much address, strove to recall him to a
better life. In these efforts she was much aided by the king's
confessor, Pere la Chaise. This truly good man reminded the king that
he had already passed the fortieth year of his age, that his youth had
gone forever, that he would soon enter upon the evening of his days,
and that, as yet, he had done nothing to secure his eternal salvation.
He had already received many warnings as he had followed one after
another to the grave. The king was naturally thoughtful, and perhaps
even religiously inclined. Not a few events had already occurred
calculated to harrow his soul with remorse. He had seen his mother
die, one of the saddest of deaths. He had seen his sister Henrietta,
his brother's bride, whom he had loved with more than a brother's
love, writhing in death's agonies, the victim of poison. He had
followed several of his children to the grave. Madame de la Valliere,
whom he had loved as ardently as he was capable of loving any one, now
a ruined, heart-broken victim of his selfishness and sin, was
consigned to living burial in the glooms of the cloister. He could not
banish from his mind the dreadful scenes of the death of the Duchess
of Fontanges.

Just at this time the dauphiness gave birth to a son. This advent of
an heir to the throne caused universal rejoicing throughout the court
and the nation. It is melancholy to reflect that the people, crushed
and impoverished as they were by the most atrocious despotism, were so
unintelligent that they regarded their oppressors with something of
the idolatrous homage with which the heathen bow before their hideous
gods.

The king himself, at times, manifested a kind of tender interest in
the people, who were so mercilessly robbed to maintain the splendor of
his court and the grandeur of his armies. Upon the birth of the young
prince, who received the title of the Duke of Burgoyne, the populace
of Paris crowded to Versailles with their rude congratulations. Every
avenue was thronged with the immense multitude. They even flooded the
palace and poured into the saloons. The king, whose heart was softened
by the birth of a grandson to whom the crown might be transmitted,
received all very graciously.

The birth of an heir to the crown added much to the personal
importance of the dauphiness. But, neglected by her husband and
annoyed by the scenes transpiring around her, she was a very u