d happened: the queen, while the king was at
supper, gave birth to a second dauphin, more dainty and more beautiful
than the first, but who wept and wailed unceasingly, as if he regretted
to take up that life in which he was afterwards to endure such suffering.
The chancellor drew up the report of this wonderful birth, without
parallel in our history; but His Majesty not being pleased with its form,
burned it in our presence, and the chancellor had to write and rewrite
till His Majesty was satisfied. The almoner remonstrated, saying it would
be impossible to hide the birth of a prince, but the king returned that
he had reasons of state for all he did.

"'Afterwards the king made us register our oath, the chancellor signing
it first, then the queen's confessor, and I last. The oath was also
signed by the surgeon and midwife who attended on the. queen, and the
king attached this document to the report, taking both away with him, and
I never heard any more of either. I remember that His Majesty consulted
with the chancellor as to the form of the oath, and that he spoke for a
long time in an undertone to the cardinal: after which the last-born
child was given into the charge of the midwife, and as they were always
afraid she would babble about his birth, she has told me that they often
threatened her with death should she ever mention it: we were also
forbidden to speak, even to each other, of the child whose birth we had
witnessed.

"'Not one of us has as yet violated his oath; for His Majesty dreaded
nothing so much as a civil war brought about by the two children born
together, and the cardinal, who afterwards got the care of the second
child into his hands, kept that fear alive. The king also commanded us
to examine the unfortunate prince minutely; he had a wart above the left
elbow, a mole on the right side of his neck, and a tiny wart on his right
thigh; for His Majesty was determined, and rightly so, that in case of
the decease of the first-born, the royal infant whom he was entrusting to
our care should take his place; wherefore he required our signmanual to
the report of the birth, to which a small royal seal was attached in our
presence, and we all signed it after His Majesty, according as he
commanded. As to the shepherds who had foretold the double birth, never
did I hear another word of them, but neither did I inquire. The cardinal
who took the mysterious infant in charge probably got them out of the
coun