Cardinal Portocarrero was charged with this duty, and he succeeded so well, that two birds were killed with one stone.  The Confessor was dismissed, and another was put in his place, who could be relied upon to do and say exactly as he was requested.  Thus, the King of Spain was influenced in his conscience, which had over him so much the more power, because he was beginning to look upon the things of this world by the glare of that terrible flambeau that is lighted for the dying.  The Confessor and the Cardinal, after a short time, began unceasingly to attack the King upon the subject of the succession.  The King, enfeebled by illness, and by a lifetime of weak health, had little power of resistance.  Pressed by the many temporal, and affrighted by the many spiritual reasons which were brought forward by the two ecclesiastics, with no friend near whose opinion he could consult, no Austrian at hand to confer with, and no Spaniard who was not opposed to Austria;—­the King fell into a profound perplexity, and in this strait, proposed to consult the Pope, as an authority whose decision would be infallible.  The Cardinal, who felt persuaded that the Pope was sufficiently enlightened and sufficiently impartial to declare in favour of France, assented to this step; and the King of Spain accordingly wrote a long letter to Rome, feeling much relieved by the course he had adopted.

The Pope replied at once and in the most decided manner.  He said he saw clearly that the children of the Dauphin were the next heirs to the Spanish throne, and that the House of Austria had not the smallest right to it.  He recommended therefore the King of Spain to render justice to whom justice was due, and to assign the succession of his monarchy to a son of France.  This reply, and the letter which had given rise to it, were kept so profoundly secret that they were not known in Spain until after the King’s death.

Directly the Pope’s answer had been received the King was pressed to make a fresh will, and to destroy that which he had previously made in favour of the Archduke.  The new will accordingly was at once drawn up and signed; and the old one burned in the presence, of several witnesses.  Matters having arrived at this point, it was thought opportune to admit others to the knowledge of what had taken place.  The council of state, consisting of eight members, four of whom were already in the secret, was made acquainted with the movements of the new party; and, after a little hesitation, were gained over.

The King, meantime, was drawing near to his end.  A few days after he had signed the new will he was at the last extremity, and in a few days more he died.  In his last moments the Queen had been kept from him as much as possible, and was unable in any way to interfere with the plans that had been so deeply laid.  As soon as the King was dead the first thing to be done was to open his will.  The council of state assembled for that purpose, and all the grandees of