The Prince’s malady rapidly increased and became extreme.  The doctors found him so ill on the night of Easter Sunday that they proposed to him the sacrament for the next day.  He disputed with them, and said that if he was so very bad it would be better to take the sacraments at once, and have done with them.  They in their turn opposed this, saying there was no need of so much hurry.  At last, for fear of incensing him, they consented, and he received all hurriedly the last sacraments.  A little while after he called M. le Duc to him, and spoke of the honours he wished at his funeral, mentioning those which had been omitted at the funeral of his father, but which he did not wish to be omitted from his.  He talked of nothing but this and of the sums he had spent at Chantilly, until his reason began to wander.

Not a soul regretted him; neither servants, nor friends, neither child nor wife.  Indeed the Princess was so ashamed of her tears that she made excuses for them.  This was scarcely to be wondered at.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

It is time now that I should speak of our military operations this year and of the progress of the war.  Let me commence by stating the disposition of our armies at the beginning of the campaign.

Marechal Boufflers, having become dangerously ill, was unable to take command in Flanders.  Marechal de Villars was accordingly appointed in his stead under Monseigneur, and with him served the King of England, under his incognito of the previous year, and M. le Duc de Berry, as volunteers.  The Marechal d’Harcourt was appointed to command upon the Rhine under Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne.  M. d’Orleans commanded in Spain; Marechal Berwick in Dauphiny; and the Duc de Noailles in Roussillon, as usual.  The generals went to their destinations, but the Princes remained at the Court.

Before I relate what we did in war, let me here state the strange opposition of our ministers in their attempts to bring about peace.  Since Villars had introduced Chamillart to Court, he had heard it said that M. de Louvois did everybody’s business as much as he could; and took it into his head that having succeeded to M. de Louvois he ought to act exactly like him.  For some time past, accordingly, Chamillart, with the knowledge of the King, had sent people to Holland and elsewhere to negotiate for peace, although he had no right to do so, Torcy being the minister to whose department this business belonged.  Torcy likewise sent people to Holland and elsewhere with a similar object, and these ambassadors of the two ministers, instead of working in common, did all in their power thwart each other.  They succeeded so well that it was said they seemed in foreign countries ministers of different powers, whose interests were quite opposed.  This manner of conducting business gave a most injurious idea of our government, and tended very much to bring it into ridicule.  Those who sincerely wished to treat with us, found themselves so embarrassed between the rival factions, that they did not know what to do; and others made our disagreements a plausible pretext for not listening to our propositions.