“Louis xv. liked to talk about death, though he was extremely apprehensive of it; but his excellent health and his royal dignity probably made him imagine himself invulnerable.  He often said to people who had very bad colds, ‘You’ve a churchyard cough there.’  Hunting one day in the forest of Senard, in a year in which bread was extremely dear, he met a man on horseback carrying a coffin.  ’Whither are you carrying that coffin?’—­’To the village of ------,’ answered the peasant.  ’Is it for a man or a woman?’—­’For a man.’—­’What did he die of?’—­’Of hunger,’ bluntly replied the villager.  The King spurred on his horse, and asked no more questions.

“Weak as Louis xv. was, the Parliaments would never have obtained his consent to the convocation of the States General.  I heard an anecdote on this subject from two officers attached to that Prince’s household.  It was at the period when the remonstrances of the Parliaments, and the refusals to register the decrees for levying taxes, produced alarm with respect to the state of the finances.  This became the subject of conversation one evening at the coucher of Louis xv.  ’You will see, Sire,’ said a courtier, whose office placed him in close communication with the King, ’that all this will make it absolutely necessary to assemble the States General!’

“The King, roused by this speech from the habitual apathy of his character, seized the courtier by the arm, and said to him, in a passion, ’Never repeat, these words.  I am not sanguinary; but had I a brother, and were he to dare to give me such advice, I would sacrifice him, within twenty-four hours, to the duration of the monarchy and the tranquillity of the kingdom.’

“Several years prior to his death the Dauphin, the father of Louis XVI., had confluent smallpox, which endangered his life; and after his convalescence he was long troubled with a malignant ulcer under the nose.  He was injudiciously advised to get rid of it by the use of extract of lead, which proved effectual; but from that time the Dauphin, who was corpulent, insensibly grew thin, and a short, dry cough evinced that the humour, driven in, had fallen on the lungs.  Some persons also suspected him of having taken acids in too great a quantity for the purpose of reducing his bulk.  The state of his health was not, however, such as to excite alarm.  At the camp at Compiegne, in July, 1764, the Dauphin reviewed the troops, and evinced much activity in the performance of his duties; it was even observed that he was seeking to gain the attachment of the army.  He presented the Dauphiness to the soldiers, saying, with a simplicity which at that time made a great sensation, ’Mes enfans, here is my wife.’  Returning late on horseback to Compiegne, he found he had taken a chill; the heat of the day had been excessive; the Prince’s clothes had been wet with perspiration.  An illness followed, in which the Prince began to spit blood.  His principal physician wished to have him bled; the consulting physicians insisted on purgation, and their advice was followed.  The pleurisy, being ill cured, assumed and retained all the symptoms of consumption; the Dauphin languished from that period until December, 1765, and died at Fontainebleau, where the Court, on account of his condition, had prolonged its stay, which usually ended on the 2d of November.