soner at

rushed, unarmed and unattended, into the midst BOOK IV. of the tumult, and was instantly made a prisoner. 1701. M.Villeroy But the party who were to attack the bridge not taken Pricoming up at the time appointed, the prince was Cremona. ultimately compelled to abandon his enterpriseand retired in safety with the maréchal and the other prisoners whom he had taken. By this daring exploit, though not crowned with perfect success, he was covered with glory. Such was his activity and spirit of adventure, that the French knew not when or where to think themselves in security. He went on enlarging his quarters, strengthening his posts, and kept the city of Mantua closely blockaded; till at length the court of Versailles, seeing the whole Spanish empire in Italy endangered, resolved to send large reinforcements into that country, under the conduct of a general worthy to be the antagonist of prince Eugene-the maréchal duc de Vendome.

K. James II.

An event, trivial in itself, but attended with im- Death of portant consequences in the present crisis, took place in the autumn of this year, in the death of the abdicated monarch king James, who departed this life at St. Germaine's, September 16th, 1701, in the 68th year of his age. Sunk into the most abject and senseless extremes of bigotry and superstition, he seemed entirely to have relinquished the hope, and almost the wish, to recover

his

BOOK IV. former greatness. He had been actually admitted 1701. into the society of the Jesuits; and had rarely

He ate nothing

failed, during the latter period of his life, making
a visit annually to the abbey of la Trappe-
practising there the same austerities which are
enjoined upon the monks themselves by the rules
of that rigid order. He kept very severe fasts;
and would upon certain days, bind his body with
a very sharp-pointed iron chain. He assisted at
the choir hours, except at night.
but eggs, raisins, and pulse; and spent his time
in long meditations and spiritual conferences with
the abbot, and his confessor, whom he took con-
stantly there with him. In the usual course of
things, he heard ordinarily at St. Germaine's, as
his secretary Nairne attests, two masses every day,
and on all the great festivals three masses and
vespers, &c. During Lent he had sermons in his
chapel thrice a week; and he, with his queen,
went every year on foot to the procession of the
Holy Sacrament over the town of St. Germaine's.
On the day and octave of Corpus Christi they
heard high mass at the parish church; and on
every evening during the octave, and on Sundays
and great holidays throughout the year, they were
present at the exaltation of the host. Such are
the follies which usurp the venerable name of
religion!

In the beginning of the year his health visibly

declined; and he had in April drunk the mineral BOOK IV. waters of Bourbon without finding benefit. Dur- 1701. ing his last illness the king of France came to visit him at St. Germaine's, and seemed much touched with his condition. The dying monarch, raising himself in his bed, expressed in faint accents his gratitude to his Most Christian majesty for the numerous instances of friendship and generosity he had received from him. On which the king of France told him, he did not yet know the extent of the kindness he intended for him and his family for that, in the event of his decease, he would acknowledge the prince his son as king of Great Britain. On hearing this, James appeared overwhelined with surprise and joy, and said "he had nothing farther to ask or wish. He exhorted his son to persevere in the faith, as a point of infinitely more consequence to him than the acquisition of a crown. He said, that by his practice he recommended Christian forgiveness to him; for he heartily forgave all his enemies, not even excepting the princess of Denmark, the prince of Orange, and the emperor." It must however be remembered that this monarch never discovered the faintest symptoms of a forgiving disposition as long as he retained any hope of revenge. On the contrary, his public declarations and manifestoes breathe the most malignant spirit of rancor.

BOOK IV.

Immediately upon his death the pretended 1701. prince was proclaimed king of England, &c. by

the officers of his own household in the court yard of the palace, by the style and title of king James III. Nevertheless before the French monarch would, agreeably to his recent and voluntary promise, formally recognize him in that capacity, he deemed it requisite to convene a council of state, in which all his principal ministers concurred in dissuading him from a measure so flagrantly impolitic. The duc de Beauvilliers in particular spoke with all the energy of truth and eloquence, against a determination so fatal, and deprecated the mischiefs and calamities which must inevitably arise from this source. That illustrious patriot had been governor of the duke of Burgundy, and he was known as the intimate friend of the celebrated preceptor of that prince Fenelon, archbishop of Cambray, whose beneficent maxims of government he had not only adopted in theory, but had made the rule of his conduct. And though he preferred in all his counsels the happiness of the people to the glory of the monarch, he invariably retained the esteem and confidence of his sovereign, who had the merit of admiring that virtue which he could not resolve to imitate. The marquis of Torcy on this occasion, from policy, seconded those counsels which the duc de Beauvilliers had urged

chiefly from motives of humanity and at length BOOK. IV the king appeared fully penetrated with the force 1701, of their arguments. But on retiring from the council, he met in the apartment of Madame de Maintenon, the disconsolate widow of the late king James, who, in the moving language of tears and supplications, conjured him not to refuse to the only son of a monarch whom he had so generously protected the sad homage of an empty title, the sole remains of their former greatness. She reminded him that he had, during the lifetime of the father, acknowledged the son as prince of Wales, and that he could not without tarnishing his own glory, now hesitate to acknowledge him as king: that the prince of Orange himself could not be offended at this bare nominal recognition, whilst he enjoyed unmolested, all the fruits of his usurpation*.

tion of the

by France,

The prayers and entreaties of the and entreaties of the queen, which Recogni were powerfully supported by Madame de Main- Pretender tenon, shook the resolution of the monarch; and in fine, reverting to his original purpose, he gave orders that the king of England should be publicly recognized in that capacity; and this was done that very day by the king and court of France, who paid their compliments of condolence and congratulation at the court of St. Ger

* Voltaire, Histoire Generale, vol. v. p. 115.