Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 03 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 88 pages of information about Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 03.

Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 03 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 88 pages of information about Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 03.

At this moment the King was informed that his dinner was ready, and both he and Monsieur left the room and went to table, Monsieur, all fury, flushed, and with eyes inflamed by anger.  His face thus crimsoned induced some ladies who were at table, and some courtiers behind—­but more for the purpose of saying something than anything else—­to make the remark, that Monsieur, by his appearance, had great need of bleeding.  The same thing had been said some time before at Saint Cloud; he was absolutely too full; and, indeed, he had himself admitted that it was true.  Even the King, in spite of their squabbles, had more than once pressed him to consent.  But Tancrede, his head surgeon, was old, and an unskilful bleeder:  he had missed fire once.  Monsieur would not be bled by him; and not to vex him was good enough to refuse being bled by another, and to die in consequence.

Upon hearing this observation about bleeding, the King spoke to him again on the subject; and said that he did not know what prevented him from having him at once taken to his room, and bled by force.  The dinner passed in the ordinary manner; and Monsieur ate extremely, as he did at all his meals, to say nothing of an abundant supply of chocolate in the morning, and what he swallowed all day in the shape of fruit, pastry, preserves, and every kind of dainties, with which indeed the tables of his cabinets and his pockets were always filled.

Upon rising from the table, the King, in his carriage, alone went to Saint Germain, to visit the King and Queen of England.  Other members of the family went there likewise separately; and Monsieur, after going there also, returned to Saint Cloud.

In the evening, after supper, the King was in his cabinet, with Monseigneur and the Princesses, as at Versailles, when a messenger came from Saint Cloud, and asked to see the King in the name of the Duc de Chartres.  He was admitted into the cabinet, and said that Monsieur had been taken very ill while at supper; that he had been bled, that he was better, but that an emetic had been given to him.  The fact was, Monsieur had supped as usual with the ladies, who were at Saint Cloud.  During the meal, as he poured out a glass of liqueur for Madame de Bouillon, it was perceived that he stammered, and pointed at something with his hand.  As it was customary with him sometimes to speak Spanish, some of the ladies asked what he said, others cried aloud.  All this was the work of an instant, and immediately afterwards Monsieur fell in a fit of apoplexy upon M. de Chartres, who supported him.  He was taken into his room, shaken, moved about, bled considerably, and had strong emetics administered to him, but scarcely any signs of life did he show.

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Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 03 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.