The Abbé Dupanloup ends his narrative with these words:
"God sees the secrets of men's hearts; but I ask Him to give those who thought that they might doubt M. de Talleyrand's sincerity, I ask for them, at the hour of death, the same sentiments which I beheld in M. de Talleyrand when dying, the memory of which will never leave me."(Cf. Lagrange: Vie de Monseigneur
[383] Édouard Vicomte Walsh had, since the 25th of September 1835, had the management of the Mode, the liveliest of the royalist papers, published under the patronage of the Duchesse de Berry.—B.
[384] Charles X. died at Goritz, on the 6th of November 1836, of an attack of cholera, of which he had felt the first symptoms two days before, on St. Charles's Day, the 4th of November. The doctor asked to have the King's grandchildren taken away, because of the danger of the illness, but the Duc de Bordeaux declared that no consideration would prevent his following the impulse of his heart and Mademoiselle made the same reply as her brother. The King kissed them fondly and laid his hand upon their heads:
"May God protect you, my children!" he said. "Walk before Him in the paths of justice.... Do not forget me.... Pray sometimes for me!"
The Cardinal de Latil and Doctor Bougon, who had already met by the Duc de Berry's bed-side on the night of the 13th February 1820, met again, on the night of the 6th of November 1836, by the bed-side of Charles X. An altar had hurriedly been erected near the bed for the celebration of Mass. It was said by the Bishop of Hermopolis, Monseigneur de Frayssinous. At the end of the Mass, the King meditated an instant; he prayed for France and blessed her; and, as the bishop exhorted him to forgive, at that last moment, those who had done him so much harm:
"I have long forgiven them," he replied. "I forgive them again, at this moment, with all my heart; may the Lord be merciful to them and me."
"At one o'clock in the morning, on the 6th of November, M. Bougon announced that the King had but a few moments to live. All fell on their knees; M. le Dauphin (the Duc d'Angoulême) had his head bowed towards his father. Madame la Dauphine alone remained standing at the King's feet, with her hands joined, and seemed to be presiding over that scene of sorrow. At half past one, M. Bougon made a sign to the Duc de Blacas, who leant towards the Dauphin and said a few words to him in a low voice. Then the Prince respectfully closed his father's eyes, and Madame la Dauphine's sobs, bursting forth suddenly amid the silence of death that reigned in the room, announced that all was over." (Nettement: Histoire de quinze ans d'exil, Vol. II., pp. 96 et seq.)—B.
[385] "Sixty years with misfortunes the victim have decked!"—T.
[386] Romulus Momyllus Augustus, the last Roman Emperor of the West, nicknamed Augustulus because of his youth, was placed on the throne at a very early age, in 475, but compelled to abdicate in the following year by Odoacer King of the Heruli.—T.