to the Marshal de Villeroy, who stood at his bedside; "farewell, my friend, we must soon part." The courage of the dying monarch never forsook him for an instant, neither did he exhibit the slightest emotion. He took leave of every member of his family with a dry eye and a steady voice, merely exhorting them to live, if possible, on terms of friendship, to do their duty to the young king, and to conduct themselves in a Christian spirit; nor was it until the princes and princesses had withdrawn that he at length betrayed a slight degree of feeling as he turned toward Madame de Maintenon, saying: "At this moment I only regret yourself. I have not made you happy; but I have ever felt for you all the regard and affection which you deserved. My only consolation in leaving you," he added, as he grasped her hand and gazed fixedly upon her with his dim and failing eyes, "exists in the hope that we shall ere long meet again in eternity."

18. Madame de Maintenon made no rejoinder; but she soon after rose to leave the apartment, and as she crossed the threshold exclaimed, as if unconsciously, "A pretty rendezvous he has given me! That man has never loved any one but himself." And this equally imprudent and ill-timed ejaculation was overheard by the king's apothecary, by whom it was repeated. As she retired, the king saw in an opposite mirror the reflection of two of his valets-de-chambre', who were weeping bitterly. "Why do you shed tears ?" he asked. "Did you, then, imagine that I was immortal? As for myself, I never believed that such was the case, and you should have been prepared, at my age, to lose me long ago."

19. The following day was one of agony to the expiring king. His intervals of consciousness were rare and brief. The mortification extended rapidly, and, toward midday, his condition became so much exasperated that it was found necessary to perform the service for the dying without further delay. The mournful ceremony aroused him from his lethargy, and the surprise was general when his voice was once more heard, audibly and clearly, combined with those of the priests. At the termination of the prayers he, moreover, recognized the

Cardinal de Rohan, and said calmly, "These are the last favors of the Church." He then repeated several times, "Nunc et in hora mortis" [Now in the hour of death]; and finally he exclaimed, with earnest fervor, "Oh, my God, come to my aid, and hasten to help me!" He never spoke again, for, as these words escaped him, he once more fell back insensible upon his pillow, and throughout the night continued unconscious of everything save bodily suffering.

20. At eight o'clock on the following morning, Louis XIV. expired. As he exhaled his last sigh, a man was seen to approach a window of the state apartment which opened on the great balcony, and throw it suddenly back. It was the captain of the body-guard, who had no sooner attracted the attention of the populace, by whom the courtyard was thronged in expectation of the tidings which they knew could not be long delayed, than, raising his truncheon above his head, he broke it in the centre, and throwing the pieces among the crowd, exclaimed, in a loud voice, “The king is dead!" Then seizing another staff from an attendant, without the pause of an instant, he flourished it in the air as he shouted "Long live the king!" And a multitudinous echo from the depths of the lately deserted apartment answered as buoyantly, "Long live the king!"

Within the hollow crown,

That rounds the mortal temples of a king

Keeps Death his court: and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp;
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with seif and vain conceit,-
As if this flesh, which wal's about our life,

Were brass impregnable.-Shakspeare.

[The successor of Louis XIV, also named Louis, was only five years of age on his accession, in 1715. He reigned nearly sixty years, and, by his tyranny, debauchery, and reckless profusion, disgusted his subjects, and plunged the country into anarchy and ruin. He was succeeded, in 1774, by his grandson, Louis XVI. The despotism and reckless profligacy of Louis XIII., Louis XIV.. and Louis XV. constituted the chief cause of the dreadful excesses of the Revolution which broke out in the following reign.]

Escape of Charles Edward.-Lord Mahon.

[In 1745, during the reign of George II., Charles Edward, son of James the Pretender, determined to make an effort to recover the English throne for his father. He sailed for Scotland with a few friends, and landed near Inverness, where he was soon joined by several Highland chieftains with their clans, prominent among whom was the celebrated Cameron of Lochiel (lok-heel'). For some time success attended his arms; and he took Edinburgh, and caused his father to be proclaimed king under the title of James VIII. The next year, however, he was met by a considerabie English force under the Duke of Cumberland, and entirely defeated in the celebrated battle of Culloden-a battle of especial interest as the close of the struggle made by the Stuarts to regain their lost throne, and as the last battle that was fought on the soil of Great Britain. The following account of Charles's escape from the country and his subsequent death, is taken from Lord Mahon's "History of England from the Peace of Utrecht."]

1. NOTWITHSTANDING the eagerness with which, after Culloden, the rebels were tracked and pursued, and the guard both of land and sea, several of their chiefs succeeded, after various concealments, privations, and dangers, in effecting their escape. But where was he, the young and princely chief of this ill-fated enterprise-the new Charles of this second Worcester? His followers dismissed to seek safety as they could for themselves; he sometimes alone; sometimes with a single Highlander as his guide and companion; sometimes begirt with strange faces, of whose fidelity he had no assurance; a price set upon his head; hunted from mountain to island, and from island to mountain; pinched with famine, tossed by storms, and unsheltered from the rains; his strength wasted, but his spirit still unbroken-such was now the object of so many long-cherished and lately towering hopes! In the five months of his weary wanderings-from April to September-almost every day might afford its own tale of hardship, danger, and alarm, and a mere outline must suffice for the general historian.

2. It is much to Charles's honor, that as one of his chance attendants declares, he used to say, "that the fatigues and distresses he underwent signified nothing at all, because he was only a single person; but when he reflected upon the many brave fellows who suffered in his cause, that, he behooved to own, did strike him to the heart, and did sink very deep within him." But most of all entitled to praise appear the common

Highlanders around him. Though in the course of these five months the secrets of his concealment became intrusted to several hundred persons, most of them poor and lowly, not one of them was ever tempted by the prize of £30,000 to break faith, and betray the suppliant fugitive; and when destitute of other help, and nearly, as it seemed, run to bay, he was saved by the generous self-devotion of a woman.

3. In the hope of finding a French ship to convey him, Charles had embarked, only eight days after Culloden, for that remote cluster of isles to which the common name of Long Island is applied. Driven from place to place by contrary winds and storms, and having sometimes no other food than oatmeal and water, he at length gained South Uist (wist), where his wants were in some degree relieved by the elder Clanranald. But his course being tracked or suspected, a large body of militia and regular troops, to the number of two thousand men, landed on the island, and commenced an eager search, while the shores were surrounded by small vessels of war. Concealment or escape seemed alike impossible, and so they must have proved but for Miss Flora Macdonald,-a name, says Dr. Johnson, which will forever live in history. This young lady was then on a visit to Clanranald's family, and was the step-daughter of a captain in the hostile militia which occupied the island. Being appealed to in Charles's behalf, she nobly undertook to save him at all hazards to herself.

4. She obtained from her step-father a passport to proceed to Skye (ski) for herself, a man-servant, and a maid, who was termed Betty Burke, the part of Betty to be played by the Chevalier. When Lady Clanranald and Flora sought him out, bringing with them a female dress, they found him alone in a little hut upon the shore, employed in roasting the heart of a sheep upon a wooden spit. They could not forbear from shedding tears at his desolate situation, but Charles observed, with a smile, that it would be well perhaps for all kings if they had to pass through such an ordeal as he was now enduring. On the same evening he took advantage of the passport, embarking in his new attire with Flora and a faithful

Highlander, Neil Mac Eachan, who acted as their servant. The dawn of the next day found them far at sea in their open boat, without any land in view; soon, however, the dark mountains of Skye rose on the horizon. Approaching that coast at Waternish, they were received with a volley of musketry from the soldiers stationed there; but none of the balls took effect, and the rowers, vigorously applying their oars, bore them away from that scene of danger, and enabled them to disembark on another point.

5. Charles was now in the country of Sir Alexander Macdonald, at first a waverer in the contest, but of late a decided foe. When the prudent chief saw the Jacobite* cause decline, he had been induced to levy his clan against it, and was now on the mainland in attendance on the Duke of Cumberland. Yet it was of his wife, Lady Margaret, a daughter of the Earl of Eglinton, that Flora determined to implore assistance, having no other resource, and knowing from herself the courageous pity of a female heart. Lady Margaret received the news with pain and surprise, but did not disappoint Flora's firm reliance; her own house was filled with militia officers, but she intrusted Charles, with earnest injunctions for his safety, to the charge of Macdonald of Kingsburgh, the kinsman and factor of her husband.

6. As they walked to Kingsburgh's house, Charles still in woman's disguise, they had several streams to pass, and the prince held up his petticoats so high as to excite the surprise and laughter of some country people on the road. Being admonished by his attendants, he promised to take better care for the future, and accordingly, in passing the next stream, allowed the skirts to hang down and float upon the water. "Your enemies," said Kingsburgh, "call you a Pretender; but if you be, I can tell you you are the worst of your trade I ever saw!"

7. Next day, at Portree, Charles took leave of the nobleminded Flora with warm expressions of his gratitude, and

Those who favored the cause of the exiled Stuarts, and desired their restoration to the throne of their ancestors in the person of James, the son of James II., were called Jucobites.