elle commence, etc. 2 Cor. v

Page 152 . — 1. sortis des figures qui passent. Cf. 1 Cor. vii, 31.

2. le testament, etc. St. Paul develops this idea in Hebrews ix, 1 5-28. Bossuet had already adopted it in the “division ” of his Sermon sur la Passion (1662).

3. forte. Not strong, but in the Latin sense of fortis. Bossuet *s language was particularly affected by Latin, because most of his reading was in that tongue.

4. Voulez-yous YOir, etc. This second account of Madame*s last hours is in hopeful contrast with the first. See pages 141-142.

Page 153 . — 1. sa belle-mere. Anne of Austria. See page 135, note 6.

Page 154. — 1 . ces excessives et insupportables douleurs. All

accounts agree that Madame’ s sufferings were intense, though few appreciated their serious nature. Notice how detailed is Bossuet’s description of the last scenes.

2. Le patient, etc. Proverbs xvi, 32. — fort here is the fortis of the Vulgate. Bossuet first translated it brave (in the first edition), which is the correct rendering.

NOTES

3. ce qu’elle a dit k Monsieur. Mme de La Fayette, the intimate friend of Madame, reports these words as follows : “ Helas ! Monsieur, vous ne m’aimez plus, il y a longtemps; mais cela est injuste, je ne vous ai jamais manque.”

Page 155 . — 1. II s’est hit6, etc. A quotation from the apocryphal Book of Wisdom (iv, 14), attributed to Solomon.

2. dessin. Bossuet spelled dessein , the prevailing orthography for both dessein and dessin in his time.

3. ne di80ns plus, etc. As in the first part of the Oration. See page 143, line 14.

Page 156* — 1. je le sais. Bossuet alludes to an emerald ring Madame had had made for him when he was appointed Bishop of Condom, and which in her last moments she requested one of her English maids to give him after her death. (See Mme de La Fayette’s Histoire de Madame .)

Page 157. — 1 . qu’elle alia it etre prdcipitde dans la gloire.

From Tacitus: “ Sic Agricola ... in ipsam gloriam praeceps agebatur ” ( Agricola , c. 41).