avanc&s, ripe , mature already and on the point of decay

Page 186 . — 1. S’il oublie toute sa faiblesse, etc. Louis wished to enter the sick-room, but Conde, who could scarcely move without assistance, ran to prevent him.

2. la duchesse d’Enghien. Conde’s daughter-in-law since 1663. Her mother was Anne of Gonzague, on whom Bossuet had pronounced a funeral oration in 1685.

3. la maladie du roi. Allusion to a painful operation undergone by Louis, November 18, 1686. See lines 21-29.

4. ses jardins enchantds. The park at Versailles, which had been laid out by Le N8tre. The works lasted twenty years and are said to have cost more than a milliard of francs. Bossuet is here relating facts regarding the courage of the king, who appeared in public but a few hours after the operation.

Page 188 . — 1. sans formality refers to formes in line 10; legal forms.

NOTES

2. cette louange. To compliment the chief mourner was a conventional thing in funeral orations. Bossuet has introduced his compliment most skillfully and naturally, though it can hardly be said that it was deserved by the recipient.

3. qu’il = que cela referring to Ce que . Cf. page 139, note 2.

Page 189. — i. pas encore = plus .

2. poor la conversion des h4r4tiques, etc. It would seem as though the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the forced conversion of the Protestants marked the turning-point of real piety among the more influential courtiers.

Page 190 . — 1. prilres des agonisants. The prayers in the office of the Visitation of the Sick which are said for the dying.

2. il ne s’y laissa jamais vaincre. The y refers to tendresse and is to be translated “ by it.” In the seventeenth century se laisser was followed by a in those constructions where par is required to-day.