about his return to Paris. This was intended to prevent his coming to
enjoy his triumph. He tried to throw the thing upon Madame de Pompadour,
who was enthusiastic about him, and called him by no other name than the
"Minorcan." The Chevalier de Montaign was the favourite of the Dauphin,
and much beloved by him for his great devotion. He fell ill, and
underwent an operation called 'l'empieme', which is performed by making
an incision between the ribs, in order to let out the pus; it had, to all
appearance, a favourable result, but the patient grew worse, and could
not breathe. His medical attendants could not conceive what occasioned
this accident and retarded his cure. He died almost in the arms of the
Dauphin, who went every day to see him. The singularity of his disease
determined the surgeons to open the body, and they found, in his chest,
part of the leaden syringe with which decoctions had, as was usual, been
injected into the part in a state of suppuration. The surgeon, who
committed this act of negligence, took care not to boast of his feat, and
his patient was the victim. This incident was much talked of by the
King, who related it, I believe, not less than thirty times, according to
his custom; but what occasioned still more conversation about the
Chevalier de Montaign, was a box, found by his bed's side, containing
haircloths, and shirts, and whips, stained with blood. This circumstance
was spoken of one evening at supper, at Madame de Pompadour's, and not
one of the guests seemed at all tempted to imitate the Chevalier. Eight
or ten days afterwards, the following tale was sent to the King, to
Madame de Pompadour, to the Baschi, and to the Duc d'Ayen. At first
nobody could understand to what it referred: at last, the Duc d'Ayen
exclaimed, "How stupid we are; this is a joke on the austerities of the
Chevalier de Montaign!" This appeared clear enough--so much the more so,
as the copies were sent to the Dauphin, the Dauphine, the Abbe de St.
Cyr, and to the Duc de V---. The latter had the character of a pretender
to devotion, and, in his copy, there was this addition, "You would not be