"My love, I have got the smallpox, and my illness is very dangerous on
account of my age and other disorders. I ought not to forget that I am
the most Christian King, and the eldest son of the Church. I am
sixty-four; the time is perhaps approaching when we must separate. I wish
to prevent a scene like that of Metz." (when, in 1744, he had dismissed
the Duchesse de Chateauroux.) "Apprise the Duc d'Aiguillon of what I say,
that he may arrange with you if my sickness grows worse; so that we may
part without any publicity." The Jansenists and the Duc de Choiseurs
party publicly said that M. d'Aiguillon and the Archbishop had resolved to
let the King die without receiving the sacrament rather than disturb
Madame du Barry. Annoyed by their remarks, Beaumont determined to go and
reside at the Lazaristes, his house at Versailles, to avail himself of the
King's last moments, and sacrifice Madame du Barry when the monarch's
condition should become desperate. He arrived on the 3d of May, but did
not see the King. Under existing circumstances, his object was to humble
the enemies of his party and to support the favourite who had assisted to
overcome them.

A contrary zeal animated the Bishop of Carcassonne, who urged that "the
King ought to receive the sacrament; and by expelling the concubine to
give an example of repentance to France and Christian Europe, which he had
scandalised."--" By what right," said Cardinal de la Roche-Aymon, a
complaisant courtier with whom the Bishop was at daggers drawn, "do you
instruct me?"--"There is my authority," replied the Bishop, holding up his
pectoral cross. "Learn, monseigneur, to respect it, and do not suffer
your King to die without the sacraments of the Church, of which he is the
eldest son." The Duc d'Aiguillon and the Archbishop, who witnessed the
discussion, put an end to it by asking for the King's orders relative to
Madame du Barry. "She must be taken quietly to your seat at Ruelle," said
the King; "I shall be grateful for the care Madame d'Aiguillon may take of