the tomb. To prove, not only to the court,
but to all Europe, that he was still every inch a king, he ordered a
magnificent review of the royal troops at Marly. The trumpet of
preparation was blown loudly. Many came, not only from different parts
of the kingdom, but from the other states of Europe, to witness the
spectacle. It took place on the 20th of June, 1715. As the troops, in
their gorgeous uniforms, defiled before the terrace of Marly, quite a
spruce-looking man, surrounded by obsequious attendants, emerged from
the principal entrance of the palace, descended the marble steps and
mounted his horse. It was the poor old king. Inspired by vanity, which
even dying convulsions could not quell, he had rouged his pale and
haggard cheeks, wigged his thin locks, padded his skeleton limbs, and
dressed himself in the almost juvenile costume of earlier years.
Sustained by artificial stimulants, this poor old man kept his
tottering seat upon his saddle for four long hours. He then, having
proved that he was still young and vigorous, returned to his chamber.
The wig was thrown aside, the pads removed, the paint washed off, and
the infirm septuagenarian sought rest from his exhaustion upon the
royal couch.

Day after day the king grew more feeble, with the usual alternations
of nervous strength and debility, but with no abatement of his chronic
gloom. The struggles which he endured to conceal the approaches of
decay did but accelerate that decay. He was restless, and again
lethargic. Dropsical symptoms appeared in his discolored feet and
swollen ankles. Still he insisted every day upon seeing his ministers,
and exhibited himself padded, and rouged, and costumed in the highest
style of art. He even affected, in his gait and gesture, the
elasticity of youth. In his restlessness, the king repaired, with his
court, from Marly to Versailles.

Here the king was again taken seriously sick with an attack of fever.
With unabated resolution, he continued his struggles against the
approaches of the angel of death. While the fevered blood was
throbbing in his veins, he declared that he was but slightly
indisposed, and summoned a musical band to his presence, with orders
that the musicians should perform only the most animating and cheerful
melodies.

But the fever and other alarming symptoms increased so rapidly that
scarcely had the band been assembled when the court physicians became
apprehensive that the king's dissolution was imme