His soul tore itself from his body with fierce struggles and
bitter pain. It was hard for him to die, but he composed himself
to enter eternity "with the piety becoming a Christian, and the
resolution becoming a king;" as his brother narrates. About ten
o'clock on Friday morning, February 6th, 1685, he found relief in
unconsciousness; before midday chimed he was dead. He had
reached the fifty-fifth year of his life, and the twenty-fifth
year of his reign.
His illegitimate progeny was numerous, numbering fifteen, besides
those who died in infancy. These were the Duke of Monmouth and a
daughter married to William Sarsfield, children of Lucy Walters;
the Dukes of Southampton, Grafton, and Northumberland, the
Countesses of Litchfield and of Sussex, and a daughter Barbara.
who became a nun, children of the Duchess of Cleveland; the Duke
of Richmond, son of the Duchess of Portsmouth; the Duke of St.
Albans, and a son James, children of Nell Gwynn; Lady
Derwentwater, daughter of Moll Davis; the Countess of Yarmouth,
daughter of Lady Shannon; and the Earl of Plymouth, son of
Catherine Peg.
For seven days the remains of the late king lay in state; on the
eighth they were placed in Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was
of necessity conducted in a semi-private manner for by reason of
his majesty dying in the Catholic religion, his brother
considered it desirable the ceremonies prescribed for the
occasion by the English church should be dispensed with.
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