Writing to her daughter,
she says, "Believe me, it is not for nothing he has
moralised all his life; he has thought so often on his
last moments that they are nothing new or unfamiliar
to him."
In his last illness, the great moralist was attended
by the great divine, Bossuet. Whether that match-
less eloquence or his own philosophic calm had,
in spite of his writings, brought him into the state
Madame de Sevigne describes, we know not; but
one, or both, contributed to his passing away in a
manner that did not disgrace a French noble or a
French philosopher. On the 11th March, 1680, he
ended his stormy life in peace after so much strife, a
loyal subject after so much treason.
One of his friends, Madame Deshoulieres, shortly
before he died sent him an ode on death, which
aptly describes his state--
"Oui, soyez alors plus ferme,
Que ces vulgaires humains
Qui, pres de leur dernier terme,
De vaines terreurs sont pleins.
En sage que rien n'offense,
Livrez-vous sans resistance
A d'inevitables traits;
Et, d'une demarche egale,
Passez cette onde fatal
Qu'on ne repasse jamais.
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