CHARACTERS. 



587 



'whole shock of the accident. He 

 arrived ill at Cambrai ; a fever su- 

 pervened, and Fenelon saw that 

 his hour was come. Whether 

 from a disgust of the world, which 

 had so continually deceived him, 

 or whether from his piety, which 

 long exercise had strengthened, 

 and which had been increased still 

 more by the melancholy reflec- 

 tion of all the friends whom he 

 had lost, he appeared to be in- 

 sensible to every thing which he 

 was about to quit, and wholly 

 occupied with that which he was 

 forthwith to find, and that so 

 peacefully and so tranquilly, that 

 all regret disappeared : penitence, 

 however, remained, and an exclu- 

 sive care for the spiritual affairs 

 of his diocese." 



Such was the general impression 

 which the death of Fenelon made 

 at Paris, and at the court. The 

 duke de St. Simon, however, in 

 giving an account of it, has merely 

 retailed the popular opinion which 

 prevailed ; but the eye witness, 

 whom we mentioned above, has 

 preserved minute details which 

 must ever be invaluable to every 

 friend of religion, and every lover 

 of Fenelon. These details were 

 written by his almoner, and are 

 now first published from the ori- 

 ginal manuscript. They are as 

 follow : — 



" It was on the evening of the 

 Ist.of January, 1715, that Fenelon 

 was first seized with the illness 

 which terminated his life. This 

 illness, which lasted only six days 

 and a half, attended with ex- 

 treme pain, was a continued fever, 

 arising from unknown causes. 

 During the whole of those six 

 days he was occupied wholly in 

 having the Scripture read to him ; 



but during the first days, his desire 

 was only partially gratified, for it 

 was feared that the eager applica- 

 tion which he bestowed would in- 

 crease his disease, and prevent the 

 free operation of the remedies 

 which he employed. At first we 

 read to him only the book of To- 

 bit, and but small portions at a 

 time : to this were added, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, some texts 

 on the transitory nature of all 

 worldly good, and on the hope, of 

 that which exists for ever. These 

 we often repeated to him ; and he 

 appeared to feel peculiar delight 

 in hearing the last verses of chap- 

 ter iv., and the first nine of chap- 

 ter v. of the second epistle of St. 

 Paul to the Corinthians. ' Repeat 

 that passage again,' said he to 

 me, on two difierent occasions. 

 At intervals he was spoken to 

 about some urgent business rela- 

 ting to his diocese, which he im- 

 mediately transacted. He was 

 asked if there were any thing he 

 wished to alter in his will (which 

 had been made in 1715), and he 

 added a codicil, to substitute the 

 abbe de Fenelon in the place of 

 the abbe de Langeron, whom he 

 had before nominated his execu- 

 tor. I then asked for his final in- 

 structions with regard to two 

 works which he was printing. 



" During the last two days and 

 nights of his illness, he eagerly 

 requested us to read to him those 

 parts of scripture which were 

 most suitable to his condition. 

 ' Repeat, repeat to me,' he fre- 

 quently said, 'those divine words.' 

 He joined with us as often as his 

 strength would permit. It was 

 easy to perceive, from his counte- 

 nance and his eyes, that he fer- 

 vently felt those lively expressions 



