He was executed in Old Palace Yard, in the sixtysixth year of his age. His behaviour on the scaffold was manly, unaffected, and even cheerful. Being asked by the executioner which way he would lay his head, he answered: "So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lies."

15. LOUIS IX., KING OF FRANCE.

LOUIS IX., styled St. Louis, succeeded to the crown of France, in the year 1226. This king possessed great wisdom, piety, and virtue. His reputation for candour and justice was so great, that the barons of England, as well as king Henry III., consented to make him umpire of the differences which subsisted between them. Fenelon says of this patriotic prince: "He was distinguished by the nobleness of his sentiments; he was without haughtiness, presumption, or severity. In every respect, he attended to the real interests of his country, of which he was as truly the father as the king.

An abhorrence of sin was so deeply impressed upon his mind, by a religious education, that he not only preserved it through the course of his life, but was zealous to inculcate it upon others. He was very solicitous that his children should be trained up in the fear and admonition of the Lord; and used to devote a considerable part of his time to their religious instruction. He often related to them the punishments which the pride, the avarice, and the debauchery of princes, brought upon themselves and their people.

In his last sickness, he earnestly exhorted Philip, his son and successor, firmly to adhere to religion, in his own private life and conduct, and zealously to promote it among his subjects. He also strongly recommended to him justice, moderation, and all the virtues becoming

a sovereign and a Christian. He strictly enjoined him never to suffer any one, in his presence, to speak disrespectfully of the Almighty, or of those devoted to his service; or to utter a word, tending, in the smallest degree, to countenance a crime. "God," said he, "grant you grace, my son, to do his will continually, so that he may be glorified by your means, and that we may be with him after this life, and praise him eternally."

His dying advice to his daughter Isabella, Queen of Navarre, was also very expressive of his zeal for the cause of religion, and his solicitude for the welfare of his children. He wrote to her as follows::

"My dear daughter, I conjure you to love our Lord with all your might; for this is the foundation of all goodness. No one is so worthy to be loved. Well may we say, 'Lord, thou art our God, and our goods are nothing to thee.' It was the Lord who sent his Son upon earth, and delivered him over to death for our salvation. If you love him, my daughter, the advantage will be yours; and be assured that you can never love and serve him too much. He has well deserved that we should love him; for he first loved us. I wish you could comprehend what the Son of God has done for our redemption. My daughter, be very desirous to know how you may best please the Lord; and bestow all your care to avoid everything that may displease him. But particularly, never be guilty of any deliberate sin, though it were to save your life. Take pleasure in hearing God reverently spoken of, both in sermons and in private conversation. Shun too familiar discourse, except with very virtuous persons. Obey, my daughter, your husband, your father, and your mother, in the Lord; you are bound to do so, both for their sakes, and for the sake of him who has commanded it. In what is contrary to the glory of God, you owe obedience to none. Endeavour, my daughter, to be an example of goodness to all

who may see you, and to all who may hear of you. Be not too nice about dress; if you have too many clothes, give them away in charity. Beware also of having an excessive care of your furniture. Aspire after a disposition to do the will of God, purely for his sake, independently of the hope of reward, or the fear of punishment."

Thus did this prince teach his children; and thus did he live himself. He died in great tranquillity, in the year 1270.

16. BLAISE PASCAL

BLAISE PASCAL was born at Clermont, in France, in the year 1623. Nature endowed him with extraordinary powers of mind, which were highly cultivated. He was an eminent philosopher, a profound reasoner, and a sublime and elegant writer. We raise his character still higher, when we say, he was a man of most exemplary piety and virtue. The celebrated Bayle, speaking of this distinguished person, says: "A hundred volumes of religious discourses, are not of so much avail to confound the impious, as a simple account of the life of Pascal. His humility and his devotion mortify the libertines more than if they were attacked by a dozen missionaries. They can no longer assert, that piety is confined to men of little minds, when they behold the highest degree of it in a geometrician of the first rank, and most acute metaphysician, and one of the most penetrating minds that ever existed."

The humility and simplicity of heart for which he was always remarkable, seemed to increase as he approached his end. A person who frequently visited him in his last sickness, said of him: "He is a child: he is humble; he submits like a little child." One of his particular friends, who had spent an hour with him, and

had been much edified by his meek and pious example, thus expressed himself to his sister: "You may, indeed, be comforted. If God should call him hence, you have abundant cause to praise that gracious Being for the favours which he has conferred upon him. I always very much admired his great qualities, but I never before observed that extraordinary simplicity which I have just now witnessed; it is wonderful in such a mind as he possesses. I most cordially wish that I were in his situation."

His last words were: "May God never forsake me!" and he died full of peace and hope.

17. LOUIS, DUKE OF ORLEANS.

LOUIS, DUKE OF ORLEANS, first prince of the blood royal of France, and highly distinguished for piety and learning, was born at Versailles, in the year 1703. He was the son of Philip, duke of Orleans, regent of France, and of Mary Frances of Bourbon. He discovered, in his very childhood, a reverence for religion, a shining genius, and an enlarged understanding. At an early age he became sensible of the vanity of titles, pre-eminence, and all the splendour of life. He proposed to himself a new mode of conduct, which he afterwards pursued, dividing his time between the duties peculiar to his rank, the exercises of a Christian, and the studies which improve the mind. He was, in every respect, a pattern of self-denial, of piety, and of virtue.

His religion was not merely contemplative, for he possessed a most extensive charity, and an enlightened zeal for the public good. The indigent of every age, sex, and condition, excited his compassionate regard. He daily heard their complaints, in one of the halls of the convent of St. Genevieve; he sympathized with them,

he alleviated their distresses. When it was not in his power to dismiss them entirely satisfied, his heart seemed to grant what necessity obliged him to refuse. It is hardly to be imagined what sums this pious prince expended, in placing children for education in colleges and nunneries, in portioning young women, endowing nuns, putting boys apprentices, or purchasing for them their freedom; in setting up unfortunate tradesmen in business again, and preventing the ruin of others; in restoring and supporting noblemen's families, in relieving the sick, and paying surgeons for their attendance on them. Very often accompanied by a single servant, he sought after poor persons, in chambers and garrets, and kindly administered to their wants. He made great improvements in physic, agriculture, arts, and manufactures. He purchased, and published, a variety of useful remedies. His gardens were filled with medicinal plants of all sorts, brought from the most distant climates.

The delight he found in piety and devotion, he used thus to express: "I know, by experience, that sublunary grandeur and sublunary pleasure are delusive and vain, and are always infinitely below the conceptions we form of them; but, on the contrary, such happiness and such complacency may be found in devotion and piety as the sensual mind has no idea of."

In his last illness, perceiving that death was approaching, he prepared for it with the greatest fortitude and composure, and spoke of it, as of the demise of another person. In his will, he expatiated, in the most pathetic manner, on his belief in the resurrection.

At the concluding period of life, his mind seemed filled with the love of God, and he implored, with the utmost carnestness, the Divine blessing for his son, the duke of Chatres. "I have a son," said he to the minister who attended him, "whom I am going to commend to the all-perfect Being. I entreat God that his natural