This last torrent of misfortune is as a deluge which overwhelms me--a deep abyss of evil in which I am engulphed.

Alas! when I consider the just grief which environs me, I know not where I am! Gaston, the brave Gaston, my lord and my husband, while yet I was in the early joy of his sweet society, and was happy in his precious affection, was torn from me.

My woes were softened, and the dark night of my widowhood enlightened by the brightness of my Phoebus.

Poor, desolate mother that I am! Heaven envied my content, and has hidden him from my eyes.

In this sad spot he expired: here, raising his eyes above, he exclaimed, 'My reign is not of this world!' "Did we not, nevertheless, expect much of him! would he not, had he lived, have healed the wounds of his country, have applied salutary remedies to all her evils! He saw the difficulties, he prepared himself to thread the intricate mazes belonging to his crown of Navarre; yet, when he held it in his hands, he said, it was not that crown that he expected.
"What means have I now left me in the world that permit me to speak to you of the state of Spain, of the health of the king, the queen, or the court.