At the beginning of 1709, Louis XIV.’s dislike of Conti at length yielded to the danger of the country, and the prince was informed that he had been selected to command the Army of the North in the approaching campaign. This tardy recognition of his undoubted merits came, however, too late. For some time past he had been in very bad health, and on 21 February he died, at the early age of forty-five. His death, which was regarded as a public calamity, so great had been his popularity and so high the opinion formed of his military talents, was a terrible blow to _Madame la Duchesse_. “He was the only one to whom she had been faithful,” writes Saint-Simon; “she was the only one to whom he had not been fickle; his greatness would have done homage to her, and she would have shone with his lustre.” “She had need of all the command which she had naturally over herself,” observes Madame de Caylus, “to conceal her grief from _Monsieur le Duc_. She succeeded, the more easily, I believe, because he was so relieved at no longer having such a rival that he cared neither to investigate the past nor the depths of the heart.” * * * * * The untimely death of the Prince de Conti was followed, at an interval of a few weeks, by that of _Monsieur le Prince_, who had long been in failing health. During the latter years of his life the eccentricity for which he had always been noted had become more and more pronounced, until at last, if Saint-Simon is to be believed, it was hardly distinguishable from madness. Calling one morning on the Maréchale de Noailles, at the moment when her bed was being made, and there only remained the counterpane to be put on, he paused for a moment at the door, and then, crying out in a transport of delight: “_Oh! le beau lit, le beau lit, qu’il est appétisant!_” he took a flying leap on to the bed and rolled over several times. Then he got down and made his excuses to the astonished old lady, saying that her bed looked so clean and so beautifully made that he had been unable to resist the temptation to roll in it. It was whispered that there were times when he imagined himself a dog or some other animal, and Saint-Simon declares that “people very worthy of belief had assured him that they had seen the prince at the King’s _coucher_ suddenly throw his head into the air several times running and open his mouth quite wide, like a dog while barking, yet without making a noise.”