himself to his feeble reason. "God has made thee to love, not to comprehend Him; invisible to thine eyes, He is to reign in thine heart; He hates injustice, but pardons error, except voluntary error, which is punished."
The king is now conveyed to the regions of eternal sorrow. There, besides more allegorical personages suitable to the scene—such as Envy, Pride, and Ambition—he sees Jacques Clement, the murderer of Valois, still clutching his bloody knife. There he sees also tyrants and their insolent ministers undergoing retribution: but the Saint assures him that even these are not punished beyond their deserts, but only as a father punishes his children; that though the gifts of the Deity are infinite, His chastenings know bounds, and that He will not requite moments of weakness and fleeting pleasures with everlasting torment. The scene then changes to the abode of happy spirits, where he sees the just kings, wise ministers, and devoted warriors of France, including Joan of Arc, "shame of the English, of our throne the stay." And not these alone, for the palace of Destiny opens for him its hundred iron gates, showing him the great men of the future (among whom Voltaire gives an honourable place to his friend Marshal Villars) and the seer's own descendants. Henry exults to find one of these becoming king of Spain, but St Louis checks his transports by hinting how dangerous an honour this may prove to be; and with this the vision ends:—
Opes in the East the palace of the Sun;
To other regions Night withdrew her veil—
With darkness also fled the fluttering dreams.
