Dangeau’s Diary, February 1691

14th. — A courier arrived this evening from Rome, with the intelligence that the Pope (Pope Alexander VIII) died on the 1st of this month.

15th. — The Pope divided all the wealth he had accumulated amongst his nephews, upon which Pasquin observed, that the church had better have been his niece than his daughter.

28th. — A few days ago, a dreadful duel took place at Saint-Germain. Two Englishmen, the brothers of the Earl of Salisbury (James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury), quarrelled, fought and wounded each other dangerously. After the fight, they were reconciled and asked each other’s pardon, sent for a priest and abjured the protestant religion which they both professed. The elder, nineteen years of age, is since dead of his wounds. The younger is extremely ill; he only waits his recovery to enter the society of La Trappe.