This is the day, my dear child, on which you are to begin your journey;
we follow you step by step. The weather is delightful; the durance will
not be so terrific as it sometimes is. It looks as if you were resolved
to remove further and further from us out of mere spite; you will find
yourself at last on the sea-shore. But it is the will of God that we
should meet with periods in our life which are difficult to bear;
and we must endeavor to repair, by a submission to his will, the too
great sensibility we feel toward earthly things. In this respect it is
impossible to be more culpable than I am.
The chevalier is much better. It is painful to reflect that the weather
which agrees with him is precisely what may dethrone the King of
England; whereas he suffered dreadfully a few days ago, when the wind
and tempests were dispersing the fleet of the Prince of Orange: he is
unhappy at not being able to make his health accord with the good of
Europe; for the sentiment of joy is universal at the failure of the
prince, whose wife[225] is a perfect Tullia; ah, how boldly would she
drive over the body of her father! She has empowered her husband to
take possession of the kingdom of England, of which she calls herself
the heiress; and if her husband is killed, for her imagination is not
very delicate, M. de Schomberg[226] is to take possession of it for
herself. What say you to a hero, who so sadly disgraces the close of
a glorious life? He saw the admiral’s ship sink in which he was to
have embarked; and as the prince and he were the last in following
the fleet, which was under weigh in the finest weather possible, they
were obliged, by a tremendous storm that suddenly arose, to return to
port, the prince being very much indisposed with his asthma, and M. de
Schomberg as much vexed. Only twenty-six sails returned with them; the
rest were all dispersed, some toward Norway, others toward Boulogne.
M. d’Aumont has sent a courier to the king, to inform him that vessels
had been seen at the mercy of the winds, and that there were many
appearances of shipwreck. A vessel armed _en flute_, in which were nine
hundred men, sunk in sight of the prince of Orange. In short, the hand
of God is visible upon this fleet: many ships may return, but it will
be long before they will be able to do any mischief, for the dispersion
has certainly been great, and has happened at a time when it was least
expected: this is certainly a stroke of Providence. I need not say so
much to you of this great news, for the papers are full of it; but as
we are so too, and as we can talk of nothing else, it flows naturally
from my pen.
[225] Mary Stuart, daughter of James II., king of England, and
wife of William Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange, afterward king
of England by the name of William III. Tullia, the daughter of
Servius Tullius, king of Rome, caused her chariot to drive over
the bleeding body of her father, who had just been assassinated.
[226] Frederic Armand, Count de Schomberg, marshal of France,
obtained permission to retire from the king’s service in 1685, on
account of his having embraced the Protestant religion. He was
minister of state, and generalissimo of the armies of the Elector
of Brandenbourg, and went over to England in 1688 with the Prince
of Orange.
Marshal de Schomberg had ancient leagues with the Princes of
Orange. He had, besides, much cause to complain of the court,
and even of Turenne, during the war with Holland. See a curious
account of this general in the _Fragmens Historiques de Racine_.
Shall I give you another instance of wounds that were not received at
the siege of Philipsburg? It relates to the Chevalier de Longueville:
the town was taken; the dauphin had just inspected the garrison, the
little chevalier mounted the back of the trenches to look at something,
when a soldier, aiming at a woodcock, shot this poor child, and he died
in consequence the next day: his death is as singular as his birth.[227]
[227] Charles-Louis d’Orleans, natural son of Charles Paris
d’Orleans, Duke of Longueville, killed in crossing the Rhine in
1672.