tall than short of stature, she was a brunette with blue eyes whose
expression incessantly responded to everything that pleased her; with a
perfect shape, a lovely bosom, and a countenance which, without
regularity of feature, was more charming even than the purely
symmetrical. Her air was extremely noble, and there was something
majestic in her whole demeanour, and a grace so natural and continual in
all she did, even in things the most trivial and indifferent, that I
have never seen anyone approach to, either in form or mind. Her wit was
copious and of all kinds. She was flattering, caressing, insinuating,
moderate, desirous to please for pleasing sake, and with charms
irresistible when she strove to persuade and win over. Accompanying all
this, she possessed a grandeur that encouraged rather than repelled. A
delightful tone of conversation, inexhaustible and always most
amusing--for she had seen many countries and peoples. A voice and way of
speaking extremely agreeable and full of sweetness. She had read much
and reflected much. She knew how to choose the best society, how to
receive it, and could even have held a Court; was polite and
distinguished; and, above all, careful never to take a step in advance
without dignity and discretion. She was eminently fitted for intrigue,
in which, from taste, she had passed her time at Rome. With much
ambition, but of that vast kind far above her sex and the common run of
men--a desire to occupy a great position and to govern. An inclination
to gallantry and personal vanity were her foibles, and these clung to
her until her latest days; consequently she dressed in a way that no
longer became her, and as she advanced in life departed further from
propriety in this particular. She was an ardent and excellent friend--of
a friendship that time and absence never enfeebled; and therefore an
implacable enemy, pursuing her hatred even to the infernal regions.
Whilst caring little for the means by which she gained her ends, she
tried as much as possible to reach them by honest means. Secret, not
only for herself, but for her friends, she was yet of a decorous gaiety,
and so governed her humours, that at all times and in everything she was
mistress of herself."
Such was the Princess des Ursins, as sketched by that painstaking
limner, Saint-Simon; throughout whose "Memoirs" many other scattered
traits are to be found of this celebrated woman, who so long and so
publicly governed the Court and Crown of Spain, and whose fate it was to
make so much stir in the world alike by her reign and her fall.
CHAPTER II.
SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH.
THROUGHOUT the political conflicts which agitated the Court of England
since the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough had left their native shores,
the Duke maintained a steady correspondence with his friends, but
expressed a firm refusal to deviate from those principles which had
occasioned his exile, or to approve of the Peace of Utrecht, or to
abandon his desire for the Hanoverian succession. Distrusting the
sincerity of Harley's pretended exertions, he resolutely refused to hold
intercourse with a Minister of whose hollowness he had already received
many proofs. Nor was the Duchess less determined never to pardon the
injuries which she conceived herself and her husband to have sustained
from Harley. All offers of his aid, all attempts to lend to him the
influence which Marlborough's military and personal character still
commanded, were absolutely rejected.
At the Court of Hanover, the Duke and Duchess saw, as it were, reflected
the cabals of their native country. Little, indeed, that was reassuring
reached them in their foreign retreat, relative to public affairs. The
existing policy of Anne's Ministers seemed likely to destroy all that
his labours had effected during a long life of toil and danger; and the
sacrifice of thousands of lives had gained no advantage which the malice
of his enemies could not undo. In short, the friendly relations which
were brought about between France and England threatened to change the
face of things altogether.
The result of the shrewd Duchess's experience of political life and
royal favour was embodied in the sound advice she gave her illustrious
husband on his return to England, shortly after the death of Anne, and
previous to the arrival of her successor, George I. "I begged of the
Duke upon my knees," relates the Duchess, "that he would never accept
any employment. I said everybody that liked the Revolution and the
security of the law had a great esteem for him, that he had a greater
fortune than he wanted, and that a man who had had such success, with
such an estate, would be of more use to any court than they could be to
him; that I would live civilly with them, if they were so to me, but
would never put it into the power of any King to use me ill. He was
entirely of this opinion, and determined to quit all, and serve them
only when he could act honestly and do his country service at the same
time."
Though the Duchess witnessed the triumph of the Whigs on their return to
power at the accession of George I., she was very far from possessing
the influence she had enjoyed during Anne's reign. Her feverish thirst
for political and courtly intrigues had returned upon her, despite so
many bitter deceptions and the advance of old age. She scolded
incessantly her husband for his indolence, when he had really become
incapable of any longer taking an active part in public affairs. He
confined himself to the enjoyment of his opulence and his high position.
In May, 1716, he experienced a violent attack of paralysis, which for
some time deprived him of speech and recollection. His health continued
to decline more and more to the close of his life in June, 1722, though
the notion of his imbecility appears to have been erroneous.
The Duke of Marlborough was one of the bravest and most kindly-tempered
of men. His gentleness and devotion towards his wife and love of his
children were not the only proofs which he gave of a kindly nature, and
many curious anecdotes are related of the way in which he governed his
imperious consort when he had to encounter her tears, sulks, and
torrents of passionate reproaches, which were among the favourite and
irresistible features of her conjugal eloquence. The fiery Duchess
survived her illustrious husband the long period of twenty-two years.
Notwithstanding her age, and probably on account of her immense fortune,
she was sought in marriage by the Duke of Somerset and Lord Coningsby.
The reply she made to the offer of the first-named, an old friend, the
"proud Duke," was admirable. She declined a second marriage as
unsuitable to her age; but added--"Were I only thirty, and were you able
to lay the empire of the world at my feet, I would not allow you to
succeed to that heart and hand which has always been devoted wholly to
John, Duke of Marlborough." A proof of her good judgment and true
dignity! At the same time, it must be owned that, alike through pride
and gratitude, she truly owed such a testimony of respect to the memory
of a husband who had left behind so great a name, and who was throughout
his married life full of amiability, deference, and tenderness towards
her, and who had suffered with an exemplary patience all the
capriciousness of her imperious character.
The instructive lesson derivable from the extraordinary career and
signal disgrace of this remarkable political woman is emphatically given
by the Duchess herself, on her retirement, as the results of her own
experience of royal favour.
"After what has passed, I do solemnly protest, that if it were in my
power I would not be a favourite, which few will believe; and since I
shall never be able to give any demonstration of that truth, I had as
good say no more of it. But as fond as people are of power, I fancy that
anybody that had been shut up so many tedious hours as I have been with
a person that had no conversation, and yet must be treated with respect,
would feel something of what I did, and be very glad when their
circumstances did not want it, to be freed from such a slavery, which
must be uneasy at all times; though I do protest, that upon the account
of her loving me, and trusting me so entirely as she did, I had a
concern for her, which is more than you will easily believe, and I would
have served her with the hazard of my life upon any occasion; but after
she put me at liberty by using me ill, I was very easy, and liked better
that anybody should have her favour than myself, at the price of
flattery without which I believe nobody can be well with a King or
Queen, unless the world should come to be less corrupt or they wiser
than any I have seen since I was born."
In another place she says: "Women signify nothing unless they are the
mistresses of a Prince or a Prime Minister, which I would not be if I
were young; and I think there are very few, if any, women that have
understanding or impartiality enough to serve well those they really
wish to serve."
The wife of the great captain and hero of Queen Anne's time--the most
remarkable woman of her own, or perhaps of any epoch--lived to the age
of eighty-four.
"So singular was the fate of this extraordinary woman in private life,"
it has been truly observed, "that scarcely did she possess a tie which
was not severed or embittered by worldly or political considerations."
Those who hopelessly covet wealth, honour, and celebrity through the
avenues of political strife may contemplate the career of Sarah Duchess
of Marlborough with profit, and rise from the study reconciled to a
calmer course of life and resigned to a humbler fate.
INDEX.
ALBERONI, Julio Abbé (afterwards cardinal), Prime Minister of Spain,
deceives Madame des Ursins as to the character of Elizabeth
Farnese, 270-289;
his representation of that most ambitious princess as "a jolly
Parmesane fattened upon cheese and butter," 291;
concerts with the Princess of Parma the ruin of Madame des
Ursins, 292;
belonged to the intrepid race of political gamesters, 294.
AMELOT, the President, nominated ambassador for Spain by Madame des
Ursins, 191.
ANNE of AUSTRIA (mother of Louis XIV.), an example among all queens,
and almost among all women, of constancy in adversity, 17;
her reception of Mazarin after his exile, 18.
ANNE, Queen of England, her feeling towards the Whigs purely official,
and not a genuine sympathy, 206;
she secretly leans towards the Tories, as defender of the royal
prerogative, 206;
indolent and taciturn, she yields without resistance to the
ascendency of Sarah Jennings, 215;
her unhappy married life, 215;
the Queen and Sarah treat each other as equals, writing under
assumed names, 215;
state of parties on her accession, 218;
chooses a ministry combining both Whigs and Tories, 218;
entertains the Archduke Charles with truly royal magnificence, 218;
the Duchess of Marlborough surrounds the Queen with the chiefs of
the Whigs against her will, 222;
an endless succession of jars and piques between the Queen and the
Duchess, 222;
the insolence of the Mistress of the Robes towards the Queen, 226;
gives her favour and confidence to Mrs. Masham, 227;
Anne cautiously creeps out of her subjection to the Duchess, 230;
has some pangs of conscience in ill-treating Marlborough, 232;
gives up all regard for the Duchess or gratitude to the Duke, 233;
emancipates herself from obligations regardless of the confusion
into which she casts the country, 234;
intrigues of the bed-chamber, 234;
a weak woman domineered over by one attendant and wheedled and
flattered by another, 234;
gives herself up entirely to Mrs. Masham, 236;
dreading the furious violence of the Duchess, Anne leaves
London, 237;
spares the Duke and Duchess not from compassion but fear, 242;
terrified at the Duchess's threat to publish her letters, 242;
exonerates the Duchess from the charge of cheating, 243;
demands the return of the gold key from the Duchess, 244;
divides her Court places between Mrs. Masham and the Duchess of
Somerset, 245;
writes with her own hand the dismissal of the Duchess, and gives
herself up to her enemies, 246;
her apathetic remark on hearing that the Duke and Duchess had left
England, 248;
she never sees again her great general or the woman to whom she was
once so strongly attached, 248;
her conduct towards Madame des Ursins in the repudiation of
Lexington's convention, 281.
AUBIGNY, Louis d', equerry of Madame des Ursins, 178;
his character and familiar relations with the Princess, 178;
the intercepted letter intimating that they were married, 178;
becomes a perfect _caballero_, 260;
sent secretly to France by Madame des Ursins to negotiate with
Torcy, 278;
despatched to Utrecht to negotiate the principality, 280;
obtains only vague hopes on the part of the Dutch, 281.
AUSTRIA, Charles, Archduke of, the reservation, by will of Charles
II., to renounce all claim to the empire of Germany, 129;
competitor of Philip V. for the crown of Spain, 169;
proclaimed Charles III. of Spain by the Emperor, 186;
lands at Lisbon and opens the campaign, 187;
lands in Catalonia, 191;
enters Barcelona as King of Spain, 197;
proclaimed in Saragossa and Valentia, 197;
his chief reliance the support of England, 207;
entertained with truly royal magnificence at Windsor, 208;
highly praises the beauty of Englishwomen, 218;
his gallantry to the Queen and Duchess of Marlborough, 219;
proclaimed at Madrid amidst a chilling silence, 251;
awaits in vain the homage and oaths of the grandees, 259;
is elevated to the imperial throne by the death of Joseph I., 265.
BARRILLON (the French ambassador), brings about the signature of the
treaty of Niméguen by the help of the Duchess of Portsmouth, 113;
carries the message of the dying king's (Charles) mistress to the
Duke of York, 117.
BEAUFORT, Francis de Vendôme, Duke de, commands the troops of Gaston
and weakens the army by his dissensions with Nemours, his
brother-in-law, 3;
kills Nemours in a duel, 14;
satisfied at seeing Madame de Montbazon satisfied, he retires to
Anet, 21;
submits to the royal authority and obtains command of the fleet, 67;
commands the French men-of-war against England and Holland, 67;
goes to the aid of the Venetians against the Turks in Candia, and is
cut to pieces in a sortie, 67;
he carries with him to Candia, disguised as a page, Louise
Quérouaille, 95.
BERWICK, Duke of (natural son of James II.), does justice to
Orry, 177;
commands the French corps in Spain, 179;
commands an Anglo-Portuguese army in Estramadura, 197;
his hatred pursues Louis XIV. on every field of battle, 197;
completely defeats the allies near Almanza, 252.
BOLINGBROKE, Henry St. John, Viscount, his remark to Voltaire
concerning Marlborough, 212;
his career, character, and abilities, 220;
possessed the talents and vices which have immortalised as well as
disgraced Mirabeau, 221.
BOUILLON, Duke de, advises an immediate attack on Condé at the
Faubourg St. Antoine, 8;
a first-class politician, but with only one thought--the
aggrandisement of his house, 22;
a glance at his antecedents, 22;
obtains the title of Prince, 23;
is cut short in his ambitious career by death, 24.
BOULAY, Marquis de la, prevented from crossing swords with his rival,
de Choisy, by Madame de Châtillon seizing a hand of each, 5.
BUCKINGHAM, George Villiers, second Duke of, sent to Paris to inquire
into the sudden death of Henrietta of England, 107;
he persuades Louise de Quérouaille to transfer herself to the
service of the Queen of England, 108;
seeks to turn her to his own advantage by raising up a rival to the
Duchess of Cleveland in the king's affections, 108;
offers to escort her to England, but forgets both the lady and his
promise, and leaves her at Dieppe, 109.
BUSSY-RABUTIN, Count de, his account of a scene in public between
Charles II. and the Duchess of Portsmouth, 113.
CAMBIAC, Abbé, enamoured of the Duchess de Châtillon, 4;
retires on finding Condé is his rival, 5.
CAPRES, Bournonville, Baron de, negotiates with the Dutch touching the
principality for Madame des Ursins, 281;
liberally rewarded by Philip V., 281.
CARIGNAN, Princess de, her projects for governing her niece the Queen
of Spain, 155.
CHARLES II. of England, the unbounded power over his mind possessed by
his sister Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, 97;
falls into the snare laid for him by Louis XIV., and is captivated
by Louise Quérouaille, 99;
the secret negotiation initiated at Dover by the Duchess, 99;
the key to his will found in La Quérouaille, 100;
the main features of the secret negotiation, 101;
he is rendered doubly a traitor by his abandonment of the latter
condition, 101;
indignantly refuses to receive the Duke d'Orleans' letter
acquainting him with his sister's death, 106;
he pretends to believe the explanations offered him, 106;
sends Buckingham to Paris ostensibly to inquire into the
catastrophe, but in reality to conclude the treaty, 108;
France gives three million of livres for Charles's conversion to
Popery, and three for the Dutch war, 108;
creates Louise Quérouaille _Duchess of Portsmouth_, 110;
creates his son by her Duke of Richmond, 111;
Madame de Sévigne's amusing account of Charles's duplicate
amours, 111;
his fatal seizure, 115;
declares his wish to be admitted into the Church of Rome, 117;
receives the offices of Father Huddlestone, 118;
in his last moments commends the Duchess of Portsmouth to the care
of his brother James, 118;
the alleged poisoning of Charles II., 119.
CHARLES II., King of SPAIN, secretly consults Pope Innocent XII. on
the succession, 128;
declares Philip d'Anjou absolute heir to his crown, 129;
consults the mortal remains of his father, mother, and wife upon the
sacred obligations of the will, and dies, 129.
CHÂTILLON, Isabelle Angelique de Montmorency-Bouteville, Duchess de,
visits Nemours when wounded under various disguises, 4;
Condé not the only rival Nemours had to contend with, 4;
her condescension towards Cambiac, an intriguing, licentious
priest, 4;
procures her an enormous legacy from the Princess-Dowager de
Condé, 4;
Vineuil makes himself very agreeable to her, 5;
meeting her after the combat of St. Antoine, Condé shows by his
countenance how much he despises her, 12;
is unable longer to counterbalance the counsels and influence of
Madame de Chevreuse, 14;
her shameful league with La Rochefoucauld against Madame de
Longueville, 38.
CHEVREUSE, Marie de Rohan, Duchess de. She ultimately becomes resigned
to Mazarin, 19;
warmly welcomes the return of the cardinal, 20;
summary of her political career, 49;
her elevated position side by side with Richelieu and Mazarin, 49;
her "marriage of conscience" with the Marquis de Laigues, 50;
marries her grandson, the Duke de Chevreuse, to Colbert's
daughter, 52;
survives all whom she had either loved or hated, 52;
dies in obscurity at Gagny, 53.
CHOISY, Count de, enamoured of Madame de Châtillon, is bent on
fighting a duel about her with the Marquis de la Boulay, 5.
CHURCHILL, Arabella, mistress of the Duke of York, obtains her brother
John (afterwards Duke of Marlborough) a pair of colours in the
Guards, 208.
CLEVELAND, Barbara Palmer, Duchess of, violently enamoured of the
handsome John Churchill, 209;
presents him with 5000_l._ for his daring escape from the window of
her apartment, 209;
Buckingham raises up a rival to her in the King's affections in
Louise Quérouaille, 108.
CONDÉ, Louis de Bourbon, Prince de, his small success in pleasing the
fair sex, 4;
almost always badly dressed, 4;
his party very sensibly weakened by rivalries and gallant intrigues
among the political heroines, 5;
fixes his head-quarters at St. Cloud, 6;
is distracted by different passions and feelings, 6;
betrayed on all sides amidst a series of impotent intrigues, 7;
his error in having preferred the counsels of his fickle mistress,
Madame de Châtillon, to those of his courageous and devoted
sister, 7;
his talent and courage in the struggle at the Faubourg St. Antoine, 8;
is saved from perishing by the noble conduct of Madame de
Montpensier, 10;
his sore distress at the loss of his slain friends, 11;
his mind disabused with regard to Madame de Châtillon, he shows by
his countenance how much he despises her, 12;
proposes such hard conditions to the Royalists that all accord with
him becomes impossible, 13;
he retires to the Netherlands, and becomes _generalissimo_ of the
Spanish armies, 13;
is declared guilty of high treason and a traitor to the State, 14;
plunges deeper than ever into the Spanish alliance and the war
against France, 14;
restored to his honours and power, the Princess de Condé becomes
once more the despised, alienated, humiliated wife, 86;
he keeps her imprisoned until his death, and recommended that she
should be kept so after his decease, 88.
CONDÉ, Claire Clémence Maillé de Brézé, Princess de (wife of the Great
Condé), married at thirteen to the Duke d'Enghien, who yielded
only to compulsion, 80;
the unenviable light in which she was held by her husband and
relatives, 80;
a fair estimate of her qualities, 81;
her fidelity to her husband during adversity, 81;
her zeal during the Woman's War, 81;
her truly deplorable existence from earliest childhood, 82;
her hour of fame and distinction, 83;
her letters to the Queen and Ministers stamped with nobility and
firmness, 83;
she escapes from Chantilly on foot with her son and reaches
Montrond, 83;
she escapes from Montrond under cover of a hunting party, 83;
escorted to Bordeaux by the Dukes de Bouillon and de la
Rochefoucauld, 84;
becomes an amazon and almost a heroine in the insurrection at
Bordeaux, 84;
scene in the Parliament chamber, 84;
her particular talent for speaking in public, 84;
works with her own hands at the fortifications of the city, 85;
all the conditions by the Princess, save one, conceded, 85;
Condé's remark that "whilst he was watering tulips, his wife was
making war in the south," 85;
her rapturous reception of a tender note from Condé, 85;
she again becomes the despised and humiliated wife, 86;
a tragic event adds itself to the train of her tribulations,
outrages, and troubles, 87;
imprisoned by the Prince at Châteauroux until his death, 88;
Bossuet in his panegyric of the hero gives not one word of praise to
the ill-fated Princess, 89.
CONTI, Armand de Bourbon, Prince de, weakens the party of the Princes
by his dissensions with his sister, Madame de Longueville, 3.
DARTMOUTH, Lord, his version of the affair of the gold keys, 244.
ESTRÉES, Cardinal d', directs the ultra-French political system at
Madrid, 169;
a formidable adversary of Madame des Ursins, 172;
her tool, without knowing it, 173;
he demands his recall in accents of rage and despair, 175.
ESTRÉES, the Abbé d', is laughed at and despised by Madame des
Ursins, 176;
his letter to Louis XIV. scandalising her intercepted by her, 176;
the letter of Louis XIV. recalling him, 180.
FARNESE, Elizabeth, Princess of Parma, afterwards second consort of
Philip V. of Spain, her lineage and true character, 294;
chosen by Madame des Ursins as consort of Philip V., 289;
her outrageous dismissal of the _camerara-mayor_, 292;
her character as sketched by Frederick the Great, 294.
FERTÉ-SENNETERRE, Marshal de la, brings powerful reinforcements to the
royal army from Lorraine, 7.
FIESQUE and FRONTENAC, the Countesses, the adjutant-generals of Madame
de Montpensier in "the Women's War," 69.
FORCE, Duke de la (father-in-law of Turenne), made Marshal of
France, 24.
FRONDE, the army of the, discouraged and divided (July, 1652); the
fight at the Faubourg St. Antoine an act of despair, 7;
the defeat of Condé destroys the Fronde, 11;
approaching its last agony, it treats with Mazarin for an
amnesty, 13;
contrasted with the Great Rebellion in England, 29;
the revolt of the Fronde belonged especially to high-born
Frenchwomen, 35.
GWYNNE, Nell, her rivalry of the Duchess of Portsmouth, 111;
difference in character of their respective triumphs, 112.
GUISE, Henri, Duke de, rallies to Mazarin after the Fronde, 28;
his violent passion for Mdlle. de Pons, 59;
elected by the Neapolitans their leader after Masaniello, 59;
defeats the Spanish troops and becomes master of the country, 59;
is betrayed through his gallantries and carried prisoner to
Madrid, 60;
attempts to reconquer Naples but fails, 60;
is appointed Grand Chamberlain of France, 60;
his duels, his romantic amours, his profusion, and the varied
adventures of his life, 60.
HALLAM, Henry (the historian), his remarks: "that the fortunes of
Europe would have been changed by nothing more noble than the
insolence of one waiting-woman and the cunning of another," 246;
that "the House of Bourbon would probably not have reigned beyond
the Pyrenees but for Sarah and Abigail at Queen Anne's
toilette," 246.
HARCOURT, Duke d', intercedes for the exiled Princess des Ursins, 185.
HARLEY (afterwards Earl of Oxford), his talents and character, 219;
uses his relation, the bed-chamber woman, as a political tool, 222;
his plan to overthrow the Whigs by degrees, 233.
LEGANEZ, Marquis de, conspires in favour of the Archduke Charles, 191;
arrested and imprisoned at Pampeluna, 191.
LEXINGTON, Lord, signs a convention which engages to secure to Madame
des Ursins "a sovereignty," 277.
LONGUEVILLE, Anne de Bourbon, Duchess de, no longer guided by La
Rochefoucauld, she loses herself in aimless projects and
compromises herself in intrigues without result, 3;
the most ill-treated of all the political women of the Fronde, 36;
a retrospection of her career during the Fronde, 36;
though no longer the brilliant Bellona of Stenay, she does not dream
of separating her fate from that of Condé, 38;
her conversion to be dated from her sojourn in the convent at
Moulins, 38;
she implores pardon of her husband, 39;
she is taken from Moulins to Rouen by her husband, 39;
the fair penitent finds a ghostly guide in M. Singlin, 40;
who advises her to remain in the outer world, 40;
her desire to abstain from political intrigue looked upon
incredulously for some years, 41;
still placed by Mazarin (in 1659) among the feminine trio "capable
of governing or overturning three great kingdoms," 41;
results of her long and rigid penitence, 41;
protects the Jansenists and earns the designation of "Mother of the
Church," 41;
acquires great reputation at the Court of Rome, 41;
the austerities and self-mortification of her widowhood, 42;
the death of her son, Count de St. Paul, the last blow of her
earthly troubles, 43;
the scene depicted by Madame de Sevigné on the arrival of the fatal
tidings, 43;
her death at the Carmelites, 44;
the funeral oration by the Bishop of Autun, 44;
three well-defined periods in her agitated life, 45;
Mrs. Jameson's ideas of the mischievous tendencies of political
women, as shown in the career of the Duchess, 46;
Mrs. Jameson's erroneous estimate of the character of Madame de
Longueville, 46-47.
LOUIS XIV., King of France; his triumphant entry into Paris with his
mother and Turenne, 15;
his attention drawn to the wit and capacity of Madame des
Ursins, 134;
acts of violence against his Protestant subjects, 136;
endeavours to bend Spain to his own designs, 151;
recommends to his grandson an implacable war against Spanish Court
etiquette, 163;
the long train of disasters which brought Louis to the brink of an
abyss, 168;
the succession of Philip V. threatens to endanger the very existence
of the French monarchy, 168;
desires to recall Madame des Ursins, but finds his hand
arrested, 175;
writes to the Abbé d'Estrées touching the complaints against Madame
des Ursins, 179;
his letters to the King and Queen of Spain, 183;
his insuperable objection to a government of Prime Ministers, and
still more of women, 187;
in his restoration of the Princess des Ursins his sagacity triumphs
over his repugnance, 188;
represented in Spain by his nephew, the Duke of Orleans, 254;
secretly assists the party in Spain of _fara da se_, 261;
his displeasure at Madame des Ursins delaying the signature of the
Treaty of Utrecht, 282;
his tart letter to his grandson, 283;
limits Philip's choice of a consort to three princesses, 287.
LOUVILLE, Marquis de, the duel with Madame des Ursins, 171;
his fall: recalled from Madrid, 172;
accuses Madame des Ursins of being "hair-brained in her
conduct," 177.
MAINTENON, Françoise d'Aubigny, Marquise de, her star rises slowly
above the political horizon, 114;
the secret of Madame des Ursins' appointment first broached in her
cabinet, 143;
favours that candidature, 145;
the dazzling aspect of her laurels in Madame des Ursins' eyes, 148;
her letters reveal the policy of Louis XIV. with regard to
Spain, 151;
her favourable intervention in behalf of the exiled Madame des
Ursins, 185, 186;
her motives for supporting the Princess, 186;
dwells upon her equanimity, 193;
changes the tone of her letters to a cold and sometimes ironic
vein, 257;
opposes the design of her old friend for a "sovereignty," 269;
she divines the concealed project of Madame des Ursins, 277.
MANCINI, Hortensia, Duchess de Mazarin, cuts to the quick Charles II.
of England, 114.
MARLBOROUGH, Sarah Jennings, Lady Churchill, and subsequently Duchess
of, her birth and parentage, 207;
peculiar graces of her mind and person, 208;
Swift renders homage to her virtue, 208;
aspirants to her hand, 208;
altogether portionless, wooed and won by the avaricious John
Churchill, 208;
hard, vindictive, insatiable of wealth and honours, 210;
united to the pride of a queen the rage of a fury, 210;
brought up in close intimacy with the Princess Anne, her early
assumed absolute ascendency, 215;
the grounds on which she obtained and held place in Anne's
service, 215;
intoxicated with her almost unlimited sway, 218;
no longer deigns to ask, but commands, 218;
her influence well understood by the Continental powers, 218;
domination her favourite passion, 221;
exercised her absolute sway over the Queen with an imprudent
audacity, 222;
endless succession of piques, jeers, and misunderstandings between
her and the Queen, 222;
become a Princess of the Empire, subordinate duties are repugnant to
her, 223;
her benefactions to Abigail Hill's relatives, 224;
perceiving the Queen's confidence in Mrs. Masham, she heaps upon her
every species of contempt, sarcasm, and insult, 225;
her insulting behaviour to the Queen at St. Paul's, 225;
another altercation unduly breaks the links of their
friendship, 226;
discovers that her empire over the Queen is gone, 228;
traces the whole system of deception carried on to her injury, 228;
curious predicament between sovereign and subject, 230;
her uprightness and singleness of mind, openness, and honesty, 230;
long-repressed malice pours forth its vengeance on the disgraced
favourite, 234;
a fresh outbreak of violence precipitates her final disgrace, 236;
her account of her last interview with the Queen at Kensington, 237;
terrifies Anne by threatening to publish her letters, 242;
her economy in dressing the Queen, 242;
the return of the gold key, 244;
the resignation accepted with eagerness and joyfulness, 245;
the Duchess thinks only of some means or other of revenge, 246;
her directions when about to quit the sphere of her palace
triumphs, 246;
withdraws to her country seat near St. Albans, 246;
becomes soured by adversity and disgusted with the Court and the
world, 247;
disposed to wrangle and dispute on the slightest provocation, 247;
a great affliction in the death of a long-tried friend, Lord
Godolphin, 247;
the Duke and Duchess leave England, 248;
the attitude assumed by the Duke and Duchess throughout the
political conflicts which agitated the Court during her residence
abroad, 307;
returns to England shortly after the death of Anne, 308;
very far from possessing the influence she had enjoyed during Anne's
reign, 308;
her feverish thirst for political and courtly intrigues return upon
her despite the advance of old age, 308;
her shrewd and sound advice to her husband, 308;
survives her illustrious husband twenty-two years, 309;
her reply to the "proud Duke" of Somerset on the offer of his
hand, 309;
the testimony of respect she owed to the memory of a husband who
left so great a name, 309;
the instructive lesson derivable from her extraordinary and signal
disgrace, as emphatically given by herself, 309, 310;
her death at eighty-four, 310;
her singular fate in private life--"that scarcely did she possess a
tie which was not severed or embittered by worldly or political
considerations," 310.
MARLBOROUGH, John Churchill, afterwards Duke of, son of a poor
cavalier knight, he enters the army at sixteen, 208;
love, not war, the first-stepping-stone to his high fortunes, 208;
obtains a pair of colours in the Guards through the interest of his
sister Arabella, 208;
known to the French soldiery as "the handsome Englishman," 208;
complimented by Turenne on his gallantry and serene
intrepidity, 209;
Turenne's wager, 209;
solicits unsuccessfully the command of a regiment from Louis
XIV., 209;
declared by Lord Chesterfield "irresistible either by man or
woman," 209;
rises rapidly at Court, 209;
his daring adventure with the Duchess of Cleveland, 210;
presented by her with 5000_l._, with which he buys an annuity, 210;
marries Sarah Jennings, 210;
testifies the greatest affection for his wife, 210;
climbs fast up the ladder of preferment, 211;
coldly forsakes his benefactor James II., 211;
created Earl and General by William III., 211;
Duke and Commander of the British armies by Queen Anne, 211;
his deceitful and selfish character, 211;
if his soul was mean and sordid, his genius was vast and
powerful, 212;
his neglected education and consummate oratory, 212;
the most powerful personage in England, 214;
rules the household, parliament, ministry, and the army, 214;
rules the councils of Austria, States-General of Holland, Prussia,
and the Princes of the Empire, 214;
as potent as Cromwell, and more of a king than William III., 214;
writes a stern letter to his wife on her dissensions with the
Queen, 229;
detained in England by "the quarrel among the women about the
Court," 231;
Dean Swift's unjust insinuations, 234;
his courage called in question, and he is represented as the lowest
of mankind, 234;
his cold reception on his return from Flanders, 242;
his ruling passion--love of money--made him stoop to mean and paltry
actions, 243;
his motives for retaining command of the army under a Tory
Ministry, 245;
the mask of envy, hatred, and jealousy, 247;
the death of Lord Godolphin determines him to reside abroad, 247;
his request to see the Queen before his departure refused, 248;
furnished with a passport by his secret friend Lord
Bolingbroke, 248;
his steady correspondence with his friends, 307;
refuses to approve of the Peace of Utrecht, or abandon his desire
for the Hanoverian succession, 307;
sees the cabals of his native country reflected in the Court of
Hanover, 307;
returns to England shortly after the death of Queen Anne, 308;
witnesses the triumph of the Whigs on their return to power at the
accession of George I., 308;
reproached by the Duchess for no longer taking an active part in
public affairs, 308;
attacked with paralysis which deprives him of speech and
recollection, 308;
his death (in 1722), 308;
his gentleness and devotion towards his wife and children, 309;
how he governed his imperious consort, 309;
the testimony of respect shown to his memory by the Duchess refusing
offers of marriage from Lord Coningsby and the Duke of
Somerset, 309.
MASHAM, Mrs. (afterwards Lady), her origin, related to the Duchess of
Marlborough and Harley, 221;
appointed bed-chamber woman to the Queen, 221;
married to Masham when Abigail Hill, 221;
her lowly, supple, artful character, 222;
her servile, humble, gentle and pliant manner towards the
Queen, 224;
coincides with Anne in political and religious opinions, 224;
strives to sap the power and credit of the Whigs and to displace
Marlborough, 225;
after an altercation with the Duchess, the Queen gives her entire
confidence to Mrs. Masham, 226;
ever on the watch to turn such disagreements to skilful
account, 227;
gradually worms herself into the Queen's affections and undermines
the Mistress of the Robes, 227;
the petty and ungrateful conduct of the bed-chamber woman, 227;
mean and paltry instances of treachery to her benefactress, 227;
the upstart favourite exhibits all the scorn and insolence of her
nature, 229;
an instance of Mrs. Masham's stinging impertinence towards the
Duchess, 230;
the influence of the favourite, 233.
MAZARIN, Cardinal, his exclamation on hearing that Mademoiselle de
Montpensier had fired upon the king's troops, 10;
quits France once more to facilitate a reconciliation with the
Frondeurs, 13;
received on his return by the Parisians with demonstrations of
delight, 15;
his triumph over the Fronde, the result of his prudent line of
conduct, 16;
his reception at the Louvre by Anne of Austria and the Court, 17;
the heads of the two powerful families of Vendôme and Bouillon
become the firmest supporters of his greatness, 20;
his good fortune opens the eyes of every one to his merit, 31;
his solemn reception by the King and Queen not an idle pageant or
empty ceremony, 32.
MEDINA-COELI, Duke de, head of the purely political Spanish
system, 169;
his double character, 196;
is arrested by Madame des Ursins, and ends his days in prison, 256.
MEILLERAYE, Marshal la, advances against the Princess de Condé at
Montrond, 83.
MELGAR, Admiral Count de, plots the downfall of Philip V. and the
elevation of the Archduke, 170;
traitorously joins the Portuguese and their allies, 170;
his death from an insult, 171.
MERCOEUR, Duke de (eldest son of Cæsar, Duke de Vendôme), married to
the amiable and virtuous Laura Mancini, 21;
made Governor of Provence, 21.
MONTBAZON, Marie d'Avangour, Duchess de, one of those who made most
noise at Anne of Austria's Court, 61;
summary of her character, 61;
a list of all her lovers, titled and untitled, not to be
attempted, 61;
very nearly the cause of a duel at the door of the king's
apartments, 62;
often used as an instrument by Madame de Chevreuse, 62;
a dangerous rival to Madame de Guéméné, 62;
instigates the Count de Soissons to add outrage to desertion of
Madame de Guéméné, 62;
her long exercised influence over Beaufort useful to the Court, 62;
wanting in all the better qualities of a political woman, 62;
proposes to enter into a treaty of alliance with De Retz, 63;
very mercenary both in love and politics, 64;
tricked out of 100,000 crowns by Condé and the Princess Palatine, 64;
returns to Court after an exile of five years, 65;
Madame de Motteville's description of her well-preserved beauty, 65;
dies of the measles--three hours only accorded to her to prepare for
death, 66;
looked back with horror on her past life, 66;
little regretted by any one save De Rancé, 66;
the sight of her sudden death determines De Rancé to withdraw from
the world, 67;
Laroque's version of the catastrophe, 67.
MONTPENSIER, Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans, called _La Grande
Mademoiselle_ Duchess de, mingles in all the intrigues of the
Fronde, 6;
adopts unwise means to force herself as a bride upon the young
king, 6;
by her noble conduct in the struggle at the Faubourg St. Antoine,
she saves the live of Condé, 10;
her description of Condé's most pitiable condition, 11;
characterises the Bourbons as much addicted to trifles, 69;
a hint by which, looking at her portrait, her character may readily
be read, 69;
the commencement of her political and military career, 69;
her companions-in-arms, the Countesses Fiesque and Frontenac, 70;
she hoped to exchange the helmet of the Fronde for the crown of
France, 70;
she describes the Civil War as being a very amusing thing for
her, 70;
her defence of Orleans against the royal troops, 71;
thrust through the gap of an old gateway and covered with mud, 71;
hastens to arrest the massacre at the Hotel de Ville, 71;
driven out of doors by her father--her wanderings, 72;
expiates her pranks by four years' exile at St. Fargeau, 72;
numerous pretenders to her hand, 72;
the masquerades of 1657 carry the day over the political aims of
1652, 73;
is reconciled to her cousin, Louis XIV., 73;
conflicts of the heart succeed to political storms, 73;
destined to extinguish with the wet blanket of vile prose the
brilliancy of a long and romantic career, 73;
history ought not to treat too harshly the Frondeuse of the
blood-royal, 73;
the supreme criterion for the appreciation of certain women is the
man whom they have loved, 74;
Lauzun makes an impression upon her at first sight, 74;
her own account of the discovery of her love for him, 75;
asks the king's permission to marry the Gascon cadet, 75;
after giving permission, Louis XIV. retracts, 75;
Mad. de Sevigné's laughable account of Mademoiselle's grief, 76;
probability that a clandestine marriage had been accomplished, 76;
Anquetil's account of a putative daughter, 76;
a secret chamber occupied by Lauzun in the Château d'Eu, 76;
she obtains Lauzun's release after ten years' captivity, 77;
he shows her neither tenderness nor respect, but beats her, 78;
they separate and never meet again, 78;
her death at the Luxembourg, 78;
her creditable position among French writers and her encouragement
of literary men, 79
MONTELLANO, Duke de, replaces Archbishop Arias in the presidency of
Castile, 172;
counterbalances the authority of Porto-Carrero, 172;
offended at the attitude of the princess, he resigns, 196.
NEMOURS, Charles Amadeus of Savoy, Duke de, wounded in the Fronde war,
is visited in various disguises by the Duchess de Châtillon, 4;
wounded in several places in the combat at the Faubourg St.
Antoine, 9;
is killed in a duel with his brother-in-law, Beaufort, 14.
NOIRMOUTIER, Duke de, circulates his sister's annotated letter
throughout Paris, 179.
ORLEANS, Gaston, Duke d', but for his daughter, his inaction would
have allowed Condé to perish, 10;
his interview with Condé after the fight, 12;
exiled to Blois, 15;
passes there the remainder of his contemptible existence, 25.
ORLEANS, Henrietta of England, daughter of Charles I., Duchess d',
admits Louise Quérouaille into her household as
maid-of-honour, 96;
intrusted with the negotiating of detaching England from the
interests of Holland, 97;
her character and personal attributes at five-and-twenty, 97;
her unbounded power over her brother, Charles II., 97;
the secret of Louis XIV.'s progress to Flanders, known only to
her, 99;
embarks from Dunkirk for Dover, with La Quérouaille and initiates
the secret negotiation with her brother, 99;
Charles falls into the snare and Henrietta carries most of the
points of that disgraceful treaty, 99;
takes her maid-of-honour back to France to incite Charles's desire
to retain her in his Court, 100;
the Duchess thought more of augmenting the greatness of Charles than
of benefiting England, 100;
her motives for undertaking all this shameful bargaining, 102;
on her return to Paris, a cabal in her household seeks to effect her
destruction, 102;
the motives originating the plot, 103;
she is seized with a mortal illness at St. Cloud, 104;
the heartless indifference of all around her, save Madlle. de
Montpensier, 105;
her dying declaration that she was poisoned, 105;
Bossuet consoles her in her last moments, 106;
the cause of her death falsely attributed to _cholera-morbus_, 106;
St. Simon's statement of the poison being sent from Italy by the
Chevalier de Lorraine, 107;
the intrigues which led to the murder present a scene of accumulated
horrors and iniquity, 107;
the last political act of the Duchess calculated to secure the
subjection of the English nation, 107.
ORLEANS, Philip II. (nephew of Louis XIV. and afterwards Regent),
Duke d', represents Louis XIV. in Spain, 254;
distrusted by, but remains on the best footing with Mad. des
Ursins, 254;
indulged the hope of being put in the place of Philip V., 255;
his suspicious negotiations with the Earl of Stanhope, 255;
Mad. des Ursins demands his recall and obtains it, 255;
denounced by Mad. des Ursins, and with difficulty escapes a
scandalous trial, 256.
ORRY, Jean Louville's accusations against him, 177;
Mad. des Ursins' letter with friendly remembrances to d'Aubigny's
wife, 183;
recalled to France, 187;
reinstated by Mad. des Ursins, 190.
PALATINE, Anne de Gonzagua, Princess, if the Fronde could have been
saved, her advice would have saved it, 18;
is associated with Mazarin's triumph, 19;
her political importance dates from the imprisonment of the
Princess, 54;
uses the feminine factionists as so many wires by which to move the
men whom they governed, 54;
the opinions of De Retz and Mazarin upon her stability of purpose
and capacity to work mischief, 54;
appointed superintendent of the young Queen's household, 55;
retires from Court, and ends her days in seclusion, 56;
her conversion and penitence, 57;
Bossuet's funeral oration, 57;
her account of her conversion addressed to the celebrated Abbé de
Rancé, founder of La Trappe, 58;
a glance at the singular fortunes of the Duke de Guise, her first
lover, 59.
PETERBOROUGH, Lord, tears Barcelona from Philip V., 197.
PHILIP V. (Duke d' Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV.), King of Spain,
grave questions raised by his accession, 151;
his character, 154;
Mad. des Ursins governs him through the Queen, 154;
in disguise, meets his bride at Hostalnovo, 157;
his mental defects--rather constituted to serve than reign, 166;
his first entrance into Spain radiant with youth and hope, 166;
Europe forms a coalition to snatch the two peninsulas from the
domination of France, 167;
compels the recall of Cardinal d'Estrées, 174;
takes command of the army on the frontiers of Portugal, 179;
baffled at Barcelona, and takes, in mortal agony, the road to
France, 198;
re-enters Madrid as a liberator, 252;
is thoroughly defeated by the Austrians at Saragossa, 257;
Louis XIV. advises him to abandon Spain in order to keep Italy, 257;
his noble letter in reply, 259;
his dismissal in mass of his French household, 260;
after the victory of Villaviciosa, sleeps on a couch of
standards, 262;
in behalf of Mad. des. Ursins, refuses to sign the treaty of
Utrecht, 281;
he signs the treaty unconditionally, 284;
his choice of a wife limited to three princesses by Louis XIV., 287;
secretly lends his hand to a _coup d'état_ against Mad. des
Ursins, 291;
gives authority to his new consort to take everything upon
herself, 294;
succeeds in reducing Spain to obedience only a few days before the
fall of Mad. des Ursins, 303.
PORTO-CARRERO, Cardinal, exercises a powerful influence on Innocent
XI. and Charles II. of Spain, 141;
is won over by Mad. des Ursins to favour the pretensions of the
Duke d'Anjou, 142;
champion of the ultra-French political system, 169;
abruptly changes his policy, 172;
becomes a formidable adversary of the Princess des Ursins, 172;
refuses to act with Cardinal d'Estrées and resigns, 172;
the turncoat from every cause, and as a politician is
annihilated, 173;
his intractable and arrogant temper, 173;
his cabal rakes into the private life of the _camerara-mayor_
without success, 173;
he quits Madrid with all the French household, 174.
PORTSMOUTH, Louise Penhouet Quérouaille, Duchess of, the political
errors of Charles II. primarily traced to her, 93;
more than any other of his mistresses odious to the English, 93;
the acme of splendour and corruption reached by the French court in
1670, 93;
the household of his sister-in-law, Henrietta of England, supplies
Louis XIV. with a diplomatist in petticoats, 93;
the royal family used her as an instrument without caring about her
origin, 94;
what Mad. de Sevigné says of her antecedents, 94;
revelations of the _Histoire Secrète_, 94;
the Duke de Beaufort enamoured of her, 95;
carries her off to Candia disguised as a page, 95;
on his being cut to pieces, she returns to France, 96;
this prank of hers proves the foundation of her fortunes, 96;
Henrietta of England, interested in her romantic tale, admits her as
one of her maids-of-honour, 96;
Louis XIV. finds her an apt and willing instrument in the secret
negotiation, 98;
the pretext of a progress to Flanders resorted to by Louis XIV. to
bring La Quérouaille under the notice of Charles II., 98;
she embarks with the Duchess at Dunkirk for Dover, where she
captivates the king, 99;
Louise returns to France with the Duchess of Orleans, 100;
the key to the will of Charles II. found in Louise, 100;
Louis XIV. promises of handsomely rewarding the compliant
maid-of-honour, 102;
the Duke of Buckingham seeks to turn her to his own advantage as a
rival to the Duchess of Cleveland, 108;
an invitation formally worded sent her from the English Court, 109;
is left in the lurch at Dieppe by Buckingham, 109;
Lord Montague has her conveyed to England in a yacht, 109;
she is appointed maid-of-honour to the queen, 109;
the intoxication of Charles at "les graces décentes" of Louise, 109;
the purpose of her receiving an appointment at the Court of St.
James's foretold by Madame de Sevigné, 109;
St. Evremond's equivocal advice, 110;
created Duchess of Portsmouth, 110;
the domain of d'Aubigny conferred upon her by Louis XIV., 111;
Charles Lennox, her son by Charles II., created Duke of
Richmond, 111;
put out of countenance by Nell Gwynne, 112;
in conjunction with Barillon obtains an order which suddenly changed
the face of Europe, 113;
her triumphant sway in political matters, 113:
generously sacrifices her political _rôle_ in the matter of the
"bill of exclusion," 114;
her correspondence with Madame de Maintenon, 115;
Louis XIV. confers upon her the title of Duchess d'Aubigny, 115;
her creditable behaviour during the fatal seizure of Charles
II., 115;
magnificence of her apartments, 116;
Barillon finds her in an agony of grief, 116;
the message of the mistress to the dying king's brother, 117;
her political attitude during the last months of Charles's
life, 119;
she returns to France with a large treasure of money and
jewels, 120;
is the object of a rigid surveillance, 120;
Louvois, Courtin, and the _lettre de cachet_, 120;
passes in profound obscurity the remainder of her life, 121;
so reduced as to solicit a pension, 121;
the power she possessed over the mind of Charles II., 122;
her beauty not comparable to that of Madame de Montespan, 123.
RANCÉ, Armand, Jean Le Bouthillier (the reformer of La Trappe), the
lover who regretted Madame de Montbazon the most sincerely, 6;
the sight of her sudden death determines him to withdraw from the
world, 67;
the skull of the Duchess said to have been found in his cell at La
Trappe, 67.
RETZ, Cardinal de, chills the Duke d'Orleans into inaction during the
struggle of Condé with Turenne, 10;
imprisoned at Vincennes, 15;
obtains the red hat from Louis XIV., 26;
entering upon his old intrigues, he is arrested and imprisoned, 26.
ROCHEFOUCAULD, Francis, Duke de la, blinded by a ball through his face
in the fight at the Faubourg St. Antoine, 9;
retires to his estates, and for a few years buries himself in
obscurity, 27;
is again received into favour, and obtains a thumping pension, 28.
SAINT-SIMON, Duke de, his explanation of the ascendency of Madame des
Ursins, 168;
his elaborate portrait of the Princess, 304.
SAVOY, Marie Louise of (daughter of Amadeus II., first wife of Philip
V. of Spain), quits Italy with Madame des Ursins for Spain, 153;
description of her at fourteen, 153;
the _camerara-mayor_ becomes indispensable to her, 154;
incidents of the journey to Spain, 156;
her first interview with Philip, who is disguised as a king's
messenger, 158;
the marriage at Figuieras, 158;
untoward incident of the supper there, 159;
Spanish _versus_ French cookery, 159;
her indignation at the conduct of the Spanish ladies, 159;
attributes the audacity and rudeness of the Spanish dames to the
King, 159;
ends by making the _amende_ to Philip V., 169;
the arrival at Madrid, 160;
the Queen governs Philip V., and Madame des Ursins governs the
Queen, 168;
her education and mental characteristics, 168;
a happy conformity of tastes, views, and dispositions attaches the
Queen to Madame des Ursins, 169;
maintains the royal authority by the spell of her gentle and steady
virtues, 198;
her destitution at Burgos, 199;
forsaken by her Court, seeks an asylum in old Castile, 200;
in childbirth, appeals touchingly to the attachment and courage of
Madame des Ursins, 257;
dies suddenly at the age of twenty-six, 267.
SPAIN, two political systems confront each other at Madrid, 169;
both reduced to impotence by Madame des Ursins, 169;
Gibraltar torn away for ever from Spain by a handful of British
seamen, 187;
defenceless state of the country, 187;
necessary to have almost an army in each province, 199;
the last remnant of the army surrenders without fighting, 199;
the aim of the Great Alliance, 205;
solves by her own efforts the great question which had kept Europe
so long in arms, 262;
called upon alone to pay the costs of the pacification (Treaty of
Utrecht), 267.
SWIFT, Dean, covers the Duchess of Marlborough with ridicule and
obloquy, 234;
represents her in print as a pickpocket, 243.
TESSÉ, Marshal de, commands in Spain, 191;
a cunning courtier but mediocre general, 197.
TORCY, Marquis de (Prime Minister of Louis XIV.), favours the
candidature of Madame des Ursins, 145;
his confidence in her, 152;
a copy of Madame des Ursins' annotated letter sent him, 179.
TORIES, the, ousted by the Whigs, 218;
their dismissal demanded by the Queen's favourite, 219;
with Harley and Bolingbroke at their head they work in the dark to
regain power, 219;
set up Mrs. Masham to oppose and undermine the influence of the
favourite, 224;
they foster the Queen's grief at the bloodshed in the Low
Countries, 235;
dwell upon the odious tyranny of the Duchess of Marlborough, and
promise to deliver Anne from it, 236;
the Whigs replaced by Bolingbroke, Harley, Earl of Jersey, and the
Dukes of Ormonde and Shrewsbury, 242.
TURENNE, Marshal de, his error in attacking Condé without his entire
force, 7;
rivals Condé in boldness and obstinacy, 8;
his frigid, reflective, and profoundly dissembling character, 22;
carefully conciliated and caressed by Mazarin, 24;
made Governor of Auvergne, and the Viscounty of Turenne erected into
a principality, 24;
his wager on the subject of Churchill's gallantry, 211.
URSINS (Orsini), Marie Anne de la Tremouille-Noirmoutier, Princess de,
untoward result of the dramatic vicissitudes of a life devoted to
the pursuit of political power, 131;
married to the Prince de Chalais, 132;
joins her husband in Spain, whither he had fled from the consequences
of a duel, 133;
first meeting with Madame Scarron, 133;
left a childless widow on her arrival in Rome, 133;
the attention of Louis XIV. directed to her wit and capacity, 134;
she marries, with a political purpose, the Duke de Bracciano, 134;
her mode of life and career at Rome, 134;
character of the Duke, 135;
untoward misunderstandings arise through her extravagances, 136;
the passion for politics and power obtains mastery over her
mind, 137;
the Orsini in some sort a sacerdotal family, 137;
dogmatic questions prove a stumbling block to conjugal harmony, 138;
forms a close intimacy with the Maréchale de Noailles, 138;
her varied resources appreciated by the minister Torcy, 138;
presented to Madame de Maintenon on visiting Versailles, 138;
reconciled to her husband, the Duke, on his death-bed, 139;
is highly esteemed by the cabinet of Versailles, 140;
wins over Innocent XI. to favour the pretensions of the Duke
d'Anjou, 141;
she aspires to govern Spain, 142;
manoeuvres to secure the post of _camerara-mayor_, 142;
the art and caution with which she negotiates with the Maréchale de
Noailles, 143;
the astute programme traced by her for de Torcy, 145;
naïve expression of delight at her success, 146;
sets forth regally equipped to conduct the Princess of Savoy to her
husband, 148;
enters upon her militant career at an advanced age, 148;
entirely possessed by her painstaking ambition, 149;
enters upon her new mission with zeal, ardour, and activity, more
than virile, 149;
truly devoted to Spain, without failing in her devotion to
France, 152;
wages a determined war against the Inquisition, 152;
seeks to establish her power by masking it, 152;
first meets Maria Louise, of Savoy, at Villefranche, 153;
makes herself acceptable to the young Queen, 153;
her wrath and stupefaction at the French dishes being upset, 159;
installed definitively as _camerara-mayor_ at Madrid, 160;
onerous and incongruous duties of the post, 162;
her policy of keeping to herself sole access to the King and
Queen, 163;
sacrifices her dignity to her power and influence, 163;
by familiarising the Queen with politics, she penetrates every state
secret, 164;
renders the Queen popular among the people of central Spain, 164;
her wise policy for the regeneration of Spain, 165;
reduces both the ultra-French and purely Spanish political systems
to impotence, 169;
fathoms the intrigues and baffles the manoeuvres of Melgar, 170;
Louville succumbs to her, 171;
Porto-Carrero tenders his resignation, 172;
Cardinal d'Estrées her tool without knowing it, 173;
the Cardinal's cabal "rakes into her private life," 173;
the Queen defends her with earnest importunity, 174;
holds the Abbé d'Estrées in contempt, 176;
the intercepted letter and its marginal note, 176;
makes a false step in her statecraft, 176;
the blunder leads to a great imbroglio, 177;
did she always use her influence over the young Queen in a purely
disinterested way? 177;
at the age of sixty still had lovers, 177;
her relations with d'Aubigny, her equerry, 178;
gallantry and _l'entêtement de sa personne_, St. Simon asserts to be
her overwhelming weakness, 178;
she rashly resents the accusation of her marriage with
d'Aubigny, 179;
nicely balances Louis XIV.'s power in his grandson's Court, 180;
her egotistic and impatient ambition, 181;
the stately haughtiness of her submission to Louis XIV., 181;
her adroit flattery of Madame de Maintenon, 182;
quits Madrid as a state criminal for Italy, 184;
permitted to take up her abode at Toulouse, 184;
her artful letters and politic conduct, 185;
receives permission to appear at Versailles and justify
herself, 186;
the triumph of her restoration suddenly transforms her into "a court
divinity," 188;
she affects to be in no hurry to return to Spain, 189;
procures the admission of d'Aubigny into the cabinets of Louis XIV.
and Madame de Maintenon, 190;
authorised to form her ministry, 191;
her return to Spain prepared by the arrest of Leganez, 191;
she triumphs at Versailles, 192;
her lively appreciation of Louis XIV.'s mental qualities, 192;
the question of the prospect of her replacing Madame de
Maintenon, 193;
Louis XIV. seduced both by her grace and talent, 193;
turns all things to her advantage through her lucid common
sense, 194;
returns to Spain strengthened by disgrace, 194;
determines to break up the cabal of the grandees, 195;
foils the underhanded opposition of the high aristocracy, 196;
triumphs on the very brink of a volcano, 197;
nothing more honourable to her memory than her letters at this
period of disaster, 200;
by speeches, letters, and overtures, she consolidates the King's
authority in Old Castile, 200;
one of the most vigorous instruments ever made use of by
Providence, 201;
she flatters Madame de Maintenon about St. Cyr, 201;
suffering from rheumatism and a painful affection of her sight, acts
in the capacity of field-marshal to the Queen, 202;
her courage allied with good temper, amiability and _beau
sang_, 203;
her wretched quarters at Burgos, 203;
her temperament contrasted with that of Madame de Maintenon, 204;
her delicate and perilous position, 253;
overcomes Montellano and the friends of the old system, 253;
distrusts the Duke of Orleans, but remains on the best footing with
him, 255;
opposes his policy, demands his recall and obtains it, 255;
has to choose between the French policy of Louis XIV. and the
Spanish policy of Philip V., 257;
the young Queen appeals touchingly to her attachment and
courage, 257;
resolves to remain upon the theatre of events, 258;
throws herself headlong into the _mêlée_, 258;
reproaches Madame de Maintenon for preferring the King's case to his
honour, 258;
inspires Philip V. with an energy truly worthy of the throne, 259;
places herself at the head of the national movement, 259;
flatters alike the democracy and the grandees by throwing Philip
into the arms of the Spaniards, 260;
in deference to popular sensibilities she sacrifices Amelot and
Orry, 261;
implores that Vendôme might be sent to command the Spanish
forces, 261;
the victory of Villaviciosa definitely seats the Bourbons on the
throne of Spain, 262;
sees her steadfast policy crowned by accomplished facts, 262;
receives the title of HIGHNESS, 262;
her share in the treaty of Utrecht, 264;
her perseverance unexampled both in idea and conduct, 264;
undismayed by reverses, never intoxicated by success, 264;
her letters to Madame de Maintenon assume a somewhat protective
tone, 265;
at this culminating point of her greatness a humiliating catastrophe
is impending, 265;
the measures taken by her to consolidate the power of Philip
V., 266;
the question of the erection of a territory into a sovereignty for
her, 266;
she is overwhelmed with reproaches on all sides, 267;
this check the first of a series of misfortunes which death alone
closed, 267;
Marie Louise, of Savoy, dies suddenly, 267;
what mysteries did the Medina-Coeli palace witness? 268;
the loss of her royal mistress the remote signal which heralded her
fall, 268;
she destroys with her own hands the structure of her individual
fortunes, 268;
she imprudently attacks the Spanish inquisition, 269;
fails in the attempt and creates a host of enemies, 269;
Louis XIV. has a grudge against her for delaying the signature of
the Treaty of Utrecht, 269;
the storm darkens thickly over her head, 270;
she consults Alberoni on the choice of Elizabeth Farnese as consort
of Philip V., 270;
Alberoni deceives her in the representation of the Princess of
Parma's character, 270;
by Alberoni's first move Madame de Ursini's game was lost, 271;
she finds herself friendless in Spain, 272;
she neglects to conciliate her enemies, 272;
suspicious jealousy of domination over Philip V., 273;
scandal of the construction of the secret corridor in the
palace, 273;
her error in not renouncing the idea of the principality, 275;
Lord Lexington signs a convention with her in which Queen Anne
"_engaged to secure her a sovereignty_," 277;
Madame de Maintenon divines her concealed project, 277;
sends d'Aubigny secretly to France to negotiate with Torcy, 278;
her proud feeling of returning to France as a sovereign
princess, 278;
her towering rage on hearing of the repudiation of the convention by
Queen Anne, 279;
she believes herself tricked by the English, 279;
despatches d'Aubigny to Utrecht, 280;
selects a more important personage to continue the negotiations--the
Baron de Capres, 281;
the delay in the conclusion of the general peace imputed to
her, 282;
Madame de Maintenon's letter to her on that subject, 282;
hitherto so noble-minded, she is no longer comprehensible throughout
this affair, 283;
nothing left but to give way; and the Treaty is signed
unconditionally, 284;
her mortification at the failure of her pretensions, 284;
the Court of France is turned against her, 284;
she is addressed harshly and laconically by Madame de
Maintenon, 284;
the Duke of Berwick proves unfriendly, 284;
she keeps Philip V. from all private audience, and scandal becomes
again busy with her name, 285;
an anecdote circulated throughout the French world of fashion--the
pendant of "_Oh! pour mariée, non!_" 285;
Philip grows wearied of the complaints, murmurs, and idle talk, 286;
his exclamation "Find me a wife! our _tête-à-têtes_ scandalise the
people," 286;
her difficulties in the choice of a consort for Philip, 287-289;
selects Elizabeth Farnese, 289;
her uneasiness at the contradictory reports of the Princess of
Parma's character, 290;
she attempts too late to break off the match, 291;
that unskilful and tardy opposition prepares her ruin, 291;
her prompt, cruel, and decisive disgrace, 291;
her meeting with Elizabeth Farnese at Xadraque, 292;
the Queen outrageously thrusts Madame des Ursins out of her cabinet,
orders her to be arrested and instantaneously conveyed to the
French frontiers, 293;
her sufferings during the mid-winter journey, 293;
her touching relation to Madame de Maintenon, 293;
in her seventy-second year she sustains the strength and constancy
of her character, 294;
recovers all her strength, sang-froid, and wonted equanimity, 295;
her just estimate of human instability, 295;
St. Simon's impressive narrative of the terrible night of her rude
expulsion (December 24th, 1714), 295;
the hard fate reserved for a woman--the founder of a dynasty and
liberator of a great kingdom, 295;
the active correspondence of her numerous enemies both at Versailles
and Madrid, 296;
her hopes of returning to the Spanish Court frustrated, 296;
the Queen leaves her letters unanswered, 296;
Philip declares himself "unable to refuse the maintenance of the
measure taken at the instance of the Queen," 296;
Louis XIV. is compelled to be guided by the decision of his
grandson, 296;
Madame de Maintenon replies by evasive compliments, 296;
she perceives that all is at an end as regarded her resumption of
power, 296;
arrives in Paris and is coldly received by Louis XIV., 296;
she quits France and once more fixes her abode in Rome, 297;
attaches herself to the fortunes of Prince James Stuart, _the
Pretender_, and does the honours of his house, 297;
her death at fourscore and upwards, 297;
who were the real authors of the Princess's disgrace? 297;
her political life in Spain characterized, 301;
the difference arising from the respective characters of Madame des
Ursins and Madame de Maintenon, 301;
summary of her life and character, 303;
St. Simon's elaborate portrait of the Princess, 304;
his remark--"She reigned in Spain, and her history deserves to be
written," 305;
its lesson--the fruitlessness of the devotion of a most gifted
woman's life to the pursuit of politics, 306.
VENDÔME, Cæsar, Duke de, blockades Bordeaux, 14;
is made High Admiral and State Minister by Mazarin, 21;
pursues the Spanish fleet and threatens the relics of the Fronde at
Bordeaux, 21.
VENDÔME, Louis Joseph, Duke de (son of Cæsar), his victory at
Villaviciosa, 262;
it definitely seats the Bourbons on the throne of Spain, 262.
VINEUIL, M. de, proves a dangerous emissary in Condé's courtship of
"the Queen of Hearts," Madame de Châtillon, 5;
Madame de Montbazon, Madame de Mouy, and the Princess of Wurtemberg,
successively experience the effects of his seduction, 5.
WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION, the more immediate circumstances that
brought it about, 128;
Charles II. consults Innocent XI., and secretly bequeaths his crown
to the Duke d'Anjou, 142.
WHIGS, the, Queen Anne's feeling towards that party purely
official, 206;
they labour to secure the adhesion of Lady Churchill, 207;
they triumph in the first struggle, 218;
they eject Mansel, Harley, and Bolingbroke, 218;
they reckon amongst their ranks Marlborough, Godolphin, Walpole, the
army, public opinion, and parliament, 218;
the fall of the Ministry through disunion in itself, 233;
Dr. Sacheverel's affair contributes to ruin the Whigs in the Queen's
favour, 234;
the disgrace of the Duchess involves the fall of the Whigs, 242.
THE END.
BRADBURY AGNEW & CO., PRINTERS, WHITFERIARS.
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|Transcriber's Note |
| |
|Closing quotes are missing for the sentences beginning with: |
| |
|Page 44: "It was not a _Tartuffe_, it was not a _Pantaloon_ |
|Page 120: "that great freedom of speech prevailed in her circle, |
|Page 231: "to put an end to those controversies, and to avoid |
| |
|The following changes were made to the original text [correction |
|in brackets]: |
| |
|Page 83: difficulties, sometimes on horsback [horseback], at |
|Page 94: a neigbouring [neighbouring] town to that in which he |
|Page 147: from the King in addition to the high favonr[favour] and|
|Page 181: The Cardinal d'Estrêes [d'Estrées] was desirous |
|Page 187: of women, Louis XIV. had an insuperable antipathy,[.] It|
|Page 269: driven him to such extremity,[.] Besides, just then his |
|Page 318: writes to the Abbé d'Estreés[d'Estrées] touching the |
|Page 323: the household of of[omitted] his sister-in-law, |
|Page 323: to a _coup d'état_ against Mad. des Ursins, 297[291]; |
|Page 327: trimphs[triumphs] on the very brink of a volcano, 197; |
|Page 328: her hopes of returning to the Spansh[Spanish] Court |
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