conquer Spain itself; that they would be justi- the grandees. He caressed the clergy. He fied in attempting to put, not merely the pas- dazzled the multitude by his magnificent style sive Flemings and Italians, but the reluctant of living. The prejudices which the people of Castilians and Asturians, under the dominion Madrid had conceived against the French cha. of a stranger. The danger against which the racter, the vindictive feelings generated during Partition Treaty was intended to guard was centuries of national rivalry, gradually yielded precisely the same danger which afterwards to his arts; while the Austrian ambassador, a was made the ground of war. It will be diffi- surly, pompous, niggardly German, made himcult to prove, that a danger which was suffi- self and his country more and more unpopular cient to justify the war, was insufficient to every day. justify the provisions of the treaty. If, as Harcourt won over the court and city: Porto Lord Mahon contends, it was better that Spain Carrero managed the king. Never were knave should be subjugated by main force than that and dupe better suited to each other. Charles she should be governed by a Bourbon, it was was sick, nervous, and extravagantly superstisurely beiter that she should be deprived of tious. Porto Carrero had learned in the exerLombardy and the Milanese than that she cise of his profession the art of exciting and should be governed by a Bourbon.

soothing such minds, and he employed that art Whether the treaty was judiciously framed, is with the calm and demure cruelty which is the quite another question. We disapprove of the characteristic of wicked and ambitious priests. stipulations. But we disapprove of them, not He first supplanted the confessor. The state because we think them bad, but because we of the poor king, during the conflict between think that there was no chance of their being his two spiritual advisers, was horrible. At executed. Louis was the most faithless of one time he was induced to believe that his politicians. He hated the Dutch. He hated malady was the same with that of the wretches the government which the Revolution had es described in the New Testament, who dwelt tablished in England. He had every disposi- among the tombs; whom no chains could bind, tion to quarrel with his new allies. It was and whom no man dared to approach. At anquite certain that he would not observe his en- other time, a sorceress who lived in the moungagements, if it should be for his interest to tains of the Asturias was consulted about his violate them. Even if it should be for his in- malady. Several persons were accused of terest to observe them, it might well be doubt having bewitched him. Porto Carrero recom. ed whether the strongest and clearest interest mended the appalling rite of exorcism, which would induce a man so haughty and self-willed was actually performed. The ceremony made to co-operate heartily with two governments the poor king more nervous and miserable than which had always been the objects of his scorn ever. But it served the turn of the Cardinal, and aversion.

who, after much secret trickery, succeeded in When intelligence of the second Partition casting out, not the devil, but the confessor. Treaty arrived at Madrid, it roused to mo- The next object was to get rid of the minis. mentary energy the languishing ruler of a ters. Madrid was supplied with provisions by languishing state. The Spanish ambassador a monopoly. The government looked after this at the court of London was directed to remon- most delicate concern, as it looked after every strate with the government of William; and thing else. The partisans of the house of his remonstrances were so insolent that he was Bourbon took advantage of the negligence of commanded to leave England. Charles retali- the administration. On a sudden the supply ated by dismissing the English and Dutch am- of food failed. Exorbitant prices were debassadors. The French king, though the chief manded. The people rose. The royal resiauthor of the Partition Treaty, succeeded in dence was surrounded by an immense multiturning the whole wrath of Charles and of the tude. The queen harangued them. The Spanish people from himself, and in directing priests exhibited the host. All was in vain. it against the maritime powers. Those powers it was necessary to awaken the king from his had now no agent at Madrid. Their perfidious uneasy sleep, and to carry him to the balcony. ally was at liberty to carry on his intrigues There a solemn promise 'was given that the unchecked: and he fully availed himself of unpopular advisers of the crown should be this advantage.

forth with dismissed. The mob left the palace, A long contest was maintained with varying and proceeded to pull down the houses of the success by the factions which surrounded the ministers. The adherents of the Austrian line miserable' king. On the side of the imperial were thus driven from power, and the gover.2family was the queen, herself a princess of ment was intrusted to the creatures of Porto that family; with her were allied the confessor Carrero. The king left the city in which he of the king, and most of the ministers. On had suffered so cruel an insult, for the magni. the other side, were two of the most dexterous ficent retreat of the Escurial. Here his hyper. politicians of that age, Cardinal Porto Carrero, chondriac fancy took a new turn. Like his Archbishop of Toledo, and Harcourt, the am- ancestor, Charles the Fifth, he was haunteil hassador of Louis.

by a strange curiosity to pry into the secrets Harcourt was a noble specimen of the French of that grave to which he was hastening 13 aristocracy in the days of its highest splendour the cemetery which Philip the Second had

a finished gentleman, a brave soldier, and a formed beneath the pavement of the church skilful diplomatist. His courteous and insinu- of St. Lawrence, reposed three generations of ating manners, his Parisian vivacity tempered Castilian princes. Into these dark vaults the with Castilian gravity, made him the favourite unhappy monarch descended by torchlight, ana of the whole court. He became intimate with penetrated to that superb and gloomy chamber

where, round the great black crucifix, are and cautioned against the flagrant injustice ranged the coffins of the kings and queens of which he was tempted to commit. He was Spain. There he commanded his attendants to assured that the right was with the house of open the massy chests of bronze in which the Bourbon ; and reminded that his own salvation relics of his predecessors decayed. He looked ought to be dearer to him than the house of on the ghastly spectacle with little emotion till Austria. Yet he still continued irresolute. the coffin of his first wife was unclosed, and His attachment to his family, his aversion to she appeared before him-such was the skill | France, were not to be overcome even by of the embalmer—in all her well-remembered papal authority. At length he thought himbeauty. He cast one glance on those beloved self actually dying, when the cardinal redoufeatures unseen for eighteen years, those fea- bled his efforts. Divine after divine, well-tutures over which corruption seemed to have no tored for the occasion, was brought to the bed power, and rushed from the vault, exclaiming, of the trembling penitent. He was dying in She is with God, and I shall soon be with the commission of known sin. He was deher.” The awful sight completed the ruin of his frauding his relatives. He was bequeathing body and mind. The Escurial became hateful civil war to his people. He yielded, and signed to him, and he hastened to Aranjuez. But the that memorable testament, the cause of many shades and waters of that delicious island- calamities to Europe. As he alhxed his name garden, so fondly celebrated in the sparkling to the instrument, he burst into tears. “God," verse of Calderon, brought no solace to their he said, "gives kingdoms and takes them unfortunate master. Having tried medicine, away. I am already as good as dead.” exercise, and amusement in vain, he returned The will was kept secret during the short to Madrid to die.

remainder of his life. On the 3d of November, He was now beset on every side by the bold 1700, he expired. All Madrid crowded to the and skilful agents of the house of Bourbon. palace. The gates were thronged. The anteThe leading politicians of his court assured chamber was filled with ambassadors and him, that Louis, and Louis alone, was suffi- grandees, eager to learn what dispositions the ciently powerful to preserve the Spanish mo- deceased sovereign had made. At length fold. narchy undivided; and that Austria would be ing doors were flung open. The Duke of utterly unable to prevent the Treaty of Parti- Abrantes came forth, and announced that the tion from being carried into effect. Some whole Spanish monarchy was bequeathed to celebrated lawyers gave it as their opinion, Philip, Duke of Anjou. Charles had directed that the act of renunciation executed by the that, during the interval which might elapse late Queen of France ought to be construed between his death and the arrival of his sucaccording to the spirit, and not according to cessor, the government should be administered the letter. The letter undoubtedly excluded the by a council, of which Porto Carrero was the French prince. The spirit was merely this; chief member. that ample security should be taken against Louis acted as the English ministers might the union of the French and Spanish crowns have guessed that he would act. With scarcely on one head.

the show of hesitation, he broke through all In all probability, neither political nor legal the obligations of the Partition Treaty, and acreasonings would have sufficed to overcome cepted for his grandson the splendid legacy of the partiality which Charles felt for the house Charles. The new sovereign hastened to take of Austria. There had always been a close possession of his dominions. The whole court connection between the two great royal lines of France accompanied him to Sceaux. His which sprung from the marriage of Philip and brothers escorted him to that frontier, which, Juana. Both had always regarded the French as they we imagined, was to be a frontier as their natural enemies. It was necessary 10 no longer. “The Pyrenees,” said Louis, “hare have recourse to religious terrors; and Pório ceased to exist." Those very Pyrenees, a few Carrero employed those terrors with true pro- years later, were the theatre of a war between fessional skill. The king's life was drawing the heir of Louis and the prince whom France to a close. Would the most Catholic prince was now sending to govern Spain. commit a great sin on the brink of the grave? If Charles had ransacked Europe to find a And what would be a greater sin than, from an successor whose moral and intellectual chaunreasonable attachment to a family name, racter resembled his own, he could not have from an unchristian antipathy to a rival house, chosen better. Philip was not so sickly as his to set aside the rightful heir of an immense predecessor; but he was quite as weak, as inheritage? The tender conscience and the dolent, and as superstitious; he very soon befeeble intellect of Charles were strongly wrought came quite as hypochondriacal and eccentric; upon by these appeals. At length Porto Car- and he was even more uxorious. He was inrero ventured on a master-stroke. He advised deed a husband of ten thousand. His first Charles to apply for counsel to the Pope. The object, when he became King of Spain, was to king, who, in the simplicity of his heart, con procure a wise. From the day of his marriage sidered the successor of St. Peter as an infal- to the day of her death, his first object was to Lible guide in spiritual matters, adopted the have her near him, and to do what she wished. suggestion; and Porto Carrero, who knew that As soon as his wife died, his first object was his holiness was a mere tool of France, awaited to procure another. Another was found, as with perfect confidence the result of the appli- unlike the former as possible. But she was a cation. In th: answer which arrived from wife, and Philip was content. Neither by day Roine, the king was solemnly reminded of the nor by night, neither in sickness nor in health, grea' account which he was soon lo render, neither in time of business nor in time of reaxation, did he ever suffer her to be absent was," as Somers expressed it in a remarkable from him for half an hour. His mind was na- letter to William, "a deadness and want it turally feeble; and he had received an enfee- spirit in the nation universally." bling education.

He had been brought up Every thing in England was going on as amidst the dull magnificence of Versailles. His Louis could have wished. The leaders of the grandfather was as imperious and as ostenta- Whig party had retired from power, and were lious in his intercourse with the royal family extremely unpopular on account of the unforas in public acts. All those who grew up im- tunate issue of the Partition Treaty. The Tomediately under the eye of Louis, had the ries, some of whom still cast a lingering look manners of persons who had never known towards St. Germains, were in ofñce, and had what it was to be at ease. They were all a decided majority in the House of Commons. taciturn, shy, and awkward. In all of them, William was so much embarrassed by the except the Duke of Burgundy, the evil went state of parties in England, that he could not further than the manners. The Dauphin, the venture to make war on the house of Bourbon. Duke of Berri, Philip of Anjou, were men of He was suffering under a complication of seinsignificant characters. They had no energy, vere and incurable diseases. There was every no force of will. They had been so little ac- reason to believe that a few months would customed to judge or to act for themselves, dissolve the fragile tie, which bound up that that implicit dependence had become neces- feeble body with that ardent and unconquerasary to their comfort. The new King of Spain, ble soul. If Louis could succeed in preserving emancipated from control, resembled that peace for a short time, it was probable that wretched German captive, who, when the irons all his vast designs would be securely accomwhich he had worn for years were knocked plished. Just at this crisis, the most importoff, fell prostrate on the floor of his prison. ant crisis of his life, his pride and his passions The restraints which had enfeebled the mind hurried him into an error, which undid all that of the young prince were required to support forty years of victory and intrigue had done; it. Till he had a wife he could do nothing; which produced the dismemberment of the and when he had a wife he did whatever she kingdom of his grandson, and brɔught invachose.

sion, bankruptcy, and famine on his own. While this lounging, moping boy was on his James the second died at St. Germains. way to Madrid, his grandfather was all acti- Louis paid him a farewell visit, and was so vity. Louis had no reason to fear a contest much moved by the solemn parting, and by with the empire single-handed. He made the grief of the exiled queen, that, losing sight vigorous preparations to encounter Leopold. of all considerations of policy, and actuated, He overawed the States-General by means of a as it should seem, merely by compassion, and great army. He attempted to soothe the Eng- by a not ungenerous vanity, he acknowledged lish government by fair professions. William the Prince of Wales as King of England. was not deceived. He fully returned the hatred The indignation which the Castilians had of Louis; and, if he had been free to act ac- felt when they heard that three foreign powers cording to his own inclinations, he would have had undertaken to regulate the Spanish sucdeclared war as soon as the contents of the cession, was nothing to the rage with which will were known. But he was bound by con- the English learned that their good neighbour stitutional restraints. Both his person and his had taken the trouble to provide them with a measures were unpopular in England. His king. Whigs and Tories joined in condemnsecluded life and his cold manners disgusted a ing the proceedings of the French court. The people accustomed to the graceful affability of cry for war was raised by the city of London, Charles the Second. His foreign accent and and echoed and re-echoed from every corner his foreign attachments were offensive to the of the realm. William saw that his time was national prejudices. His reign had been a come. Though his wasted and suffering body season of distress, following a season of ra- could hardly move without support, his spirit pidly-increasing prosperity. The burdens of was as energetic and resolute as when, at the war, and the expense of restoring the cur- twenty-three, he bade defiance to the combined rency, had been severely felt. Nine clergymen force of England and France. He left the out of ten were Jacobites at heart, and had Hague, where he had been engaged in negosworn allegiance to the new dynasty only in tiating with the states and the emperor a de. order to save their benefices. A large propor- fensive treaty against the ambitious designs tion of the country gentlemen belonged to the of the Bourbons. He flew to London. He resame party. The whole body of agricultural modelled the ministry. He dissolved the Par. proprietors was hostile to that interest, which liament. The majority of the new House of ihe creation of the national debt had brought Commons was with the king, and the most into notice, and which was believed to be pe. vigorous preparations were made for war. culiarly favoured by the court—the moneyed Before the commencement of active hostili. interest. The middle classes were fully deter- ties, William was no more. But the Grand mined to keep out James and his family. But Alliance of the European Princes against the they regarded William only as the less of two Bourbons was already constructed. “The evils; and, as long as there was no imminent master workman died,” says Mr. Burke, “but danger of a counter-revolution, were disposed the work was formed on true mechanical printo thwart and mortify the sovereign by whom ciples, and it was as truly wrought.”. On the they were, nevertheless, ready to stand, in case 15th of May, 1702, war was proclaimed by of 'necessity, with their lives and fortunes. concert at Vienna, at London, and at ile They were sullen and dissatisfied. “ There Hague.

racter.

Thus commenced that great struggle by king sate eating and drinking all night, and which Europe, from the Vistula to the Atlantic lay in bed all day; yawned at the council Ocean, was agitated during twelve years. The table, and suffered the most important papers two hostile coalitions were, in respect of ter- to lie unopened for weeks. At length he was ritory, wealth, and population, not unequally roused by the only excitement of which his matched. On the one side were France, sluggish nature was susceptible. His grandSpain, and Bavaria; on the other, England, father consented to let him have a wife. The Holland, the Empire, and a crowd of inferior choice was fortunate. Maria Louisa, Princess powers.

of Savoy, a beautiful and graceful girl of thirThat part of the war which Lord Mahon teen, already a woman in person and mind, at has undertaken to relate, though not the least an age when the females of colder climates important, is certainly the least attractive. In are still children, was the person selected. Italy, in Germany, and in the Netherlands, The king resolved to give her the meeting in great means were at the disposal of great Catalonia. He left his capital, of which he generals. Mighty battles were fought. Fort- was already thoroughly tired. At setting out, ress after fortress was subdued. The iron he was mobbed by a gang of beggars. He, chain of the Belgian strongholds was broken. however, made his way through them, and By a regular and connected series of opera- repaired to Barcelona. tions extending through several years, the Louis was perfectly aware that the queen French were driven back from the Danube would govern Philip. He, accordingly, looked and the Po into their own provinces. The about for somebody to govern the queen. He war in Spain, on the contrary, is made of selected the Princess Orsini to be first dy of events which seem to have no dependence on the bedchamber-no insignificant post in the each other. The turns of fortune resemble household of a very young wife and a very those which take place in a dream. Victory uxorious husband. This lady was the daughand defeat are not followed by their usual con- ter of a French peer, and the widow of Spasequences. Armies spring out of nothing, and nish grandee. She was, therefore, admirably melt into nothing. Yet, to judicious readers fitted by her position to be the instrument of of history, the Spanish conflict is perhaps the court of Versailles at the court of Madrid. more interesting than the campaigns of Marl- The Duke of Orleans called her, in words too borough and Eugene. The fate of the Milan- coarse for translation, the Lieutenant of Capese, and of the Low Countries, was decided tain Maintenon; and the appellation was well by military skill. The fate of Spain was de-deserved. She aspired to play in Spain the cided by the peculiarities of the national cha- part which Madame de Maintenon had played

in France. But, though at least equal to her When the war commenced, the young king model in wit, information, and talents for inwas in a most deplorable situation. On his trigue, she had not that self-command, that paarrival at Madrid, he found Porto Carrero attience, that imperturbable evenness of temper, the head of affairs, and he did not think it fit which had raised the widow of a buffoon to to displace the man to whom he owed his be the consort of the proudest of kings. The crown. The cardinal was a mere intriguer, princess was more than fifty years old; but and in no sense a statesman. He had ac- was still vain of her fine eyes and her fine quired in the court and in the confessional, a shape; she still dressed in the style of a girl; rare degree of skill in all the tricks by which and she still carried her flirtations so far as to weak minds are managed. But of the noble give occasion for scandal. She was, however, science of government, of the sources of na- polite, eloquent, and not deficient in strength tional prosperity, of the causes of national de- of mind. The bitter Saint Simon owns that cay, he knew no more than his master. It is no person whom she wished to attach, could curious to observe the contrast between the long resist the graces of her manners and of dexterity with which he ruled the conscience her conversation. of a foolish valetudinarian, and the imbecility We have not time to relate how she obtainwhich he showed when placed at the head of ed, and how she preserved her empire over an empire. On what grounds Lord Mahon the young couple in whose household she was represents the cardinal as a man “of splendid placed; how she became so powerful, that genius,” “of vast abilities,” we are unable to neither minister of Spain nor ambassador discover. Louis was of a very different opi- from France could stand against her; how nion, and Louis was very seldom mistaken Louis himself was compelled to court her; in his judgment of character. “Everybody," how she received orders from Versailles to says he, in a letter to his ambassador, “knows retire; how the queen took part with the fahow incapable the cardinal is. He is an ob-vourite attendant; how the king took part with ject of contempt to his countrymen.”

the queen; and how, after much squabbling, A few miserable savings were made, which lying, shuffling, bullying, and coaxing, the dis. ruined individuals, without producing any per- pute was adjusted. We turn to the events of ceptible benefit to the state. The police became the war. more and more inefficient. The disorders of

When hostilities were proclaimed at Lon'he capital were increased by the arrival of don, Vienna, and the Hague, Philip was at French adventurers--the refuse of Parisian Naples. He had been with great difficulty brothels and gaming-houses. These wretches prevailed upon, by the most urgent representaconsidered the Spaniards as a subjugated race, tions from Versailles, to separate himself from hom the countrymen of the new sovereign his wife, and to repair without her to his Ita

b cheat and insult with impunity. The lian dominions, which were then menaced by

He en

the emperor. The queen acted as regent, and, i escaped to the shore. The conquerors shared child as she was, seems to have been quite as some millions of dollars; some millions more competent to govern the kingdom as her hus- were sunk. When all the galleons had been band, or any of his ministers.

captured or destroyed, there came an order in In August, 1702, an armament, under the due form allowing them to unload. command of the Duke of Ormond, appeared When Philip returned to Madrid in the beoff Calais. The Spanish authorities had no ginning of 1703, he found the finances more guards and no regular troops. The national embarrassed, the people more discontented, spirit, however, supplied in some degree what and the hostile coalition more formidable than was wanting. The nobles and peasantry ad- ever. The loss of the gallcons had occasioned vanced money. The peasantry were formed a great deficiency in the revenue. The Ad. into what the Spanish writers call bands of miral of Castile, one of the greatest subjects heroic patriots, and what General Stanhope in Europe, had fied to Lisbon, and sworn calls a “rascally foot militia." If the invaders allegiance to the archduke. The King of had acted with vigour and judgment, Cadiz Portugal soon after acknowledged Charles as would probably have fallen. But the chiefs King of Spain, and prepared to support the of the expedition were divided by national and title of the house of Austria by arms. professional feelings-Dutch against English, On the other side, Louis sent to the assistand lard against sea. Sparre, the Dutch ge- ance of his grandson an army of 12,000 men, neral, was sulky and perverse; according to commanded by the Duke of Berwick. Ber. Lord Mahon, because he was a citizen of a wick was the son of James the Second and republic. Bellasys, the English general, em- Arabella Churchill. He had been brought up bezzled the stores; we suppose, because he to expect the highest honours which an Engwas the subject of a monarchy. The Dukelish subject could enjoy; but the whole course of Ormond, who had the command of the of his life was changed by the revolution whole expedition, proved on this occasion, as which overthrew his infatuated father. Ber. on every other, destitute of the qualities which wick became an exile, a man without a coungreat emergencies require. No discipline try; and from that time forward his camp was was kept; the soldiers were suffered to rob to him in the place of a country, and profes. and insult those whom it was most desirable sional honour was his patriotism. to conciliate. Churches were robbed, images nobled his wretched calling. There was a were pulled down, nuns were violated. The stern, cold, Brutus-like virtue, in the manner officers shared the spoil, instead of punishing in which he discharged the duties of a soldier the spoilers; and at last the armament, loaded, of fortune. His military fidelity was tried by to use the words of Stanhope,“ with a great the strongest temptations, and was found indeal of plunder and infamy," quitted the scene vincible. At one time he fought against his of Essex's glory, leaving the only Spaniard of uncle; at another time he fought against the note who had declared for them to be hanged cause of his brother; yet he was never susby his countrymen.

pected of treachery, or even of slackness. The feet was off the coast of Portugal, on Early in 1704, an army, composed of Eng. the way back to England, when the Duke of lish, Dutch, and Portuguese, was assembled Ormond received intelligence that the treasure on the western frontier of Spain. The Archships from America had just arrived in Eu- duke Charles had arrived at Lisbon, and aprope, and had, in order to avoid his armament, peared in person at the head of his troops. repaired to the harbour of Vigo. The cargo The military skill of Berwick held the allies consisted, it was said, of more than three in check through the whole campaign. On millions sterling in gold and silver, besides the south, however, a great blow was struck. much valuable merchandise. The prospect An English fleet, under Sir George Rooke, of plunder reconciled all disputes. Dutch and having on board several regiments, comEnglish, admirals and generals, were equally manded by the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, eager for action. The Spaniards might, with appeared before the rock of Gibraltar. That the greatest ease, have secured the treasure, celebrated stronghold, which nature has made by simply landing it; but it was a fundamental all but impregnable, and against which all the law of Spanish trade that the galleons should resources of the military art have been emunload at Cadiz, and at Cadiz only. The ployed in vain, was taken as easily as if it had Chamber of Commerce at Cadiz, in the true been an open village in a plain. The garrison spirit of monopoly, refused, even at this con- went to say their prayers instead of standing juncture, to bate one jot of its privilege. The on their guard. A few English sailors climbed matter was referred to the Council of the In- the rock. The Spaniards capitulated; and the dies: that body deliberated and hesitated just British flag was placed on those ramparts, a day too long. Some feeble preparations for from which the combined armies and navies defence were made. Two ruined towers at of France and Spain have never been able to the mouth of the bay were garrisoned by a pull it down. Rooke proceeded to Malaga, few ill-armed and untrained rustics; a boom gave battle in the neighbourhood of that port was thrown across the entrance of the bay; to a French squadron, and after a doubtful and some French ships of war, which had action returned to England. convoyed the galleons from America, were But greater events were at hand. The Elite moored in the basin within. But all was to lish government had determined to send an no purpose. The English ships broke the expedition to Spain, under the command of boom ; Ormond and his soldiers scaled the Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough. Tus forts; the liench burned their ships, and man was, if not the greatest, yet assuredly !

Vol. II.