of Frederick the Great was the ignis fatuus that led him to ignominy and derifion. The profligate policy of that prince, hid in the fplendour of his literary and political glory, feduced Jofeph II. to attempts little fuited to his talents. Intoxicated with the fame of a legiflator and a conqueror, he fcorned thofe humble and useful purfuits which were adapted to the mediocrity of his mind. He was one of those men, whom the parfimony of Nature precludes from fplendour, and the elation of vanity hinders from utility -who hover in a fphere too low for their ambition, and too lofty for their powers. Conatus fupra vires, et fupra rem, was confpicuous in every period of his life. But the hiftory of his reign is not without fome spots on which the eye may with pleasure reft. Let it be recorded to his immortal honour, that he was the first Catholic prince whe granted unlimited toleration to Proteftants, and the first Christian monarch who reftored to the rights of men the Jews, those ill-fated descendants of the favourites of Heaven, the peculiar fortune of whose religious fyftem it has been, that it was by the nations of antiquity contemned and protected, in modern times perfecuted and revered. It is thus that hiftory, while fhe denies Jofeph II. that place to which his ambition afpired, must refuse her fanction to all the invectives that have been fulminated against his name.-Weak rather than depraved, goaded by vanity rather than ftimulated by malignant paffions, he has clofed a career of abfurd ambition, dishonourable to his memory, injurious to the human race, and instructive to future times. Anecdote of Sir Robert Walpole and Dr Campbell. T happened that a meffenger who was employed by the Jacobites, in England, to carry on their correfpondence with the Pretender, had prevailed upon the doctor to write a letter to the Pretender's fecretary; and as the meffenger was in Sir Robert's Walpole's pay, he carried that letter with the reft to Sir Robert, who fent for the Doctor the follow ing morning (as he often did at other times, having frequently employed his pen in writing in defence of his adminiftration), on pretence of talking to him about fomething he was to write. He took him to a window, which looked into the ftreet, and while they were ftanding there together, Sir Robert had contrived that the meffenger should pafs by, and looking up, moved his hat to them; upon which Sir Robert asked the doctor if he knew that man, and who he was? The Doctor, in fome alarm, immedi ately answered that he was very well acquainted with him; and that he could affure him he was a very wore thy, honeft man. He may be fo, faid Sir Robert, but he is certainly a very careless one, for he gave me a letter yesterday which I believe was not intended to come into my hands, and I think its direction is your handwriting; and pulling out the doctor's letter, he gave it to him back unopened. The Doctor fell upon his knees, and vowed, that as he had given him his life, it fhould be devoted to his fervice, and he never ceased to be his fervent advocate throughout the remainder of his life. And Sir Robert was fo well convinced of his fincerity, that he would have given him a valuable office: but the Doctor would not facrifice his principles to his intereft, and declined the offer, and continued a nonjurer as long as the old Pretender lived. FE Lewis the Fourteenth, his Court and the Regent †. EW fovereigns had ever fuch obligations to their fubjects, as this prince. When he affumed the reins of government, the French, who from the time of Henry IV. had been always under the dominion of minifters, felt a pride in obeying a king. The young monarch became the delight of the nation. A fingle word of benevolence, or an action that could poffibly be conftrued into a wish for the national profperity or glory, was retailed with rapture. From the capital, this loyal fpirit flew into the provinces; and hence may be deduced that efteem, confidence, zeal, fidelity, and popular fubmiffion, which he enjoyed to the end of his life. Cardinal Mazarin, charged with the education of the young king, and his brother, Philip Duke of Orleans, commonly called Monfieur, with the queen-mother's approbation, endeavoured to render the one robust and manly, and the other effeminate. Lewis, tall, active, and healthy, fucceeded in all his exercises. He had already a commanding afpect without difdain, was ferious without illhumour, and acquired refpect at an age when he could be only expected to pleafe. Philip had, in foftnefs, all that his brother poffeffed in majefty. He had a natural tafte for the dress and ornaments of the other fex. This the queen-mother encouraged, and feemed delighted to fee him dreffed like a girl, and to appear publicly thus traveftied with other young courtiers in the fame garb. The eldeft brother was very early taught to act the Kings and left he should be tired of his part, or escape from his harness, the cardinal took care to provide him with regal amusements fuit able to his trappings. Mazarin, who had brought from Italy feven nieces, wifhed that the VOL, XI. No. 63. U young monarch should see, or at least admire, no other females. However, the attendants of these ladies feem to have exercised more powerful enchantments over his affections, than had been furnished to them either by nature or art; though Mary Manci ni, one of the cardinal's nieces, afterward feems feriously to have attached Lewis, notwithstanding his more tranfient amusements; but the defcription of this lady's charms excites no pleasurable ideas in the hearts of us old critics: for Mad. de Motteville fays, that "her complexion was brown, rather bordering on yellow; her neck and arms lean and fcraggy, and her mouth wide and flat; but fhe had good teeth, a fine figure, and eyes, which, though staring and vacant, feemed, as if they might, one day or other, acquire fenfibility and animation." This does not feem to imply a prodigy of beauty. Yet, with the freshness of 14 or 15, and a premature fpirit of coquetrie, fhe found little difficulty in touching fo new and inexperienced a heart, as that of the young monarch. Indeed, he became fo attached to this lady, that if the cardinal's ambitious views had not been checked by the fear of national refentment, fhe might have been Queen of France. When the time came for forming an alliance for his Majefty, at once conjugal and political, Mary Mancini was placed in a convent, in order to wean the young prince from her fociety. The feparation, fays M. Anquetil, was extremely afflicting; and the adieus were of the tendereft kind. The King could not contain his tears. You weep! fays Mary, with a forrow mixed with indignation, you weep! who are a king, and yet fuffer me to be torn from you! France was, at this time, at war + By Monf. Anquetil. with with Spain; and both nations, tired of the conteft, and the long enmity which had fubfifted between them, were glad to terminate their difputes by a marriage between the young Lewis and the Infanta; and which took place in 1660. The defcription of the festivity on this occafion, in Spain, Germany, and France, is truly characteristic. Marfhal de Grammont, the most gallant nobleman of the French court, rode poft to Madrid, with his whole fuite, fumptuoully dreffed, to manifeft the impatience of his master. The Admiral of Caftile, gave him a molt fuperb entertainment, "but more for the fight than the palate. Seven hundred dishes," fays the Marshal, "with the admiralty arms on them, were ferved; but fo faffroned and gilt, that they went away as they came, without any one being able to touch them, though the dinner lafted above four hours." A ceremonial entertainment given in Germany, fome time before, to the fame Marfhal, forms a perfect contraft to this. The Electors of Mayence and Cologne (fays he) were there. The dinner lafted from noon till nine o'clock at night, to the found of kettle-drums and trumpets, which never let the ears of the guests have moment's reft. At least two thoufand healths were drank. The table being cleared, the Electors, and others of the company, danced on it; and I myself (fays the Marfhal), tho' Jame, led off a courant, and we all got as drunk as wine could make us." But though this marriage was celebrated at Fontarabia with true Spanifh gravity; in France, the rejoicings were lefs remarkable for magnificence than for hilarity. The people, in general, feemed intoxicated with joy, efpecially when the King and Queen entered the capital. Mad. Scaron, afterward Mad. de Maintepon, at this time confounded in the crowd, fays in one of her letters, written the day after, that he had been, for ten or twelve hours, all This alliance, and the confequent peace with Spain, was the fummit of cardinal Mazarin's glory. The people, who had before abused and pelted him, now received him with acclamations; and thofe magiftrates by whom he had been profcribed, now haftened to compliment him on this aufpicious occafion. This artful and rapacious minifter furvived the public joy but a few months; dying, fays M. Anquetil, in perfect tranquillity after his ftormy regency, more like a philofopher than a Chriftian, March 9. 1661, ar fifty-nine years of age. Óf his feven nieces, he had three still to provide for, whom he had refufed to foliciting fovereigns. During the Pyrenean treaty, he let our Charles II. flip through his fingers, who, offering his hand to Mary Mancini, was thanked by the cardinal; who afterward offered her to Charles when he had afcended the throne, with a portion of five millions of livres, but was then thanked in his turn. But he had all the honour of refufing the princes of Savoy and Lorrain. These princes, indifferent about money, only wished perfonally to have a ftrong fortified town put into their hands on the frontiers of France; but the minifter honourably refufed to comply with conditions fo difadvantageous to the kingdom; and married his niece Mary to the conftable Colonna, giving her near fifty thousand pounds Sterling per annum, and his fine palace at Rome. Hortenfia, the most beautiful of his nieces, he bestowed on the D. de la Meillerie, grand mafter of the king's household, on condition that he took the name of Mazarin, with a fortune of 70,0001. per annum, and an immenfe quantity of of rich furniture; and lastly, he fet tled on the youngest a portion fufficient for an alliance to the house of Bouillon, when the became of age. For the others, who were already married in France, he obtained new grants. The king refused him nothing; or rather, he fubmitted to his wishes with the docility of a pupil, habituated to obedience or through gratitude for the care he had taken in forming him ;-for it is but just to fay, that if during early youth the cardinal only taught him how to act the king, as he advanced to manhood, he inftructed him how to be a king indeed. The riches left by the cardinal were enormous. According to the D. de St Simon, in fpite of the oppofition of two furious factions, it was proved in court (at the trial of the D. of Mazarin, with his fon, for the restitution of his mother's dowry), that, during an administration which lafted twenty years, he gave this lady upward of a million fterling; befide the prodigious fortunes bestowed on the duchefs de Mercœur, the princefs of Conti, the duchefs of Modena, the constable Colonna, the countefs of Soiffons, and the duchefs of Bouillon; together with the immenfe treafures which fell to the D. de Nevers. All this wealth was amaffed, not in times of profperity and abundanee, but during civil and foreign wars, which lasted till within a year of his death. It fhould alfo be remembered, that, like cardinal Richelieu, he had the fame household military establishment as the king gens d'armes, lighthorse, with an additional company of moufquetaires, all commanded by noblemen, and perfons of quality un der them. M. de St Simon believes, that it was the aftonishing poffeffions of this cardinal, joined to the defpotifm with which he governed the court, that determined Lewis XIV. never to have a prime minister again, or to admit an ecclefiaftic in council. The writer juft cited tells us, that this monarch had parts rather above mediocrity, more folid than brilliant; but he had a mind capable of forming itself by obfervation, and of borrowing ideas front thofe around him, without appearing a fervile imitator. He profited extremely, by living with perfons poffeffed of knowledge of the world, and merit of all kinds. When he began to reign, his ministers at home, and in foreign courts, were the moft able, and his generals the best in Europe. He learned every thing of them. The capacity of these accomplished perfons, and thofe of their fchool, was derived from the troubles with which the kingdom was agitated from the time of Lewis XIII. It is the common effect of civil wars to draw forth abilities, and of a long peace to debase them. The queen - mother was devout and the young queen was timid, appearing embarraffed by a great court, fo that the moft diftinguished and accomplished perfons, male and female, affembled at the house of the countefs of Soiffons. As fuperintendant, fhe had apartments in the palace of the Thuilleries, where she reigned at the time of her uncle's death, and fuftained her empire by continuing, in fome degree, his former fplendour; but ftill more by her wit and courage. Her refidence was the centre of gallantry and intrigue. Here perfons in friendship, decorated with titles, and almost all related or allied by marriage, lived together like one family, without admitting new or unknown affociates. Here the king acquired that polite and gallant air, to which he afterwards united, during his whole life, decorum and dignity. His fize and majestic figure, which fucceeded the bloom of youth, even the found of his voice, and his gait, diftinguished him from other men. U 2 The 1 The adminiftration of the kingdom was regulated two days before Mazarin's death, from his plans and counfel; and the machine was already in motion, when Harlai de Chanvalon, prefident of the clergy then af fembled, inquiring of his majefty to whom he should apply in future concerning matters of bufinefs, he faid, to me. The Abbè de Choify fays, that "Lewis XIV. always withed to be thought to govern by himfelf; and he certainly did, if hearing none but his minifters, feeing with their eyes, and thutting out truth from every other avenue, when it was their intereft to conceal it, can be called fo." He had, at this time, three minifters: Le Tellier, for the war department, Lionne for foreign affairs, and Fouquet for finance. The fame author has drawn their feveral characters with nice difcrimination : "Michell le Tellier (fays be) was a handfome agreeable man: of an eafy temper; timid in his family affairs, but bold and enterprifing in thofe of the state. Sufficiently firm to execute a plan; fitter, however, for the fecond place than the first; fearful of making enemies, perhaps because he was a dangerous enemy himfelf. He was gentle and infinu ating a great promifer; regular and civil in his commerce with the world, where he strewed nothing but flowers; and this was all that could be expected from his friendship. qua Hugh de Lionne, a gentleman of Dauphiny, was extremely well verfed in the interefts of princes, and a dexterous negociator; but this lity was fo well known by foreign minifters, that they were always on their guard. He feldom worked, unlefs preffed by circumftances, and then tranfacted the whole, himself, with matchlefs abilities. At other times, facrificing his fortune, health, and even indolence, to play, good cheer, and other pleasures. "Nicolas Fouquet, rendered fa mous by his difgrace, had a penetrating mind, great tafte for the belles lettres, and fine arts, and ftill more for voluptuoufnefs. He feemed to be working alone in his ftudy at St. Mande, his country-houfe; and while the whole court was in his antichamber, praifing the indefatigable fpirit of this great man, he defcended by a back flair-cafe into a little garden, where certain nymphs, that I could name, condefcended to bear him company, for the weighty compenfation of gold. He was the greateft and most daring diffipator that the treafury of a great nation ever fupported." The king worked, every day, with thefe three minifters, either together or feparately. His hour of rifing was eight; he then went to prayers, dreffed himself, read books or statepapers, and made a fhort breakfast ; appearing at ten o'clock in council, whence he departed at twelve, and went to mafs. The time between divine fervice and dinner, he either gave to the public, or to the queens in their apartments. After dinner, he ufually continued a confiderable time with the royal family; then he again fhut himself up with one of his minifters, gave audiences, received petitions, and fixed a day for anfwering them. The rest of the afternoon was paffed in converfations, either with the queens, or at the houfe of the countess of Soiffons; at play always moderate, and never at games of mere chance; at the theatre, or in walking, according to the seafon; without ever breaking into. this arrangement, unless on days of hunting, or extraordinary diversions. His favourite repast was fupper; this he prolonged, and fometimes had a ball after it; which was easily formed, as there were always ready for this fervice, the maids of honour; a title difficult to fuftain in fo warm a climate. This lively and playful band |