227 



The author of 'Memoires de la Coiir d'Espagne/ i2mo., Paris, 1733, 

 likewise has his fling at this unfortunate river — p. 3, These memoirs 

 seem to be a compilation from Madame d'Aulnoy and others."'^' 



Barbier, however, having been passed over, it appears that Brunet 

 was looked into. The old editions of Brunet make no mention of the ano- 

 nymous volume of 1733, neither does the new (1860, tom. i., p. 570); 

 but what he there says by way of explanation to the mention of Madame 

 d'Aulnoy's " Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne," if not inaccurate, has pro- 

 bably added to the mystification which already existed on the subject. 

 Under the head of Aulnoy, or Aunoy, he has the following entry : — 

 ''Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne (depuis 1679 jusqu' en 1681, ano- 

 nyme) Paris CI. Barhin, 1690" — thus giving, or seeming to give, as the 

 title of Madame d'Aulnoy's book that which really belongs to the ano- 

 nymous volume of 1733, which he does not mention at all, but which 

 he doubtless has confounded, like so many others, with the former. The 

 copy of Madame d'Aulnoy's '' Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne," which 

 I possess, is the third edition, published at the Hague in 1692. Its 

 title is simply " Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne," without any addition, 

 and is identical with the original edition of CI. Barhin, Paris, 1690, a 

 copy of which I have examined in tlie Library of Saint Genevieve at 

 Paris. The words '' depuis 1679 jusqu' en 1681," which he gives in a 

 pare7ithesis, and I suppose by way of explanation, do not appear upon 

 the title-page of any edition of Madame d'Auln.oy's "Memoires;" but 

 they form a prominent part of the title of the volume of 1733, which is 

 a different book altogether, but which any one reading this article by 

 Brunet would conceive to be the same. 



The next step to be noticed in this very curious story is the letter 

 which Mr. Stirling published in "]^otes and Queries" (2nd series, vol. 

 x., p. 187, Sept. 8, 1860), appealing to the readers of that widely dif- 

 fused and useful journal for any information relative to Yillars, or the 

 ''Memoires" attributed to him, or of any printed copy or other ma- 

 nuscript of them. Mr. Stirling went very clearly and very fully into 

 the subject in this letter, and stated the various researches that he had 

 made even among the MSS. in the British Musenm, "where his friends 

 could not give him any information on the subject." Unfortunately 



pour le moins aiissi beau que le Pont-neuf, qui traverse la Seine a Paris." ... " II y 

 en eut un qui dit plaisammant ia-dessus, qu'il conseilleroit de vendre le Pont pour acheter 

 de I'eau." This curiously corresponds, almost verbatiwii with the following passage in the 

 then unpublished " Lettres de Madame de Villars," p. 96 : — " II est bien plus large et bien 

 plus long que le Pont-neuf de Paris : et Ton ne peut s'empecher de s^avoir bon gre a celui 

 que conseilla a ce Prince de vendre ce Pont ou d'acheter une riviere." The substance is 

 in the "Relation de Madrid," above quoted. "II est vray que I'Empereur Charles V. y 

 a fait batir un Pont fort grand et fort beau, que Ton appelle La Puente Segoviana. 

 Et I'ayant un jour fait voir a un Ambassadeur pour s9avoir ce qu'il luy ensembloit ? II 

 luy respondit, Kenos Puente o mas agua" 



* "Annals of the Artists of Spain," p. 592, vol. iii., note. The "Memoires de la 

 Cour d'Espagne," Paris, 1733, are quoted at pp. 957, 958, 960, 961, and 963, where 

 there is a misprint in the reference, which should be to pp. 229, 230 of the " Memoires," 

 instead of pp. 129, 130, as quoted. 



R. I. A. PROC. VOL. VIII. 2 H 



