229 



certainly paid them more than one visit at Sotheby's. Indeed, as I read 

 over again your description of your ' Memoires,' I have a vague recol- 

 lection of having the book in my hand, and supposing it to be identical 

 with a little book printed at Cologne some time at the end of the 1 7th 

 century — * Relation de ce qu'est passee a la Cour d'Espagne entre D. Juan 

 d'Autriche et le Pere I^ithard,' or some such titled' However this may 

 be, I do not think I ever chanced to meet it at Mr. Eord's, and I am 

 sure he had either forgotten the fact of its existence, or did not connect 



it in any way with the name of Yillars, or the subject of my MS 



Whether my letter to '■ JN'otes and Queries' was written before or after 

 Pord's death, I cannot say, having no copy of it here ; but I think it 

 was after. I remember that he suggested my trying that source of in- 

 formation." 



Having thus cleared away this preliminary matter, it remains for 

 me to give a brief account of the anonymous volume of 1733 ; to esta- 

 blish its perfect identity (the authorship and a short introduction alone 

 excepted) with the MS. and printed volume of Mr. Stirling ; to point 

 out certain difficulties in the way of receiving some at least of the state- 

 ments of the unknown transcriber of Mr. Stirling's MS. ; to show, not 

 vaguely, but b}^ direct reference to the pages of each book, and to what 

 extent, the Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne," by Mme. d'Aulnoy, and 

 the "Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne" published in 1733, are taken 

 one from the other, or both from a common source ; and, finally, to in- 

 dicate the track which led me with little difficulty up to what I believe 

 to be that source, namely, the MS. Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne," 

 in the Library of the Arsenal at Paris, of which, as far as this inquiry 

 is concerned, I -may claim to be the discoverer ; which I believe to be 

 the source of all the others ; and of which I shall give a full description 

 at the end. 



OH' THE EDITION OE 1733. 



'.'Memoiees de la Coitr d'Espagne, depuis I'annee 1679 jusqu' en 

 1681. Ou Ton verra les Ministeres de Don Juan et du Due de Medina 

 Cell Et diverses choses concernant la Monarchic Espagnole. A Paris 

 chez Jean-Er. Josse. rue Saint Jacques, a la Eleur de Lys d'Or. 

 M.DCC.XXXIII. Avec Approbation, et Privilege du Eoy." 



This book, which I have been the first to identify with the MS. and 

 printed Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne par le Maequis de Yillaes," 

 of Mr. Stirling, is an octavo volume, containing 371 pages, exclusive of 

 three leaves of introductory matter which are unnumbered. These con- 

 sist of an Avertissement, two pages ; Approhation and Privilege du Roy, 

 three pages, and Fautes a Corriger, one page. The Avertissement is as 

 follows : — 



* I have an early translation of this book, with the following title :— "The Spanish 

 History, or a Relation of the Differences that happened in the Court of Spain between 

 Don John, of Austria, and Cardinal Nitard, with other Transactions of that Kingdom." 

 London, 1678. 



