231 



from his namesake of England, certainly was very far from being.*' The 

 reading of the Paris edition of 1733, p. 53, restores the character of the 

 king for ardour and rapidity. Le Eoy etant parti de Madrid le 2 

 Octobre, arriva le lendemain a Burgos." In the London edition, p. 101, 

 line 14, we have Le conferance et la Caraerara Mayor." The Paris 

 edition, p. 105, 1. 5, reads more correctly le confesseur et la Camera 

 Mayor." In the Paris edition, p. 107, 1. 2, ''il [ils] ne fournirent 

 point les cessions dans le tems" is omitted from the London edition, p. 

 103, 1. 9. The Paris edition, p. 270, 1. 10, has il se retira ensuite 

 chez lui et tint son equipage pret pour partir, le lendemain il recut 

 I'ordre signe du Hoy," which is not given in the London edition, p. 259, 

 1. 17. At p. 2.60, 1. 10, speaking of the banishment, of the Count de 

 Monterey, the London edition says — Tout le monde luy eroit con- 

 traire." The Paris edition, p. 271, 1. 5, reads ''tout le monde Hoit 

 contraire," and adds the important reason, parce que toutle monde le 

 craignoit." At p. 287, 1. 20, the date [1630], which is wanting in the 

 London edition, is supplied in the Paris edition, p. 300, 1. 2. These 

 specimens will, it is presumed, be sufficient to show the extent of the 

 differences which exist between the Paris edition of 1733 and the so- 

 called Villars MS. and printed " Memoires" of 1861. 



THE MAEQTJIS i)E ELECOUET. 



Dans une note en tete de ces Memoires, Ton dit qu'ils ont ete ecrits 

 pour I'instruction da Marquis de Blecourt." — Preface, xviii. 



" Ses Memoires ont ete donnes pour instruction au Marquis de Ble- 

 court, Lieutenant- General des Armees du Roy lorsque sa Majeste I'a 

 envoye en Espagne apres la Traite de Partage au sujet du Testament du 

 Eoy Charles Second, et y a reste pendant- plusieurs annees en qualite 

 rl'T^^nvove anr.rAs de PhiUippe Y." — Preface des Memoires, p. xxv. 



The statement in the above extracts that the Memoires de la Cour 

 d'Espagne" were written by the Marquis de Yillars for the information 

 of the Marquis de Blecourt, is, as I have said, almost totally irreconcila- 

 ble with positive dates and facts. 



The Marquis de Yillars died on the 20th March, 1698, at an advanced 

 age, whether 80 years or 75 is not of much consequence. f The Mar- 



* Madame de Villars, in her first letter, 2nd November, 1679, writes expressly on this 

 point as follows : — " Je n'ai pas eu le courage d'aller a Burgos. M. de Villars, qui m'at- 

 tendoit ici, est parti pour rejoindre le Roi, qui va chercher la Reine d'une telle impetuo- 

 site qu'on ne le pent suivre." — Lettres de Madame de Villars, p. 6. 



f Saint-Simon says — " Le vieux Villars mourut en meme temps [1698] a Paris en 

 deux jours a plus de quatre-vingt ans" (" Memoires de Saint-Simon," t. ii., p. 104)— a 

 statement which is adopted by the " Biographie Universelle," t. xlviii., p. 523, which says 

 that the Marquis de Villars died in 1698, aged 80. But Mr. Stirling points out that 

 Anselme, in his "Histoire de la Maison Royale de France," Paris, 1730, fol., t. v., 

 p. 106, only gives him 75 years. This seems to be corroborated substantially in a note 

 to " Lettres de Madame la Marquise de Villars" (Amsterdam, 1759, p. 170), which, under 

 date 26th September, 1680, says, " M. et Madame de Villars avoient tous deux 55 ans. 

 Jl mourut en 1698, elle en 1706." 



