ong time, the precipice
over which they would hurl us, and to the brink of which we ourselves
are hurrying, and I know not, by Heaven, who can save us from it." With
admirable eloquence she encouraged Madame de Maintenon, who appeared to
despair of the divine protection; and she inspired Philip V. with an
energy truly worthy of the throne, shown in that noble letter in which
the King of Spain declared to his grandfather "that, in spite of the
misfortune which confronted him, he would never abandon his subjects."
Madame des Ursins in all probability dictated the phraseology, and all
the glory of it resulted from her firmness.

She thoroughly comprehended that it became sovereigns worthy of their
position to speak loftily, were it from the depth of an abyss, and that
that supreme courage is itself the first indication of a return of good
fortune. She soon found that it was so; for from the moment that the
King's cause seemed to be lost, the animosities of the grandees gave way
before their patriotism. Whether they were at length inspired by so much
energy, whether the expulsion of the French from every post throughout
the state, decreed by Philip V. under the advice of Madame des Ursins,
had well disposed their minds, "almost all, by a sudden awakening of
chivalrous fidelity," submitted to the House of Bourbon. The Archduke
awaited in vain their homage and their oaths. At the moment of his
entrance into the capital, curiosity itself failed to attract any one to
cross his path; a solitude and sullen gloom pervaded all the public
places. He did not even proceed so far as the royal palace, but went out
by the Alcala gate, muttering, "It is a deserted city."

Without hesitation, therefore, Madame des Ursins placed herself at the
head of the national movement, seeking to pluck the safety of Spain from
the very abandonment in which France had left that monarchy. Without
breaking off confidential relations with her usual correspondents at
Versailles, she enveloped them in the thickest possible veil, her sole
idea being to stimulate Castilian patriotism, appearing to adopt
everything Spanish from its popular costumes, even to its hatreds and
its prejudices. By the aid of a _sombrero_ and a _gollil_[56] Don Luis
d'Aubigny had become a perfect _caballero_; the like transformation
being effected throughout the entire staff of the palace household, and
shortly afterwards a very decided step characterised the novel attitude
assumed b