the Princess to infer that of which the others did not spare her the
harshest expression. "You have good reason to let folks chatter;" she
wrote, "_provided that you have nothing to reproach yourself with_....
for, you must know, we here look upon the treaty of Spain with Holland,
such as it is, as equally necessary, _as you think it shameful at
Madrid_.... Make up your mind, therefore, Madam, and do not allow it to
be said _that you are the sole cause of the prolongation of the war_. I
cannot believe it, and think it very scandalous that others should."[67]

[67] Letters of Madame des Ursins to Madame de Maintenon, tom. ii.,
7th Aug., 1713; 3rd Sept., 1713; 16th June, 1714.

But these warnings and exhortations, imparted with such delicate tact,
had no more effect at Madrid than the harsh severity of the ministerial
reprimands. Louis XIV. then made his solemn voice heard. "Sign," said
he, tartly, to his grandson, "or no aid from me. Berwick is on his march
for Barcelona--I will recall him; then I will make peace privately with
the Dutch and with the Emperor; I will leave Spain at war with those two
powers, and I will not mix myself up further in any of your affairs,
because I do not choose, for the private interest of Madame des Ursins,
to defer securing the repose of my people, and perhaps plunge them into
fresh sufferings."[68]

[68] Memoires de Saint Philippe, tom. iii., p. 91, and Duclos, tom.
i., p. 100.

When Louis XIV. had thus proffered his last word, Philip V. even yet
urged some objections, and the Princess des Ursins on her part, moved
her friends into action; but there was no means of converting Louis XIV.
to what the Court of Madrid demanded, since not one of the allies was
willing either; and, as for the acquisition of those few manors in
Luxembourg, in exchange for an equivalent in Touraine, he preferred
personally to have nothing upon any frontier, than to gain so little,
and owe such feeble legacy to an intrigue, unworthy of his character,
unworthy of a great nation, and only fit to serve as a text for the
biting irony of foreigners or that of his own subjects.

Madame des Ursins is indeed no longer comprehensible throughout this
affair. She, hitherto so noble-minded, so devoted to high-class
politics, so prudent, so full of tact. Oh! how far off are we from
realising that lofty sentiment of hers:--

"Sans peine je passerais de la dictature a la charrue!"

There was nothing