tom. xx., p. 175.

[73] Histoire Secrete de la Cour de Madrid, annee 1714, p. 315.

A dispensation from the Pope--for the future Queen was a near relative
of Gabrielle of Savoy--had been promptly obtained. Already did the
favourite indulge herself with the contemplation of the illimitable
prospect of domination which the future seemed to open up for her, when
she received more truthful information relative to the character of
Elizabeth Farnese. Her letters during the latter part of 1714,
notwithstanding their great reserve, reveal a manifest uneasiness, and
it is with an ill-concealed emotion that she relates, without precisely
detailing them, the contradictory reports which reach her relative to
the Princess. It seems impossible to doubt that, during the few months
which preceded the arrival of the Princess of Parma, the presence of
Madame des Ursins had not become a torment to the Spanish King, and that
he had not secretly lent his hand to a _coup d'etat_ carried out
subsequently with a barbarous determination by his new consort. It was,
in fact, by showing to the officers of the guard a plenary power from
the King that Elizabeth triumphed over their hesitation, and that she
secured their assistance in the execution of a measure which perhaps
would have been less cruel if it had been more sanguinary; but if, since
the death of Marie Louise of Savoy, the relations of the King of Spain
with Madame des Ursins had assumed an obscure character, the active
intervention of the latter in the second marriage of that Prince at
least excludes the idea that she could have dreamed of a royal position
for herself, as her enemies accused her. Granted that the Abbe Alberoni
may have transformed the most ambitious princess in Europe into "a
jolly _Parmesane_ fattened upon cheese and butter,"[74] and that the
habitual circumspection of Madame des Ursins did not protect her against
the clumsiness of such a snare may be true, however unlikely; but it is
at least doubtful that the _camerara mayor_ could have cherished such
illusion when she presented herself for the first time before the new
Queen at the interview at Xadraque.

[74] "Questo abbate pur freddamente, e come a mezza voce la nomino,
aggiugnendo per altro, ch'ella era una buona Lombarda, impastata da
buttero et fromagio picentino, elevata alla casalingua, ed avezza di
non sentirsi di altro parlare che di mertelli ricami e
tele."--_Memorie Istoriche_ d