ice with one prince or
the other, and naturally taking command of the ignoble vulgar of soldiery
which battled and died almost without hope of promotion. Noble adventurers
travelled from Court to Court in search of employment; not merely noble
males, but noble females too; and if these latter were beauties, and
obtained the favourable notice of princes, they stopped in the Courts,
became the favourites of their serene or royal highnesses; and received
great sums of money and splendid diamonds; and were promoted to be
duchesses, marchionesses, and the like; and did not fall much in public
esteem for the manner in which they won their advancement. In this way
Mdlle. de Querouailles, a beautiful French lady, came to London on a
special mission of Louis XIV, and was adopted by our grateful country and
sovereign, and figured as Duchess of Portsmouth. In this way the beautiful
Aurora of Koenigsmarck travelling about found favour in the eyes of
Augustus of Saxony, and became the mother of Marshal Saxe, who gave us a
beating at Fontenoy; and in this manner the lovely sisters Elizabeth and
Melusina of Meissenbach (who had actually been driven out of Paris,
whither they had travelled on a like errand, by the wise jealousy of the
female favourite there in possession) journeyed to Hanover, and became
favourites of the serene house there reigning.

That beautiful Aurora von Koenigsmarck and her brother are wonderful as
types of bygone manners, and strange illustrations of the morals of old
days. The Koenigsmarcks were descended from an ancient noble family of
Brandenburgh, a branch of which passed into Sweden, where it enriched
itself and produced several mighty men of valour.

The founder of the race was Hans Christof, a famous warrior and plunderer
of the Thirty Years' War. One of Hans's sons, Otto, appeared as ambassador
at the Court of Louis XIV, and had to make a Swedish speech at his
reception before the Most Christian King. Otto was a famous dandy and
warrior, but he forgot the speech, and what do you think he did? Far from
being disconcerted, he recited a portion of the Swedish Catechism to His
Most Christian Majesty and his Court, not one of whom understood his lingo
with the exception of his own suite, who had to keep their gravity as best
they might.

Otto's nephew, Aurora's elder brother, Carl Johann of Koenigsmarck, a
favourite of Charles II, a beauty, a dandy, a warrior, a rascal of more
than ordinary mark, escaped b