He left but one Son and a Daughter by his lawful Spouse who surviv'd him some Years. The King my Nephew was marry'd, but he was of such a melancholy Temper, his Humour was so different from the Queen's, and there was so little Love betwixt them, that he died without Issue. With him I have seen my Family utterly extinct, its Dominions transferr'd to the Power of a Prince who is hardly related to us, and my Country abandon'd to the most dismal Desolation. For my Niece having marry'd Meroveus, Brother to Ariovisto King of the Gauls, the latter who is an ambitious Prince and goes to War upon every the least Pretence, asserted the Rights of his Sister-in-law without Delay, and pleading that she ought to succeed to the Inheritance of the King her Brother, notwithstanding the Salic Law establish'd in Germany, he sent a formidable Army into the Dominions of my deceased Nephew, where the Gauls at first meeting with no Resistance, committed enormous Cruelties, and extended their Fury even to the Violation of the Tomb of the Kings my Ancestors, whose dead Bodies were stripp'd and exposed to the Caprice of the unruly Soldiers: Calamities, which perhaps would never have happen'd, had it not been for my Brother's fatal Passion for Gertrude; because in all Appearance if he had liv'd in a good Understanding with his lawful Spouse; he would have had more Children by her, and I would not have had the Vexation to see the Throne of my Fathers posses'd by a foreign Family.
KEY to the History of GERTRUDE.
Albion, England.
Alfrede I. James I. King of England.
Ariovisto, Lewis XIV.
Belgium, Holland.
Boyens, (Prince of) the Elector of Bavaria.
Catti, (Princess of) the Princess of Hesse-Cassel.
Cæsar, the Emperor.
Clodius, the Emperor Leopold.
Germania, Germany.
Gertrude, the Baroness of Degenfeldt.
Malcolm, Charles-Lewis Elector Palatine.
Meroveus, Philip of France, Duke of Orleans, Brother to Lewis XIV.
Montpayen, Heidelberg.
Pluibourg, Ratisbon.
Romans, the Imperialists.
Rome, Vienna.
Suevi, (King of) the Margrave of Baden-Dourlach.
End of the History of Gertrude.
I have not scrupled to give you this History, because all the Persons who are Subjects of it are dead. I wrote it very much in haste, for the Diversion of the Princess d'A——, so that you must not be surpriz'd if you don't meet with all that Exactness which there ought to be in this little Narrative; tho' I must tell you again that every Tittle of it is true, so that you may read it as a History, and not as a Romance.
I have fix'd my Resolution, and now am setting out for Rome; therefore please to direct to me at Venice. I go to-morrow to a great Hunting-Match that is to be at Darmstadt, where I shall stay two Days: From thence I shall go and spend two more with the Count de Hanau; and then will I begin my Pilgrimage to the Holy Places. I am most entirely, &c.
