It will be doing no Dishonour to the Marshal, to say he made War his Trade, which he studied with an unwearied Application; and as he never wanted Courage, so none had more military Knowledge. Having consider’d War as a Science, he left little to Chance, or even Bravery; but depended upon Skill and Discipline, which was the Thing that gain’d him the Battle of Almanza. As he was so regular and mechanical a Warrior, he was himself the Life and Soul of his Army, not as he was belov’d, but as he was much fear’d by his Soldiers, whom he never spar’d, and least of all, his own Countrymen, that came to serve in France. He was reserved even to his General Officers, rarely consulting them, nor so much as communicating the Orders he had receiv’d, or the Designs he had projected, but as they had their own Parts to execute in them. Tho’ he was the best regular General of his Time, yet he was the least enterprizing one. He was never a great Favourite at the Court of France, which is something to be wonder’d at, considering the Use he was made of upon every Occasion; for as a Soldier of Fortune, he had no Obligations but for his Appointments; and yet attach’d himself to France preferably to any other Nation. As he was bred up in the War against the English, his Enmity to them became a second Nature, which is suppos’d to be the Reason that he never did one of that Nation any Service, beside those of his own Family. As the Marshal took care to be obey’d by the Officers and Soldiers of the Armies he commanded, he was always obsequious himself to the Orders of the Court, of which there needs no other Proof, than the Instance above-mention’d; when he appear’d in Arms against Spain with Alacrity, after he had receiv’d the highest Honours from King Philip.
He had the Title of Duke of Berwic, and likewise the Garter conferr’d on him by King James. He was born in 1671, so that when he died, he was sixty-three Years of Age.
[71] The Family of Estrées, originally of Picardy, was in Possession of the Dignities of the Crown before Gabriella; for her Grandfather was Great Master of the Artillery of France.
[72] This is the common Name in Italy for Interpreters or Expounders of Antiquities.
[73] Here should have been added, of the Poet Paul Scarron. She was the Daughter of Constans d’Aubigny, Baron of Surincan, and of Joan de Cardillac. Charles d’Aubigny, Governor of Berry, and Knight of the King’s Orders, who died in 1703, was her Brother. Her Grandfather was Theodore Agrippa d’Aubigny, Admiral of Bretagne and Guienne, celebrated for his Zeal for the Protestant Religion, and Author of a History of his own Time, of the Confession of Saney, and of the Baron de Faneste. Every body knows, that the Attachment of his Widow Scarron to Madame de Montespan, made her Way to Lewis XIV. who was so pleas’d with her Humour, that she continued in the highest Favour till that Monarch’s Death; and enjoy’d a Pension of 50,000 Livres, which was punctually paid her by Lewis XV. every Year as long as she liv’d. After her Death, the Duke de Noailles became Marquis de Maintenon in Right of his Wife.
[74] This alludes to a Joke of the President de Harlai, who when he was accosted by the Comedians, in the Name of their Troop, which that worthy Gentleman never car’d for, especially since Tartuffe, and the Comedians saying to him, My Lord, the Company of Comedians, &c. The President made Answer, Gentlemen, the Troop of the Parliament, &c.
[75] The Author refers here to the Works directed by Mr. Benson, one of the present Auditors of the Imprest (for which see p. 67. of the First Volume of these Memoirs).
[76] The Bottle called the Holy Phial, is kept at Rheims, in the Tomb of St. Remy, in the Church of that Name. It has not been filled since the Coronation of Clovis, when ’tis said this Phial was brought from Heaven, with the Oil with which that first Christian King of France was consecrated; and the Frier who shews it at Rheims, says very seriously, That when the King is sick, it dries away; so that when he dies, there is not a Drop left in the Bottle; but that as soon as his Successor is proclaimed, it fills again of its own Accord. I tell you no more than what I heard with my own Ears, and tho’ I could not help smiling at it, the Frier was not angry. The Liquefaction of this Oil is altogether as miraculous as that of St. Januarius’s Blood at Naples.
[77] The Abbé de Vayrac was of a good Family in Guienne, and had all the Vivacity natural to that Province, which stood him in the stead of Wit; but it was of the abusive Kind. If ever an Author was a Plagiary, he was. He published a State of Spain, and a State of the Empire; which last brought him under an ignominious Sentence of the Court of Vienna. He had also composed a History of Portugal, which he could not obtain a Licence for Printing, because it appear’d that he had paid greater Compliments in it to the Portuguese, than to the French. He died in the Beginning of the Year 1733, as he returned from a Journey he had made to Holland.
[78] In 1643.