I don’t mention the Battle of Malplaquet, which was fought in the Neighbourhood of Mons; nor the Siege of that City; which, to be sure, have been often repeated in your Ears, and what I have already told you of upon other Occasions.
From Mons to Brussels, there’s a famous Causey. We pass thro’ Halle, whose Church is very much frequented by the Devotees of this Country, and has a miraculous Image of the Holy Virgin, to which the Princes of the House of Austria have made great Presents.
The City of Brussels is not populous, in Proportion to its Bigness, nor is the Town itself so pleasant as its Out-parts. The Houses are generally old, and it may be said, that excepting the Churches, and the Town-house, there is not
a Structure worth the Mention. One very great Inconvenience of Brussels, is its irregular Situation, which is all up-hill and down-hill; so that if it was as large as Paris, it might truly be called the Hell of Horses: And another very great Nuisance is the little Care taken of the Streets, where one is always bespatter’d with Dirt, or choak’d with Dust.
The Palace which was burnt, was an old Edifice, with commodious Apartments, but irregular. Its Ruins, which are still to be seen, look like those of the Palace of Priam: Why they are not removed, I know not. The Archduchess, Governess of the Netherlands, lives in the Palace of Orange, belonging to the Prince of Nassau, the Hereditary Stadtholder of Friesland. She has not much Room there, but her most Serene Highness prefers it to the Palace of Egmont, the Apartments of which are more spacious and commodious, tho’ ’twas offered her by the Duke d’Aremberg, who is the Proprietor of it.
This Princess had like to have perished in the Flames of the Palace, which was set on Fire by the Indiscretion of the Confectioners, who were preparing Sweetmeats for a Ball, which the Archduchess intended to give the next Day. The Fire caught the Sugar, and spread into the Confectionary. The Officers thought they should be able to suppress it without any Noise, but it mastered them. ’Twas four Hours, however, before it alarmed the Palace; and in the mean time, they say, a great Part of the Building, and of its Furniture, might have been saved, if the Burghers had been permitted to have given their Assistance: But for fear of Confusion, and of the Embezzlement of Goods, which generally happens in such Calamities, the Gates of the Palace were kept shut a long Time, and the Soldiers pushed off such Burghers
as offered to come near, so that the whole was consumed. The Archduchess was saved, as it were, by a Miracle; for a little Dog that lay with her, scratching her Face, awaked her, when she perceived the Smoke, and called out to her Women. At the same Instant, her Guards broke open the Door, so that she had only time to slip on a Gown, and one Stocking. The Floor was quite burnt, and fell in, the Moment that she was gone out of her Chamber. She made a Shift to save her Dog, and that was all. Her most Serene Highness went instantly to Prayers in her Chapel; but the Flames spreading to that Sanctuary, she was obliged to retire to the House of the Prince de Rubempré, her Master of the Horse, whose House fronted her Palace, and which, from thence, she saw consumed to the Ground, with all its Treasure; but nothing seemed to give her so much Pain, as the Misfortune of her Domestics, and the Danger to which they were exposed. But even here the Archduchess could not be safe; for Rubempré’s House was so near her own, that ’twas fear’d the Fire would have reach’d it; so that she was obliged to retire to the Palace of Orange, then occupied by the Count de Visconti, the Grand Master of her Houshold, and her First Minister. The Princess de Rubempré furnished her with Stockings, and the Countess de Visconti, with Shifts and other Apparel; and ’twas in these borrowed Cloaths, that a Daughter, descended from so many Emperors, did, next Day, receive the Compliments of all the Nobility. Her Wardrobe was quite destroyed, and nothing saved but the Plate.
Every body agrees, that the Archduchess preserved an extraordinary Serenity of Mind, under so great a Misfortune. She was continually encouraging some, and comforting others. The only Thing that heartily grieved her, was the unhappy
Fate of Mademoiselle d’Uhlefeldt, Lady of the Golden Key, whose Mother was one of the Ladies of Honour. This unfortunate young Lady, thinking her Mother still asleep, was caught by the Flames as she was running to her Apartment to awake her. She was snatch’d as soon as possible out of the Flames, but was all over parched from Head to Foot, and died the next Day, after having received the Sacraments of the Church, and the Farewels of her Mother; with a Constancy the more to be admired, because she was very young, very dear to her Mother, and on the Point of making a very advantageous Settlement. The whole Court was charm’d, to see with what Resignation she bore her Misfortune. She said several times, that she died with Pleasure, since God had saved the Archduchess and her Mother. Her most Serene Highness honoured her with her Tears, and caused a magnificent Funeral to be performed for her, in the Church of the Reverend Fathers the Jesuits; at which all the Nobility of Brussels was present, and every Soul was sorry for the Loss of her.
In searching among the Ruins of the Palace, most of the Archduchess’s Jewels were found again, and only some Ear-pendants of great Value, and a Gold Toilet, were missing.