The Queen's Death occasion'd no alteration in Affairs; for she meddled with the Government very little, and left all the care of it to the King and his Ministers: But in matters of Pleasure she was not so unconcern'd; and she understood them so well, that she was soon miss'd. The Courtiers sustain'd a Lose that was irreparable; for this Princess, who knew every body, was perfectly
acquainted with every one's Birth and Merit, and took a delight to distinguish them. Being lofty, but at the same time polite, she knew better than any body in the World what it was to keep a Court; and being virtuous without meanness, she could tell (which is no easy matter) how to prescribe just Bounds to that Air of Gallantry, which alone is capable of rendering a Court agreeable, and preserving Politeness in it.
The only Princess capable of supplying her place was the Margravine Philippa, who then held the first Rank at Court. She was the Daughter of the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, and of the Princess of Orange. She was good-natur'd and merry, and fond of Pleasures, but understood the delicacy of them. She might sometimes have made us forget the loss of the Queen, if the austere and perhaps jealous Humor of her Husband the Margrave Philip had not inclin'd that Prince to prefer his Residence at his House at Schwedt to the Court.
Soon after the Queen, died the Emperor Leopold; which was an Event that affected us not so much as the other, but concern'd the rest of Europe more. It was presently imagin'd that the Views to the Succession of Spain would have suffer'd some alteration by this Prince's Death; for the Emperor Joseph who succeeded his Father having no Son, the Archduke his Brother who disputed the Crown of Spain with the Duke of Anjou was his only Heir, and might one day or other by his Death become Master of the Empire, and of the Dominions of the House of Austria. Therefore they who dreaded to see the two Crowns united upon one Head, had as much and more reason to fear the Archduke's making himself Master of Spain; the Duke of Anjou
who was already in possession of that Crown, being at that time very remote from that of France, by reason of the great number of Princes that had a prior Right to his. Nevertheless the Powers of Europe were not mov'd by these Reflections, and the War was continu'd on the side of the Allies with considerable Success.
The King of Sweden might, if he had pleased, have stopp'd the progress of it, and immortaliz'd his Name by rendring himself the Arbiter of a Quarrel, which divided Europe; for the Prosperity of his Arms had render'd him the Terror of all the Powers in the North. He had in the Year 1704 depriv'd the Elector of Saxony of the Crown of Poland, by causing King Stanislaus Leszinski the Palatine of Posen, to be proclaim'd King of Poland; and he was already in the middle of Saxony where he committed universal Ravage, and when he might have turn'd the Balance which way he pleas'd, the wrong Advice of his Favorite, corrupted by my Lord Marlborough, was the cause of the Misfortunes into which that Prince was afterwards precipitated.
Our Court has had a sufficient share in these different Events; but perhaps, Madame, 'tis so little known at your's as to deserve your Curiosity: but I will only tell you of what I think most important.
The Swedes and Poles had scarce laid down their Arms when the Differences between the King of Denmark and the Duke of Holstein gave them a fresh occasion to take them up again. In the Conferences that were begun at Pinneberg in 1696, there were hopes that those Princes would soon be reconcil'd; but they only patch'd up a Peace which could not last long, because of the Umbrage the King of Denmark took at the Duke
of Holstein's strict Alliance with Sweden; and they quarrel'd again about the limits of their Dominions. The Danes were the Aggressors, and they demanded a reinforcement of four thousand Men of the King of Poland. This Prince, who naturally took part with those that declar'd against Sweden, was pleas'd well enough with the Danes Demand, and as there was an absolute necessity of passing those Troops over the Lands of the King, (at that time Elector) he sent the Count de Flemming, now his Prime Minister, to our Court, in order to sollicite their passage. Of a great many Arguments that were alledg'd against it, the most specious were, 'That the Mediators being still actually employ'd in procuring a just and equitable Accommodation, it was the duty of a Mediator to hinder the Rupture, rather than contribute to it by favoring this passage: That the Court of Prussia was Guarantee for the King of Sweden and the Duke of Holstein, that neither of those two Princes should begin the War against the King of Denmark; and that consequently as War was not declar'd against that Prince, his Danish Majesty had no need of Foreign Assistance; and that finally by giving passage to those Troops the Duke of Holstein would have just reason to accuse the Mediation of Partiality.' Nevertheless, after all these fine reasons, the four thousand Men had their Passage, either from surprise or the connivance of the Court. The King of Poland on his part, in order to make a considerable Diversion in favor of the King of Denmark, brought Troops from Livonia and besieg'd Riga, which then belong'd to the Swedes. This Conduct of the King of Poland, was, Madame, as the fatal Signal and the Primum Mobile of that
tragical War, which tho' so glorious for the King of Sweden in the beginning, ended in the ruin not only of his Kingdom, but also of Poland and Saxony. And the greatest Gainer by it was the Czar.