Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
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A26221
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Memoirs of the court of Spain in two parts / written by an ingenious French lady ; done into English by T. Brown.; Mémoires de la cour d'Espagne. English
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Aulnoy, Madame d' (Marie-Catherine), 1650 or 51-1705.; Brown, Thomas, 1663-1704.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing A4220; ESTC R13347
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229,310
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448
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lay upon his Close-stool I asked him the reason of it and the Captain honestly told me that he did it only for want of room And this Mr. Pate was my own Case exactly for there were several Persons in the world for whom I had a kindness and these for want of a better convenience I was often forced to throw into a simile and to say the truth some of them were such sad wretches that they did not deserve to have a Paragraph bestowed upon them But now to speak a word or two in behalf of these Memoirs I am in good hopes they will be favourably received both because they were written originally by a Lady which will go a great way you know with the Ladies and admirers of Ladies as also because they give us a true Idea of the Spanish Court with which the generality of men amongst us are utterly unacquainted and lastly because they provide an agreeable entertainment to all sorts of people For here is Rain and Sunshine and Earthquakes and Shows and Masquerades and Processions and the Lord knows how much History in Sippits to divert the zealous Admirers of Stow and Hollenshead And then for Persons of better Palats here are abundance of political reflexions and judicious observations with the true reasons how this vast Monarchy which in the last Century made so considerable a figure in the world is in this become so feeble and Paralytic so that not to flatter the Work I should scarce believe it was written by one of the fair Sex but that several French Gentlemen here about the Town have fully satisfied me of the truth of it I will only take notice of one Instance among the rest to give you a true taste of this Lady's ingenuity Don Juan while the administration of affairs was lodged in his hands removed a poor Dominican from Salamanca which place you know a certain Doctor who pretends he has received more stripes on his back than St. Paul and all his Brethren did has made remarkable in Story by the Chimerical Degree he took there and made him the King's Confessor He thought by this means to have secured the Monk for ever to his own Interests and to have had a trusty Confident upon all occasions near his Majesties person But he found himself mightily mistaken in his expectation for this beast of a Religious soon abandoned his Patron 's party and herded amongst his profest Enemies Some People says this Lady pretend that he did it out of a Principle of Conscience but as for my self I am of another opinion il est impossible que l' ingratitude puisse jamais avoir de bons Principes It is impossible that ingratitude should ever flow from any good Principle I am sorry that this honest Doctrin is not in better Reputation with some People amongst us for I am satisfied that no pretence whatever can atone for so black and ungenerous a Sin as Ingratitude is I should here according to the laudable Custom of all Authors take occasion to say something in your praiâ—e but besides that I will not offer that Violence to your Modesty I cannot handsomely commend you for so great a variety of Learning in so much Youth but but at the expence of the City and you know I have too great a respect for our honourable Metropolis to do any any thing of that nature or indeed without a reproach to our selves who cannot pretend such excuses as the perpetual distractions of Trade and Business Indeed if your good fortune in the world prove answerable to your merits you may for all I know dye a richer man than Gresham or Sutton But I must tell you my dear Friend that good Fortune and Merit are two as different things as any are in the world I knew a Gentleman who made a pleasant remark upon this occasion I have said he in my time laid out for two things viz. Preferment and a Red Nose with as much zeal and application as any man in Town To attain the last I have dutifully drank my Gallon of Claret every night and a dull sober Sot a Neighbour of mine with his single penurious Pint has arrived to it before me and as for the former I have wearied out my Patience in waiting at Court and at Noblemens Levees and yet could never stumble upon any and so he concluded that several men come by Preferment and Red Noses who never deserved either of them After all Mr. Pate if my wishes will do you any good I wish you store of Customers but never a Poet or Courtier or disbanded Captain or Player amongst them all May I be so fortunate as to behold you advanced to the highest Pinacle of honour in the City to furnish new matter for Settle's Triumphs of London to sentence light Butter and Bread on Horseback to terrify Sabbath-breakers and those that forget to hang out their Lights to appear in the next Edition of Baker or Stow and arrive to the Priviledge of sleeping in your Gold Chain at Guild-hall Chappel In short may you be the wealthiest happiest man within the Bills of Mortality and may you ever continue to love Your Friend and Servant T. Brown ERRATA PAge 1. Line 3. instead of usually read generally p. 13. l. 10 instead of Corogne r. Groyne p. 19. l. 15. instead of having taken the Horoscope of Flanders r. having had his Nativity calculated in Flanders MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF SPAIN WE must not expect to find in a general History those particular relations of things that generally entertain the Reader better than the History it self but when any person is once acquainted with them he often reflects upon them with a great deal of pleasure I imagine I may without any flattery pretend my self to be capable of writing several secret passages that happened at Madrid from the year 1679 to the year 1681. However I think it not amiss to begin these Memoirs from the time of Philip the IV. in order to render the following discourse more intelligible and to give the Reader a better Idea of the Genius of the Spanish Court. Elizabeth of France his Queen being dead he espoused Mary Ann of Austria Daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand and Sister of him that reigns at present She was young of a fair flaxen complexion her humour was lively and pleasant and she was no less agreeable than witty She departed from Vienna in order to go to Spainâ—n â—n the year 16â—9 She loved the Arch-Duke her Brother very affectionately and as both of them were weeping when they took their leave of one another she demanded of him what it lay in her power to do for his service My dear Sister says he it lies in your poweâ— to have an Infanta there which you may give to me in marriage This accident is so much the more observable because the Arch-Duke having at that time an Elder Brother who died afterwards King of the Romans and being himself designed for