of Days in a little Chappel which is named Good Fortune or Good Genius after which being Introduced he said to the ORACLE All other Princes reap Lawrels in the Art of War and extend the Frontiers of their Kingdoms they become the Terror of their Subjects and do a Thousand Famous Exploits to Eternalize their Names for my part I am always the same and instead of becoming great I diminish I Sow in Ungrateful and Barren Earth which produceth nothing but Brambles The Queen my Wife gives me no Heir notwithstanding the pains I take to get her with Child Oh! how happy is King J. the Second my Cousin to have a Son Oh! that the Queen my Wife had been heard by the Lady of Loretto I desire you to tell me what can make my Wife to have Children ORACLE You must have at hand a good Father such as Father Peters KING of P d Having received Orders from the Pretress to make a confession of all the Secrets of his Life approached and said to the DIVINITY I repent to have made so much noise of my Victories gotten over the Infidels and to have called the Emperor and the Princes of the Empire ungrateful I repent me of having Amused the Czar of Muscovy my Allies in promising them a great many things I have not performed I repent my self also for having had more concern for Love of France then for Poland I repent my self for having suffered the Emperour to take Hungary since I might have partaken with him of the Plunder of the common Enemy I repent my not taking Caminieck the last Compagn when its Doors were opened to me if France had not whispered in my Ear stay stay I only Ask the Crown of Poland for my Son. The ORACLE The King of France is a Fox and if you follow his Councels you will Live in the Hatred of your People and your Son shall never be King. The GRAND VISIER After having saluted the Oracle of Tyophonius and drank a Glass of the Water of Hircinas descended into the Holy Cavern and said La illa alha Mahomet rasoul alha The new Sultan my Master would honour me with the Charge of Grand Visier I beseech you inform me what shall be my Fate The ORACLE Take care of your self for the Neck of a Grand Visier draws to it the Bowstring as naturally as Amber doth a Straw The KING of D k to the ORACLE I am the Spie of the Northern Crowns and when any thing remarkable happens amongst my Neighbours I inform the King of France of it and the King of England they promise me so long as we continue Friends we shall keep the Ballance equal between the Emperor and the other Princes of Europe I Answer that I am content so far but I doubt France will always play the same play The ORACLE The King of France is often guilty of Deceits take care of your self The ELECTOR of S y Making his Prayers passed by Holland and after having saluted the Prince of Orange entred into the Temple and said to the DIVINITY I love the French Wine but not the French but I like better the Rhenish Wine and I am of opinion that I ought to drink no other although the King of France Cries Day and Night in my Ears my Lewisses and my good Champagn Wine I beseech you tell me what side I shall take The ORACLE The Emperor's side and that of Holland After all Ceremonies were ended and the Lot was going to be cast with much Respect and Veneration The Cardinal of FURSTENBERG Being entred in the Holy Cavern in haste overturned the Lots and Urns. The Pretress being disturbed ordered him to speak and he said to the ORACLE Was there ever a Pope seen so wilfull and stubborn as ours now is To have a Red Cap I have endeavoured above Five Years without interruption and do so at this Day to become Elector and what way have I not tried And I am not nearer it now than I was the first Year if the King my Patron would have believed me he should have abandoned the affair of the Franchises at the beginning without making so much noise about it since the advantage of being Master of the Rhine and by that to intercept the Communication of the Empire with Flanders and so in few Years promise himself the Conquest of Holland It had been better to have made an Exchange of a Bull with his Right of the Franchises which is only without endeavouring to vex the Holy Father in his Old Age. The ORACLE For to have a Bull and to make the Holy Father agree with his Eldest Son it is necessary that Marshal D'Estree quit the Barbarous Algeirs to come and Bombard the Holy See at Rome Dr. MOLINOS the Cardinal PETRUCCI the Cardinal CICERO DON LIVIO DUCK DE CICERI Nephew of the Pope and other Quietists Doctor Molinos slepping forwards said to the ORACLE Praised be God the Holy Father hath made us accounted Hereticks and he is one himself if it is true that he is a Quierest as it is reported the Inquisition having examined him were about shutting him up in the Minerva if the Cardinal D'Estre who betrayed me as Judas did our Saviour had not prevailed with him that he ought to dissemble which saved him I beseech you to inform me How long this Intrigue shall last The ORACLE In our Age the Power of the holy See is a Tyranny which Sacrifices all to its Interests Madam of MONTESPAN After much Ceremony she whispered the God in the Ear and asked him what she would at last she stopped her Ears with her Hands and went out coming in again and said to the ORACLE I have endured a great many difficulties since my Affairs went backwards at Court the Good Man loves me no more and the Old Hag Maintenon hath done me the good office she hath so buzzed the Ears of the King with the Merit of Mounsieur Scarron that it hath made him have a mind to turn Poet. For my part not knowing to what Saint to pay my Vows after having lost the Great Louis I am resolved to imitate La Valliere The ORACLE To learn to string Pater Nosters is a poor Life for Montespan Madam of MAINTENON Took the way of the Temple accompanied by Father La Chese who entertained her with the new Converts of France and the hopes he had to see England in the same State by the Care the Society took to provide a Successor to the Crown Maintenon being come near said to the DIVINITY That Father La Chese had informed her that his Penitent by many repeated Confessions that he always had a Passion for the Fair Sex that neither Age nor the Severities of Pennance could ever reclaim him we have a mind to Marry together to the end that we may lead a good Life and that there be no more discourse in the Royal Family of a Divorce I beseech you tell me if I being 60 Years Old may yet be
that holy place and those that were in the Fields had order to pass no farther The Temple of the Oracle bring near to Parnassus one might see the Muses composing by the sweet harmony of their Instruments and Voices a Quire in which was sung the Triumph of the Prince of Wales After this one might see the Young Prince carried into the Temple by fourscore Jesuits as yet afore Jupiter Hammon was by 80 Priests in a kind of Goudolo of Gold from whence hung knobs of Silver followed by a great number of Monks of all Orders singing with a loud voice holy Hymns to his Glory As soon as the little Prince was within the Temple all the Priests and Priestesses of Apollo incompassed him and having examined and considered the features of his face said aloud contrary to the custom of our modern Gossips That he was not at all like his Father The DIVINITY Ordered That such should be introduced as had not yet appeared The Pretress came before Mr. SKELTON Embassador of his Britannick Majesty to the King of France And being brought to the entry of the Holy Cave thus spoke I prove the Prince of Wales to be Legitimate because the King his Father had wrote to me to spare no charge in making Fire-works and splendid Feastings The Author of the Triumph of Liberty Being come up answered to Mr. Skelton That if his Excellency had no other proof to give he ought to expect to see himself very speedily censured and condemned and that having already proved in his Book That King James the It. had not been lawfully called to the Crown of England but that he had Usurped it since the Laws of the Land have Excluded all Romand Catholick Princes he had resolved to prove to him presently That the Prince of Wales was never of Royal Blood That this is a suppositition believing the Society contrived it to deceive Fools The ORACLE Ordered That they should cause to come in The Author of Parliamentum Pacificum To see what he had to answer thereto The Pretress conducted him to the Cavern and made the Author of the Triumph of Liberty retire some paces back for fear lest a noise should arise between these two different Spirits the Author of Parliamentum Pacificum said thus to the DIVINITY I cannot for bear the admiring the Divine Wisdom for giving a Child to his Majesty in his old years and at a time when we were near seeing a second Queen Elizabeth to Reign and the greatest proof that I have that this young Infant is Legitimate is the ill opinion his Majesty hath of all the Hereticks The ORACLE Answered him That he had not in the least satisfied the Question which the Author of the Triumph had proposed viz. That his Majesty had Usurped the Crown of England he ought to prove the contrary afore he came to the suppositition The Earl of AVAUX Ambassador of FRANCE Took his time and the Pretress having received some Louis which he presented her with he was immediately introduced and brought the affair into a few words The ORACLE Asked him then How that he pretended to prove the Prince of Wales to be Legitimate his Excellency said The greatest proof he had was a Magnificent Treat the Monsieur Albeville gave in the Prince Maurice his Pallace to all the Ministers of Forreign Courts where we were near 300 persons that he invited After Mr. D'Avaux Mr. St. DISDIER Advanced and as he knew the History to the bottom and is knowing in all things he said to the DIVINITY That it was not difficult to prove that the Queen of England had really been with Child if one consider that the Queen Mother lay-in with Louis the XIV after she had been barren twenty two years which is the reason they call the King Given of God and at this day the Prince of Wales hath the same Name because he certainly came into the World by the gift of Heaven Mr. MOREAV Envoy Extraordinary from POLAND Entred without Ceremony and dispatched his business with a laughing air the relish of a glass of certain delicate Wine he drank at the Pallace of Prince Maurice made him not want matter or words in speaking to the DIVINITY For my part I shall prove the Prince of Wales is not supposititiou because Mr. Albeville rose from the Table several times to fill us out to drink of a most excellent wine and he did it with so graceful a mein that I have reason to say he hath not forgot his first imployment a Buler or Footman Mr. ALBEVILLE's Steward Slipped into the Cavern without taking notice of the Pretress and spoke thus to the DIVINITY I am about to abjure my Religion to oblige my Master the Ambassador The PRETRESS Bid him hold his Tongue for here was nothing to do about Religion but only to know how the Prince of Wales was Born. The STEWARD Answered That he had resolved to tell all that he knew but that he was only concerned in performing the Commission he had from the Embassador the day of the Fire-works which was to search out some English or other unknown persons to borrow for them white Perriwigs a Gentiel Dress fine Linen Cravats and Cuffs of French Point and to procure them Footmen to follow as if they had been my Lords or other of considerable Quality that I had order to seat them at the Table to make a figure and fill seven or eight places because that some of the States had no mind to come The PRETRESS Perceiving that this Discourse displeased Monsieur Albeville who was present who was concerned to do things honourably on such occasions besides that what the Steward said did more make known what was done on the day of rejoycing for the young Prince than to prove that he was of the Blood Royal made him retire As soon as the Steward had done the Pretress introduced Monsieur D' Albeville The DIVINITY Told him That all the World was surprised to see what passed at this day and that it was a thing that all people spoke of that one would make a supposited Child for a legitimate Monsieur ALBEVILLE Cryed out in the Discourse calling Heaven and Earth to Witness saying That it was a pure scandal that he had caus'd from the day that he had notice of the Birth of the Young Prince to make Fire works which had surprised the 7 Provinces with their Beauty and Magnificence where was to be seen the Young Prince upon a Globe in the midst of a Triumphal Arch where these Words were written which contain the year of his Birth aVgVsta eX IaCobo Magno proLes DIV VIVat M. DC LXXXVIII Which is That the Son of Great JAMES Live long Upon this Triumphal Arch you might see St. George who represented the King trampling under his feet the Dragon of Rebellion and abolishing the Test and Penal Laws There one might see the good Conscience of the Jesuits represented by the Woman that was near the
Dragon firm and unmoved notwithstanding the rigours of the Penal Laws There was to be seen two Guardian Angels near the person of the Prince to deliver him from the Ambuscades of the Quakers Conformists and Nonconformists from the Presbyterians the Arminian Bishops the Calvinists Lutherans Anabaptists and other Seets There the Dragon was to be seen devoured by its own proper Flames while the Crown and all other Figures were intire which was a Prognostick That his Majesty should bring about his great designs After this ought the Hereticks to maintain that the Young Prince is not legitimate And that all this hath been done for a supposited Child The Secretary of Monsieur D' Albeville Came forwards with all speed and softly put his Excellency in mind to add something of a number of incomparable flying Squibs Fire-pots Rackets Wheels c. which filled the air full of Stars and Serpents which proved that the Prince was legitimate because they produced the effect that was designed The ORACLE Ordered the Jesuits to enter together with the Pricits that framed these Fire-works He that composed the Inscription came first saying Non si commencia bene se non dal Cielo I have my self Composed Veritas Justitia fulcimentum Throni Patris erunt mei As Virtue and Justice are the support of my Father's Throne so also shall they be of mine I have moreover composed this fine device Religio libertas amplexatae sunt Liberty and Religion are united Adding That this was convincing and that he had not composed this for an Insant supposited The Almoner of the Embassador of France Came in his turn and said That he himself had Composed a short Prayer which begun Ad Deum Optimum Maximum pro Rege Principe Gente Britanica Procuto brevis To the Great God for the King Prince and Brittish Nation a short Prayer After this one ought not to question that the Prince of Wales was not legitimate A Jesuit of the S sh Ambassador Pressed hard and being come in said That he had distributed a General Alms that Morning and given to the poor several Shillings and a Pint of Wine to every one to drink the Health of the Young Prince that all this might serve to prove and disabuse the vulgar incredulity All the Domesticks of Monsieur Albeville Came in their turn and said That they had laboured more than 15 days to put things in order and prepare a most sumptuous Feast Adding That there could not remain any doubt of the Young Princes legitimacy since the Ambassador had been at so great expence All the Musicians came also and said That they had sung that day a very fine Te Deum with excellent Musick and an incomparable Symphony composed by Monsieur Hacquart and that this alone was fully convincing The Players on the Violins came also and said that they were carried in a Boat during the time of the Feast and that they had played the Follies of Spain the Descent of Mars and many other fine pieces proper to the occasion for to divert the Embassadors who were in the Pallace of Prince Maurice and that all this could not be done for a supposited Child Those that had discharged the Cannon which came from England on purpose for this day came and said It was not reasonable to suppose so much noise made for nothing Those that had pierced several Tuns of Wine came also and said That the Street was overflowed by six Fountains of excellent Wine part Claret and part White-wine of France and Spain and one ought to believe that this was made for an Illegitimate Child An Unknown POET Desired the Pretress to permit him to enter into the holy Cavern to repeat some Verses which he had composed for the Glory of the Young Prince on the day of his Triumph he being come in said Some Protestant LORDS Sliding in in the Crowd desired the Divinity to give them Audience one of them said That this Young Prince had let fall his Sceptre while he was upon the Globe and that this was an ill presage Another said That they had given the Hydra but 6 Heads because it was said they would not represent by it the 7 Provinces Another said That St. George was devoured by the Monster instead of the Monster being devoured by St. George and that all this proves manifestly that the Child was supposited The ORACLE Ordered the Pretress to introduce Monsieur the PRINCE Madam la Princess d' O Messieurs Le ESTATS To see what they had to answer to so many Witnesses who had maintained the Kings side The Pretress went out of the Holy Cavern and was humbly desired that she would dispense with them for a great many reasons which was granted them The Pretress had order to call Dr. B t. Who being entred said to the DIVINITY Who desired her That she would dispense with him from speaking of the Affairs of England for fear of saying too much The DIVINITY Ordered him to tell his thoughts of the Queens lying-in and of the Birth of the Prince of Wales Dr. B t Answered That supposing the Prince of Wales was legitimate and that the Queen was truly his Mother as they would maintain It is to be presumed that it was extreamly the interest of the King at a time when his people did with difficulty obey him to contrive that the Queens lying-in should be made according to the forms by calling thither all the Peers of the Realm as was always practised in the Court of England because it is known that the people are naturally very difficult to perswade they scarce believing the things they see Author of the Book whose Title is The Mischiefs that threaten the Protestants of England Seeing that every one endeavoured to speak desired the Pretress to permit him to recite a History of Puffendorfe which proves marvelous well that it is easie to supposit a Young Prince since we have in Histories many Examples of it The ORACLE Ordered him to recite the said History Poffendorfe a Celebrated Historian speaking of the Kings of Spain saith After John the II. his Son Henry the IV. the disgrace and infamy of that Crown succeeded to the Kingdom of Casteile for since he was esteemed impotent to remove that conceit from the people he made one Berrand Curva lye with the Queen and for a recompence of that service he made him Earl of Desina this Adultery produced a Daughter named Jane which Henry proclaimed Successor to the Crown This action is the more likely to be true because this Queen had sometime after a Bastard by another But in fine to discover this cheat and to exclude Jane from succeding They united together and carried things so high that they exposed upon a Theatre the Figure of Henry dressed in all his Royal Ornaments and after having made a Process against him and brought an Accusation against him they stripped him of all his Cloaths and threw him from top to