manner of Wickedness The Fidalgo's a Title common to such as are of Noble Families who us'd to look upon themselves as above the Law or beyond its reach are now in a great measure reduc'd to order Justice has its Course among them as well as the meanest Subjects Elderly People represent them as a sort of petty Tyrants exercising with great Barbarity a kind of Despotick Power over the Lives and all that belong'd to those about them But if there were any Grounds for such a Character this King's Government can never sufficiently be commended who hath wrought so great a Reformation among them that there may be found at this Day as Noble Instances of Humanity and Courtesie in Portugal as in any part of Europe Three times a Week the King gives Audience to his Subjects Tuesdays and Thursdays to all in general that desire it Saturdays to his Nobility and Officers of State in particular And this is the Morning's-work of each Day On the Days of general Audience the meanest Subject may have free Access to the King whether it be to acquaint him of their Grievances to beg his Charity or Requerer Serviços as they call it that is to petition for a Pension on pretence of Service and Service is pretended not only by those that have done any thing for the Advantage of the Publick or the Crown but likewise by such as have been for any time in Employment which they think entitles them to a Pension or a better Place His Majesty hears all with great Attention and Patience will let the Petitioner perceive he understands his Case and will remember him when he comes again and few part from his Presence dissatisfied The currant Money of this Kingdom was so miserably clipt that it was diminished to near half the Value as appears by an Order made by the Government That no Pieces of Eight should pass that weighed less than four Rials and a half But now it is all reduc'd to a just Standard to which end it being found necessary to Re-coin all the Money both Gold and Silver the King for the Ease of the poorer sort took the Loss of the Silver upon himself The Publick Revenues are managed to the best Advantage The Accounts which were formerly all in Confusion are said to be reduc'd into an exact Order and kept with great Regularity The Customs and Imposts are let out to Farm to Merchants the Contracter is he that will bid most Native or Foreigner The King it seems thinking that Merchants who know best how to deal with one another can afford to give him more than he could make of them himself and his Customs are said to be much improv'd by this Method For the King takes Care to make his Advantage of the Farmer 's Diligence The Contract never exceeds the Term of Three Years which expir'd an exact Account is taken from the Entries in the Custom-House of the Gains that have been made and regard had thereto at the next Auction and the Price through the Emulation of the Bidders is often rais'd much higher than was look'd for A Course not unlike this is taken when the King has occasion to furnish his Magazines with Stores or wants any Foreign Commodities of which Publick Notice is given to the Merchants and the Bargain is made with him that will take care to procure them at the lowest Rate The King is so punctual and speedy in his Payments that the Merchants are encouraged to deal with him for little Profit so that they are never wanting to under-bid each other And I have been told that sometimes the King has generously put a stop to them when in the Heat of Contention they have been descending below a just Price His Majesty it seems thinking it uncoming him to take Advantage at other Mens Follies By this means he has his Stores always at the best hand and no Under-Officers being employ'd in buying them in he never suffers by their Knavery nor can he be cheated by the Merchant who delivers them into his Magazines for it is always a Condition in the Bargain That a fair Trial shall be made of the Goods and no more paid for than will bear the Proof The Revenues of the Kingdom are so very great that did they all come into the King's Hands he would be one of the richest Princes in Europe as will appear by the following Chapter But so many Assignments are made upon almost every Branch of them the King 's private Patrimony as Duke of Bragança not excepted so many Pensions paid to particular Persons and Families that they seem almost wholly diverted from the Publick Treasury This extravagant Alienation of the Revenues was set on foot 't is thought by the Spanish Kings and that in prosecution of their Design to reduce Portugal into the form of a Province they supposing that if the Rents of the Crown were dissipated Portugal could no longer subsist as an independant Kingdom as not having wherewithal to support the Government or encourage any great Men to head them in case the People were dispos'd to a Revolt while the Royal Revenues being divided among private Families might oblige all that shar'd in the Spoils to adhere to the Castilian Interest It hath been often laid to the Charge of the Three Philips That they did their utmost to weaken the Crown of Portugal while they had it in possession they are accus'd of little less than consenting to the Hollanders seizing upon the Portuguese Conquests in the East and West-Indies and all in pursuance of that Maxim of Philip the Second That it is much better to be Master of a ruin'd and quiet Kingdom than one that is rich powerful and turbulent John the Fourth this King's Father when from Duke of Bragança he was made King of Portugal by the Nobility and People thought fit to accept of the Crown with all its Incumbrances and it was not for his Interest to make himself so many Enemies as must have been impoverish'd had he re-united the alienated Revenues to the Crown So that he was fain to maintain his Government and carry on the War by extraordinary Imposts upon the People these have been since increas'd and the Assignments multiply'd And this King tho' perhaps there never was a more frugal Prince in his Domestick Management for they say he knows what every part of his wearing Apparel costs him and will strive as hard as the poorest Customer to beat down the Price yet by giving way to his generous Inclinations to do good to others he has so impoverish'd himself that he is hard put to it to bear the Charges of the Government which as 't is thought could scarce subsist were any other but himself at the Helm especially at this Juncture when he is at such extraordinary Expences in making new Levies and equipping out his Fleet. The People are already so charg'd with Imposts that nothing further can be expected from them For tho' they have had great
Conti he took occasion to reproach him for having lost his Respect to the King by using this Violence in a Place that ought to be accounted Sacred upon which such hard words pass'd between them that had not the Queen Mother made up the Quarrel afterwards 't was fear'd that they would have come to Blows this Discourse happen'd while he was endeavouring to get in to the King to acquaint him of what they were doing about his Court and had he not found all the Passages Guarded he might have spoil'd the Design But in the Conference he had presently afterwards with the King 't is said he laid the Project of that entire Defeat which in a few days he gave the whole Party For the present he prevail'd with the King to dissemble his Resentments which contrary to his Custom he did and carried it fair with his Mother and her Creatures so that all things seem'd to be well again The Queen was highly applauded by the Courtiers for her prudent Resolution and Conduct and those vile Creatures that Conti had rais'd took it extreamly ill that they were not thought fit to be employ'd in the Action But some wiser than the rest were a little startled at the King 's ordering the Conde to wait another Week tho' others were of Opinion that the Conde did not think himself safe unless about the King's Person But the Alarm was more general on the Monday after this Transaction which had pass'd on Saturday the 16th of June 1662 when the King taking occasion according to his custom to go to Alcantara but in greater State than ordinary the Conde from thence wrote to the Secretary of State in an imperious Stile that it was the King's Pleasure to know what they had done with Conti whether any Order had been given to put him to Death and whether Manoel Antunes one of his Associates had been arrested but at Evening the King return'd visited and caress'd his Mother and on Tuesday all things were quiet again On Wednesday about Twelve a Clock the Plot broke out for the King at that unseasonable Hour when People in this Country at this time of the Year are going to sleep taking the Conde with him in his Litter withdraws privately to Alcantara and thence sends to the Court for his Guards and afterwards for Necessaries to fit up his Lodgings Summons the Nobility to come and attend his Person first those that he thought best affected to him and afterwards all in general dispatches away Expresses to the Commanders of his Army and Garrisons to give them notice That he had taken the Government into his own hands By this hardy Enterprize the Conde in a few hours time entirely defeated the Queens most numerous and powerful Party and broke all the Measures which that Princess the most accomplisht of her Sex in the Arts of Policy had been concerting for several Years Not that her accustomed Prudence fail'd her on this occasion for she did all that could be expected from one of her Character to preserve her Authority and the Conde who got the better of the day was not a little oblig'd for his Success to his good Fortune For at first News of what was doing at Alcantara the Queen plac'd a Guard at the Passage from the City to that place called her Confidents about her and assembl'd the Council giving out Orders at the same time that none should go near the King 'till they had been first with her And she was so well obey'd that the Fortune of the Day was for some time in Ballance and it was towards Evening when the Conde found his Design had taken so little effect that he was thinking to secure the King and himself in St. Julian's Castle For notwithstanding his sending out the Summons with such an Air of Authority there were no more than two Noblemen of the Secret and it grew late before a Man besides them appear'd at Alcantara But this was not known at Lisbon nor had the adverse Party so much time to recollect themselves as to consult one another's Sentiments or be inform'd how People stood affected it was hard for them to think such Summons could have been sent unless some under-hand Assurance had been given that they would be obey'd and no Man could know how far others were engaged or might comply but every one might be assured that his own Fortunes were spoil'd should he be found among the last that came in While things were thus in suspence at the Court and at Alcantara two Persons gave the Turn to the King's side the one was Antonio de Sousa de Macedo a faithful Servant of the King and a true Friend of the Conde's of whom I shall afterwards have occasion to speak but he being not so considerable for his Birth or Quality his Example was the less likely to draw others after him The other was a great Lord who proved afterwards the most bitter Enemy the King had in the World but at this time contrary to his Intentions did him a most important piece of Service This was the Marquess of Cascaes would needs be going to Alcantara contrary to the Queen's Order that he might see what they were doing there and return to give Her Majesty an account But other People could not see upon what Design he went so that he having thus broke the Ice several followed his Example who drew many after 'em that were not sent for as well as of those that were The King's Party growing apparently the stronger the Highway to Alcantara was fill'd with Herds of such as think the strongest must surely be in the right all Men striving to get foremost to assure his Majesty of the great Zeal which they for their parts always had for his Service 'T is not my Business to give the Particulars of this Revolution In short the Queen after fome struggle found her self obliged to make a formal Surrender of the Government into the King's Hands the following Friday The Conde having thus gotten possession of the Government tho' he had discovered much of the Young Man in the Attempt yet in the Management of Affairs he proceeded with all the Flegm and Prudence of an old experienc'd States-man It 's true that in the beginning he found it necessary for the King's Safety and his own to use some Rigor in making great Alterations at Court The leading Men of the Queen's Party as they had more or less incurr'd the King's Displeasure were either banish'd into remote Parts of the Kingdom removed from their Places forbid the Court or excused their Attendance but notwithstanding the Murmurs of the interessed Persons and their Dependants he managed things so well that in a short time he became exceeding popular He found the State at the Brink of Ruin being in all appearance reduced to the last Extremity by a War of Two and twenty Years standing The Spaniards after they had made Peace with the French falling in upon Portugal with the choice
of their Forces drawn from all parts of their Dominions and Don John of Austria was about that very time in the Bowels of the Kingdom and expected every Day at Lisbon at the Head of a more numerous Army than had been on foot since the beginning of the War But upon the Conde's coming to the Government a sudden Check was given to the Enemy and Victory declared it self so frequently in favour of the Portugueses that this King notwithstanding his Deposition is still and perhaps ever will be distinguish'd by the Title of Alfonso the Victorious The People were much eas'd of their Taxes and the Soldiers better paid than before Pretenders at Court who us'd to be put off with Delays had all reasonable Satisfaction given them and many worthy Persons preferr'd to Employments in a word the Conde's Administration during the five Years of his Government gave so general a Satisfaction that such as converse with the Portugueses will find that tho' they have all the Veneration for his present Majesty that he justly deserves yet they seldom speak of the Conde's Times without regretting the want of him in the Ministry at present they accounting him the only Person able to support the declining State But of all other Alterations none was more taken notice of than that which People saw or thought at least they saw in the King as they did not look on him now with the same Eyes as formerly so without doubt his change of Condition and Company must have had a like effect upon him as it has on all other Men. He was now attended and respected by his Nobility and had Men of Sense and Honour about him whose Business it was to inform and help him out upon Occasions and to raise him in the Peoples Esteem and so he must needs make a very different Figure from what he did in that vile Company he before conversed with and while he was kept under and discouraged by his Mother whose Creatures holding their Places by the Opinion People had of the King's Incapacity were ready enough we may be sure to catch at any thing that might serve to expose his Weakness But it was observ'd that such of these as still kept in at Court and were us'd to be the most ready to cry out upon him for want of Common Sense were generally the most forward to admire the vast Improvements he had made in so short a time which were such that they could hardly take him for the same Person at least they could think nothing less than that he was alter'd to a Miracle they now thought he spoke Sentences like one inspir'd and they were seldom without some of his Sayings in their Mouths And that which astonish'd them the most was how it should enter into their Thoughts that this Prince was unfit to govern Portugal for now they discover'd him to be of so exalted a Genius as qualified him for the greatest Empire in the Universe And I make no question but they that talk'd at this rate were the first to trample upon that poor Prince at his Fall But there were still about the Court some ill-natur'd People that had been unhappily engag'd in the same Party who could never be brought over by the Turn of the Times to change their Sentiments but affected rather the contrary Extream to these fawning Parasites as thinking it perhaps scandalous to be so much as in the Right with such Company They had so often talk'd of the King's Lameness in his Right-side that notwithstanding all Demonstrations to the contrary they were resolv'd to believe it still and to hold that it must have weaken'd him to that degree as to make him unfit for Government they agreed with the Compliers so far that in case the King of himself did or said any of those Fine Things that were told of him it must needs have been by virtue of some very miraculous Change indeed but they could not be perswaded that he acted of his own Head They thought indeed that he was inspired but that it was by the Conde and his Creatures whom they make the Authors of every thing that was well said or done by him And the Reason was that tho' he began a Discourse well enough and spoke to the purpose when any address'd themselves to him in case he was inform'd of their Business before-hand yet if they answer'd him again these Malecontents pretended that he was at a loss for a Reply or faultered or grew mute When Instances were given of his discreet Behaviour on Occasions when he could have no Instructions given him they would say He might perhaps have his lucid Intervals Or they would put it off with a cold Jest then current among them That they allow'd one half of the King to be still hale and sound and when he spoke a good thing they us'd to say it came from his Majesty's Left-side but generally speaking they thought all that he did or said came from the Right The Jesuit might think himself more witty when having occasion some Years since to mention Alfonso's Victories he told the People in his Sermon That one half of a Portuguese King was able to beat the great Monarch of Spain But as great as this Change in the King really was it was no thorough Reformation For tho' in the beginning he seem'd to take up and apply himself to the Business of State being constantly present at Councils Dispatches Audiences c. yet he was under some Constraint all the while and notwithstanding all that the Conde could do he would have his Sallies and sometimes break out into as great or greater Extravagances than before And that he might act with greater freedom he long'd to have his Conti near him again He had been advised for Vindication of his Authority to order this Man back from Brazil but withal to save his Credit with the People by the Conde's Perswasion he forbad him coming near the Court. His Inclinations towards his old Favourite were soon discovered by the adverse Party who ready to serve themselves of any Instruments engag'd Conti in their Interest and a Plot was laid to supplant the Conde and restore the Queen in order to which Conti was to perswade the King to recal the Exiles He had his Correspondents at Court who waiting their opportunity when the Conde was out of the way contriv'd it so that the King had two Interviews with Conti near Alcantara But the Conde who had his Spies abroad soon div'd into the bottom of the Plot and laid it open to the King who was so incensed thereat that Conti was banish'd to O Porto and the Conde had no further trouble with so unequal a Rival One of those two Noblemen who had been of the Party at the Acclamation as it was call'd of Alcantara was found to be in the Conspiracy and was banish'd likewise from Court The other was dead and had been in Disgrace some time before upon pretence that he had drawn
her in their Order his Excellency satisfying himself with this Equality with her Highness thinking that he had gain'd his Point while he kept the Elector below him The old Elector for his part contented himself with having got a good Match for his Daughter while the Portugueses had all the Advantage in the Ceremonial on their side and were not a little elevated with the Honour their Ambassador gain'd to the Crown though it was no more than was lost by the Father of their Queen Nor need we wonder that this Court should be so highly pleas'd with his Excellency's Dexterity and Success herein since the Ceremonial is become the Grand Concern of Europe and the Subject of the most important Negotiations now on foot For what is there that doth perplex and embroil most Courts in Christendom so much as the additional Sound of two or three Syllables in some Princes Titles Have we not lately seen the Force of Blood it self suspended in the most endearing Relations And is not Infallibility it self at a stand and all for want of one to determine the several Degrees that are between an Arm'd Chair and a Folding Stool This Nobleman at his Return had the Title of Marquess de Alegrete bestow'd upon him as a Mark of Honour in Reward for his Service But his Dexterity in Negotiations of this sort make but a small part of his Character He is represented by all that pretend to know him as a most accomplish'd States-man even by those who are so ill-natur'd as to allow that Title to no other Minister about the Court He is suppos'd to be well acquainted with the present Posture of Affairs in Europe and throughly to understand his Master's Interest and above all is accounted a Person of unbiass'd Integrity his Country-men generally esteem him a true Portuguese disinteressed in his Counsels and espousing no Party as having no other Designs in view but such as he thinks may make for his Master's Service and his Country's Good This is the Character that 's commonly given of the Marquess the worst that is said of him that I could ever hear is that his Tenderness for a numerous Family and Care in providing for them may have a little slackned his Vigor in opposing the Counsels of such as are thought to have something else in view than the Good of the State He is said to be very zealously addicted to the Religion of his Country He ascribed the happy Issue of his Negotiation at Heidelberg to the Prayers of two Sisters and a Daughter of his that are Nuns in the Convent of Madre de Deos a little without the City At least the King was of this Opinion when Cardinal de Alemcastro was commending him for his prudent Management his Majesty reply'd That this Lord had no part in the Success but that all was done to his Hand by the Madre de Deos. I have been told of another remarkable Instance of his Lordship's Devotion but know not what Credit it deserves having no other ground for it than the common Talk of the People among whom it was reported That when St. Antoninho a small diminutive Image of St. Antonio that hath been in great Credit for these three last Years at Lisbon was hired out to go Sargente Mor to the Fleet that went last Year 98 with the Vice-Roy to the East-Indies among other Perquisites promis'd to the Saint over and above his Standing-Wages of 10 Millr per Month the Marquess de Algrete bargain'd to give him a fine new Chappel in case he conducted a Relation of his Lordship's safe home from Goa Dom Nuno Alvarez Pereira Duke of Cadaval Marquess of Ferreira Earl of Tentugal c. mentioned on several Occasions before descended of the House of Bragança from Ferdinand the Second Duke of that Title and consequently the King's Kinsman This Noble Person notwithstanding his high Birth and vast Riches hath qualify'd himself for all manner of Employments having commanded both by Sea and Land and all along made a most considerable Figure in the State wherein he has at present the greatest Power and Authority next the King having a hand in all Affairs relating to his Majesty his Domestick Concerns not excepted If any part of the Publick Business be more than other his peculiar Province I take it to be the Revenue of the Crown whereof he is a great Farmer as the Foreign Affairs seems to be that of the Marquess de Alegrete It is agreed that the Authority of the Council of State doth in a manner wholly reside in these two Great Men. It is said they have been formerly in competition about the King's Ear and Favour wherein the Marquess was upheld by the Opinion his Majesty hath of his Prudence and Integrity The King no doubt hath a like Opinion concerning the Duke too but he they say by the Pleasantness of his Conversation contributes likewise to his Majesty's Diversion the Marquess consulting only his Country's Good and his Master's Service the Duke as 't is suppos'd doth not wholly neglect his own Interest Some will have it that he is biass'd in favour of France but perhaps the only Reason may be because both his Wives have been French-Women the present Duchess being Daughter of the Marquess of Harcourt The Duke being as I have said the greatest Subject in the Kingdom takes a particular Method to make People sensible of his Grandeur he is not of Opinion that he stands in any need of a pompous Equipage or a numerous Attendance to make himself appear considerable but like those famous States-men that have made the greatest Figures in the Modern as well as the Ancient Common-Wealths thinks the Authority of his Person sufficient to Command those Respects that are due to his Quality When his Excellency appears abroad in his Litter which certainly is not made for show he is followed only by a Trooper and by him because he is General of the Cavalry Dukes in Portugal had formerly their Guards allowed them but I have not heard that his Excellency chuses to be attended by a Soldier to keep up his Pretensions to that Priviledge He is a Familiar of the Inquisition as I suppose all other Noble-men are it being a Mark of Honour in this County but at an Auto da Fe other Noblemen serve as Guards to those poor Wretches that come out to hear their Sentence whereas his Excellency supplies the Place of a Door-keeper Many other things are told of his Excellency by such as pretend to give his Character but they are Matters which the Publick is not concern'd to know Dom Luis now Cardinal de Sousa Arch-Bishop of Lisbon and Capellaon Mor to the King which I suppose I may translate Dean of his Majesties Chappel a Prelate who as he is of a Noble Extraction seems to have a Mind suitable to his Birth and Quality and a Capacity sufficient to carry on his Designs which have been always great and always successful at long run notwithstanding
very little of that Leudness in them which abounds in so scandalous a manner in those of another Country But though Crimes of this sort are not taught in the Play-House there yet it is much suspected that they are practised amongst them the Women that tread the Stage having no better Character there than in other Places And this I presume might be the Reason why their Admittance into Lisbon was so vigorously opposed by the Arch-Bishop who to put a stop to all Importunities in their behalf published an Excommunication against the Players in case they should Act and against all that went to see them It was in vain for the Fidalgo's to desire his Lordship to recall the Sentence but at last they apply'd themselves to Nicolini the Nuncio who had now a fair Opportunity presented him to engage a powerful Party against the Arch-Bishop nor did he let slip his Advantage It is true Religion and Vertue were like to suffer by what he was about but those of Rome think these are things to be minded when they prove subservient to their Designs he therefore without more ado takes off the Excommunication by Virtue of his Legantine Power The Play-House hereupon opens and fills the Fidalgo's flocking to it like so many School-Boys let loose from under the Discipline of their Master and perhaps the more eagerly that they might a little mortifie the rigid Arch-Bishop His Lordship withdraws for a time to his Country-House that he might not be a Witness to so great a Slur put upon him and to suppress his just Indignation against the Nuncio But this was only a short Mortification which considering the Occasion must doubtless have turn'd to his Lordship's Credit even among those that were pleas'd with it at that time The Court of Rome hath since thought convenient to present him with a Cap viz. in the Year 1697 at a Promotion wherein his Lordship and Monsignor Cornaro the then Nuncio at Lisbon were the only Persons advanced to the Purple Dom Anrique de Sousa de Tavares da Silva Conde de Miranda Marquis de Aronches Brother to the Arch-Bishop and acting in concert with him a Minister of great Sufficiency but too much as 't is thought addicted to his Pleasures He hath served in several Embassies as to England Spain Holland and remains well affected to the People among whom he has resided Insomuch that during the late War such as would needs have the Ministers of State to take Parties have always given the Marquess of Aronches together with his Family to the Allies and we may suppose them to be much in the right if we judge how the Noble Families stand affected to other Nations from the Alliances they contract with Foreigners This Lord having given his Daughter to the Prince of Ligne a Fleming Subject of Spain and Prince of the Empire who succeeds him in his Estate and Title the same Person who by Procurement of the Family was sent Ambassador Extraordinary from his Portuguese Majesty to the Emperor and made that splendid Entry into Vienna of which the Publick had so large an Account in the Gazettes c. If I do not mention the rest that are of this Honourable Body it is because I am not so well instructed as to be able to give a particular Account of them But I must not omit to mention the Secretary of State who tho' he hath neither a Deliberative nor a Decisive Voice in any of the Councils is yet as some term him the Primum Mobile of the whole Kingdom His Office is compounded of that of Clerk of the Council and another long since abolished but revived for a small time by the Conde de Castelmelhor he that executed it was called the Escrivam de Puridade Puridade in old Portuguese signifies Secrecy or Privacy but is now out of use in that Sense The Office seems to have been much the same as that of Privado in Spain or Prime Minister in France but nothing remains of it now at least in the Secretary of State but what is purely Ministerial The Office of Secretary at present as 't is a Place of Great Trust so it is in a manner a Place of infinite Business he gives an Account to the King of whatsoever is done in the Council of State he is address'd to by all sorts of People that have any thing to do at Court of what Nature soever their Business is he proposes the Matter to the King and returns his Answer and is apyly'd to by Foreign Ministers on all occasions This Place is at present executed by Mendo Foyos Pereira one rais'd by the House of Aronches and as some say greatly devoted to the Family He is a Person not so considerable for his Birth as for his indefatigable Diligence in his Employment of which he acquits himself so well that it seems to be without Reason that some represent him of a narrow Capacity Foreign Ministers find it to be much for their Convenience to Manage the Secretary and hold a good Understanding with him if they desire to have quick Dispatches or when Matters relating to the Ceremonial are in Question For if he be ill us'd they may chance to meet with more Rubs in their way than they look'd for The Nuncio's that have been on ill Terms with him have not been insensible of his Resentments However it is thought advisable by those that have to deal with this Minister that in the Measures they keep with him they beware lest he perceives they are in any Awe of him since an over-great Complaisance may be of worse Consequence than a Conduct that is quite contrary FINIS Books Printed for Tho. Bennet FOLIO THucydides Greek and Latin Collated with five entire Manuscript Copies and all the Editions extant Also illustrated with Maps large Annotations and Indexes By J. Hudson M. A. and Fellow of Vniversity-College Oxon. To which is added an exact Chronology by the Learned Henry Dodwell never before Publish'd Printed at the Theater Oxon. Athenae Oxoniensis Or an exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the University of Oxford from 1480 to the end of the Year 1690 giving an Account of the Birth Fortune Preferment and Death of all those Authors and Prelates the great Accidents of their Lives with the Fate and Character of their Writings The Work so compleat that no Writer of Note of this Nation for Two hundred Years is omitted In Two Volumes A new Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam By Monsieur de la Loubiere Envoy Extraordinary from the French King to the King of Siam in 1687 and 1688 wherein a full and exact Account is given of their Natural History as also of their Musick Arithmetick and other Mathematick Learning Illustrated with Sculptures Done out of French by Dr. P. Fellow of the Royal Society Father Malbranch's Treatise concerning the Search after Truth The whole Work compleat to which is added his Treatise of
AN ACCOUNT OF THE Court of Portugal Under the Reign of the present King Dom PEDRO II. WITH Some Discourses on the Interests of PORTVGAL with Regard to other Sovereigns CONTAINING A Relation of the most Considerable Transactions that have pass'd of late between that Court and those of Rome Spain France Vienna England c. LONDON Printed for Thomas Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. THE CONTENTS PART I. OF the King of Portugal Page 3 Of the Publick Revenues and the Forces of the Crown both by Land and Sea 19 Of His Majesty's first Queen 43 Of the late Queen 109 Of the Queen Dowager of England 125 Of the late Infanta 128 Of the King's Issue by his second Marriage 148 Of his Natural Daughter 160 Of the Ministry 164 Of the Marquess of Alegrete 165 Of the Duke of Cadaval 171 Of the Archbishop of Lisbon 172 Of the Marquess of Aronches 178 Of the Secretary of State 179 PART II. OF the Interests of Portugal with Relation to Rome Page 1 To Spain 44 France 62 The Emperor Holland the Northern Crowns c. 114 England 119 THE PREFACE THE Contents of the following Papers were intended to fill some few Chapters in a General Account of Portugal but the Author in digesting his Materials found them like to swell into almost as great a Volume as he design'd for the whole which made him resolve to venture them out by themselves as despairing of being read should the Bulk become so great as the taking in of the other Parts of his Subject wou'd make it This is the true Reason why the Court of Portugal appears thus unaccompanied with such other Matters as shou'd have been plac'd before and after it which is what the Author was far from designing when he first began to write It was then for many Reasons the least in his Intention to single out the Court from that great Variety of Subjects which Portugal affords to one that is not altogether an idle Spectator in it It is true that he thought it convenient in describing the State of that Kingdom to be more full in this part of his Account than they usually are who write of Foreign Countries For to understand the Affairs of any Nation it is absolutely necessary to have some competent Knowledge of the Court that is to say of such as preside themselves at the Helm or have any great Influence upon those that do The Court in this sense being to a Politick Body what the Mind is to the Natural communicating Life and Motion to all the Members and as that Vital Principle appears to be disposed or affected one may soonest discover the Symptoms of a Vigorous or a Weakly Constitution And one who is well acquainted with the State of That may be enabled to give a good Account of the Publick Proceedings by tracing them to their Original Causes and Motives and may withal make some probable Conjecture what they are like to be in any suppos'd Case for the time to come It was likewise thought necessary in order to understand the true State of Portugal to know in what Terms that Kingdom stands with its several Neighbours those more especially in whose Will or Power it is to do any great Good or Harm Now the best way to know how far Portugal is to expect either the one or the other from them is by considering what it hath receiv'd already former Experience being the surest Evidence in this Case It is therefore the Design of those Discourses that make the Second Part of this Piece to shew how Portugal hath been served by its real or pretended Friends as often as they have been put to the Trial or had any occasion to discover themselves and it is conceiv'd that the Transactions that have pass'd between this and other Crowns since the House of Bragança came to be in possession of the Throne are set in a just Light so far at least as that the Reader may easily perceive what the true Interests of Portugal are and whether or no they have been duly cultivated by such as have the Management of Affairs in that Kingdom But the chief Business of this Preface is to justifie the Author's Credit with the Reader which may possibly be called in question in regard to several Particulars in the following Account He is far from the Folly of thinking himself exempt from Mistakes it is very likely that he may have been guilty of many in that great variety of Matters which he hath had occasion to mention He does not remember that he ever saw any Relation of our English Affairs made by Strangers that had not many palpable Errors in it which makes him the less confident of his own Performance And he expects the like Allowances that are usually made to those that write of Foreign Countries However he must acknowledge at the same time that those grosser Faults that are commonly observ'd in ordinary Travellers wou'd be much more inexcusable in him he having liv'd for some Years in the Country he writes of his Acquaintance was amongst intelligent Persons who had lived there much longer he hath been somewhat conversant with the Portuguese Authors and hath brought away with him a Collection of such of them as are most esteem'd and out of these last he is ready to produce his Evidence for such Passages in this Piece as are most likely to be call'd in question In relating that great Transaction wherein His present Majesty's first Queen had so large a share he hath taken the principal Matters of Fact from the Catastrophe de Portugal written in Defence of the Party which got the Vpper-hand the Substance whereof as the Writer pretends was read before the Three Estates of the Kingdom It is true that Reflections very different from his are frequently made here upon the very same Facts The Author on many Occasions as little approving of that Writers Sentiments as he does of his Stile throughout the Book which is that of a most passionate and furious Declaimer rather than a just Historian In speaking of the Portuguese Affairs with relation to Rome he hath likewise made great use of the Publick Acts of the King and the Estates as also of the Conde da Eryceiras Portugal Restaurado He hath also followed the same Noble Author in what he relates concerning the Negotiations with the Court of France The Conde had Opportunities to inform himself of these Matters at the best Hand that is from the Reports and Letters of Publick Ministers His Lordship hath indeed given us in England great occasion to complain of him but that may have been for Reasons which will never make him suspected of being much prejudiced against either Rome or France Cardinal Mazarine's Conduct in the Cause of Portugal at the Pirenees is describ'd from his own Letters The Information received by the Author concerning the great part which the English had in the Victories obtain'd over the Spaniards and in concluding the
Advantages by a free Trade during the late War yet the Money being convey'd out of the Kingdom by such ways as shall be mention'd in another place their Condition is not much mended thereby That this is the present Case of the Kingdom will appear from two Instances of a very fresh Date The King is as all the World knows at this time putting his Kingdom in a Posture of Defence to this end among other things it was thought convenient to secure St. Julian's Castle which stands upon the Bar of the Tagus and guards the Entrance into the River and is in effect the main Bulwark of Lisbon or rather the Key to the whole Kingdom It is strongly built after the Modern Way and well fortified with Guns but hath this Disadvantage that it may be commanded on one side from a Rising Ground that is near it It was therefore debated in Council Whether it were cheapest to level that Ground or to raise a small Fort upon it But after the Place had been survey'd it was at last concluded That both Ways were too chargeable either of them requiring a greater Expence than the State could well bear and so neither way was taken From this Instance which came from a good Hand it appears that the Exchequer must run very low at this time And that the People can afford but small Supplies will appear from hence The King to enable himself to augment and maintain his Army summon'd the Cortes or Parliament to meet at Lisbon the First of December 97 All that he demanded of them was an Additional Revenue of 600000 Crowns a Crown in Portugal is scarce worth Half a Crown English The Parliament considering the Occasion could not but acknowledge the Request to be reasonable but then how to raise the Money was a matter of insuperable difficulty In short they sat down as hath been said the First of December 97 and were sitting in July 98 and were considering all the while of Ways and Means and had made no Progress in the Affair but at last they referr'd it to the King to lay the Tax as he should judge convenient For their parts tho' none could be insensible of the King 's great want of a Supply yet they found the People so burden'd already that they knew not how to lay on them any further Weight without danger of their sinking under it The King as hath been reported since has laid the Tax upon Tobacco which the Merchant thinks is the ready way to destroy that Trade and consequently the best and clearest part of the Revenue The most considerable Transactions of this Reign will fall under some of the following Heads and therefore I have nothing further to add in this Chapter but that the King of Portugal is an Absolute Prince having the Legislative as well as the Executive Power in his hands For the Royal Edicts have the Force of Laws and a Collection of these is much the same thing there as our Satute-Book is in England when these fail the Civil Law takes place There are indeed certain Constitutions chiefly relating to the Succession called the Laws of Lamego made by the Cortes at the first Institution of the Government which cannot be dispens'd with but by Consent of the Three Estates It belongs likewise to the Cortes to lay Taxes upon the People tho' certain Imposts that are now upon Flesh and Wine and were given for a limited time have been continued by the King's Authority and the Pope's together the manner in which this was done shall be told in the following Chapter Of the Publick Revenues and the Forces of the Crown by Land and Sea BEfore I speak of the Revenues c. it is requisite to give an Account of the Money currant in this Kingdom All considerable Sums are here reckoned by Millreis i. e. Thousand of Reis sometimes by Crusado's or Crowns which consist of 400 Reis a piece Tho' great Payments are commonly made in Spanish Pieces of Eight which are reckon'd at 750 Reis There is no such Piece as a Millrei nor indeed a Crown at present for that which was last coyn'd for a Crown-piece is now rais'd to 480 Reis Lesser Coyns in Silver are a Teston 100 Reis a half Teston 50 Reis a Vintain 20 Reis The Gold Coyn called the Moeda de Ouro contains 4800 Reis of which there are likewise Half and Quarter-pieces The Portuguese Money according to the intrinsick Value answers to our English Money thus  s. d. q. A Millrei i. e. 1000 Reis to 05 10 00 A Crown 400 Reis 02 04 00 A Teston 100 Reis 00 07 00 A half Teston 50 Reis 00 03 02 A Vintain 20 Reis 00 01 01 ⅗ The Moeda of Gold 4800 Reis makes 28 s.    The Revenues arise chiefly from Customs Taxes Monopolies Rents belonging to the Orders of Knighthood and Moneys raised purely by the Pope's Bulls The Customs paid here are excessively great all Foreign Commodities excepting some few sorts of small Bulk and easie Conveyance pay no less than 23 per Cent 20 for the ordinary Custom and 3 for a certain Duty call'd the Consulado which last is likewise paid for all Goods exported whether by Natives or Foreigners They are indeed set at a favourable Valuation except Fish from Newfoundland which pays 22 per Cent in Specie Goods brought hither in order only to be transported to other Countries pay 4 per Cent. But it is believed that nothing of all this comes to the King or indeed to the Publick the Consulado excepted which is appropriated to the building of Ships and buying in of Stores The Taxes are 7 Reis per Pound upon all Flesh brought into the Market and as much per Canada upon Wine sold in by Retail few People here keep any in their Houses A Canada holds something less than Three Pints Fresh Fish which is caught here in great abundance in the River and on the Sea-Coasts and is the best part of the Peoples Food pays no less than 47 per Cent and that exacted with great Rigor and paid commonly in Specie At the Sale of Lands Houses Cattle of all sorts and indeed of almost every thing that is known to be bought and sold 10 per Cent of the Price goes to the King A great part of these Taxes were granted by the Three Estates in Cortes to King John the Fourth in 1641 and at other times towards the Charges of the War with Spain but after the Peace was made the Cortes in the Year 1674 rais'd them to what they are at present by giving the Prince a Supply of a Million of Crowns per Annum one half whereof was to be rais'd by an Additional Impost upon Flesh and Wine But this was then given only for Six Years yet it hath been paid ever since The Court in the Year 1675 thought convenient to procure the Pope's Consent to this last Impost that the Clergy might have leave to pay their share because as it
Duke of Cadaval was sent to give the Infante an Account how things stood and nothing was further done till towards the Evening which as it is pretended was to give the King time to change his mind but as 't is more likely to perswade the Infante to finish what they had begun He at last Night drawing on accompanied by the Magistrates of Lisbon the Nobility of the Party and a great Concourse of the People went to the Palace where he was received by the Council of State and at the Head of this Company went and lock'd up the King in his Chamber securing all the Passages through which he might escape A Form of Resignation was then drawn up read and approved of by the Council which before they broke up was sent to the King for him to Sign and accordingly it was brought back sign'd by him but it is not known by what Means he was prevailed upon to do it The Prince takes up his Lodgings that Night in the Palace he had no sooner thrown himself upon the Bed it being very late but a Message came to him from Alfonso to desire that John the Dog-Keeper might be sent to keep him Company the Message drew Tears from the Prince's Eyes 't is pretended that he wept in commiseration of his Brothers weakness and little sense of his Condition tho' 't is not improbable but the Dethroned King took this way to make his Brother sensible of the ill Usage he had met with perhaps from their hands that had been sent to make him Sign the Resignation which but the same Morning as hath been shown the most Brutal Menaces could not extort from him The King being thus Deposed the Prince Signs the Writs that had been prepared for Summoning the Cortes before they assembled it was debated Whether it might be convenient for him to take the Title of King but it pass'd in the Negative in a Committee of Judges and other Ministers to whom the Matter was referred and it was carried that he should content himself with the Title he then used viz. that of Curator of the King's Person and Governor of the Kingdom The same Question was afterwards long debated in the Cortes which met on the 27th of January 1668 but in the end it was concluded That he should have the Kingly Power with the Title of Prince Regent In the mean time the Queen having commenc'd her Process against Alfonso the day before he was deposed upon his Confinement was at liberty to prosecute the same with the utmost vigour There being no Bishops at this time in Portugal the Cause as hath been said was brought before the Chapter of Lisbon I shall for many reasons forbear giving a particular account of the Proceedings tho' there be no want of Materials but in short Alfonso after a few Days Confinement was as 't is pretended brought to sign an Acknowledgment of what the Queen had declared concerning the Nullity of their Marriage contrary to what he had asserted to the Infante when he signify'd her Declaration to him the Day after her Retreat while he was yet at liberty It fell out happily for the Queen as she thought at least that her Uncle the Duke of Vendome lately made a Cardinal-Deacon was at this very time commissioned by the Pope to represent the Person of his Holiness as Godfather to the Dauphin then seven Years old at that Formality of a Christning which is used for the Children of France For this end the Cardinal-Duke had the Title and Patent given him of Legat a Latere To him as invested with the Plenitude of the Pope's Power Monsieur Verjus who was sent as hath been said into France upon the Queen's first leaving her Husband applied himself for a Dispensation that the Queen might marry with the Infante The Cardinal was no doubt willing enough to oblige his Niece and to do for her whatever was in his Power but then he question'd much whether it was in his Power to help her out in this Case as well he might For who cou'd think that a Proxy to be Godfather to a Child in France should enable him to make it lawful for a Woman in Portugal to marry with her living Husband's Brother But Monsieur Verjus having satisfied the French King about what the Queen of Portugal had been doing the Dispensation was obtain'd without much difficulty for he and Monsieur de Lionne reading the Cardinal's Bull of Legate found out that it contain'd some Clauses that did as it were point to the very Case in Hand and to give the Cardinal as ample Powers as they could wish and so the Dispensation was granted without more a-do And in truth they in France were a little too hasty in this Business for the Dispensation was obtain'd there before they were ready for it in Portugal it bears Date the 17 Calends of April i. e. the 16th Day of March and in it 't is supposed and affirmed that the former Marriage had been declared null by Course of Law But the Chapter of Lisbon were not so very hasty for they did not pronounce Sentence 'till the 24th of March tho' considering how long Causes of Divorce between Royal Persons used to depend which we in England have good Cause to remember none will accuse them of dilatory Proceedings They at last by their Delegates appointed to examine and determine the Matter pronounc'd the former Marriage to be null by reason of Alfonso's incurable Inability to consummate it occasion'd by his Sickness during the time of his Childhood of which Inability as 't is affirm'd in the Sentence there was more than sufficient Proof and at least a Moral Certainty so that as they said there was no need of Inspection of Trial for 3 Years or any other limited time The Queen was now talking of nothing but returning into France by the Fleet that lay in the River to carry off the French Troops that had been in the Portuguese Service with this Design she made the three Estates of the Kingdom acquainted desiring that the Portion which she had brought with her might be return'd her The doleful News of her intended Departure saith the Writer employ'd to give the World an account of these Transactions was with great Grief heard by the States and they entring into politick Considerations in the midst of their Affliction find that this Princess on account of all the Conveniencies of State all the Endowments of Mind and all the Perfections of Nature was the most ready most convenient most worthy and most lovely Spouse that a Prince could wish for went all in a Body to the Nunnery saith another Writer of the same Stamp to supplicate her Majesty with Tears in their Eyes That she would not abandon them but stay and marry with the Prince because they were neither able nor willing to return her Portion But the Queen would give them no positive Answer then they went in a Body to the Prince begging of him to save
the Kingdom by marrying the Queen protesting they would never suffer him to marry any Body else for there was a Match about the same time propos'd between him and the Princess of Austria with great Advantages to the State the Prince told them That he for his part was willing provided they could but gain the Queen's Consent Then they return'd again in a Body to the Queen and with repeated Entreaties beseeched her to Consent Her Majesty at last preferring the Welfare of the Kingdom saith my Author to her own Satisfaction put off her Return to her own Country and by a heavenly Inspiration gave Consent that they should treat of the Marriage The Match was soon made up for the Sentence of Divorce pass'd but on Saturday the Eve of Palm-Sunday and on Wednesday in the Passion-Week the Duke of Cadaval her Proxy was married in a private Oratory of the Palace to the Marquess of Marralva who represented the Prince On Easter-Monday the Prince with a numerous Attendance fetched the Bride from the Nunnery and carried her to Alcantara where the Marriage was consummated Poor Alfonso sending his Complements upon it to wish Joy as 't is said to the new-married Couple They will have it likewise that he acquiesced all along to the Proceedings in the Cause of his Divorce and that by the Advice of two Dominicans and a Jesuit he confess'd the Inability objected to him by the Queen and at last submitted to the Sentence declaring that he would not appeal But he was a Prisoner all the while This dethroned Prince after he had been confined some time in the Palace was sent to the Terceira Island one of the Azores but having been kept there for some Years he was for greater Security brought back to Portugal and shut up in the Castle of Cintra formerly a Royal Palace where he ended his Days the 12th of December 1683. After Consummation of this Marriage between the Infante and the Queen the Pope was applied to to dispense with it which he did by a Breve dated the 10th of December 1668 directed to the chief Inquisitor and others impowring them in case they found the Allegations of the Petitioners true to annul the former Marriage and confirm the Second which was done accordingly the 18th of Feb. following This Bull hath some very extraordinary Clauses in it inserted I suppose Ex abundanti cautelâ which yet it will not be amiss to mention here if for no other Reason than to see how far the Plenitude of the Pope's Power reaches in such Cases By it the Commissioners are impowred and commanded to cancel dissolve and annul Alphonso's Marriage even without his Consent or in case the said Marriage did appear or should be found to have been valid and commands them to dispense with the Second Marriage notwithstanding the Impediment Publicae honestatis or any other Impediment of what nature soever that may arise or appear decreeing That altho' the said King Alfonso or any other Persons concern'd have neither given their consent appear'd been cited or heard and altho' the Causes for which these Letters were granted be neither sufficiently proved nor justified that all this notwithstanding the said Letters and the Contents of the same shall never be call'd in question retracted or violated for any lawful Cause or any defect how great or substantial soever that no Person shall obtain Relief against them upon any Plea of Right Fact or Favour and in case Relief be obtain'd it shall be of no benefit tho' granted de motu proprio with full Power and Apostolical Authority but that they shall be for ever valid in all respects without limitation to the said Prince c. So that the Pope had a great deal of reason to tell the Prince as he did afterwards in his Letter That in this Cause he had certainly shewn him all the Favour that the sacred Canons would permit Of this Marriage was born within the first Year the late Infanta of whom I shall speak anon but never any other Child tho' the Queen liv'd with the Prince for above 15 Years She departed this Life the 17th Day of Decem 1683 after having languish'd in great Misery for the space of six Months together under the Distemper that occasion'd her Death After having mention'd so many Particulars which seem to bear hard upon the Memory of this Princess common Equity requires that I should enlarge a little upon what is said in her Commendation She was much celebrated for her great Understanding and Insight into Affairs of which I think there can be no better Proof than this the Prince her Husband for he had not the Title of King 'till a little before she died had so high an Opinion of her Judgment as to consult her upon all occasions of moment and never came to a Resolution in any Business of Importance before he had first taken her Advice which may perhaps be one Reason why he regretted her loss so much as that he remain'd inconsolable for some time and as it 's said could not be perswaded to think of a Second Marriage 'till Pope Innocent XI by his Paternal Admonitions in a manner oblig'd him to it They are not wanting who make large Encomiums upon her other Vertues I have two Sermons now before me preach'd in her Commendation by two of the most famous for Eloquence in Portugal the one a little after her Second Marriage and the other upon her Death and I have consulted both these in order to give her Character to the best advantage The former speaks in general Terms of many wonderful Things that might be said in her Praise but when he comes to Particulars he falls a trifling He highly magnifies her Noble Birth chiefly because she was descended from a Bastard-Son of Henry IV. and reckons up the Titles that were related to the Family and among others the Prinpalities of Anet and Martignes the Duchies of Pontievre and Tampis the Marquisats of Sansorlem and Sasors He tells her Majesty for he preached before her That she was a very great Beauty and he hoped would be as handsome when she came to be 90 Years old as she was at 20. He thinks it was discreetly done of her Parents to Christen her with three Names since one was not enough to express her Merit For Astrologers call the finest Star in the Firmament Venus Lucifer and Vesper Speaking of her forsaking her Husband which he calls leaving a Crown to keep her Conscience unblemished he profanely compares it to Moses's refusing to be call'd the Son of Pharaoh ' s Daughter chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season And hence he infers That this Princess ought to be excepted from that general Maxim of Tacitus which represents the Female Sex as ambitious and greedy of Power The other is no less copious in her Praises but speaks a little more to the purpose he highly extols her great
Mistress she was and proves her to have been a most Endearing Wife and a Tender Mother Of the Queen Dowager of England HER Majesty being now to the great Regret of our Nation become a most considerable Part of the Portuguese Court this Account wou'd appear but lame and be more defective than it is should I forbear to mention her I have great Reason to believe that my Country-men wou'd think the Omission unpardonable finding them so very inquisitive as they are concerning her the first Question they put to such as come from Portugal and to which Satisfaction is most earnestly desired being commonly concerning their Queen-Dowager But her Majesty's Character is so well known to the World already that I shall not attempt it here To tell of her most exemplary Piety wou'd be no News in any part of Europe much less in England and it is needless to say that it is now the most distinguishing part of her Character For it was so while she Reign'd in one of the first Courts of Christendom and none will suppose her Majesty to be alter'd in this respect now in the time of her Retirement It did then as it does still give forth so bright a Lustre as to out-shine by far all the rest of her great Perfections which yet as those who are competent Judges and have the Honour to be near her Person affirm are such as would be highly admired in any other Person But tho' her Majesty be her self the same her outward Circumstances are somewhat alter'd since her leaving England her Court is lessen'd almost to a private Family those few Persons that waited on her from hence being for the most part either dismiss'd with their Salaries continued to them or excus'd their Attendance there is now no Noise nor Ostentation of Grandeur about her House but all things are quiet and still except it be on Days of Ceremony when Persons of Quality Will be coming to express the great Veneration they have for her then indeed her Court is as great and full as the Nobility of the Country can make it At all other times she convinces the World that the Formalities of Pomp and State are not inseparable from Majesty and that true Greatness instead of being set off by such Helps appears to the best Advantage without them But the Queen had doubtless a Nobler End still in getting Rid of those Incumbrances there being great cause to believe that it has been all along the chief Desire of her Heart to be at Ease and Liberty that nothing might divert her from enjoying her self as she now does at her Devotions Some speak of it as a considerable Alteration about her Majesty that the Jesuits are become her Directors whereas before she conferr'd that Trust on those of the Franciscan Order But her Majesty is not of a Character to be used by those Fathers as others may have been 'T is said indeed that they have tasted of her Liberality in a most plentiful manner but as great as their Profits are the Credit they have got by being favour'd by so discerning a Princess is certainly much greater since she cannot be suppos'd to have any Worldly Designs to employ them in For my part I take this Honour to be the greatest that ever was conferr'd on the Society and that by this mention of it I have more than made Amends for any thing I have said or may say to their Disadvantage Of the Late INFANTA DOna Isabel Luisa Infanta of Portugal was born the Sixth of January 1669 sworn Princess or Heiress to the Crown in 1680 died the Twenty-first of October 1690. This Princess was accounted one of the most Beautiful and Accomplish'd Persons of her Sex and Rank in Christendom and that not only by the Portugueses who admired her almost to Adoration but by more impartial Strangers such especially as bore a Publick Character who had frequent Opportunities to satisfie themselves that the favourable Esteem the World had for her was not without ground For which Reason and for the Prospect there was of her succeeding to the Crown 'till after the King's Second Marriage she was sought for in Marriage by most of the Princes and among the rest by some of the most considerable Monarchs in Europe as indeed there is none so great but might have accounted it a very advantageous Match The first that pretended to this Princess at least with any success was Victor Amedee the present Duke of Savoy Cousin-German to the Infanta Madame Royale his Mother Marie Jeane Baptist de Savoie Princess of Nemours being Sister to the Queen of Portugal His Pretensions succeeded so well that in the Year 1680 a Marriage was treated and soon agreed upon and nothing seem'd wanting to the final Conclusion but the coming of the Duke to Lisbon according to Agreement It will not be amiss to give what Account I can of this Match as how it came on and was unexpectedly broke off it being no inconsiderable Part of the History of this Age. It may easily be supposed that it was at first contrived between the two Mothers for howsoever it might have proved to others it afforded a very advantageous Prospect to each of them Madame Royale had been left sole Regent of Savoy during her Son's Minority by her Husband Charles Emanuel at his Death in 1675 But the young Duke entring at this time upon his 15th Year had a little before been declared Major and therefore should he have taken upon himself the Government her Authority was like to suffer no small diminution nor was there any so likely an Expedient to continue the Power in her Hands as the Duke's being sent away into Portugal the Desire of Rule together with the Ambition of becoming Mother of a King might make this Princess give a listning Ear to her Sister's Proposals The Queen of Portugal for her part as she had a great hand in the setting up of his present Majesty so she had a great share with him in the Government but her Power was not like to continue so great should a strange Prince be admitted into Court especially in case any thing should befal the King but by this Marriage between her Nephew and her Daughter she secured her Authority and took the best Measures to establish it both for the present and against the time to come These may be supposed to have been sufficient Inducements on both sides for the two Princesses to desire a Match between their Children and considering the great Power that each of them were possess'd of in their respective Dominions one would think there was no need of the Intervention of any others to bring the same about But some will needs bring the French in upon the Stage for in this latter Age there must nothing of moment be done in any Court of Christendom but what they have a hand in The Match indeed was for the Interest of France and that seems to be a great Argument why
Philip the Second was then possess'd of Portugal It was received by the Spaniards with great Satisfaction for in truth it seem'd to give them a Divine Right to the Crown of Portugal For who could think otherwise but that Philip was the Person design'd in the Promise that it was he who had been pitch'd upon by Providence so many Ages before to supply the Default of Alfonso Henriquez's Off-spring which in his time had suffered so great a Diminution that Sebastian the 16th was the last of the Male-Line he was surviv'd indeed and succeeded by his old decrepid great Uncle Henry the Cardinal who was the 16th King excluding Alfonso Henriquez but he did nothing else in his short Reign than secure the Crown to Philip. And this diminution of the Royal Family was the more remarkable for that of the nine Sons of King Emanuel whereof six lived to be Men there was no lawful Issue of the Male-Line remaining at Henry's Death So that this Paper made so much for Philip's Purpose that none question'd its Authority among the Spaniards their Writers whereof a considerable Number might be cited look'd upon it as unquestionable and great use was made of it in the great Controversie about Precedency between the Catholick and the French Kings insomuch that Valdes who by Command from the former wrote the Treatise De Dignitate Regum which was presented to the Pope lays a mighty stress upon his Master's being King of Portugal which in his Opinion ought to give him the Right of Precedency since that Kingdom was as he asserts of a Divine Foundation proving his Assertion from the Authority of this Paper whereof he produces a Copy But when the Portugueses in the Year 1640 revolted from the Spaniards and began to turn the Prediction against them finding that John Duke of Bragança was the Person design'd by it they then changed their Note and question'd the Authority of the Piece yet having so often allowed of its Antiquity they did not flatly deny but it might be as ancient as the Date but thought it was a Device of Alfonso Henriquez upon whose bare Word or Oath the Credit of the Vision relies for it is not pretended that any saw it but himself and that this Prince might feign the Story to establish his Authority and make himself more reverenc'd by the People Should I pursue this Matter ae far as it would go it would engage me in a long History of the Sebastianists and Fifth Monarchists of Portugal for which I have now neither time nor room But my present Business is with the great Vieira Upon the Revolution in 1640 the Portugueses almost to a Man the Sebastianists excepted saw clearly that the Duke of Bragança was the Person in whom the new Empire should have its Rise For tho' Sebastian was the 16th King yet this Duke was of the 16th Generation and therefore his Pretensions were more agreeable to the Letter of the Prediction but yet to make him of the 16th Generation they were fain to include Alfonso Henriquez for one which the Spaniards thought a very material Objection However Vieira shews how that it was ordain'd by Providence that the Dukes of Bragança should supply the defect of the Male Line For he proves that a like Method was follow'd in the Kingdom of Judah the only Kingdom of Divine Foundation besides that of Portugal his Argument is drawn from these Words of Jacob Non auferetur Sceptrum de Judah Dux de femore ejus donec veniat qui mittendus est Here he would have us mark well that the word Sceptrum signifies Kings and the word Dux Dukes and so the Text declares that there should be no Failure of Kings and Dukes of the Descendants of Judah and accordingly after the Kings had fail'd in the time of the Captivity the Dukes succeeded such were Zerubbabel and the Maccabees And in the same manner when the direct Line of Portugal fail'd the Kingdom was to be supply'd by the Dukes viz. the Dukes of Bragança But he thinks that what was said concerning the Diminution or Attenuation of the Royal Off-spring was to be accomplish'd in the Sons of John the Fourth As First By the Death of Dom Theodosio the Eldest and next in Alfonso and that partly by the Sickness he had in his Childhood for the Father had been a great Stickler for the Party which held Alfonso to be lame and maim'd all over his Right-side and was one of the first that were banished at that Prince's taking upon him the Government being suspected to have drawn up the Remonstrance read to him by the Secretaty of State and yet he tells his Auditors by the way That one half of a Portuguese King should be able to beat the greatest Monarch in the World But the Diminution was compleated at Alfonso's Death for then the Royal Family was reduced to one single Male viz. his present Majesty Dom Pedro whom he makes to be the Proles attenuata of the 16th Generation upon whom the words Ipse respiciet videbit were to be fulfilled Now he asserts that Respicere videre in the Prediction signifies to give a Son because Hannah saith 1 Reg. 1 Cap. Si respicieNs videris afflictionem famulae tuae dederisque sexum virilem Adding that it is not to give one but many Male-Children For we read in the same Chapter Donec sterilis peperit plurimos But during the time of the King's Marriage with his first Queen this Prophecy was like to come to nothing since in all that time he had but one Daughter whereas Respicere videre plainly signifies to give a great many Sons and the King's want of Male-Issue could not be supply'd by the Infanta's Marriage with the Duke of Savoy For the King being the Off-spring of the 16th Generation was himself the 17th Generation and the Infanta the 18th so that the Promise could not reach to her Issue And if the Crown had been settled as 't was intended upon her the Prophecy could never be fulfilled Hence as the Father thinks it was that the Match with Savoy was broken off in so surprizing a manner and that his Majesty's first Queen died to make way for his Second Marriage by which he had this Son to whom we are now to return Upon the Birth of this Child the Father mounts the Chair and takes for his Text these words Respexit vidit proves by Arguments not worth repeating That Xavier was the shining Ray that was seen by Alfonso Henriquez before the Crucifix appear'd to him shews how Xavier procured the Kingdom for John the Fourth and this Son for the present King He demonstrates that since King Peter is the diminish'd Off-spring of the 16th Generation This must be the Child promised by Ipse respiciet videbit He then goes on to shew how that the Child was to be an Emperor because the Crucifix in the beginning of his Discourse spoke only of a Kingdom and the Title of a
Nature and Grace being a Consequence of the Author's Principles contained in the Search together with F. Malbranch's Defence against Mr. de la Ville and several other Adversaries All English'd by J. Taylor M. A. of Magdalen-College Oxon and Printed there The Second Edition with some Additions communicated by the Author QVARTO A Critical History of the Texts and Versions of the New Testament In two Parts By Father Simon of the Oratory A Discourse sent to the late King James to perswade him to embrace the Protestant Religion By Sam. Parker late Bishop of Oxon. To which are prefixed two Letters the first from Sir Lionel Jenkins on the same Subject the second from the Bishop sent with the Discourse All Printed from the Original Manuscripts A short Defence of the Orders of the Church of England By Mr. Milbourn Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions In Three Vol. By Robert South D. D. Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions By G. Strading D. D. and late Dean of Chichester Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions By R. Meggot D. D. Of the Reverence due to God in his Publick Worship In a Sermon before the King and Queen at White-Hall By the Right Reverend Father in God Nicholas Lord Bishop of Chester Three Sermons upon several Occasions By the Right Reverend Father in God William Lord Bishop of Oxford Two Sermons one before the House of Commons the other before the Queen By W. Jane D. D. and Dean of Gloucester Three Sermons before the Queen By Nath. Resbury D. D. Five Sermons upon several Occasions By Mr. Francis Atterbury Two Visitation-Sermons and one before the Societies for the Reformation of Manners By Mr. William Whitfield The Certainty and Necessity of Religion in General or the first Grounds and Principles of Humane Duty Established In Eight Sermons Preached at St. Martins in the Field At the Lecture for the Year 1697. Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyl Esq The Certainty of the Christian Revelation and the Necessity of Believing it establish'd in opposition to all the Cavils and Insinuations of such as pretend to allow Natural Religion and reject the Gospel Both by Francis Gastril B. D. Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn A Conference with a Theist In Four Parts compleat By W. Nichols D. D. Mr. Luzancy against the Socinians In Two Parts A Discourse of Religious Assemblies for the Use of the Members of the Church of England By G. Burghorpe Rector of Little Gaddesden in Hertford-shire A Discourse of Schism address'd to those Dissenters who conform'd before the Toleration and have since withdrawn themselves from the Communion of the Church of England By R. Burscough M. A. The Inspiration of the New Testament Asserted and Explained in Answer to Mr. Le Clerc and other Modern Writers By G. Lamothe The Lives of all the Princes of Orange from William the Great Founder of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces Translated from the French by Mr. Tho. Brown Monsieur Bossu's Treatise of the Epick Poem containing many curious Reflections very useful and necessary for the right understanding of the Excellency of Homer and Virgil. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the Roman Emperor concerning himself treating of a Natural Man's Happiness wherein it consisteth and of the Means to attain it Translated out of the Original Greek with Notes by M. Casabon D. D. To which is added The Life of Antoninus with some select Reflections upon the Whole By Monsieur and Madam Daceir Never before in English The Art of Glass Shewing how to make all sorts of Glass Crystal and Enamel likewise the making of Pearls Precious Stones China and Looking Glasses To which is added The Method of Painting on Glass and Enameling also how to extract the Colours from Minerals Metals Herbs and Flowers A Work containing many Secrets and Curiosities never before discovered Illustrated with Sculptures Written originally in French by Mr. H. Blancourt and now translated into English With an Appendix contaning Exact Instructions for making Glass Eyes of all Colours Jacobi Patriarchae de Shiloh Vaticinium a depravatione Johannis Clerici in Pentateuchum Commentatoris Assertum Opera Studio Sebastini Edzardi Accedit Ejudem Dissertatio de nomine Elohim Aurocti Judicii de R. Simonii Historia V. Test Critica opposita An Essay concerning Self Murther Wherein is endeavour'd to prove That it is unlawful according to Natural Principles With some Considerations upon what is pretended from the said Principles by the Author of a Treatise intituled Biathaenatos and others By J. Adams Rector of St. Alban's Wood street and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty The Pretensions of the several Candidates for the Crown of Spain discuss'd and the Necessity of the King of Portugal's being declared Successor to his Catholick Majesty prov'd In a Letter from a Spanish Nobleman to a Counsellor of State at Madrid OF THE INTERESTS OF PORTUGAL With Relation to other SOVEREIGNS CONTAINING An Account of the most Considerable Transactions that have pass'd of late between that Court and those of Rome Spain France Vienna England c. PART II. Of the Interests of Portugal with Relation to Rome OF all the Courts with which this of Portugal hath any Intercourse that of Rome challenges the Pre-eminence and not without Reason considering what great Interest and Power the Pope has within the Kingdom for however He may be slighted in other Countries accounted Catholick he hath hitherto made shift to maintain his Authority in this by virtue of the extraordinary Devotion of the Portuguese Kings towards the Holy See which his present Majesty has inherited from his Ancestors together with the Title of The most Obedient Son of the Church It is well known what Power Popes have had in former Ages in other parts of Christendom and by what means they procured and maintained it notwithstanding the Opposition they almost every where met with from Princes who were perpetually strugling to preserve or recover their Liberty But the Case of Portugal seems peculiar in this respect That as it hath brought its self into a greater subjection to the See of Rome than any other Kingdom so it can plead the Merit of a voluntary Obedience Other Nations have shown that they were in a State of Violence while the Soveraign Pontiffs were exercising the Plenitude of their Power over them since all of them have in some measure more or less eased themselves of the Oppression while the Portugueses who doubtless might have gone as far as any towards the recovery of their Liberty do to this day bear the Yoke It is indeed with some Impatience for they are not insensible of its weight and smart and see plainly that its like to lie heavier upon them still Alfonso Henriquez their first King refused to accept of the Crown till it was made Tributary to his Holiness John the 2d who in other Cases knew as well as ever any Prince did how to assert the Royal Authority exceeded his first
Predecessor in his Respect and Deference to the Holy See for he gave the Pope an uncontroulable kind of Soveraignty within his Dominions granting that his Bulls should be Publish'd for the future without being examin'd by the Chancellor or any other of the King's Ministers which was the former practice of this and is still observed with great exactness in other Kingdoms to prevent incroachments upon the Civil Power When that Magnanimous Prince John the 3d. had been treated with the utmost Indignities by those of Rome and they conscious to themselves of their Offences were apprehensive of his Resentments Inigo Loyola Founder of the Jesuits could assure them that he knew the King of Portugal to be so good a Catholick that he would suffer his very Beard to be trampled under feet by his Holiness without showing the least sign of Disobedience The Brave Sebastian when the Pope to flatter his desire of Glory bid him choose what Title he pleased answered That he was ambitious of no other but that which his Ancestors had so well deserved viz. That of The most obedient Son of the Church This great Devotion of the Portuguese Kings toward the Romish See hath given the Pope the advantage to establish an Absolute Dominion within their Kingdom It s true his Holiness hath the Title of Soveraign only in Spirituals but he so manages the matter that Temporals fall in of course in Ordine ad Spiritualia he is not indeed at the trouble nor the charge of maintaining the Civil Government but then he has the Power and the Emoluments of a Temporal Soveraignty He has his Nuncio always residing at Lisbon with a Legantine Power and wanting only the Title of Vice-Roy exercising his Jurisdiction in his own Courts whence there is no appeal but to Rome over the whole Body of the Clergy who with their Dependents may well be reckon'd one half of the Kingdom They are commonly supposed to have much above two thirds of the Wealth the secular Clergy who are more exempt than the rest from his Dominion are yet his Tributarys great summs are extorted from them for Collations to Benefices and Bulls for Bishops There goes to Rome as I have been informed no less than 90 Thousand Crowns before an Archbishop of Evora can be setled in his Chair and all the rest may be supposed to pay in their Proportion As for the Regulars they are his more immediate Vassals or Soldiers rather its true they are not in his Pay for they live upon free Quarter and keep the Country under Contribution and his Holiness comes in for a share of the Spoils by continually draining them of what they scrape from the People every Monastery having always some Business or other depending before the Nuncio or their Agents at Rome to procure Privileges or Indulgencies or Composition for unsaid Masses that have been paid for of which they will sometimes be behind hand for many thousands but upon Composition made at Rome one high Mass said at a privileged Altar will serve for all or to make the Ministers of that Court acquainted with their Squabbles among themselves And on all these occasions the Money of the Kingdom is carried to Rome to be dispos'd of there by underhand Conveyances as well as open Practices for when a Fryar is to pass the Mountains he is furnished with Bills for Secret as well as Publick Service and it is not impossible that the Holy See may by this means undergo greater Scandal than it deserves for the Fryars Account is allowed of upon his own word so that should he convert a considerable summ to his own use he cannot be discovered unless it be by a very rare Accident indeed and yet it is no unheard of thing at Lisbon for one to be found out in reckoning some Thousands of Crowns for Bribes which never were expended in the Service But these are not the only ways by which the Riches of Portugal are drawn to Rome his Holiness hath his Apostolical Collectors for so they are called to raise Tribute from the King's Subjects as well as his own and to receive his share of the Taxes which the King levys in his own Dominions by his Holiness's Permission Dispensations for Marriages must necessarily bring him in a very considerable and constant Revenue the forbidden Degrees being so very many in the Roman Church whether upon the account of Consanguinity or Spiritual Relation that one would think there could scarce be a Wedding among Neighbours or People that have for any time been acquainted without a Dispensation and it rarely if ever happens that a Match is broken off for want of one supposing the Parties will come up to the price of it if they apprehend any difficulty in it it is but beginning the Marriage at the wrong End and then the Dispensation is granted of course and the Price being rais'd according to the Quality of the Persons and nearness of the Relation great summs are continually drawn from Families of the better sort who commonly marry within themselves and some of them intrench so far upon the Laws of Nature that the House of Austria in the last Age was not more confounded by the various Relations of its several Branches to each other than some Noble Families in Portugal are at this day In fine Portugal is so beneficial a Province to his Holiness that could a just Computation be made there is no doubt but his Revenues from thence would be found to exceed the Kings by far the necessary Charges of the Government deducted They are so great that if some sudden stop be not put to them the Kingdom is like to be exhausted in a very short time which gives thinking People here a sad prospect of the approaching Ruin of their Country This may appear strange to the rest of Europe considering the vast advantages that must necessarily have accrued to this Kingdom from an undisturbed Peace of above Thirty Years continuance during which time all other parts of Christendom have been more than once engaged in Expensive Wars one would think that during the last War at least which among many other advantages brought hither so great and gainful a Trade with England as took off all the Commodities the Country could vent and that too at prodigious Rates I believe I may safely say above double to what they formerly sold for one would think I say by this time that Riches and Plenty should have abounded every where But they that have travelled the Country of late beheld another Face of Things and at the late Assembly of the Cortes the Mouths of the Deputies were full of complaints of an Universal Desolation and Poverty and I have been told that some of them were sensible enough of the cause of their Misery but I have not heard that any Motion was made in their Publick Meetings for a Redress to this their greatest Grievance Having given some Account of the State of Portugal with respect to Rome it
and Enacted by his Majesty That whosoever should attempt any thing against it in case he were a Subject he should be unnaturalized and cast out of the Kingdom if he were a King he desired that God's Curse and his own might light upon him that he might not be reckoned among his Descendents hoping through the Divine Favour that he would be thrown down from the Throne and dispoiled of the Royal Dignity This Act passed the 5th of March in the year 1646. Hitherto all things went smoothly on there being nothing in the Association but what the generality of the Portugueses were willing to assent to and maintain with their Lives and Fortunes But the King would needs have the Dominican Fryars swear to it Men that are Thomists upon Oath and whose Order had all along asserted a contrary Doctrine to that which the King would now force upon them This Business was in Agitation while the Portugueses were adjusting all things in order to conclude the League with France But Mazarin had now what he look'd for a Pretext to break off the Treaty for his Eminence sent the King word that he thought it a very strange thing for him to put such a hardship upon the Dominicans But the King continued in his Resolution which the Cardinal took very ill at his hands but the King in this case made no Account of his Anger for as the Conde da Ericeyra saith his Devotion to our Lady was such that no Politick Consideration could make him desist from his Purpose and doubtless the Cardinal foresaw as much or else he had put his Invention to the rack to find out some other occasion for a Quarrel But the Congress at Munster being upon the point to break up and things remaining in the same state as before between France and Spain the Cardinal was for bringing on again the Treaty of a League with Portugal but still he insisted upon unreasonable Conditions and among others would have cautionary Towns put into the French hands with two Harbours that were capable of the greatest Fleets He was encouraged to make this Demand by the famous Jesuit Antonio Vieira who had been sent to Paris to assist at the Conferences with the French Ministers with Power to make what Proposals he in his own Discretion thought fit and the Father was so very forward in making large Promises that the Cardinal thought he could not be too exorbitant in his Demands and they made such a bargin of it between them that the Ambassador was fain to interpose and put a stop to their Proceedings by declaring that he would sooner have his hands cut off than sign what the Jesuit was agreeing to After this manner did his Eminence play fast and loose with his Friends till the year 1655. when the Spaniards had like to have done their Enemies of Portugal a kindness which they found it impossible to do for themselves for if the Portugueses had made use of the advantage which the Spaniards had put into their hands they might have managed the Cardinal as they pleased and brought him to Terms of their own prescribing The Spaniards in order to make mischief in Portugal and incense the People against the Court gave out that they had made an offer of Peace to the King and found him of himself willing enough to hearken thereto but that he was imposed upon by his Ministers who for their own Interests were still putting him upon continuing the War This Report coming to the Cardinal's Ears gave him the Alarm and raised a suspicion in him that there might be some under-hand Negotiation carrying on between Spain and Portugal which if such a thing there was might spoil all his designs He therefore dispatches away the Chevalier de Sainte Foy to adjust the League on Condition that the King of Portugal would engage himself to a vigorous Prosecution of the War to which end he should be furnished with Money for the Expense of the next Campagne but withall the Envoy was ordered to complain how little Portugal minded the Interests of France and of the several infractions of the Capitulations already made between the two Crowns and to let fall some hints of the King 's being suspected of having an Understanding with the common Enemy The good King took care to vindicate himself from this unjust Aspersion which the Castillians by their Calumnies had cast upon him and clear'd himself so well that St. Foy began to perceive that there was no occasion for a League and so found out Pretences to defer the Conclusion of it Hereupon King John dispatches away an Irish Fryar with the Character of his Envoy I suppose to satisfie the Court of France of his Innocence but with express orders to hasten the Conclusion of the League and it seems the Irish Polititian acquitted himself of the first part of his Commission so much to the Cardinal's satisfaction that his Eminence would hear no talk of what he had to say further and so Frey Domingos do Rosario for that was his Fryars name I think his true one was O Dally was sent back again and ordered to tell his Master that he should make his Peace with Spain himself if he would and think no more of a League with France This was the last Negotiation between France and Portugal in the Reign of King John the 4th the first King of the House of Bragança and let the Reader judge how far he was obliged to France for his Establimment upon the Throne After his death there was little entercourse between the two Courts the French leaving the Widdow and the Orphan to shift for themselves till the Treaty of the Pirenees was drawing on and then the Cardinal had a further occasion for Portugal During the course of this long War Spain had lost several important places to the French which they expected to have restored to them at the Peace or some Compensation for them at least For the Spaniards had not yet been accustomed to make Peace on such Terms as they have since been used to they stood likewise obliged by Treaty made with the Prince of Conde at his first putting himself into their service never to lay down their Arms till he was restored to all the Places and Governments possest by him in France when he first came over to them The French on the other side were as unwilling to part with the places in Question as the Spaniards were to yield them up and as for the Prince of Conde neither the King nor the Cardinal could be prevailed with to put him in a condition to give them the like trouble again as he had done formerly for they were not without some jealousy that he had a mind to be playing over his old Game again and should he come off so well after all the Bustle he had made in the Kingdom others might in after times be tempted to follow his Example So that unless some Expedient could be found out to satisfy
himself into as many shapes to gain his ends as the Spaniard They that know any thing of Cardinal Mazarin's former Conduct would surely have expected a great deal more of this from him than from a Person of Don Luis de Haro's Character and Quality It s true his Eminence was at this time at the very heighth of his Greatness and Glory and might think it beneath him to be playing over his old tricks he would now be thought to have put off the Italian and pretended much to the Promptitude and Vivacity of a Frenchman but then had he any concern for his Allie he would surely have receiv'd some warmth from all that heat He observed in Don Luis at least that natural Vanity of his which was at this time encreased to as great a height as the station he was in could raise it should have put him upon doing something for a Prince who had no other Dependence but upon him and what could there have been more Glorious for this proud Great Man who had a Crown'd Head for his Client being so sensible as he was that the Eyes of all Christendom were upon him Princes and Nations expecting their Fate in the Issue of his Proceedings than instead of wrangling and squabbling about the exchange of every little Bicocque to be pleading the Cause of a Distressed and Orphan King But alas he did not lay the Cause of Portugal to heart at all nor concern himself for its Preservation He had used that People before so basely that he seem'd to desire their Destruction no less than the Spaniards themselves He contented himself sometimes to repell the most lively instances of Don Luis for the Prince of Conde by telling with all the Coldness and Phleme imaginable That his Master was so desirous of Peace that he had no such Considerations for the King of Portugal as he expressed for the Prince and that his Master might in Justice use the Prince of Conde in the same manner as the Spaniards intended to serve the King of Portugal It s true that in one of the first Conferences when he had no other way to put by the Importunities of Don Luis he told him knowing very well as he saith himself in his Letter to Mr. Le Tellier that he should not be taken at his Word that since he was so very Passionate for the Interests of the Prince he himself had one Proposal to make and would desire the King his Master's Consent which should be more advantageous to the Prince than any thing Don Luis had yet desired The Spaniard over joy'd at this News was impatient to know what the Proposal might be the Cardinal told him He would desire the King of France to restore the Prince and his Son the Duke of Anguien to all their Charges and Governments on Condition that the Catholick King would leave Portugal in the state it was then in The Offer was rejected with all the Indignation that the Cardinal look'd for and had he not thought as much it never had been made for as his Eminence saith to Mr. Le Tellier when he made this bold or hardy Proposal as he calls it he knew it would not be accepted Now if the French did not think it worth their while to rescue the Kingdom of Portugal from apparent Ruin at so small an Expence as giving the Prince of Conde his Employments again it is more unlikely still that they should be wiling both to do that and yield up the many strong Towns and some entire Provinces that they had possess'd themselves of in a five and twenty years War and this it is that tempts me to believe that the Proposal mention'd in the 60th Article of this Treaty was never made in earnest the Cardinal in the same Letter gives a little more light into this Mystery he saith there That he made these offers to let Don Luis see what vast Advances his Master had made towards a Peace and of what consequence his yielding in the point of Portugal was since rather than do that he would be content to restore the Prince to his Governments and give up all his Conquests and it is a great Ease to me continues he that when Don Luis is reckoning up the great Advantages the King gets by this Peace counting the Places and Provinces that remain to his Majesty that I can answer him again that all he said was nothing in Comparison to the Concession we make in the Article of Portugal though he gives a hint to Mr. Le Tellier by the by that for certain Reasons unknown to the Spaniards all this was no such great matter neither as he endeavour'd to make them believe I do not find by his Letters that he made this Hardy Proposal as he calls it any more during the whole time of the Treaty but I find him afterwards directing Mr. De Lionne to word the Preamble of the Article in the same manner as it now stands the Body it seems was adjusted before at the Treaties of Madrid and Paris so that possibly the Preamble had no better grounds for it than the occasional Discourse of which I have now given an account let the Reader then judge what we are to make of this formal Declaration vid. the 60th Article of the Treaty of the Pirenees That his most Christian Majesty desiring with an extreme Passion to see the Kingdom of Portugal enjoy the same Repose that other Christian States acquire by this present Treaty had to that end propos'd a good number of Ways and Expedients which he thought might be to the satisfaction of his Catholick Majesty among which notwithstanding as hath been said that he is under no sort of Engagement in this affair he hath gone so far as to be willing to deprive himself of the Principal Fruit of that happy Success which his Arms have had during the course of a long War offering besides the Places which he restores by this present Treaty to his Catholick Majesty to surrender up all the Conquests in general that his said Arms have made in this War and to re-establish entirely Monsieur the Prince of Conde provided and on condition that the Affairs of the Kingdom of Portugal might be left in the state they are in at present c. I cannot pretend to tell what the many Ways and Expedients here mention'd were finding little or nothing said of them in the Accounts of the Treaty that are yet extant or in the Cardinal's Letters who seems to have given an account of all the most material Passages and yet he mentions but one expedient as propos'd by himself and he saith too that he offered that rather to divert Don Luis from pressing him in behalf of the Prince than out of hopes that it would be accepted He made it on this occasion Don Luis had been very urgent with him that since the Prince could not be restored to his Charges and Governments in France he might be allow'd to accept of a
an occasion for doing over again all that they had done already But the Truth is there is so great an Agreement in some of the most material Passages in this Account with what the English had been doing before as 't is related by our Officers who never saw or heard of the 2d Volum of Portugal Restaurado that they all seem to speak of one and the same Action so that there is cause to suspect that the Conde had given an Account of the Part which our Country men had in the Battle and that the Revisors of his Papers or which is more probable the Inquisitors when the Book passed through their Hands out of their great kindness to the Hereticks resolv'd to make a Portuguese Action of it by changing the Names and Time There are more Reasons for this Conjecture then are necessary to be told at present It is not denied but that the Portugueses might come upon the Place where the Action was perform'd but it appears from what hath been said that it could not be till the Business was in a manner done and till the English were about leaving it so that they might have spared the Officers pains whom they sent to view it there being neither Horse nor Foot in any condition to withstand them All the work that they had to do was that usually done a broken scatter'd and confounded Enemy and which a Brave Man will never by his Good-will set his Hand to which is down-right killing The English being drawn off upon a Business that became them better had not been long there after the Enemies Horse were repuls'd but a Gentleman came Riding up to them from Count Schomberg with Orders to Halt adding that the Portugueses on the Right had attack'd and put to the Rout the Spaniards on the other Hill sometime afterwards Count Schomberg himself came to them and order'd them to joyn the Army that was going to incamp it them growing Duskish The Count staid with them part of the Night telling the Officers many diverting Passages and we may guess at whose Expence he diverted himself Were that Great Man alive now he had no doubt before this time receiv'd from Portugal a further occasion for his Mirth It is very likely that a Person unskill'd in Military Affairs must be guilty of many Errors in his manner of Relating this Transaction but as to the substance of what hath told he hath deliver'd it with that assurance which is Natural to one who himself believes what he saith he having receiv'd the most material Passages from several Competent Witnesses at several places and times all agreeing with each other and with what our Author himselves relates where he does not plainly do that which 't would be a great indecency to Name However since many cannot have the like opportunities to inform themselves he shall insist only upon this notorious Truth That at the Battle of Amexial part of the English Foot without the Assistance of Portugueses or others attack'd a great Body of Spaniards posted upon a Hill by themselves thought inaccessible Defeated and Routed them taking their great Guns their General 's Tent and Baggage and by this means occasion'd the Victory which preserv'd Portugal from imminent Destruction This he believes to be so evident a Truth that there 's scarce a Person of any considerable Rank in the several Nations that were concern'd in the Transaction but either is or may be convinc'd of it by Eye-Witnesses those that have convers'd with them Letters from Publick Ministers or the like And since on account of the suppos'd Author's Quality the History of Portugal Restaurado is likely to be communicated to those that are in the Highest Stations they who have prefix'd to it the Name of Dom Luis de Menezes have done a great discredit to their Cause and a most irreparable injury to the Memory of that great Man For while such as have a true sense of Honour shall think that Lord could be Author of a Peace wherein so little Gratitude is express'd to the Savers of his Country so much Artifice used to Defraud them of the Honour got while they were exposing their Lives to rescue a distress'd People from Destruction and all for no other apparent Reason but our difference in Opinions for there appears throughout the Work as great Partiality in favour of the French as Prejudice against the English How vile a thing must they take this ancient Popery to be and how mischievous amongst the People that can have so Maligant an Influence upon a Noble Mind Certainty should Dom Luis de Menezes prove guilty of so disingenuous a Work The General of the Artillery did not gain more Honour by his Sword when he fought at the Battle of Amexial then the Conde de Ericeyra forfeited by his Pen when he Discribed it In this Battle the Spaniards as 't is said of 16 Thousand had 4000 kill'd and 6000 taken Prisoners among whom were 2500 Wounded The loss on the Victors side was inconsiderable for among all the 8 Companies that were ingag'd on the Hill there were but 16 private Soldiers and an Ensign kill'd The Portugueses indeed while they were killing the Spanish Foot and fighting with the Horse lost a thousand of their Men and had 500 Wounded The King of Portugal being very sensible of the great services done him by our Men resolv'd to bestow a Largess upon them as a mark of his Esteem His Gift was very Extraordinary in its kind for it was three Pounds of Snuff to each Company and not despicable for its Value considering into how low a state Portugal had been reduced But our Foot Soldiers had not such consideration in them for when the Present was made in his Majesty's Name they took it and toss'd it up into the Air out of Contempt and Disdain and as they grew Angry they began to remember not their own services but the loss of their Valiant Country men of the Horse Regiment and to vent their Indignation that such Men that had been so often commanded on to the Slaughter should be so basely abandon'd as they were However their Passions cool'd and they came to themselves again upon the first occasion for Action and though they were to fight for Portugueses yet they behav'd themselves like English Men still insomuch that the remainder of the present Campagne and the two that follow'd seem'd just the Reverse of those made by Don John the two foregoing Years and the beginning of this Soon after the Battle Evora was besieged and taken and the next Year Valença in Estremadura at both which Sieges the English signaliz'd themselves in their usual manner of which several remarkable Instances might be given In 1665. the Spaniards made shift to bring another Army into Portugal under the Marquess de Caracena to be serv'd at Montes-claros in the same manner as Don John's had been at Amexial In this Battle while a whole Regiment of French fairly ran away some particular