Book Description

Excerpt from The Secret Correspondence of Madame De Maintenon With the Princess Des Ursins, Vol. 3 of 3: From the Original Manuscripts in the Possession of the Duke De Choiseul I have read to the ambassador what you say respecting him, and it has been a great consolation to him: he is a worthy and honourable man, very zealous in his duty, and an excellent minister. It is true that our affairs in Spain continue better than we could have reasonably expected. We are now upon the eve of a decisive action, and which, as far as we are able to judge from appearances, will be in our favour. The enemy, whom public report represents as very inferior in number to the army of Marshal de Berwick, approaches him, it is said, notwithstanding their weakness, with the intention of fighting, being forced to it by the want of provisions, and because they know that considerable succours are coming from France, and which would completely overwhelm them. The two armies are only four leagues from each other, and all the officers of our army, great and small, Spaniards and Frenchmen, say and write to everybody here, that if our general does not give battle they will be in despair, having no doubt of being victorious. We must think that Marshal de Berwick will do his duty, and meanwhile send up vows and prayers that God may inspire him with a wise resolution How fortunate it would be for France and Spain to begin the campaign by such an action, which would enable us afterwards to succour the districts which require it most. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.