Note 1363 — Chapter VIII

Ripperda's Memoirs, London, 1740, second edition, pp. 117, 118. Saint Simon (Mémoires, vol. xxxvi. p. 246) says, that Ripperda was ‘premier ministre aussi absolu que le fut jamais son prédécesseur, Alberoni.’ The English pamphleteers and politicians of the last century were very unjust to Alberoni, who, notwithstanding the dangerous boldness of his nature, was one of the best ministers who ever governed Spain. M. Lafuente, while admitting his faults, says (Historia de España, vol. xix. pp. 437, 438), ‘Negarle gran capacidad seria una gran injusticia. Tampoco puede desconocerse que reanimó y regeneró la España, levantándola á un grado de esplendor y de grandeza en que nunca se habia vuelto á ver desde los mejores tiempos de Felipe II.’ See also a good summary of what he did for Spain, in Tapia, Historia de la Civilizacion Española, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 50, 51.