Note 1378 — Chapter VIII

Compare Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain, London, 1815, vol. ii. p. 314, with The History of Alberoni, London, 1719, pp. 119, 253; and Bacallar, Comentarios de la Guerra de España, vol. ii. pp. 168, 169. The outcry which this caused, may be easily imagined; and Alberoni, finding himself in great peril, took advantage of the secrecy of the negotiations, to deny part, at least, of the charges made against him. See his indignant, but yet cautious, letter to the Pope, in History of Alberoni, 1719, p. 124. Ortiz, who had evidently not looked into the evidence, is so ill-informed as to suppose that this was a calumnious accusation brought against Alberoni after his fall. ‘Caido ya por entonces Alberoni de su grandeza, expelido ignominiosamente de España, y aun perseguido por el Rey en Italia, preso en Roma por orden del Papa, etc., no era dificil atribuirle culpas agenas ó no cometidas.’ Note in Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vii. p. 321.