Note 1244 — Chapter VIII

‘Sans espérance de postérité.’ Millot, Mémoires de Noailles, vol. i. p. 419. ‘Incapaz de tener hijos.’ Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vi. p. 560. See also Mémoires de Louville, vol. i. p. 82; and the allusions in Lettres de Madame de Villars, edit. Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 53, 120, 164. She was ambassadress in Spain in the reign of Charles II. M. Lafuente, who, if I rightly remember, never quotes these interesting letters, and who indeed, with very few exceptions, has used none but Spanish authorities, ventures nevertheless to observe that ‘La circunstancia de no haber tenido sucesion, falta que en general se achabaca mas al rey que á la reina,’ &c. Historia de España, vol. xvii. pp. 198, 199, Madrid, 1856. According to the biographer of the Spanish Queens, some persons imputed this to sorcery, ‘y aun se dijo si intervenia maleficio.’ Florez, Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas, vol. ii. p. 973, Madrid, 1761, 4to.