Note 314 — BOOK V I MARIE LOUISE OF ORLEANS

In January 1685 the Duke of Montalto in Madrid wrote to Pedro Ronquillo, the ambassador in London. ‘The King attends to nothing but his hunting pastimes, and the Queen in tiring horses, as if she were a skilled horse-breaker. That is a pretty way to become pregnant! In short, my dear sir, it is quite clear that God determines to punish us on every side.’ Writing again, a month later (28th February), the same correspondent, after vilifying the Medina Celi government, says: ‘Neither the things in the palace or anywhere else here improve. It looks, on the contrary, as if the devil himself had taken them in hand. Medina Celi is very placid over it, and cares only for himself; the King has been wolf-hunting for a week thirty miles off, and there would be no harm in that if he would only despatch business. As for the Queen, Medina Celi positively encourages her in her pranks so as to be able to hold on to office by her. He does not care so long as others have to pay.’ Both the correspondents, it is needless to say, belonged to Mariana’s party. ‘Doc. Ined.,’ lxxix.