once wrote an account of the circumstance
to Madame de Maintenon, who, for her part, was quite as furious. 'Inde
ira'. They never pardoned M. d'Orleans, and we shall see how very nearly
they succeeded in compassing his death. Until then, Madame de Maintenon
had neither liked nor disliked M. d'Orleans. Madame des Ursins had
omitted nothing in order to please him. From that moment they swore the
ruin of this prince. All the rest of the King's life M. d'Orleans did
not fail to find that Madame de Maintenon was an implacable and cruel
enemy. The sad state to which she succeeded in reducing him influenced
him during all the rest of his life. As for Madame des Ursins, he soon
found a change in her manner. She endeavoured that everything should
fail that passed through his hands. There are some wounds that can never
be healed; and it must be admitted that the Duke's toast inflicted one
especially of that sort. He felt this; did not attempt any
reconciliation; and followed his usual course. I know not if he ever,
repented of what he had said, whatever cause he may have had, so droll
did it seem to him, but he has many times spoken of it since to me,
laughing with all his might. I saw all the sad results which might arise
from his speech, and nevertheless, while reproaching M. d'Orleans, I
could not help laughing myself, so well, so simply; and so wittily
expressed was his ridicule of the government on this and the other side
of the Pyrenees.

At last, M. le Duc d'Orleans found means to enter upon his campaign, but
was so ill-provided, that he never was supplied with more than a
fortnight's subsistence in advance. He obtained several small successes;
but these were more than swallowed up by a fatal loss in another
direction. The island of Sardinia, which was then under the Spanish
Crown, was lost through the misconduct of the viceroy, the Duke of
Veragua, and taken possession of by the troops of the Archduke. In the
month of October, the island of Minorca also fell into the hands of the
Archduke. Port Mahon made but little resistance; so that with this
conquest and Gibraltar, the English found themselves able to rule in the
Mediterranean, to winter entire fleets there, and to blockade all the
ports of Spain upon that sea. Leaving Spain in this situation, let us
turn to Flanders.

Early in July, we took Ghent and Bruges by surprise, and the news of
these successes was received with the most unbridled joy at
F