d the King by an express command to send him to her.
Helvetius, much inconvenienced, and knowing besides the condition of the
Princess, did not wish to go, but the King expressly commanded him.
He set out then in a postchaise, followed by another in case his own
should break down, and arrived thus at Madrid on the 11th of February,
1714. As soon as he had seen the Queen, he said there was nothing but
a miracle could save her. The King of Spain did not discontinue sleeping
with her until the 9th. On the 14th she died, with much courage,
consciousness, and piety.

Despair was general in Spain, where this Queen was universally adored.
There was not a family which did not lament her, not a person who has
since been consoled. The King of Spain was extremely touched, but
somewhat in a royal manner. Thus, when out shooting one day, he came
close to the convoy by which the body of his queen was being conveyed to
the Escurial; he looked at it, followed it with his eyes, and continued
his sport! Are these princes made like other human beings?

The death of the Queen led to amazing changes, such as the most prophetic
could not have foreseen. Let me here, then, relate the events that
followed this misfortune.

I must commence by saying, that the principal cause which had so long and
scandalously hindered us from making peace with the Emperor, was a
condition, which Madame des Ursins wished to insert in the treaty, (and
which the King of Spain supported through thick and thin) to the effect
that she should be invested with a bona fide sovereignty. She had set
her heart upon this, and the king of Spain was a long time before he
would consent to any terms of peace that did not concede it to her. It
was not until the King had uttered threats against him that he would give
way. As for Madame des Ursins, she had counted upon this sovereignty ,
with as much certainty as though it were already between her fingers.
She had counted, too, with equal certainty upon exchanging it with our
King, for the sovereignty of Touraine and the Amboise country; and had
actually charged her faithful Aubigny to buy her some land near Amboise
to build her there a vast palace, with courts and outbuildings; to
furnish it with magnificence, to spare neither gilding nor paintings, and
to surround the whole with the most beautiful gardens. She meant to live
there as sovereign lady of the country. Aubigny had at once set about
the work to the surpris