"You ask for my advice," he says to Philip V. (20th August, 1704), "and I write you what I think; but the best advice becomes useless when it is only asked for and followed after the mischief has happened.... You have hitherto given your confidence to incapable or interested persons.... (And speaking of the recall of Orry and of another agent) it seems, however, that the interest of those particular persons wholly engages your attention, and at a time when you ought only to have elevated views _you dwarf them down to the cabals of the Princess des Ursins, with which I am unceasingly wearied_." And to the Queen, Louis XIV. writes still more explicitly (20th September, 1704,):-- "You know how much I have desired that you should give your confidence to the Princess des Ursins, and that I forgot nothing that might induce you to do so. However, unmindful of our common interest, she has given herself up to an enmity which I do not comprehend, and has only thought of baffling those who have been charged with our affairs. If she had had a sincere attachment for you, she would have sacrificed all her resentments, well or ill-founded, against the Cardinal d'Estrees, instead of dragging you into them. _Persons of your rank ought to keep themselves aloof from private quarrels and conduct themselves with regard to their own interests and those of their subjects, which are always identical._ I must therefore recall my ambassador, abandon you to the Princess des Ursins, and leave her solely to govern your realms, or recall that lady herself. That is what I think I ought to do." In these truthful and kingly words, the true cause of Louis' dissatisfaction may be seen, and the marginal note, true or false, in the despatch, appears nothing more than a secondary accident.[31] [31] The affirmation of Madame des Ursins was no doubt true, since in a letter of hers to Orry, dated in 1718, she begs him to present her friendly remembrances to M. d'Aubigny's _wife_. The politic monarch, moreover, thought it well to take extreme precaution in timing his blow aright. The moment of the young King being with the army and separated from the Queen was expressly chosen, for fear lest the latter in her despair, might oppose some obstacle, to its execution. CHAPTER VII. THE PRINCESS QUITS MADRID BY COMMAND OF LOUIS XIV.--AFTER A SHORT EXILE SHE RECEIVES PERMISSION TO VISIT VERSAILLES.