her until her latest days; consequently she dressed in a way that no longer became her, and as she advanced in life departed further from propriety in this particular. She was an ardent and excellent friend--of a friendship that time and absence never enfeebled; and therefore an implacable enemy, pursuing her hatred even to the infernal regions. Whilst caring little for the means by which she gained her ends, she tried as much as possible to reach them by honest means. Secret, not only for herself, but for her friends, she was yet of a decorous gaiety, and so governed her humours, that at all times and in everything she was mistress of herself." Such was the Princess des Ursins, as sketched by that painstaking limner, Saint-Simon; throughout whose "Memoirs" many other scattered traits are to be found of this celebrated woman, who so long and so publicly governed the Court and Crown of Spain, and whose fate it was to make so much stir in the world alike by her reign and her fall. CHAPTER II. SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. THROUGHOUT the political conflicts which agitated the Court of England since the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough had left their native shores, the Duke maintained a steady correspondence with his friends, but expressed a firm refusal to deviate from those principles which had occasioned his exile, or to approve of the Peace of Utrecht, or to abandon his desire for the Hanoverian succession. Distrusting the sincerity of Harley's pretended exertions, he resolutely refused to hold intercourse with a Minister of whose hollowness he had already received many proofs. Nor was the Duchess less determined never to pardon the injuries which she conceived herself and her husband to have sustained from Harley. All offers of his aid, all attempts to lend to him the influence which Marlborough's military and personal character still commanded, were absolutely rejected. At the Court of Hanover, the Duke and Duchess saw, as it were, reflected the cabals of their native country. Little, indeed, that was reassuring reached them in their foreign retreat, relative to public affairs. The existing policy of Anne's Ministers seemed likely to destroy all that his labours had effected during a long life of toil and danger; and the sacrifice of thousands of lives had gained no advantage which the malice of his enemies could not undo. In short, the friendly relations which were brought about between France and England threatened to change the face of things altogether.