PREFACE, By the TRANSLATOR. The Author of these _Memoirs_, who is a Person of an honourable Family in _Prussia_, and confess’d by all that know him to be a Gentleman of extraordinary Talents, is one that may be truly said to have seen the World; he having not only travell’d twice thro’ the principal Parts of _Europe_, but by his Acquaintance with People of the first Rank, and a diligent Inquiry and nice Inspection into Men and Things, attained to that Knowledge of Both, which is of such Service and Entertainment to Mankind in the general, and so particularly necessary for All who attend to what is doing in high Life. He has succeeded very happily in the right Narrative Stile; and the _French_ Language, in which he wrote the following Letters, seems to be as natural to him as if it was his Mother-Tongue. But the Thing which has most contributed to the Demand for these Memoirs, is the Multitude of Characters that the Baron has interspers’d, not only of the Deceas’d, but even of Persons that are still living, and distinguish’d by the exalted Spheres in which they move. That every one of those Characters is equally just, or that every Circumstance relating to them is told with the utmost Exactness, is not to be imagin’d: For supposing the Author to have been ever so circumspect and impartial, how was it possible for him to take the true Likeness of every one, in such a Variety of Personages of both Sexes, and to be perfectly sure of every Particular that he mentions; since he could not be Eye-Witness of every thing, and must be oblig’d for many to Information from other Persons, of whom, ’tis no wonder if some were prejudic’d? But to do the Baron Justice, it must be allow’d, that he no where fails in that Respect and Decorum to Princes which are their due; and that he has not discover’d a predominant Passion for Satire: because where he has painted in the strongest Colours, and represented his Subjects in the most disadvantageous Light, they were such whose Follies or whose Vices were too flagrant and notorious to be either conceal’d or disguis’d: And, considering the Groupe of Courtiers whom he has crouded into his Canvass, the Reader will rather be surpris’d to meet with so few Imperfections in his Characters, and so many excellent Qualities. By this means, his Memoirs have, upon the whole, done Honour to his Understanding, without offending his Conscience, or hurting his Fortune; he being, at this very time, upon a handsome Establishment at the Court of _Prussia_.