voice, succeeded in driving out of the country Madame Berlips, a German
favourite of hers, who was much hated on account of the undue influence
she exerted, and the rapacity she displayed. The next measure was of
equal importance. Madrid and its environs groaned under the weight of
a regiment of Germans commanded by the Prince of Darmstadt. The council
decreed that this regiment should be disbanded, and the Prince thanked
for his assistance. These two blows following upon each other so
closely, frightened the Queen, isolated her, and put it out of her power
to act during the rest of the life of the King.

There was yet one of the preliminary steps to take, without which it was
thought that success would not be certain. This was to dismiss the
King's Confessor, who had been given to him by the Queen, and who was a
zealous Austrian.

Cardinal Portocarrero was charged with this duty, and he succeeded so
well, that two birds were killed with one stone. The Confessor was
dismissed, and another was put in his place, who could be relied upon to
do and say exactly as he was requested. Thus, the King of Spain was
influenced in his conscience, which had over him so much the more power,
because he was beginning to look upon the things of this world by the
glare of that terrible flambeau that is lighted for the dying. The
Confessor and the Cardinal, after a short time, began unceasingly to
attack the King upon the subject of the succession. The King, enfeebled
by illness, and by a lifetime of weak health, had little power of
resistance. Pressed by the many temporal, and affrighted by the many
spiritual reasons which were brought forward by the two ecclesiastics,
with no friend near whose opinion he could consult, no Austrian at hand
to confer with, and no Spaniard who was not opposed to Austria;--the King
fell into a profound perplexity, and in this strait, proposed to consult