A Plan for a

3 04

Let. g.

at Naples, and La Cueva at Venice. The dis-tractions of France , as vvell as the state-policyof the (Jueen mother, seduced by Rome , andamused by Spain ; the despicable character of ourJames the lìist, the raílineís of the elector Palatine,the bad intelligence of the princes and fiâtes of theleague in Germany , the mercenary temper of John George of Saxony , and the gréât qualities ofMaxcmilian of Bavaria , raised Ferdinand thesecond to the Impérial throne; vvhen, the maiesof the elder branch of the Austrian family inGermany being extinguished at the death of Mat-thias, nothing was more désirable, nor perhapsmore practicable, than to throw the empire intoanother houfe. Germany ran the famé rifk asItaly had done : Ferdinand seemed more likely,even than Charies the fifth had been, to becomeabsolute master ; and, if France had not furnisliedthe greateíl minifter, and the North the greatestcaptain, of that âge, in the famé point of rime,Vienna and Madrid would hâve given the law tothe western world.

As the Austrian scale sunk, that of Bourbonrose. The true date of the rife of that power,■which has made the kings of France fo considérablein Europe , goes up as hïgh as Charles thefeventh, and Lewis the eleventh. I he weaknefsof our Henry the sixth, the loofe conduct ofEdward, the fourth, and perhaps the overiightsof Henry the feventh, helped, very much to knitthat monarchy together, as well as to enlarge ic.Advantage might hâve been taken of the divisions

winch