Table of contents

1712.0912.Fb



Addressed, inside:
L^d Treas:^r


Addressed, outside:
L^d Treasurer.


Fountain-bleau. Sep: 12/1 1712

My Lord.

I must refer my Self to a long letter
w^ch I haue writ to my L^d Dartmouth
vpon the same Subject as mons:^r Torcy writes
to your Lordsp; a difficulty w;^ch when you
haue heard and examined, I hope you
will find a remedy to, or We are all
at Sea again: I haue not One word of
it from any body but his Lordsp, and All
that I can say to it is that I haue
performed his ordes˂er˃, ¹ and send him the
Sentiments of this Court vpon it:
Mons:^r Torcy seemed struck w:^th thunder
when I began to discourse w^th Him
about it, and wonders how this storm (as
he expresses)˂d it)˃² was raised, when he
thought We were just in the Harbour:
without any further consideration vpon
it, I will only repeat that I haue expres't
the Orders I had with the same plaineſs
and Simplicity that I return you
their sentiments vpon the Point and
beg yo:^r assistance and direction in it.

your Lordsp will pardon Me if I dare write
to you what I would not mention to any
body else; I thought L^d Bolingbroke who
knows every step of the Negociation was
to haue carryed it on, but I see it
is transferred to the other office, and
apprehend new difficulties will dayly
arise from this Change — but mihi i˂j˃ussa³
capessere, is more truly my Motto than
any other Man's.

It is with the same confidence and freedom
that I send your Lordsp the inclosed
Copy of mar:^shall Montreuils letter. the
Character of the person therein mentioned
is stupendious, and his conduct in this
Kingdom has made a great noise
at Court: I for my own part can
wish Him no personal ill, but thought
it in every respect my duty to giue
you this advertisement: you will
make such vse of it as you judge proper.

The D: of Lorrain has writ to this Court
respectfully as to the Queen, but most
submissively to his most C: Maj:^ty that
....... shall haue all civility and regard
that his quality requires, thô he bears the
name of the Chevalier S:^t George: that
He may be at Nancy if he pleases, or at
Barr, but that Passeports from the Emp:^r
&c &c will be necessary for his security
w:^ch may be obtained for him vnder
the name of Chevalier S:^t George.

your Lordsp will haue known that as
Douay is taken and Quesnoy beseiged
our affairs can not gain by lying thus
vndecided, I wish therefore that precise
orders were given, in relation to the finishing
our treaty of Commerce: I expect every
day to hear from Eng:^~ vpon that head,
and I hope I need not write vpon my
own affair, for that it is already settled:
thô I am well enough received by the
Ministers here, I at best but beg their
audience, and owe that to their Charity
w^ch I ought in justice to ask; they hear
Me indeed, but after every body else,
and it is no very pleasant thing for
Mons:^r Prior de la part de la Reine de la
Grande Bretagne to stay in an Ante­
­chamber till the Monastrolles and
Cromstroms⁴ haue told their stories—
but I presume, (I say,) that my complaint
[...]is⁵ prevented, and haue only to add vpon
this Subject that I shall always employ
my best endeavours in her Maj:^ties ser­
­vice, and in such Station and manner
as your Lordsp shall please to direct.
at present I haue neither power, commis­
­sion, name, instruction, appointment,
or Secretary — yet I go on to tell you
that mons:^r Torcy judges the D: of Ormond's
stay in Flanders absolutely necessary,
I suppose his reason to be that They beseig­
­ing Quesnoy, the Duke's stay on this
side seems to imply that Her Maj:^ty does
in some manner justify and approve their
proceedings. Mons:^r Torcy tells Me that
myn heer Hennequin Bourguẽmaster⁶ of
Rotterdam desires (by the intercession of
some friends) a passeport to come heither
seemingly vpon his own affairs, but
(as mons:^r Torcy thinks) in order to trans­
­act towards a Peace; if the passeport
should be formally asked, mons:^r Torcy
says it shall be granted or refused as
Her Maj:^ty may think good, and yo:^r
Lordsp may direct, He will wait yo:^r answer.

As to the Religionaires (as they call them
here) being released, mons:^r Torcy desires
Her Maj:^ty would by no means ask w:^t
the King can not comply with, for that
He hopes a No shall ˂n˃ever⁷ pass between
their Maj:^ties: vpon this head I shall
be able to giue you some acc:^t in a
little time; having gott the beginning of [...]⁸
an acquaintance w:^th the reverend Pere
le Tellier; I hope our friend at West:^r
will not know this either Mardi or
Mecredi,⁹ for if He should, Bons Dieux!
à Te spem, salutem, consilium, auxilium
expetens.

I remain ever and entirely
My Lord
Your Ser^t

MPrior.

The Court goes from hence on
Wensday, I shall be at Paris
too Morrow Night.

Tuesday Morn:^~ 13/2 Sep:^r

PS:

Pray, my L:^d read my despatches to the E: of
Dartmouth, and help Us; I sup't last Night
with mons:^r Torcy, We are a little shagrins
but hope the best by yo:^r assistance.

Is Mar:^shall Tallard free by this general
Release, and would it not be obliging that
He has a civil letter writ to him
on that acct^t?

2.

Endorsed:
(1)¹⁰
M^r Prior [...]˂F˃ountanebleau¹¹
Sept: 12-13 Sept: 1712
℞ P Barton Sept: 5.
9 at night

Notes
1.
The underlying text was blotted away by Prior and the correction made directly over the blotted text.
2.
Prior immediately rephrased the parenthetical remark by writing over the s of "expresses" and the closing parenthesis to create the d and then adding "it)" on the line.
3.
Prior made this change by writing over the i to convert it to a j.
4.
I. e. Monasterol and Cronström (Saint-Simon 7: 733, 901)
5.
Prior wrote over his initial apparent false start on this word.
6.
It is unclear what Prior's final intention for this spelling is. The combining tilde is definite, but there is another stroke or perhaps two immediately below the tilde which might be a blotted apostrophe. The spelling Prior uses is not quite either Dutch, French, or English.
7.
Prior squeezed the n of "never" between the preceding word and his original "ever."
8.
A false start was completely blotted.
9.
The underscoring is Prior's.
10.
A similar notation ("2") appears on the page of 1712.0913.Fa that bears the address and endorsement of that letter where it is clear that it is Prior's notation and indicates the order in which he wrote the two letters. It is unclear whether it was Prior or Oxford who made the notation on this, the first letter.
11.
The capital F was written over the now illegible underlying text.

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