[A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot]@TWC D-Link bookA Popular History of France From The Earliest Times CHAPTER XLV 7/68
listened in silence to the arguments of the dauphin and of the ministers; for a moment the resolution was taken of holding by the treaty of partition; next day the king again assembled his council without as yet making known his decision; on Tuesday, November 16, the whole court thronged into the galleries of Versailles; it was known that several couriers had arrived from Madrid; the king sent for the Spanish ambassador into his closet. "The Duke of Anjou had repaired thither by the back way," says the Duke of St.Simon in his Memoires; the king, introducing him to him, told him he might salute him as his king.
The instant afterwards the king, contrary to all custom, had the folding-doors thrown open, and ordered everybody who was there--and there was a crowd--to come in; then, casting his eyes majestically over the numerous company, "Gentlemen," he said, introducing the Duke of Anjou, "here is the King of Spain.
His birth called him to that crown; the last king gave it him by his will; the grandees desired him, and have demanded him of me urgently; it is the will of Heaven, and I have yielded with pleasure." And, turning to his grandson, "Be a good Spaniard," he said; "that is from this moment your first duty; but remember that you are French born in order to keep up the union between the two nations; that is the way to render them happy and to preserve the peace of Europe." Three weeks later the young king was on the road to Spain.
There are no longer any Pyrenees," said Louis XIV., as he embraced his grandson.
The rights of Philip V.to the crown of France had been carefully reserved by a formal act of the king's. [Illustration: "Here is the King of Spain."-- --475] Great were the surprise and wrath in Europe; William III.
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