[Siecle de Louis XIV.

(_OEuvres,_ xxvi.
95-97); Hubner, t.

281.] The Court and Country of Lorraine, under Duke Leopold, will prove to deserve this brief glance from Lyttelton and us.

Two sons Duke Leopold has: the elder, Franz, now about twenty, is at Vienna, with the highest outlooks there: Kaiser Karl is his Father's cousin-german; and Kaiser Karl's young Daughter, high beautiful Maria Theresa,--the sublimest maiden now extant,--yes, this lucky Franz is to have her: what a prize, even without Pragmatic Sanction! With the younger son, Karl of Lorraine, Lyttelton may have made acquaintance, if he cared: a lad of sixteen; by and by an Austrian General, as his father had been; General much noised of,--whom we shall often see beaten, in this world, at the head of men .-- But let us now get to Soissons itself, skipping an intermediate Letter or two:-- TO SIR THOMAS LYTTELTON, BART., AT HAGLEY.
"SOISSONS, 28th October," 1728.
"I thank you, my dear Sir, for complying so much with my inclinations as to let me stay some time at Soissons: but as you have not fixed how long, I wait for farther orders.
"One of my chief reasons for disliking Luneville was the multitude of English there; who, most of them, were such worthless fellows that they were a dishonor to the name and Nation.

With these I was obliged to dine and sup, and pass a great part of my time.