commissioner of trade; but the ministry changing soon after queen Anne's coming to the crown, monsieur Prior, who was thought too much attached to the rigides[1], was laid aside; and lived privately at Cambridge[2], where he is a professor, till he was recalled by the present ministry.
About two months ago, our king[3], resolving once more to give peace to Europe, notwithstanding the flourishing condition of his fleets and armies, the good posture of his finances, that his grandson was almost entirely settled in the quiet possession of Spain, and that the affairs of the north were changing every day to his advantage; offered the court of England to send a minister as far as Boulogne, who should be there met by some person from England, to treat the overtures of a peace. Upon the first notice that this was agreed to, the king immediately dispatched monsieur de Torcy, in whom he very much confides, to Boulogne, where he took lodging at a private house in the Fauxbourg, at one Mr. de Marais, a marchand de soy, who is married to an English woman, that formerly had been a suivante to one[4] of the forementioned English ambassadors ladies, over against the hostellerie de St. Jean. Monsieur stayed six days with much impatience; when, late at evening, on Wednesday the 14th of July (new style), a person, whom we afterward knew to be monsieur Prior, came directly to the door, and
- ↑ Tories.
- ↑ A mistake of the author; for monsieur Prior did not retire to Cambridge, nor is a professor, but a fellow. Swift.
- ↑ Lewis XIV. The author, it should be remembered, is writing in the character of a Frenchman.
- ↑ Probably the countess of Jersey, who was a roman catholick.
