Minister, the Emperor made him a Count of the Empire. He then chang'd his Name for that of Count de Wartemberg, which was the Name of a ruinous Castle that he had in the Palatinate. His Lady, when she became a Countess, had a mind that her Children by her first Marriage should be promoted to the Dignity of Barons; and they were accordingly call'd Barons of Asbach. But these new Titles of the Count and Barons compleatly turn'd the Head of Madame de Wartemberg, and she was every day guilty of Extravagancies which were disgusting and ridiculous.

Such, Madame, was the State of our Court in my early years. It began to shew its Superiority over almost all the Courts of Germany, by the Influence it had upon the Affairs of Europe: But that which added new Lustre to it, was the erecting the Duchy of Prussia into a Kingdom. The first Hint of this was given by France to Frederic-William; but that Elector, whether it was owing to some Obstacles that he foresaw, or to the little Advantage he thought to reap from it, was not willing to put the Project in execution. His Son too perhaps would have miscarried in it, had it not been for the Situation of Affairs in Europe, on account of the Spanish Succession. Kolbe, whom I shall hereafter call the Count of

Wartemberg, had all the Honour of this Event, because it happen'd in his Ministry. I had some Particulars, Madame, from his own Mouth, which I think important enough to have a place in these Memoirs. The Affair is moreover so weighty of it self that I shall trace it from its very beginning.

Great Events commonly have their Source in Trifles. This was owing to nothing more than the Refusal of the Prince of Orange, who was King of England, to give an Arm-Chair to the Elector in a Conference betwixt those two Princes at the Hague in 1695. The Elector cou'd not bear that the Prince of Orange, who had always been his Inferior, shou'd carry it to him in such a lofty manner, after Fortune had rais'd him to the Throne of England; and from that time he resolved to be a King too.

Dankelman the then Prime Minister, who cou'd not foresee the Situation that Europe was in some Years after, would fain have diverted the Elector from a Project which he thought a perfect Chimæra; he put him in mind of the Difficulties Frederic-William met with in it, and of the Reasons he had to refuse the Offers which France made to him on that head; he shew'd him that the same Reasons were still subsisting, and reinforc'd by yet greater Difficulties; and that it was Madness to attempt a Thing, the Success whereof was neither certain nor advantageous, his Rank being so near a-kin to Royalty, that he would be never the better for the Title. But the Elector had the refusal of the Arm-chair too much at heart to hearken to any Reasons that could be brought against his Design, and sent Dankelman, his Minister's Brother, to Vienna,

to impart to the Emperor the Scheme which he had form'd to erect Prussia into a Kingdom.

Prussia, which is a Province detach'd from Poland, formerly belong'd to the Lithuanians, from whom it was conquer'd by the Teutonic Order. Albert Margrave of Brandenburg, the Grand Master of the said Order, who had marry'd Dorothy, Daughter of Frederic I. King of Denmark, took it from those Knights in 1511, and made himself Master of it. This engag'd him in a War with Sigismond I. King of Poland, his Uncle by the Mother's side, who had Pretensions upon the said Province; which War continu'd five Years, till it was concluded by a Treaty, whereby it was stipulated, That the Eastern Prussia shou'd remain hereditary with the Title of a Duchy to Albert, who, together with his Descendants shou'd perform Allegiance and Homage for it to the King and Republic of Poland, to which it was to revert on the failure of Issue Male in the Family of Albert.

The Emperor Charles V. oppos'd this Transaction, by pretending that Prussia was a Fief of the Empire; and that therefore Sigismond had no Right to dispose of it. The Imperial Decree which was pass'd upon this Occasion, had however no Effect, by reason of the Wars which the Emperor was at that time engag'd in, and Albert remain'd in peaceable Possession of Prussia. He was succeeded by his only Son Albert-Frederic, who receiv'd the Investiture of it from the King of Poland, for himself and his Cousin-Germans in 1569. This Prince dying without Issue, John Sigismond Elector of Brandenburg succeeded him, and again receiv'd the Investiture of it from the King of Poland, for himself and his three Brothers. Since that time the Duchy

of Prussia has always been in the Brandenburg Family from Father to Son; but the Elector Frederic-William the Great, having made War upon Charles-Gustavus King of Sweden, in favour of the Crown and Republic of Poland, the Sovereignty of Prussia was, in Acknowledgment thereof, yielded to him, for himself and all his Male Descendants, by the Treaty of Bydgost in 1659.

By virtue of this Treaty, the Elector claim'd that Prussia depended on no other Power; and that he held it immediately by Divine Right; and upon this Plea he thought himself authoriz'd to be declar'd King. But before he took this Step, it was necessary to secure the Consent of a Part, at least, of the Princes of the Empire. As the Emperor's Consent was not only the most important, but the most difficult to obtain, the whole stress of the Negociation lay almost at the Court of Vienna.

When Dankelman arriv'd there, he did not find the Court in a Temper to grant it. The august Title of a King conferr'd upon an Elector, was at first thought to be prejudicial to the Imperial Authority, and it was look'd upon as exposing of that Dignity, to acquiesce in the Elector's Demand before they had at least felt the Pulses of the Generality of the Princes of Europe, and especially those of the Empire. 'Twas but reasonable to imagine the Pope would oppose it strenuously upon the score of the Protestant Religion, which by the Elector's Advancement might gather fresh Strength. All Kings in general were interested not to suffer an Instance which had a seeming Tendency to authorize every Prince to take the same Step, on the single Pretence of being possess'd of a Bit of Land, and

holding it of no Power but God. But the Persons from whom the greatest Objections were expected, were the Electors; and indeed they had reason to fear, 1. That when the Elector of Brandenburg came to be a King, he wou'd no longer look upon them as his Equals, but wou'd claim certain Distinctions from them in the Empire and in the Dyets. 2. That he would withdraw the Dominions of his Electorate from the Obedience of the Empire, and from the Laws to which all the other Electors were subject. This Article was of the utmost consequence to them, especially with regard to the Contingent they are oblig'd to furnish towards Wars which concern the Empire, and which are the more burthensome, the fewer Heads they fall upon.

These being then the Notions of the Court of Vienna, Dankelman had no great Hopes of succeeding in his Negociation. Nevertheless the Court always took care to keep fair with the Elector, whom they look'd upon as an Ally that was well worth preserving; and perhaps they flatter'd themselves they should get more by Promises and Expectations than by granting him his Demand.

The Death of John Sobieski King of Poland, which happen'd on the