which would have had no other object, than the meer point of honour; and, upon that confideration, and, perhaps, fome regard to the oath, it was rejected by the King. It proved, however, extremely prejudicial to SPAIN, and, in the end, occafioned the ruin of ALBERONI; for the Duke of ORLEANS, who had been declared Regent by the Parliament of PARIS, having received intelligence of his defigns, conceived an implacable hatred against him; did his utmoft to thwart all his projects of government; and never ceafed perfecuting him till he faw him difgraced. This happened a very few years afterward, the Duke's wishes being feconded by ALBERONI's own conduct; for the fame impetuous and intriguing fpirit, which had promoted his grandeur, pushed him on to his downfal.

Ar this time, however, he was in the height of favour, and continually urged the King, not to delay the renewing of the war in ITALY, against the Emperor CHARLES, who gave juft foundation for a rupture, by ftill retaining the title of King of SPAIN; by creating Spanish grandees; by protecting those who were difaffected to PHILIP; and by punishing those who remained faithful to him, with the forfeiture of their eftates in FLANDERS and ITALY. The Queen, who was lately delivered of a fon, had now got a great afcendency over her husband, and zealously supporting ALBERONI in all his proceedings, PHILIP, out of complaifance to her, was eafily perfuaded to commit the whole management of his affairs to him, and weakly fuffered himself to be guided, in every thing, by his counsels. ALBERONI, though not declared prime minister, now acted as fuch, with a most defpotic authority, and caused immenfe military preparations to be carried on in the ports of SPAIN, with the defign of attacking the dominions poffeffed by the Emperor in ITALY. But, to deceive the Pope, from whom he had, for some time, been foliciting a Cardinal's hat, and who, he knew, would be greatly offended with the renewal of the war in ITALY, he, by private letters, profeffed his abhorrence of disturbing the repofe of that country, and alledged, that the naval armaments were defigned against the Turks, who had attacked the

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Venetian territories in GREECE, and even ftruck a terror into the Italians, by making a descent upon their coafts.

THE great naval preparations kept all EUROPE in fufpenfe, and very much alarmed feveral ftates. The Emperor fufpected an attack upon NAPLES and MILAN; the Duke of SAVOY feared an invafion of SICILY, which island, he knew, was not well affected to him; and GEORGE I. of GREAT-BRITAIN, was apprehenfive, that the fleet was defigned to affift the Jacobites, who had been defeated two years before in SCOTLAND.

ALBERONI having, at length, obtained from the Pope, not only the dignity of Cardinal for himself, but also an indulgence to raise a fubfidy, for five years, upon the clergy in SPAIN and Spanish AMERICA, immediately took off the mafk, and ordered the fleet to fail against SARDINIA, which island was reduced in less than two months. The Emperor being, at this time, engaged in a war against the Turks in HUNGARY, had left but a few very troops in his Italian dominions, not expecting to be attacked by PHILIP in thofe parts, as both Princes had ftipulated to obferve a neutrality, in regard to them. He had, indeed, done fome things that might be deemed infractions of that neutrality; but the King of SPAIN not having made any formal complaints of thefe, was now generally looked upon as the aggreffor, by the invafion of SARDINIA.

ACCORDINGLY the Pope, who now never mentioned ALBERONI's name but with fome injurious epithet, by a public brief expreffed his refentment against PHILIP, and he, in return, commanded the nuntio to leave SPAIN. The King of GREAT-BRITAIN and the Regent of FRANCE ordered their ambaffadors at MADRID, to complain of the violation of the neutrality. They even fent ambaffadors extraordinary to SPAIN, to prefs an accommodation between the Emperor and PHILIP. ALBERONI, however, replying, in a very haughty ftile, and continuing his military preparations with more vigour than ever, the powers who offered their mediation entered into a league with the Emperor, which was called the triple alliance: and King GEORGE fent a fleet of 20

ships of the line into the MEDITERRANEAN, under the command of Admiral BYNG, who was ordered to maintain the neutrality of ITALY.

THE Spanish minifter vainly perfuaded himself, that no powers but those who were directly attacked, would interfere in oppofing his wild schemes, which tended to disturb the fettled tranquillity of EUROPE; and he least of all expected to see an intimate alliance betwixt the courts of GREAT-BRITAIN and FRANCE. His fuccess against SARDINIA, which was but a trifling conquest, fo far blinded him, that he thought himself sufficient alone to oppofe three of the most formidable powers of EUROPE united. He still pursued his warlike preparations with the utmost vigour, which were greater than any fitted out by SPAIN, fince the time of the famous Armada against ENGLAND. He confulted with nobody; and the Spanish officers, of the greatest prudence and experience, who ventured to give their advice, were treated by him with contempt and arrogance.

To counterbalance the power of the triple alliance, he vainly attempted to embroil all EUROPE. He fent an envoy to ConSTANTINOPLE, to excite Prince RAGOTSKI to renew the war in HUNGARY, where the Turks had agreed to a truce for four years; he formed a confpiracy in FRANCE, for depofing the Regent, which ferved only to heighten the animofity of the Duke of ORLEANS against himself; he preffed the Czar of Muscovy, to attack the Emperor's hereditary dominions; and he offered large fubfidies to CHARLES XII. of SWEDEN, if he would invade GREAT-BRITAIN.

DURING these negotiations, the Spanish fleet, confifting of 26 fhips of the line, befides frigates, failed from BARCELONA, having on board 30,000 of the best troops of SPAIN, most of them veterans, who had been in all the actions of the long war of the fucceffion.

On the first and fecond of July 1719, the army landed on SICILY, and, in a few weeks, made themselves masters. of a great part of

that

that island. The entire conqueft, in all probability, would very foon have been compleated; but the Spanish fleet, on the 9th of Auguft, being totally defeated by Admiral BYNG, who took and destroyed 23 fhips of the line, their land army could no longer receive any confiderable fupplies, while the Piedmontefe garisons were daily reinforced by German troops from the kingdom of NAPLES.

NOTWITHSTANDING the fatal blow the Spanish marine had received, ALBERONI still thought himself able to cope with the many enemies his turbulent ambition had raised against SPAIN, though he had exhausted, not only the King's revenues, but those of many private perfons. Being disappointed in his expectations from CHARLES XII. who was killed, on the 10th of December, before FREDERICS-HALL in NORWAY, he fent for the pretender from ROME, and ordered 5000 men to be embarked at the GROYNE, with a view to invade both SCOTLAND and IRELAND. Only about 1000 of those troops, however, landed in SCOTLAND, where they, and about 2000 Jacobites, who had joined them, were quickly defeated and difperfed. The rest, after fuffering greatly by a ftorm, were obliged to return SPAIN. A few fhips, about the fame time, failed from VIGO to the coast of BRITANY, in hopes of raising an infurrection in that province, against the Duke of ORLEANS; but this attempt had no better fuccefs than the other.

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THOUGH ALBERONI feemed to triumph in the beginning of his enterprizes, yet he now began feverely to feel the fuperior ftrength of the powers he had to contend with, which, indeed, had been discovered long before, almost by every body but himfelf. The Regent of FRANCE fent a powerful army against SPAIN, under the command of the Duke of BERWICK, who, in three months, made himself master of the provinces of GuiPUSCOA and ROUSSILLON, with all their fortified places, and, at PORT-PASSAGE and SANTOGNA, burnt seven ships of war, and materials for feven others, the lofs of the whole being computed at near 800,000l. and, a few months after, the English landed, with 4000 men, at VIGO, where, after making themfelves

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felves masters of the town, they carried off fix fmall veffels. These invafions, with the bad news from SICILY, where the Spaniards had been obliged for feveral months to act on the defenfive, at length opened the eyes of PHILIP, and induced him to hearken to the reprefentations of his confeffor d'AUBENTON, and the Marquis SCOTI, the minifter of PARMA, who affured him, that the allies would never agree to a peace, while ALBERONI continued in SPAIN.

PHILIP, alarmed with the bad fituation of his affairs, had, for fome months, expreffed great diffatisfaction with ALBERONI, and now parted with him without regret. He ordered him to leave SPAIN in three weeks, declared the Marquis de BEDMAR and the marquis de GRIMALDO his firft minifters, and recalled feveral noblemen, who, on various pretences, had been banished, during the late adminiftration. ALBERONI left SPAIN about the middle of December, and retired to ITALY, where he was fo perfecuted by the Pope, and even by PHILIP, that for feveral years he was obliged to travel disguised, and to conceal the place of his refidence.

A FEW months after the retreat of ALBERONI, PHILIP, though very unwillingly, acceded to the triple alliance, by which he engaged himself to evacuate both SICILY and SARDINIA." The Spanish troops accordingly abandoned those two islands the enfuing fummer, the Emperor being put in poffeffion of SICILY, and the Duke of SAVOY of SARDINIA. Soon after, a congrefs was appointed to be held at CAMBRAY, to fettle all differences among the contending parties, and treat of a final pacification. While fome preliminary points were fettling, PHILIP fent, the Marquis de LEYDE, with a confiderable fleet and army, to the relief of CEUTA, which had been befieged for 26 years by the MOORS. The Spanish troops, a few days after their arrival, totally routed and difperfed the MOORS, and made themselves mafters of their entrenched camp, and all their artillery.

As the Duke of ORLEANS, fince the difgrace of ALBERONI, had feemingly favoured the pretenfions of SPAIN, PHILIP the fol