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Excerpt from Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, Vol. 4 of 5: From the Accession of Philip V. To the Death of Charles III., 1700 to 1788 The ambition' of the queen dowager had plunged Spain into those frequent wars which had exhausted its strength; and she had inva riably treated Ferdinand with coolness and aversion, and promoted the establishment of her own children, in opposition to his interests and those of the state. It was therefore confidently expected that the new sovereign would resent the injuries he had received: the nation exulted at the prospect of witnessing the humiliation, if not the punishment, of a woman whose unpopularity was become proverbial. But Ferdinand pos sessed too much justice and magnanimity to sully his dignity by personal resentment. He ratified the donations of his deceased father, and not only permitted her to retain the palace of St. Ildefonso, so long the scene of her grandeur, but even to take up her residence in the capital. He displayed likewise equal affection and libera llty towards his step-brothers, and gave them the strongest assurances of his zeal to promote their interests. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.