But in what concerns the great affairs of state, peace or war, his Majesty, docile as he is in everything else, will have the rest obedient to his wishes.

In that case there is nobody at court, whatever authority he may possess, who dare gainsay his Majesty.

This prince has a very sound judgment and a great deal of information; there is no sort of thing, or study or art, about which he cannot converse very much to the point.

It is true that, when people see how, in spite of his knowledge and his fine talk, all his warlike enterprises have turned out ill, they say that all his wisdom lies on his lips, and not in his mind.

But I think that the calamities of this king come from lack of men capable of properly carrying out his designs.