CARDINAL.
(Origin of One.)

John Everard Nidhard, confessor to the archduchess Mary Anne of Austria, wife of Philip IV, king of Spain, was an Austrian Jesuit, who followed the above princess into Spain. On the death of Philip, his relict as queen-mother became regent, and in that capacity advanced Nidhard to the highest employments. We are told a pleasant reason of the friendship of the queen for this Jesuit, which I give from one of the letters of Boursault, without variation:—“ Cardinal Nedhard rose by a method which who never before taken, and perhaps never will be again, and passed from the society of Jesuits to that of the cardinals, which he liked better. The late queen of Spain, mother to the present king, and sister to the emperor, carried him along with her when she went to be married to Philip IV. This princess, who in Germany enjoyed a great liberty, and was gratified with every thing she desired, did not find the same satisfaction in Spain. Every thing there is so exactly determined, that their queens can neither cat nor drink but what is appointed by the general officer, to whom that care is committed; and if they are thirsty between meals, they are treated with a glass of water. It was difficult for her to conform to a manner of life so different from what she had led: and father Nidhard, who was a Jesuit, ergo a man of address, having observed it, brought her majesty every morning, when he went to

mass, a bottle of the best wine he could meet with, which he committed to a trusty person, and which the queen had the pleasure to drink of as often as she had occasion. This father’s assiduity, in doing her this little service, so strongly affected her, that she resolved to recompense so great a zeal, if ever it lay in her power: and in effect, being declared regent after the king’s death, she raised him to so high a pitch, that Don John of Austria, growing jealous of him, and the grandees of Spain demanding his removal, he could not be dismissed but by making him ambassador extraordinary at Rome; where he was subsequently made cardinal.” What has been said, that a great fortune is a great slavery, “ magna servitas est magna fortuna,” is most remarkably verified in a queen of Spain, who has been educated in France or Germany, or in any other country which allows the sex liberty.—Art.Nidhard.