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THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT UNDER Louis xv. Sta,—The last number of the Spectator contains a review of the work edited by me, entitled The Secret History of the Court of France under Louis XV., or rather it contains a notice of that work, under the head of "Madame de Pom- padour." Of coarse, the writer of that notice has a right to his opinions, as I have to mine ; but I must beg to refute the charge it infers of ignorance in mis- spelling three proper names, viz. D'Argeus, Farmese, and Theresia. The first is clearly a printer's error, as shown in the Errata at the end of Vol. II. As to the second, I believe that most persons versed in the literature of Italy and Spain, or at all familiar with the original documents of those countries, will con- firm my statement that it may be variously spelt--Farioese, Faranese, or Far- These, the last being an abbreviation of the two first. For Theresia, if you turn to Vol. I. of Voltaire's Pride du Siciti de Louis XV., published at Geneva, 1770, you will find, page 64, a confirmation of the Hungarian cry in favour of Therese, Theresa, Teresa, or Theresia, as the name there stands written. For my own part, I should have suffered the inference above named to pass unnoticed, but as I am not the author of The Secret History of the Court of France, it is only just to the v who wrote that work, that I request this letter may be inserted in the next number of the Spectator. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
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