THE MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA

 
 THE 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 ANNE OF AUSTBIA 
 
 QUEEN OF FRANCE, MOTHER OF LOUIS XIV 
 
 BY 
 
 MARTHA WALKER FREER 
 
 NEW AND REVISED EDITION 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 BRENTANO'S 
 
 1913
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 1612-1617 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND LOUIS XIII 1 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER ONE 36 
 
 CHAPTER II. 1617-1625 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE DUKE OF 
 
 BUCKINGHAM 39 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER TWO 90 
 
 CHAPTER III. 1626 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE CONSPIRACY 
 
 OF THE PRINCE DE CHALAIS 94 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER THREE 1 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 1626-1630 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND MARIE DE' MEDICI 144 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER FOUR 205 
 
 CHAPTER V. 1630-1631 
 
 AXNE OF AUSTRIA AND MADEMOISELLE 
 
 DE HAUTEFORT 211 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER FIVE 258 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 1631-1637 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA, MADEMOISELLE DE 
 LA FAYETTE, AND THE DUCHESS DE 
 CHEVREUSE 263 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER SIX 329 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 1637 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE CARDINAL 
 
 DE RICHELIEU 333 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVEN 401 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 1637-1639 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA, MOTHER OF THE 
 
 DAUPHIN 405 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHT 468 
 
 V 
 
 2055194
 
 vi CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 1639-1642 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE MARQUIS 
 
 DE CINQ-MARS 472 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER NINE 532 
 
 CHAPTER X. 1643 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA A WIDOW 538 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER TEN 566 
 
 INDEX 569
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 AXXE OK AUSTRIA Frontispiece 
 
 From a painting dune immediately on her 
 arrival hi France 
 
 GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM To face page, 76 
 From a painting after ffnbens 
 
 MARIE DK' MEDICI 230 
 
 From it painting by Rubens in the Prculo 
 
 LOL-IS XIII 456 
 
 From a painting by Vouet in the Louvre 
 
 CARDINAL RICHELIEU 354- 
 
 From a painting by de. Champaigns 
 
 N.B. The above illustrations are reproduced by 
 arrangement with Messrs. Braun and Co. of Paris
 
 CHAPTER I 
 1612-1617 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND LOUIS XIII 
 
 ON the 18th of March, 1612, proclamation was 
 made throughout Paris of the betrothal of Louis 
 XIII., by the grace of God King of France and 
 Navarre, with the Infanta Marie Anne Mauricette, 
 daughter of Philip III., King of Spain, and of 
 Marguerite of Austria ; also of Madame Elizabeth, 
 eldest daughter of Henri Quatre and Marie de' 
 Medici, sister of Louis XIII., with Don Philip 
 Prince of the Asturias, eldest son of the Catholic 
 King. 
 
 The year 1612, from the splendid festivities 
 which ensued, was termed L'ANNEE DES 
 MAGNIFICENCES. 
 
 In celebration of the auspicious event of the 
 marriages, a carousal was holden in the Place 
 Royale during the first week in April, which was 
 followed by a succession of brilliant fetes, balls 
 and banquetings at the Louvre, at Fontainebleau 
 and at St. Germain. The Spanish Ambassador, 
 Duque de Pastrana, son of Ruy Gomez de Silva, 
 Prince of Eboly, the famous favourite of Philip 
 II., late King of Spain, arrived in state at the 
 Louvre and saluted the youthful bride elect of the 
 Prince of the Asturias, and throughout the 
 festivities he gave her the honours due to the
 
 2 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 consort of the heir of Spain. 1 The Duke de May enne, 
 Charles de Lorraine Guise, was at the same time 
 despatched to the court of Madrid to compliment 
 the young Infanta in the name of his master Louis 
 XIII., and to express the earnest desire of his 
 Majesty to hasten her arrival in his realm. 
 
 By the signature of these marriage contracts, 
 which bound the realms of France and Spain by 
 double matrimonial alliance, the Regent Marie 
 de' Medici and her reactionary faction reversed 
 the policy of Henri Quatre, and pardoned the 
 Spanish cabinet the calamities inflicted on the 
 realm by the wars of the Holy League, and 
 the perfidious intrigues and machinations which 
 had finally compassed the assassination of a hero 
 so dear to France. 
 
 In 1609 similar overtures for the marriage of the 
 children of France and Spain had been summarily 
 rejected by Henri IV. Indeed, Henry testified an 
 invincible aversion for such alliance, " as being a 
 step impolitic, and likely totally to alienate the 
 crowns ; for, as the grandeur of France is the hu- 
 miliation of Spain, no concord is possible. France 
 can never forgive the woes and political calamities 
 inflicted during the past half century by the 
 government of Spain." 2 The allies towards whom 
 Henry inclined were the King of England, the 
 German Protestant Princes and the Dutch Re- 
 public. The secret aim of his policy was to humble 
 the haughty princes of Hapsburg ; to break the 
 Spanish yoke from the neck of Europe ; to curtail 
 the dominions of Austria, by exciting to revolt and
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 3 
 
 freedom her tributary kingdoms of Hungary and 
 Bohemia ; and by maintaining the rights of the 
 Electors of the Germanic Empire to choose and 
 proclaim their Imperial Chief. Marie de' Medici, \ 
 however, brought up in abject veneration for the 
 Spanish monarchy, and actuated by intense dis- 
 trust of the ministers and friends of her deceased 
 husband, adopted, on her accession to the regency, 
 a totally different policy. The vast preparations 
 and edicts of Henri IV. for the campaign which his 
 death interrupted, were cancelled. The alliance of 
 England was for the moment abandoned ; Sully 
 was disgraced ; Concini was created Marquis 
 d'Ancre, and elevated to a place in the council ; 
 while the Holy See received assurances of the de- 
 votion of the Queen, and of her submission to the 
 counsels and interest of his Holiness. These 
 measures were followed by civil disaffection ; the 
 Prince de Conde, the Duke de Bouillon, the Con- 
 stable de Montmorency and the Duke de Nevers 
 retired from court and intrenched themselves 
 within their respective governments. " France," 
 said they, " is now governed in Turkish fashion 
 by that scoundrel and traitor the Florentine Con- 
 cini, who sells by auction the honours of the 
 realm, and dares to set his plebeian foot on the 
 necks of the chivalrous captains of Henri Quatre." 
 Duplessis Mornay, " the pope of the Calvinists," 
 deemed this an opportunity not to be neglected : 
 the Huguenot fortresses therefore soon bristled 
 with arms, and Mornay, exulting already in 
 the hope of success, defied the menaces of the
 
 4 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 Regent, and the more conciliatory overtures of his 
 old adversary the secretary of state, Villeroy. The 
 government of Queen Marie thus became isolated, 
 and found support only from the Duke d'Epernon, 3 
 from Soissons, and other antagonists of the late 
 minister Sully, who, for power at court, were 
 content to connive at the assumptions of Concini. 
 At issue with the princes of the blood and the 
 more potent of the great vassals of the crown, 
 with the Huguenots of the realm, and with the 
 Protestant princes of Europe the only policy 
 which the Regent and her clique could oppose to 
 combinations so hostile, was alliance offensive and 
 defensive with Spain. The Grand-Duke of Tus- 
 cany, 4 uncle of the Queen, undertook to make the 
 first overtures to obtain the renewal of the ancient 
 alliance of the crowns. The Duke of Lerma, 6 
 prime minister of Philip III., graciously responded 
 to the advance, and a few months later the 
 double alliance between the children of France 
 and Spain was proposed and accepted. 
 
 The Infanta Marie Anne Mauricette was born in 
 the Escorial on the 22nd of September, 1601, five 
 days before her future consort, Louis XIII. The 
 Condesa de Altamira was her governess, and had 
 trained her in habits of piety and in courtly de- 
 voirs. Anne was a fair and bonny child, the darling 
 of the ceremonioas court of Madrid, and of her 
 father and her gentle mother, Marguerite. 6 She 
 seems never to have been consigned to the dreary 
 monotony of a royal nursery establishment, but 
 appears to have always followed the queen her
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 5 
 
 mother. At the masques and court revels, the 
 dainty little Infanta often appeared en scene, 
 drawn by two diminutive ponies in a golden car ; 
 or upborne, by tiny nymphs of her own age, in a 
 mimic conch-shell. Anne early lost her virtuous 
 mother, who died at Valladolid, after giving birth 
 to a third daughter, the infanta Marguerite 
 a fatal event, preceded, as it was said, by the 
 booming of the mystic Bell of Villela, 7 which was 
 heard throughout the peninsula. Anne was eleven 
 years old when she was betrothed to Louis XIII., 
 and thus became the heroine of the splendid am- 
 bassage of the Duke de Mayenne. The Duke was 
 received with enthusiasm by the Spanish court, 
 which, perhaps, remembered that his father and 
 his uncle Henri, Duke de Guise, had proved them- 
 selves to be better subjects of Spain than loyal 
 to their own princes. On the 17th of July, 1612, 
 Mayenne was presented to Philip III. by the Duke 
 d'Uzeda. His Majesty, by a great stretch of con- 
 descension, embraced the ambassador cordially, 
 and presented to him the Prince of the Asturias, 
 who stood at his right, as the future husband of 
 Madame Isabel of France. The marriage contract, 
 which had been negotiated in Paris, was signed on 
 the 22nd day of August, after final revision by the 
 Spanish privy council. Philip gave his daughter 
 a dowry of 500,000 gold crowns, with many sumpt- 
 uous jewels. The money was to be paid to the 
 representative of his Christian Majesty, on the day 
 previous to the celebration of the marriage. In 
 case the most serene Infanta became a widow, it
 
 6 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [ieia- 
 
 was stipulated that she was to return to Spain in 
 possession of her dowry, jewels and wardrobe. 
 The dower given by Louis XIII. was similar to 
 that assigned from time immemorial to the queens- 
 consort of France, and consisted of rich lands in 
 Touraine and Le Pays Chartrain ; the King also 
 made gift absolutely to his future consort of all the 
 jewels and precious gauds and furniture which 
 she might accumulate during their union. 8 The 
 pecuniary settlements being thus made to the 
 satisfaction of King Philip, the Infanta was 
 saluted and treated as Queen of France, " a dig- 
 nity which her Highness accepts with marvellous 
 dignity and gravity." When Mayenne took leave 
 of her little Majesty, he requested that she would 
 send some message to the King, her consort. 
 " Give his Majesty assurance," promptly replied 
 Dona Ana, " that I am very impatient to be with 
 him." " Oh, Madame ! " interposed the Condesa 
 de Altamira, " what will the King of France think 
 when he is informed by M. le Due that you are in 
 such a hurry to be married ? Madame, I entreat 
 you show more maidenly reserve ! " " Have you 
 not always taught me to speak the truth, Ma- 
 dame ? I have spoken, and shall not retract," 
 retorted the young Queen, pettishly. 9 She then 
 gave the ambassador her hand to kiss, slowly 
 tendering it, as the Duke believed, that he might 
 observe and report its symmetry and delicate hue. 
 Three months previously, on the same day of 
 the month, Pastrana had saluted Elizabeth, the 
 child-bride of the Prince of the Asturias, in the
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 7 
 
 Louvre. Madame Elizabeth wore a surcoat and 
 robe of carnation-coloured satin, a cross of dia- 
 monds and a chain of pearls. " M. PAmbassa- 
 deur," said she, as Pastrana bowed before her, " I 
 thank the King your master for the honour which 
 he has conferred upon me in giving me his favour, 
 and I receive gladly from M. le Prince assurances 
 of his affection. I trust to render myself worthy 
 of both the one and the other, as I ought." 10 
 
 The bridegroom elect of Dona Ana, meantime, 
 Louis, son of the great Henry, spent a wearisome 
 youth in the Louvre, with few diversions and joys. 
 The unhappy and premature death of Henri IV. 
 not only exercised a fatal influence over the 
 political destinies of France, but deprived his 
 young son of judicious and princely training. 
 The miserable jealousies of the favourites and ad- 
 visers of Marie de' Medici, likewise, had debarred 
 the boy-king of the example and the counsels of 
 his father's tried and wise friends. Instead of 
 being inured to arms, and trained in gallant ac- 
 complishments, and taught the self-denial and 
 magnanimity becoming his kingly station, the 
 unfortunate Louis was confined to a corner of the 
 Louvre, the object at one time of his mother's in- 
 dulgent weakness, at others the victim of her 
 caprice and passion. The young king was of a 
 reserved and suspicious temper, sensitive to the 
 slightest ridicule or neglect, having a memory re- 
 tentive of petty affronts. His household was not 
 selected with a view to correct the nervous shy- 
 ness and overbearing pride of his character. The
 
 8 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 fears of the Queen, and the ignoble precaution of 
 her servants the Marquis d'Ancre and his wife, in- 
 duced her Majesty to choose young companions 
 for her son of a class inferior to the usual entourage 
 of princes. Such noble names as Rohan, Guise, 
 Montmorency, Bouillon and La Rochefoucault 
 were never heard amongst the playmates of Louis 
 XIII. His chief friends were the three brothers 
 de Luynes, 11 sons of a gentleman of Provence, of 
 the town of Mornas, whose future marvellous 
 fortunes rank amongst the most notable instances 
 on record of dignities conferred by royal caprice. 
 Louis, nevertheless, showed aptitude for many 
 boyish pastime. : he played well at tennis, showed 
 keen relish for the pleasures of the chase, which, 
 unfortunately, he was allowed only to indulge by 
 hunting rabbits in the garden of the Tuileries. He 
 passionately loved music, and learned to play on 
 the spinet and guitar. He also amused himself 
 by turning ivory, by drawing and colouring little 
 pictures, and by snaring singing-birds. His 
 Majesty's physician, Jean Herouard, who was con- 
 stantly in waiting in the royal apartment, kept a 
 curious diary of the doings and sayings and em- 
 ployments of his royal master, so minute as to 
 become ludicrous when the learned doctor con- 
 descended to chronicle the names of the viands 
 served daily on the royal table, and the number 
 of times his Majesty coughed and sneezed during 
 the twenty-four hours ! The boyhood of Louis 
 XIII., however, is unveiled by these daily jot- 
 tings, and the mystery solved why the son of
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 9 
 
 Henri IV. grew up to become the most timid, 
 miserable, suspicious and self -distrusting mon- 
 arch who ever filled a throne, though possessing 
 capacity and some appreciation for things good, 
 noble and true. Herouard writes : 12 
 
 " Monday, March 10, 1614. His Majesty this 
 morning amused himself by composing doggrel 
 verses, and gave some to make out to MM. de 
 Termes, de Courtenvault, and de Montglat. A 
 young wild sow was fed in the royal kitchen by 
 Bonnet, a water-carrier, who was killed by a fall. 
 The little sow lamented and fretted for her master, 
 and at length refused to eat and died of grief. 
 The King thereupon composed the following 
 verse : 
 
 " E y avait en ma cuisine 
 Une petite marcassine 
 Laquelle eat morte de douleur 
 D 'avoir perdu son gouverneur ! " 
 
 " Thursday, 20th. The King played at tennis, 
 and then went to the room of Sieur de la Chapelle, 
 his spinet-player. 
 
 " March 28th, Good Friday. Heard a sermon at 
 two o'clock ; after dinner his Majesty entered his 
 coach, and visited the Franciscan and Feuillan- 
 tine monasteries. He then went to the Tuileries, 
 where he tasted a bunch of white grapes. He 
 returned to the Louvre at a quarter to seven 
 and supped upon almond milk and milk gruel, 
 eating the backs of two large soles. His Majesty 
 said, ' I eat this fish because there is nothing 
 else.' 
 
 " June 4>th. His Majesty dined at Ruel. At
 
 10 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 midday the King rode on horseback, and shot, 
 with an arquebuse, a quantity of little birds. He 
 then went to a joiner's, and made two little shrines 
 of his own design, in which he suspended all the 
 little birds. 
 
 " November 14th, Friday. His Majesty com- 
 menced the day by study. As his lesson appeared 
 to him long and difficult, he asked his preceptor, 
 M. Fleurance, ' If I were to promise you a 
 bishopric, pray would you shorten my lesson ? ' 
 4 No, Sire,' Soon after M. de Bellegarde arrived. 
 His Majesty gave him cordial welcome and 
 conducted him to the Queen. 
 
 " November 20th. After supper his Majesty 
 went to bed at nine o'clock. At eleven he sud- 
 denly rose on his knees, with eyes wide open, and, 
 though asleep, called out loudly, ' He ! jouez ! 
 jouez ! ' The day preceding he had been playing 
 at billiards in the gallery of the Louvre, and 
 afterwards at tennis. 
 
 " December 22nd. His Majesty went to hunt 13 
 on the plain of St. Denis ; he was suffering from 
 toothache, but would not confess it for fear of 
 losing his hunt. On his return his Majesty com- 
 plained of ear-ache, and a plaster of ashes of 
 palm-leaves and vinegar was applied behind the 
 ear. The inside of the mouth was fomented with 
 a decoction of vinegar and rose-leaves, after which 
 the pain subsided. 
 
 " December 31st, Wednesday. The King con- 
 fessed in the evening to le P. Cotton, his confessor 
 and preacher in ordinary, in order to touch, on the
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 11 
 
 Feast of the Circumcision, 330 sick in the great 
 gallery of the Louvre." 
 
 The greater part of this Journal is still in manu- 
 script. The zealous Herouard continues, in 
 similar fashion, to recite the smallest trivialities 
 of the life of his royal master, with a minuteness 
 which defies transcription. The extract given 
 records some of the incidents of the daily life of 
 Anne's royal bridegroom the year before the 
 solemnization of their nuptials. 
 
 This event took place in August of the following 
 year, 1615. The courts of France and Spain put 
 forth their utmost splendour to do honour to an 
 occasion so august. The Duchess de Nevers, 
 Catherine de Lorraine, and the Duke de Guise, es- 
 corted Madame to Bordeaux and from thence to 
 St. Jean de Luz, where, on the banks of the Bi- 
 dassoa, the brides were to meet the ambassadors 
 appointed to attend and present them to their 
 future consorts. The King and the Queen Regent 
 arrived at Bordeaux, and entered the city in a 
 splendid barge, surrounded by a brilliant court, 
 amidst the plaudits of the populace. 14 Their pro- 
 gress, however, had been dreary and perilous ; the 
 devastation of civil warfare had ruined the fertile 
 south-western provinces, and the sight of the 
 poverty-stricken inhabitants and of their burned 
 villages was a sad and ominous spectacle for the 
 eyes of the royal bridegroom. The King's progress 
 was protected by the Marshal de Brissac and a 
 division of artillery, for many strongholds of 
 the Huguenots lay on the route between Paris and
 
 12 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 Bordeaux, and the joyous and brilliant cavaliers 
 of Marie's court shrank from conflict with the 
 rough bands of Saumur and La Rochelle, likely to 
 oppose their advance. In the royal train were 
 the Princesses de Conde " and Conty, 18 the 
 Duchesses de Guise, 17 de Vendome 18 and de Mont- 
 bazon. Madame entered Bordeaux on the 17th 
 of November, and their Majesties three days later, 
 where they eagerly awaited the arrival of King 
 Philip III. and his court at Fuentarabia. 
 
 About the beginning of November, 1615, King 
 Philip, accompanied by his daughter and by a 
 swarm of courtiers, leisurely journeyed from Val- 
 ladolid to Burgos, and took up his abode in the 
 famed nunnery of Las Huelgas de Burgos. The 
 marriage by proxy of King Louis and the Infanta 
 was celebrated in the splendid cathedral of Burgos 
 on the 18th of the same month, the representa- 
 tive of his Christian Majesty being the Duke of 
 Lerma. Two days before this solemnity, Anne 
 made formal renunciation of her right of succes- 
 sion to the Spanish crown and of the rich per- 
 sonality and money of her deceased mother, Queen 
 Marguerite of Austria. " I, Dona Ana, Infanta 
 of Spain, and, by the grace of God, Queen elect of 
 France, being above the age of fifteen and there- 
 fore of competent years to understand the tenor 
 and significance of the above articles declare, 
 that I hold myself content with the dowry as- 
 signed to me, which is larger than any other before 
 given to an Infanta of Spain. To give greater 
 weight to this my renunciation, I swear, with my
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 13 
 
 right hand resting on the Holy Gospels contained 
 in this missal by my side, to abide by the said re- 
 nunciation, which I sign in the presence of my 
 lord and father and of my brothers who have 
 been pleased to assist at this solemnity." 19 
 
 King Louis, meantime, despatched his favourite, 
 Luynes, from Bordeaux to Burgos, to greet his 
 consort and to convey to her a letter. 20 The 
 mission of this young cavalier first aroused the 
 courtiers to the extraordinary favour with which 
 he was regarded by the King. Luynes and his 
 brothers Cadenet and Brantes were remarkable 
 for their good looks and upright carriage, but 
 they owed much of their prestige at court to their 
 cool assurance and their insensibility to the scorn- 
 ful contempt with which they were often treated 
 by the great lords of the court and to the gibes 
 current respecting their origin. Luynes bowed at 
 the feet of Marie de' Medici and of Concini, and 
 humbly received their constant objurgations, 
 while the King felt a grateful relief from restraint 
 and shyness in the society of his parvenu favour- 
 ite. It was said at court that at this period 
 Luynes, Cadenet and Brantes had only one 
 court-habit amongst them and that the Auver- 
 gnat brothers owed their favour to their skill in 
 snaring magpies ! 21 M. de Luynes nevertheless 
 was welcomed at the proud Spanish court ; he 
 was caressed by King Philip, patronised by Lerma 
 and graciously received by his future royal mis- 
 tress. Luynes presented the royal letter to her 
 youthful Majesty enclosed in a portfolio of rose-
 
 14 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 coloured silk, embroidered in pearls with the 
 ciphers L. and A. " Madame," wrote King Louis 
 XIII., " it is not in my power, though my inclina- 
 tion prompts me, to receive you on your entry into 
 my kingdom, to place in your hands my royal 
 power, as I am inspired to do by the sincere affec- 
 tion which I bear you. I send to you, therefore, 
 Luynes, one of my most trusted servants, to salute 
 you in my name, and to assure you how eagerly 
 you are here expected and that I earnestly desire 
 to tell you so myself. I beg you, therefore, to 
 receive with favour this said Luynes, and to 
 believe all that he may say on behalf of your 
 dearest friend and servant Louis." 
 
 The young Queen smiled while perusing this 
 note ; destiny then doubtless appeared to her 
 brilliant as fancy could suggest, and with child- 
 like eagerness she dwelt on the pomps, the festi- 
 vals and the magnificences over which she had 
 been selected to preside. Had the dark shadows 
 which marred these splendours been even outlined 
 in imagination, sad foreboding must have 
 quenched her delight. The future, however, now 
 appeared serene and halcyon. Anne therefore 
 responded thus, in her own musical language, to 
 the greeting so gallantly conveyed : 
 
 " ANNE OF AUSTRIA TO LOUIS XIII. 
 
 " MONSEIGNEUR, I have rejoiced much with 
 Luynes on the good news which he has brought to 
 me concerning the health of your Majesty, and 
 the desire which you express to see me. I also
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 15 
 
 wish myself there, where I can serve the Queen 
 my mother and yourself. Luynes has made me 
 anxious to set out on my journey from the com- 
 forting assurances which he gives me. I kiss the 
 hand of your Majesty, whom may God preserve 
 as I pray. ANA.' 
 
 22 
 
 The Queen sent her lord a present of a superb 
 rosary, also what doubtless would be less wel- 
 come a list of the ladies of her Spanish house- 
 hold whom she wished might be permitted to 
 continue their services in the Louvre. The Con- 
 desa de las Torres, Dona Luisa de Osorio and 
 Dona Marguerita de Cordova were the chief per- 
 sonages named on this list. Her confessor, Padre 
 Francisco de Ribeyra, and her chaplain, Pedro de 
 Castro, were likewise to form part of her Majesty's 
 suite. Marie de' Medici acquiesced in these im- 
 politic appointments. The King was thoughtless 
 and enjoyed his temporary emancipation from the 
 monotony of the Louvre. Luynes and Concini 
 were parvenu favourites men who, at this period, 
 being both uncertain of their position at court 
 would have retreated aghast at a proposal to 
 thwart the wishes of the Catholic King. 
 
 Magnificent pavilions had been erected on the 
 islet in the midst of the stream Bidassoa for the 
 repose of the two Princesses, and to enable them 
 to receive a last finish to their elaborate toilettes 
 before entering the state-barge which was to con- 
 vey each to her newly adopted country. The 
 banks of the river were kept by squadrons of light
 
 16 THE MARRIED LIFE OF fieia- 
 
 horse and by the royal body-guard, consisting of 
 more than 500 men, under the command of the 
 Marshal de Brissac. Companies of the King's 
 gentlemen-at-arms, bearing their battle-axes, were 
 stationed at intervals, while thousands of specta- 
 tors gathered to witness the meeting of the courts. 
 The scene was imposing and magnificent, and 
 was surpassed only by the pompous reception 
 given on the banks of the Bidassoa to Elizabeth 
 de Valois by her mother, Catherine de' Medici, 
 and by her brother Charles IX. Along the banks 
 of the river, below the place of embarkation, mag- 
 nificent pavilions and platforms rose, draped with 
 white and yellow silk hangings, for the ladies of 
 the courts of France and Spain not officially 
 present at the ceremony. Anne quitted Burgos 
 November the 20th, and after taking sorrowful 
 leave of her father, commenced her journey to- 
 wards Irun. She was attended by the Duquesa 
 de Sessa, who had been especially appointed to 
 present her to the ambassador of her royal 
 husband Louis XIII., and to conduct the young 
 Princess of France to Guadalaxara. In the suite 
 of the young Queen were the Duque de Uzeda, son 
 of the cardinal minister Lerma, the Dukes de 
 Sessa, Maqueda, Infantado, the Count de Olivarez 
 and the Marquis de Monteleone, the newly ap- 
 pointed Spanish ambassador in Paris, besides a 
 numerous suite of ladies, including those who were 
 to follow her Majesty into France. Anne's journey 
 was tedious and fatiguing ; the roads were broken 
 by heavy rains, and horses could with difficulty
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 17 
 
 be found for the transport of the prodigious caval- 
 cade of baggage waggons containing her Majesty's 
 bridal outfit and rich effects. The baggage filled 
 a hundred chariots, each drawn by three horses ; 
 there were, moreover, two hundred sumpter mules 
 laden with velvet coffers richly emblazoned with 
 the arms of Spain. The passage of this convoy 
 through the streets of Bordeaux occupied nine 
 hours, to the wonderment and amusement of the 
 loyal Bordelais. 
 
 Anne passed the night of the 23rd of Novem- 
 ber in the citadel of Irun. At dawn on the 
 morrow the baggage crossed the Bidassoa, and 
 at mid-day a muster of the Spanish court was 
 made, and the cavaliers and ladies descended 
 from the rocky heights of Irun to the bank of 
 the river. At one o'clock the young Princess- 
 elect of the Asturias arrived, attended by the 
 Duchess de Nevers and the Dukes de Guise, 
 d'Elboeuf and de Grammont, and the Prince de 
 Joinville. Amid loud acclamations and dis- 
 charges of artillery the Princess stepped into the 
 barge, and was rowed to the landing-place on Pile 
 des Faisans and immediately entered a pavilion 
 surmounted by the white flag of Bourbon. Queen 
 Anne simultaneously stepped into her barge from 
 the opposite bank of the river and likewise landed 
 and entered a pavilion crowned by the yellow flag 
 of Spain. The French nobles presently craved 
 audience of her Majesty, while the Spanish 
 courtiers paid the same devoirs to Madame Eliza- 
 beth. The Duchess de Nevers and the Duke de
 
 18 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 Guise presented the French nobles of the suite to 
 the Queen. Her youthful Majesty sat on a chair 
 of state, attired in a robe of green satin em- 
 broidered with gold, having wide and pendent 
 sleeves looped up with bouquets of diamonds. A 
 small ruff of fine Flemish lace encircled Anne's 
 delicate neck. Her fair hair fell in ringlets, and 
 she wore a small coquettish hat of green satin, 
 looped with strings of pearls and adorned by a 
 heron's plume. A fresh and blooming face 
 greeted the eyes of the fastidious courtiers, and 
 a complexion of dazzling brilliancy said to be un- 
 rivalled in Europe. The Queen's eyes were blue 
 and piercing, her brows were arched, her figure 
 was petite and graceful though somewhat spoiled 
 by an enormous pannier. Behind the Queen stood 
 the Duchess de Sessa, the Condesa de las Torres 
 and the chief hidalgos of her suite. The maidens 
 and women of the bedchamber formed a half 
 circle on each side of the royal chair, sitting in 
 Moorish fashion on velvet cushions and flirting 
 their fans. The ceremony of salutation per- 
 formed, her Majesty rose and quitted the pavilion. 
 Madame Elizabeth did the same, and the Prin- 
 cesses exchanging a cordial kiss, moved slightly 
 apart and conversed, while their attendants de- 
 livered to each other the long speeches prepared 
 for the occasion. These over, the Duque de Uzeda 
 approached Queen Anne, and kneeling, kissed her 
 hand, which he placed in that of the Duke de 
 Guise, who led her to the boat adorned by the 
 French flag. Guise then repeated this ceremonial,
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 19 
 
 and delivered Madame Elizabeth to the Duque de 
 Uzeda. The Duchess de Nevers then took her 
 place behind Queen Anne, and the Duchess de 
 Sessa behind the young Princess of the Asturias, 
 who could not refrain from weeping bitterly, in 
 defiance of etiquette, on taking leave of her 
 French suite. The barges then pushed off amid 
 a discharge of artillery and the cheers of the 
 spectators. 23 
 
 Her Majesty reposed that night in the citadel 
 of Bayonne, and early the following morning she 
 departed for Bordeaux, where Louis anxiously 
 awaited her. The royal residence in Bordeaux was 
 the archiepiscopal palace. Anne was received in 
 the great hall of the palace by the Queen Regent, 
 attended by a numerous court. Marie embraced 
 her daughter-in-law, and after conversing for a 
 few seconds led Anne into an inner apartment, 
 where Louis XIII. waited attended by de Luynes. 
 Louis wore the mantle of his Order; his sword 
 was girt at his side and the rich collar of St. 
 Esprit glittered on his breast. The King eagerly 
 stepped forward and, taking the hand of his bride, 
 saluted her on the forehead. " Every one was 
 amazed at the striking likeness subsisting between 
 the royal pair. His Majesty frequently looked at 
 his bride smiling, while her Majesty, notwith- 
 standing that she seemed much oppressed with 
 the weight and amplitude of her attire, could not 
 help smiling very lovingly also." 24 Louis con- 
 tinued to stand awkwardly gazing on the fair face 
 of his bride, until, at a sign from Queen Marie, he
 
 20 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 timidly took her hand and led her into the 
 sheltering recess of a deep window, where the 
 youthful pair conversed for upwards of half an 
 hour, being presently joined by de Luynes. Anne 
 next went through the ceremony of receiving the 
 ladies of the French court, who were presented by 
 the Duchess de Nevers ; her Majesty then intro- 
 duced her Spanish ladies to the King, and 
 earnestly commended them to his favour. Louis, 
 however, received their homage with frowning 
 reserve, and turning to M. de Luynes whispered 
 some sneering observation on the stately salutation 
 of the Condesa de las Torres, which appeared to 
 convulse the favourite with suppressed laughter. 
 
 The ceremony of the marriage was performed in 
 the cathedral of Bordeaux on the Feast of St. 
 Catherine. The Princess de Conty and the 
 Duchesses de Guise and de Vendome bore the train 
 of Anne's bridal robe of cloth of silver. The 
 Queen wore a rich diadem of diamonds, the gift of 
 her royal father ; her hair was dressed a la Fran- 
 gaise, and the spectators applauded her girlish 
 grace as she daintily rested on the arm of the 
 Duke de Guise, who, with the Duke d'Elboeuf, 
 escorted her to the altar. The Regent was 
 present at the ceremony, arrayed in mourning 
 robes. The nuptial benediction was given by the 
 Bishop of Saintes, as eldest suffragan bishop of the 
 diocese, in the absence of the Cardinal Archbishop 
 of Bordeaux. The royal pair left the cathedral 
 at six in the evening, and were escorted to their 
 abode by torchlight.
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 21 
 
 The court quitted Bordeaux about the 29th of 
 November and travelled to Tours, where their 
 Majesties spent the winter months in seclusion. 
 During this interval the treaty of Loudun was 
 signed by the Regent an act which was im- 
 portant in every aspect, as it outwardly recon- 
 ciled the de facto government with the ministers 
 and adherents of the policy of Henri Quatre. The 
 treaty checked the almost boundless power of the 
 Marquis d'Ancre by bringing back to the Louvre 
 the great peers of the realm ; it conciliated the 
 Huguenot faction, and allayed the frantic ap- 
 prehensions raised by the matrimonial alliances 
 with Spain. The treaty was warmly promoted 
 by M. de Luynes, who from thenceforth ventured 
 to wrestle against the hitherto omnipotent in- 
 fluence of the Marquis d'Ancre and his wife. To 
 Marie de' Medici the pacification was also wel- 
 come, although Conde became installed thereby 
 as President of the Council of State. She trusted 
 by this compact to find an antidote to Spanish 
 ascendency in her domestic circle, and to the in- 
 fluence exercised over her royal son by the charms 
 of his bride. The King on the whole was satisfied, 
 as his favourite declared himself content, though 
 piqued that peace had been negotiated and signed 
 without his own intervention. By the articles of 
 Loudun the Huguenot faith once more received 
 distinct recognition from government, and Hu- 
 guenot members were declared eligible to sit in the 
 Parliament of Paris. No foreigner was from 
 thenceforth to be naturalised in France with a
 
 22 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [ieia- 
 
 view to his instalment in offices of state ; Conde* 
 was to preside over and to countersign the Privy 
 Council edicts ; and all fiefs and properties con- 
 fiscated for past rebellion were to be restored to 
 their former possessors. The Marquis d'Ancre 
 relinquished his government of Normandy to M. 
 de Longueville, and ceded the citadel of Amiens. 
 Measures so popular were nevertheless distasteful 
 to the young Queen, who was injudiciously 
 exhorted by the Spanish ambassador, the Marquis 
 de Monteleone, to exert her influence in opposition 
 to Queen Marie and to M. de Luynes to procure 
 their withdrawal. The position of the Infanta- 
 queen, as Anne at this period was called, required 
 prudence, the nicest counsel and exquisite tact. 
 A child still in age, mind and manner, the young 
 Queen ought to have been exhorted to avoid 
 politics, and to shrink from participation in that 
 wild and complex struggle of parties which be- 
 wildered the strongest intellects. It was, how- 
 ever, the unhappy persuasion of the Queen that 
 her mission was to revolutionise the policy of her 
 adopted country ; to introduce by force or by 
 persuasion Spanish maxims, Spanish habits and 
 Spanish policy emphatically to serve her country 
 by upholding the policy, the religion and the dy- 
 nasty of Spain against all assailants. Thoroughly 
 imbued with the maxims and the instructions 
 showered upon her by her father, King Philip, and 
 by her brothers before leaving Spain, Anne de- 
 voted herself, as far as her ability permitted, to 
 carry out the advice secretly tendered to her
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 23 
 
 by Monteleone, who had at this period free 
 access to the palace. 25 Anne had been advised 
 to flatter the Queen- mother ; to conciliate the 
 Marquis d'Ancre and his wife ; to despise M. de 
 Luynes ; to win her husband the King by tender 
 submission and grace ; but yet to show herself 
 of inflexible resolve in all matters wherein the 
 honour and interest of Spain were concerned. 
 Thus, although she was exhorted to fidelity and 
 secrecy whenever state matters were imparted to 
 her ear, her Majesty was desired to make excep- 
 tion to this rule in favour of Monteleone, 26 to whom 
 she was to confide all matters, even of the most 
 private and domestic nature. Anne, therefore, 
 soon became a puppet in the hands of Monteleone, 
 while she fancied that she was fulfilling her duties 
 as Queen consort and asserting her indepen- 
 dence, by her submission to counsels sanctioned 
 by her royal father. The withering glance of 
 Marie de' Medici, however, rested on her young 
 daughter-in-law, whose girlish presumption she 
 resolved to chastise. More fatal, however, for the 
 happiness of Anne of Austria, was the enmity of 
 de Luynes ; the favourite angrily resented the 
 contempt of his young mistress and loathed her 
 condescensions. The mind of Louis XIII. must 
 therefore be fortified against Anne's fascinations ; 
 the more especially as the assiduous court paid by 
 the Spanish ambassador to the Marquis d'Ancre 
 appeared to indicate the willingness of his 
 Catholic Majesty to favour the usurping rule of 
 Concini. The King spent his days in listless
 
 24 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 discontent, lounging about the apartments of his 
 consort, and associating her in many of his boyish 
 pastimes. Sometimes in petulant disgust at her 
 Spanish entourage., Louis suddenly left her apart- 
 ments and took refuge within his own, vowing 
 never again to visit the Queen until her grim 
 duennas were banished from the palace. 
 
 Early in the year following her marriage, Anne 
 had taken possession of apartments at the 
 Louvre, while the Regent retired to the Luxem- 
 bourg, a palace which owed its noble embellish- 
 ments to her taste and munificence. " The 
 household of our young Queen," wrote Montele- 
 one, " is not yet named. Her apartments at the 
 Louvre are suitable to her Majesty's dignity. The 
 Countesses de Castro and de Torres (the latter is 
 an angel, whose merits defy laudation), are lodged 
 near to their mistress. The Infanta-queen is daily 
 received with cordial delight by her subjects." 27 
 Notwithstanding the splendour of her outward 
 position, Anne's affection reverted to Spain, to its 
 peaceful palaces, reverent court, sunny climate, 
 but, above all, she pined for the lively sympathy 
 which there surrounded her. " Tell my father," 
 writes she at this period, " that nothing but 
 my beloved Spain can solace me." Amongst 
 the grievances complained of by Anne to her 
 father was the diversity of counsel given by 
 her French and Spanish advisers. Marie de' 
 Medici, through Madame d'Ancre, sent word to 
 her daughter commanding her to conform to 
 French fashions in her dress, to sprinkle her fair
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 25 
 
 hair with powder, and to lay aside her enormous 
 hoop ; also her Majesty intimated that the 
 French loved gay and sprightly women, apt of 
 speech, and agile in the dance, and that no de- 
 meanour so offended them as solemn hauteur and 
 distant formality. Anne, therefore, only too 
 readily arrayed herself in the most bewitching 
 modes a la Francaise ; and, yielding to the vi- 
 vacity of her character, charmed the courtiers by 
 her sallies and by her eager participation in the 
 pastimes of the court. The next mail that left for 
 Madrid carried out a joint despatch from Madame 
 de las Torres and from the ambassador, Montele- 
 one, deploring the volatile disposition of their 
 child-mistress, who revelled in her French 
 fripperies and appeared to love that costume 
 better than the decorous robes patronised in the 
 land of her birth. The ambassador next com- 
 ments on the quarrels of the royal pair, " who 
 often disputed, like froward children, over their 
 pastimes." He then proceeds to censure the un- 
 due influence exercised by Marie de' Medici over 
 the King, especially complaining that the Queen- 
 mother and M. de Luynes prevented his Majesty 
 from demonstrating proper conjugal devotion to- 
 wards his consort, by inspiring chimerical fears of 
 the danger which might be apprehended from the 
 birth of offspring at a period when his Majesty 
 himself had scarcely attained to manhood. " It is 
 a grievous fact that their Majesties live together 
 as brother and sister," continues Monteleone. 
 He then querulously continues to complain of
 
 26 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iei2- 
 
 " Cette Anne si belle, 
 Qu'on vante si fort." 
 
 ' The Infanta-queen continues in good health ; 
 it is very much to be desired, to render this 
 Majesty all perfection, that we could correct 
 certain irregularities of character, though every 
 one ascribes her Majesty's unfortunate flightiness 
 of manner to her youth. Her Majesty never 
 speaks without jesting like a child ; we cannot in- 
 duce her to apply herself to serious matters ; she 
 forgets all counsels and instruction with incredible 
 facility ; and her petulance is such that we have 
 neither leisure nor courage to interfere. I must 
 add that although we give continual attention to 
 correct these defects, and to induce this young 
 Queen to adopt manners more worthy of her 
 descent and position, we are very careful not to 
 disgust or alienate her. We have now arranged 
 that her Majesty's confessor shall visit and con- 
 verse with her daily on matters private and 
 domestic, but I dread the weariness and im- 
 patience which these interviews will finally, but 
 too surely, inspire." 28 A fete occasionally en- 
 livened the dull monotony of the court. The 
 King gave a superb masked ball at the Louvre 
 in the year 1616, during which their Majesties 
 danced together. Anne performed a saraband 
 with her royal consort, and was arrayed in great 
 splendour. 
 
 The burdened spirit of Marie de' Medici, how- 
 ever, found little pleasure in the pageantries which 
 charmed her daughter-in-law. Marie beheld her
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 27 
 
 precious but much abused power passing away ; 
 and deep dejection oppressed her. The Pacifica- 
 tion of Loudun had brought little intermission to 
 her anxieties. Before the signature of that com- 
 pact she had wrestled with the malcontents in 
 distant provinces ; now, all the old ministers of 
 Henri Quatre, the Huguenot chieftains, the great 
 lords of the realm who had abandoned Paris 
 rather than bow before the parvenu Concini, 29 
 swarmed in the saloons of the Louvre and 
 clamoured that every privilege granted at Loudun 
 should be conceded. Conde tyrannised over the 
 council, defied the commands of their Majesties, 
 and had compelled Concini, after despoiling him 
 of his most prized governments, to retire from 
 Paris, to the grief and consternation of Queen 
 Marie and the downfall of her authority. Louis 
 apparently beheld these discords with composure, 
 though in reality he was profoundly displeased. 
 The Spanish ambassador, M. de Luynes and the 
 Papal Nuncio, directed the King's attention to the 
 league forming between MM. de Guise, de Buillon, 
 de Vendome and de Mayenne, under the banner 
 of Conde to curtail the royal power, the which 
 conspiracy had its origin alone in their jealousy of 
 Concini. Marie, goaded to extremity, sought to 
 extricate herself by commanding the arrest of 
 Conde ; which great event was effected by M. de 
 Themines in the Louvre, as the Prince quitted her 
 Majesty's presence. 30 Orders were then issued for 
 the arrest of the colleagues of M. le Prince ; but 
 MM. de Vendome and de Mayenne, on the first
 
 28 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 symptoms of agitation, fled from Paris ; while 
 Bouillon received timely warning of the event at 
 Charenton and escaped to Soissons. Riots ensued 
 in Paris on the arrest of Conde ; the windows 
 of the Hotel Concini were smashed, and a tur- 
 bulent rabble assaulted the Queen's palace of the 
 Luxembourg, and forcing an entrance therein, 
 burned and destroyed rich furniture to the value 
 of 200,000 crowns. A council of war was hastily 
 formed, and measures adopted to subdue the re- 
 bellion of the fugitive princes, and to arrest their 
 persons. Conde was transferred to the Bastille by 
 Themines andBassompierre, 31 the former of whom 
 received the baton of Marshal for his services on 
 this occasion. 
 
 The young Queen, meantime, applauded the 
 resolution of the Regent, and during the tumult 
 following the arrest of Conde, remained calm and 
 composed and joyous, " as if, Sire, she had been 
 seated within your palace of Madrid ! >: By the 
 overthrow of Conde Anne fancied that she des- 
 cried redemption for her Spanish ladies from 
 heretic threats, and the repression of the insolent 
 assumptions of de Luynes. Marie herself was not, 
 however, deceived by the success of her hazardous 
 experiment. The sombre silence of her son, and 
 the half-satirical earnestness of his refusals to 
 assume the conduct of affairs, which she had on 
 more than one occasion proposed to relinquish, 
 filled her mind with foreboding. France trembled 
 on the verge of a civil war ; names potent in the 
 provinces, such as Longueville, Nevers, Guise,
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 29 
 
 Mayenne, Vendome, Bouillon, La Rochefoucault, 
 Soissons, had raised the standard of revolt against 
 a government guided by Concini, the Florentine 
 gambler. 32 The Huguenots flew to arms for the 
 rescue of Conde; Sully, Villeroy, Bellievre, Du- 
 plessis-Mornay, Rohan, Lesdiguieres, inscribed 
 their honoured names at the foot of manifestoes 
 calling upon the people to save the monarchy and 
 the King. Paris had risen to avenge the " per- 
 fidious " arrest of Conde, the hero of the hour ; 
 and the Chamber beheld many of its members 
 dissolve in tears, as eloquent orators descanted on 
 the woes which afflicted the realm under the ad- 
 ministration of the widow of Henri Quatre. Never 
 had an ambitious and artful favourite a more 
 plausible and popular ground for the overthrow 
 of an adversary. 
 
 The King, meantime, on his return from St. 
 Germain, was seized with a fit of epilepsy on All 
 Saints' Day, 1616. The Regent was performing 
 her devotions in the chapel of Feuillantine monas- 
 tery, when summoned in haste back to the Louvre. 
 Concini and his wife, during the panic, got posses- 
 sion of the little Duke of Orleans, heir presumptive 
 to the throne, and ordered the Queen's guards to 
 take possession of the principal avenues of the 
 palace and to dislodge therefrom the soldiers of 
 Vitry's tried body-guard. In a few hours Louis 
 recovered his senses and in three days became 
 convalescent. Queen Marie, in conversing with 
 Du Vair, keeper of the seals, imprudently asked 
 him what he thought of his Majesty's sudden
 
 30 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 seizure ? Du Vair said that he feared the fit 
 might return during the forthcoming spring ; 
 which opinion, Marie, with her usual want of 
 caution, repeated to Herouard, first physician to 
 Louis, who confided her Majesty's observation 
 to de Luynes. 33 The latter immediately sought 
 his royal master in feigned consternation, and 
 avowed his belief that a plot was in agitation to 
 deprive his Majesty of life by slow poison at a 
 banquet about to be offered to the King by the 
 Duke de Vendome at the instigation of M. 
 d'Ancre : 34 " Sire," said the artful favourite, 
 " MM. the Princes in alleged revolt are loyal to 
 your Majesty, but the Queen your mother perse- 
 cutes them out of regard for M. le Marechal 
 d'Ancre. Sire, one unanimous wail of sorrow was 
 heard throughout the provinces during your late 
 illness ! " The murmur of coming disaster, mean- 
 while, overwhelmed the unhappy Concini and his 
 wife at times he besought the latter to fly from 
 the realm for the safety of their lives, their son, 
 and their enormous wealth. 35 His late temporary 
 exile on the demand of the Princes had filled his 
 mind with dismay, while the premature death at 
 this season of his only daughter he regarded as a 
 fatal omen. At times Concini seemed to brave 
 adversity, and proudly declared that he would 
 not abandon the Queen, but would test " how far 
 the luck of an adventurer could go." The wily de 
 Luynes did not fail to report to his royal master 
 every alternation of his enemy's mood, whether of 
 humility or arrogance. In a moment of despair
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 31 
 
 the Marquis confessed to Bassompierre that he 
 possessed the enormous sum of six millions of gold 
 crowns, " sans parler de la bourse de ma femme." 
 Moreover, that he had recently offered to the Pope 
 the sum of 600,000 livres for a life interest in the 
 revenue of the duchy of Ferrara. " Sire," there- 
 upon said de Luynes, " Concini is king of this 
 realm ; he exercises absolute sway over this king- 
 dom ; he defies your authority and wishes the 
 ruin of the Princes. He has possessed himself of 
 the mind of the Queen your mother, whom he 
 bends to his will, besides influencing her heart 
 towards Monsieur your brother more than to- 
 wards yourself. He is daily in the habit of con- 
 sulting astrologers and wise men on the probable 
 duration of your life. Your council is devoted to 
 him, and when we ask for money for your 
 Majesty's privy purse none is forthcoming. His 
 return from Normandy without your permission 
 was, Sire, an unwarrantable audacity. As for her 
 Majesty the Queen-mother, you, Sire, may imagine 
 how potent may become her power when the 
 loyal rebellion of MM. les Princes is subdued. Will 
 not her servants participate in this increased 
 authority to the detriment, nay, to the probable 
 subversion, of your prerogative ? v These words 
 festered on the irritated mind of the King al- 
 ready that jealousy of his only brother Gaston, 
 from which such lamentable after-results flowed, 
 rankled in the heart of Louis. " The three 
 brothers de Luynes," wrote the ambassador 
 Monteleone to Madrid, "are well intentioned
 
 32 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 cavaliers, but with little talent or genius; neverthe- 
 less, the King is greatly attached to them. It is, 
 however, well that your Majesty should be aware 
 that there is now a deadly feud between the 
 Marquis d'Ancre and this de Luynes ; it is 
 necessary for the Infanta-queen to exercise the 
 greatest circumspection in her demeanour, but, 
 as yet, she has not committed any error." Orders 
 thereupon arrived from Madrid to treat " the 
 brothers " with distinction. Monteleone, when 
 communicating to the ambitious favourite a flat- 
 tering assurance of the good-will of the Catholic 
 King, received in reply from de Luynes the 
 words, accompanied by an expressive gesture : " I 
 understand your Excellency, and at a suitable 
 period you will perceive that I have accepted and 
 profited by your message." 36 With subtle perfidy 
 de Luynes, having thus encompassed his rival, 
 brought the dark anger of the King to a climax by 
 becoming the medium of communications between 
 his Majesty and some of the revolted lords, who 
 offered to return to court on the exile of Concini ; 
 protesting that, that personage alone, by his 
 tyranny and exactions, had been the cause of 
 their temporary defection. Vitry, captain of the 
 body-guard, at length received commands to 
 arrest the Marquis d'Ancre and convey him to 
 the Bastille. These orders were given second- 
 hand to M. de Vitry, who himself graphically 
 records his amazement on receiving such an 
 important mandate from the lips of two inferior 
 gentlemen of the wardrobe, and of one of the
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 33 
 
 gardeners of the Tuileries, high in the good 
 graces of Louis for his skill in trapping little 
 birds. 37 Hatred of the unfortunate Marquis, 
 fear of the powerful favourite, and the bribe 
 of a promise of the vacant baton of Marshal of 
 France, induced Vitry to swear to keep the 
 design secret from Queen Marie and to accept 
 the office indeed, the future tenure of his post 
 as chief captain of the guard compelled his 
 acquiescence. 
 
 The measures of the conspirators were hastened 
 by an act of sudden and ill-timed energy on the 
 part of the Queen. Suspecting the machinations 
 of Luynes, Marie, though she had several times 
 affected to abdicate her authority, determined 
 upon the exile of the favourite, and actually gave 
 a mandate, without previously consulting the 
 King, forbidding the brothers to present them- 
 selves at the Louvre, on the plea, " that they had 
 concocted a plot to send the King from Paris," by 
 which assertion her Majesty hoped to incite a 
 soulevement of the Parisian populace. 38 This fresh 
 tracasserie completed the exasperation of the King. 
 Hitherto his Majesty had resisted the sanguinary 
 malevolence of his favourite, but now Louis gave 
 permission that weapons might be used in case 
 Concini opposed the mandate of arrest. Luynes 
 therefore shaped his instructions to compass the 
 end which he had long meditated. The guet-a- 
 pens planned by one infamous man to compass the 
 destruction of another equally infamous, met with 
 a successful result on the morning of the 24th of
 
 34 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 April, 1617. The Marquis d'Ancre was passing 
 from the drawbridge of the Louvre towards the 
 wicket leading into the grand court, when Vitry, 
 followed by twenty archers, arrested him in the 
 King's name. The marquis turned sharply, and 
 placing his hand on the hilt of his sword, ex- 
 claimed, " Moi ? prisonnier ! ' The words were 
 scarcely uttered when three pistols, fired by Vitry, 
 Duhallier and De Perrans, were discharged at the 
 unfortunate man, who fell dead on the pavement, 
 at the feet of Vitry. Awful silence prevailed for a 
 few seconds. At length, Louis showed himself at 
 a window attended by De Luynes, who raised the 
 sash ; shouts arose of " Vive le Roy ! A bas le 
 tyran ! ' The young King raised his hat, and ad- 
 vancing, exclaimed, addressing the conspirators : 
 " Grand? merci a vous ! A present je suis Roi ! ' 
 Luynes then ordered the gates of the Louvre to be 
 closed, and the guards to be drawn out. 39 The body 
 of the unfortunate Concini was dragged by the 
 hair of the head to a porter's lodge at hand and 
 ignominiously cast upon a heap of straw. Vitry 
 then entered the palace and publicly received the 
 royal thanks, having first excused himself on the 
 execution done, on the plea, " that M. d'Ancre 
 offered such resistance as to render his arrest 
 impossible." The grand gallery of the Louvre, 
 meantime, became crowded with courtiers, aghast 
 at the catastrophe. Presently appeared Richelieu, 
 bishop of Lu9on, who stealthily approached to 
 gather tidings for his mistress, Queen Marie. The 
 King, Richelieu relates, was standing on a
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 35 
 
 billiard-table, talking excitedly, and receiving the 
 congratulations of his court. 40 A few hours after, 
 Vitry was sent on a mission to arrest the Marquise 
 d'Ancre. The unfortunate woman was ill in bed; 
 she was roughly aroused and conveyed to a 
 prison-chamber in the Louvre, and a few days 
 subsequently transported to the Bastille, after 
 undergoing a severe interrogatory, and from 
 thence to that prison, in all ages of fatal omen, the 
 Conciergerie. Marie de' Medici was next forbidden 
 to leave her apartments ; her regiment of guards 
 was broken ; and the Louvre committed to the 
 safe keeping of the Marshal de Vitry. The body 
 of the deceased marquis was wrapped in a cere- 
 cloth, and buried at midnight in an obscure grave 
 under the organ gallery of the church of St. Ger- 
 main 1'Auxerrois. The populace, however, on the 
 morrow violated the grave, and tearing the body 
 therefrom dragged it through the streets of Paris, 
 and after frightful mutilations, hung it by the feet 
 from a gibbet. Three days after this assassina- 
 tion, an edict emanated from the royal pen be- 
 stowing the immense confiscation of the property 
 of the Marquis d'Ancre on M. de Luynes, to- 
 gether with the diamonds and parures of his wife 
 a collection so magnificent as to equal, if not 
 surpass, the contents of the jewel-caskets of the 
 Queen-mother. 41 
 
 M. de Luynes 42 had now scaled the perilous 
 eminence of royal favour : he had attained to 
 princely wealth, and needed only a suitable 
 matrimonial alliance to confirm his fortunes and
 
 36 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iei2- 
 
 to win, as he hoped, the favour of Queen Anne of 
 Austria. 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Imp. Colbert 500, vol. 140, p. 32. Mem. de Wicquefort, 
 t. 1, p. 4. 
 
 2 Histoire de la Mere et du Fils, t. 1. This history was written by 
 the Cardinal de Richelieu, and published during the cardinal's lifetime, 
 under the name of Eudes de Mezeray, who was historiographer to the 
 king. 
 
 3 Jean Louis Nogaret de la Valette, Due d'Epernon, born in 1554. 
 The Duke, a cadet of La Valette, was raised to his dignities by King 
 Henri III., whose favourite he became. He married Marguerite de Foix 
 Candale, a princess allied to the blood royal. The Duke d'Epernon 
 died in 1646, at the age of 88. " Tout chez lui etait splendeur et faste." 
 
 4 Ferdinand 1st, Cardinal, Grand-Duke of Tuscany. His consort was 
 Christine de Lorraine, daughter of Duke Charles III. of Lorraine, and of 
 Claude de France, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici. 
 
 6 Don Francisco Rojos de Sandoval, Duke of Lerma, minister and 
 favourite of Philip III., King of Spain. 
 
 6 Marguerite of Austria, daughter of Charles, Archduke of Gratzen, 
 and niece of the Emperor Maximilian II. 
 
 7 See History of Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, chap. 3. 
 
 8 Leonard, Contrats et Traites de Paix, etc. MS. Archives de Siman- 
 cas, K. 22, quoted by Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche. 
 
 9 Dreux du Radier, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche. 
 
 10 Godefroy, L'Ordre et Ceremonies observees au Manage de Philip 
 IV. (then Prince of the Asturias) avec Madame Elizabeth, fille de 
 Henri le Grand Grand Ceremonial de France, pp. 70, et seq. 
 
 11 The three brothers bore the names of Luynes, Brantes, and Cade- 
 net. The eldest, Charles d' Albert de Luynes, was born in 1578. His 
 godfather was Henri Quatre (Mercure de France, t. v.), which fact at 
 once contradicts the stories current at court of the plebeian origin of the 
 brothers. He was created Duke de Luynes and Constable of France ; 
 Brantes was created Duke de Luxembourg, on his marriage with the 
 daughter of the Prince de Tingry ; Cadenet was created Duke de 
 Chaulnes, on his marriage with the daughter and heiress of the Vidame 
 d' Amiens, ML de Pequigny. 
 
 12 Journal du Roy Louis XIII., par M. Jehan Herouard, son Premier 
 Medecin. MS. Bibl. Imp. Colbert, 2601. 6 vols. in fol. 
 
 13 " Le 8, Mercredi, 1614, le Roy pour la premiere fois va a la chasse, 
 M. de Souvre aussi luy fait prendre une jupe de chasse fourree de martes ; 
 la prend avec regret, disant que tout ceux qui le verront se moqueront de 
 luy, qu'il est habille en paysan. II conteste jusqu'a une heure et demie ;
 
 1617] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 37 
 
 enfin, il s'y resout et va voler le milan a la plaine de Crenelle, ou il 
 monte a cheval et prend le milan. Estant de retour, fait Jeter le milan 
 par la fenestre et luy donne la vie." ..." Le 19, Dimanche, nourrit 
 deux petits coqs, et pour les rendre courageux, leur donne du vin de 
 clairet." 
 
 14 Godefroy, Grand Cerem., t. 2, pp. 60-80. 
 
 15 Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency, daughter of Henri Constable 
 de Montmorency. 
 
 16 Louise Marguerite de Lorraine Guise, daughter of Henri Due de 
 Guise, slain at Blois, 1588. 
 
 17 Henriette de Joyeuse, who had first espoused the Duke de Mont- 
 pensier. 
 
 18 Franchise de Lorraine Mercoeur. Her husband was the son of 
 Henri IV. and Gabrielle d'Estrees. 
 
 19 MS. Archives de Simancas, A. No. 65, quoted by M. Capefigue. 
 
 20 Tallemant, that cruel satirist, writes, " Le roi commen9a par son 
 cocher Saint-Amour a temoigner de 1'affection pour quelqu'un. II 
 voulut envoyer quelqu'un qui lui put bien rapporter comme la princesse 
 d'Espagne etait faite. II se servit pour cela du pere de son cocher, 
 comme si c'eut ete pour voir des chevaux." Hist. 79. 
 
 81 Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche. MS. Simancas, B. 5. 
 
 22 Ibid. 
 
 23 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. 2, p. 70, et seq. 
 
 24 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. 2, p. 84. Brief Narre de ce 
 qui s'est passe a Bordeaux depuis le 21 de Novembre jusqu'au 29 du 
 memo mois. 
 
 25 The instructions given to Anne of Austria, before she quitted Spain, 
 still exist in their original draught at Simancas. The young Queen was 
 exhorted to court the Queen-mother. It appears that Anne, young as 
 she was, had already given tokens of ability for intrigue and dissimula- 
 tion. The instructions contain this phrase : " Avienterla que aunque 
 no paresce sabe mucho, este muger sabe mucho ! " It is there also 
 laid down as an injunction by the Spanish Government, that informa- 
 tion of the opinions and intended measures of the French Government 
 were to be obtained by the Queen at any cost or risk whatever. 
 
 26 Don Hettore Pignatello, Duke of Montel6one, and Viceroy over 
 Catalonia. 
 
 17 Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche. Archives de Simancas, A. 74. 
 
 28 Ibid. 
 
 29 Concini had purchased in 1610, a few months after the death of 
 Henri Quatre, the marquisate d'Ancre, for the sum of 130,000 livres. 
 
 30 Histoire de la Mere et du Fils, annee 1617. 
 
 31 Journal de ma Vie. 
 
 32 All kinds of evil suspicions were engendered by the Queen's 
 familiarity with Concini. The Count de Lude one day being present 
 when one of Marie's ladies was sent to bring her Majesty's veil,
 
 38 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 
 
 exclaimed, sotto voce, " Un vaisseau qui est d Vancre n'a pas besoin de 
 voile." Which piece of wit flew throughout Paris. Tallemant ; Dreux 
 du Radier. 
 
 33 Bassompierre, Hist, de ma Vie. Histoire de la Mere et du Fils. 
 
 34 Mem. Anecdotes, ou Galerie des Personnages de la Cour de France, 
 sous les Regnes de Henri IV. et Louis XIII. 
 
 35 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie. 
 
 36 Capefigue, Anne d'Autriche, p. 44. MS. de Simancas, A. 74. 
 
 37 The name of this person was du Buisson. 
 
 38 Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre. 
 
 39 Hist, des plus Illustres Favoris, Dupuy, Elzevir, in 8vo. Journal 
 de ma Vie, Bassompierre. Le Vasso'r, Hist, de Louis XIII. 
 
 40 " Ah, M. de LuQon," exclaimed the King, slyly, " me voila enfin 
 Roi ! " 
 
 41 Immense possessions in valuables fell also to the lot of the lucky 
 favourite. In a cabinet in the apartment of the marquis a casket was 
 found containing jewels to the amount of 200,000 francs. M. d'Ancre 
 had had the precaution to invest large sums of money in foreign 
 securities : these sums some of the sovereigns refused to pay over to 
 M. de Luynes ; others obeyed the wish of King Louis. The son of 
 the marquis, however, eventually came into the possession of about 
 16,000 livres of annual revenue. 
 
 42 A popular song of the period, sung about all the streets of the 
 capital, spoke thus of de Luynes and his brothers 
 
 D'Enfer le chien a trois tetes 
 Garde 1'huis avec effroi ; 
 En France trois grosses betes 
 Gardent d'approcher le Roy !
 
 CHAPTER II 
 1617-1625 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM 
 
 THE catastrophe which had overthrown the 
 reigning powers of the court did not at first affect 
 the daily life of the young Queen. The King and 
 de Luynes being both secretly uneasy at the 
 success of their plot, sought solace by appealing 
 to Anne's sympathy and co-operation. On the 
 day of the death of the Marquis, Louis dined with 
 his consort, and affected an ease and merriment 
 which he was far from feeling. Numerous arrests 
 followed the coup d'etat : all the chief adherents of 
 the Queen-mother were exiled or lost office. As 
 for Marie herself, she remained under guard in her 
 apartments. 1 Louis sent a message to his mother, 
 stating his intention to assume the conduct of 
 affairs and praying her Majesty to absent her- 
 self for a period from Paris, by doing which she 
 would enable him to prove himself, as always, her 
 dutiful and devoted son. The greatest fear was 
 manifested by de Luynes lest the Queen should 
 obtain an interview with her son, and to keep 
 the two apart was the anxious aim of this subtle 
 plotter. Louis displayed unnatural indifference 
 to the position of his mother, and suffered various 
 plans for her safe custody to be discussed in his 
 presence, the speakers permitting themselves the 
 
 39
 
 40 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 utmost latitude in censuring her demerits. At 
 length it was resolved to send the Queen to Blois 
 in a condition of semi-captivity. Marie sullenly 
 acquiesced, but asked permission before her de- 
 parture to see the King, and to take leave of the 
 princesses and ladies of the court. The interview 
 was reluctantly granted by the King, or permitted 
 by de Luynes. It was then resolved that the 
 Queen's farewell should be made in the presence 
 of the newly-appointed ministers, and that Marie 
 should bind herself to say nothing to her son but 
 the words contained on a paper forwarded to 
 her through the Bishop of Lu9on. The conditions 
 were hard on the fallen Queen ; the new ministers 
 were men whom she had mortally offended, and 
 whom she had dismissed soon after her accession to 
 power. The majority were the old ministers of 
 Henri Quatre, who were cordially greeted by the 
 people on their resumption of office. The King 
 entered his mother's apartment hand in hand 
 with M. de Luynes, and preceded by the two 
 brothers of the latter, Cadenet and Brantes ; his 
 Majesty was also attended by Villeroy, Jeannin, 
 Gesvres, Sillery du Vair and others. 
 
 The Queen approached and made the speech 
 which she had promised to utter ; it merely 
 stated her anxious desire for his Majesty's pros- 
 perity, and her sorrow at having incurred his dis- 
 pleasure. Marie then lowered her voice, and said 
 some beseeching words. The King, however, 
 hastily assured his mother of his affectionate 
 care, but that he was now King and would suffer
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 41 
 
 no colleague in the government. His Majesty, 
 making a low bow, then took his leave. De 
 Luynes next approached and kissed the Queen's 
 robe ; Marie spoke a few words in a whisper ; she 
 then requested his intercession for the steward of 
 her household, M. Barbin. Before Luynes could 
 reply, the voice of the King was heard calling 
 from the bottom of the staircase, " Luynes ! 
 Luynes ! ' : The latter then withdrew in silence 
 and rejoined his royal master. The doors of the 
 Queen's apartments were then thrown open, and 
 during the whole afternoon she received the fare- 
 well visits of the court. 2 Marie's self-command 
 was amazing, and it is asserted that throughout 
 her bitter ordeal she never shed a tear. This firm- 
 ness disquieted the coward heart of M. de Luynes, 
 as he attributed her Majesty's composure to the 
 fierceness of her wrath and her craving for re- 
 venge, which swallowed up every minor feeling. 
 This opinion, it is averred, induced him to sanction 
 the persecution of Marie's servants which ensued, 
 as he hoped to render a reconciliation impossible. 
 Some of the ladies of the court wept at this part- 
 ing interview. Marie coldly remarked : " Mes- 
 dames, weep not for me ; it is long ago since I 
 requested the King to relieve me from the burden 
 of his affairs. If my actions have displeased the 
 King, I feel also displeased with myself ; never- 
 theless, I know that some day his Majesty will 
 acknowledge that all that I have done has been 
 just and politic. As for the Marquis d'Ancre, I 
 pray for his soul ; I pray also that the King may
 
 42 THE MARRIED LIFE OF |1617- 
 
 be pardoned for the crime by which he was per- 
 suaded to remove him ! " Marie shed a few tears 
 on parting with her little son, Gaston Duke of 
 Orleans, then in his ninth year ; she also very 
 affectionately kissed her daughters, Mesdames 
 Christine and Marie Henriette. The young 
 Queen does not seem to have paid her mother-in- 
 law any visit of farewell ; but as Queen Marie 
 entered her coach to leave Paris in the evening* 
 the King and Queen surveyed the cortege from a 
 window of the palace, and both bowed their fare- 
 wells. The streets of Paris were thronged with 
 spectators, by whom the demeanour of the depart- 
 ing Queen was scanned with curious eye. No 
 enthusiasm, no words of sympathy diminished the 
 humiliation of Marie's exit from the capital over 
 which she had so long and imperiously reigned. 
 Marie was attended by the officers of her house- 
 hold, including the Bishop of Lugon, who then 
 filled the post of her Majesty's secretaire des 
 commandements. 
 
 The King and Queen left Paris immediately 
 after the Queen-mother and repaired to Vin- 
 cennes. From thence edicts were issued which 
 displaced most of the public officers nominated 
 during the regency. Bar bin, the trusted servant 
 of the Queen-mother, was consigned to the 
 Bastille, and the trial of the unfortunate Mar- 
 quise d'Ancre was commenced, and brought to a 
 termination by a sentence of decapitation. This 
 decree was executed on the 8th of July, 1617, the 
 miserable and half -insane woman being condemned
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 43 
 
 as a witch and guilty of high treason in the sight 
 of God and man. 3 
 
 The " poor little Cadet of Albert " was now 
 the grandest gentleman of the realm, and the 
 owners of the most illustrious names in France 
 bowed before the resplendency of his power. 
 Endowed with the wealth of Concini, adored by 
 the King, and the partner of his Majesty's weekly 
 raids on the " pies grieches " of the royal domains, 
 de Luynes prospered. Grand alliances, however, 
 were necessary to give permanent lustre to this 
 splendour. While the miserable little son of the 
 Marshal d'Ancre, who once bore the name of 
 Conte de Pena, had become a beggar, charitably 
 sheltered in the hotel of the Count de Fiesque 
 and who, a few hours after the cruel execution of 
 his mother, had been compelled to execute a sara- 
 band with one of Anne's Spanish maidens for the 
 diversion of her Majesty 4 de Luynes availed 
 himself of the wealth of which Concini had been 
 despoiled to purchase a wife whose rank might 
 accord with the altitude of his fortune. Hercule 
 de Rohan, Duke de Montbazon, Governor of Paris 
 and 1'Ile de France, had at this period an only 
 daughter, Marie de Rohan, by his deceased wife, 
 Madelaine de Laval Lenoncourt. Mademoiselle de 
 Montbazon, who had just completed seventeen 
 years, was a charming and beautiful girl, gifted 
 with extraordinary powers of intellect, but wilful, 
 wayward, daring, proud of her princely lineage, 
 and disposed to dispute the pas with any dame 
 of the court. Marie possessed a witty and an
 
 44 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 audacious tongue ; she loved splendour, and the 
 gorgeous attire which set off her noble figure. She 
 belonged to the band of the Queen's maids of 
 honour ; but hitherto the freedom of Mademoi- 
 selle de Montbazon's humour had debarred her 
 from the favour of her royal mistress, whose rigid 
 Spanish etiquette was severely shocked by the 
 abandon, only however of manner, in which Marie 
 indulged. This future famous favourite of Anne 
 of Austria had been attached to the court for 
 about eighteen months, without eliciting a single 
 mark of regard from the young Queen, when M. de 
 Luynes demanded her hand. The courtiers heard 
 with incredulous bewilderment that the son of 
 " ce petit capitaine de Luynes" the once indigent 
 protege of the Count de Lude, aspired to alliance 
 with the princely Rohans, kinsmen of his Majesty 
 Louis XIII. The Duke de Montbazon was a 
 good-natured nobleman, benevolent in his con- 
 descensions, but renowned at court for his ludi- 
 crous and ignorant blunders and for his total 
 want of discrimination. The Duke's bevues were 
 so common that he was declared to be the hero 
 of every laughable misadventure which diverted 
 the court. M. de Montbazon was completely 
 ruled by his high-spirited daughter, and as he 
 revered few things not present to his visual com- 
 prehension, and finding that the parvenu de 
 Luynes had attained to a rank and splendour 
 hitherto denied to the blood of Rohan, he 
 graciously consented to the alliance when pro- 
 posed to him by his Sovereign. The handsome
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 45 
 
 person of the young favourite 5 had favourably 
 impressed Mademoiselle de Montbazon : " To 
 hate M. de Luynes," says a contemporary, " it was 
 necessary not to have seen him, for he had so 
 pleasant and affable an expression of countenance 
 that many foes were thereby after an interview 
 converted into friends." The fortunate favourite, 
 moreover, was all-powerful to flatter and pro- 
 pitiate the foibles of the haughty Marie. The 
 King promised to erect the estate of Maille near to 
 Tours, purchased by de Luynes, into a duche 
 pairie if this marriage was accomplished. Most 
 of the high offices filled by the Marquis d'Ancre 
 were transferred to de Luynes. Louis, moreover, 
 promised to nominate the Duchess de Luynes 
 surintendente de la maison de la Reine, an office 
 which conferred almost absolute power over the 
 Queen's household, and to possess which, it is 
 thought, greatly influenced the decision of Made- 
 moiselle de Montbazon. De Luynes, in addition, 
 bribed the good graces of his lady-love by magni- 
 ficent gifts ; and, as crowning tokens of his devo- 
 tion, he obtained for her, previous to her marriage, 
 the much-coveted tabouret or a folding-seat in the 
 presence of the Queen a privilege which no prin- 
 cess of the house of Rohan, either married or 
 single, had before enjoyed ; and lastly, he laid at 
 the feet of his mistress the magnificent diamonds 
 of the unfortunate Marquise d'Ancre a casket of 
 which a queen might have been proud. The mar- 
 riage took place in the month of August, 1617, 
 and the King created his favourite, according
 
 46 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 to his promise, Duke de Luynes, and installed 
 him as first minister of the crown. Louis also 
 fulfilled his promise relative to the new Duchess 
 de Luynes, who was appointed grandmistress of 
 the palace and chief lady of her Majesty's house- 
 hold. 6 A feminine revolt followed this appoint- 
 ment. Anne absolutely refused to accept the 
 services of a princess who, she said, was personally 
 disagreeable to her. The Condesa de las Torres 
 protested against the assumption by Madame de 
 Luynes of power over the camarera mayor ; the 
 good and virtuous Duchesse de Montmorency, 
 first dame du palais, gave in her resignation, " as, 
 being the widow of the late Constable de Mont- 
 morency, she could not retain a subordinate office 
 in the royal household." The result of these 
 squabbles was that the King never visited his 
 consort for six weeks. The Spanish Ambassador, 
 moved by the distress of the Queen, thereupon 
 sought audience of the Duke de Luynes to be 
 officially informed of the source of the fracas. 
 Luynes replied that the King hated the Spanish 
 ladies of his consort's household, especially Ma- 
 dame de las Torres and the old Duchess of Ville- 
 quieras, her Majesty's former governess ; but 
 that this latter lady was so repugnant to the King 
 that Louis had resolved never again to share her 
 Majesty's apartment until after the departure of 
 the said Duchess. 7 Monteleone faithfully re- 
 ported the matter to Philip III., who, without 
 further parley, recalled all the Spanish ladies, 
 much to the distress and indignation of the Queen.
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 47 
 
 Anne, meantime, had been so excited by the 
 vexatious events of the year that about the 
 month of November she fell dangerously ill of low 
 fever. The King showed much solicitude during 
 the dangerous crisis of the malady and frequently 
 visited her sick-chamber. On learning the danger 
 of her young mistress, the Duchess de Mont- 
 morency returned to the Louvre and generously 
 helped Madame de Luynes to discharge her func- 
 tions at her Majesty's bedside, for etiquette 
 required that a duchess should replace the surin- 
 tendente during those intervals when leave of 
 absence was requisite for repose and refreshment. 
 Anne's recovery was tedious. The Ambassador 
 Monteleone despatched weekly expresses to 
 Madrid with news of her health. He prays Philip 
 to send his daughter a quantity of oranges 
 " similar to those your Majesty sent last year, 
 which arrived as fresh as if just gathered from the 
 tree." Monteleone proceeds to congratulate King 
 Philip on the improved relations subsisting be- 
 tween the royal pair, and states that the King 
 evidently greatly admired his consort, who was 
 growing up a beautiful and graceful woman ; also, 
 that the King often proudly alluded to the incom- 
 parable complexion of his wife and remarked her 
 abundant fair hair, " in which attractions she had 
 not a rival in France." 
 
 Louis, about whom all these anxious specu- 
 lations flowed, had now completed his eighteenth 
 year ; but the monarch who had just exiled his 
 mother, who held the first prince of the blood
 
 48 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iei7- 
 
 a captive in the Bastille, and who had raised 
 an obscure favourite to the altitude of a duke and 
 minister in chief, is described by Bassompierre 
 as " amusing himself by little games and devices, 
 such as painting little pictures, singing, making 
 little models with quills of the fountains at St. 
 Germain, and by drumming for his Majesty was 
 a skilful drummer." 8 "Bassompierre," said his 
 Majesty one day, " I must now begin to practise 
 on the horn ; some day I will waken the echoes 
 in my forests ! " " Sire," replied the skilful cour- 
 tier, " I do not advise such exercise. Charles IX., 
 it is said, ruptured a blood-vessel by blowing the 
 horn I " " You are mistaken," promptly replied 
 his Majesty ; " the King only quarrelled with his 
 mother, Catherine de' Medici, and kept her at 
 Monceaux. Now, if the King had followed the 
 good advice of M. de Retz, and had not returned 
 to her, he would not have died at the early age 
 which he did ! " " From that period," remarks 
 Bassompierre, 9 " I took heed never to mention the 
 Queen-mother in the presence of the King, finding 
 that his fears had been excited respecting her." 
 
 Marie de' Medici during this interval, wearied 
 of the insults daily inflicted, fled from Blois, with 
 the aid of her old friend Epernon, and had re- 
 tired under his escort to Loches, where she 
 threatened the realm with civil war. On the 21st 
 of February, 1619, the Queen escaped from the 
 castle by a window 120 feet from the ground, by 
 means of a rope-ladder sent to her by Epernon. 10 
 Her two women followed and her chevalier
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 49 
 
 d'honneur, the Count de Brennes. A coach was in 
 waiting, in which her Majesty entered and took 
 the road towards Montrichard. She was met out- 
 side the town of Blois by the Cardinal de la 
 Valette, then Archbishop of Toulouse, with 300 
 gentlemen, who accompanied her to the fortress 
 of Loches, where Marie was rapturously wel- 
 comed by Epernon and afterwards received an 
 oath of fidelity from the soldiers of the garrison. 
 The utmost panic seized the King and his mini- 
 sters when they heard of this event. Louis re- 
 turned to Paris from St. Germain to hold council, 
 at which it was determined to send le P. Berulle 
 to negotiate, whose brain was thought to be 
 a match for that of the subtle Richelieu, whom 
 her Majesty, on arriving at Loches, had sum- 
 moned. Bentivoglio, who then filled the post of 
 Nuncio at the court of France, caused this sugges- 
 tion to be conveyed to the privy council. Although 
 most of the great peers of France had returned to 
 their duty on the downfall of Concini, yet the ele- 
 ments of revolt were not extinct in France. More- 
 over, the courts of Parliament throughout the 
 realm had interceded for the Queen-mother, la 
 veuve de Henri IV., and had exhorted the King to 
 be reconciled with her. At court she had many 
 ardent partisans, such as Bassompierre, Guise, 
 Bellegarde and others. It was, therefore, now 
 deemed by Luynes to be a politic and popular 
 course to disarm her Majesty by negotiation, and 
 to propose an interview of reconciliation with the 
 King. The Cardinal de la Rochefoucault was
 
 50 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 despatched to offer to the Queen the government 
 of Anjou, with the fortresses of Angers, Pont de 
 Ce, and Chinon, provided that she consented to 
 relinquish the government of Normandy. The 
 Prince of Piedmont, whose recent marriage with 
 the Princess Christine without the consent or par- 
 ticipation of the Queen-mother had filled the 
 measure of Marie's grievances, 11 now made repara- 
 tion by visiting her Majesty at Angouleme. The 
 Duke de Montbazon also made the same pilgrim- 
 age on behalf of his son-in-law de Luynes, to ex- 
 press the earnest desire of the latter for reconcilia- 
 tion. Marie, by the counsel of Richelieu, accepted 
 the proposals and overtures of her son, and pro- 
 mised to join the court at Tours. 12 The young 
 Queen, therefore, journeyed from Paris to Tours, 
 where she made a sojourn of three months. After 
 the meeting and reconciliation between Louis and 
 his mother, the King set out for the south of 
 France, attended by his favourite, to restore the 
 Catholic faith throughout Beam, while Anne re- 
 turned to Paris, having received a promise from 
 Queen Marie to join her there after she had 
 visited her new government of Anjou and the 
 fortresses ceded in that province. 
 
 During the next two years the history of the 
 young Queen presents few incidents worthy of re- 
 cord. Her great grief, and the chief topic of the 
 Spanish Ambassador, the Marquis de Mirabel, who 
 had succeeded Monteleone in the Paris embassage, 
 was the devotion manifested by the King for the 
 young and brilliant Duchess de Luynes, who
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 51 
 
 first moved the heart of Louis Treize, and taught 
 his Majesty some of the tender refinements of la 
 belle passion. " The King," writes the Ambassa- 
 dor, " abounds in courtesies and attentions for the 
 Duchess de Luynes : I have, nevertheless, good 
 hope that the worst suspicions take rise only in 
 the excited fancy of the Infanta-queen and in the 
 malicious tattlings of her women. The King, I 
 believe, is too wise and virtuous to merit the impu- 
 tation of criminal intrigue. Your Majesty should 
 exhort the Queen to propitiate her husband, and 
 to render herself agreeable and necessary to him 
 by the thousand little coquetteries proper to en- 
 chain and entice volatile hearts." Anne was too 
 haughty and resentful to profit by such counsel ; 
 she adopted with the Duchess de Luynes a distant 
 and condescending demeanour, but towards the 
 King her manner was grave, serious, and respect- 
 ful. Louis, at this period, showed great considera- 
 tion for his consort in public ; nor was it until he 
 fell again under the baneful influence of the Queen- 
 mother that those miserable domestic tracasseries 
 commenced which poisoned his existence. The 
 Nuncio Bentivoglio mentions even that, during 
 the absence of the King from Paris in 1620 to 
 subdue the menaced insurrection excited by the 
 distrust of Marie de' Medici in the provinces re- 
 cently confided to her the young Queen, " to the 
 joy of everybody," daily presided at the council 
 of state. These days were the brightest and most 
 prosperous of Anne's married life. 
 
 A shadow at this period was, nevertheless, cast
 
 52 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 over the content of the Queen by the anger which 
 Louis displayed at the assiduities manifested to- 
 wards her by the Dukes de Montmorency and de 
 Bellegarde. M. de Luynes was even one day com- 
 pelled to leave the circle, at the peremptory com- 
 mand of his royal master, for having presumed to 
 press to his lips a flower which had fallen from a 
 bouquet worn by her Majesty. This boyish petu- 
 lance, and his own neglect of her in private, 
 angered the Queen, who now having attained to 
 woman's estate, and being conscious of her charms, 
 resented the querulous tyranny to which she was 
 often subjected. The Duchess de Luynes mean- 
 time lived in the greatest harmony with her par- 
 venu lord, spite of the prevalent rumours respect- 
 ing her intimacy with her liege. 13 She espoused 
 the interests of the Duke with that energy for 
 which she was renowned ; the palace under her 
 sway was a model of order and discipline, never- 
 theless, she never at this period succeeded in gain- 
 ing even the coldest approval from her royal 
 mistress. Anne had a pungent tongue and her 
 memory was seldom at fault ; the Queen, there- 
 fore, in her circle often in the most naive manner 
 alluded to reminiscences which the superb minister 
 would fain have forgotten. His four years of rule, 
 however, had weakened his influence with the 
 King, who could not endure the brightness of the 
 light which he himself had kindled. The lips of 
 Louis often turned white with passion as he beheld 
 the homage exacted by de Luynes, " Le Roy 
 Luynes," as he bitterly murmured. 14 Neverthe-
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 53 
 
 less, with strange inconsistency, in the year 1621, 
 Louis conferred the sword of Constable of France 
 on de Luynes, with the greatest pomp. The sword 
 of the new Constable presented by his Majesty was 
 valued at 30,000 crowns. The court was after- 
 wards sumptuously entertained by the Constable 
 at his Hotel, the former abode of the Marquis 
 d'Ancre, which was at this time known by the 
 familiar sobriquet of Hotel des Trois Rois, as at the 
 commencement of de Luynes' career his brothers 
 lived with him. For each of these personages, 
 Louis, with the most amazing recklessness, had 
 created a duche pairie. Cadenet espoused the 
 heiress of Pequigny, and was made Duke de 
 Chaulnes ; Brantes made a still more illustrious 
 alliance, and married the heiress of Luxembourg, 
 Charlotte Marguerite, only daughter of the Duke de 
 Piney Luxembourg, whose title he eventually bore. 
 The new Constable meantime followed his royal 
 master to the siege of Montauban, one of the 
 strongholds of the Huguenots, a place defended 
 by the Marquis de la Force with incredible valour. 
 The siege lasted three months, and terminated by 
 the retreat of the royal army. The displeasure 
 and distaste of the King for de Luynes increased 
 during the progress of the siege operations ; his 
 arrogant independence sometimes excited his 
 Majesty to frenzy. Bassompierre was made the 
 confidant of Louis's dissatisfaction, very much to 
 the dismay of that astute personage. *' I will 
 compel him, the base-born ingrate, to restore all 
 that he has rifled ; he desires to make himself
 
 54 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 King, but I shall counteract his plots ! The poor 
 adventurer ! " sneered the petulant boy-King, 
 14 why, his relations once arrived by boat-loads, 
 and not one of them had a silk robe to appear in 
 my presence ! " The disgust indulged by Louis 
 at length attained such fervour, that he one day 
 told the Constable in public that the Duke de 
 Chevreuse was madly enamoured of Madame de 
 Luynes ; and therefore that he warned him to be 
 on the watch. " But, sire," remonstrated the 
 good-natured Bassompierre, " I have heard that 
 it ranks as heinous sin to sow dissension between 
 husband and wife." " May God please to grant 
 me pardon,'' responded his Majesty, " but I have 
 now such joy in spiting M. le Connetable and in 
 giving him annoyance 1 " Such being the senti- 
 ments of the King, expressed in semi-confidence 
 to the most privileged amongst his courtiers, pre- 
 dictions abounded on the approaching overthrow 
 of the Constable. The royal aversion was not 
 lessened by the comments of Queen Marie ; who 
 now, having made peace with her son, had taken 
 up her abode at the Luxembourg. On the raising 
 of the siege of Montauban, fever raged in the 
 camp ; Luynes retired to Longuetille, and there 
 encamped, feeling indisposed. In the course of a 
 few hours the dreaded pestilence seized him ; his 
 comfortless quarters and his perturbation of mind 
 increased the severity of the attack, and death 
 soon delivered the King from the man he now so 
 utterly loathed. De Luynes died on the 21st of 
 December, 1621, after an illness of a few hours'
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 55 
 
 duration. His favour lasted five years. Few 
 crimes mar his career : Luynes was weak and 
 ostentatious ; his greatest merit, perhaps, was 
 that he had discerned the extraordinary genius of 
 the Bishop of Lu9on, and at the time of his death 
 was negotiating with Richelieu to quit the service 
 of Marie de' Medici for his own, offering, as a bribe, 
 a seat in the privy council. Luynes left a son and 
 one daughter 15 by his consort. The King suffered 
 the young Duke to inherit his father's enormous 
 wealth, under the guardianship of his mother. 
 During the following year, 1622, Madame de 
 Luynes married Claude de Lorraine, Duke de 
 Chevreuse, son of Henri, Duke de Guise, killed at 
 the States of Blois. The alliance was an illustrious 
 one. M. de Chevreuse, however, was weak and 
 incapable, and totally unable to guide or rule his 
 witty and able wife. He was luxurious and in- 
 dolent, and while enjoying the ease of the Hotel 
 Chevreuse, cared little for the intrigues of his con- 
 sort or for the success of her political enterprises. 
 Before her second marriage, the Duchess de 
 Luynes incurred a temporary disgrace. The 
 Queen, to the great joy of the nation, had been 
 declared enceinte. Prayers were offered throughout 
 the realms of France and Spain for a safe and pros- 
 perous term, and Anne was committed to the 
 care of the Queen- mother, and ordered by her 
 royal husband not to act in defiance of such 
 authority. It happened that the Princess de 
 Conde 16 suffered from temporary indisposition, 
 and was compelled to keep her bed in her apart-
 
 56 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 ments at the Louvre. Anne and a gay party of 
 courtiers, including her widowed surintendente and 
 Mademoiselle de Verneuil, went to visit the invalid. 
 The evening was spent merrily, being enlivened by 
 the wit and the amusing adventures of the Mar- 
 shal de Bassompierre and the Duke de Bellegarde. 
 At ten o'clock the Queen took leave of Madame de 
 Conde. To arrive at her apartment, it was neces- 
 sary to traverse the great gallery of the Louvre, at 
 the end of which a magnificent canopy and throne 
 stood, which on this evening was partly draped 
 for a state reception on the morrow. On entering 
 this apartment Madame de Luynes and Made- 
 moiselle de Verneuil took the Queen each by an 
 arm, and proposed, in the exuberance of their 
 mirth, that her Majesty should run with them a 
 race down its length. Anne suffered herself to be 
 persuaded by their importunity ; unfortunately, 
 her ladies suddenly releasing their hold as they 
 approached the throne, the Queen fell on her face 
 over a footstool. A few hours subsequently, a 
 catastrophe occurred which dismayed the cour- 
 tiers, and moved the king to one of those bursts of 
 passion to which he was subject. With his own 
 hand Louis wrote to the Duchess de Luynes, and 
 to Mademoiselle de Verneuil, exiling them from 
 the Louvre, and forbidding them to see the Queen 
 to say farewell. The letters were delivered to the 
 delinquents by the Queen-mother, who admini- 
 stered to each an angry reprimand, and dismissed 
 the ladies, weeping bitterly. 17 The Duchess de 
 Montmorency 18 was thereupon promoted to the
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 57 
 
 office of surintendente, which she retained for many 
 years, conciliating every one by her gentle and 
 winning deportment. 
 
 The return of the Queen-mother to Paris had 
 been attended with many annoyances to the 
 Queen, her daughter-in-law. After the death of 
 the Constable de Luynes, Marie again beheld her- 
 self supreme over the court, ruling almost as im- 
 periously as before the overthrow of the Marquis 
 d'Ancre and her subsequent exile. Distrustful of 
 his own powers and judgment, Louis again sought 
 refuge in his mother's more enterprising and reso- 
 lute character, while Marie relied on the hidden 
 support and sage counsels of her chancellor, 
 Richelieu, Bishop of Luon. The power and dis- 
 affection of the great nobles still menaced the 
 royal authority. Conde had been released from 
 the Bastille by de Luynes, to counterbalance, as 
 he hoped, the renewed influence of the Queen- 
 mother, after her reconciliation with her son at 
 Tours. The prince was esteemed to be one of the 
 wisest and most prudent of men ; his military 
 talents were not great, but his name, his alliances, 
 and his relationship with many of the great Hu- 
 guenot nobles, added to the guileful cunning of his 
 character, had gained him reputation. For the 
 first six months after the death of de Luynes,. 
 Conde filled the vacant place of royal mentor, 
 and during this interval Marie lived in intimate 
 union with Queen Anne, their majesties usually 
 appearing in public together, and amiably patro- 
 nising the Princess de Conde. The young Duke
 
 58 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 of Orleans at this period became a daily visitor at 
 the lever of the Queen his sister-in-law. Gaston 
 was a beautiful, forward boy of fourteen, idolised 
 by his mother for his sprightly wit and for his 
 apparent devotion to herself. The brothers, in 
 character, were entirely opposite. Louis XIII. 
 resembled his father, Henri IV., in his contempt of 
 soft luxury, and in his readiness to submit to 
 temporary privation. Monsieur, on the contrary, 
 was fastidious, luxury-loving, and pleasure-seek- 
 ing. His raiment was perfumed, and made of the 
 most costly fabrics, rings glittered on his white 
 fingers, and his fair long hair was adjusted to 
 perfection. The dancing of the young prince was 
 pronounced to be exquisite, his voice was melo- 
 dious, he excelled in the composition of charades 
 andjeux d'esprit, and he aimed at a lisping pre- 
 cision of speech, which ere long became a fashion 
 at court. Beneath this effeminate exterior, never- 
 theless, the heroic spirit of his ancestors of Albret 
 slumbered. Monsieur showed an early predilec- 
 tion for arms, his fencing was admirable, he was 
 an expert archer, and rode on horseback with an 
 ease and grace which always excited the envy of 
 the King. 19 Monsieur's inclination for magnifi- 
 cence and costly ornamentation pervaded all his 
 pursuits. While his brother contented himself 
 with snaring magpies and small birds, Gaston, at 
 this period, having just attained his majority and 
 therefore becoming master of his patrimony, set 
 up a hunting establishment on a grand scale at his 
 chateau of Montargis, where he built kennels and
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 59 
 
 stables, which a few years subsequently were 
 razed to the ground, when the Duke capriciously 
 transferred his stud to Villers Coterets, a hunting- 
 lodge in the forest of Soissons. The Duke at this 
 period divided his leisure, when in Paris, between 
 the Louvre and the Luxembourg ; spending hours 
 at the latter place with his royal mother in the 
 studio of the maestro, Rubens, whom Marie de' 
 Medici had lured from Antwerp to embellish her 
 palace by his immortal pencil. When at the 
 Louvre, Gaston entertained his fair sister-in-law 
 and her ladies, and once more made the saloons 
 echo, as in olden times, with merry laughter and 
 witty repartee. Soon the greatest solace of the 
 fair young Queen was the society of so fascinating 
 a cavalier as her brother-in-law, who, moreover, 
 with lazy good nature, adjusted many a little dis- 
 pute arising between Anne and the Queen-mother 
 which might have acquired unsought-for impor- 
 tance if submitted to the arbitration of Louis 
 Treize. Prominent amongst the grievances be- 
 tween Anne and her imperious mother-in-law, was 
 the fact that Marie proposed that the state re- 
 ceptions of the Louvre should be transferred to 
 her saloons ; and, through Richelieu, she even 
 succeeded in convincing her royal son that such 
 arrangement would obviate many evils to be anti- 
 cipated from the youth and inexperience of his 
 consort. Anne replied, that such tutelage was un- 
 becoming her proud position as reigning Queen of 
 France and Infanta of the Spains. Her Majesty, 
 therefore, firmly declined to be present at the
 
 60 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 Luxembourg whenever the court paid its homage 
 to the " august Marie de' Medici." This resolution 
 was supported by the counsel of the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse, 20 who, after her marriage, had again 
 appeared at court as chief lady of honour in wait- 
 ing, and wiser perchance for her brief eclipse. 
 Marie also complained that Anne, when address- 
 ing her by letter, terminated with the words 
 " votre affectionee fille," instead of by the formula, 
 in imitation of that adopted by the King, of " votre 
 tres humble et obeissante fille." The Queen bore 
 with meekness the coldness of the Queen-mother 
 and the anger of the King, who was again en- 
 slaved by his mother, for at this period Riche- 
 lieu still acted in subordination to the directions 
 of Marie de' Medici. Marie and her chancellor 
 continually depreciated the intellect and savoir 
 vivre of Queen Anne, so apprehensive were they 
 of a rival in Louis' confidence. " Nevertheless," 
 says an enthusiastic contemporary, " Anne is truly 
 pious ; her heart is noble, her constancy great, 
 her self-control eminent ; she unhappily remem- 
 bers injuries, but she is easily persuaded by com- 
 mendation and by affectionate appeal." The in- 
 tercourse between Anne and Monsieur was not 
 over-pleasing to Louis XIII. : that sombre nature 
 ever construed friendship for another into de- 
 preciation of himself. Anne, unhappily for her 
 future peace, had adopted the maxims of the 
 famous Marquise de Sable at this period in the 
 meridian of her celebrity, but who, nevertheless, 
 was one of the most selfish and heartless of the
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 61 
 
 " brilliant women," the glory of the Parisian 
 saloons of the 17th and 18th centuries. " I am 
 persuaded," said Madame de Sable, " that men 
 without criminality may feel and demonstrate the 
 tenderest sentiments for the lady of their heart 
 and fancy. I maintain that the desire of pleasing 
 women inspires the grandest and noblest actions, 
 and that it imparts wit, liberality and countless 
 virtues. Women, being the gems and ornaments 
 of the world, are created to become the recipients 
 of such homage ; they may therefore accept, and 
 ought to encourage, adoration and service, which, 
 however, they need repay only by innocent con- 
 descensions." Such a code was repugnant to the 
 jealous temper of the King ; isolated, and living 
 at the Louvre, as her sister-in-law the Queen 
 of Spain, lived in the seclusion of El Escorial, 
 Anne might have ruled Louis XIII. and France, 
 but the frolics of the court, and the etourderies 
 of the Queen offended the King's susceptibilities, 
 which became further aggrieved by the ironical 
 expostulations with which Anne met his remon- 
 strances. " The admiration shown for me by MM. 
 les Dues de Montmorency and de Bellegarde, is 
 only a just tribute to the attractions of their 
 Queen ! " !1 exclaimed Anne, proudly. Louis also 
 tartly reprimanded his consort for permitting the 
 assiduities of Monsieur, inasmuch as her coquet- 
 ting and ridicule, he said, rendered the Duke more 
 averse than ever to offer suitable devoirs to his 
 betrothed wife, Marie de Bourbon Montpensier, 
 an alliance approved and desired by the Queen-
 
 62 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 mother and by himself. Mademoiselle de Mont- 
 pensier being the richest heiress in France, it had 
 been deemed imperative by Henri IV. that the 
 succession to so many duchies should neither 
 lapse to a subject, nor be possessed by a foreign 
 prince. Henriette, Duchess de Joyeuse in her 
 own right, and dowager of Montpensier, had taken 
 for her second husband the Duke de Guise ; her 
 daughter, therefore, was receiving her education 
 with her half-brothers and sisters of Lorraine. The 
 little heiress was plain, pale and insipid, triste 
 in humour, small, slightly deformed in person, 
 totally unable to comprehend, and even feeling 
 frightened at the brilliant sallies of her affianced 
 lord. The Queen disparaged her future sister-in- 
 law, and did all she could to render Monsieur in- 
 different ; " because " argued her Majesty, " if 
 the future Madame brings her husband children, I 
 shall fall in public esteem and suffer deeper 
 political insignificance." Nevertheless, on the 
 hint of her royal consort, whose wrath subdued 
 even Anne's assurance, her Majesty attempted to 
 persuade the young Duke to seek the society of 
 his affianced. 
 
 The Queen-mother and her policy, meantime, 
 continued to be in the ascendant. The death of 
 the Cardinal de Retz and of the Keeper of the 
 seals Du Vic, creatures of the late Constable de 
 Luynes, enabled Marie to extend her patronage. 
 The sword of Constable was given to Lesdiguieres 
 on his abjuration of the Calvinist faith, and the 
 Marquis de Vieuville, an old adherent of the
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 63 
 
 Queen's, received the seals. The Chancellor de 
 Sillery was banished from the court ; and, at the 
 urgent demand of the Queen- mot her, Richelieu 
 was admitted a member of the privy council. Marie 
 had demanded a Cardinal's hat for her protege 
 after the signature of the peace of Angers. De 
 Luynes promised the interest of the French 
 government with the Holy See, but as the King 
 manifested displeasure at the elevation of Riche- 
 lieu, whom he was wont to designate " an officious 
 meddler," a private letter was addressed to his 
 Holiness to neutralise the effect of the public de- 
 mand. Richelieu discovered the intrigue through 
 the celebrated Capuchin, Father Joseph de Trem- 
 blay, 22 and meekly informed his patroness. Upon 
 this Marie promptly proposed a marriage between 
 M. Combalet, nephew of de Luynes, with Mademoi- 
 selle de Pont de Courlay, 23 the niece of Richelieu, 
 and thus won the true support of de Luynes. All 
 persons, therefore, being as the Queen hoped, pro- 
 pitiated, a second application had been made to 
 his Holiness. During the interval the Constable 
 de Luynes died. Louis, therefore, advised by 
 Conde of this fresh application, again dispatched 
 a message through Corsini, the Papal Nuncio, to 
 the effect " that he should not feel aggrieved if his 
 Holiness deemed it advisable, and found excuses, 
 to refuse this request." Again the royal duplicity 
 was discovered by Richelieu and confided to the 
 Queen-mother. Marie entered her son's cabinet 
 in a passion of resentment ; she drew the most 
 disastrous picture of the condition of France, and
 
 64 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 her eulogy of " the humble prelate whose wisdom 
 and learning were to avert ruin from the realm " 
 bewildered the King. Louis confessed his want of 
 appreciation of Richelieu's merit, but consented 
 to dispatch an express to Rome to contradict 
 '' the error of the Nuncio," who had misunder- 
 stood the royal observation, and to ask for the 
 prompt elevation of M. de Lugon. The much- 
 coveted hat was bestowed upon Richelieu by Pope 
 Gregory XV., September 1622. The astute 
 Richelieu had no sooner received the insignia of 
 his cardinalate from the hand of his sovereign, at 
 Lyons, than he prostrated himself at the feet of 
 Marie de' Medici : " Gracious Majesty ! this 
 purple, which I owe to your Majesty, will be ever 
 before my eyes as a symbol of the solemn vow 
 which I have made, and now renew, to shed every 
 drop of my blood, if necessary, in your service ! " 
 The joy of Marie was intense : the mother of the 
 King mother and trusted ally of Monsieur heir- 
 presumptive the mistress of Richelieu and able 
 to command at will that glorious intellect and un- 
 rivalled daring Marie might well consider her 
 newly-recovered power steadfast and immov- 
 able ! 
 
 The rule of the Cardinal de Richelieu com- 
 menced. His first process of government was to 
 exhibit to the timid and suspicious Louis the 
 volcano beneath his throne, and to direct his 
 startled gaze on the swarm of malcontents which 
 stung and ravaged his fair heritage and prero- 
 gatives. Richelieu displayed terrible pictures :
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 65 
 
 the revolt and arrogance of the great peers, whose 
 ambition shook the throne ; the treason of the 
 Huguenots of the realm their tenure of fortified 
 places by treaty, their alliances with foreign 
 powers and their insolent demand for separate 
 political and synodical action. He then changed 
 the scene to the domestic disquietudes of the 
 court the towering ambition of Marie de' Medici, 
 the Cardinal observed, no faithful minister of 
 Louis XIII. might ignore ; the levity and Spanish 
 inclinations of the reigning Queen ; the ambition 
 and frivolity of the heir-presumptive, whose 
 vanity might betray him into the toils of unprin- 
 cipled men ! Every one of these bristling thorns 
 pierced the heart of the King. The Cardinal's 
 system with Marie de' Medici was, to bemoan the 
 suspicions and illiberality of the King his royal 
 master, his headstrong will and lack of filial de- 
 ference, the cunning of Conde, the insecurity of 
 her Majesty's position, and the high promise of 
 Monsieur. For a season this course of tactics 
 succeeded with Marie de' Medici ; but the Queen 
 required the Cardinal's deeds to accord with his 
 words, and his actions to follow, or at any rate to 
 assimilate with his predictions a consequence 
 overlooked, in his astuteness, by Richelieu. The 
 court was divided by the new law-giver into two 
 camps his friends and his enemies. For the 
 former no caresses and privileges were deemed too 
 high a boon ; for the latter, mendacity could not 
 sufficiently blacken their motives and character, 
 or persecution and ruin too thoroughly overthrow
 
 66 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 their prospects. The meek humility of Richelieu's 
 manner towards his household dependants ; the 
 deferential homage which, at the commencing of 
 his power, he paid to the high personages of the 
 court ; and the triple velvet with which he en- 
 cased the potent hand so terrible in its blows, 
 enabled the first years of his ministry his initia- 
 tion in office to glide away with but little notice, 
 and no opposition. 
 
 The method which Richelieu is recorded to have 
 taken in order to propitiate and to gain the favour 
 of Anne of Austria is so extraordinary, and 
 opposed to his intercourse with his royal patron 
 during the following decade of years, that it is 
 difficult to believe a fact, which is related and 
 affirmed by trustworthy historians and chroni- 
 clers of the period. It is asserted that Richelieu 
 attempted to strengthen his position by com- 
 mencing an intrigue with the wife of his sovereign. 
 There is no doubt that the isolated position of the 
 young and fascinating Queen, estranged from her 
 royal husband partly through his strange caprices 
 and exactions, and badly counselled by her friend 
 and confidente Madame de Chevreuse, offered a 
 tempting lure to the vicious and unscrupulous. 
 Richelieu hated Monsieur the heir-presumptive 
 with bitter hatred at first, for some rude words 
 of sarcasm, the more galling as falling from boyish 
 lips, and because he descried in the disposition of 
 the Duke a fretfulness which convinced him that 
 so restless and volatile a spirit never would retain 
 its subjection to the will of any minister. Riche-
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 67 
 
 lieu's admiration was calmly accepted, it is said, 
 by Anne, as a homage rendered to her charms, 
 and as incense offered by the first minister to the 
 political personage which she never ceased from 
 aspiring to become. " The Queen," says Anne's 
 ardent friend and apologist, Madame de Motte- 
 ville, " confessed to me that in her youth she 
 never could comprehend that what is called 
 rhonnete galanterie could be blamable, any more 
 than the liberty enjoyed by Spanish ladies of the 
 court of Madrid, who, living like nuns in the 
 palace and never speaking of men but in the 
 presence of the King or Queen of Spain, yet boast 
 of their conquests, and discourse upon them as 
 facts calculated rather to enhance their reputation 
 than to defame it." Anne related to Madame de 
 Motteville, in days when the memory of the sore 
 trials of her youth had almost faded from the 
 mind of the mother of Louis XIV., that one day 
 Richelieu was craving her friendship and assis- 
 tance with an air too gallant and animated, and 
 with words of passionate admiration, and that 
 she, who detested him, was preparing to answer in 
 contemptuous anger, when the door opened and 
 the King appeared. Anne added, that she never 
 after reverted to the subject, fearing to do the 
 Cardinal too much honour by appearing to remem- 
 ber his presumption ; " but I did myself infinite 
 injury with the King my consort, for the bad 
 offices of M. le Cardinal increased our misunder- 
 standings." 24 Richelieu, it might be imagined, 
 would have been the last man to involve himself
 
 68 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 in the meshes of a perilous intrigue : but it is 
 asserted that the Cardinal, at this period, was 
 consumed with a frantic admiration for his young 
 mistress ; and that Anne, whose heart remained 
 untouched, amused herself by ridiculing and 
 spurning this foible. But for certain suspicious 
 incidents which occurred between the pair, years 
 after this event, and when the Cardinal's passion 
 was supposed to be extinct, the episode would 
 seem too improbable to challenge belief. The 
 evil influences of Madame de Chevreuse were fast 
 dissipating the decorous reserve of Anne's 
 manners and vitiating her mind. Anne had 
 learned to love her and to trust her, as the forlorn 
 cling to the one bright and genial object which 
 cheers their existence. Marie de Rohan was now 
 devoted to the Queen. Anne's enemies were her 
 foes, and the beautiful, strong-minded woman 
 would have given her life, as she eventually 
 sacrificed fortune, for the sake of her royal mis- 
 tress. Intrigue, unhappily, occupied the mind of 
 the Duchess, and, incorrigible in her vanity, 
 Marie succeeded too well in diverting the melan- 
 choly of the Queen by the recital of her forbidden 
 diversions. When condoled with by her intimates 
 on the indolence and pompous emptiness of the 
 Duke her husband, Madame de Chevreuse replied 
 promptly, " Je rtfen endommage I ' Subsequent 
 to this period Madame de Chevreuse engaged in a 
 correspondence with the handsome Earl of 
 Holland, then Lord Rich, who had visited France 
 in 1622 to negotiate for the Rochellois, and who
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 69 
 
 returned in 1624 as one of the ambassadors sent 
 to confer on the marriage of Henriette Marie de 
 France with Charles, Prince of Wales. In their 
 correspondence these persons naturally wrote 
 much concerning the leading personages of their 
 respective courts ; and Anne of Austria and 
 George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, the favour- 
 ite of James I. of England, often afforded a 
 theme for the writers. The magnificence of 
 Villiers, his beauty of person and chivalrous 
 character, is believed, even at this period, to have 
 made a deep impression on the fancy of the 
 Queen. Buckingham, also, she was told, was 
 joined to a partner uncongenial and incapable of 
 appreciating his rare powers. Anne believed this 
 hero-worship to be blameless the great ocean 
 separated her from Buckingham besides, it 
 invested the correspondence of Madame de Chev- 
 reuse with a personal interest. The Queen, there- 
 fore, imagined that she might fearlessly accept 
 the messages of her admirer, and reciprocate la 
 belle galanterie, without dread of the spies and 
 the reprimands of the Louvre. 
 
 While Anne was thus indulging in soft blandish- 
 ments, she, with her imprudent confidente, ven- 
 tured upon all kinds of malicious minauderies to- 
 wards the Cardinal. They dared to jest with and 
 ridicule his professions, and to devise des puits 
 <V amour, into which they devoutly hoped he might 
 fall. One day the flippant Duchess told his Emi- 
 nence that her Majesty would be charmed, she 
 thought, to see a churchman arrayed in cloth of
 
 70 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 silver gris de lin ! Still further, these thought- 
 less women are said to have indulged their mirth. 
 The Count de Brienne is the relater of the anec- 
 dote, which he thus retails : 25 " The Queen and 
 her confidents were at this time mad with fun and 
 frolic. One day, when they were conversing to- 
 gether, and could talk and laugh at nothing save 
 at the expense of the amorous Cardinal, Madame 
 de Chevreuse said, ' He is, I assure you, passion- 
 ately smitten, and I know of nothing which he 
 would not do to please your Majesty. Shall I 
 send him here some evening, dressed en baladin, 
 to dance a saraband ? Shall I ? Would your 
 Majesty like it ? ' ' What folly ! ' replied the 
 Queen ; nevertheless, Anne was young, she was a 
 woman, she was full of spirit and fun and the idea 
 diverted her. The great minister, although he had 
 in hand all the politics of Europe, could not defend 
 his heart from the assaults of love. He accepted 
 the singular rendezvous proposed by the Duchess 
 for already he believed himself secure of conquest. 
 Boccan, who played admirably on the violin, was 
 summoned. Secrecy was impressed upon him, 
 but when are such secrets kept ? Richelieu ap- 
 peared clad in pantaloons of green velvet, at his 
 garters hung silver bells, on his hands were cas- 
 tanets, and he danced the saraband, which Boccan 
 played. The Queen and her favourite, attended 
 by Vautier and by Beringhen, remained concealed 
 behind a screen through which the gestures and 
 movements of the dancer were seen ! " 
 
 The Cardinal speedily detected the escapades
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 71 
 
 of which he had become the victim, and resented 
 the insult ; at any rate, his project of capti- 
 vating the mind of the giddy young Queen had 
 failed. " She rejected," he complained, " his 
 friendship, his paternal care ; and in the haughti- 
 ness of her Austrian blood despised his counsels." 
 If Richelieu failed, as recorded by de Brienne and 
 other chroniclers, to obtain power over the mind 
 of Anne of Austria, it is certain that the minister 
 discerned a waywardness in her character, which 
 convinced him of the necessity of compassing 
 her subjugation by rougher and more arbitrary 
 measures. Fate did not long withhold from 
 the unscrupulous minister the power which he 
 coveted. 
 
 The treaty with England, by which a daughter 
 of Henri IV. was given to Charles I., was finally 
 signed in Paris, March 13, 1625, after the death of 
 James I., who had previously subscribed the 
 marriage contract of his heir with Henriette 
 Marie. The Earls of Carlisle and Holland were 
 the ambassadors sent by Charles to sign, on his 
 behalf, the articles and the private arrangements 
 agreed to between the courts and to be present 
 at the marriage ceremony, which took place, May 
 llth, 1625, on a platform of state raised before 
 the portal of Notre Dame. Madame de Chev- 
 reuse had been the great promoter of the alliance, 
 being won over to English interests by Lord 
 Holland, " who had," says Bishop Racket, " an 
 amorous temper and a wise head, and could 
 court it as smoothly as any man with the French
 
 72 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 ladies." Marie de' Medici also sanctioned her 
 daughter's marriage with a heretic prince, and 
 entered into the views of Richelieu, who desired, 
 with politic foresight, to wrest from the Hugue- 
 nots of the realm their great ally, by uniting the 
 crowns in matrimonial alliance. The young 
 Queen at first declared herself inimical to the alli- 
 ance, on account of her sister the Infanta Mar- 
 guerite, whom she held to have been betrayed 
 and deserted by King Charles. Persuaded by 
 Madame de Chevreuse, Anne, swayed by a multi- 
 tude of motives, at length cordially congratulated 
 her sister-in-law, whose society, nevertheless, she 
 seems to have seldom sought, and declared her- 
 self " so truly French as to prefer the alliance of 
 Charles with Henriette rather than that with her 
 own sister Madame PInfante, 26 for whom she had 
 other views ! " King James, before his decease, 
 had issued a command to the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham " to get the English fleet in order, to bring 
 over our dearly beloved daughter, the Princess 
 Henrietta " : a mandate confirmed by the new 
 sovereign, who was even more infatuated than 
 his father with the superb favourite. Great was 
 the sensation at the French court when it was 
 announced that the Duke, the dispenser of the 
 revenues of three potent realms, was about to 
 shine in Paris. Many a heart throbbed in expec- 
 tation of the visit, and amongst those whose 
 anticipations were perhaps the keenest, was the 
 fair Queen of France and her companion Madame 
 de Chevreuse.
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 73 
 
 At this period Anne possessed as little influence 
 in the state as her friend perhaps, indeed, a less 
 degree of power because Madame de Chevreuse 
 lavished wit, beauty and wealth to win adher- 
 ents, and was fettered by no scruples. 
 
 The King seldom saw his consort in private. He 
 was often absent from Paris on short military 
 campaigns, and when resident at the Louvre 
 Anne was too petulant and resentful to submit to 
 his brusquerie, or too impatient to devote herself 
 to the task of soothing his melancholy, or of shar- 
 ing the dreary conversation and still more dreary 
 musical entertainment of two guitars and a violin, 
 which often whiled away the evenings in his 
 Majesty's apartments. Louis had nothing to say 
 to a young and beautiful woman ; he loved to sit 
 in silent abstraction and disliked the presence 
 of ladies. His praises of Richelieu incensed the 
 Queen, as did also his habitual abuse of Spain 
 and the dynasty of Hapsburg, whose overthrow, 
 he was wont to declare, it was the high mission of 
 France to accomplish. This indifference between 
 the royal couple enabled Richelieu to insert the 
 wedge of a still more entire disunion ; the minister 
 and the Queen-mother inspired the mind of Louis 
 with distrust of his wife, and Anne did nothing 
 to kindle love or to command respect. 
 
 The Duke de Chevreuse had been appointed as 
 the proxy of King Charles to wed Henrietta ; he 
 was also, with the Duchess his wife, chosen to con- 
 duct Queen Henrietta to Dover, to meet her newly 
 espoused lord. The Duke's wealth and splendid
 
 74 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 jewels was the public reason assigned for the dis- 
 tinction conferred upon him ; for Madame de 
 Chevreuse possessed, by the bequest of her first 
 husband, the diamonds of the unfortunate Mar- 
 quise d'Ancre. One evening Lord Holland visited 
 the Duke de Chevreuse unexpectedly and found 
 him, with his consort, dressed for a masque at the 
 Louvre ; " but never did I before behold such 
 jewels, and never again expect to see such pro- 
 fusion adorning the persons of subjects ! " 27 The 
 duchess coveted the ambassage to the court of 
 England, not so much to display her diamonds, as 
 the lustre of her eyes before the admiring gaze of 
 Lord Holland, a fact which she scrupled not to 
 confess. The marriage ceremony of the Princess 
 Maria Henrietta remained a memorable pageant 
 to Queen Anne of Austria ; as on this occasion 
 only, during the reign of her consort, did she 
 publicly enjoy the magnificence and appareil of 
 her position as Queen-consort. At this ceremony, 
 nevertheless, she was compelled to yield prece- 
 dence to Marie de' Medici. 28 The charming bride, 
 Princess Henrietta, won, by her grace and amia- 
 bility, the praise of the English ambassadors. 
 "My lord," wrote Lord Holland to the Duke of 
 Buckingham, " I protest that she is a lovely and 
 sweet young creature. Her growth is not great, 
 but they all swear that her sister, the Princess of 
 Piedmont (Madame Christine), was not taller than 
 she is at her age." 29 In most of his despatches 
 Holland mentions Anne of Austria, so that the 
 imagination of Buckingham, by the time he
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 75 
 
 arrived in France, fired by dwelling on the beauty, 
 the wrongs and the isolation of the Queen, was 
 ready to assign evil significance to every kindly 
 overture tendered by her Majesty. Rumours GJ 
 the superb retinue appointed to attend the Duke 
 of Buckingham excited curiosity and interest in 
 Paris. It was ironically said " that King Louis 
 must vacate his Louvre to afford space for the 
 Duke and his suite ! ' : On the 24th of May, 
 Buckingham entered Paris ; his suite consisted 
 of seven hundred persons ! He was accompanied 
 by the Marquis of Hamilton, by his brother-in- 
 law the Earl of Denbigh, and by six gentlemen, 
 sons of noble families. His equipages consisted 
 of three coaches lavishly gilt and adorned, drawn 
 each by eight horses. Buckingham was also at- 
 tended by a band of musicians ; and by his staff 
 of Thames watermen twenty-two in number 
 clad in rich liveries. For his personal attire 
 Buckingham made elaborate preparation, " for, 
 my lord, they are here so fine, so curious, and so 
 magnificent, that your Excellency will be much 
 pleased," had been the report of Gerbier, steward 
 of the Duke's household, sent by his master to 
 purchase paintings and goldsmiths' work in 
 France. " For his body, my lord had twenty- 
 seven suits embroidered and laced with silk and 
 silver plushes, besides one satten uncut velvet 
 suit, set all over, both suit and cloak, with dia- 
 monds, the value whereof is thought to be about 
 10,000 pounds. He has, moreover, a feather made 
 with great diamonds, a sword-girdle, hat-band,
 
 76 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617. 
 
 and spurs, all studded with diamonds, and an- 
 other rich suit of purple satten embroidered with 
 fine pearls." 30 The noble and handsome face of 
 Buckingham beamed with delight, when, after 
 making his obeisance to the King and the Queen- 
 mother in the great hall of the Louvre, he inclined 
 before the fair young sovereign, whose attractions 
 had so stimulated his vanity and presumption. 
 The jealous and carping spirit of the French cava- 
 liers found no rallying point as they beheld the 
 personal gifts of Villiers and the kingly carriage 
 " of the handsomest-bodied man of England." 
 The polish of his address, which Clarendon lauds 
 as " sweet and accostable," and his generosity and 
 magnificence were noted with admiration. Never- 
 theless, the pomp affected by the Duke kindled 
 the ire of his entertainers ; 31 and his gifts, which 
 were at first accepted with gratitude, offended by 
 their prodigality. 
 
 The impression made on the Duke by the charms 
 of Anne of Austria increased his infatuation, while 
 Anne herself imprudently gave him every oppor- 
 tunity of access to her presence. Madame de 
 Chevreuse continued to be the arch-temptress, and 
 persuaded her royal mistress, at the suggestion, it 
 is said, of Lord Holland, that to flatter and en- 
 courage the passion of the Duke would tend to the 
 glory of France ; inasmuch as the Queen, reigning 
 over the heart of Buckingham, would govern the 
 counsels of King Charles. Nevertheless, the Queen 
 admitted the reality of Buckingham's attentions 
 with reluctance. Madame de Motteville asserts

 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 77 
 
 that no treason to her husband and King entered 
 the imagination of Anne of Austria. The Duke was 
 handsome and the pearl of European chivalry, 
 and by the extraordinary familiarity in which he 
 lived with King Charles was admitted by other 
 monarchs to intimate freedoms. Proud, therefore, 
 of her conquest and glad, perhaps, to exhibit 
 before her husband's eyes the homage which her 
 charms excited in the bosom of the most fastidious 
 of cavaliers Anne acted on the evil counsel of 
 Madame de Chevreuse, forgetting her queenly 
 rank. " The Duke of Buckingham," relates Ma- 
 dame de Motteville, 32 whose mother, at this period, 
 held the office of bed-chamber woman to Anne of 
 Austria, " had the audacity to attack her Majesty's 
 heart. He was tall, well-made, handsome, noble, 
 spirited, magnificent, liberal and the favourite of 
 a great king. He had the spending of all his 
 master's treasure, with the loan of all the crown 
 jewels of England to adorn his person. Is it 
 marvellous, therefore, that, possessed of so many 
 amiable qualities, his aim was high ? or that he 
 indulged in noble, but dangerous and blamable, 
 desires ? If the happiness was his of persuading 
 those around that his homage was not impor- 
 tunate, we must presume that his aspirations were 
 received, as the Divinities of old were said to 
 accept the offering of mortals that is to say, that 
 their devotees remained in ignorance whether their 
 homage was acceptable or the reverse. The Queen 
 made no secret of these events, but has without 
 reserve confessed to me that in her youth (though
 
 78 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iei7- 
 
 the illusion is now dissipated) she did not compre- 
 hend that what is termed Vhonnete galanterie could 
 be wrong, when no pledges were given or accepted." 
 The experiment was a dangerous one, as Anne was 
 not long in discovering ; for the penetrating eye 
 of Richelieu comprehended the insolence of the 
 aspirations cherished by Buckingham. He beheld 
 with mingled satisfaction, and perhaps jealourj , 
 the condescensions of the Queen ; for he per- 
 ceived that no artifice could more certainly serve 
 him to neutralise Anne's enmity, and to annul her 
 influence, than to arouse the jealous ire of Louis 
 XIII. as to his consort's inclination for the Duke 
 personally, and her relations with him as the am- 
 bassador of the English king. Moreover, a scene of 
 levity in the gardens of the Louvre, most disgrace- 
 ful in Anne's position as Queen of France, came 
 to the ears of the minister ; and which, years 
 afterwards, was related in detail by Madame de 
 Chevreuse to the famous coadjutor, Cardinal 
 de Retz, and is recorded by him, doubtless with 
 much profligate exaggeration, in the original 
 edition of his Memoirs. 
 
 The homage and adulations of all the ladies 
 of the capital seem well-nigh to have turned 
 the ill-poised mind of the Duke of Buckingham. 
 The beautiful Madame de Chevreuse divided her 
 condescensions between himself and her old lover 
 Lord Holland ; the Duchess de Guise regaled him 
 by sumptuous banquets and masques ; the Queen- 
 mother did the honours of her Luxembourg to so 
 privileged a guest ; Madame de Sable held recep-
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 79 
 
 tions in his honour, in which the wit and learning 
 of the capital were arrayed for his delectation ; 
 and the brothers de Luynes, Dukes de Chaulnes 
 and de Luxembourg, placed their establishments 
 at his disposal. Conde held festivals at Chantilly 
 in his honour ; the new constable Duke de Lesdi- 
 guieres, and his plebeian but hearty consort Marie 
 Mignot, welcomed the splendid ambassador and 
 his suite. Anne of Austria was gracious ; his 
 Majesty King Louis smiled grimly on the genial 
 representative of his brother-in-law ; and Queen 
 Henriette Marie left nothing to be desired in her 
 anxiety to propitiate the favourite who ruled the 
 court of England. No wonder that Buckingham, 
 amid these fair and witty dames, forgot his " silly 
 Kate ; " 3 and was in no haste to exchange the 
 revels of the Louvre for those of Whitehall. His so- 
 journ in Paris, however, did not exceed eight days. 
 The royal bride then left the Louvre, en route for 
 Calais, where she was to embark for England. The 
 Queens Marie and Anne were to accompany Hen- 
 riette and to say farewell at Calais. Richelieu re- 
 mained in Paris, while the King, after taking leave 
 of his sister, repaired to Fontainebleau, where the 
 court was to assemble on returning from Calais. 
 
 On the second day of June 1625, a magnificent 
 cavalcade quitted the Louvre and defiled through 
 the gates of Paris, on the high road towards 
 Amiens. The royal suite comprised the Duke and 
 Duchess de Chevreuse, Mesdames de Launay, de 
 Boissiere, de Guercheville and de St. George ; the 
 Dukes de Bellegarde, de la Force and d'Elboeuf,
 
 80 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iei7- 
 
 and the Duke of Buckingham and his colleagues, 
 Lords Carlisle and Holland. At Amiens the royal 
 progress was arrested by the sudden indisposition 
 of Marie de' Medici. The court, therefore, halted 
 for the space of a few days, that the Queen-mother 
 might be able to resume her journey to Calais. 
 Marie lodged in the episcopal palace, Anne of 
 Austria in a house with a large garden attached, 
 on the banks of the Somme. Buckingham, mean- 
 time, acted the despairing and distracted lover, at 
 the prospect of his approaching separation from 
 the young Queen, " that fairest and sweetest of 
 sovereigns " ; and to put the mildest construction 
 on Anne's conduct, it must have been volatile and 
 giddy to a degree, which might warrant most in- 
 jurious inferences. There seems to be little doubt 
 but that her heart and fancy were touched by the 
 devotion of Buckingham, who talked in exalted 
 strains of the political wonders which he would 
 achieve for France as a tribute to her charms. 
 The life of the Queen had been hitherto so joyless 
 and uncongenial, that probably the very glow of 
 her gratitude at the Duke's homage may have in- 
 cited him to bolder enterprise. Festivals, mean- 
 time, diversified the sojourn of the court at 
 Amiens. The baptism of the eldest son of the 
 Duke de Chaulnes 34 was celebrated by a fete given 
 at the citadel. The sponsors of the young heir were 
 the three queens, Marie, Anne and Henrietta, and 
 Monsieur. Buckingham on this occasion appeared 
 in magnificence truly regal, " portant le plus bel 
 habillement, et mieux assort! qui se verra jamais ! "
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 81 
 
 He wore the collars and badges of four Orders 
 the Garter, the St. Esprit, the Golden Fleece and 
 the Order of St. George. His hat was adorned 
 with a heron's plume blazing with diamonds, and 
 fastened by a cluster of five of the largest dia- 
 monds belonging to the British crown. A ball 
 followed the banquet, which was opened by Buck- 
 ingham and the Queen, Monsieur dancing with his 
 sister, Queen Henriette. Madame de Chevreuse 
 followed, led by Lord Holland, and the Duke de 
 Chaulnes danced with the young Duchess d'El- 
 boeuf. 35 The next day Monsieur gave a sumptuous 
 entertainment. At the conclusion of the banquet, 
 Buckingham and the English ambassadors es- 
 corted Queen Anne to her abode. In the garden 
 on the banks of the Somme, in the soft June moon- 
 light, another suspicious interview between the 
 Queen and the Duke of Buckingham ensued, 
 which produced a disastrous impression even on 
 her Majesty's truest friends, who felt how un- 
 generously the Duke had compromised their royal 
 mistress. It appears that the Queen, attended by 
 the Duchess de Chevreuse, by her lady-in-waiting, 
 Madame du Vernet, and by her equerry, M. de 
 Putange, and accompanied by the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, and by Lord Holland, strolled into the 
 garden at dusk hour. The Duke led the Queen, 
 Madame de Chevreuse was escorted by Holland, 
 and Madame du Vernet by M. de Putange. It was 
 the duty of this last-named person never to lose 
 sight of his royal mistress, but to be always ready 
 to perform any slight service which she might
 
 82 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 require. Nothing at first occurred to disturb the 
 serenity of the promenaders ; the Queen and her 
 cavalier, with the other personages of the suite, 
 reposed for some time on chairs by the river side, 
 enjoying the refreshing breeze. Anne at length 
 rose, and was led by the Duke into an alley shaded 
 on one side by lofty elms, and on the other closed 
 by a tall trellis covered with creeping plants. In- 
 stead of following the Queen, Madame de Chev- 
 reuse and her cavalier turned into another sombre 
 walk, while M. de Putange and his companion 
 discreetly remained seated where they were, not 
 wishing to intrude on the conversation of such 
 illustrious personages the more so, as Putange 
 declared that he supposed M. de Buckingham had 
 some message to impart to her Majesty before his 
 departure, which was fixed for the following day. 
 In a few minutes the voice of the Queen was heard 
 summoning her equerry. Madame du Vernet and 
 Putange hastened to join their royal mistress, 
 whom they found agitated and discomposed, 
 while Buckingham, with his hand grasping the 
 hilt of his sword, leaned defiantly against the 
 trellis. Anne began to reprimand her lady and 
 her equerry for having quitted her ; but when re- 
 spectfully asked the cause of her alarm, her 
 Majesty replied in confusion, " that its cause was, 
 surprise at finding herself alone with M. 1'Am- 
 bassadeur." " The Duke of Buckingham," relates 
 la Porte, 38 an equerry who was in attendance on 
 the Queen at Amiens, " finding himself alone with 
 her Majesty, and favoured by the gathering ob-
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 83 
 
 scurity, took the insolent liberty of attempting to 
 kiss the Queen, who immediately cried out, so that 
 aid quickly arrived. Putange, equerry in waiting, 
 was not far away ; and doubtless the consequences 
 might have been perilous had not Putange per- 
 mitted the said Duke to retire. Everybody in the 
 garden soon gathered on the spot ; then every- 
 body fled, and it was resolved to suppress all 
 mention of the matter." 37 
 
 " Chance," says the methodical Madame de 
 Motteville, the confidente of Anne's more sober 
 years, " having led her Majesty with the Duke of 
 Buckingham into a walk concealed by a tall trellis 
 or palisade, the Queen, surprised at finding herself 
 alone, and doubtless importuned and frightened 
 by some too passionate expressions from the Duke, 
 cried out aloud, and calling her equerry blamed 
 him for having neglected to follow her. By this 
 cry her Majesty demonstrated her wisdom and 
 virtue, preferring unsullied innocence and self- 
 respect, rather than to yield to the prompting of 
 fear which possessed her, lest her cry of distress, 
 coming to the ears of the King, might cost her 
 much sorrow. If on this occasion," continues 
 Anne's warm apologist, " her Majesty betrayed 
 that her heart was susceptible of some tenderness 
 for the man who adored her, it must be owned that 
 her love for virtuous purity and propriety pre- 
 vailed." 38 The following day, Buckingham'quitted 
 Amiens with Queen Henrietta. Marie and Anne 
 escorted the bride for a distance of one league on 
 her road, for the Queen-mother continued too
 
 84 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 unwell to make the entire journey to Calais, and 
 King Charles was beginning to be impatient and 
 to wonder at the delay of his bride. " The Queen 
 did me the honour to confide to me," says Madame 
 de Motteville, " that when the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham presented himself to say a last farewell and 
 to kiss her robe, she was sitting on the front seat of 
 her coach with the Princess de Conty by her side, 
 and that the said Duke hid his face behind the 
 curtain as if to speak a few words in private, but 
 in reality to conceal his tears, which were falling 
 plentifully. The Princess de Conty then said that 
 she could answer to the King for the virtue of the 
 Queen, though she could not speak so positively 
 of the hardness of her heart, as the tears of the 
 Duke evidently affected her spirits." Enough had, 
 however, been done and said to render very 
 bitter the future life of Anne of Austria, and to 
 fill the mind of Louis XIII. with suspicion. From 
 the period of the advent of Richelieu to power the 
 young Queen was always attended by his shadow, 
 in the person of a household spy and informer, but 
 who the person then was thus employed by his 
 Eminence does not clearly appear, though pro- 
 bably it was Madame du Vernet. 39 
 
 The Duke of Orleans, and all the chief noblemen 
 in attendance at Amiens, accompanied Queen 
 Henrietta to Boulogne, leaving their Majesties 
 with a very limited suite. Tempestuous winds, 
 however, unfortunately prevented the embarka- 
 tion of the Queen of England. The English fleet 
 lay at anchor in Boulogne roads, having landed
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 85 
 
 the Duchess of Buckingham, the Countess of Den- 
 bigh and the Marchioness of Hamilton, who had 
 been despatched by King Charles to pay homage 
 to their royal mistress. The delay lasted for more 
 than a week, during which Anne frequently cor- 
 responded with Madame de Chevreuse and sent 
 her letters by La Porte. " I came and I returned," 
 says the latter ; " I carried letters to Madame de 
 Chevreuse and returned with her replies, which 
 appeared to be of the utmost consequence, be- 
 cause Queen Anne ordered M. le Due Chaulnes to 
 take care that the gates of Amiens were never 
 closed, so that I might not be delayed at any hour, 
 even in the night." 40 Anne at the time when she 
 issued so unusual an order little dreamed of the 
 construction likely to be attached thereto. A prey 
 to the wildest grief at quitting France, Bucking- 
 ham determined to bid one more distracted adieu 
 14 to the fairest vision which had ever gladdened 
 his sight." An express from his master King 
 Charles served as an excuse for his sudden return 
 to Amiens with La Porte accompanied by Lord 
 Holland, under pretext that he was ordered to 
 consult the Queen-mother on some matter, as he 
 said, relative to the reception in London of Car- 
 dinal de Berulle and of Henrietta's unwelcome 
 suite of ecclesiastics. Madame de Chevreuse, 
 meantime despatched private letters to Anne of 
 Austria, warning her of Buckingham's audacious 
 intentions and counselling her not to admit him 
 to her presence. Buckingham's consort also sent 
 a humble missive to Anne, accompanied by an
 
 86 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 elegant fan of feathers adorned with the portraits 
 of Charles I. and of her husband. While the Duke 
 proceeded to audience of Queen Marie, La Porte 
 sought the abode of the young Queen and was 
 admitted to her ante-room. Anne was in bed, 
 having recently been bled ; she took the letters from 
 La Porte with an indifferent air, and exclaimed 
 after perusing them, hearing of the arrival of the 
 Duke, " They are indeed come back, these cava- 
 liers ; I thought that we were delivered finally from 
 the society of 4 ces Messieurs ' ! " Anne, therefore, 
 being forewarned, had leisure to deny admittance 
 to the Duke had she been wisely inclined. Having 
 rapidly despatched his business with the Queen- 
 mother, Buckingham hurried to Anne's abode. 
 
 The Queen was jesting with Madame de la 
 Boissiere on the Duke's return, when he abruptly 
 entered the apartment. Without observing the 
 preliminary salutations prescribed by royal eti- 
 quette to those persons admitted to such audience, 
 the Duke rushed forward, and dropped on his 
 knees by the Queen's pillow. So great apparently 
 was Anne's surprise, that she remained silent for 
 some moments, and then turned an appealing 
 look, half laughing, half weeping, at the grim 
 matron her lady of honour, who stood in the ruelle 
 of the bed. " 4 Monseigneur,' said Madame de 
 Launay, indignantly, ' it is not our custom to act 
 as you are now doing ! ' 'Madame, I am not a 
 Frenchman, neither am I bound by your laws ! ' 
 So saying," relates Madame de Motteville, " he 
 addressed the Queen, uttering aloud tender decla-
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 87 
 
 rations. Her Majesty replied by complaining 
 of his audacity, but without perhaps showing as 
 much anger as she ought ; but still, commanding 
 the said Duke, in severe tones, to rise and retire 
 from her presence." 41 "When I returned to her 
 Majesty to receive her orders for the morrow," 
 nevertheless, relates La Porte, " I found both my 
 English lords, who were staying much later than 
 etiquette admitted. Madame de Launay, the 
 lady in waiting, never left her Majesty's side, 
 neither would she permit any of the attendant 
 women and officers of the chamber to depart, 
 until these gentlemen had taken their leave." 42 
 Buckingham again obtained audience of Anne on 
 the following day, and then took his final de- 
 parture for Boulogne. 
 
 The young Queen of England sailed on the 22nd 
 of June, 43 much to the delight of King Charles and 
 of his goodly company of lords and ladies, who had 
 been waiting the arrival of the beautiful bride 
 since the beginning of the month. " Queen Henri- 
 etta so it is alleged was detained by her 
 mother's illness ; but if all be true that is re- 
 ported, they can have made no great haste, having 
 to march to Boulogne instead of Calais, with a 
 little army of 4000 at least, whereof the Duke de 
 Chevreuse and his followers make up 300, besides 
 60 that belong to his kitchen." 
 
 On the same day the French court set out for 
 Fontainebleau, where Louis XIII. waited. Anne 
 trembled, as she anticipated the effect which the 
 report of the festivities at Amiens might have
 
 88 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 produced on the mind of her stern consort. ;c The 
 King," relates La Porte, the most faithful of all 
 Anne's adherents, " testified the strongest jealousy 
 at all these proceedings, and believed the 
 malignant interpretation put upon them by her 
 Majesty's enemies. The Queen-mother, however, 
 tried to disabuse her son's mind, and told him 
 that it was nothing, for that if the Queen had 
 desired to do evil it was impossible, she having had 
 so many around her. This reason, though incon- 
 testable, did not extinguish the jealousy of the 
 King, as he proceeded to demonstrate." On the 
 20th of July, just five days after the arrival of 
 Anne of Austria at Fontainebleau, Louis sent his 
 confessor, le P. Segueran, to intimate to Madame 
 du Vernet his will that she should resign her 
 office of dame (Valours to the Queen his consort 
 and retire from court. The same dismissal was 
 given to M. de Putange and to the Queen's first 
 physician, Ribera, 44 who both departed from the 
 palace on the same day. The Chevalier du Jars, 
 another officer of the Queen's household, whom 
 her Majesty had just sent to England with letters 
 for Madame de Chevreuse, and one whom she 
 especially favoured, was likewise dismissed. La 
 Porte was also included in the sentence, his zeal 
 for the Queen's service being well known. On the 
 21st of July, therefore, Segu&ran again made his 
 ominous appearance at her Majesty's lever. " The 
 King, Madame, desires that you will still dismiss 
 another servant of your household of the name of 
 La Porte." " The Queen looked at me very
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 89 
 
 sorrowfully, and then desired the reverend 
 father to say to his Majesty, that she begged him 
 to name at once all those persons whom he would 
 not permit her to retain, that the affair might be 
 ended." These proceedings greatly increased the 
 discord between the royal pair. 45 Louis addressed 
 the sharpest of written rebukes to his thoughtless 
 consort, and even threatened her with divorce. 
 4 Teatino ! so early a visit as this to my lady 
 Queen bodes no good. Alas ! the signs are evil ! " 
 had been the exclamation of Dona Estephania, 
 Anne's Spanish tirewoman and nurse, when she 
 had admitted Father Segueran to the presence of 
 her royal mistress. 
 
 Anne remained at Fontainebleau in a condition 
 of great depression and solitude for upwards of 
 two months. She seems to have offered no excuses 
 to her royal husband, while her resentment 
 against Richelieu glowed fiercely. Anne, in her 
 wrath, accused the Cardinal of seeking to sow 
 dissension between the King and herself to pro- 
 cure her divorce, so that Louis might marry 
 Richelieu's niece, la Veuve Combalet a pretty but 
 shrewish woman, who, during her uncle's despotic 
 reign, shared his influence, and became the di- 
 vinity of the politic Parisians. Richelieu made 
 several attempts to conciliate her Majesty and to 
 intercede for her restoration to the good graces of 
 her husband. Anne repulsed every overture, 
 but drew forth her weapons of retaliation, and 
 " offered the astute Cardinal war to the death." 
 It might have been supposed that the chagrin and
 
 90 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 anxiety which Anne had endured would have 
 taught her prudence, instead of which her cor- 
 respondence multiplied with Madame de Chev- 
 reuse, who still remained in England, and with 
 the newly-arrived Spanish ambassador, the Mar- 
 quis de Mirabel. She manifested interest in all 
 the proceedings of the Duke of Buckingham, and 
 once, when some alleged act of the Duke's was 
 accidentally discussed in her presence, she coolly 
 contradicted the report, saying, "je viens de re- 
 cevoir de ses lettres ! ' In England, also, the 
 Duke's enthusiasm for Anne of Austria was not 
 tempered by prudential considerations, or by 
 delicacy for the feelings and honour of a great 
 monarch, the brother of his own royal mistress, 
 Queen Henrietta. He wore Anne's portrait, 
 toasted her at the Whitehall banquets, displayed 
 her likeness in most of the chambers of his princely 
 mansions, disregardful of the feelings of his own 
 " silly Kate " ; all which aberrations were duly 
 chronicled by the French ambassador in London, 
 and transmitted for the perusal of the Cardinal 
 minister, and to become the source of endless 
 gloomy ponderings in the mind of King Louis. 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER TWO 
 
 1 When she was informed of the assassination of Concini, Marie de' 
 Medici exclaimed, " J'ai regne sept ans ; je n'attends plus qu'une 
 couronne au Ciel ! " Some one present uttered an ejaculation of pity 
 for the fate of the marquis and his wife. Marie wrathfully replied, 
 " Qu'on ne me parle plus de ces gens-la ; je les ai avertis du malheur 
 ou ils se sont precipites ! Que ne suivoient-ils mes avis ? " 
 
 2 Recit veritable de tout ce qui s'est passe au Louvre, &c., Archives 
 Curieuses, t. 2, 2eme serie. Hist, de la Mere et du Fils, Richelieu. 
 Le Vassor, Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII. Vie de Marie de' Medici, 
 Dreux du Radier.
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 91 
 
 3 Histoire Tragique du Marquis d'Ancre et de sa Femme, Archives 
 Curieuses, t. 2, 2eme serie. Bibl. Imp. MS. Dupuy, voL 661, fol. 127. 
 
 4 Dreux du Radier, Vie de la Reine Anne d'Autriche. Cayet, Chron. 
 Septenaire. Tallemant des Reaux. Concini's son eventually became 
 possessed of the foreign investments made by his parents, and inherited 
 a patrimony of 2000 pounds of annual revenue. He died without 
 posterity, at Florence. 
 
 6 " La douceur complaisante de son visage luy est comme une lettre 
 generale de creance pour toute sorte d'affaires ; et vers toutes sortes 
 de personnes." 
 
 6 " La femme de Luynes est une escervelee, qui n'a que dix-neuf ans, 
 a laquelle son mari bailie une governante pour la conduire ; et cepen- 
 dant M. de Luynes veut qui la maison de la reine passe sous sa dis- 
 position," &c. Le Contadin Proven9al, Pamphlet centre M. le Due 
 de Luynes, Connetable de France. 
 
 7 MS. Simancas, A. 75. Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche ; the words of 
 the despatch are " y que por no veria, dixava no dormir con la Reyna." 
 
 8 " Le Roy etait bon confiturier, bon jardinier ; il fit murir des pois verts, 
 qu'il envoya vendre au marche. On dit que Montauron les acheta bien 
 cher, car c'etaient les premiers venus." Tallemant, Vie de Louis XIII. 
 
 9 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie. 
 
 10 Hist, de la Mere et du Fils, t. 2. Dreux du Radier, t. 5. 
 
 11 " Marier ma fille a un prince etranger sans m'avoir appelee, afin 
 que ma honte soit manifesto a tous les roys et princes de la Chrestiente, 
 et de toute la France," wrote Marie, indignantly, in the letter addressed 
 to her son, and entitled " Plaintes de la Reyne-Mere au Roy son Fils." 
 
 12 Anne wrote from Tours a pleasant little note to Madame de Montglat, 
 who still resided at St. Germain, as preceptress to the sisters of the King. 
 Her Majesty desired her love to the Princesses " mais non pas a ma 
 scaur de Verneuil, qui estuneparesseuse." MS. Bibl. Imp. F. fr. 3818. 
 
 13 "La Duchesse de Luynes etait tres bien avec son mari." 
 Madame de Motteville, Mem., vol. i. 
 
 14 One day Louis, riding by the Hotel de Luynes, saw the English 
 ambassador alight from his coach and enter the mansion. " Ah ! 
 il va a 1'audience du Roi Luynes," bitterly exclaimed the Bong. 
 
 15 Anne Marie de Luynes, who died a nun, at Maubuisson, in great 
 odour of piety. The son of the Constable, Louis Charles Albert, Due 
 de Luynes, was born December 25, 1620, and died October 1690. 
 
 16 Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency. 
 
 17 Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre. Annee 1622. 
 
 18 Laurence de Clermont, the third wife of the Constable Henri Due 
 de Montmorency. See Freer's Last Decade of a Glorious Reign, for 
 the history of the Duchess, and of her persecutions, vol. 2, p. 17. 
 
 19 Un gentil mot du Sieur de Pluvinel etait Que le Roy a pied est 
 Roy de ses sujets ; mais qu'a cheval il est Roy des Rois voulank 
 montrer combien est excellente en cette art sa majeste. Le Portrait
 
 92 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iei7- 
 
 du Roy Louis XIII., par le Sieur de Bellemavre au Sieur de M6rencourt 
 a Venise. Paris, 1618. 
 
 20 Marie de Rohan, widow of the deceased Constable de Luynes. She 
 married the Duke de Chevreuse in 1622. " C'e"tait le second des MM. de 
 Guise, et le mieux fait de tous les quatre : le Cardinal etait plus beau, 
 mais M. de Chevreuse etait 1'homme de la meilleure mine qu'on pouvait 
 voir ; il avait de 1'esprit passablement." Tallemant, t. 2, p. 38. 
 
 21 " Le Due de Montmorency 6tait tres assidu aupres d'Anne 
 d'Autriche ; il fit merne le passione. Louis en parut alarme ; et 
 les amis du Due lui conseillerent de s'absenter de la cour, Marie de' 
 Medici se chargeant de convaincre son fils que ce bruit injurieux a 
 la jeune reine n'etait qu'une imposture des ennemis de Montmorency." 
 Anquetil, Tallemant. Madame de Motteville allows that the Duke 
 permitted himself great liberty towards the Queen, under the cloak 
 of what was termed " la galanterie espagnole." 
 
 22 Franois Leclerc de Tremblay, born in Paris, Nov. 4, 1577, son 
 of Jean Leclerc de Tremblay, French Ambassador at Venice, chancellor 
 of the Duke d'Alenson, brother of Henry III., and of Marie de la 
 Fayette, daughter of Claude de la Fayette, Sieur de St. Romain. He 
 took the habit of St. Francis, February 2, 1599, and entered the 
 monastery of the Great Franciscans, Rue St. Honored 
 
 23 Marie Madeleine de Vignerot, daughter of Rene de Vignerot, 
 Seigneur de Pont de Courlay, and of Fran9oise du Plessis -Richelieu, 
 sister of the Cardinal. Marie de' Medici presented the bride with a 
 dowry of 200,000 livres, and a parure of diamonds worth 12,000 crowns. 
 
 24 " Le Cardinal haissait Monsieur ; et craignant, vu le peu de sante 
 que le Roi avait, qu'il ne parvint a la couronne, il fit dessein de gagner 
 la Reine. Pour parvenir a son but, il la mit sans qu'elle sut d'ou cela 
 venait fort mal avec le Roi et avec la Reine-mere, jusque-la qu'elle 
 etait fort maltraitee de 1'un et de 1'autre. Apres il lui fit dire, par 
 Madame de Fargis, dame d'atours, que si elle vouloit, il le tireroit 
 bientdt de la misere dans laquelle elle vivoit." Tallemant, t. 2, p. 282. 
 
 25 Mem. de Brienne, 1. 1, p. 274. " On rioit a gorge d6ploy6e ; et qui 
 pouvait s'en empecher, puisque apres cinquante ans j'en ris encore moi- 
 meme ? " asks the Count de Brienne, when he ends his story. 
 
 26 The Infanta Marguerite espoused the Emperor Ferdinand III. 
 
 27 Thomson's Life of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 28 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. 2. Mercure de France, ann. 
 1625. "Apres suivaitle reine de France tressuperbement vetued'unerobe 
 de toile d'argent en broderie ; menee et conduite par ses deux 6cuyers." 
 
 29 Thomson's Life of the Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 30 Bassompierre. Mem. d'un Favory du Due d'Orleans : ecrit par 
 M. de Bois d'Annernets 1'heureux Favory. Thomson's Life of the 
 Duke of Buckingham, Cabala MS., 312. 
 
 31 The Duke was hospitably entertained by the Duke de Chevreuse 
 at his hdtel, Rue St. Thomas du Louvre.
 
 1625] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 93 
 
 32 M6m. de Madame de Motteville, t. 1. Madame de Motteville was not 
 an eye-witness of the facts she records, as she had not then permanently 
 entered into the service of the Queen. She records the reminiscences and 
 confessions of Anne of Austria. It was in the year 1640 that Madame 
 de Motteville became resident bed-chamber woman to the Queen. 
 
 33 The name given to the Duchess of Buckingham in their corre- 
 spondence by King Charles and her husband. 
 
 34 Honore d'Albert, Seigneur de Cadenet, created Duke de Chaulnes 
 on his marriage with Charlotte d'Ailly, Countess de Chaulnes and 
 de Pequiny. The King gave him the government of Picardy. 
 
 35 Catherine Henriette de Bourbon, daughter of Henri Quatre and 
 Gabrielle d'Estrees. The Duchess died June 20, 1663. 
 
 36 Laporte, who was confidentially trusted by the queen, and who 
 was then an inmate of her abode in Amiens, gives the following relation 
 of the adventure : " Apres s'etre bien promenee la reine se reposa 
 quelque temps, et toutes les dames aussi ; puis elle se levait et dans le 
 tournement d'une allee ou les dames ne la suivirent pas, sitdt le due de 
 Buckingham se voyant seul avec elle a la faveur de 1'obscurite qui 
 commengait a chasser la lumiere, s'emancipa fort insolemment jusqu'a 
 vouloir caresser la Reine, qui en meme temps fit un cri auquel tout le 
 monde accourut." Mem. Particuliers de La Porte : Geneve, 1756. 
 
 37 Ibid., Mem. de La Porte. 
 
 38 Mem. de Motteville, tome 1. The Duke de la Rochefoucauld also 
 relates the incident, which created unspeakable consternation and 
 comment. He says, " Que la reine fut contrainte d'appeler ses femmes." 
 
 39 Nicolette d'Albert, youngest sister of the Constable de Luynes ; she 
 espoused M. Vernet, a person of low origin, dancing-master to the pages 
 of the Duke de Montmorency. Mademoiselle d'Albert, previous to her 
 marriage, had greatly compromised her reputation. She was hand- 
 some and sprightly, and through her brother's influence was appointed 
 dame d'atours to the Queen, while her husband was made Governor 
 of Calais. She subsequently married Henri de la Marck Due de 
 Bouillon, through the favour of Richelieu. 
 
 40 Mem. Particuliers de M. de La Porte. 
 
 41 Mem. de Motteville, t. 1. 
 
 42 La Porte, Mem. Particuliers. These memoirs are included in the 
 Collection Petitot. 
 
 43 Mem. d'un Favory de Monseigneur le Due de Orleans. " C'etoit 
 une chose admirable de voir se superbe appareil (de vaisseaux Anglais) ; 
 on ne se la peut representer qu'on ne s'imagine de voir une grande 
 ville flottante ayant plusieurs clochers." 
 
 44 The reason of the disgrace of Anne's Spanish physician has never 
 been ascertained. Ribera was not permitted to remain in France. 
 
 45 Anne sharply observed one day to her royal consort, " Qu'elle n'avait 
 pu empecher que le Due de Boukingham n'eut de 1'estime, et memo 
 de 1'amour d'elle ! " an observation which greatly incensed the King.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 1626 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE CONSPIRACY OF THE 
 PRINCE DE CHALAIS 
 
 THE marriage of Madame Henriette over, the 
 excitement of the court subsided, and the daily 
 incidents of the palace were varied only by the 
 dissensions and reconciliations of Marie de' Medici 
 and her minister. These violent spirits differed, 
 clamoured, threatened each other with annihila- 
 tion, wept and embraced. The successful issue of 
 Richelieu's policy in the affair of the strongholds 
 of the Valteline, which France refused to deliver 
 up to the Holy See pending the settlement of the 
 question relative to the disputed possession of 
 these places, raised the reputation of his Eminence 
 to high repute. The important concessions, 
 moreover, which Richelieu wrested from some of 
 the chief Huguenots of the realm, and his firm 
 attitude in upholding the majesty and dignity of 
 the crown, delighted the King, whose aspirations 
 were despotic though he lacked firmness to en- 
 force his will. In the deportment of the Cardinal 
 there was a novel ingredient which astonished and 
 awed the swarm of unruly courtiers, who had ren- 
 dered the regency of the Queen-mother one vast 
 cabal. Richelieu jested with the merry, wept with 
 the melancholy, granted favours to the unfortun- 
 
 94
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 95 
 
 ate, looked downcast under verbal obloquy, and 
 even seemed anxious to turn away wrath by the 
 magic of a soft answer ; great, therefore, had been 
 the individual surprises of certain railers, malcon- 
 tents and caballers, to find themselves suddenly 
 transported to the Bastille by virtue of a privy- 
 council warrant ; or seized in the night, and con- 
 veyed under escort to some distant chateau, all 
 under the hand and seal of the gracious church- 
 man who dominated at the Louvre. Le Pere 
 Joseph, 1 or /' Eminence Grise, as was the sobriquet 
 of the able tool of Richelieu so clever, indeed, 
 that doubt arises whether the Cardinal was not the 
 puppet, and le Pere Joseph the motive power in 
 the relation between these astute men also was 
 fast rising into a personage of importance, being 
 treated with deference by the ministers whom it 
 had pleased Richelieu to retain at their posts. 
 
 Over the life of Anne of Austria, however, the 
 darkest blight had fallen. Her lord, King Louis, 
 suffered her indeed to live under the sheltering 
 roof of his royal Louvre, but he permitted her 
 there to exist only as a political and social nullity 
 to whom the most ordinary amusements of her 
 rank and station were denied : a Queen who had 
 to ask permission to quit the precincts of the 
 palace, who could confer no favour, and whose 
 splendour, even on public occasions, was surpassed 
 by that of the Queen-mother, to whom she had to 
 yield precedence. The proud spirit of the Queen 
 rebelled against these restrictions ; over the heart 
 of her husband her beauty exercised no spell, to
 
 96 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 him her vivacity was repellant, while the very 
 sound of her rich and sonorous language reminded 
 Louis of a foe. No rival, nevertheless, dominated 
 over the heart of the boy-king ; the wanton 
 beauties of the late reign never attracted a glance 
 from the sad eyes of Louis XIII., indeed, flip- 
 pancy of manner was punished by exclusion from 
 the Louvre a rigour which was for some time un- 
 sparingly exercised after the scandals of Henri- 
 etta's marriage festivities. Anne's most happy 
 time was spent in seclusion at St. Germain, where 
 she often craved permission to sojourn followed 
 by a few ladies, in order to superintend the forma- 
 tion of the gardens planned by Henri Quatre. The 
 Queen passionately loved flowers, 2 and a simi- 
 larity of taste often brought into her society her 
 young and brilliant brother-in-law, Monsieur. Im- 
 petuous in all things, Anne gave herself up to the 
 pleasure of his society, and discarded in favour 
 of Monsieur most of the etiquettes which then 
 hedged in a queen of France, even from familiarity 
 with her husband's brother. She was heard to 
 address Monsieur in public as monfrere, she per- 
 mitted him to kiss her hands, to enter her pre- 
 sence unannounced, she sent him letters, which 
 she asserted related only to botany, a science in 
 which the young Duke was an adept. In short, 
 with girlish coquetry Anne was preparing for her- 
 self a more cruel ordeal than any she had yet 
 undergone. 
 
 Gaston, Duke of Orleans, had now attained his 
 eighteenth year. Heir-presumptive to a throne
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 97 
 
 the occupier of which was childless, and pro- 
 nounced by the most learned physicians of the 
 realm to be in a condition of health, from epileptic 
 fits and other maladies, from which fatal results 
 might ensue at any period Monsieur was a per- 
 sonage to be revered and conciliated. 
 
 Fondly beloved from his youth upwards by his 
 mother, and indulged by her without reason, the 
 young Duke, until after the exile of Queen Marie, 
 set discipline at defiance. The late King had 
 nominated M. de Breves as the governor of his son 
 Gaston a statesman of enlightenment, who had 
 added to the glory of the reign of Henri Quatre by 
 his able diplomacy at foreign courts. His attach- 
 ment to Marie de' Medici rendering him suspected, 
 de Breves was dismissed by the Constable de 
 Luynes, who gave the office to his own early 
 patron, the Count de Lude. M. de Lude was too 
 wealthy and influential a nobleman to give that 
 abject obedience to the royal commands expected 
 from him, and therefore soon resigned his post to 
 the Marshal d'Ornano, who forthwith entered on 
 his functions, and prospered. Monsieur, on the 
 completion of his education, became the centre of 
 a knot of idle, insolent and mischievous young 
 cavaliers, who, living on their wits, and by the 
 sufferance of certain potent dames of the court, 
 sought to kindle the ambition of their royal 
 master, and to urge him into endless schemes 
 opposed to the government of the King, all tend- 
 ing to their own aggrandisement. The leaders 
 amongst these gentlemen were MM. de Puylau-
 
 98 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 rens, de Chalais, de la Valette, de Bois d'Anne- 
 mets, the Duke de Vendome and the Grand Prior 
 his brother, the young Count de Lude, M. de 
 Marcheville, the Count de Louvigny, and MM. de 
 Coigneux and de la Riviere and others. 3 These 
 unruly spirits professed reverential devotion for 
 the Queens, Anne and Marie ; they sympathised 
 with the former, and to mark such feeling at- 
 tended assiduously the levers of the Spanish ambas- 
 sador. The Cardinal de Richelieu they abhorred 
 and ridiculed, while they crooned over his 
 Majesty, and predicted his early death and the 
 consequent elevation of their own royal master. 
 Instead of checking this license of word and deed, 
 d'Ornano encouraged such, being convinced like- 
 wise that Gaston would ultimately become King 
 of France. It might seem difficult for these mis- 
 chief-makers to find grievances for Monsieur, who 
 was young, flattered, indulged and surfeited with 
 luxury and wealth ; nevertheless, two wrongs by 
 which he was afflicted were discovered, discussed 
 and unfolded. The first grievance was the alliance 
 contracted for the Duke with Marie de Montpen- 
 sier : the which barred him from the free choice 
 of a consort, deprived him of the influence accru- 
 ing from a foreign alliance, and rendered him for 
 ever subject in purse and dignity to his brother the 
 King. The betrothal of the Duke to Mademoiselle 
 de Montpensier was the subject of much factious 
 discussion. The King, the Queen-mother, and 
 Richelieu promoted it as a matter of sound policy 
 and of honourable fulfilment of a pledge given by
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 99 
 
 the late king. The Prince and Princess de Conde 
 naturally gave no encouragement to a marriage 
 which would probably remove Conde from his 
 proud position of the third personage in the realm. 
 A portion of the house of Guise-Lorraine jealously 
 deprecated the elevation of its head, by the 
 marriage of the step-daughter of M. de Guise with 
 the heir-presumptive. Gaston himself spoke spite- 
 fully of his pale fiancee, and imprudently de- 
 clared that, like M. de Buckingham, he would vow 
 allegiance only to his sister-in-law, Queen Anne. 
 The young Count de Soissons opposed the alliance 
 on the ground that Mademoiselle de Montpensier 
 had been promised to himself by Marie de' Medici 
 during her regency, in lieu of her own daughter 
 Madame Henriette should the alliance of the 
 latter with the heir of the English crown be ac- 
 complished. The sentiments of the young princess 
 were in favour of alliance with Monsieur, and 
 probably no person was more astonished than 
 Marie de Montpensier herself to hear a union dis- 
 cussed which from childhood she had deemed to 
 be her destiny. Anne very imprudently suffered 
 her wishes and opinions on the alliance to tran- 
 spire, which declaration was met on the part of 
 the King by an absolute command to Monsieur to 
 fulfil his engagement. The Queen-mother at the 
 same time reiterated this order, though it is be- 
 lieved that she now secretly encouraged the Duke 
 in his aversion for his betrothed. The faltering 
 health of King Louis rendered Monsieur a grand 
 card in the hands of skilful diplomatists. Spain
 
 100 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 wished to maintain the French alliance. Anne of 
 Austria, childless, and probably soon likely to be- 
 come a widow, pleased the young prince, and was 
 said to be herself influenced by his fascinations. 
 The question, therefore, arose in the subtle brain 
 of the Queen-mother whether sound policy, and a 
 due regard to her own interest, did not direct that 
 Gaston d'Orleans, on succeeding to his brother's 
 crown, should also take to wife the widow of his 
 predecessor ? It is asserted, and on very strong 
 evidence, that the young Queen likewise pondered 
 deeply on this question, and eventually signified 
 to Mirabel, and to others, her willingness, in case 
 of widowhood, to follow the example of Queen 
 Anne de Bretagne, who twice wore the matri- 
 monial crown of France. 4 There can be no doubt 
 that at this period the alliance between Monsieur 
 and the Queens to overthrow the power of Riche- 
 lieu was projected. Marie de' Medici fiercely re- 
 sented the independence of Richelieu, and hated 
 his system of centralisation and repression ; and 
 to procure his disgrace, or removal from the 
 ministry, was the first necessary step towards 
 his overthrow. Whether Anne contemplated the 
 dilemma into which her resentment was plunging 
 her is doubtful ; the Queen throughout her 
 chequered career was ever ready to plot and to 
 dissemble, but the consequences of her intrigues 
 never seem to have aroused her solicitude. 
 
 Madame de Chevreuse, meantime, that arch and 
 daring spirit, so full of resource and constancy, had 
 not yet returned to France ; but, alarmed at the
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 101 
 
 wrath of her sovereign, the Duchess had wisely 
 remained at Brussels, on a visit to the Arch- 
 duchess Infanta Isabel. By some means not on 
 record, though probably by a letter from the 
 Queen, the Duchess was put au courant with the 
 proposed intrigue, and entered into it with 
 ardour and with her accustomed audacity. 
 Through Madame de Chevreuse, therefore, Anne 
 caused a notification to be made to the Marshal 
 d'Ornano, the ex-governor, but bosom friend of 
 Monsieur, " that it would gratify her much if he 
 could find means to prevent the marriage of M. 
 d'Orleans with Marie de Bourbon-Montpensier." 6 
 ' I acted thus, because I believed that this mar- 
 riage, favoured by the Queen-mother, was against 
 my interests ; because, if the future Madame bore 
 children and I had none, she would be more 
 highly considered than myself," 6 is Anne's own 
 declaration. Amongst the most devoted admirers 
 of Madame de Chevreuse was Henry de Talley- 
 rand, Prince de Chalais, 7 master of the wardrobe 
 to the King and first gentleman to Monsieur, in 
 whose train he always appeared. Chalais, there- 
 fore, betrayed by the dazzling charms of this 
 syren, and too happy to supplant Lord Holland 
 in her favour, prepared to obey her behests. 
 
 D'Ornano, meanwhile, having declared himself 
 a devoted adherent of Queen Anne, did all he 
 could to disgust the Duke of Orleans with his 
 bride-elect. ' ' If you, Monseigneur, espouse a sub- 
 ject of the King your brother, you will yourself 
 fall into greater subjection to his authority. Your
 
 102 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 fortune and lands will ever remain in his Majesty's 
 power ; and if at any future period you stand in 
 need of foreign support or help, to not one poten- 
 tate of Europe can you appeal ! " 8 The foreign 
 alliance to which, it is supposed, d'Ornano hinted, 
 was the union of Monsieur with the Infanta Mar- 
 guerite, sister of Anne, once the betrothed of King 
 Charles I. of England and eventually the consort 
 of the Emperor Ferdinand III. This alliance- 
 failing one with Anne of Austria in the event of 
 the death of the King was highly approved by 
 Monsieur ; being, as he said, altogether more 
 august and profitable, if less wealthy, than a 
 marriage with Mademoiselle de Montpensier. 
 
 This grievance of his compulsory marriage 
 being well engrafted on the willing mind of Gaston 
 d'Orleans, the Marshal d'Ornano next commented 
 on his shameful exclusion from the privy council ; 
 a disgrace inflicted by the parvenu minister, whose 
 dismissal was necessary to vindicate the honour of 
 Monsieur. The Duke declared that this slight was 
 keenly felt by himself, and that he was deter- 
 mined to have redress or to withdraw from court. 
 At the beginning of Easter week, 1626, the King 
 left Paris for Fontainebleau, accompanied by Mon- 
 sieur and by the Queen-mother. Anne likewise 
 received a command to follow ; and as her 
 Majesty loved very much " a respirer Vair des 
 bois," she journeyed thither with pleasure. The 
 day following the arrival of the court at Fontaine- 
 bleau, Monsieur opened his battery by informing 
 King Louis " that it was a reproach and shame to
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 103 
 
 him, that being his Majesty's brother, he had no 
 share or influence in affairs of state." A sharp 
 discussion ensued, during which Monsieur took 
 the opportunity peremptorily to decline the hand 
 of Marie de Montpensier, adding, " that the 
 neglect which he experienced convinced him of the 
 wisdom of the opinion expressed by his friends 
 that a foreign alliance was requisite for his honour 
 and prosperity." 9 Louis replied soothingly, " that 
 he would consider the request and make answer 
 in a few days." Richelieu, meantime, had his at- 
 tention riveted on the malcontents ; and soon he 
 discovered the simmerings of their resentment, 
 and fathomed the sullen passiveness of Anne of 
 Austria. From her Majesty the eyes of his Emi- 
 nence took survey of the position of the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse in Brussels, " cettefemme quifaisoit plus 
 de mal que personne ; " and with his habitual 
 discernment Richelieu divined that some plot, 
 hostile to the existing order of affairs in France, was 
 in agitation. Monsieur meantime stormed, and 
 despatched d'Ornano, the bearer of his complaints, 
 to the villa of the Cardinal at Fleury, where the 
 prudent prelate had deemed himself safer than to 
 abide at Fontainebleau. The Marshal obtained 
 audience of the minister, who received Monsieur's 
 message without surprise, and declared himself 
 " the humble servant of M. d'Orleans." During a 
 promenade made by d'Ornano and the minister in 
 the gardens of the latter, the Marshal was seized 
 with cramp in the leg and a trembling of the 
 limbs ; 10 ailments which afterwards were declared
 
 104 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 to be sympathetic with the ire which surged in the 
 heart of his Eminence. The following day as 
 five days had elapsed since the Duke petitioned 
 the King Monsieur sought audience of his 
 mother, and announced his resolve to leave Fon- 
 tainebleau, adding menaces concerning his in- 
 tended destination. Marie, alarmed, soothed her 
 son, and promised that, as on the morrow a privy 
 council was to sit, his wishes should be gratified. 
 From this point it is difficult to follow the Queen- 
 mother in her dubious course ; whether or no 
 Richelieu temporarily resumed his old power over 
 her mind by his concessions relative to Monsieur, 
 it is certain that the acts of Marie de' Medici again 
 corresponded, for some interval, with the policy of 
 the minister. A secret council was holden the same 
 evening in the apartments of the Queen-mother, 
 at which the King, the Cardinal and the Chan- 
 cellor d'Aligre were present. It was resolved to 
 gratify Monsieur, but to arrest so pernicious a 
 counsellor as the Marshal d'Ornano. The intro- 
 duction of the Duke as a privy councillor was 
 effected on the morrow, after an angry tirade from 
 the Marshal, who claimed, but was refused, the 
 privilege of entering the council chamber with his 
 late pupil, and standing behind his chair, as the 
 secretaries of state attended his Majesty. The 
 same night d'Ornano was arrested in the Chambre 
 Ovale, and conveyed to the chamber which had 
 been used as a temporary prison for the unfor- 
 tunate Marshal de Biron, also made a prisoner at 
 Fontainebleau. The tumult in the palace was
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 105 
 
 great ; and Puylaurens, one of the mignons of 
 Monsieur, rushed to the chamber of the Duke, 
 crying out in consternation that M. d'Ornano 
 was arrested ! The Duke sprang from his bed in 
 frantic passion, and was hastily arraying himself, 
 when an equerry entered and summoned him to 
 the presence of the King. 
 
 Gaston found the King surrounded by the chief 
 noblemen present at Fontainebleau, and looking 
 cool and unmoved as he might have been if dis- 
 cussing the odds of a game of tennis. In the apart- 
 ment was the Queen-mother, en robe de chambre ; 
 also the Cardinal. Louis opened the conference 
 by calmly saying, " that to his very great regret 
 he had been compelled to order the arrest of 
 the Marshal d'Ornano, who had treacherously at- 
 tempted to create brawls between his brother and 
 himself." The eyes of Monsieur sparkled with 
 fury. "Your Majesty has been grossly deceived; 
 nobody can judge of the innocence of M. d'Ornano 
 better than myself ! Never has he given me advice 
 counter to your Majesty's service. The authors of 
 this evil deed are abominable and wicked, and 
 never will I pardon them until I have reduced 
 them to dust under my feet." The Cardinal here 
 interposed, and gravely demanded whether Mon- 
 seigneur referred in such language to his Majesty's 
 ministers ? ic I speak of and refer to the accusers 
 of M. d'Ornano. See, Messieurs, whether you will 
 dare to be amongst their number ! " replied Mon- 
 sieur. The King here assured Monsieur of his 
 affection, saying, " that he regarded him as a son
 
 106 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 and an only brother, and would soon make clear to 
 him Us tromperies de M. le Marechal." " The very 
 thing I beseech your Majesty to do," responded 
 Gaston undauntedly, " as I pray you to give me 
 back my friend promptly, when you are assured 
 of his innocence ! " Monsieur then abruptly left 
 the room. 11 A silence of some moments ensued. 
 Richelieu then proposed the further arrest of MM. 
 de Masargues and Dangeant, the brother-in-law 
 and the secretary of the prisoner ; also that 
 Madame la Marechale d'Ornaiio should be arres- 
 ted and conducted outside the gates of Paris, and 
 there discharged from custody. 12 His Majesty gave 
 assent to these measures, and then dismissed the 
 high personages present, complaining of fatigue. 
 The next day d'Ornano was conveyed to the 
 fortress of Vincennes under a strong guard, and 
 confined in its most unwholesome chamber, which 
 admitted a pestilential malaria from the moat be- 
 neath. 13 The friends of the Marshal asserted that 
 he was a victim to the King's indecision respecting 
 Monsieur, for that when the Duke was emanci- 
 pated from the control of his tutors his Majesty 
 had commanded d'Ornano to repress the ardour 
 of Gas ton's suit to Mademoiselle de Montpensier. 
 The rage of Monsieur was not assuaged when he 
 learned the departure of the Marshal for Vin- 
 cennes ; and the young cavaliers of his suite 
 assiduously inflamed his wrath, especially Chalais 
 and M. de Louvigny. The Duke one day suddenly 
 encountered the Chancellor d'Aligre, and haugh- 
 tily asked him whether he was one of those who
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 107 
 
 had counselled the iniquitous arrest of M. d'Or- 
 nano ? Surprised by the excitement of the Duke's 
 manner, the Chancellor stammered " that he was 
 as much astonished as his royal highness, and had 
 nothing to do with the affair " ; an answer which 
 was punished by immediate dismissal from office. 14 
 The Duke put the same abrupt question to Riche- 
 lieu, who boldly responded " that he was not 
 intending to make the same answer as M. le Chan- 
 celier, who, as well as himself, had advised the 
 King to effect that arrest, after hearing his 
 Majesty's statements." 
 
 As moderation and apparent disinterestedness 
 were assumed by Richelieu at the commencement 
 of his power, he immediately petitioned the King 
 to suffer him to withdraw to his house at Fleury, 
 as he found that he had irrevocably offended Mon- 
 sieur. Without waiting for the royal reply, which 
 Louis never gave but with hesitation, his Eminence 
 ordered his coach and quitted Fontainebleau. 15 
 
 This " flight," as it was termed by Monsieur and 
 by the turbulent spirits around him, raised the 
 confidence of the conspirators in their insane pro- 
 jects, and confirmed them in a criminal design 
 they harboured, to rid themselves of the ob- 
 noxious minister by taking his life. The Count de 
 Soissons promised his co-operation, after exacting 
 a solemn declaration from Monsieur that he re- 
 linquished all pretensions to the hand of Marie de 
 Montpensier. The Duke de Vendome and the 
 Grand Prior, his brother, flocked to the standard 
 of Monsieur on this supposed triumph of his
 
 108 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 policy ; while frequent communications passed 
 between Chalais and Madame de Chevreuse. 
 These letters were submitted to Monsieur, who 
 showed them to Queen Anne. Madame de Chev- 
 reuse, meantime, maintained the closest relations 
 with the Marquis de Lainez, an attache of the 
 Spanish legation at Brussels. The assassination of 
 Richelieu was daringly discussed by these plotters ; 
 a deed to be followed by the emancipation of M. 
 d'Orleans, the liberation of the Queen from her 
 matrimonial bondage, and possibly by the com- 
 pulsory abdication of Louis XIII. in favour of his 
 brother. As a step to the accomplishment of this 
 great project, Chalais advised that M. le Grand - 
 Prieur, 16 " qui etait ires redoutable et habile, ay ant 
 sur tons part en V esprit de Monsieur" should with- 
 out delay repair to Havre, and win over his uncle 
 the Due de Villars, governor of that important 
 port, to the cause of Gaston. Up to this point all 
 had prospered in safety and secrecy ; the retire- 
 ment of Richelieu from court, however, moved the 
 impatient spirit of the hostile clique, and it was 
 determined to forestall the slow progress of any 
 negotiation with Spain by striking an immediate 
 blow at the life of the Cardinal. Nine of Monsieur's 
 most intimate friends held council three days after 
 the arrest of d'Ornano, and decided the matter 
 under the presidency of the Duke ; these persons 
 were Chalais, Soissons, the Marquis de la Valette, 17 
 Puylaurens, Bois d'Annemets, Louvigny, Mar- 
 sillac, Vendome, and St. Gery. The scheme of the 
 assassins was simple in its atrocity : it was
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 109 
 
 planned to send six inferior officers of the house- 
 hold of Monsieur to Fleury, the country house of 
 Richelieu, where the latter was residing alone and 
 comparatively unattended, at three o'clock in the 
 morning of the day but one following. These 
 personages were to rouse the household of his 
 Eminence by clamorous shouts ; when admit- 
 tance was obtained, which was to be demanded in 
 the name of M. d'Orleans, who, they were to state, 
 was on his road to breakfast at Fleury, they were 
 to pick a quarrel with the servants, draw their 
 swords, and to assassinate the Cardinal in the 
 melee. 18 The Duke was then to put himself at the 
 head of the malcontents, and act as circumstances 
 might dictate. His seditious challenge was to be 
 for the Church, the liberty of the princes of the 
 blood, the annihilation of the Huguenots, the 
 alliance with Spain, and the rights of the Queen. 
 When all was prepared, and nothing but the actual 
 blow of the assassin seemed needed to effect the 
 longed-for emancipation, Chalais failed his accom- 
 plices. He possessed a friend, one M. de Valencey, 
 who had appeared to relish the designs of the con- 
 federates when a word of disaffection had been 
 accidentally dropped in his presence, but who 
 had never actually declared himself. To this per- 
 sonage Chalais had the weakness to confide the plot 
 on the eve of its execution. " How, Monsieur," 
 exclaimed Valencey in generous indignation, 
 " so audacious and abominable a plot is projected 
 by the King's servants, to slay another and a 
 cherished servant of his Majesty, and you do not
 
 110 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 hasten to denounce the vile conspiracy ! You will 
 at once do so, Monsieur, or take the conse- 
 quences of my own immediate revelation of the 
 treachery ! " In vain Chalais entreated for 
 silence ; but Valencey insisted that he should at 
 once accompany him to Fleury, and warn M. le 
 Cardinal : " Do it, Monsieur, in your own words : 
 give your own explanation make the best of it ; 
 but go I must to his Eminence alone, or in your 
 company." Chalais in despair obeyed, and the 
 two repaired to Fleury and obtained audience of 
 the Cardinal. Richelieu listened to the story with 
 an aspect of pitying compassion, and feigned to 
 believe the repeated assertions of Chalais that he 
 had always hated the foul plot and had resolved 
 to denounce it. His apparent belief, and gentle 
 deprecation, with the tears he plentifully shed on 
 this occasion, quite reassured the indiscreet young 
 cavalier, who hastened from Fleury back to Fon- 
 tainebleau, hoping to prevent the departure of 
 Monsieur's band of bravoes. Valencey meantime, 
 after receiving the cordial thanks of the Cardinal, 
 was directed by him to seek instant audience of 
 the King and Queen-mother, and to unfold the 
 plot. It was between eleven and midnight when 
 Valencey reached Fontainebleau ; but access was 
 readily obtained to their Majesties by the pass 
 furnished by Richelieu. Marie's consternation was 
 intense ; while Louis summoned du Hallier and 
 M. de Vitry, and commanded them to repair to 
 Fleury, taking thirty archers and thirty horse 
 soldiers to guard the Cardinal, whose meekness in
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 111 
 
 remaining at his house after being warned of his 
 peril deeply affected their Majesties. 19 This de- 
 tachment met Richelieu at dawn on his way to 
 Fontainebleau. The Duke's assassins had arrived 
 during the night at Fleury, knocked up the house- 
 hold as had been arranged, with every aggravation 
 of insolence and violence. The doors of the man- 
 sion, however, to their surprise flew open on their 
 mandate. The retainers of Richelieu bowed ob- 
 sequiously before the avant coureurs of so august a 
 person as Monseigneur ; while the Cardinal in 
 person expressed his sense of the honour done him, 
 " so much so, that he placed the chateau at the 
 command of the leader of the company, and in- 
 tended himself to set out and escort his royal 
 highness to Fleury." While Monsieur's envoys 
 were meditating on the purport of these words, the 
 clever Cardinal gave them the slip, and stepping 
 into his coach, which he had caused to be prepared, 
 he set out for Fontainebleau. Gaston was just 
 rising when Richelieu arrived ; the Cardinal pro- 
 ceeded straight to the apartment of the young 
 prince, and mildly reproached him for not giving 
 him warning of the honour he intended to confer 
 by his visit, ending by placing Fleury at his com- 
 mand. Taking Monsieur's shirt from the trembling 
 hands of M. de Chalais, the Cardinal courteously 
 handed it to the astonished young prince and 
 took his leave. 20 The incident was then suffered to 
 drop. Queen Anne and Monsieur were filled with 
 amazement at the failure of their enterprise, not 
 knowing from what quarter the Cardinal had
 
 112 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 obtained his information. Chalais kept his own 
 counsel, until the truth was forced from him a few 
 weeks later by the address of Madame de Chev- 
 reuse. The intrigue, however, received only a 
 check from the unexpected denouement at Fleury. 
 The design of the Cardinal's assassination was still 
 the topic of the correspondence of the conspira- 
 tors, amongst whom M. de Chalais, despite of his 
 recent treachery, became the recognised organ of 
 approach to the ear of the Duke of Orleans. 21 
 
 Richelieu, however, held a clue. Had Chalais 
 promptly avowed his breach of faith the subtle 
 intriguers might have been less confident and more 
 cautious. The first step in the counterplot was 
 skilful ; his Eminence overwhelmed Chalais with 
 attentions, and, as an eminent mark of confi- 
 dence, announced his intention to take up his 
 abode at the house of the latter at Maison Rouge 
 when the court removed to Blois. He then blandly 
 requested as a personal favour from the King, that 
 Madame de Chevreuse might return to court, as he 
 desired to merit the favour and approbation of 
 Queen Anne. M. de Vendome, at the intercession 
 of the Cardinal, was reassured, and bidden by his 
 Majesty to bring back his brother and join the 
 court at Blois, when their grievances should be 
 redressed. M. de Soissons received an unexpected 
 communication from M. le Cardinal, conveying 
 the information that his Majesty confided to him 
 the peace of the capital during his absence in the 
 provinces, and directing the Count on no pretext 
 to quit Paris. 22
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 113 
 
 As soon as the Cardinal was settled at Maison 
 Rouge, he summoned his friend the formidable 
 Capuchin Pere Joseph, and relating all that had 
 recently occurred, asked for aid to thread the 
 labyrinth. 23 " It is at Brussels that we must search 
 out the intrigue ; give me a sure man, and I will 
 answer for the result ! " exclaimed Pere Joseph. 
 The Cardinal acquiesced ; selecting the young 
 Count de Rochefort, one of his pages, and a Rohan 
 by birth, he sent him to Pere Joseph, with orders 
 to obey the Capuchin in all matters. Rochefort 
 was conducted to the Capuchin monastery, Rue 
 St. Honore, and was there taught to imitate the 
 deportment and the rule of the fathers. When the 
 travesty was perfect, Pere Joseph sent him on foot 
 to Brussels, wearing the habit of a Capuchin monk, 
 and furnished with a letter to the superior of the 
 Order in Brussels, who had promised further in- 
 troductions. Rochefort was the cousin of Madame 
 de Chevreuse ; he was gifted with the energy and 
 spirit of his race. By the assumption of sanctity, 
 and by the secret influence of Richelieu, the young 
 Capuchin soon procured an introduction to Mar- 
 quis de Lainez. To this nobleman he pretended to 
 confide his discontent with his calling, and his 
 hatred of France, adding that his desire would 
 be to enter a monastery in Spain. So cleverly did 
 he at length insinuate himself into the confidence 
 of Lainez that the latter undertook to procure 
 him permission to drink the mineral waters at 
 Forges, which Rochefort stated was a boon 
 necessary for his health, though unattainable, on
 
 114 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 account of the dislike with which he was regarded 
 by the Provincial of the Order in France. The 
 pass was obtained at the request of the Arch- 
 duke, and Rochefort prepared to return to France, 
 triumphant in the possession of a packet of papers, 
 which Lainez, as he anticipated, had affection- 
 ately requested him to convey thither, and deliver 
 to a personage who would await him at Forges. 
 A courier from the Cardinal met Rochefort half 
 way between Brussels and Forges, to whom he 
 delivered the important packet. Richelieu had 
 copies made on the spot of the contents of the 
 packet, which was then resealed and given again 
 to Rochefort. The latter continued his journey, 
 and arriving at Forges found a person who gave 
 the name and address of La Pierre, advocate, Rue 
 Perdue, Place Maubert, Paris, who, exhibiting a 
 letter from Lainez, demanded the papers. This 
 person was followed by the Cardinal's spies to 
 Paris, and was traced with his papers to the house 
 of the Prince de Chalais. On his return home, an 
 agent of police arrested La Pierre under pretext of 
 robbery ; his person was then searched, and the 
 packet being missing, was at once known to have 
 been left in the possession of M. de Chalais. The 
 copied papers seized were then examined by the 
 Cardinal, who found, amongst other documents, 
 a long letter without signature, addressed to 
 Chalais, in which not only was his own assassina- 
 tion spoken of as un fait accompli, but the writer 
 went on to discuss casualties which might attend 
 the death or deposition, "of the most august
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 115 
 
 person of the realm." 24 This event accomplished, 
 the marriage of Anne of Austria with King Gaston 
 was assumed as a future fact which had received 
 her Majesty's own assent, and that of the Queen- 
 mother, and which, when communicated to 
 Philip IV., King of Spain, had also obtained his 
 Catholic Majesty's approbation. Mention was 
 made also of a letter written by Anne to her 
 brother, in which she had intimated her consent 
 to and approbation of all the designs of the con- 
 spirators, and moreover, that she had despatched 
 a special courier to Madrid, to convey this epistle 
 to King Philip. Furnished with such a detail of 
 this " infernal project," Richelieu triumphed for 
 the most august heads of France must incline 
 reverently before the power won by this knowledge. 
 The letters written by Chalais in return were in- 
 tercepted, and by these the Cardinal came by the 
 further information, that the Spanish cabinet 
 agreed to the design of the conspirators, but de- 
 clined to take a part in the plot until some notable 
 success had been attained. The intercepted cor- 
 respondence was at once laid before the King by 
 his minister. With a cry of anguish, the unhappy 
 King read, and bewailed the cruel destiny which 
 arrayed against him his nearest kinsmen. He 
 insisted, nevertheless, on the immediate arrest of 
 all concerned in the plot. Richelieu combated this 
 desire ; he wished to envelop the plotters and to 
 allow them no avenue of escape, before the final 
 blow was struck. Towards his wife the bitterest 
 resentment rankled in the heart of Louis, never
 
 116 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 more to be effaced. The apologists of Anne of 
 Austria aver that the Cardinal enveloped her in 
 this conspiracy, which in reality was aimed only 
 at his own overthrow, on purpose to neutralise her 
 power and to render the criminal wife the help- 
 less foe. They aver that no one but the King and 
 Richelieu saw the letter addressed to Chalais, 
 which was afterwards said to be destroyed ; and 
 they deny that Anne ever wrote to her brother in 
 approval of the plot as directed against the person 
 and the throne of Louis XIII. 25 It is not, however, 
 denied that Anne consented to espouse Gaston 
 d'Orleans and was looking forward to the death 
 of her husband as a fact of speedy accomplish- 
 ment. The archives of Simancas furnish proof 
 positive of her assent and of her knowledge of 
 the negotiation then proceeding for her future 
 union with M. d'Orleans. Moreover, the arrests 
 and sentences which by and by followed, smiting 
 some of the noblest princes of the land, must have 
 moved the nation with strong indignation, if 
 inflicted to vindicate a cruel fraud ; at the instiga- 
 tion, likewise, of a minister new to the people, and 
 whose power was not then cemented by public 
 confidence or awe. 
 
 On the 6th of June the court removed to Blois, 
 the Cardinal still remaining at Maison Rouge. On 
 the 12th the Duke de Vendome and his brother 
 the Grand Prior arrived, and on the night of the 
 14th of the same month the princes were both 
 arrested in their beds by Du Hallier, captain of the 
 body-guard, and committed close prisoners to the
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 117 
 
 castle of Amboise. The reason assigned by his 
 Majesty for the arrest of his illegitimate brothers 
 was, that they excited the people to hatred of his 
 government, and to contempt of his person, be- 
 sides traitorously assuming an attitude hostile to 
 M. de Richelieu. 26 Meantime, Madame de Chev- 
 reuse returned to France, and joined her royal 
 mistress at Blois, resuming her empire over the 
 mind of the Queen, and more than her past in- 
 fluence with M. de Chalais. Monsieur also arrived 
 at Blois, fearing not to stand over the mine he was 
 preparing to explode. Here the expediency of 
 gaining over some of the principal governors of 
 provinces, and important frontier towns, was 
 suggested to Monsieur by Bois d'Annemets and 
 Chalais. A certain Abbe d'Aubasine presented 
 himself at Blois to pay his respects to the King, 
 and happening to state in confidence to Chalais 
 that the Due d'Epernon, Governor of the Angou- 
 mois and of the Pays des Trois Eveches, was 
 disaffected and a partisan of Monsieur, it was 
 determined that his royal highness should write to 
 the Duke and make certain propositions. Chalais 
 had some difficulty in persuading the Duke to this 
 step, as Monsieur always showed an intense aver- 
 sion to attach his signature to any document. In 
 this instance he suffered himself to be overper- 
 suaded, and whilst he was engaged in the con- 
 coction of the epistle, M. de Marcheville suddenly 
 entered the apartment. Monsieur being startled 
 in the very act of doing violence to his inclination, 
 turned pale, and seizing the paper, stuffed it into
 
 118 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 the pocket of his haut de chausses. This Marche- 
 ville, though one of the mignons, had carefully 
 avoided giving countenance to the designs of the 
 malcontents, and feigned to be ignorant that his 
 royal master had secrets. 27 The sudden resignation 
 of M. de Marcheville on the following day, and 
 leave of absence being solicited by another of the 
 duke's chamberlains, M. d'Audilly, might have 
 warned Gaston and his friends that prudence 
 and caution were advisable. Chalais, however, 
 continued to repair in the dead of the night to the 
 chamber of Monsieur, and there amongst other 
 evil counsels he induced the infatuated Prince to 
 follow up his letter to the Due d'Epernon by an- 
 other to M. de la Valette, the duke's son and his 
 lieutenant at Metz, on whom Gaston was told 
 that he had claims, as Madame de la Valette was 
 the illegitimate daughter of Henri Quatre. The 
 Due d'Epernon, grateful perhaps for the cle- 
 mency shown by Louis after the troubles excited 
 by the flight of Marie de' Medici from Blois, sent 
 Monsieur's letter straight to the King. The young 
 Marquis de la Valette, a few days later, also replied 
 through M. de Louvigny, " that he was the humble 
 servant of Monsieur, and would be happy to serve 
 him ; nevertheless, in an affair of such importance 
 as to deliver up to his royal highness his Majesty's 
 fortress of Metz, he must first consult his father 
 and chief , Monsieur le Due d'Epernon." 28 Riche- 
 lieu, at this juncture, having secured his proofs of 
 the treasonable negotiations pending, and having 
 skilfully assembled his foes at Blois, presented
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 119 
 
 himself before the King and denounced the trai- 
 tors. He also informed his Majesty that the Count 
 de Soissons had insolently prepared measures to 
 accomplish the abduction of Mademoiselle de 
 Montpensier, who was living in Paris at the Hotel 
 Guise ; and that M. d'Orleans and Queen Anne 
 were privy to the intended outrage. Louis became 
 violently agitated ; but after poring some time 
 over the documents submitted by his minister, he 
 ordered the latter to proceed with the utmost 
 rigour to unmask the traitors, and to confound 
 their devices, pledging his royal word to be 
 guided by the counsels of his Eminence. Richelieu 
 then advised his master to proceed forthwith to 
 the city of Nantes a visit already jotted down in 
 the royal programme of travel before the return of 
 Louis to the capital. He next despatched Roche- 
 fort to Paris, the bearer of an order commanding 
 Maclame de Guise and her daughter Mademoiselle 
 de Montpensier, to give his Majesty rendezvous at 
 Nantes thus defeating any enterprise contem- 
 plated by the Count de Soissons. Monsieur and 
 his friends now commenced to feel the prickings 
 of distrust ; private warnings harassed them, in 
 which it was reported that Goulas, the Duke's 
 secretary, and MM. de Marcheville and d'Andilly 
 had been observed stealthily creeping from the 
 abode of M. le Cardinal. Moreover, their friends in 
 Brussels seemed to lose heart at the enterprise ; 
 while the Marquis de Mirabel maintained an omi- 
 nous silence respecting Richelieu, and mentioned 
 even the word " submission." The Queen likewise
 
 120 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 was observed to weep in secret, and little inter- 
 course existed between the Queen-mother and 
 Anne ; while the King studiously avoided, as 
 far as possible, any acknowledgment of the fact 
 that the partner of his throne inhabited Blois. A 
 further augury of coming evil was descried in the 
 visit paid by the Prince de Conde to the Cardinal 
 at Limours an honour never before conferred. 
 
 The court, meantime, commenced its progress, 
 and made temporary sojourn at Tours, Saumur, 
 and Amiens. At Saumur a quarrel happened be- 
 tween M. de Louvigny and the Count de Candale. 
 Chalais, who was of the party, took the side of 
 Candale ; when M. de Louvigny, beside himself 
 with rage, reproached Chalais with his treasonable 
 intelligence in the presence of the Due d'Elboeuf. 
 Louvigny having thus committed himself, sought 
 audience of the King on the morrow, and confessed 
 the overture which he had made to M. d'Epernon 
 and his son, on behalf of Monsieur. Louis listened 
 coldly ; dismissed Louvigny, but commanded his 
 arrest before the lapse of three hours. Under the 
 searching scrutiny of Richelieu, Louvigny con- 
 firmed his previous confession, and owned to be 
 privy to the plot for the assassination of his Emi- 
 nence ; moreover adding that Chalais meditated 
 the death of the King, which he intended to 
 accomplish when, as master of the wardrobe, he 
 adjusted his Majesty's ruff, by scratching him 
 slightly on the neck with a poisoned pin. A 
 warrant thereupon was at once despatched for 
 the arrest of M. de Chalais, who was seized and
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 121 
 
 carried to Nantes, as he was stepping on board the 
 barge in which Monsieur was travelling, at a place 
 just below Amiens. The Cardinal now held every 
 clue to the projects of his enemies. Chalais lay in 
 prison ; Madame de Chevreuse and her royal 
 mistress trembled as the dark tribulation ap- 
 proached ; Marie de' Medici, who had been accused 
 in some of the papers intercepted of approving 
 the marriage of the supposed widow of Louis XIII. 
 with Monsieur, and anxious to vindicate herself in 
 the opinion of her son, was nervously complai. 
 sant ; Mademoiselle de Montpensier, smitten with 
 awe at finding herself involved in a state plot, was 
 humble and obedient ; d'Ornano and the two 
 brothers de Vendome lay in prison ; Conde, that 
 irascible and touchy personage, so haughtily 
 patronising, had been compelled, lest he should be 
 suspected of collusion in the plot, to seek the good 
 will of his Eminence at Limours, and even to 
 sooth any probable irritation by speaking of an 
 alliance as possible between the heir of the Condes 
 and la petite Clemence de Maille Breze, niece of 
 Richelieu. 29 As for Monsieur, it was the policy of 
 Richelieu to unmask and to humble him, but to 
 cast him prostrate at the royal feet eventually on 
 easy terms. Expiation by death, by torture, by 
 banishment, by humiliations unparalleled, was 
 nevertheless to be exacted from the miserable 
 tools and dupes of his royal highness's ambition 
 and duplicity. Above all, Anne of Austria was for 
 evermore to be reduced to a position of abject 
 dependence on the King and his minister, and
 
 122 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 discredited to a degree that her favour or disfavour 
 became alike indifferent ; while the fact that her 
 Majesty was the eldest daughter of Spain, then 
 considered to be the most potent monarchy of the 
 universe, increased rather than diminished the 
 triumph of the Cardinal. Monsieur, therefore, 
 during the journey between Tours and Nantes, was 
 scolded, cajoled, caressed and frightened. He was 
 mysteriously exhorted, both by the Cardinal and 
 the Queen- mother, to be on his guard ; that the 
 gentlemen of his household were in bad odour with 
 the King ; and that some political catastrophe 
 was at hand. M. de Coigneux, who though in 
 favour with his royal highness had not partici- 
 pated in the cabal, was chosen by liouis as his 
 medium of communication with his brother, 
 while the Cardinal prepared more potent seduc- 
 tion for the weak brain of Monsieur from the lips 
 of his trusty Capuchin, Pere Joseph, who was 
 summoned to Nantes by express. 
 
 A commission, composed of the new Lord 
 Keeper Marillac, of the presidents Cusse and de 
 Bry, and of the King's private secretary Beau- 
 clerc, of Fouquet, Machault, and de Criqueville, 
 Masters of Requests, and of six members of the 
 Parliament of Bretagne, was empowered to try 
 the unhappy Chalais, and to investigate the 
 alleged plot to its most secret ramifications. 30 
 Monsieur, though outwardly free, was warned by 
 the Queen-mother not to venture without the city, 
 under pain of arrest. Madame de Chevreuse, like- 
 wise, perceived herself to be under surveillance ;
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 123 
 
 while the young Queen cowered under the dis- 
 pleasure of her lord, and while weeping over her 
 forlorn condition, was repeatedly heard to utter 
 the undignified wail, " that M. le Cardinal wanted 
 to send her back to Spain, in order to marry the 
 King to la veuve Combalet." Richelieu, meantime, 
 proceeded to unravel the plot, with the utmost 
 parade of moderation and attention to the forms 
 of ancient procedure. It was the first essay of the 
 power of the minister, and a foretaste of the 
 judicial arraignments by special commission which 
 eventually made every disloyal heart quake. 
 Certain members of the commission were ap- 
 pointed to interrogate the Duke of Orleans. Mon- 
 sieur was previously admonished to make candid 
 and ample revelations, while Pere Joseph " as- 
 sured Monsieur that if he confessed everything 
 demanded from him he should receive a pardon 
 and even a recompense." Letters were first 
 shown to the young Prince from the envoys 
 of France at certain small German courts, and 
 also one from the ambassador in Vienna, warning 
 the King that a conspiracy existed, and that its 
 details were not unknown to Monsieur, to her 
 Majesty the Queen consort, and to certain per- 
 sonages mentioned ; its objects being first to 
 assassinate the Cardinal de Richelieu, and sub- 
 sequently to dethrone the King for incapacity, 
 mental and physical, and to marry Queen Anne 
 to the Duke of Orleans. The plot was to be sup- 
 ported by the influence of the Duke of Buckingham 
 over the English cabinet. Monsieur shuddered
 
 124 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 at his peril, and clung to the protection of Riche- 
 lieu as his refuge in the terrible investigations 
 pending. The morning of the llth of August, 
 therefore, found Monsieur ready and fluent ; he 
 made and signed a declaration, of which the 
 following is an abstract : Istly : That it was true 
 M. le Comte de Soissons was in his confidence, and 
 diligently reported to him affairs brought before 
 the privy council ; 2ndly : That Chalais was em- 
 ployed as their amanuensis and messenger ; that 
 it was true the latter had advised him to slay M. le 
 Cardinal, to seize the fortress of Havre, and to de- 
 mand for M. de Coeuvres the government of Pont 
 de 1'Arche, which strong fort they coveted in order 
 to protect their flight from Paris to Havre ; that 
 Chalais had counselled him to propitiate and to 
 enter into secret relations with the Huguenot 
 chieftains ; that the said Chalais had instructed 
 and recommended one Louvigny to journey to 
 Metz to invite and gain over the Marquis de la 
 Valette to his (Monsieur's) interests ; 3rdly : That 
 M. de Chalais had told, and sworn to him (Mon- 
 sieur) that the King had encamped 10,000 men 
 in the vicinity of Nantes, in order, as Chalais 
 concluded, to compel him to retire to Nancy or 
 to Brussels." 31 This cowardly avowal formed the 
 nucleus of the charge of treason against M. de 
 Chalais. The letters of the Duchess de Chev- 
 reuse, 32 of the Duke d'Epernon and of M. de la 
 Valette were given in as evidence ; also certain 
 letters which had been intercepted, from Joannes, 
 valet to M. de Chalais, addressed to Martin, his
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 125 
 
 brother. Lastly : Richelieu and le Pere Joseph 
 produced their charge against Monsieur, Queen 
 Anne, and Madame de Chevreuse, by showing 
 copies of the letter brought into France by M. de 
 Rochefort, addressed to Chalais, with the replies 
 returned by that miserable young cavalier. On 
 the same day, the llth of August, the Commis- 
 sioners met in the refectory of the monastery of 
 the Franciscans at Nantes, and proceeded to the 
 discharge of their preliminary duties, previous to 
 commanding the presence of the criminal before 
 their tribunal. Chalais during this interval had 
 remained in a condition of pitiable despair. Ma- 
 dame de Chevreuse alone, with noble generosity, 
 sought to soothe his trouble, and addressed to the 
 poor captive a comforting note, which she caused 
 to be sewed within the plait of a starched ruff sent 
 to Chalais, by his request, to wear when he ap- 
 peared before his judges. Such was the panic 
 occasioned by the sudden arrests and the mysteri- 
 ousness of the hidden causes of inquiry, that the 
 agent employed by Madame de Chevreuse proved 
 a traitor, and carried her note to the Cardinal, 
 who caused the writing to be copied and produced 
 it on the following day against the Duchess. 
 
 It was determined by the High Court to issue 
 orders of arrest against the Duchess de Chevreuse, 
 the Count de Soissons, the Due d'Epernon, and 
 his son, 1'Abbe Aubasine, M. de Louvigny, and 
 certain mignons of Monsieur to wit, MM. de Bois 
 d'Annemets, Puylaurens, St. Ge*ry, Marsillac, le 
 Meilleraye and de Mouay nevertheless, that
 
 126 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 such warrants should first be authenticated by the 
 sign-manual of the King. 33 Triumphant in the 
 possession of these documents, 34 Richelieu laid 
 them before the King at a council specially sum- 
 moned on the morrow. Louis desired to hear some 
 of the witnesses ; the council was therefore ad- 
 journed till after dinner of the same day. Invita- 
 tions were issued to the Presidents Cusse and de 
 Bry to attend ; and before this assemblage Louis 
 resolved, by the advice of his minister, to summon 
 Queen Anne and Madame de Chevreuse. The Duke 
 de Bellegarde, Louvigny, the Duke d'Elboeuf, 
 le Pere Joseph, the Count de Rochefort and the 
 Marquis d'Efnat were first heard. The intercepted 
 correspondence was read over by the secretary 
 Beauclerc, in the presence of his Majesty, who 
 reclined in a fauteuil, with a gloomy scowl upon 
 his countenance. Marie de' Medici presently 
 entered, and seated herself by Richelieu ; in so 
 doing her Majesty whispered a word in his ear, 
 which his Eminence noticed by a slight inclination 
 of the head. At the command of the King the 
 folding doors opposite were opened, and Anne of 
 Austria appeared on the threshold, unattended, 
 save by an usher and by one half-scared lady. 
 Anne dismissed her attendant, and then advanced 
 and took a seat at the bottom of the table 
 indicated by the Cardinal, as the King neither 
 rose nor took the smallest notice of her presence. 
 The interrogatory which followed unfortunately 
 never transpired : that it was severe and uncom- 
 promising, the tears shed by the Queen and its
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 127 
 
 after effect on her health and temper testify. 
 Anne seems steadily to have denied the allegations 
 against her ; unfortunately, however, her Majesty 
 had previously given peremptory contradiction to 
 undoubted facts well known to her royal husband 
 and to his minister, from terror at the conse- 
 quences of her indiscretion. The letter written by 
 Madame de Chevreuse to Chalais, and placed in 
 the Queen's hands, must have taxed her fortitude, 
 for there now remains little doubt that Anne had 
 tampered in the schemes of these foolish plotters 
 to a degree which for ever bereft her of the regard 
 of her husband, who emphatically affirmed his 
 belief in her culpability. When questioned con- 
 cerning her speculations on the King's intended 
 deposition, and her design to espouse Monsieur, 
 Anne replied, " that she should have gained there- 
 by too small a stake to render it even probable 
 that she had blackened her conscience by the 
 imagination of such a crime ! " 35 " Her Majesty 
 thereupon, with tears, bitterly upbraided the 
 Queen-mother for the persecutions and indignities 
 heaped upon her since her arrival in France." 
 No minute of this council was preserved. Anne's 
 reply, relative to M. d'Orleans, alone, of all her 
 answers to the various charges, was suffered to 
 transpire. 
 
 When the Queen retired, Madame de Chevreuse 
 was summoned before the council. The Duchess 
 entered, sustained by a consciousness of wit, 
 beauty, and of aptness of speech and retort. She 
 was subjected by the King himself to a long and
 
 128 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 humiliating interrogatory ; dismissed and placed 
 under the surveillance of the captain of the body- 
 guard. M. de Louvigny was next introduced, to 
 make further revelations relative to the malignity 
 of the treason of M. de Chalais. The latter, besides 
 his avowed intent to kill Richelieu, and to depose 
 the King, was accused of regicidal designs by de 
 Louvigny, who, a few weeks previously, was con- 
 sidered to be the intimate friend of the unhappy 
 prisoner. Chalais, who was master of the ward- 
 robe, meditated the murder of the King, according 
 to the statement of Louvigny, by steeping the 
 shirts worn by his Majesty in a subtle poison ; 
 intending to accelerate the action of the venom by 
 scratching the King on the nape of the neck with a 
 poisoned pin, while adjusting his ruff. "This 
 Chalais," says the Abbe d'Artigny, 36 " was of a 
 temper so malicious and spiteful, that when he 
 was attiring his Majesty he made faces behind the 
 King's back ; also, when in prison, he could not 
 hold himself from speaking evil things of the King, 
 and even to offend him deeply by letters which he 
 presumed to write. Louis XIII. could not refrain, 
 therefore, from one day exclaiming, ' This man 
 has truly a malignant and churlish temper ! ' 
 
 On the 18th of August, Chalais was led before 
 his judges, after having been subjected to three 
 searching interrogatories. His condemnation was 
 unanimously voted, the prisoner appealing against 
 his sentence, and denying the charges alleged. 
 The decree condemned Chalais to decapitation, 
 after suffering the torture of les brodequins,
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 129 
 
 and to the pains of degradation and the confis- 
 cation of his estates. No sooner was the unfor- 
 tunate man conducted back to his prison, than 
 he was again beset by the emissaries of Richelieu, 
 seeking, by any promises, to extort confession ; 
 and, especially, to wring from the unwilling lips of 
 the prisoner full details respecting the liaison 
 existing between Anne of Austria and her brother- 
 in-law. For long Chalais resolutely insisted on the 
 innocence of the Queen, stating although it was 
 true that for a period of seventeen days the death 
 of the King and his minister had been discussed 
 yet that after the arrest of MM. de Vendome, and 
 after the failure of the conspiracy to kill Richelieu 
 at Fleury, he had tampered with the conspirators 
 at the command of the minister only to discover 
 their progress and designs. Vanquished at length 
 by the subtle Pere Joseph, 37 Chalais made other 
 avowals : he stated that Queen Anne, Monsieur, 
 and Madame de Chevreuse, were implicated in the 
 conspiracy ; that the Queen-mother herself was 
 so far committed, that she had acknowledged if 
 the King died a wise policy would direct the 
 acceptance by Monsieur of the hand of his 
 brother's richly dowered widow, on assuming the 
 crown of France ; that the death of the Cardinal 
 de Richelieu had been decided upon, to be accom- 
 plished as opportunity occurred ; that it was a 
 fact that the Queen had communicated the details 
 of the conspiracy to her kindred in Spain, and had 
 received the approbation of Philip IV. her 
 brother. Transported with his success, the wily
 
 130 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 Capuchin entered his patron's presence, and ten- 
 dered the admissions which placed the highest 
 personages of the realm at the mercy of the 
 Cardinal. Richelieu, it is said, repaired privately 
 the same night to the dungeon of the prisoner, and 
 promised him life and ultimate pardon, provided 
 that he would repeat his confession in the hearing 
 of his guards, or reveal every incident in a private 
 interview with the King. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans, during these proceedings, 
 maintained a most undignified attitude ; avoided 
 by the courtiers uncertain whether he would 
 long be tolerated by the King ; clinging to the 
 wily Capuchin Joseph ; and creeping warily to the 
 apartments of the Queen-mother, who scarcely 
 dared speak to her son, to learn the attitude of 
 affairs. The young cavaliers of his suite fled from 
 Nantes. Puylaurens and Bois d'Annemets alone 
 mustered courage to face the storm. Le Coigneux, 
 meantime, ascertained that Monsieur could free 
 himself from the effects of his misconduct only by 
 consenting to immediate marriage with Mademoi- 
 selle de Montpensier. The Duke, thereupon, ven- 
 tured to propose stipulations, one of which was 
 the pardon of M. de Chalais, but was met by the 
 crushing intimation that the criminal had made 
 confession, and had deeply implicated both Mon- 
 sieur and Queen Anne, and therefore that the 
 Duke must accept with gratitude the will of the 
 King, or take the consequences. Monsieur then 
 alleged certain reasons, which would prevent 
 his immediate espousals ; nevertheless, on the
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 131 
 
 morrow he suddenly visited Marie de' Medici and 
 assented to his marriage, provided that the 
 Marshal d'Ornano and Chalais were liberated and 
 that certain pecuniary concessions 38 were granted 
 all which negotiations he committed to her 
 care and to that of M. le Coigneux. The Duke's 
 submission was well timed ; the irritated spirit of 
 Louis XIII. brooked not trifling, and his Majesty 
 conceived that his honour demanded that the 
 immediate union of his brother to Marie de 
 Montpensier should stifle and refute the reports 
 current respecting Monsieur's liaison with Anne 
 of Austria. Certain reforms were likewise com- 
 menced in the household of the Duke, on the 
 authority of the King : three of his chamberlains 
 were summarily dismissed, and the Due de 
 Bellegarde was placed at the head of his establish- 
 ment. 39 Louis, meanwhile, offered to his brother 
 oblivion of the past on condition of his marriage 
 with Marie de Montpensier. 40 Upon that event, his 
 Majesty proposed to put Monsieur into possession 
 of his appanage, the duchies de Chartres and 
 d'Orleans and the county of Blois ; to settle upon 
 him lands to the amount of 100,000 livres an- 
 nually ; with a nett revenue of 760,000 livres for 
 the expenses of his household. 41 Le Pere Joseph 
 undertook to render Monsieur satisfied with this 
 munificent offer ; a few arguments, a little depre- 
 cation, and the transparent assurance "that after 
 Monsieur's reconciliation with the King he would 
 be in a better condition to intercede for the 
 prisoner and the rest of the accused," prevailed.
 
 132 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 The ceremony of the affiancing was performed 
 August 20th, in the apartment of the Queen- 
 mother by the Cardinal de Richelieu, and the 
 pair were married at midnight. The ceremony was 
 performed with the pomp befitting the occasion 
 and the publicity which King Louis desired. The 
 marriage contract was signed at five p.m. on a 
 table standing on a platform of state. The King 
 sat under a canopy, supported by the Queen- 
 mother ; opposite sat Queen Anne, with an 
 aspect pale and discomposed, having on her right 
 the young bride. At the table stood Richelieu, at 
 the head of a numerous assemblage of bishops. 
 The apartment was filled with a brilliant court, 
 including Bellegarde, d'Elbceuf, Bassompierre, 
 Marsillac, the Duchesses de Rohan, d'Halluin, de 
 Guise, de Bellegarde and others. The King had 
 commanded that no order of precedence should be 
 observed, and that the ladies should take place 
 in the vicinity of the haul dais, as they arrived. A 
 scramble for precedence, nevertheless, occurred 
 between the Duchesses d'Halluin and de Rohan 
 the latter lady being the strong-minded and reso- 
 lute daughter of the Duke de Sully during which 
 the illustrious ladies so far forgot decorum as to 
 pinch each other in their efforts not to lose the 
 terrain, that each declared the other wished to 
 usurp. 42 " The royal pair were affianced, and at 
 midnight espoused. Never was there before seen 
 so sad a ceremony. Madame was dressed in a 
 robe of white satin, adorned with her own superb 
 pearls and with those belonging to the Queen.
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 133 
 
 We had neither violins, nor music of any kind. 
 Monsieur had not even a new habit. Furniture 
 was borrowed to decorate the bridal chamber. 
 Few private persons have been married with such 
 scanty pomp. The King came to the coucher of 
 Monsieur and handed him his shirt, and the 
 Queen-mother was present at the toilette of 
 Madame. When every one had retired a laugh- 
 able incident occurred. A little lap-dog was 
 accidentally shut up in the chamber of the newly- 
 married pair, which obliged Madame de Guise, 
 who occupied an adjacent apartment, to rise and 
 hunt the miserable animal, whose yelps added to 
 the ridicule of this fine marriage." 43 
 
 The marriage concluded, 44 Monsieur ventured to 
 insist on the hopes inspired by M. le Cardinal, 
 that mercy might be shown to the accused. Cha- 
 lais also loudly claimed the immunity so per- 
 fidiously promised by the Cardinal on condition 
 of his confession. The sentence pronounced on the 
 unfortunate young man was, nevertheless, con- 
 firmed by the King, who mitigated only the 
 rigour of the penalty by forbidding that torture 
 should be employed before execution. His 
 Majesty was pleased, moreover, to annul the 
 attainder of that branch of the house of Talley- 
 rand from which Chalais sprang. 45 The sentence 
 was appointed to be carried out three days after 
 the celebration of Monsieur's marriage ; mean- 
 time, the fate of the minor delinquents was pro- 
 nounced. Madame de Chevreuse received sentence 
 of banishment from court, and was conducted by
 
 134 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 an exempt of the royal guards to her husband's 
 castle of Dampierre, where she was consigned to 
 strict surveillance. The King for some days in- 
 sisted on her imprisonment in the Bastille, and 
 was deterred only from this severity by the inter- 
 cession of Richelieu, who was a great admirer of 
 the spirited Duchess, and by the entreaties of M. 
 de Chevreuse, who undertook to answer for her 
 submission. " The Duchess was transported with 
 fury," writes Richelieu ; " she went so far as to 
 assert that we knew her not when we concluded 
 that she had only wit, coquetry, and vanity ; 
 nevertheless, she would soon show us that she was 
 good for something else, for there was nothing 
 that she would not suffer to be avenged, and no 
 indignity to which she would not joyfully submit 
 to compass such." 46 Before her departure for 
 Dampierre the Duchess had petitioned to be 
 allowed to retire to England, where her beauty 
 and vivacity had rendered her popular. 47 Madame 
 de Chevreuse, however, who hated the melancholy 
 solitudes of Dampierre, continued to agitate so 
 effectually that, after an interval of six months* 
 she obtained permission to visit her husband's 
 kindred of Lorraine, at Nancy. The Count de 
 Soissons, advised of the accusations preferred 
 against him, propitiated the wrath of his royal 
 master by resigning his post as governor of Paris, 
 and by quitting the realm, a self -condemned exile : 
 the warrant of arrest was thereupon cancelled. 
 The post of governor of Bretagne was taken from 
 the Due de Vendome, who continued for some
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 135 
 
 time a captive at Vincennes. Conde also bowed 
 before the policy of the Cardinal, and did not 
 venture to present himself for a long period at 
 court for his supposed connivance in the plot at 
 Fleury . Sundry minor awards were allotted to the 
 inferior agents of the conspiracy ; fines, imprison- 
 ments, and banishments warned the valetaille of 
 the great lords that the formidable ruler of France 
 took cognizance also of their derelictions, as well as 
 of the more heinous offences of their masters. 
 
 The most illustrious offender still remained to 
 be visited with a public manifestation of royal 
 wrath. The condition of the young Queen was 
 pitiable. The King refused to hold communication 
 with her, and she was forbidden to see the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse or to converse with M. 
 d'Orleans. Marie de' Medici, sheltered only by 
 Richelieu from the indignation of her son for her 
 semi-adherence to the intrigues under investiga- 
 tion, dared not afford even a semblance of pro- 
 tection or countenance to the Queen. On the 27th 
 of August an order was issued, signed by Louis 
 and countersigned by his minister, forbidding 
 entree to the Queen's saloons and cabinets to the 
 noblemen and gentlemen in waiting, or to the 
 courtiers of the Louvre, unless they paid their 
 respects to her Majesty in the King's presence, 
 and entered her apartments and departed there- 
 from in his suite. A restriction more humiliating, 
 and subversive of the courtly splendours and 
 deference enjoyed by her predecessors queens of 
 France, could not have been inflicted. Anne
 
 136 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 likewise received the imperious commands of her 
 royal husband never to grant a private audience 
 without first advertising Queen Marie or the Car- 
 dinal, and naming the personage whom she was 
 about to receive and the object of the interview. 48 
 Correspondence with Madame de Chevreuse was 
 strictly forbidden, as also with Madame de la 
 Valette. The severity of this punishment, how- 
 ever, did not subdue the proud heart of the Queen. 
 Neglected by her husband, she persistently turned 
 for sympathy towards her own kindred of Spain, 
 whose counsels aggravated her position ; for the 
 King, her brother, never effectually interfered to 
 ameliorate her position, or to intercede in her 
 behalf. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans continued to make un- 
 ceasing efforts to procure a commutation of the 
 sentence pronounced on Chalais, but to no pur- 
 pose. Early on the morning following his 
 brother's marriage, the King quitted Nantes for 
 Paris, being preceded by the Queens, Anne and 
 Marie. It was thought that his Majesty's sudden 
 journey was to avoid further solicitations on the 
 part of Monsieur. The Duke, nevertheless, con- 
 tinued his intercession, and implored the Car- 
 dinal to stay the execution until he could rejoin 
 the King his brother. His Eminence replied, 
 " that he had no power to grant the request of his 
 Royal Highness." The same answer Richelieu re- 
 turned to the mother 49 of the unfortunate Chalais, 
 who on her knees implored mercy for her misguided 
 son, on the plea that Chalais had previously
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 137 
 
 saved the Cardinal's life, by confessing the plot 
 to assassinate him at his chateau de Fleury. 
 It must, nevertheless, be owned that Louis acted 
 with clemency towards the guilty contrivers of a 
 plot so aggravated ; for to assert that such 
 existed only in the scheming imagination of the 
 Cardinal de Richelieu, is utterly to disregard the 
 evidence which has descended to these days. That 
 many documents were suppressed, as damaging to 
 the honour of the crown and to the reputation of 
 Queen Anne, is not surprising ; neither can it 
 excite wonder that King Louis commanded that 
 no minutes of the privy council before which his 
 Queen was arraigned should be preserved and 
 registered. " She wished for my death, and 
 coveted another husband during my lifetime ! 5! 
 was often the bitter remark of Louis XIII. when 
 any one pleaded the cause of the Queen ; and such 
 remained his Majesty's settled conviction on his 
 death-bed. The Duke of Orleans, the Count de 
 Soissons, the Duke d'Epernon and M. de la Va- 
 lette, the Duchess de Chevreuse and her potent 
 kindred of Rohan, were not likely to have ac- 
 cepted the odium of such a conspiracy without 
 protest if, in fact, the whole affair had been a 
 device trumped up by Richelieu to rivet his power. 
 Philip IV. of Spain remained silent, and never 
 denied, through his ambassador or otherwise, the 
 reception of the letter stated to have been written 
 by the Queen. The Archduchess-Infanta Isabel, 
 moreover, never repudiated the assertion that the 
 intrigue was discussed and matured in Brussels,
 
 138 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 her own capital ; which so good and conscien- 
 tious a princess would have done if possible in 
 aid of her niece Queen Anne, oppressed under so 
 grave a charge of domestic and state treason. The 
 fact, however, which seems amply to prove the 
 truth of the conspiracy and of the charges re- 
 specting the Queen is, that three years later, 
 Anne, of her own accord, proposed a renewed 
 discussion of the policy of her alliance with M. 
 d'Orleans, after the then expected death of Louis 
 XIII. The health of the King was precarious, 
 and the result of his repeated attacks of illness so 
 uncertain under the rude medical treatment of the 
 day, that the expectation of his death repeatedly 
 acted as a snare to lure the malcontents to pre- 
 mature revelation of their designs. 
 
 M. de Chalais suffered on the twenty-sixth day 
 of August. 50 Before his execution he made recan- 
 tation of all his avowals, and adhered only to the 
 statement " that for seventeen days only, before 
 his interview with M. le Cardinal at Fleury, he 
 had meditated the death of the Cardinal and the 
 deposition of Louis XIII." The interference of his 
 friends, however, served to prolong his agony. In 
 the hope that the prayers of M. d'Orleans might 
 eventually prevail, and therefore that the gain of 
 a few days might be life to Chalais, they bribed 
 and carried off the public executioner of Nantes. 
 The morning appointed for the execution dawned, 
 and no headsman appeared. By order of the Car- 
 dinal, the execution was delayed until six in the 
 evening, when two prisoners under condemnation
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 139 
 
 of death taken from the common jail under- 
 took to perform the task, on receiving a pardon 
 for their services. These unskilful executioners 
 mangled the poor prisoner in the most shocking 
 manner, and succeeded in despatching him only 
 after thirty-five strokes of the axe. 51 The body of 
 the unfortunate Chalais was given to his mother, 
 who caused it to be interred before the high 
 altar of the Church of the Franciscans of 
 Nantes. 
 
 When all was over, M. de Louvigny, the original 
 denouncer of Chalais, was arrested and com- 
 mitted to close prison at the suit of Monsieur, 
 for having accused the latter falsely, maliciously, 
 and disloyally ; attributing to the brother of the 
 King high crimes which had no foundation, and 
 which, for the honour of the crown, needed to 
 be atoned for and retracted. Having pardoned 
 Monsieur for his late and principal share in the 
 conspiracy for which Chalais suffered, Louis 
 XIII. and his minister required justification for 
 their clemency, and a plausible statement which 
 might clear the reputation of the heir-presump- 
 tive of France. 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER THREE 
 
 1 Joseph Leclerc de Tremblay, Capucin. 
 
 8 Anne had a great aversion to roses, and fainted on inhaling their 
 
 perfume. 
 
 3 The Count de Soissons and the Duke de Bellegarde inscribed 
 themselves of the faction of Monsieur. The princes of Venddme were 
 the sons of Henri Quatre by Gabrielle d'Estrees. 
 
 4 Consort of Charles VIII., and subsequently of Louis XII., by 
 whom the queen had two daughters Claude, heiress of Bretagne, who
 
 140 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 married Francis I., King of France ; and Renee, married to Duke 
 
 Ercole I., of Ferrara. 
 
 5 Mem. de Motteville, t. i. p. 27. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 7 Henri de Talleyrand-Perigord, Prince de Chalais, grandson of the 
 famous Marshal Blaise de Montluc. He was master of the wardrobe 
 to the King, and one of the lords in waiting on Monsieur. Chalais 
 had married Jeanne de Castille, daughter of the financier Jeannin de 
 Castille, and widow of the Count de Chancy. " Madame de Chalais 
 est une belle personne. Elle s'aime tellement qu'elle s'evanouit si 
 elle vient seulement a souhaiter quelque chose qu'elle ne puisse avoir." 
 
 8 Mem. d'un Favori de Monseigneur le Due d'Orleans. M. de Bois 
 d'Annemets was the favourite, and the writer of the memoirs ; which 
 therefore possess the value of having been written by an eye-witness 
 of the events which they record. 
 
 9 Mem. d'un Favori. Vie du Pere Joseph, Capucin nomme au 
 cardinalat, contenant 1'Histoire Anecdote du Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 A. St. Jean de Maurienne, chez Gaspard Butler. 1704. 
 
 10 " II luy arriva un accident digne de remarque, ayant ete saisy, en 
 se promenant dans le jardin du Cardinal, d'un tremblement si furieux 
 dans une jambe et une cuisse, qu'il pensa tomber de son haut." 
 Mem. d'un Favori. Archives Curieuses, t. 3. 
 
 11 MS. Bibl. Imp. Beth. 9162, fol. 48. 
 
 12 " Madame d'Ornano fut menee par un enseigne des gardes nomme 
 Fouguerolles a Gentilly." Mem. d'un Favori du Due d'Orleans. 
 
 13 Ibid. 
 
 14 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie, ann. 1626. " Les dames de la 
 cour," writes the gallant Marshal, " etoient fort melees dans ces intri- 
 gues ; les unes en haine de la maison de Guise, qu'elles voyoient 
 agrandir par la prochaine alliance de Monsieur ; les autres en haine 
 de Mademoiselle de Montpensier ; et les autres pour 1'interet du mariage 
 de Monsieur." 
 
 15 Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre. 
 
 18 Alexandre de Vendome, Prior of St. John's, youngest son of 
 Henri IV. and Gabrielle d'Estrees, Chevalier de Vendome. " M. le 
 Grand-Prieur professait une inimitie publique centre Richelieu, qu'il 
 accusait de detourner les graces quo le Roi voulait verser sur sa maison ; 
 il se vantait d'etre le seul Mardochee qui ne flechissait pas le genou 
 devant ce superbe Aman." 
 
 17 Son of the Duke d'Epernon, and husband of Gabrielle de Balzac- 
 Verneuil, daughter of Henri IV. and Madame de Verneuil. 
 
 18 Bassompierre. Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Due d'Orleans. 
 Mem. Anecdotes, &c., Louis XIII., t. 4. Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. 
 
 19 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie, ann. 1626. Bassompierre was 
 in waiting at Fontainebleau while the events occurred which he relates. 
 
 20 Mem, de Richelieu, Bassompierre, The duke, to conceal his
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 141 
 
 design, and to account for an early departure from the palace on the 
 morning fixed for the execution of the plot, had organised a hunting 
 expedition. " Monsieur," said Richelieu significantly, on taking leave, 
 " vous ne vous etes par leve assez matin ; vous ne trouverez plus, 
 la bete au gite ! " 
 
 21 Chalais promit d'etre fidele a 1'avenir ; et leur donnait cette 
 libre reconnoissance de sa faute, qu'il leur faisoit pour marque de 
 sincerite." 
 
 22 Bassompierre ; ibid. Vie du Prince de Chalais, Henri de Talley- 
 rand. Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la cour de France. 
 
 23 Vie du Pere Joseph. Memoires d'un Favori de Monsieur. Archives 
 Curieuses. 
 
 24 Vie du Pere Joseph Leclerc de Tremblay. 
 
 25 No apologies which have since been made for Anne of Austria can 
 efface the undoubted fact that Louis XIII. believed her to be guilty ; 
 besides, why was the Queen subjected to persecution and surveillance, 
 if no evidence attested her connivance in the projects of Chalais and 
 other conspirators ? 
 
 26 Relation de tout qui s'est passe a 1'emprisonnement de M. le Due 
 de Venddme, et M. le Grand-Prieur son Frere, au Chateau de Blois. 
 Archives Curieuses, t. 3, 2eme serie. 
 
 27 M6m. d'un Favori de M. le Due d'Orleans. Archives Curieuses, 
 t. 3. 
 
 28 Relation de tout ce qui s'est passe au Proces de Chalais, 1626. 
 Aubery, Mem. pour servir a 1'Histoire du Cardinal Due de Richelieu, 
 t. 1. Cologne, 1667. 
 
 29 Nicole du Plessis de Richelieu, sister of the Cardinal de Richelieu, 
 married Urban Marquis de Breze, subsequently Marshal of France. 
 She had two children, the Princess de Conde, and Armand de Breze, 
 Duke de Fronsac, co-heir of the Cardinal with his cousin de Pont- 
 courlay, also nephew of the Cardinal. Madame de Breze died insane. 
 For many years previous to her death she laboured under the delusion 
 that she was made of glass, and shrieked if approached. 
 
 30 Relation de tout ce qui s'est pass6 au Proces de Chalais. Aubery, 
 Mem. pour servir a 1'Histoire du Cardinal Due de Richelieu, t. 1. The 
 proceeding of the Cardinal caused great murmurings. Chalais, it 
 was asserted, ought to have been tried before a Parliament of the 
 realm, and not by a tribunal of judges nominated by his accusers. The 
 act of the minister was stigmatised as " un precede inique." " Les 
 amis du cardinal repondirent qu'il avait pris ce biais pour menager 
 1'honneur des families." 
 
 31 Relation de tout ce qui s'est passe au Proces de Chalais. Vie du 
 P. Joseph de Tremblay. Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. 
 
 32 These letters were found in a casket at Maison Rouge, the country 
 house of Chalais ; they were chiefly love epistles " Mais il se trouva 
 des choses peu respect ueuses pour Louis XIII., que ces amants railloien
 
 142 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 BUT sa froideur, et sur sea autres defauts naturels." Galerie des Per- 
 
 eonnages Ilhistres de la Cour de France, t. 4. Lyon, 1806. 
 
 33 Relation de tout ce qui s'est passe au Proces de M. de Chalais. 
 
 Aubery, Mem. poor servir a 1'Histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 1. 
 
 Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Doc d'Orleans, 
 
 M "Richelieu assura le Nonce Spada que Chalais avait engag 
 
 Gaston a des eclats qui auroient du devenir tres prejudiciables a la 
 
 paix dn royaume, comme de quitter la cour, de se retirer a La Rochelle, 
 
 et de soulever ks Huguenots." Galerie des Personnages Elustres de 
 
 la Cour de France. 
 
 35 " Le Roy fit venir la Reine au conseil, ou il lui reprocha qu'elle 
 avoit conspire centre sa vie pour avoir un autre man. La Reine, a 
 qui rinnocence donna des forces, outree de douleur de cette accusation, 
 lui park avec fermete, et lui dit, a ce que j'ai scu par elle-meme, qu'elle 
 auroit trop peu gagne au change pour vouloir se niorcir d'un crime 
 pour un petit interet." Motteville, t. i., p. 28. Madame de Motteville 
 always believes the statements offered to her by Anne of Austria with 
 implicit faith, deeming her Majesty immaculate, 
 
 36 Hist, du Critique et de la Litterature, t. 6, p. 219. 
 
 w "Le Capucin I'assura, de la part du Cardinal, que s'il avouait 
 tout ce qu'on lui demanderoit, il aurait sa grace ; et sur la parole d'un 
 religieux dont la reputation, n'avoit pont etc attaquee, cet accuse 
 declara plus qu'il ne savoit pour certain des mecontents." Vie du Pere 
 Joseph, Capucin. 
 
 38 Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Due d'Orleans. 
 
 39 Journal de ma Vie. Bassompierre, ann. 162S. 
 
 40 Richelieu, it is said, caused Monsieur's horoscope to be drawn 
 before his marriage, to ascertain whether his royal highness, or his 
 posterity, were likely to succeed to the crown of France. The answer 
 of the oracle was " Imperium non gustabit in sternum." 
 
 41 Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Due d'Orleans. Vie du Pere Joseph. 
 
 42 Benediction Nuptiale de Monseigneur le Due d'Orleans, Frere de 
 Louis XUL, et de Marie de Montpensier. Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de 
 France, t. 2. 
 
 43 Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Due d'Orleans. 
 
 44 " Chalais apprit ce manage par le bruit de canon. II ne dit mot, 
 et attend tristement le sort que cet evenement lui annonce. On 
 1'avoit mis en cachot." Galerie des Personnages lllustres, t. 4. 
 
 45 Relation de tout ce qui s'est passe au Proces de M. de Chalais. 
 Aubery, t, 1. One chronicler, an eye-witness of the execution, states 
 that Chalais said on the scaffold : " Ce n'est pas sur I'esperance qu'on 
 m'a donne de ma grace que j'ai avoue, mais parceque la conviction 
 etait entiere." 
 
 44 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. Mem. du Cardinal de 
 
 Richelieu, t. 3. 
 
 47 " Madame de Chevreuse fit confesser (aux dames Anslaises)
 
 1626] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 143 
 
 que toutes leurs beaut es n'etoient rien au prix de la sienne." Mem. 
 d'un Favori du M. le Due d'Orleans. 
 
 48 Mem. de la Rochefoucauld, t. 1. Dreux du Radier, Vie d'Anne 
 d'Autriche. Motteville, t. 1. The latter insists that the " persecu- 
 tions " which the Queen experienced were not inflicted for any fault 
 of her own, " Mais les premiers marques de Inflection du Cardinal de 
 Richelieu furent les persecutions qu'il lui fit." Griff et, Hist, de Louis 
 XIIL, t. 1. 
 
 49 Fran9oise de Montluc, daughter of Blaise de Montluc, Marshal of 
 France. 
 
 50 Relation du Proces de Chalais. Aubery, Mem. pour servir a 
 1'Histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 1. " H n ? a rien dit a tout 
 cela [son arret], qu'il resignait son ame a Dieu, et son corps au Roy. 
 Chalais est mort dans la plus grande resolution qui ait jamais ete 
 veue. II a dit dans la chapelle : ' Ne suis-je pas bien malheureux 
 d'avoir desservy le meilleur prince qui soit au monde ? ' " Deux 
 Lettres touchant la Mort de M. de Chalais, de Nantes, ce 26 Aout 
 1626, a 7 heures du soir. Aubery, t. 1. 
 
 61 " On a tirez deux hommes destinez au gibets des prisons de cette 
 ville, dont Tun a fait 1'executeur, et 1'autre lui a assiste poor lui servir. 
 Mais a a ete avec si peu d'adresse, que, outre les deux premiers coups 
 d'une epee de Suisse, qu'on a achetee sur le champ, il lui en a donne 
 trente-quatre d'une doloire dont se servent les tonneliers ; et a 
 ete contraint de le retourner de 1'autre c6t4 pour Tachever de couper, 
 le patient criant jusqu'au vingtieme coup ' Jesus, Maria, et Regina 
 Cceli ! ' " Extrait de Deux Lettres touchant la Mort de M. de Chalais. 
 Aubery, Mem. pour servir a rHistoire de M. le Cardinal de Richelieu.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 1626-1630 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND MARIE DE 5 MEDICI 
 
 ON her arrival in Paris, Anne earnestly petitioned 
 to be allowed to retire to St. Germain. She was 
 afflicted with a constant nervous tremor, and 
 suffered at intervals from such prostration of 
 strength as to create serious alarm. The mental 
 anxiety which she had undergone had shaken her 
 health, and in her solitude and depression Anne 
 lamented her separation from Madame de Chev- 
 reuse. Peril and disgrace, however, unfortunately 
 brought not to the Queen's mind a juster ap- 
 preciation of the responsibilities and dignity of 
 her position. She took no step on her return to 
 the Louvre to reconcile herself with her husband ; 
 she treated Richelieu in public with negligent 
 indifference, and made no attempt to conceal the 
 greatness of her indignation against Marie de' 
 Medici for " the shameful abandonment " which 
 she had experienced at Nantes. Festivities were 
 rare events at the Louvre, and the recent ordi- 
 nance, forbidding entree to the Queen's cabinets 
 and saloon to the gentlemen of the court, had con- 
 demned Anne to virtual solitude. The Queen was 
 surrounded by domestic spies, who made reports 
 to Richelieu ; for the latter watched with jealous 
 vigilance her correspondence in England and 
 
 144
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 145 
 
 Spain. Aware of this surveillance, the Queen, 
 nevertheless, continued to correspond with the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse, with her kindred in Spain, 
 with the Infanta at Brussels, with the Queen of 
 England, and even with the Duke of Buckingham 
 through the instrumentality of Gerbier, steward of 
 the household to Buckingham, who yet lingered 
 in France, under pretext of collecting works of art 
 for the decoration of his master's palaces. King 
 Charles and his ministers were at this period 
 specially odious to Louis ; the feuds of the French 
 attendants of Queen Henrietta Maria, and the 
 indiscreet zeal of the priests, had necessitated 
 their banishment from England. London was pro- 
 voked almost to a tumult by the doings of these 
 personages, and by the unhappy influence which 
 Madame de St. Georges exercised over the quick 
 temper of her royal mistress. 1 From this lady, who 
 was the daughter of the King's old gouvernante, 
 Madame de Montglat, Louis heard of the extrava- 
 gant and indecorous manner in which Bucking- 
 ham raved of the Queen of France, and of the 
 Duke's indiscreet comments on Anne's unfortun- 
 ate destiny as a wife. Lord Montague was des- 
 patched by Charles to explain the step which he 
 had found himself compelled to sanction, relative 
 to the expulsion from England of Henrietta's 
 French attendants. 2 Louis, however, being ap- 
 prized, by Madame de St. Georges, that the am- 
 bassador carried letters from Buckingham to the 
 Queen and to the Duchess de Chevreuse, Mon- 
 tague received, on his arrival in Paris, an order to 
 
 K
 
 146 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 leave the realm without audience, or being per- 
 mitted to deliver his despatches. Bassompierre 
 was appointed, a few days subsequently, as am- 
 bassador extraordinary to the court of Great 
 Britain ; deputed to mediate, on behalf of the 
 Queen-mother and King Louis, between Charles 
 and his Queen ; and to insist on the plenary exe- 
 cution of the marriage contract which granted to 
 Henrietta the full and public exercise of her faith. 
 The office of first dame d'atours, vacant by the 
 banishment of Madame de Chevreuse, was given 
 by the Cardinal to Madame de Fargis, the wife of 
 de Fargis, 3 late French ambassador at Madrid. 
 Anne objected violently to the appointment, 
 but after a few months of sullen protest, ended 
 by taking Madame de Fargis into favour and 
 by yielding absurd compliance to her counsels. 
 Madame de Fargis was the daughter of M. de la 
 Rochepot, the old and faithful servant of Henri 
 Quatre, and his ambassador for many years at the 
 court of Madrid. So nighty and ill regulated was 
 the conduct of Madeleine de Silly, that at an early 
 age she had been confided by her father to the 
 care of his old friend the Countess de St. Paul, a 
 rigid Huguenot, as became the representative of 
 the elder line of Caumont de la Force ; and whose 
 hotel in Paris seems to have served as a kind of 
 penitentiary for unruly damsels of rank. The 
 discipline of the Hotel de St. Paul proved of no 
 avail. Mademoiselle de Silly so compromised her 
 reputation with the Count de Cramail and others 
 that she was compelled to seek the shelter of a
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 147 
 
 convent. " One might have imagined," says a 
 contemporary, " that this lightsome lady was 
 beautiful : not at all, her face was marked by 
 small-pox ; but she was agreeable, witty, lively, 
 gallant, and a most charming companion." Made- 
 moiselle de Silly, however, declined to take vows, 
 and remained at her convent, the Carmelites of 
 the Faubourg St. Jacques often scandalizing the 
 community, but winning toleration by her incom- 
 parable temper and fun until the death of her 
 father and of her eldest and only sister, the 
 Countess de Retz. 4 Madeleine, now sole heiress of 
 her late father, thereupon took leave of her friends 
 the Carmelites, under pretext that her health for- 
 bade her to follow the severity of their rule. Her 
 old levity returned in full vigour; on mingling again 
 with the world, she appeared at the assemblies 
 of the Hotel Rambouillet, and there captivated 
 M. de Fargis d'Angennes, cousin-german of the 
 Marquis de Rambouillet, her host. Wit, humour, 
 and joyous abandon were more to a d'Angennes 
 than morality or bienseance. Madeleine de 
 Silly became the wife of M. de Fargis, who had 
 just been appointed ambassador to Madrid, and 
 accompanied him to Spain. Her sojourn there 
 lasted four years, and great had been the admira- 
 tion excited by the graceful and lively ambassa- 
 dress. Madame de Fargis, however, rejoiced in her 
 husband's recall from his mission, for the gloomy 
 and decorous court of Philip IV. wearied and 
 taxed too severely her powers of self-control. 
 She had scarcely arrived in Paris when the post
 
 148 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 of lady of the bedchamber to Queen Anne fell 
 at the disposal of Richelieu. Madame de Fargis 
 instantly solicited the appointment through the 
 Cardinal de Berulle, who was confessor and 
 director of the Carmelites of the Faubourg St. 
 Jacques, and whose friendship she had won 
 during her seclusion with the nuns. Berulle intro- 
 duced the fair petitioner to the potent minister, 6 
 who found the wit of Madame de Fargis so much 
 to his taste, and was so satisfied with her apparent 
 devotion to his interests and by her promises to 
 rule the Queen and her household in subservience 
 to his will, that Richelieu decided upon the 
 appointment. Madame de Fargis accordingly, in 
 defiance of the repugnance manifested by the 
 Queen, entered upon her functions, which virtually 
 gave her the privileges of the first lady of the 
 household, as Anne at this period had no dames du 
 palais. Madame de la Flotte 6 was at the same 
 time appointed by the Cardinal as governess of 
 Queen Marie's maids of honour ; and about this 
 period she introduced her grand-daughter, the 
 celebrated Marie de Hautefort, at the Luxem- 
 bourg. The merit of Mademoiselle de Hautefort 
 was discerned by Marie, who presented her to the 
 notice of Louis XIII. as a damsel of " singular 
 virtue and probity." 
 
 Madame de Chevreuse, meantime, had been 
 busily engaged on the work of proving to the Car- 
 dinal de Richelieu " that she was not the friend- 
 less and incompetent personage he took her to 
 be." Intent on vengeance, few could have more
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 149 
 
 skilfully combined the elements of dissension, or 
 have fostered so cleverly the prevailing discord 
 between the powers of Europe. In France dis- 
 content was rife : the crown was gradually, but 
 firmly, resuming its ancient grants of privileges to 
 the great barons of the realm, which had been so 
 cruelly misused ; the King aimed at being in 
 future the sole fountain of honour and dispenser 
 of grace. The haughty lords, who were para- 
 mount over the provinces of the kingdom, saw 
 themselves displaced for trivial misdemeanours, 
 and their governments given to new men, crea- 
 tures of the minister, and dependent upon the 
 bounty of the King for their position and revenue. 
 The Huguenots rebelled under the strong hand of 
 Richelieu ; the Rohans beheld their pretensions 
 to the once Protestant principality of Beam, so 
 long a menace to the descendants of Henri IV., 
 derided. Duplessis-Mornay wrote in vain, and 
 found his threats futile ; and Lesdiguieres, wise in 
 his day, secured the fortunes of his house by re- 
 nouncing Calvinism. The strongholds wrested 
 from Henri IV. by his restless subjects of the 
 reformed faith, Richelieu now redemanded, and 
 announced that that focus of sedition, La Rochelle, 
 and its adjacent territory must submit to the 
 universal ascendency of the crown by the ex- 
 pulsion of its heretic municipality, and of its 
 defenders, de Rohan and his brothers of Soubise. 
 The frantic cries of the French Protestants, thus 
 menaced by a minister armed with irresponsible 
 power, echoed in the English council ; and the
 
 150 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 Duke de Rohan sent his brothers de Soubise to 
 implore the aid of Charles I. and the favourable 
 auspices of Buckingham. A mandate of exter- 
 mination for the great Huguenot citadel had 
 already gone forth ; the engineers and the sur- 
 veyors of the Cardinal encircled La Rochelle, and 
 by the command of his Eminence were engaged in 
 fortifying the island of Re, which had been cap- 
 tured by M. de St. Luc, after the Huguenots had 
 suffered a naval defeat from the ships under M. 
 de Montmorency. The influence of the Duchess 
 de Chevreuse was yet alive in England. Lord 
 Holland was devoted to her ; Buckingham con- 
 ciliated her favour for the sake of and as a means 
 of access to Anne of Austria; and King Charles 
 admired her sprightliness and extolled her per- 
 sonal charms. She was, moreover, a near kins- 
 woman of the " great Rohans." Marie de Rohan 
 Chevreuse, therefore, whose relatives might kindle 
 civil war throughout Bretagne and the south of 
 France, felt that her enmity could make itself felt 
 even when her foe was the omnipotent Cardinal 
 ruler of France. Spain, already passively inimi- 
 cal, was ready to take up arms on the slightest 
 provocation. The restraint in which her ambas- 
 sador lived in Paris ; the grievances of the young 
 Queen Anne ; the unfriendly distance maintained 
 by King Louis towards his wife's kinsmen ; and 
 the earnest desire manifested by Philip IV. to 
 disturb the entente between the crowns of France 
 and England, apparently riveted by the marriage 
 of a French princess with Charles I., rendered the
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 151 
 
 Spanish minister accessible to negotiation. The 
 question concerning the succession to the duchy 
 of Mantua, moreover, opened a multitude of griev- 
 ances and heartburnings. The new duke was 
 one of Louis' most potent princes, Charles de 
 Gonzague de Cleves, Due de Nevers. The Em- 
 peror Ferdinand II. opposed his investiture, and 
 in concert with the Spanish Viceroy of Milan and 
 the Duke of Savoy, invaded the duchy and its 
 dependency of Montferrato. Nevers appealed to 
 Louis XIII., and besought his intervention ; a 
 prayer, to which the politic Richelieu gave little 
 heed, pending his warlike designs on the Rochel- 
 lois. In the Duke of Lorraine, Madame de Chev- 
 reuse found a ready and willing ally. 7 Charles 
 IV. had espoused his cousin Nicole, eldest daughter 
 of Duke Henry of Lorraine and Marguerite de Gon- 
 zague, and heiress of the duchy. The duke was a 
 vacillating, unsteady man ; a slave to feminine 
 charms and wiles, and indifferent to his consort, 
 whose attachment he repaid by attempts, after 
 their marriage, to set aside her claims on the 
 duchy, and to assert those of his father, the Count 
 de Vaudemont, as the nearest male heir of the late 
 duke, his father-in-law. 8 Charles received Madame 
 de Chevreuse with distinction ; he assigned for 
 her use the beautiful palace of Blamont, and 
 abetted her intrigues to bring about a coalition of 
 the Powers against France. The campaign was 
 to be inaugurated by the succour of La Rochelle. 
 The Duke always inclined to the alliance of 
 Austria rather than to that of France. Richelieu
 
 152 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 had demanded several of Charles' frontier strong- 
 holds ; and, unable to cope against so potent a 
 pleader, he had sought safety under the protec- 
 tion of the Emperor. The design of the confeder- 
 ates, after the relief of La Rochelle by the British 
 fleet, was that the Duke of Buckingham should 
 disembark, and accept a command in the late 
 beleaguered city ; that the Duke of Savoy should 
 then invade Provence ; that the Duke de Rohan, 
 at the head of the Calvinist armies, should raise 
 Languedoc ; while the Duke de Lorraine made 
 his way through Champagne to the very gates of 
 the capital such having been the proposed cam- 
 paign and dream of all the traitorous subjects of 
 France from the days of the great Constable de 
 Bourbon. To execute the plan of the conspiracy 
 it was necessary that the English fleet should take 
 the initiative, and by the succour of La Rochelle 
 and the destruction of Richelieu's famous forts on 
 the island of Re, enable the French dissidents in 
 the south to take heart enough to listen to the 
 subtle promptings of Philip IV. and his minister, 
 the Count-duke de Olivarez. As Philip II., the 
 zealous champion of the popedom, had tampered 
 with the allegiance of the heretic Henri de 
 Navarre in his war with his orthodox sovereign 
 King Henry III., and promised aid to the Hugue- 
 nots, so now Philip IV. was ready to become 
 the ally of the Rohans, provided that the realm 
 suffered calamity enough to destroy its com- 
 petition with the monarchy of Spain. It appears 
 that the Queen was kept constantly informed of
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 153 
 
 the progress of this negotiation ; unadmonished 
 by her recent narrow escape, and by the clemency 
 which she had received at the hands of the King 
 her consort and of the minister whom she pur- 
 sued with such reckless hate, Anne ventured still 
 to cabal. Such was the Queen's hardihood, and 
 so perfect were her powers of dissimulation and 
 silent endurance, that no past danger ever seems 
 to have been sufficiently remembered to act as a 
 warning for the future. Her very helplessness, 
 beauty and affability won devoted attachment, 
 so that no princess ever possessed adherents more 
 faithful and determined. Under a silent and 
 submissive demeanour strong passions agitated 
 the spirit of the Queen : her haughtiness of 
 character invested her with self-control, while 
 her passive but determined enmity rendered her 
 a foe to be dreaded even by Richelieu. 
 
 The young Duchess of Orleans, during the 
 course of these events, gave birth to a daughter at 
 the Louvre, May 29th, and died a few days 
 afterwards, surviving her marriage with Monsieur 
 scarcely ten months. 9 To propitiate Monsieur, 
 and to make him loyally oblivious of the vexa- 
 tions he had experienced at Nantes, Madame re- 
 ceived enthusiastic welcome at the Louvre, and 
 was invested with privileges derogatory to the 
 prerogatives of the Queen-consort. The Duchess 
 was dispensed from the obligation of visiting the 
 saloon of the Queen daily; neither was she 
 expected to present herself three times in the 
 week at her Majesty's lever, as had been the
 
 154 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 in variable etiquette of the court of France. At the 
 public receptions of the Louvre, Marie de' Medici 
 and Madame gathered around them a coterie of the 
 most brilliant personages of the court ; while 
 Anne sat in her chair of state comparatively aban- 
 doned, being timidly addressed by Monsieur, and 
 saluted with ceremonious politeness by the King. 
 Madame does not appear to have been deeply 
 lamented; her infant daughter, 10 heiress of her 
 immense wealth, was confided to the care of Marie 
 de' Medici, who had her brought up at the 
 Tuileries, under Madame de St. Georges. 11 The 
 fancy of Monsieur soon became fascinated by the 
 radiant loveliness of a fair young princess of Gon- 
 zague-Nevers, daughter of the Duke of Mantua, a 
 debutante at court, and to whom he commenced to 
 offer ardent suit. 
 
 Bassompierre, meanwhile, had returned from 
 London, having partially succeeded in mediating 
 between Charles and his consort. Henrietta, 
 however, still mourning her early friends, and 
 believing herself lost in a land of heretics, where her 
 priests were pelted in the streets by the London 
 populace and her faith derided, implored the 
 Queen her mother to permit her to visit France 
 " But, Madame, this happiness, if you grant it to 
 me, can only be obtained by permitting M. de 
 Buckingham to become my escort to your court." 
 The Duke of Buckingham also confided to Bas- 
 sompierre his longing desire to return to Paris; 
 and charged the ambassador to sound the Car- 
 dinal on the subject, and to hint that great achieve-
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 155 
 
 ments in diplomacy, very advantageous to France, 
 might be obtained by their personal conference. 12 
 Bassompierre performed his mission, and stated 
 the Duke's wish, which was met on the part of 
 Louis XIII. by an indignant refusal. 13 Anne also 
 privately requested Bassompierre to write to M. 
 de Buckingham to put off his visit ; and to state, 
 in her name, that such would be very displeasing 
 to her. 14 The disappointment of Buckingham 
 hurried him into the folly of lending a favourable 
 ear to the solicitations of the Rochellois, whose 
 interests were supported in England by M. de 
 Soubise. He, moreover, entered into a close 
 correspondence with Madame de Chevreuse, and 
 selected as the medium of his communications 
 with the Duchess, Walter Montague, second son of 
 the first Earl of Manchester, who was about to 
 travel in France. Richelieu, however, was too 
 wary to be so surprised, or to suffer the enemies 
 of France to complete their coalition ere he struck 
 the blow which should subjugate his master's re- 
 bellious subjects of the reformed faith. Moreover, 
 Monsieur was again sullen and unmanageable, al- 
 though honours, privileges and wealth were 
 heaped upon him with a lavish hand. For some 
 inscrutable reason of her own, Marie de' Medici 
 opposed the desire of Monsieur to espouse for his 
 second wife the Princess Marie de Gonzague, of 
 whom he continued madly enamoured. The Car- 
 dinal, whose policy it was to humour his royal 
 patroness in all possible ways, save in those 
 matters which might have operated for his own
 
 156 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 downfall, supported her Majesty in this refusal, 
 and gained over the King to show similar dis- 
 approbation. Monsieur threatened, stormed 
 but was finally propitiated for an interval, by the 
 promise of a military command. 15 Without wait- 
 ing, therefore, for his foes to perfect their design, 
 Louis XIII. invested La Rochelle, and appointed 
 his brother as general-in-chief of his armies ; nomi- 
 nating Bassompierre and M. de Schomberg as 
 his aides-de-camp and counsellors. This con- 
 cession, however, was extorted from the King, 
 who jealously watched the career of Monsieur ; 
 and was conceded only on news of the sailing of 
 Buckingham and the fleet from Portsmouth, 
 during a sharp attack of his old malady, w r hich 
 prevented Louis from leaving the Chateau de 
 Villeroy, whither he had arrived from Paris en 
 route for the camp. 
 
 Buckingham meanwhile set sail at the begin- 
 ning of July, 1627, with a fleet of fifty men-of-war 
 and of sixty smaller vessels, and an army of 7000 
 men. 16 Charles declared to his council that his 
 reasons for invading France were threefold 1st, 
 that King Louis had declined to grant a passage 
 through France to some English levies under 
 Count Mansfield ; 2ndly, that the French fleet 
 had made prizes of some small coasting vessels 
 hovering about La Rochelle ; and lastly, because 
 the Huguenots were oppressed, and in danger of 
 losing all their strongholds, La Rochelle being 
 already besieged. The Duke of Buckingham was 
 more candidly explicit on the causes and motives
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 157 
 
 of the war. " In spite of all the power and might 
 of France, I will see her fair Queen again ! " ex- 
 claimed he publicly at a farewell banquet at 
 Whitehall. The Duke's galley was adorned with 
 a yellow and black banner, the colours of Anne of 
 Austria, and her cipher was everywhere dis- 
 played. 17 The chief cabin on board was dedicated 
 to her charms : it was draped with yellow silk 
 damask ; at one end was a life-size picture of the 
 Queen, shrouded by superb curtains of cloth of 
 gold, before which golden candelabra were placed, 
 holding lighted tapers of white wax. 18 The mad- 
 ness and infatuation of this conduct admit of no 
 palliation ; the prosperity of the Duke's career 
 must have induced insanity, and have rendered 
 him cruelly forgetful of the position of Anne of 
 Austria, and of the disgrace which his insensate 
 ambition had already inflicted. So unexpectedly 
 was the expedition decided upon, that the munici- 
 pality of La Rochelle were not even apprised of 
 the sailing of the fleet when Buckingham appeared 
 before the town ; the people, therefore, refused to 
 admit their intending allies before due inquiry 
 had been made as to the object of the landing 
 of so formidable a force. 19 Buckingham thus 
 repulsed, attacked the island of Re, and began to 
 batter the great fort of St. Martin, which was de- 
 fended by the brave M. de Toiras with admirable 
 valour. The cannonade, however, was suspended 
 for a few days, by order of the Duke ; who, being 
 probably assailed with misgivings as to the motive 
 of the war, and perhaps a little disheartened by
 
 158 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 his reception by the Rochellois, abated in much 
 of his boasted vigour. Richelieu immediately 
 ordered the despatch of 6000 men under Schom- 
 berg to Re, who encamped on the island, and 
 rendered essential assistance to Toiras ; while 
 Monsieur diligently pushed the siege by land. 
 The Duke of Buckingham was profuse in his 
 civilities to any French gentlemen who visited his 
 fleet. M. Saint Surin, a distant kinsman of 
 Richelieu, especially recommended himself to the 
 Duke's favour ; and the latter one day introduced 
 him into the chamber on board the galley where 
 the picture of Anne of Austria hung. Buckingham 
 boldly avowed his admiration for the Queen, and 
 his desire to visit Paris ; bitterly complaining of 
 the uncourteous refusal of the prayer, which he 
 had preferred through Bassompierre. He ended 
 by requesting M. Saint Surin to communicate 
 again his desire to the Cardinal ; engaging, if his 
 Christian Majesty consented to receive him in the 
 capacity of ambassador from his Britannic Ma- 
 jesty, that he would presently take pretext to 
 retire from before La Rochelle and leave the city 
 to its fate. St. Surin undertook the mission ; but 
 repented his officiousness when he found himself 
 arrested after his interview with the minister, and 
 about to be consigned to the Bastille " for pre- 
 sumptuous and traitorous communication with 
 the enemy " ; a fate from which his kinship to 
 Richelieu delivered him. 20 Meanwhile the garrison 
 of Fort St. Martin was reinforced by the unfore- 
 seen and gallant descent of Schomberg. The
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 159 
 
 blockade, also, being loosely maintained, the be- 
 leaguered garrison obtained abundance of pro- 
 vision. On the 20th of October Buckingham 
 landed his troops and again attacked the fort ; 
 he was repulsed with immense slaughter, and his 
 soldiers driven into the sea by the troops under 
 Schomberg. Retreat became inevitable, and the 
 embarkation of the soldiers under such disastrous 
 circumstances was attended with further loss of 
 life. The Duke rejoined his fleet, having lost 
 more than half of his land forces, and immediately 
 set sail for England. 21 
 
 The vigilance of the Cardinal was rewarded in 
 another quarter by an important capture. Walter 
 Montague, 22 as has before been related, had been 
 charged with the perilous office of carrying the 
 correspondence and the replies returned by the 
 English court to Madame de Chevreuse. Through 
 his spies Richelieu learned that suspicious cir- 
 cumstances were attached to the frequent jour- 
 neys to and from Nancy made by the young 
 Englishman ; and that the letters he was known 
 to carry were probably of more momentous 
 import than effusions sent by the English admirers 
 of the Duchess. A warrant was thereupon issued 
 for the detention of Montague, which was de- 
 livered for execution to the Marquis de Borbonne, 
 who arrested him on the frontiers of Lorraine, and 
 conveyed him a prisoner to the neighbouring 
 castle of Coissy. 23 His papers were seized and 
 despatched to Paris. The fact of the arrest of 
 Montague was communicated to the Queen, as
 
 160 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 her Majesty was supping in public. Anne turned 
 deadly pale, and pushed the dishes from before 
 her as they were presented ; then rising, at the 
 conclusion of the repast, she retired to her private 
 apartments. Her distress and consternation ap- 
 pear to have been extreme ; it was possible that 
 Montague's papers might again fatally com- 
 promise her position at any rate, she dreaded 
 lest the examination of the prisoner would reveal 
 her own guilty knowledge of the design forming 
 for the invasion of France. Her perturbation was 
 increased by the arrival, a few hours later, of a 
 note from Madame de Chevreuse, written in wild 
 alarm, apprising her Majesty of the arrest of 
 Montague, but professing total ignorance as to 
 the nature of the despatches and letters of which 
 he was the bearer. 
 
 Anne spent the night and part of the following 
 day weeping in her oratory, alone with Madame de 
 Fargis; devising means for communicating with 
 Montague, in order to discover what the con- 
 fiscated papers contained. The sympathy of 
 Madame de Fargis at this juncture elicited the 
 Queen's entire confidence : with all her wilful 
 perversity, and dissimulation, there was, at any 
 crisis, a touching helplessness and grief in Anne's 
 aspect which usually proved irresistible in evoking 
 the best energies of her adherents. Her friends 
 felt themselves honoured by the outward aban- 
 donment, on the part of their royal mistress, 
 of the distance imposed by her rank ; by her 
 naive appeals to their sympathy; and by her
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 161 
 
 admissions that, abandoned by their help, she 
 esteemed herself lost. Through the Cardinal de 
 Berulle, Madame de Fargis discovered that the 
 prisoner Montague was to be immediately escorted 
 to the Bastille ; and that certain regiments of the 
 royal guards were already selected to proceed to 
 Coissy on the morrow. In one of these regiments 
 the Queen suddenly remembered that her faithful 
 La Porte had been drafted as a soldier after 
 his dismissal from her service, on the return of 
 the court from Amiens. Her Majesty, there- 
 fore, applied to M. Lavaux, who was intimate with 
 La Porte, and the father of one of her dressers, 
 to bring the latter to the Louvre at midnight, 
 when she would confer with him secretly in her 
 oratory. To such clandestine and undignified 
 interviews Anne was driven, to hide the miserable 
 intrigues from which she could not refrain. 
 
 Anne seems always to have taken the oppor- 
 tunity to cabal when her adopted country was in 
 straits and needed loyal devotion. At this period 
 France was menaced abroad by the arms of 
 England, Spain, Savoy, and Lorraine ; the Em- 
 peror Ferdinand defied her power, and in spite 
 of earnest expostulations, was proceeding to ruin 
 and dethrone the French prince, whom the rights 
 of primogeniture had placed on the ducal throne 
 of Mantua. At home civil war menaced the 
 realm : the Huguenots were utterly disaffected 
 and malcontent ; and the heir-presumptive to the 
 throne threatened to league with rebels, against 
 whom he had accepted a command. Monsieur
 
 162 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 had suddenly retired from the camp before La 
 Rochelle on the arrival there of the King. He 
 stated in excuse, that Louis had promised him 
 the command in chief, which engagement was an- 
 nulled by the royal presence ; moreover, that the 
 continued opposition made to his marriage with 
 Marie de Gonzague convinced him that " their 
 Majesties never had his welfare and happiness at 
 heart." At court the Queen-mother was involved 
 in violent dissensions with the Cardinal minister, 
 respecting the Lord Keeper Marillac, whom 
 Richelieu wished to supersede in the ministry in 
 favour of the more able de Chateauneuf . Such was 
 the position of affairs when Queen Anne joined in 
 the correspondence of the Duchess de Chevreuse 
 with the foes of France. This incident in the 
 troubled career of the Queen would probably 
 have escaped record but for the pen of La Porte. 
 It does not appear that, at this period, any cor- 
 respondence injurious to Anne fell into the hands 
 of the King. Richelieu probably did suspect, and 
 acted on his suspicion ; but proof of Anne's mis- 
 demeanour failed him ; and it was ever the policy 
 of the Cardinal, " never to accuse, without he 
 could likewise stab." " The news of the arresta- 
 tion of my lord Montague threw the Queen into a 
 strange fright," records La Porte, 24 " she dreaded 
 lest her name might be compromised by the 
 papers taken from Montague ; and that, if such a 
 fact had been laid before the King, with whom 
 she was not then on good terms, his Majesty might 
 ill-treat her, and send her back to Spain, as he
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 163 
 
 would most assuredly have done. This fear so 
 greatly disquieted her Majesty, that she could 
 neither eat nor sleep. She was in this quandary 
 when her Majesty suddenly remembered that I 
 was a soldier of one of the regiments chosen for 
 the escort of my lord. She, therefore, enquired of 
 Lavaux where I could be found ; he looked me up, 
 and conducted me at midnight to the Queen's 
 chamber, after every person had retired. Her 
 Majesty explained to me her trouble ; adding, 
 that having no person whom she could trust, she 
 had sent for me, believing that I should serve her 
 with devotion. She said, that on the report 
 which I was to bring her, depended her worldly 
 salvation, and honour. The Queen then ex- 
 plained her desire ; and directed me to take the 
 opportunity when I was on guard near to the 
 person of the said prisoner Montague, to ask him 
 whether in the papers taken from him her 
 Majesty was named ? Also, if it should happen, 
 as it was certain to befal, that when in the Bastille 
 he should be subjected to severe interrogatories, 
 and pressed to reveal all the accomplices in the 
 intended league, I was to pray and admonish 
 earnestly the said my lord, not to name her 
 Majesty. I succeeded in informing Montague of 
 the distress of the Queen ; and he replied, ' That 
 her Majesty might rest tranquil ; for that he be- 
 lieved she was not named directly, or indirectly, 
 in any of the letters and despatches taken from 
 him ' ; also, he assured me I might tell the Queen, 
 4 that he would rather die than reveal, or say
 
 164 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 any thing that could injure her ! ' When I delivered 
 this reply, the Queen actually trembled for joy ! 5: 
 writes La Porte. Anne escaped this time with the 
 fright. The young " my lord " was subjected to 
 no examination of consequence in the Bastille, 
 and was simply detained there until the peace 
 with England, concluded in 1629 ; when, out of 
 deference to the clamour of the Duke of Lorraine, 
 " the ambassador accredited to his court " was 
 conducted under escort to the frontiers of the 
 duchy, and there released. 
 
 The Rochellois, meantime, were comforted in 
 their adversity and desertion by the entry into 
 their harbour of a fast sailing vessel, bringing a 
 letter from Charles I., assuring the citizens of his 
 continued support ; and that he was preparing a 
 fleet and armament which would at once insure 
 the concession of their liberties. Delays, however, 
 arose, of which the French government knew how 
 to profit. Throughout the winter of 1627 and the 
 first months of the following year, the siege was 
 carried on with wonderful vigour. The King re- 
 mained in camp until the 9th of February 1628 ; 
 when, feeling indisposed, he returned to Paris, 
 leaving Richelieu sole commander-in-chief, with 
 the power of life and death over every person 
 engaged in the siege. 25 Aware that the Rochellois 
 could never be subdued while their city was open 
 to the approach of an English fleet, Richelieu 
 commenced that wonderful work, the mole and 
 fortification which close the harbour of La 
 Rochelle. Two French engineers, Louis Metezeau,
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 165 
 
 a townsman of Dreux, and Jean Tiriot, were the 
 designers of the work, which was carried on under 
 the inspection of the Cardinal, whose courage 
 and perseverance were sustained by his able coun- 
 sellor the Capuchin father, Joseph de Tremblay. 
 The Cardinal lived in a lone house known as Le 
 Pont de la Pierre, situated a stone's cast from the 
 beach. There the Cardinal and " his shadow " 
 worked, plotted, pondered and sustained each 
 other during the blockade ; they sketched im- 
 aginary schemes for the glory and the political 
 government of France, which, impossible as these 
 designs then appeared, the matchless genius of 
 these two men realised under the fostering growth 
 of King Louis' inaptitude for affairs of state, his 
 ever wavering health, and the suspicions which 
 poisoned his existence. 
 
 Long and angry debates ensued meanwhile in 
 the English Parliament relative to Buckingham's 
 policy ; 26 which retarded the sailing of the pro- 
 mised succours, and enabled the French engineers 
 to continue their works, the aim of which mystified 
 the British cabinet. The fate of the rebel city was 
 rendered more desperate by the assassination of 
 Buckingham ; who fell by the knife of one Felton, 
 August 24th, 1628, after granting audience to 
 Soubise, and other French gentlemen, at Ports- 
 mouth, as he was again about to embark to relieve 
 Rochelle. 27 The assassin had served in the former 
 expedition to Re, and had felt himself aggrieved, 
 because the captain of his ship having fallen 
 during the memorable embarkation from that
 
 166 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 island, the Duke declined to promote him to the 
 vacant post. The news of the death of Bucking- 
 ham was received with satisfaction in France. 
 The Queen refused for long to believe that the 
 gallant, handsome favourite had fallen. " No ! ' : 
 exclaimed Anne, " it is impossible ! I have just 
 received letters from the Duke." 28 When con- 
 vinced of his death, her dejection was great ; and 
 for some time her Majesty seemed to find solace 
 only in the correspondence of Queen Henrietta. 
 The latter, however, had hated the presuming 
 favourite, whom she accused of attempting to de- 
 grade her to the forlorn position of her sister-in- 
 law ; and who had suggested the banishment of 
 her French ladies, to avenge his own exclusion 
 from the Louvre. The command of the English 
 fleet was conferred on the Earl of Lindsay ; who, 
 on the 28th of September, appeared off La 
 Rochelle with a fleet of seventy-two vessels and 
 attacked Richelieu's new fortifications, but failed 
 to destroy them, or to open the harbour. The 
 inhabitants, meantime, were reduced to the last 
 extremities of famine ; on the repulse of their 
 allies, their despair and sufferings compelled them 
 to open negotiations with their incensed sovereign 
 and his minister. These overtures were made 
 October 23rd. On the 30th the city surrendered 
 and was punished by the total abrogation of its 
 charters and privileges, besides the imposition of 
 a fine to an immense amount, to defray the cost 
 of the fortifications and siege works. On the 1st of 
 November, All Saints' Day, the victorious Riche-
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 167 
 
 lieu celebrated mass at the high altar of the late 
 heretic cathedral dedicated to Ste. Marguerite, 
 after the solemn reconsecration of the church by 
 the Archbishop of Bordeaux. The same day 
 Louis XIII. made his state entry into the revolted 
 city. Thus, after seven successful revolts against 
 the royal authority in the space of 100 years, the 
 factious Rochellois were totally subdued ; their 
 fortifications levelled ; their privileges annulled ; 
 and their harbour effectually barred against the 
 approach of any fleet but that of their liege 
 sovereign. The English fleet under Lord Lindsay 
 made sail after the surrender of La Rochelle, and 
 safely put into port in Portsmouth harbour. The 
 ignoble termination of this expedition occasioned 
 stormy and even tumultuous debates in the 
 English Chambers. Peace, however, was even- 
 tually concluded with France in September of the 
 following year, 1629 : the articles of the marriage 
 treaty of Henriette Marie were confirmed again ; 
 England abandoned the Huguenots of France to 
 their fate ; an amnesty was to be granted for all 
 concerned in the late transactions, and Madame de 
 Chevreuse was to be recalled from banishment and 
 suffered to reside in the chateau of Dampierre. 2 ' 
 
 The submission of La Rochelle was followed by 
 an expedition undertaken by the King in person to 
 compel the Spaniards to raise the siege of Casale ; 
 which was invested by Don Gonzalez de Cordova. 
 The Emperor persisted in his refusal to grant in- 
 vestiture of the duchy of Mantua to Charles de 
 Gonzagues ; and demanded that the territory
 
 168 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 should be relinquished to him as lord paramount, 
 until the rights of the various claimants were 
 examined and adjusted. Duke Charles implored 
 the succour of the King ; and the policy of Riche- 
 lieu being now favourable to the old tactics of 
 Sully and Henri Quatre, the Duke's prayer was 
 conceded. The reduction of the remaining Hugue- 
 not strongholds of the South the minister post- 
 poned to the more propitious season, when both 
 Spain and Austria, humbled by the victorious 
 arms of France, as he had predetermined, should 
 thereby be compelled to abandon these rebellious 
 vassals to the mercy of the government. The 
 King, accompanied by Richelieu, quitted Paris 
 February 4, 1629, for his Italian expedition. He 
 was attended by the Dukes de Longueville, d'El- 
 boeuf, de Schomberg ; the Marshals de Bassom- 
 pierre, de Crequi, and other noblemen. The army, 
 flushed with its recent success before La Rochelle, 
 was obedient and enthusiastic, and regarded the 
 relief of the fortress of Casale, and the expulsion 
 of the Spaniards and Savoyards from Montferrat, 
 as a very inferior achievement. The prospect of a 
 war with Spain was a bitter accession of grievance 
 to the Queen ; and at this period her stolen in- 
 terviews became so frequent with the Spanish 
 ambassador, the Marquis de Mirabel, as to give 
 great umbrage to the King. One day before the 
 departure of Richelieu from Paris, he paid a visit 
 of formal courtesy to Queen Anne to say fare- 
 well. As the visit of the minister had not been 
 previously announced, he found Mirabel closeted
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 169 
 
 with her Majesty ; the only other person present 
 being Madame de Fargis. The Cardinal advanced, 
 and after inclining profoundly before the Queen, 
 addressed Mirabel with his usual bland cordiality 
 of tone. " Monsieur PAmbassadeur," said he, 
 " his Christian Majesty desired me, on the first 
 opportunity, to express to you his regret and 
 astonishment at the haste which the Emperor has 
 shown in sending his armies into the Milanese, and 
 against Duke Charles of Mantua, an old subject of 
 France ! ' : " The Emperor might certainly have 
 shown more prudence if he had waited for the 
 termination of our negotiations with your Emi- 
 nence. His Imperial Majesty doubtless believed 
 that the affair would drag on here with endless 
 tedium, as it has so often happened ; he therefore 
 deemed it politic to urge on a denouement by 
 arms ! " responded Mirabel, sarcastically. Riche- 
 lieu showed that he was piqued at this reply, and 
 to turn the conversation he addressed the Queen 
 on some indifferent matter. Anne, however, rose, 
 and taking the hand of Mirabel interposed, saying, 
 " M. 1'Ambassadeur, do not excite yourself. I, 
 who have at heart the interests of Spain in equal 
 degree with those of France, cannot approve of the 
 precipitancy shown by the Emperor in sending his 
 armies as a menace to our frontiers. I will myself 
 write to the King my brother on the subject." 
 It had been often better for the Queen if she had 
 remembered the celebrated axiom of Richelieu : 
 " If words are the first power in the world, silence 
 is the second ! " When this conversation was
 
 170 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 repeated by Richelieu to the King, he was greatly 
 offended that the Queen had declared " that she 
 had the interest of Spain as much at heart as that 
 of France," and personally administered a sharp 
 rebuke ; forbidding her Majesty during his absence 
 to see the Spanish ambassador, who had alone 
 disobeyed the recent ordinance prohibiting entree 
 to the Queen's private saloons to the gentlemen 
 of the court. 
 
 During the absence of the King, Anne withdrew 
 to St. Germain, attended by her household ; while 
 Marie de' Medici, installed in the Louvre, repre- 
 sented the absent majesty of France, and held all 
 court receptions. Occasionally Anne ventured to 
 trespass upon the strict injunctions which she had 
 received to avoid the capital, by paying private 
 visits to the Val de Grace, a convent which she had 
 recently founded. Even this privilege of retreat 
 Anne had managed to abuse, by granting secret 
 audiences in the convent to Mirabel, and to other 
 personages who presumed not to present them- 
 selves at the Louvre. Richelieu's spies, however, 
 soon detected the subterfuge, and it was several 
 times reported to the minister that M. de Mirabel 
 had been seen to leave his coach in an obscure 
 street adjacent to the Faubourg St. Jacques and 
 proceed on foot to the Val de Grace, where he 
 was admitted ; and after an interval of several 
 hours was observed in the same furtive manner 
 to return to his coach. 31 The mystery so foolishly 
 maintained by the Queen in her intercourse with 
 her own family, and her pertinacity in refusing
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 171 
 
 to impart the purport of any of her frequent 
 communications, added to the well-known facts 
 that she was in correspondence with Madame de 
 Chevreuse, and occasionally so with Monsieur, 
 afforded ground for the suspicion that she was dis- 
 loyal to her husband's crown. Her preference for 
 everything Spanish, and the favour which she 
 showed to persons who spoke her native tongue, 
 such as Mesdames Bertaut and de Fargis, and the 
 daughter of the former, afterwards the celebrated 
 Madame de Motteville, perpetuated the notion, of 
 which Anne unreasonably complained, that she 
 was still in heart an alien from France. It was 
 moreover suspected, and all but proved, that at 
 this period Anne reported to Mirabel any decision 
 of the privy council affecting her brother's affairs 
 which accidentally came to her knowledge, or 
 any hasty and inconsiderate word which dropped 
 in her presence from the lips of the King or his 
 minister concerning their Catholic Majesties. 32 In 
 the abbess of the Val de Grace, Luisa de Milley y 
 Anne found a companion and firm friend. The 
 brother of the abbess was a subject of Spain, being 
 a native of Franche Comte, and governor of 
 Besan9on. Luisa de Milley had been educated in 
 the Carmelite convent of Avila : all her aspira- 
 tions were therefore Spanish ; and as many of her 
 connections resided in Spain, this liaison afforded 
 the Queen an easy and invaluable mode of com- 
 munication with her own country. 
 
 " The Queen," writes Madame de Motteville, 
 " being still young, but desirous of providing for
 
 172 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 her eternal salvation before all things, had 
 selected the convent of the Val de Grace as a 
 place of retreat, where she could always retire, 
 and taste that peace which is to be found only at 
 the footstool of God." Anne, in 1621, bought the 
 Hotel de Valois, for the sum of 36,000 livres ; the 
 old building was partially demolished, July 1623, 
 and the remaining apartments adapted to con- 
 ventual purposes, after the Queen had selected a 
 suite of rooms for her own occupation. Anne 
 built a superb private oratory, the altar of which 
 was decorated with a painting and a crucifix, 
 gifts of Philip IV. of Spain. The community of 
 Val Profond, a small convent situated about nine 
 miles from Bievre, was chosen to inhabit her 
 Majesty's new foundation ; but why these ladies 
 were so favoured does not appear. The nuns, 
 with their abbess, La Mere d'Arbouze, were in- 
 stalled at the Val de Grace in the early part of the 
 year 1623. The community was of the Benedic- 
 tine order ; and their abbess appears to have been 
 renowned for saintly austerity, as she was trans- 
 ferred during the following year to the convent of 
 La Charite, there to enforce discipline and the 
 rule of St. Benedict, which had fallen into disuse, 
 to the great scandal of the neighbourhood. Luisa 
 de Milley, abbess of St. Etienne, was then chosen 
 by the Queen as the head of her house, and as- 
 sumed rule at Val de Grace about the year 1625. 
 Anne immediately established relations of the 
 closest confidence with the new abbess, who 
 sympathised deeply in her Majesty's distresses.
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 173 
 
 The abbess was subsequently accused of having 
 sanctioned public prayer in her chapel, for the 
 downfall of the Cardinal minister and of all the 
 other enemies of the very Christian and per- 
 secuted Queen of France. La Mere Luisa and her 
 nuns looked upon Anne as an immaculate saint, 
 whose prayers and patronage brought the blessing 
 of Heaven on their house ; they faithfully kept 
 her secrets and performed her bidding, even when 
 such involved imminent risk to themselves. No 
 betrayal or hostile witness ever confronted the 
 Queen from the Val de Grace ; and the glorious 
 and magnificent house which hereafter rose on the 
 foundation of the humble convent of La Mere 
 Luisa, was dedicated by Anne of Austria as much 
 in memory of the devoted fidelity which she had 
 there experienced, as a lofty monument of her joy 
 and thanksgiving for the birth of Louis XIV. 
 The other personages, besides the Abbess Luisa 
 and Mesdames de Chevreuse and de Fargis, at 
 this period in the confidence of Queen Anne, were 
 her physician, Vaultier, and her apothecary, 
 Michel Danse. Vaultier had been for some time 
 high in the favour of Marie de' Medici, who had 
 taken measures to bespeak for him a cardinal's 
 hat. He subsequently passed from the service of 
 Marie into that of her daughter-in-law, Queen 
 Anne, and became an ardent but injudicious 
 servant of the latter, entering into all the petty 
 cabals which the ladies and women of Anne's 
 household raised against the minister. Amongst 
 her humbler servants were La Porte, Lavaux, his
 
 174 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 wife and daughter, a dresser named Catherine, 
 and her nurse, Dona Estafania, who wisely shut 
 her ears against insinuations and scandals, and 
 consequently lived a life of tranquillity. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans, meantime, fled from the 
 kingdom to Nancy ; so intense was his resent- 
 ment at the persistent opposition manifested by 
 his mother and the King at his suit to the Princess 
 Marie de Gonzague. Marie de' Medici, during the 
 Italian campaign, dominated in Paris, living for 
 the moment on amicable terms with Richelieu's 
 beloved niece, Madame de Combalet, who was 
 about to shine at the Palais Cardinal as Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon. A glorious campaign, which ter- 
 minated by the successful action of the Pas de 
 Susa, and the relief and cession of Casale to the 
 French, rejoiced the court and nation. The King, 
 after installing the Marshals de Crequi and de 
 Basso mpierre over the captured territory, received 
 the thanks of the Duke of Mantua, and returned 
 to France to carry on the campaign in the South 
 for the total reduction of the Huguenot power. 
 The exploits of " PArmee de Valence " were as 
 signal as those of the division in possession of 
 Montferrat. Town after town, with but few 
 exceptions, submitted to the royal power, and was 
 graciously pardoned for past treasons, though 
 deprived of treasured charters and religious ex- 
 emptions. Languedoc submitted : the Duke de 
 Rohan laid down arms, and accepted articles 
 signed at Alais, in which it was stipulated that the 
 fortifications of the great Huguenot strongholds
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 175 
 
 of Nimes, Castres, d'Usez, and Montauban, should 
 be demolished. The Huguenots were compelled to 
 make restoration of Church lands and benefices 
 seized or appropriated by them from the com- 
 mencement of the civil wars in 1561 ; all churches 
 were dedicated afresh, and the orthodox service 
 re-established. The Cardinal refused to receive 
 the petitions of the ministers of the churches ; he 
 declared that he knew no distinction between the 
 religion of any of his Majesty's subjects ; that all 
 should participate in the paternal regard of the 
 government ; and no person or sect be distin- 
 guished, except for loyalty and devotion to the 
 glorious race of Bourbon. 
 
 Louis XIII., leaving his minister at Montauban, 
 arrived at Fontainebleau at the beginning of May 
 1629, where the Queens had repaired to offer their 
 congratulations. Marie received her son as a hero 
 descended from Mount Olympus, but the pouting 
 lips of Anne of Austria had no smiles for Louis. 
 Her ironical salutations, and allusion to his 
 victories over Spain and the Empire, justly pro- 
 voked his anger, while her dejection, the absence 
 of splendour in her attire, and the readiness with 
 which she yielded her precedence and prerogative 
 to Marie de' Medici, excited the King's distrust. 
 Anne ever thus let the opportunity slip to estab- 
 lish ascendency over the mind of Louis. While 
 the Cardinal dictated peace at Montauban, she 
 should have seized the moment to propitiate her 
 consort, who found the exigeant humours of the 
 Queen-mother hard to endure. Until the return
 
 176 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 of Richelieu, Louis found recreation in the chase. 
 He also derived relaxation from his musical in- 
 struments, and in setting verses to dreary tunes 
 of his own composition. The King also found 
 amusement in carving wooden shrines with his 
 under secretary, M. de Noyers, who excelled in 
 that art. Richelieu at length returned to receive 
 the congratulations of his royal master on his 
 diplomatic victories in the South. The reception 
 of his Eminence by Marie de' Medici, however, 
 was stormy and ominous. Richelieu, during his 
 sojourn in the South, had taken no counsel of the 
 Queen-mother respecting his compact with Rohan 
 and his followers ; he had even severely repri- 
 manded Marie for her arbitrary detention at 
 Vincennes of the Princess Marie de Gonzague ; 
 and had sent an order for the release of the young 
 princess, at the solicitation of Monsieur and of her 
 cousin-german the Duke de Longueville. More- 
 over, he had blamed the conduct of Marie in other 
 matters relative to the Duke of Orleans, who^, 
 while pretending to respond to the overtures of 
 the King to return from his self-inflicted exile, had 
 stipulated that he should not be required to visit 
 his Majesty until time had allayed the acrimony 
 of his feelings in having been so cruelly thwarted 
 in his matrimonial designs. The Duke had there- 
 fore sullenly retired to the capital of his appanage, 
 Orleans. Richelieu had recourse to his usual 
 remedy to defeat the anger of the Queen-mother ; 
 he pretended to be overwhelmed with dismay, and 
 prepared to quit Fontainebleau, " as he perceived
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 177 
 
 that his fate was sealed, and her Majesty's dis- 
 pleasure irrevocable." His subtle Eminence next 
 commanded his niece, De Combalet, to resign her 
 office in Marie's household ; and his cousin, De 
 Meilleraye, to tender his baton of chamberlain. 
 The King, alarmed at these preparations, flew to 
 his mother and besought her to pardon a delin- 
 quent so submissive. Marie, unable to resist the 
 entreaties of her King and son ; and moved by 
 the meek deportment of a minister whose power, 
 as she well knew, might, if he chose to exert it, 
 prove irresistible, consented to a truce. 33 The 
 winter of 1629-30, therefore, passed in stormy 
 altercations and reconciliations ; the ill-regulated 
 temper of Queen Marie relieving itself by vilifying 
 the Cardinal in public, and by accusing him to 
 the King as a liar, a deceiver and an ingrate. 
 " We shall see M. le Cardinal ere long pack up his 
 baggage and decamp, or I shall quit the court ! >: 
 M. Bonnevil, first valet de chambre to her Majesty, 
 represented that M. le Cardinal seemed greatly 
 depressed at the report of the depreciating things 
 she was constantly heard to utter. " M. le Car- 
 dinal," replied Marie de' Medici, " is elastic, and 
 able to adapt himself to any role ; one minute his 
 spirits are joyous, the next he seems to be half 
 dead : rising from a poor little pitiful abbe, see 
 how grandly he plays the part of Eminence and 
 prime minister ! He treats me, his benefactress, 
 with a more bitter hate than he gave to M. de 
 Luynes, and he pretends to exclude me, the 
 mother of his King, from power ! Ah ! M. le 
 
 M
 
 178 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 Cardinal weeps his crocodile tears at pleasure ! " 
 In such fashion did this violent woman agitate the 
 court. During the winter season of 1629 the cabal 
 was formed that nearly overturned the power of 
 Richelieu, and which was defeated only by his 
 own extraordinary sagacity, and by the weakness 
 of Louis XIII. Marie was the soul of the cabal ; 
 her Majesty gathered round her, in support of her 
 cause, and the downfall of the insolent prelate, 
 the Princess de Conti, Marguerite Louise de 
 Lorraine-Guise, the old friend of Henri Quatre, 
 who was still frivolous, coquettish, flighty and 
 fascinating " la premiere dame qui a appris a 
 sa majeste Anne d'Autriche d'etre coquette " the 
 Duke de Guise, Conde, Monsieur, the Duchess 
 d'Elboeuf ; Marillac, whose dismissal from office 
 had been resolved at the Palais Cardinal ; the 
 Duchess de Lesdiguieres, the Marshal de Bassom- 
 pierre, Mesdames de Fargis and de Chevreuse, 
 Vaultier, the Count de Soissons in short, all 
 the influential malcontents of the realm. The 
 Queens, moreover, sought reconciliation ; which 
 was presently demonstrated to the world by the 
 frequent appearance of Anne at the Luxem- 
 bourg, and by Marie's presence in the saloons of 
 the Louvre. The Cardinal took matters quietly ; 
 he armed a legion of spies, domestic and public, 
 who followed his foes to their most private retire- 
 ment ; and the result of their investigations he 
 jotted down in that amusing Journal of Events, in 
 which he records, apparently with naive surprise, 
 the agencies employed for his overthrow.
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 179 
 
 Early in the year 1630, however, the note of 
 warfare again resounded. Spain refused to ratify 
 the concession made by Don Gonzalez de Cordova, 
 Viceroy of Milan, and agreed to by the Duke of 
 Savoy ; and her armies, under the famous Mar- 
 quis de Spinola, marched to invest the fortress of 
 Casale, which was still garrisoned by French 
 troops under the Marshal de Crequi ; while Count 
 Colalto besieged Mantua. Richelieu was prepared 
 for a campaign, which he had foreseen : the 
 triumph of the Emperor over his revolted Bo- 
 hemian subjects who had thrown off their 
 allegiance and elected for their King the Pro- 
 testant brother-in-law of King Charles of England, 
 the Elector Palatine had inspired his Imperial 
 Majesty with the notion that his army was invin- 
 cible, and would soon sweep Montferrat of her 
 Gallic invaders. The gallant veterans of Susa and 
 of La Rochelle, and of many a hard-contested 
 siege in the South, rose again to arms at the call 
 of their King ; and Louis soon saw himself at the 
 head of a fine army, every soldier of which longed 
 to fly to the rescue of his countrymen beleaguered 
 by the hated Spaniards in Casale. For the mo- 
 ment political feuds were forgotten j and every 
 class in the realm acquiesced in the wise and 
 able mandates of the minister. The King in- 
 sisted on assuming the conduct of the war ; an 
 enthusiasm, nevertheless, partly kindled by the 
 warlike counsels of Richelieu, who descried less 
 danger in being followed to the camp by the King 
 than in leaving Louis exposed to the hostile
 
 180 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 influences of the Louvre. His Majesty quitted 
 Paris and arrived at Lyons, accompanied by the 
 Queens, 34 about the 3rd of April ; from thence 
 Louis proceeded to join the camp at Grenoble, 
 after making a short sojourn in the district of the 
 Lyonnais. Richelieu, meantime, had been negoti- 
 ating with the Duke of Savoy ; overtures which 
 resulted in nothing, and which were terminated by 
 the sudden advance of part of the royal army to 
 besiege Pignerol. His Eminence, however, quitted 
 the camp, and journeyed to meet the King at 
 Grenoble, attended by Giulio Mazarin after- 
 wards the famous Cardinal of that name who 
 had been sent by the Pope on a secret mission to 
 negotiate an armistice between the Powers. From 
 Grenoble, Richelieu travelled to Lyons to salute 
 the Queen-mother, and to test his favour in the 
 capricious esteem of Marie. He found her Majesty 
 more hostile than ever, and surrounded by his 
 hottest foes, such as Beringhen, Vaultier and 
 others, and especially the Lord Keeper Marillac. 
 In noting this last fact, Richelieu, in his Journal, 
 adds the significant line, 
 
 "Qui amat periculum, peribit in illo." 35 
 
 On the occasion of this visit, Mazarin first bent the 
 knee before Anne of Austria, being presented to 
 her by Richelieu, with the following insolent words 
 " Madame, I present to you the Sieur Giulio 
 Mazarin ; your Majesty will doubtless approve of 
 this sagacious personage ; as he, an agent of his 
 Holiness, bears, as you perceive, a strong resem- 
 blance to the late Duke of Buckingham." 36 Anne
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 181 
 
 blushed, and unfurled her fan to cover her con- 
 fusion. 
 
 Chambery, meantime, capitulated to the royal 
 arms during the sojourn of the Cardinal at Lyons, 
 much to the secret triumph of Louis. The cam- 
 paign in Savoy prospered ; place after place 
 surrendered, as during the previous invasion of 
 the duchy by Henri Quatre. The health of the 
 King, however, gave way before the excitement 
 and fatigue to which he was exposed. He fell ill 
 at St. Jean de Maurienne ; from which place his 
 Majesty, at the earnest entreaty of his physicians, 
 returned to Lyons, leaving the further conduct of 
 the war to Richelieu, Schomberg, Crequi, and Bas- 
 sompierre. Louis' disorder was bilious fever of 
 very aggravated description. The weakness and 
 depression of the King increased ; and Marie de' 
 Medici beheld her son restored, as she hoped, to 
 her maternal influence. Melancholy, irritable at 
 the slightest proposal to discuss or transact state 
 affairs ; anxious alone for conference with his 
 confessor, the venerable Pere Souffran ; and lured 
 only to momentary forgetfulness of his misery 
 by the blue eyes of Marie de Hautefort, Louis 
 was ready to agree to any stipulation or conces- 
 sion rather than debate a point. 37 The hopes of 
 Richelieu's enemies therefore revived ; the cabal 
 rallied, and letters of counsel and entreaty 
 poured upon the Queens, that they should now 
 exert their united powers of persuasion to exact 
 from the King a lettre de cachet forbidding the 
 return of Richelieu to court ^ and decreeing his
 
 182 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 banishment from the realm. Anne entered with 
 eagerness into the conspiracy, and constantly 
 discussed its details with the Queen-mother and 
 with Vaultier and those interested in the down- 
 fall of the minister. The principal persons in 
 the secret were the Princess de Conty, the Lord 
 Keeper Marillac, the Duchesses d'Elboeuf 38 and 
 d'Ornano, 39 the Duchess de Lesdiguieres, Madame 
 de Fargis, Bassompierre, and the Due de Guise 
 and his consort Henriette, heiress of the house 
 of Joyeuse. The Duke of Orleans was also con- 
 sulted ; and an active correspondence was again 
 imprudently instituted between the young Queen 
 and Monsieur. The Spanish ambassador, like- 
 wise, seems to have advised Anne to enter again 
 on the perilous course of intrigue which had 
 already entailed such degradation on the royal 
 dignity. As the King's malady increased, the 
 spirit of the caballers became sanguine, and they 
 proceeded to discuss not only the removal of 
 Richelieu from office, but whether his high mis- 
 demeanors did not merit retribution. Monsieur 
 counselled the arrest of his Eminence, in which 
 opinion he seems to have consulted the wishes 
 of Marie de' Medici ; others proposed that he 
 should be assassinated in camp ; another pro- 
 posal was, that the person of his Eminence should 
 be made over to the Spanish government, to be 
 transported to one of Philip's colonies of the New 
 World ! Madame de Fargis, meantime, was em- 
 ployed by the Queen to write epistles and to con- 
 vey messages. Anne's animosity against the
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 183 
 
 Cardinal is described as unsurpassed by that of 
 his most bitter political opponent. By the advice, 
 it is said, of Madame de Fargis, prompted by 
 Mirabel the Spanish ambassador, Anne was reck- 
 less enough to consent again to the discussion of 
 the policy of her marriage with Monsieur, in case 
 of the speedy decease of Louis. 40 Madame de 
 Fargis, at any rate, was a party to this correspond- 
 ence ; as there is no doubt that the project was 
 again submitted to Monsieur, with the assent and 
 full knowledge of Anne of Austria. The prospect 
 of being deprived of the queenly diadem of France 
 had inexpressible bitterness for Anne of Austria, 
 who certainly had no reason to review either with 
 pleasure or with triumph the events of her 
 married life. In this interval she had suffered as 
 a princess and a wife ; her husband had openly 
 showed alienation and dislike wrongs, she had 
 attempted to avenge by culpable intrigues which 
 had heaped upon her disgrace and privations. 
 The crown matrimonial of France, however, 
 seems to have borne a superlative charm for all 
 the princesses of Hapsburg, and they clung to its 
 glittering honours amid contumely and neglect. 
 Eleanor of Austria, Elizabeth of Austria, Anne of 
 Austria, Marie Theresa of Austria, and Marie 
 Antoinette of Austria, were women, all distin- 
 guished for personal and mental charms ; but 
 their married life was fraught with domestic and 
 political misfortune ; and they failed personally 
 to adapt themselves, either to the sovereigns 
 their respective husbands, or to the manners and
 
 184 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 traditions of the land of their adoption. In the 
 case of Anne of Austria, absolute dislike existed 
 between Louis XIII. and herself, in addition to 
 the absence of personal sympathies and pursuits. 
 The Queen had many undoubted grievances to 
 suffer from the frigid, imperious and vacillating 
 temper of her consort, and from his almost 
 ludicrous dread of dictation, to which, however, 
 no man could have been more subject. She saw 
 her personal charms despised, 41 and her society 
 avoided ; her pecuniary means were curtailed 
 from dread of the power which the command of 
 money would have given her to intrigue with 
 foreign courts. To avenge herself for her priva- 
 tions and want of influence, Anne had recklessly 
 sullied her royal dignity : her adventures with 
 Buckingham resounded throughout Europe, and 
 her connivance in the conspiracy of Chalais had 
 greatly redounded to her discredit ; while it must 
 be confessed that few husbands could have 
 pardoned the treachery and indelicacy of her 
 overtures to Monsieur in case of her own widow- 
 hood and his accession to the throne of France. 
 
 The precarious condition of Louis' health re- 
 newed Anne's political anxieties. On the 30th 
 of the month of September 1630, the disease 
 presented so unfavourable an aspect that his 
 Majesty's physicians gave up their hope of saving 
 his life. An abscess had formed on the liver ; the 
 sufferings of Louis were intense, and his strength 
 rapidly failed. Marie de' Medici never left the 
 bedside of the King except when he was engaged
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 185 
 
 with Souffran, his confessor. 42 During the inter- 
 vals of his relief from pain, Marie extorted from 
 the King a solemn promise, or, as is stated by 
 some contemporaries, his oath, that in case of his 
 recovery he would dismiss Richelieu. Anne also 
 showed herself assiduous in the sick chamber. 
 On the 1st of October the physicians informed the 
 King that his recovery was hopeless. Louis re- 
 ceived the tidings with resignation, and requested 
 the sacraments of the Church. Mass was cele- 
 brated by the Cardinal de Lyons, in the presence 
 of the Queens ; 43 at the end of the service Louis 
 caused himself to be raised on his couch, and 
 addressing those present, said : "I grieve that I 
 am too weak to speak to you all I can only ask 
 you to pardon any wrong that I have committed. 
 I wish the same prayer to be made to all my 
 subjects. Le Pere Souffran will tell you all that I 
 would add, if strength permitted me." 44 He then 
 beckoned to the Queen to approach his bed, when 
 he bade Anne farewell and embraced her. All 
 persons then retired, leaving the King with his 
 surgeons and his confessor. The Queens betook 
 themselves, as it was said, to prayer ; Marie de' 
 Medici especially professing to be overwhelmed 
 with grief and consternation. 
 
 On this day Bassompierre returned from a 
 special mission to Monsieur at Orleans, and ob- 
 tained immediate audience of the Queens, Anne 
 and Marie. The Marshal brought messages from 
 Monsieur to his mother, referring to the measures 
 which he considered advisable in case of the
 
 186 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 demise of Louis, and of his own accession. 
 Amongst other directions, Marie was instructed to 
 command the arrest of the Cardinal minister ; 
 who was known to be on his road from the camp 
 to Lyons a journey which he had undertaken 
 after receiving certain intelligence of the pre- 
 carious condition of the King. What message 
 Bassompierre was intrusted with to Queen Anne 
 never transpired ; Monsieur had a salutary re- 
 membrance of the peril incurred in the affair of 
 Chalais, and seems to have coldly responded to 
 her Majesty's overtures. Indeed, Anne had lost 
 much in his regard and esteem by her late per- 
 tinacious opposition to his union with Marie de 
 Gonzague. Richelieu, meantime, had been warned 
 of the intrigues concocting against his power, and 
 perhaps against his life, by the zeal of M. de St. 
 Simon, 45 a gentleman whom he had a little time 
 previously recommended for service in the royal 
 household on the displacement of personages 
 which occurred after the execution of Chalais. 
 This St. Simon had quietly insinuated himself in 
 the good graces of Louis, by his modest de- 
 meanour and apparent indifference to politics. 
 " On my arrival in Paris from my English am- 
 bassage," writes Bassompierre, in 1627, " I 
 found that Barradas 46 had been dismissed, and 
 that his place [in the King's chamber] was given 
 to a young boy of pitiful aspect, and still more 
 sorry wit, of the name of St. Simon." " You have 
 heard that Barradas has been dismissed," writes 
 the poet Malherbe, December 19, 1627 ; "we
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 187 
 
 have in his place a Sieur de St. Simon. The King 
 presented him on Wednesday last to the Queen 
 his mother ; he is a young boy of eighteen." The 
 King first showed favour to St. Simon because the 
 latter brought him accurate news of the hunts 
 holden on the royal domain ; and he was also a 
 good rider, and was careful of his Majesty's 
 horses. St. Simon, who possessed the shrewd 
 discrimination which distinguished his celebrated 
 son, perceiving that his fortune rested neither in 
 the hands of the Queens, nor even in the favour of 
 his royal master, attached himself to Richelieu, 
 and served the minister by the accuracy of his 
 reports and the vigilance of his warnings. From 
 the latter, therefore, Richelieu received report 
 of the activity of the cabal plotting his over- 
 throw, and immediately set out to confront and 
 neutralize the danger. Orders had been issued 
 by Marie de' Medici to refuse entrance into the 
 King's chamber to M. le Cardinal. On Richelieu's 
 arrival in Lyons, however, one of those miraculous 
 revivals had occurred in the condition of the 
 King which had so often destroyed the projects 
 of Monsieur and his clique. Louis peremptorily 
 asked to see his minister, of whose presence in 
 Lyons he was apprised by St. Simon and by his 
 confessor Souffran. 47 The unexpected turn in the 
 King's malady caused great affright and con- 
 sternation, and a conference w r as holden in the 
 chamber of Marie de' Medici to decide on the 
 steps to be adopted. The Queen-mother dwelt 
 on the solemn promise made her by the King to
 
 188 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 dismiss his minister Louis having stipulated 
 only, that peace might first be re-established in 
 Germany ; also between France and the Empire, 
 by the concession of the rights of the Duke of 
 Mantua. The Marshal de Marillac, nevertheless, 
 advised that the death of the minister should now 
 be compassed, and offered to strike the blow ; his 
 brother, the Lord Keeper, counselled the Car- 
 dinal's immediate exile to his diocese of Luon ; 
 Bassompierre his arrest and imprisonment in the 
 Bastille ; the Queen-mother declared herself in 
 favour of a sentence of banishment ; an award 
 stated to be likewise approved by the Duke of 
 Orleans. Anne demanded the exile of the minister, 
 whom she denounced as the great obstacle to a 
 cordial understanding between the courts of 
 France and Spain. 48 This conference was scarcely 
 over before all its details were fully known to 
 Richelieu ; and afterwards, in the coming period 
 of his unquestioned power, he is said to have re- 
 taliated on the wily plotters their own award on 
 himself. The same evening the King passed 
 through another dangerous crisis of his malady, 
 and for some hours all again was agitation and 
 panic. Believing that his end approached, Louis 
 sent his confessor, Souffran, to his consort, to ask 
 in his name pardon for all the trials and possible 
 provocations of her married life. " But this 
 august princess," records the venerable father, 
 " took to weeping and shrieking 49 in such frantic 
 emotion, when I opened my mission, and seemed 
 on the point of fainting, so that I could not
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 189 
 
 conclude all that I wished to impart to her Majesty. 
 Prayers were diligently offered for the King's re- 
 covery night and day ; and the Holy Sacrament 
 was exposed on the altars of all the churches in 
 Lyons." Anne's hysterical tears doubtless flowed 
 from extreme suspense, and from the agony of 
 fear which assailed her at the presence of the 
 minister ; being conscious of the equivocal char- 
 acter of her correspondence with M. d'Orleans. 
 The same evening, and during a paroxysm of the 
 King's disorder, when all persons present round 
 his Majesty's couch believed that respiration so 
 laboured must soon cease, Richelieu sent for 
 Bassompierre, who was colonel of the Swiss 
 guards, and humbly requested him to bring over 
 the officers of that regiment to his service, so 
 that in the event of the King's death he might 
 reckon on a faithful military escort -to the 
 frontier. 60 The Cardinal wept and assumed his 
 most beseeching demeanour. Bassompierre, as 
 indeed it was his duty to do, listened with gravity; 
 and replied, that his oath of fealty forbade him to 
 divert the services of the royal guards, even for a 
 temporary purpose ; but that M. le Cardinal, in 
 the event which he anticipated, must submit 
 himself to Queen Marie de' Medici, who, he was 
 informed, would assume the direction of affairs 
 until the arrival of the new king from Orleans. 61 
 Richelieu dismissed the Marshal with a little 
 salutation full of resignation, and prepared him- 
 self for the coming event. His niece, Madame de 
 Combalet, quitted Lyons during the night, taking
 
 190 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 with her many valuable effects appertaining to 
 her uncle, while the Cardinal himself made rapid 
 preparation for flight. Every one avoided the 
 fallen minister excepting the newly married 
 Duchess de Bouillon, sister of the late Constable 
 de Luynes, who offered to Richelieu the shelter 
 of her husband's stronghold of Sedan. At six 
 o'clock on the following morning the bells of all 
 the churches of the town rang jubilant peals ; the 
 altars were adorned, and the gorgeous aisles of St. 
 Jean de Lyons at mid-day echoed to the notes of 
 " Te Deum Laudamus " the night of suspense 
 was passed, and Louis le Juste was restored to 
 his people ! The breaking of another internal 
 tumour had brought the King to the verge of the 
 tomb ; but Louis slowly revived from the deep 
 syncope of exhaustion, feeble but free from pain, 
 and comforted by the favourable verdict of his 
 physicians, who now answered for the life of their 
 royal patient. 62 The court at Lyons fell again at 
 the feet of Richelieu ; the Queens nursed their 
 wrath, and took comfort in the solemn pledge 
 which they had extorted. A dreadful misgiving, 
 however, seized the young Queen, that possibly 
 the Cardinal was in possession of the secret of her 
 correspondence with Monsieur, which knowledge 
 he might impart to the King. The recovery of 
 Louis was marvellously rapid ; on the 14th of 
 October he removed for change of air to the 
 Chateau de Bellecour, 63 near to Roanne, and soon 
 continued his journey to Paris. Marie, meantime, 
 had been laid up for a few days at Lyons with a
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 191 
 
 swelled knee, and did not accompany her son to 
 Bellecour. Louis had urgently prayed his mother 
 to hide their determination to dispense with the 
 Cardinal's services, until after the arrival of the 
 court in Paris. The King piqued himself on his 
 powers of dissimulation, and was even proud to 
 be compared in crafty address to Charles IX. 
 Richelieu, under pretext of state business, re- 
 mained with the Queens, and even attended 
 them to Paris, travelling in the same boat ; so 
 important did the Cardinal deem it to prevent 
 further communications between Anne and the 
 Duke of Orleans. The personage who at this 
 period played the part of spy in the household 
 of the young Queen does not appear ; probably 
 the Cardinal's agent was Madame de la Flotte 
 Hauterive, a lady who, by dint of solicitation, and 
 by the bright eyes of her grand-daughter, Marie 
 de Hautefort, had recently succeeded in obtaining 
 her nomination as gouvernante of Queen Anne's 
 maids of honour. 54 Madame de la Flotte origin- 
 ally had visited Paris to sue in person a cause 
 pending before the Parliament of Paris, which 
 involved the whole of her little patrimony. She 
 waited upon the powerful minister, authorised by 
 a passport to his presence from Madame de Com- 
 balet and accompanied by her grand-daughter. 
 The acute powers of observation and of resolve 
 possessed by his petitioner were not lost on the 
 Cardinal ; the charming face and dignity of 
 demeanour of the young girl, her companion, 
 confirmed Richelieu's prepossession. The widow
 
 192 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 quitted the presence of his Eminence flattered, 
 and moved by strange ambitious anticipations. 
 The suit was in the course of a few days decided 
 in her favour, and Mademoiselle de Hautefort 
 was presented by Madame de Combalet to the 
 Princess de Conty, who, captivated by her lovely 
 face, took her that same evening in her coach to 
 the fashionable promenade, Le Cours de la Reine, 
 and introduced her to the Queen-mother. Marie 
 de Hautefort was subsequently enrolled amongst 
 Marie's maids, and was lodged in the Luxem- 
 bourg, while her grandmother, who was still 
 handsome, entered the service of the politic 
 minister, and was eventually placed by him in 
 the Louvre in the important, though subordinate, 
 office of governess of the maids of honour of her 
 Majesty Queen Anne. 
 
 On the arrival of the Queens in Paris, 65 the 
 hostile cabal eagerly greeted their Majesties, who 
 returned triumphant in the possession of the 
 King's promise to exile his minister. The peace, 
 meantime, upon which Louis had based his assent, 
 was on the eve of accomplishment. The French 
 envoys, le Pere Joseph and M. de Brulart, wrung 
 from the fears of the Emperor a recognition of the 
 rights of the Duke de Nevers to the ducal throne 
 of Mantua. On the 13th of October 1630, the 
 treaty was signed between his Imperial Majesty 
 Ferdinand II. and the King of France in the town 
 of Ratisbon. Casale was ceded to the Duke of 
 Mantua, and was to be evacuated by the Spanish 
 garrison ; and the King engaged no longer to
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 193 
 
 oppose the election of the Imperial prince as King 
 of the Romans ; or to sanction the designs of 
 Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden, who, in 
 alliance with the deposed Elector Palatine King 
 of Bohemia and other Protestant princes of 
 Germany, threatened the empire with sanguinary 
 warfare. The reluctance of the King to disgrace 
 his minister, nevertheless, was manifest ; in the 
 course of a few weeks, Richelieu's ascendency 
 had been confirmed, and the bewilderment of 
 the King amid the accumulations of state busi- 
 ness accruing on the termination of the war, 
 was painfully conspicuous. The Queen-mother, 
 meantime, continued to besiege the King with 
 reproaches for his tardy fulfilment of his solemn 
 promise. In vain Louis sought to pacify his 
 mother, and to persuade her even into a tem- 
 porary reconciliation with the Cardinal. He ex- 
 plained the urgency of his affairs, the dearth of 
 able statesmen, his own fears and presentiments ; 
 and finally, implored her to pardon Richelieu, to 
 accept a seat in the council of state, and to act in 
 conjunction with a prelate so shrewd, faithful and 
 competent to exalt the nation and to maintain 
 the royal prerogatives. Marie responded to her 
 son's appeal by a rude negative : " Either M. le 
 Cardinal leaves the court, or I abandon your 
 Majesty ! What ! you hesitate to give this just 
 satisfaction to your mother, and prefer an insolent 
 churchman, who will finally drive your people 
 to revolt, as he has already rendered your court 
 a desert ? " " The young Queen added her
 
 194 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 entreaties, and besought her husband to conciliate 
 the Princes, to give due preponderance to the 
 Queen his mother, and to reconcile himself sin- 
 cerely with the king her brother and with M. 
 d' Orleans, all which might be achieved by the 
 disgrace of M. le Cardinal. Richelieu, meantime, 
 conducted himself with consummate prudence. 
 He sent his niece from Paris, and commanded 
 that his most valuable effects in the Palais Car- 
 dinal should be packed ; while he constantly 
 alluded in public to his probable departure, and 
 dismissal from office ; and made parade of re- 
 commending certain persons, whose abilities, he 
 thought, might serve the state, to the various 
 chiefs over departments of the government. 
 Daily he presented himself in the antechamber of 
 Marie de' Medici, and of Anne of Austria. The 
 doors of the Luxembourg Palace were closed 
 against him ; the young Queen, however moved 
 perhaps by her dread of what the Cardinal might 
 betray granted him occasional audience. The 
 meek deportment of his minister touched the 
 King most vividly, perhaps, when Richelieu 
 presented himself in the royal closet laden with 
 state papers, despatches, minutes from the pro- 
 vinces, reports from the disaffected districts of the 
 realm, ecclesiastical edicts, and summaries of the 
 doings of those encroaching personages, MM. de la 
 Cour du Parlement ; all of which he now made 
 parade of laying before his royal master for 
 perusal and signature. Louis yawned, and irri- 
 tably pushed aside the obnoxious documents. On
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 195 
 
 one of these occasions he beckoned to his new 
 favourite St. Simon, who was occupied in the 
 antechamber in finishing off a trifling toy put 
 together by the King. Louis rose from his chair, 
 and, followed by St. Simon, approached the 
 window. " Let us stay here in peace awhile," said 
 his Majesty listlessly, " et puis ennuyons-nous, 
 ennuyons-nous, ennuyons-nous ! " 57 Fresh political 
 complications menaced the newly-signed peace of 
 Ratisbon, raised by the clever Richelieu and his 
 clever agent the Capuchin Joseph. The spirit of 
 Louis died within him at the bare contemplation 
 of the diplomacy and intrigue impending ; to 
 vanquish which, as Richelieu made his Majesty 
 clearly understand, his own services, or those of 
 Marie de' Medici and her son d' Orleans, were 
 indispensable. On the 9th day of November, 
 therefore, his Majesty paid an early visit to the 
 Luxembourg, to explain to the Queen-mother 
 his political necessities, his personal wishes, and, 
 above all, to intimate his determination respecting 
 his minister. He found the Queen more irate than 
 ever against the Cardinal, and incensed at his 
 dissensions with the Lord-Keeper Marillac, which 
 betokened the prompt dismissal of that function- 
 ary. She declared Richelieu to be an unprin- 
 cipled trickster, the hollowness of whose apparent 
 devotion to herself she could no longer doubt. 
 Louis listened to her Majesty's tirades in sullen 
 silence, utterly confounded by Marie's passion and 
 vehemence. ' ' This said Cardinal lies in word and 
 deed. Has he not written to our son d'Orleans,
 
 196 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 that if he will abandon our interests, his political 
 grievances shall be redressed ? Has he not written 
 to Messieurs de Vendome that we desire their 
 eternal captivity ? M. le Prince, also, has been 
 informed by this mendacious slanderer, that our 
 enmity is the cause of his continued exile." 58 
 Whilst their Majesties were thus in high alterca- 
 tion, Richelieu arrived at the Luxembourg. His 
 opportune visit had doubtless been concerted 
 with the King, who had commanded him to 
 make every submission requisite to pacify Queen 
 Marie. The ushers on duty had refused, as usual, 
 to pass his Eminence on to the royal cabinet. The 
 Cardinal, however, went to the chapel, and from 
 thence boldly traversed the private corridor which 
 led to the Queen's apartments, and thus gained 
 access to the room in which Marie and her son 
 were conferring. 59 The Cardinal rapped at the 
 door, which was opened by the King, who took 
 the hand of his minister, and presented him to 
 Queen Marie. " Madame, you were speaking of 
 me, your humble servant, who deprecates your 
 anger and prays for pardon." Marie, with a 
 gesture of disdain, turned from the Cardinal, who 
 had fallen on his knees at her feet. " Behold, mon 
 fils, this wicked and false traitor ! His intention is 
 to take your crown, and give it to M. le Comte de 
 Soissons, when the latter shall have espoused la 
 Veuve Combalet ! Are you unnatural and un- 
 dutiful enough to prefer such a varlet to your 
 mother ? Sire, spurn from you this destroyer of 
 your domestic concord, the bitter foe of your
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 197 
 
 mother, your wife, and your brother ! " As the 
 Queen-mother had now worked herself into an 
 extremity of passion, Louis retired ; but made a 
 sign to the Cardinal to remain. 60 Richelieu again 
 tried to deprecate the wrath of his once confiding 
 patroness, but Marie drove him from her 
 presence with reproaches and by protestations of 
 never-ending enmity. The same evening Louis 
 again sought his mother and found her in con- 
 ference with the Princess de Conty, 61 a determined 
 opponent of Richelieu's policy. A second parley 
 ensued, in which the King was so moved by the 
 tears and entreaties of his mother, that he again 
 solemnly renewed his promise to dismiss Riche- 
 lieu. His Majesty then retired, announcing his 
 intention to depart for Versailles, from which 
 palace a letter of dismissal and exile should be 
 addressed to the minister. 
 
 Meantime panic prevailed amongst the friends 
 and adherents of Richelieu. That much-enduring 
 lady, Madame de Combalet, again received notice 
 to pack up her effects, and await the final resolu- 
 tion of her uncle, who contemplated a retreat to 
 Pontoise, and from thence to Havre de Grace. 
 The following day the King made fresh efforts to 
 subdue the obduracy of the Queen-mother. He 
 prayed her to consent that the presidency of the 
 council might at least remain with the minister 
 for six weeks longer. " My affairs absolutely de- 
 mand this concession. In fact, Madame, I have 
 commanded my generals in Italy to hazard a 
 battle if Casale is not surrendered, as stipulated
 
 198 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 by the peace of Ratisbon." Marie wept, but made 
 no sign of relenting. " Madame," resumed his 
 Majesty, eloquent in the defence of a minister who 
 monopolized all the toils of government, " Ma- 
 dame, I entreat that, at least for this period, you 
 will speak more condescendingly to M. le Car- 
 dinal ; in truth, he is indispensable to me ; you 
 are too prejudiced, too violent. M. le Cardinal 
 serves me faithfully. I shall never recover from 
 the grief and chagrin which you occasion me ! " 
 Marie, however, refused to listen to her son's 
 expostulations ; and peremptorily insisted on the 
 departure of the minister. " Mon fils," said her 
 Majesty, " either the Cardinal or I myself leave 
 Paris within the next few hours. Choose, mon 
 fils, between a mother who loves you, and a traitor 
 who betrays you and yours ! " Madame de Com- 
 balet, at this instant, chancing to send by one of 
 her Majesty's ladies a petition to make a farewell 
 visit, Marie declined to grant the audience. Louis, 
 therefore, again took leave of his mother, despair- 
 ing to move her purpose. At the Louvre he 
 entered his chamber, and, throwing himself on a 
 couch, remained some time in meditation. " St. 
 Simon," at length exclaimed his Majesty with a 
 sigh, "St. Simon, did you ever hear or witness 
 before such a scene ? My mother is implacable." 
 " Sire, I confess I thought myself in another world 
 on hearing your Majesty so thwarted ! Neverthe- 
 less, you are our master ; it is for you alone to 
 decide ! " 62 Louis rose ; the shadow of wrathful 
 suspicion fell which so often darkened his youth-
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 199 
 
 ful features, and his lips trembled with passion. 
 " I am master, as you say ; who shall presume to 
 judge between me and my faithful minister ? I 
 will show them all that I am master ! " The King 
 again fell into taciturn silence. St. Simon had 
 heard enough, however, to encourage him to send 
 word to the Cardinal de la Valette to counsel 
 Richelieu to avoid too precipitate a departure, as 
 matters might still be adjusted. The King quitted 
 Paris early on the following morning, St. Martin's 
 Day, llth of November 1630, attended by St. 
 Simon, Beringhen, the Marquis de Mortemar, the 
 Dukes de Montmorency and de Crequi, and other 
 officers of his household. Marie de' Medici on the 
 preceding evening had announced her intention to 
 attend her son to Versailles. It was the Queen's 
 habit to take a cup of broth in the morning 
 before she left her bed, and to sleep afterwards 
 for an hour ; her Majesty, therefore, failed to rise 
 in time to accompany the King. At 10 o'clock 
 Richelieu, being apprized of the departure of 
 the King, determined again to wait upon Marie. 
 '' Monsieur," said he to Bassompierre in the guard- 
 room of the Luxembourg, *' you will not long be 
 troubled to salute, or present arms, to a disgraced 
 and unfortunate man like myself ! " The Marshal 
 made courteous reply, and attended Richelieu, 
 cap in hand, to the door of the chamber where 
 Marie and Anne were closeted together in earnest 
 conference. 
 
 St. Simon, meantime, mindful of the benefits 
 conferred upon him by his patron, ventured again
 
 200 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 to rouse Louis from his depression by interceding 
 for Richelieu, whose crime, he said, was " in 
 having dared to repress the treasonable enter- 
 prises of the Queens and of M. d'Orleans ; the 
 latter wishing to usurp the royal power, if his 
 projects had not even a wider scope as was 
 asserted by M. de Chalais." " Your Majesty's 
 glory and reputation are involved in not weakly 
 sacrificing to feminine vengeance a minister so 
 loyal, and able ! }: St. Simon then affirmed that 
 M. de Richelieu was in possession of an important 
 secret, the disclosure of which depended on his 
 remaining in power, as its betrayal would in all 
 probability prove fatal to a private personage. 
 Louis listened with eager interest ; so much so, 
 that St. Simon despatched an express to the Car- 
 dinal de la Valette, advising his Eminence to set 
 out without delay with Richelieu for Versailles, 
 but carefully to prevent his intention from tran- 
 spiring. 63 This transporting intelligence greeted 
 Richelieu on his return from the Luxembourg, 
 where he had been again, vainly to plead for 
 reconciliation at the feet of Marie de' Medici and 
 of Anne of Austria. Some inkling of the King's 
 vacillation and of a probable turn of fortune in 
 the minister's favour actuated some of the more 
 prudent members of the court. Richelieu found 
 his hotel crowded with personages assembled to 
 offer him respectful condolence. Amongst these 
 personages was M. de Chateauneuf, then the 
 friend of Richelieu, and Lord-Keeper elect after 
 the fall of M. de Marillac, an event resolved upon
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 201 
 
 by the Cardinal. Chateauneuf presented to the 
 Cardinal a letter from the Duchesse de Chevreuse, 
 who had been temporarily won over to the side of 
 Richelieu by his patronage of Chateauneuf, with 
 whom she was in confidential correspondence. 
 M. le Jais, and the Cardinal de la Valette, MM. 
 de Meilleraye and de Breze, likewise joined the 
 assemblage. 64 The news from Versailles soon 
 brought Richelieu tete-a-tete with Louis XIII. 
 who shed tears, and threw himself on the neck of 
 the Cardinal. Louis then heard with indignation 
 the history of the intrigues at Lyons ; the details 
 of Queen Anne's correspondence with Monsieur, 
 when he (the King) was supposed to be lying on 
 the eve of dissolution ; of the empressement shown 
 by Marie de' Medici to act for her son d'Orleans ; 
 and of the orders transmitted by Monsieur from 
 Orleans, through M. de Bassompierre. " The King 
 then exposed to M. le Cardinal all the diabolical 
 things attributed to him by the Queen-mother, 
 with all the artifices by which she hoped to per- 
 suade her son to remove him from the conduct of 
 affairs." " M. le Cardinal," exclaimed Louis, 
 ' the Queen my mother is instigated by a few 
 turbulent spirits to persecute you. I will, how- 
 ever, control such ! It suffices, Monseigneur, I 
 am content with your services. Stay with me ! I 
 give you my royal word to protect you against 
 their cabals." Louis then, with that mingled 
 majesty and decision, which on rare occasions he 
 could assume, gave his hand to his minister, and 
 leading him into an adjacent gallery, where the
 
 202 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 gentlemen waited, presented him to the assembled 
 court. 66 
 
 In Paris, the coterie of Queen Marie continued 
 jubilant over her supposed triumph. On the even- 
 ing of the llth, their Majesties held a reception, 
 which was attended by many of Richelieu's 
 friends, who, ignorant of the revolution in their 
 patron's favour, thought it politic to conciliate the 
 power supposed to be in the ascendant. These 
 persons received no signs of recognition from 
 their Majesties. The following day, November 
 12th, the news of the great counter-plot at Ver- 
 sailles burst upon the astonished courtiers, and 
 convulsed the Queen-mother with despair and 
 indignation. The first intimation was the arrival 
 of an order of arrest issued by the King and 
 countersigned by Richelieu, against the Lord- 
 Keeper Marillac, who was at once seized and 
 conveyed under a strong guard to a house which 
 he possessed in Lorraine. The seals were given 
 to M. de Chateauneuf, a personage who was the 
 confidential friend and ally of the exiled Duchess 
 de Chevreuse. The King despatched the secretary 
 of state de Brienne, to inform the Queen-mother 
 of Richelieu's re-establishment in office, and to 
 pray her Majesty's consent and approval. On 
 the 20th Louis removed to St. Germain, and 
 summoned the Queen his consort and Madame 
 de Fargis to meet him there. Anne obeyed in 
 trembling uncertainty. M. d'Orleans also received 
 a similar order, which he obeyed, as he thought it 
 expedient to make friends with the Cardinal ;
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 203 
 
 especially as he knew from trusty sources, that 
 Richelieu had been informed of the matrimonial 
 overtures which had been again hazarded by the 
 young Queen. Monsieur, therefore, paid a visit 
 in great state to Richelieu, attended by twelve 
 gentlemen, and promised him favour and recon- 
 ciliation. " Thus," says a contemporary, " the 
 great day of St. Martin des Dupes passed with- 
 out effect whatever ; Queen Marie, compelled to 
 tolerate the Cardinal, refused a conference, or any 
 token of amity whatever. ' Je prendrai mon temps; 
 je le trouverai, etferay ce queje veux ! Dieu ne paye 
 pas toutes les semaines, mais enfin il paye ! ' said 
 her Majesty." On the 29th of November, the 
 Queen and her son met. Louis greeted his mother 
 shyly but respectfully, and asked, as a favour, 
 that she would continue to give him the benefit 
 of her presence at the council, and to aid his 
 minister Richelieu by her great experience. Marie 
 wrathfully replied, " that she would never volun- 
 tarily see M. le Cardinal ; that she would rather 
 die than assist him with her counsels ! " Another 
 day, at St. Germain, M. de Nogent, one of the 
 gentlemen of Queen Anne's chamber, but a 
 secret partisan of Richelieu, suddenly entered the 
 saloon of his mistress, and found Anne in tearful 
 conference with the Queen-mother, the Marquis 
 de Mirabel the Spanish ambassador, and her 
 physician Vaultier. When Nogent * entered he 
 overheard the young Queen exclaim, " Ah, what 
 beautiful and consolatory sentences one finds in 
 the Psalms of David ! My spirit revives when I
 
 204 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 read such words as, ' Qui seminat in lachrymis, in 
 exultatione metat.' " 66 Nogent immediately re- 
 ported what he had heard to the Cardinal, who 
 was at St. Germain. The entente between the 
 Queens again renewed Richelieu's terrors. " Bon- 
 nevil, about the 12th of December, informed the 
 King and M. le Cardinal, that he believed there 
 was a cabal offensive and defensive formed by the 
 two Queens and Monsieur, the object of which 
 was to ruin his Eminence by the diabolical lies 
 and testimony of Madame de Fargis and others," 
 is the record entered by the pen of Richelieu in 
 his Diary of the exciting events of this crisis in his 
 history. 
 
 Marie at length showed signs of relenting, fear- 
 ing that hostilities might terminate by her total 
 exclusion from affairs of state. On Christmas day, 
 she intimated to the King her willingness to meet 
 Richelieu in council, provided that the members 
 met in the apartments of the young Queen ; as, 
 wrote she, " I cannot yet resolve to receive M. de 
 Richelieu at the Luxembourg." 67 To humour the 
 exacting spirit of Marie de' Medici, Louis had 
 hitherto assembled the privy council in an apart- 
 ment of the Luxembourg. Further conditions were 
 attempted by Marie : she demanded the pardon 
 of Marillac ; a promise of protection for her own 
 partisans ; also an assurance that Monsieur should 
 not be permitted to marry without her permission. 
 All these conditions were peremptorily declined, 
 as the Queen-mother continued to demonstrate 
 a spirit essentially hostile. Monsieur met the
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 205 
 
 minister in the court of the Louvre, and re- 
 sponded to his obeisance by turning his back on 
 Richelieu. Marie also made a razzia in her house- 
 hold, and dismissed en masse every person related 
 to the minister, or supposed to be favourable to 
 his policy : moreover, she sent to demand from 
 Richelieu his key of office as superintendent of 
 her household ; 68 and commanded him to restore 
 to her the Hotel du Petit Luxembourg a gift 
 which she had made him in the palmy days of his 
 favour. 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER FOUR 
 
 1 Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de France, t. 4. Charles 
 had given his wife four ladies of honour the Duchess of Buckingham, 
 the Marchioness of Hamilton, and the Countesses of Denbigh and Car- 
 lisle, with whom the French ladies were perpetually at feud. 
 
 " Les dames et les autres etrangeres recoivent ordre de se preparer 
 a retourner en France dans vingt-quatre houres. Le Roi les va voir a 
 1'hotel Somrnerset, leur declare sa volonte, et leur fait quelques pre- 
 sents. On los embarque au plutot. Henriette, desolee, ecrit en France. 
 Personnages Illustres, t. 4. 
 
 3 Charles d'Angennos, Seigneur de Fargis. He was ambassador in 
 Spain from the year 1620 to 1624. 
 
 4 Fran9oise de Silly, wife of Philippe Emmanuel de Gondy, General 
 des Galeres, subsequently priest of the Order de 1'Oratoire. He died 
 in 1662. 
 
 " Le Cardinal (de Richelieu) donne des rendez-vous a Madame de 
 Fargis chez le Cardinal de Berulle, a Fontainebleau et ailleurs, de peur 
 de faire trop d'eclat si c'etait chez lui-meme ; et aussi a cause que 
 Berulle passoit pour un beat." Tallemant, t. 2. 
 
 6 Catherine Le Voyer de Lignerolles, wife of Rene du Bellay, Seigneur 
 dela Flotte Hautorive ; her daughter, Renee du Bellay, was the mother 
 of Mario de Hautefort. 
 
 7 " Elle eblouit, seduisit, entraina 1'impetueux et aventureux Charles 
 IV." Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 8 Henry Duke of Lorraine had two daughters, co-heiresses, Nicole and 
 Claude. Nicole married Charles IV., her cousin, eldest son of the Count 
 de Vaudemont, third brother of the duke her father. Claude married 
 Fran9ois, younger brother of Charles IV., and their posterity continued 
 the ducal line of Lorraine. Claude was the mother of the famous Duke
 
 206 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 Charles V. of Lorraine, who never possessed his duchy, then confiscated 
 by the French. He became the brother-in-law of the Emperor Leopold. 
 
 9 Bassompierre : Journal de ma Vie. " En ce temps Madame accoucha 
 d'une fille, centre 1'attente et desir de leurs Majestes et de Monsieur, qui 
 eussent plutot demand6 un fils ; et elle, etant demeuree malade de sa 
 couche, mourut peu de temps apres." Mem. de Mademoiselle de Mont- 
 pensier, t. i. Madame and Queen Anne had lived in much mutual cold- 
 ness, and dislike. " Madame se regardoit comme la future reine," and 
 exacted obsequious homage. 
 
 10 Anne Louise Marie d'Orleans, la Grande Mademoiselle. 
 u Jeanne de Harlay, Marquise de St. George. 
 
 12 " Je lui fis entendre qu'on ne le recevrait pas, et envoyai Montague en 
 toute diligence vers lui." Bassompierre, Journal. " Buckingham pre- 
 tend se servir de 1 'occasion des brouilleries qu'il cause lui-meme, afin de 
 voir la Reine Anne d'Autriche, dont il se declarait 1'amant." Mem. du 
 Due de Rohan. 
 
 13 " Puisqu'on refuse de me recevoir en France comme un ambassadeur 
 qui veut porter la paix, j'y entrerai malgre les Francois, en general 
 d'armee qui porte la guerre ! " retorted the Duke of Buckingham. 
 Mem. du Due de Rohan. 
 
 14 " La Reine me commanda d'ecrire au Due, pour lui faire savoir que 
 sa venue ne lui sera pas agreable." Bassompierre. 
 
 ] 5 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie ; Tallemant, Vie du Due d'Orleans ; 
 Le Vassor, Histoire du Regne de Louis XIII. 
 
 16 Hume, Reign of Charles I. ; Siege de La Rochelle, Archives Curieuses, 
 t. 3, deuxieme serie. 
 
 17 Tallemant Des Reaux ; Le Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 18 " Cette chambre etait fort doree ; le plancher etait couvert de tapis 
 de Perse, et il y avait une espece d'autel ou etait le portrait de la Reine, 
 avec plusieurs flambeaux alJumes." 
 
 9 The Rochellois, who had received no previous hints of this expedition, 
 refused to admit the English succours into their town, on pretence that 
 they could not take such a material resolution without the concurrence 
 of the other Protestants, with whom they were associated ; but in reality 
 they were afraid of their allies, suspecting that Soubise and Blancas had 
 agreed to betray the place into the hands of the English. Hume. 
 
 Tallemant, Vie du Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 21 Siege de La Rochelle, Archives Curieuses. Hume, Reign of Charles I. ; 
 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie. 
 
 22 Walter, second son of the first Earl of Manchester, a Roman Catholic, 
 and subsequently abbot of St. Martin de Pontoise. Montague possessed 
 much influence in the councils of France under Marie de' Medici and 
 Anne of Austria. He died, 1670, at the abbey of St. Martin, and was 
 interred in the church of 1'Hopital des Incurables, Paris. 
 
 23 La Porte, Mem., p. 304. 
 
 24 Page 304 et seq., Memoires, La Porte, Pettitot, vol. 54.
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 207 
 
 25 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie ; Siege de La Rochelle, Archives 
 Curieuses. Aubery, M6m. pour servir a 1 'Histoire de M. le Cardinal de 
 Richelieu. " Le Roi donna ordre expres au Due d'Angouleme et aux 
 Marechaux de Bassompierre et de Schomberg, d'obeir au Cardinal 
 cornine a sa propre personne." Richard, Vie du Pere Joseph. 
 
 26 It has been asserted that Anne of Austria was compelled by the King 
 and by Richelieu to exert her influence over Buckingham, for the welfare 
 of her country, by writing a letter to the Duke, in which she commanded 
 him not to set sail before a period which she indicated. 
 
 27 Hume ; Thomson's Life of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham ; Le 
 Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. ; Rapin, History of the Reign of Charles I. 
 
 28 Buckingham often spoke of his conquests over roj^al ladies in terms 
 highly irreverential. Madame de Chevreuse told the celebrated co- 
 adjutor archbishop of Paris, De Retz, that the Duke said to her one day, 
 " J'ai aime trois reines, et j'ai 6t6 oblige de les gourmer (to cuff them) 
 toutes trois." " De vivre avec la reine (Anne d'Autriche) d'une maniere 
 un peu gal ante et rude, a deux faces, de 1'humeur dont je connois la 
 reine," said Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 29 The charms of the Duchess de Chevreuse had much power over 
 Richelieu. Madame de Motteville says, " que ce ministre, malgre la 
 rigueur qu'il avait cue pour elle, ne 1'avait jamais hale ; et que sa 
 beaute avait eu des charmes pour lui." Motteville, p. 62, t. i. 
 
 50 Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche Archives de Simancas, 471. 
 MS. quoted by M. Capefigue. 
 
 31 Journal de Cardinal de Richelieu, qu'il a fait durant le grand orage 
 de la cour, ez annees 1630 a 1644. Tire des Memoires qu'il a ecrit de sa 
 main. Amsterdam, 1664. 
 
 32 Philip IV. and Elizabeth de Bourbon, eldest daughter of Henri 
 Quatre and Marie de' Medici. 
 
 33 Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre, annee 1629. Aubery, Mem. pour 
 1 'Histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu. The Queen-mother, when she first 
 saw the Cardinal after his return, asked after his health. " Je me porte 
 mieux que beaucoup de gens qui sont ici ne voudroient ! " replied 
 Richelieu. Marie, surprised, then turned the conversation by a jest on 
 the Cardinal de Berulle. "Je voudrois bien," interposed Richelieu, " etre 
 aussi avant dans vos bonnes graces, comme est celui dont vous vous 
 moquez." En quittant Marie de' Medici, Richelieu alia chez le Roi, et 
 lui demanda permission de se retirer du ministere. 
 
 34 Marie de' Medici was offered, but refused, the regency of the realm 
 during the King's absence, in order to follow her son, and more effectu- 
 ally subvert the influence of Richelieu. 
 
 35 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu, qu'il a fait durant le grand orage 
 de la cour es annees 1630 jusques a 1631. " La Reine dit a Bullion 
 qu'elle attendoit son temps, auquel le Roy ouvriroit les yeux et les 
 oreilles ; et qu'elle mourrait plutot que de voir le Cardinal Vaultier a 
 aussi dit, que la Reine esperoit que Dieu la vengeroit."
 
 208 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 36 Tallemant, Vie du Cardinal de Richelieu, Hist. 66. 
 
 37 Vittorio Siri, Mora. Recondite, t. 3. Bassompierre. 
 
 38 Henriette Catherine, legitimee de France, daughter of Henri IV. and 
 Gabrielle d'Estrees. 
 
 39 Renee de Lorraine, daughter of the Duke de Mayenne, chief of the 
 League. Her husband, the Duke d'Ornano, was a prince of the house of 
 Sforza Santa Fiore. 
 
 40 Dreux du Radier, Vie de la Reine Anne d'Autriche ; Siri, Mem. 
 Recondite ; Aubery, M6m. du Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 41 " Elle avoit les mains parfaites, et ne les regardoit pas sans une 
 secrete complaisance." Monville, Vie de Mignart, who painted the 
 portrait of the Queen in 1659. 
 
 42 Recit du Maladie du Roy a la ville de Lyons, par le Rev. P. Souff ran, 
 son Confesseur ordinaire. Lyons, Vermonet, 1630. Le Vassor, Hist, 
 de Louis XIII. 
 
 43 " Monsieur le Cardinal de Lyons dit la messe dans la chambre, et le 
 communia." 
 
 44 " Ces paroles attendrirent si fort le cceur de ceux qui etoient presents, 
 que tous, la Reine, messieurs les Cardinaux, et autres officiers de sa 
 maison, se jettant a genoux, pleurants et sanglottants, crierent : ' C'est 
 a nous, Sire, de vous demander pardon. Pardonnez-nous, Sire ! ' " 
 Recit du Pere Souffran. " Ego testis oculatus et auritus," testifies the 
 reverend Jesuit. 
 
 45 Claude Duo de St. Simon, born 1606 ; married Diane de Budos, by 
 whom he had one daughter, married to the Due de Brissac ; for his 
 second wife, M. de St. Simon espoused Charlotte de 1'Aubespine, who 
 was the mother of the celebrated Due de St. Simon. 
 
 46 A young cavalier of Burgundy, who succeeded to brief favour after 
 the death of De Luynes, whose lineage appears to have been almost 
 unknown. The reason of his disgrace is thus recounted by Malherbe : 
 " Un jour le Roi par caresse, lui jeta quelques gouttes d'eau de fleur 
 d'orange au visage dans la chambre de la Reine. Barradas se mit dans 
 une tefie colere, qu'il sauta sur les mains du Roi, lui arracha le petit 
 pot ou etoit 1'eau, et le lui lanca aux pieds." 
 
 47 Recit du Pere Souffran. 
 
 48 Bassompierre : " On rapporte qu'il y cut une grande assemblee a ce 
 sujet, chez Madame de Fargis ; et que le Cardinal entendit tout au 
 moyen d'une surbacane, et que chacun subit plus tard le traitement qu'il 
 voulait faire eprouver au ministre." Notice sur Richelieu ; Mem. de 
 Richelieu, depuis 1610 jusqu'a 1620. 
 
 49 " Cette princesse jeta de si hauts cris, et espandit tant de larmes, 
 quand je lui dis cela, qu'elle pensa s'evanouir ; et je ne pus parachever ce 
 que je voulois dire." Recit du Rev. Pere Souffran. 
 
 50 Preface des editeurs de la premiere edition des Memoires de Bassom- 
 pierre. Cologne, 1665. 
 
 61 Bassompierre is said to have hinted to the Cardinal that he might
 
 1630] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 209 
 
 obtain his desire by prompt application to M. de Villeroi, Governor of 
 Lyons, through M. de Chateauneuf, cousin -german to Villeroi, and the 
 Cardinal's devoted adherent. 
 
 52 Recit du Rev. P. Souffran, who terminates his interesting narrative 
 with the wish that the King's unexpected recovery " serve a 1'amende- 
 ment de cette cour, qui est maintenant pleine de bonne volonte ; mais 
 connoissant son inconstance je craina quo, venient filii usque ad partum, 
 et non est virtus pariendi." 
 
 53 " Maison de Madame de Chaponay." Bassompierre. 
 
 64 " Un emploi au-dessous d'elle," says Tallemant des Reaux. 
 
 55 " Marie de' Medici descendit au couvent des Carmelites du Faubourg 
 St. Jacques, avant d'aller au Luxembourg. On crut que la perte du 
 ministre fut encore concertee la, entre les deux reines, et Marillac, Garde 
 des Sceaux. Les apologistes de ces princesses, soutiennent qu'on ne 
 s'occupa que de devotion chez les Carmelites ; et que les deux reines, 
 entrees dans le monastere, n'eut pas un long entretien avec Marillac," 
 etc. etc. Galerie des Personnages lllustres de la Cour de France, 
 pendant les regnes de Henri IV. et de Louis XIII. , t. 4. 
 
 56 Journal de M. le Cardinal Due de Richelieu. The Cardinal relates 
 with considerable complacency all the violent speeches made by the 
 Queen-mother. One day she exclaimed to Bullion, secretary of state, 
 " Je me donnerois plutdt au diable, que je ne me vengeasse ! " Another 
 day, MarieJ conversing with a Jesuit of the court, le Pere Chrysostom, 
 said that she hated the Cardinal, " pour 1'etat qu'il avoit mis la France." 
 The Jesuit replied, " que tout le monde estimait le contraire." " Le 
 peuple est une bete ; il ne faut pas prendre garde de ce qu'il dit," replied 
 her Majesty angrily. " Elle dit au roi que j'6tais un grand menteur ; et 
 que je lui avait fait signer des papiers pour d'autres." Journal de 
 Richelieu. 
 
 57 Tallemant des Reaux, Hist, de Louis XIII. 
 
 58 Journal de Richelieu sur les oragea de la cour, es annees 1630-1644. 
 " Que dites-vous la, Madame ? La colere vous emporte trop loin," ex- 
 claimed the King. " Vous m'affligez si sensiblement que je ne me 
 remettrai jamais du chagrin que vous me causez." Galerie des Per- 
 sonnages lllustres de la Cour de France, t. 4. 
 
 69 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie. Louis is said by Bassompierre to 
 have exclaimed with dismay, on seeing his minister, " Le voici ! " 
 
 60 Galerie des Personnages lllustres, etc. etc. ; Histoire du Cardinal de 
 Richelieu ; Aubery ; Le Vassor, Histoire de Louis XIII. ; Leti, Teatro 
 Gallico, t. 1, in 4to ; Dreux du Radier, Vie de Marie de' Medici. 
 
 61 Louise-Marguerite de Lorraine-Guise. After the death of the Prince 
 de Conty, in 1614, she is supposed to have made a secret marriage with 
 Bassompierre. 
 
 62 Galerie des Personnages lllustres, t. 4. The Due de St. Simon, in his 
 Memoirs, relates : " II est souvent arrive a mon pere d'etre reveille en 
 sursaut en pleine nuit par un valet de chambre qui tiroit son rideau, 
 
 o
 
 210 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 
 
 une bougie a la main, ayant derriere lui le Cardinal de Richelieu, qui 
 s'asseyoit sur le lit, en prenant la bougie, s'ecriant quelquefois qu'il 
 etoit perdu, et venoit au conseil et au secours de mon pere, sur des avis 
 qu'on lui avoit donnes, ou sur les prises qu'il avoit cues avec le Roi." 
 Mem. t. 1, chap. iii. 
 
 63 " Je ne m'arreterai point a la fameuse Journee des Dupes," writes the 
 Due de St. Simon, " ou mon pere eut le sort du Cardinal Richelieu entre 
 
 les mains, parceque je 1'ai trouvee dans (Siri ?), toute telle que mon 
 
 pere me 1'a racontee." Tome i. chap. iii. The name of the historian 
 quoted by St. Simon cannot be deciphered in the MS. of his Memoires. 
 Vittorio Siri, however (Mem. Recondite), states that he received every 
 detail of La Journee des Dupes from the lips of M. de St. Simon. 
 
 64 Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de France, sous les regnes 
 de Henri IV. et Louis XIII., vol. 4, p. 114, et seg. " Le bagage du 
 Cardinal etait d6ja en chemin sous 1'escorte de quelques soldats, et ses 
 nutlets allerent jusqu'a trente-cinq lieux au-dela de Paris, sans entrer 
 dans aucune ville de peur qu'ils ne fussent arretes, et que le peuple ne 
 s'avisat de piller le tresor qu'ils porterent." 
 
 66 " Les Dues de Montmorency et Crqui, avertis sous mains par St. 
 Simon, vont a Versailles ; mais Bassompierre fut une des plus grandes 
 dupes de cette fameuse Journee." 
 
 66 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 67 " Parceque le dit Cardinal avoit trop de temps a etre chez elle en 
 attendant le conseil qu'on ne tiendroit pas toujours des lors que le Roi 
 seroit entr6 ; ce qu'elle ne vouloit pas, pour 1'aversion qu'elle avoit 
 contre luy ; et la peine que ce luy 6toit de le souff rir, et encore rien qui 
 luy appartient." 
 
 68 Marie aggravated this extreme mark of displeasure by sending as her 
 messenger a simple valet de chambre, with a verbal message !
 
 CHAPTER V 
 1630-1631 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND MADEMOISELLE DE 
 HAUTEFORT 
 
 MADAME DE FARGIS, meanwhile, continued to 
 assail the Cardinal de Richelieu, to upbraid him 
 for his ingratitude, and to flay his reputation by 
 her sarcasm. According to Richelieu, she was 
 accessory to all the peril and annoyances which he 
 experienced ; exasperating her mistress, Queen 
 Anne, against him, and proving herself the 
 steady ally of M. Vaultier, and the agent of the 
 exiled princes in their attempts to convulse the 
 court. Meantime it was said that the liaison 
 which Madame de Fargis retained with the Count 
 de Cramail, and with Beringhen, first valet de 
 chambre to the King, was open to grave suspicion ; 
 so much so as to render her removal from the 
 household of the Queen advisable. The King, 
 moreover, could not endure the presence of a per- 
 sonage who had acted in accord with his consort 
 throughout her late negotiations with Monsieur ; 
 his Majesty, therefore, listened greedily to the 
 defamatory stories in circulation and thereupon 
 resolved on the dismissal of de Fargis. 1 At the 
 same time, Richelieu resolved to forbid the 
 
 frequent interviews holden between Anne and 
 
 211
 
 212 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [leso- 
 
 the Spanish ambassador. Boutillier was therefore 
 despatched to Mirabel to deliver a formal order 
 from the King forbidding the Marquis from entree 
 to the Louvre except on state festivals ; 2 also it 
 was intimated that for the future when the am- 
 bassador wished for audience of Queen Anne such 
 privilege was to be solicited in the prescribed way, 
 notice being given to her Majesty's chamberlain 
 three days previously. The abbess of Val de 
 Grace, moreover, received a notice not to admit 
 persons within her convent during the abode 
 there of Queen Anne, and to forward to the 
 minister a list of all applicants for audience. The 
 ambassador, in a state of extreme irritation, 
 sought an immediate interview with King Louis 
 to ask reparation for so notable an affront. The 
 King coolly replied, " M. PAmbassadeur, you are 
 cognisant of the intrigues afloat at my court 
 which deprive me of tranquillity. You ought not, 
 by your frequent audience of her Majesty, to 
 have provoked comment, or to have seemed to 
 sanction and encourage such disorders. It is not 
 my intention to revoke my mandate. I will 
 thank you to inform me whether the King your 
 master would have suffered for a single day at 
 his court the cabals and disquietudes which for 
 years have convulsed mine ? " 3 Richelieu then 
 added that M. de Barrault, his Majesty's am- 
 bassador in Spain, was compelled to adhere to the 
 recognised etiquette in his visits to her Catholic 
 Majesty sister of King Louis, and that during 
 the last four months he had never failed to present
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 213 
 
 himself twice in the week to salute her Catholic 
 Majesty and had not been admitted to audience. 
 Intelligence of these proceedings reached the ear 
 of Anne, who now passed most of her time at the 
 Luxembourg, in the society of the Queen-mother, 
 and was often many days without seeing her 
 husband. Mirabel paid a furtive visit the follow- 
 ing day to the Val de Grace whilst Anne was 
 attending mass in the convent chapel, and suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining brief audience of her Majesty, 
 who was attended by de Fargis, as she quitted the 
 convent. On the 27th Anne sent for M. Boutil- 
 lier, under-secretary of state. The interview is 
 thus related by the pungent pen of Richelieu in 
 his Diary : 4 " The Queen sent for M. Boutillier, 
 to say that she was informed that some persons 
 were rendering bad offices to Madame de Fargis 
 and that it was intended to dismiss her, that she 
 had, therefore, sent for him to say to me that the 
 greatest pleasure that I could do her was to pre- 
 vent this ; that until now she had been the victim 
 of oppression, but she desired that I should know 
 she would no longer endure such ignominious 
 treatment, and that she was not so miserable and 
 insignificant a personage as not to be able some 
 day to resent her wrongs." 5 Boutillier replied, 
 that he had received no official intimation that 
 the exile of Madame de Fargis was resolved upon. 
 The Queen retorted : " I know it from trust- 
 worthy sources : let it suffice." Monsieur also 
 visited Richelieu to intercede for Madame de 
 Fargis at the request of the Queen who was
 
 214 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 " stirred with marvellous anger at the insult about 
 to be offered to her." Intercession, however, 
 proved useless ; Louis and his minister were 
 resolved upon the exile of the frivolous and 
 intriguing woman whose counsels led her mistress 
 astray. Richelieu was, doubtless, moved to this 
 decision by pique at the conduct of de Fargis, 
 who had obtained her nomination to the royal 
 household by professions of devotion to his 
 interests. " On the 30th of December," writes 
 Richelieu, " de Fargis received an order to leave 
 the court, in the most considerate and favourable 
 manner possible, as she was to ask for permission 
 to resign. The Queen testified great indignation 
 against the Cardinal. She said several times, in 
 the presence of Madame d'Angouleme and of 
 Madame la Princesse, ' that, as for the order 
 which had been given to the ambassador of Spain, 
 it was for the King of Spain her brother to resent 
 and avenge it as would be seen, but the exile of 
 Madame de Fargis was her affair ; and that all 
 concerned in it might be assured that she would 
 never relax in her displeasure.' Moreover," con- 
 tinues Richelieu, " the fury of the Queen was 
 unappeasable, for she exclaimed in the presence 
 of little Lavaux, ' No, never will I pardon M. le 
 Cardinal ' J: 
 
 " January 3, 1631. The Queen went to visit 
 the Queen-mother, where she remained a long 
 time ; on her return her eyes were red and 
 swelled. She bitterly complained of the indig- 
 nities to which she was subjected, especially that
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 215 
 
 his Majesty threatened to dismiss her apothe- 
 cary, Michel Danse : the said Michel Danse 
 having observed to her Majesty that he knew why 
 M. le Cardinal wished to dismiss him it was to 
 have opportunity to poison her so that the King 
 might espouse Madame de Combalet ! The Queen 
 responded again with a menace, adding : ' No es 
 mas tiempo de habler con el Cardenal, pero Men de 
 hazer ! ' 
 
 " January 5. The Spanish ambassador waited 
 on M. le Cardinal to notify that her Majesty had 
 applied to him to intercede for her apothecary ; 
 the said Cardinal responded 6 ' that he would 
 mention the request to the King who was master 
 and lord. 5 
 
 " January 6. M. de Chaulnes visited the Car- 
 dinal with the King. After his Majesty had de- 
 parted the said de Chaulnes informed the Cardinal 
 that his sister, Madame de Bouillon, 7 met the 
 Queen at the Carmelite Convent, and that her 
 Majesty made bitter comment on her position 
 and treatment ; upon which the said Dame de 
 Bouillon replied, ' that perhaps it was her Ma- 
 jesty's own fault, by living on bad terms with the 
 King and with those persons in whom his 
 Majesty confided.' Her Majesty replied, with 
 warmth, 4 No ! M. le Cardinal wishes to divorce 
 me from the King, my lord, and send me back 
 to Spain.' 8 The same day, M. le Cardinal de la 
 Valette went to pay his respects to her Majesty, 
 and while in discourse he gently observed that 
 her Majesty should not so bitterly resent the past,
 
 216 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 neither ought she to threaten so unreservedly. 
 The Queen replied, ' I fear nothing ; they have 
 done the worst against me that they can. I know 
 what my conduct in future shall be, and they have 
 no power to prevent me. I repeat, I have nothing 
 to fear ! I need patience only and time will do 
 the rest.' The Queen then paused, and glancing 
 uneasily at the Cardinal de la Valette, hastily 
 added, ' I perceive that, perhaps, I talk too 
 much : I will say no more.' 
 
 " January 7. The King has had intelligence 
 that the Spanish ambassador has been all this 
 afternoon shut up with the Queen at Val de 
 Grace ; also that de Fargis was lodging with le 
 Pere de Gondy close at hand, and that a person 
 named Bordier has been going between the said 
 ambassador, the Queen and de Fargis, in defiance 
 of the strict orders given by his Majesty that 
 the said ambassador should not see the Queen 
 without leave. The ambassador quitted Val de 
 Grace at dusk hour, and whilst he was there his 
 coach waited in an adjacent street. 
 
 " The King desiring this same evening to go to 
 the play, her Majesty refused to accompany him, 
 and simulated faintness in order to be able to 
 excuse herself. 
 
 " January 8. The King expressed again the 
 same desire, and sent to ask the Queen his wife to 
 accompany him to see a comedy ; her Majesty 
 refused to go, although M. de Bonnevil 9 gravely 
 represented the matter. 
 
 " The Cardinal de la Valette informed the Car-
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 217 
 
 dinal that on a certain day the two Queens, as 
 they retired from the court circle, said (alluding to 
 his Eminence), ' Nous avons bien a faire de luy 
 donner plaisir tandis qu'il nous procure du deplai- 
 sir, et de la peine ! ' 
 
 " January 20. The prioress of Val de Grace 
 sent secretly to inform M. le Cardinal par le R. 
 de P. (sic), that Montagu 10 in disguise had talked 
 at the grate with the Queen ; also that many 
 persons whom they did not know now spoke there 
 to her Majesty ; and that the last time that she 
 visited the convent a letter was given to her at the 
 grate, which her Majesty read and then burned ; 
 the writer was supposed to be Madame de 
 Fargis." ll 
 
 This entertaining Journal, written by the Car- 
 dinal, reveals the irritating espionnage exercised 
 over the words and actions of the young Queen. 
 Anne's puerile plots to displace the powerful 
 minister recoiled upon herself and covered her 
 with obloquy. Her position at the court of 
 France, over which her predecessors had ruled so 
 imperiously, was humiliating to a great princess. 
 Her personal liberty even was fettered, and St. 
 Germain, the Luxembourg and the Val de Grace, 
 were the only places which she had permission to 
 visit at pleasure. The court assembled in the 
 splendid saloons of the minister, and while 
 Queen Anne moped in a corner of the Louvre, 
 Madame de Combalet received the homage of the 
 great ladies of the capital. In defiance of the 
 orders of the minister, Madame de Fargis lingered
 
 218 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 in Paris, from whence, however, she made pre- 
 cipitate retreat to Jouarre on learning that a 
 packet of letters which she had formerly written 
 to some personage in Lorraine 12 had been seized 
 on the person of one M. de Senelle, ex-apothecary 
 to the King, whom she had sent to Nancy to 
 recover possession of these papers which she now 
 deemed it expedient to destroy. At Jouarre, de 
 Fargis had an interview with the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse. Marie apparently greeted the fugi- 
 tive with sympathy and listened to her plaints 
 against the Cardinal, with whom, however, the 
 Duchess was now reconciled through her friend 
 the Lord Keeper de Chateauneuf . From Jouarre* 
 de Fargis travelled to Nancy, and from thence 
 she was imprudent enough to despatch letters to 
 the young Queen and to other high personages, 
 repeating her slanderous accusations against the 
 minister. Scarcely had her messenger passed the 
 frontier of Lorraine than Richelieu's emissaries 
 seized and despoiled him of his despatches which, 
 were at once transmitted to Paris. 
 
 " Amongst these papers," writes the Cardinal, 13 
 " were found letters addressed to the Queen and 
 others for M. le Comte de Cramail, Mademoiselle 
 du Tillet and the Marquise de Sourdis. These 
 letters contained mention of high crimes, and 
 discussed advantages to be derived from the death 
 of the Cardinal. They also made allusion to 
 the death of the King, and mentioned the old 
 project of marrying the Queen to Monsieur. 
 They stated that the Queen-mother opposed the
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 219 
 
 marriage of Monsieur with a princess of Mantua 
 to please the Queen, as his Majesty's health was 
 apparently greatly on the decline. They testified 
 to intimate correspondence between the writer, 
 the Queen-consort and Monsieur, and gave 
 advice to the said Queen Anne to do her utmost 
 against the Cardinal. De Fargis also wrote to 
 M. de Cramail, to get up petitions against the 
 Cardinal and to forward them to the Queen. De 
 Fargis, moreover, said to M. de Cramail ' that she 
 would send the necessary tokens to the individual 
 indicated ; but it would be requisite that this man 
 should be especially faithful as she herself was. 5 
 All these said letters were shown, and identified to 
 be in the handwriting of de Fargis, by the persons 
 to whom they were addressed." 
 
 The Duchess de Chevreuse, meantime, paid a 
 brief visit of a few days to Paris and was per- 
 mitted to see the Queen without restriction, 
 which concession diminished the acrimony of 
 Anne's resentment. Her Majesty sent the 
 Duchess to the hotel of the minister to intercede 
 for de Fargis, and likewise she persuaded Mon- 
 sieur, who was then staying at the Luxembourg 
 with Queen Marie, to speak to the King on the 
 same subject. Louis silenced Monsieur's loqua- 
 city, adding bitterly, " that in a few hours her 
 Majesty would be made aware of the justice of the 
 proceedings against a personage every way so con- 
 temptible and unworthy." The Cardinal replied, 
 " that the exile of the said Dame de Fargis being 
 approved even by the Marquis de Mirabel, and
 
 220 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 ordered by his Majesty Louis XIII., he could in no 
 way interfere." 14 The day but one following, as 
 Anne was preparing to depart for the Val de 
 Grace, to grant a stolen interview to Mirabel, 
 Boutillier, under- secretary of state, appeared to 
 demand audience of the Queen on behalf of the 
 Cardinal de Richelieu, the Lord Keeper de Cha- 
 teauneuf, and the ministers of state de Schomberg 
 and d'Effiat, who presented themselves at the 
 portal of Anne's audience chamber before her 
 Majesty could command herself sufficiently to 
 reply to their message. Anne's usual placid de- 
 meanour faltered somewhat as she took her seat 
 and prepared to listen to the communication 
 about to be made in such formal state. Richelieu 
 then blandly informed her Majesty of the arrest of 
 Senelle and of another envoy of the Countess de 
 Fargis, and laid the letters captured from these 
 persons on the table for Anne's inspection 
 " which we did," relates his Eminence, " with all 
 possible respect." The Queen then identified the 
 writing and letters of de Fargis, but said much 
 against the said de Fargis, for the wicked thoughts 
 that she suggested respecting the marriage be- 
 tween Monsieur and herself in case of the demise 
 of his Majesty. She said " that she had con- 
 ceived such an aversion for the person of Mon- 
 sieur that she did not think that she could ever be 
 brought to consent to such an alliance." The 
 Cardinal then drew her Majesty's attention to a 
 paragraph in one of the letters of Madame de 
 Fargis to the Count de Cramail, in which she ex-
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 221 
 
 horted the latter, " to forward as many petitions 
 as possible to the Queen against Richelieu.'' 
 " Madame," observed the Cardinal, " truth is 
 everywhere to be obtained. I pray you there- 
 fore, do not seek so far for grievances against me, 
 but if your Majesty has aught to complain of tell 
 me my fault." " Monseigneur, I must be very 
 malicious to say anything against you, not having 
 cause." 15 The audience terminated with a ceremo- 
 nious farewell, previous to which Richelieu ap- 
 prised the Queen that the Marquise de Senece had 
 been appointed by the King to replace Madame de 
 Fargis as first lady of the palace. Anne received 
 the communication in silence, but after the de- 
 parture of the minister her tears flowed, and she 
 hurriedly retired to her oratory and appeared no 
 more in public during the day. 
 
 The court, meantime, continued to be a very 
 focus of intrigue : pleasure and festivities were no 
 longer sought by the courtiers but were replaced 
 by the evil excitements of petty plotting, scandal 
 and slander. Each man and woman of the court 
 was attached to one or other of the hostile parties, 
 and either rallied round Marie de' Medici at the 
 Luxembourg, Anne of Austria at the Louvre, 
 Monsieur at the Hotel d' Orleans, or Richelieu at 
 the Palais Cardinal. Jealousy, suspicions and a 
 lawless excitement relative to the issue of the 
 political feuds prevailing, quenched the wit, th* 
 gaiety and the magnificence of the courtiers. In 
 these days of cabal, frivolous stories acquired a 
 disastrous degree of importance, a depreciatory
 
 222 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 whisper sufficed to blast a promising career, and 
 to inscribe a name on the terrible black list of the 
 Cardinal. The spirit of Marie de' Medici quailed 
 at the contest before her ; and yet she rejected 
 with disdain the overtures of the minister, while 
 weeping in the solitude of her palace at the 
 obloquy which had befallen her, and at the 
 fatal omens 16 which she descried of approaching 
 calamity. The Duke of Orleans, who was watched 
 with gloomy suspicion by King Louis, one day 
 courted the smiles and friendship of Richelieu, 
 and on the next furiously declaimed against his 
 power, and vowed to support his mother to the 
 death. Reassured by the sympathy of her 
 younger son, Marie, during January of the year 
 1631, took the fatal resolve of making one more 
 effort to dislodge Richelieu. Stories were circu- 
 lated by her Majesty's command, depreciating the 
 honour and fame of the minister ; ludicrous inci- 
 dents were invented and industriously detailed to 
 undermine his influence, in which ridicule Anne 
 and Marie joined. Marie had appointed Riche- 
 lieu, in the former days of his favour, lord-steward 
 for life of her household, and had presented him 
 with the Hotel du Petit Luxembourg, a mansion 
 joining her own palace, as his official residence. 
 This office she had commanded him to resign, 
 also possession of le Petit Luxembourg, which 
 was then inhabited by the Cardinal's niece, 
 Madame de Combalet. Richelieu audaciously 
 disregarded the mandate, alleging that the office 
 of lord-steward was permanent ; as for the Petit
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 223 
 
 Luxembourg, Queen Marie had promised him an 
 indemnity of 30,000 livres if, at the command of 
 the King, or from any other motive, she was com- 
 pelled to resume her gift, which otherwise was 
 to be considered a donation given and accepted 
 for life. Marie appealed to the King, and offered 
 to pay the indemnity, but Louis decided that the 
 hotel belonged to his minister, and that the Queen 
 could not thus arbitrarily annul an appointment. 17 
 Thus thwarted, Marie injudiciously sought sup- 
 port from Monsieur, who entered into the quarrel 
 with acrimony so much so, that meeting the 
 minister one day in public, he again passed 
 him without salutation or any notice whatever. 
 Meantime, the friends of Queen Marie held almost 
 open communication with M. de Soissons and 
 other exiled princes. State secrets oozed out in a 
 mysterious manner at the courts of Madrid, 
 London and Nancy. Couriers were continually 
 passing to and from those countries bearing de- 
 spatches for the Queen-mother, for Queen Anne, 
 or for Monsieur, the contents of which were never 
 disclosed. The clandestine visits of Anne to her 
 community at the Val de Grace became more 
 frequent than ever, and the Cardinal obtained 
 information that she constantly there granted 
 interviews to M. de Mirabel and Madame de 
 Fargis, who had had the audacity to visit Paris 
 in disguise ; and to one Croft, 18 who acted as the 
 agent of the English government, and to whom 
 Queen Anne was accused of betraying any state 
 secrets she might become possessed of relating to
 
 224 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 the Huguenot subjects of the realm. There can 
 be little doubt that Anne, in her anger at the 
 coercion to which she was subjected, did impart 
 much information to the envoys of foreign states. 
 Dazzled by the promise of future power and con- 
 sideration, guaranteed to her by her ambitious 
 mother-in-law and by Monsieur, she eagerly 
 entered into their miserable plots to overthrow 
 Richelieu. Matters were brought to a crisis by a 
 rude refusal on the part of the President le Jay to 
 pay a pecuniary mandate of considerable amount 
 drawn on the treasury by Queen Marie ; also by 
 the independent act of the Cardinal, who bestowed 
 the government of the Pays d'Aunis with La 
 Rochelle without previously consulting M. d' Or- 
 leans, which was a breach, as Monsieur alleged, 
 of their late treaty of amity. Monsieur conse- 
 quently waited on his Eminence one morning, 
 attended by a numerous suite all having pre- 
 viously been concerted with the Queens : " Your 
 Eminence will doubtless feel surprise at my visit," 
 began Monsieur, in a tone which Richelieu shrank 
 not from calling insolent in his account of the 
 interview to the King. " As long as I believed 
 that you were inclined faithfully to serve my in- 
 terests, I was willing to remain your friend ; now, 
 as I perceive that you fail to perform that which 
 you promised, and have therefore broken faith 
 with me, I am here to withdraw my promise to 
 aid and to patronise you." 19 The great minister 
 inclined before the young Prince, and with an air 
 of deep respect, " begged to be informed in what
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 225 
 
 manner he had failed to give satisfaction to his 
 royal Highness ? ' " Monsieur, you have failed 
 in all your engagements relative to the Duke of 
 Lorraine ; you have also done all in your power to 
 throw discredit and to attribute loss of influence 
 to Queen Marie your benefactress and to myself." 
 
 4 Monseigneur," replied Richelieu, " have not I 
 promised to consider the claims of M. de Lorraine, 
 when the said prince shall invite me so to do by 
 his envoys ? As for yourself, your Highness re- 
 ceiving all, and more than you demand, can have 
 no just cause of complaint." Monsieur replied 
 that further argument was unnecessary ; upon 
 which his Eminence made profound obeisance. 
 The Duke next observed that he was intending to 
 retire to Orleans, where, in case of need, he should 
 " know how to defend himself." This notifica- 
 tion was also received by the Cardinal with low 
 reverence ; and his Highness then departed, making 
 signs to his cavaliers to close round him, so that 
 Richelieu might be prevented from conducting 
 him to his coach. Monsieur then repaired to the 
 Luxembourg to hold final conference with the 
 Queen-mother on the order and method of the 
 seditious risings they contemplated in the pro- 
 vinces. As her quota towards the fund requisite 
 to organise the demonstrations, Marie gave 
 200,000 francs, and jewels to a large amount. She 
 also delivered to Monsieur the diamonds which 
 had belonged to his late wife ; 20 which, by 
 the King's command, had been intrusted to 
 her guardianship for her infant grand-daughter
 
 226 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [163O- 
 
 Mademoiselle, whose nursery was in the adjacent 
 palace of the Tuileries. Monsieur was also in- 
 formed, by another " exalted personage," that 
 the Spanish Government had paid in a large sum 
 to his credit in the bank at Brussels, to be applied 
 to purposes heretofore agreed upon. The exhor- 
 tations and commendations of his mother and 
 sister-in-law raised the Duke's opinion of his 
 prowess and power, and persuaded him that 
 their great enemy must disappear before his first 
 hostile manifesto. Letters were then signed and 
 despatched to the exiled Princes, to the Duke de 
 Montmorency, to the chieftains of Rohan and to 
 the Duke de Bouillon, whose possession of the 
 independent principality and fortress of Sedan 
 rendered him an important ally in any seditious 
 rising. Monsieur next wrote to the King his 
 brother assurances of personal zeal and devoted 
 loyalty ; this missive he despatched by his 
 equerry Chaudebonne as he entered his coach to 
 quit Paris ; for Gaston wisely deemed his liberty 
 in danger, if, after the warlike notification he had 
 made in the morning at the Palais Cardinal he 
 spent another night in Paris. The same night 
 Marie feigned to be overwhelmed with consterna- 
 tion. On learning the flight from Paris of M. 
 d'Orleans, she despatched a gentleman of her 
 household, named Villiers, to the King to explain 
 her dismay at " this ill-advised step of her mis- 
 guided son " ; the shock of which had caused her 
 almost to faint 21 on learning that Monsieur had 
 actually quitted the capital. From the lips of his
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 227 
 
 minister, however, and by the unerring pages of 
 the Cardinal's famous Diary, Louis had been 
 initiated step by step in the intrigue, and had 
 been brought round to the opinion, that his 
 mother was ready to sacrifice himself and his 
 realm in the pursuit of her revenge and ambition. 
 The following morning Louis visited the Queen- 
 mother at the Luxembourg, and a scene of 
 mutual reproach and violence ensued, during 
 which Marie was compelled to acknowledge that 
 she had given the Montpensier diamonds to her 
 son for purposes which she pretended to ignore. 
 She nevertheless betrayed her influence over Mon- 
 sieur at this crisis, by offering to effect his return 
 to Paris, provided that the King granted him 
 carte blanche respecting his marriage either with 
 Marie de Gonzague or with the Princess Mar- 
 guerite of Lorraine, and gave him the investiture 
 of the fortresses and governments of 1'Isle de 
 France, Soissons, Coussi, Charny, Laon and Mont- 
 pellier. Louis absolutely refused ; adding, " that 
 he doubted not Monsieur would soon be brought 
 to reason and to obedience." His Majesty then 
 requested the Queen to retire for an interval from 
 court, as his government was unhappily so dis- 
 tasteful, and suggested that her dower castle of 
 Moulins would be an appropriate residence. Louis, 
 moreover, commanded her to withdraw her sup- 
 port from the exiled Princes, and to remain abso- 
 lutely neutral in the pending contest excited by 
 her agents. The King then took his leave, before 
 her Majesty had recovered from the first effects of
 
 228 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 her surprise and fury on hearing such proposi- 
 tions. The next day Marie sent her confessor, le 
 Pere Souffran, 22 to decline obeying the commands 
 of her son, " as her proposed sojourn at Moulins 
 was only a subtle snare of the Cardinal to entice 
 her from Paris, that her person might be seized 
 and her liberty endangered." 2S A council was 
 therefore summoned, when it was decided to give 
 her Majesty the alternative of signing a document 
 in which she engaged herself by a solemn promise 
 not to undertake, abet or encourage risings in the 
 realm, and to withdraw protection, friendship 
 and communication from all persons exiled by the 
 King for political offences. Marie returned the 
 document accompanied by a written refusal ; as 
 she said, " experience had proved to her that the 
 opponents of M. de Richelieu were considered as 
 the foes of the King ; and that she was not dis- 
 posed to sacrifice her friends and dependents to 
 the evil wrath of the said minister." A second 
 council was then assembled, at which Richelieu 
 spoke, after he had been commanded expressly 
 so to do by Louis. With the eloquence and 
 precision in facts for which he was renowned, 
 Richelieu obeyed. He represented " that the 
 Emperor, the Kings of Spain and England, and 
 the Dukes of Savoy and Lorraine, jealous of the 
 glory of Louis, and unable to mar the prosperity of 
 France by open warfare, sought to effect their 
 object by troubling the kingdom by secret in- 
 trigue and seduction: that considerable sums 
 had been subscribed for that purpose by Spain
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 229 
 
 and England ; while a contingent of troops had 
 been promised by Germany. Sire, the Duke of 
 Lorraine and his kindred of Guise have dared to 
 brave your authority and that of our venerated 
 Parliament. The malcontents are supported by 
 the approval of her Majesty your consort and 
 by Queen Marie a fact incredible almost and 
 unparalleled in the annals of history. Monsieur, 
 therefore, will never make submission while he is 
 supported by the Queen-mother, and as long as 
 this Princess remains at court she is formidable, 
 inasmuch as the power of procuring the dismissal 
 of your minister is attributed to her. In the 
 midst of such intrigues and insubordination, order 
 becomes impossible sedition will increase, and 
 on your first indisposition, Sire, the Queen-mother 
 will render herself master of your person and 
 state. Your faithful servants cannot defend you 
 happy, indeed, will they be if they can shield 
 themselves from the vengeance of two Princesses 
 whose anger we know to be implacable." Riche- 
 lieu then proposed the arrest of Marie de 5 Medici ; 
 " a decree which it would be advisable to execute 
 with every forbearance and honour possible, but 
 with every precaution and resolution ; as, if the 
 affair be attempted and fail, the condition of the 
 realm will be worse than before." Every metaphor 
 of deprecation, regret and condolence is abun- 
 dantly employed by the skilful minister in this 
 oration, which nevertheless terminates by ex- 
 horting his Majesty " to be brave and politic, 
 and to remember that an able surgeon, when
 
 230 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 severing a diseased limb, is careless of the amount 
 of blood which he sheds." Should Louis, never- 
 theless, in his wisdom judge it expedient to 
 tolerate the present order of affairs, Richelieu 
 emphatically demanded release from the toil and 
 perils of office. All the members of the council 
 present applauded this harangue. Louis lay back 
 thoughtfully in his chair, with a face expressive of 
 blank consternation ; and in reply to the en- 
 treaties of the lords present, promised to advise 
 privately with his minister and to take a definite 
 resolution. 
 
 When news of these troubles reached England, 
 Charles I. blamed the blind violence and obsti- 
 nacy of Marie de' Medici. " The Queen your 
 mother is in the wrong," said King Charles to 
 his consort Henrietta Maria. " The Cardinal de 
 Richelieu has rendered glorious services to the 
 King his master. These intrigues remind one of 
 an accusation levelled by the Roman people 
 against Scipio, who listened calmly and then ex- 
 claimed : ' I remember only, fellow-citizens, that 
 on this day I defeated the Carthaginian army. 
 Romans ! let us repair to the Capitol and return 
 thanks to the Gods.' If I had been, therefore, in 
 the place of the Cardinal, I should have contented 
 myself with observing to your brother : ' Sire, 
 within two years La Rochelle has fallen ; thirty - 
 five Huguenot towns have capitulated ; Casale 
 has been twice relieved ; Savoy and the half of 
 Piedmont have been conquered. Sire, these 
 successes, the result of my care and labour are
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 231 
 
 the guarantees which I offer to you for my ability, 
 my loyalty and my fidelity.' Where, then, 
 Madame, would have appeared, in the face of 
 these great triumphs, the paltry complaints of 
 Queen Marie ? " 24 
 
 To accomplish the purpose meditated by the 
 Cardinal great address was required. The King 
 shrunk from violent measures 25 against his 
 mother, and again sought to move her gener- 
 ous forbearance. Finding persuasion fail, Louis 
 ordered a departure of the court for Compiegne, 
 at the suggestion of Richelieu, who comforted 
 his Majesty by inspiring a hope that the Queen- 
 mother might be more accessible when away from 
 Paris, if indeed Marie consented to leave the 
 Luxembourg, which she had vowed never again 
 to venture. 
 
 The young Queen received a command which 
 she dared not disobey, to repair to Compiegne 
 attended by Madame de Senece, by Madame de la 
 Flotte and by Marie de Hautefort, whom the 
 Cardinal, by every species of cajolerie, was trying 
 to win over to his interests. The court arrived at 
 Compiegne about the 17th of February. The King 
 was joined en route at Senlis by Marie de' Medici, 
 who, remembering the result of the abandonment 
 of her son on the memorable Journee des Dupes, 
 now hastened with her accustomed precipitation 
 to help her enemy in consummating the coup 
 d'etat which he had plotted. A prudent and 
 politic princess would still have extricated herself 
 from the dilemma, and have converted the
 
 232 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 visible abasement into which she had fallen into 
 a triumph of magnanimity. Marie de' Medici, 
 however, headstrong and short-sighted, attempted 
 to subdue her enemy by sullen pertinacity. Riche- 
 lieu still hesitated to offer final defiance to his late 
 benefactress, while the King, with tears drawn 
 forth by his own lugubrious forebodings, be- 
 sought his minister to try once more to move 
 the compassion and clemency of the Queen. In 
 obedience to this order, Richelieu entered the 
 chapel of the old castle of St. Germain on the 
 Sunday following, and meeting Queen Marie as 
 she was leaving the altar after receiving the Holy 
 Sacrament, he fell at her feet and conjured her to 
 forgive him his transgressions. 26 Marie haughtily 
 retreated ; when the Cardinal, rising, approached 
 the altar whereon the Sacred Elements were ex- 
 posed, and taking the cup in his hand made a 
 solemn vow that in nothing had he willingly or 
 maliciously offended her Majesty, but that he 
 still continued in the mind to serve her as his best 
 benefactress and mistress. The Queen eyed the 
 Cardinal for a few minutes in silence, and a softer 
 expression stole over her face ; she, however, 
 finally turned away and without vouchsafing 
 a word quitted the chapel. When Louis was 
 informed of the failure of this attempt at 
 conciliation he rose with sudden impulse 
 and signified his assent to the measures proposed 
 by Richelieu. 
 
 A rumour, meantime, had been spread by the 
 adherents of Queen Marie that her Majesty
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 233 
 
 intended to leave Compiegne speedily, "as it was 
 not her intention to share the deliberations of the 
 council, nor longer to sanction by her presence 
 the infamous mandates of M. de Richelieu." Louis 
 therefore signed the requisite mandates necessary 
 for the detention of the Queen-mother, and the 
 arrest of her most zealous adherents. It was 
 determined, moreover, that same night to execute 
 the project, by leaving Marie at Compiegne 
 under the charge and surveillance of the Marshal 
 d'Estrees and his regiment of guards, then on 
 duty in and about the palace. The design was 
 well considered, feasible, and avoided violence or 
 show of disrespect to the unhappy Princess. 
 D'Estrees was one of the most polished of the 
 courtiers, a nobleman of wit, refined manners 
 and savoir-faire. He unhesitatingly undertook the 
 office pressed upon him ; he promised to Richelieu 
 unwearied vigilance and fidelity, and assured the 
 King that no effort on his part should be wanting 
 to reconcile the Queen to her position and to 
 induce her to make overtures likely to prove 
 satisfactory to his Majesty and the realm. One 
 by one the gentlemen in attendance on the 
 King were summoned and instructed to meet 
 their royal master at midnight in the Capuchin 
 monastery of Compiegne, under an injunction 
 of strict secrecy. 
 
 Anne of Austria, meantime, retired at her usual 
 hour unsuspicious that any event of moment im- 
 pended. Louis had too little faith in her loyalty 
 and discretion to impart his design ; neither, it is
 
 234 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [leso- 
 
 to be feared, was he greatly concerned at the 
 fright likely to be inflicted by the sudden revela- 
 tion of so startling an event. Anne had passed 
 the evening in the apartments of Marie de' Medici 
 and had returned therefrom much depressed. In 
 the middle of the night the Queen and her ladies, 
 Mesdames de Senece and de la Flotte, were 
 aroused by a loud knocking at the door of the 
 antechamber. The blows were repeated with 
 greater energy and voices were heard without. 
 Anne opened her curtains in affright, and called 
 Madame de Senece, who directed Mademoiselle 
 Filandre, a femme de chambre, to inquire who the 
 intruders were, and their business. 27 " It is the 
 King, the King ! '" exclaimed Anne, fearfully ; 
 " open to his Majesty ! " The sound of male 
 voices and the ring of arms now reached the ears 
 of the eager listeners. Daylight just glimmered ; 
 and all the Queen's ladies and women, pale with 
 fright, crowded round their royal mistress. " A 
 thousand fearful thoughts then agitated the mind 
 of the Queen," relates Madame de Motteville. 
 " She had every reason to distrust the King her 
 husband ; and, as she confided to me, she be- 
 lieved that some dreadful event was about to 
 happen to her : the least that she expected being, 
 that she was to be banished from the realm. 
 Looking upon the next few minutes as the su- 
 preme moments of her fate, the Queen prepared 
 herself for the emergency, and summoned all her 
 courage. She had a firm mind and a resolute will ; 
 and I doubt not, judging from what her Majesty
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 235 
 
 told me when relating these particulars, that the 
 first shock being over, she would have received 
 with the utmost resignation and patience the fate 
 Heaven had destined her to endure." The Queen's 
 suspense was at length relieved by the return of 
 Mademoiselle Filandre, with the intelligence that 
 Monseigneur the Lord Keeper Chateauneuf de- 
 sired to speak to her Majesty on behalf of the 
 King. Anne rose from her bed, and putting on 
 the robe de chambre presented by Madame de 
 Senece, who afterwards described herself as " plus 
 morte que vive," ordered M. de Chateauneuf to be 
 admitted. Chateauneuf bowed before his young 
 mistress as she tremblingly advanced with flushed 
 cheeks and in utter disarray. " Madame," said 
 he, " I have to make known to your Majesty the 
 orders which I have received from the lips of the 
 King our master. To insure the welfare of this 
 realm, his Majesty finds himself compelled to 
 leave his mother at Compiegne under the sur- 
 veillance of the Marshal d'Estrees. It is therefore 
 his Majesty's command, that you attempt not 
 an interview with her said Majesty, the Queen- 
 mother, but that you immediately hasten to the 
 church of the Capuchin convent where his Ma- 
 jesty expects you." 28 Chateauneuf then withdrew, 
 before the emotion of the Queen permitted her to 
 reply. The lord-keeper, however, managed to 
 whisper an injunction into the ear of the Marquise 
 de Senece to hasten the preparations of her young 
 mistress unless she wished to see her involved in 
 the same disgrace as her mother-in-law. Anne
 
 236 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 soon recovered her accustomed coolness and de- 
 cision, and with many anathemas on the Cardi- 
 nal's audacity and tyranny, she refused to leave 
 the palace without a parting interview with Marie 
 de' Medici. Time w r as elapsing, and the King's 
 orders had been precise that Anne should not see 
 the Queen-mother but hasten to join him in the 
 church of the Capuchins. Madame de Senece, 
 knowing the wayward perverseness of her mistress, 
 and anxious to save her from a direct act of 
 disobedience in a juncture of such importance, 
 proposed that Mademoiselle Filandre should be 
 despatched on a journey of discovery to the 
 Queen's apartments, from whence she should 
 bring a message from Marie, in case her Majesty 
 still remained ignorant of the coup d'etat, express- 
 ing a desire to see Queen Anne. The apartments 
 of the Queen-mother were silent and undisturbed. 
 Filandre made her way to the bed of Caterina 
 Selvaggio, chief tirewoman, and whispered an 
 agitated entreaty that Queen Marie would send to 
 request an interview with her daughter-in-law, 
 as her Majesty had something to impart and 
 dared not leave her apartments unsummoned. 
 This ruse succeeded ; Marie, ever on the alert, 
 sent Caterina to summon Queen Anne under 
 pretext that she had had an agitating dream 
 and found herself indisposed. Anne flew to the 
 apartments of Marie, followed by Madame de 
 Sendee carrying a portion of her mistress's 
 attire. 29 Marie was sitting up in bed, clasping her 
 knees, with a face of deepest woe. Anne threw
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 237 
 
 herself in the arms of the unhappy princess, sob- 
 bing forth the words,;" Oh ! ma mere, ma mere I 
 am to leave you I have not an instant to explain 
 
 the King expects me at the Capuchin church ! ' 
 " Ma fille, am I to die ? am I a prisoner ? Speak ! 
 The King, does he desert me ? What is to become 
 of me ? " Anne then signed to Madame de Senece 
 to retire out of hearing, and while she finished 
 dressing, she recounted all that had befallen her, 
 with the order signified by Chateauneuf. With 
 many tears the princesses then embraced and 
 separated. 30 
 
 King Louis received his consort in the choir of 
 the Capuchin church. His Majesty was attended 
 by the Cardinal minister, by Chateauneuf, by the 
 abbot of the Capuchins and by a swarm of cour- 
 tiers, many of whom had been roused from their 
 beds to join the King and scarcely yet com- 
 prehended their position. Two ladies also were 
 present Madame de la Flotte and her lovely 
 grand-daughter. The King briefly recapitulated 
 his reason for the arrest of the Queen his mother. 
 " Madame," continued his Majesty, addressing 
 his consort, " the indiscretions of Madame de 
 Fargis having caused her removal from your 
 service, I present to you in her stead Madame de 
 la Flotte Hauterive ; and for second dame (Valours, 
 Mademoiselle Marie de Hautefort. For both these 
 ladies I request your favour." 31 Anne had hitherto 
 steadily declined to permit any lady to fulfil the 
 functions of the exiled Madame de Fargis ; 32 she 
 was, however, now compelled to put the best face
 
 238 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 on the matter, as the King was evidently in no 
 humour to be trifled with. " Elle les recut toutes 
 deux faisant la meilleure mine du monde," relates 
 Madame de Motteville. Anne, however, still 
 clung to her de Fargis, who like herself was an 
 adherent of the Queen-mother, of Spain and of 
 the French malcontents, and she view r ed her new 
 ladies, especially Mademoiselle de Hautefort, not 
 only as her rival in the King's favour, but as an 
 enemy and a spy in the pay of the Cardinal. 
 
 Marie de Hautefort was the daughter of Charles, 
 Marquis de Hautefort, and of Renee du Belley. At 
 this period she had accomplished her eighteenth 
 year. Her beauty was less dazzling than that of 
 Madame de Chevreuse, but of a nobler type. The 
 expression of her features was serious and 
 thoughtful ; she was pious, ambitious, sedate in 
 manner and reserved to a surprising degree for a 
 damsel of her age so early introduced at the court 
 of France. When Mademoiselle de Hautefort 
 spoke she did so advisedly ; her language was 
 well chosen and perfectly expressed her ideas. 
 The poor but illustrious family from which Marie 
 sprang had little to bestow on a younger daughter 
 of their race and she had been destined for the 
 cloister. Louis, however, had now resolved that 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort should be drafted into 
 the household of the young Queen, as he found 
 indescribable consolation in her repose of manner, 
 decorous discourse and sweet smiles. Marie, on 
 her part, professed respectful devotion for Louis 
 Treize, and exalted him into a hero whose
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 239 
 
 domestic misfortunes inspired profound sympathy. 
 The two, however, had never met in private, for 
 their interviews were holden in a small cabinet 
 adjacent to the saloon in which Marie de' Medici 
 received the court. The King with a triste ex- 
 pression on his sallow, pensive face, sat and sighed 
 by the object of his admiration, who, serenely 
 gracious, entertained him with the on dits of con- 
 ventual gossip, or related her early reminiscences 
 of rural life, in which his Majesty seemed to take 
 deep interest. 
 
 The King and Queen, after their salutations in 
 the grey twilight of this February morning, com- 
 manded mass to be said before they quitted the 
 chapel. Louis seized the opportunity to indicate 
 that a fresh influence had dawned over the court. 
 The maids of the Queen, according to custom, sat 
 and knelt on the ground during mass, the ladies of 
 honour having alone the privilege of cushions and 
 stools. The King, observing this, rose, and taking 
 the velvet cushion of his own prie-Dieu, sent it 
 to Mademoiselle de Hautefort with a gracious 
 gesture. Marie blushed, for she felt that the eyes 
 of all persons present were watching her. She, in 
 her turn, looked anxiously at Queen Anne, who 
 signed to her to take the cushion. Marie obeyed, 
 but modestly laid it by her, and when mass was 
 concluded she rose, and with a deep obeisance 
 returned the cushion to the Bang. 33 Louis con- 
 tinued his journey with the court to Senlis. There, 
 many victims were sacrificed to the hate and to 
 the fears of Richelieu ; arrests perhaps rendered
 
 240 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 necessary by the catastrophe of Marie's detention 
 at Compiegne. An hour after his arrival in 
 Senlis, M. Vaultier, Marie's obnoxious physician 
 and friend, was on his way to the Bastille under 
 escort. Lettres de cachet were despatched by M. 
 de la Ville-aux-Clercs to the Princesse de Conty, 
 Marguerite de Lorraine-Guise, the intimate com- 
 panion of the Queens, and the wife of Bassom- 
 pierre, which exiled her to the castle of Eu, 
 permitting her only six hours to set out from 
 Paris. On the 24th of February, Bassompierre, the 
 brilliant and popular trifler, was arrested, osten- 
 sibly as a partizan of Marie de' Medici, but as it 
 was surmised to avenge the counsel which he had 
 given at Lyons in 1630, to imprison Richelieu for 
 life. It was also debated in council to arrest the 
 Duke d'Epernon and the Marshal de Crequi. The 
 Duchesses d'Elbceuf, de Rohan, d'Ornano like- 
 wise received an order to retire from Paris. All 
 things seemed now at the feet of the victorious 
 minister ; he possessed the ear of the King, and 
 directed at will the resources and alliances of the 
 realm. The enemies which remained to be over- 
 thrown Richelieu prepared to do battle against 
 in the full conviction of eventual triumph. 
 
 Queen Marie was at first paralysed by grief and 
 amazement at her detention. For hours, it is re- 
 corded, she wept with passionate excitement, 34 and 
 threatened the authors of her disgrace with future 
 retribution. From the hour of her arrest Richelieu 
 never intended to promote her reconciliation with 
 Louis, and from Paris and the court she was for
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 241 
 
 ever to be exiled so long as the Cardinal retained 
 power. Nevertheless Richelieu deemed it politic 
 to temporise the conscience and the filial feel- 
 ings of King Louis might prompt him to annul the 
 act accomplished after so many relentings and 
 doubts. It is certain that Marie was urged, nay 
 implored, to leave Compiegne and take up her 
 abode at Moulins, unfettered by restrictions of any 
 kind except her parole not to leave the town 
 without the permission of her son. The letters 
 addressed to his mother by Louis in this sorrow- 
 ful crisis of their history are forbearing and 
 modest. His first letter after their separation, 
 written at the beginning of the following month 
 of March, contains the following passage : 86 " The 
 continual excuses which it has pleased you to 
 assign against taking up your abode in your house 
 at Moulins render it necessary for me again to 
 remind you how requisite it is for the welfare of 
 my realm, that you should yield to the entreaties 
 that I have aforetime made and make again. You 
 would be there accommodated more at your 
 pleasure and mine, as you would not be sur- 
 rounded with unpleasant facts as at Compiegne. 
 Neither, Madame, is it true that the plague is 
 raging at Moulins nor that your house there is out 
 of repair ; nevertheless, as I have told you before, 
 you can, if you choose, stay at Nevers. I am 
 writing on the subject to the Marshal d'Estrees ; 
 you will therefore, if it pleases you, give credit 
 to anything which he may impart to you in my 
 name." In answer to this letter, Queen Marie 
 
 Q
 
 242 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [leao- 
 
 writes to inform her son, that indisposition has 
 hitherto prevented her from setting out to 
 Moulins : she then reproaches him bitterly for his 
 abandonment of her ; avers that she has been 
 always a good and conscientious mother, and 
 that the reward which she now reaps for count- 
 less privations and devoted zeal for the interests 
 of his Majesty and the realm, is, that she is 
 sacrificed to the vengeance of her bitter foe ! 
 Finally, her Majesty asserts that her health is not 
 in condition to undertake so long a journey ; that 
 her nerves are shaken ; and that she may as well 
 meet death, if such be her son's will, at Com- 
 piegne as in a lone castle, badly drained, where 
 she would be in the power of M. le Premier, who 
 coveted her life and was ready to sanction any 
 unhallowed act of violence. 36 Driven thus into a 
 corner by her enemy the Cardinal, Marie de' 
 Medici had not the tact to dissimulate her resent- 
 ment and depit ; her protests against the outrage 
 to which she had been subjected resounded 
 throughout the realm and at the courts of London, 
 Madrid and Brussels. The Queen drew up a 
 violent diatribe against the Cardinal, which she for- 
 warded to the Parliament of Paris. The members, 
 however, prudently transmitted the document to 
 the King with its seals unbroken. The Marquis de 
 Mirabel meantime, instigated by Anne of Austria, 
 asked audience of King Louis on behalf of his 
 Catholic Majesty, Don Philip IV., to intercede for 
 the Queen-mother, and to request permission to 
 visit her Majesty at Compiegne. Louis wrathfully
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 243 
 
 refused permission. " Sire, apparently then her 
 Majesty is a prisoner under arrest ? >: " Mon- 
 seigneur, nobody but ignorant people or people 
 perversely malignant will so assert," answered 
 the King, impatiently. "I find it, however, 
 strange that the King of Spain should interfere ; 
 foreign princes have no right to intervene in such 
 matters. Remember, M. 1'Ambassadeur, that 
 when the ambassador of Charles IX. asked per- 
 mission to see Queen Elizabeth de Valois, a 
 daughter of France, he could not obtain his desire. 
 I will not recur, Monsieur, to the sequel of that 
 unhappy history ; suffice for the present, that you 
 have no reason to take amiss my decision in this 
 matter ! " " The King spoke thus," relates the 
 Cardinal in his Journal, " because the Queen his 
 mother had boasted to his Majesty that the 
 Spanish ambassador was privy to all her intrigues 
 for the ruin of the Cardinal." 37 
 
 Louis continued his correspondence with his 
 mother from Dijon, where he had arrived at the 
 head of a corps d'armee in pursuit of Monsieur, 
 who on receiving the intelligence of his mother's 
 arrest, proclaimed a levy of troops over all the 
 lands of his appanage, and fled to Nancy after 
 publishing a hostile manifesto against Richelieu. 
 His Majesty wrote thus from Dijon : 
 
 LOUIS XIII. TO QUEEN MARIE DE ? MEDICI 88 
 
 " MADAME, I have no occasion to enter into ex- 
 planations with you relative to the reason and
 
 244 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 just causes which have compelled me to separate 
 myself from you for an interval, for nobody under- 
 stands such better than yourself ; also the efforts 
 I have made to save both yourself and me from 
 such annoyance. You are aware that remaining 
 at my court, offended and discontented as you 
 have for some time declared yourself to be, pre- 
 vented me from providing remedy to put down 
 the intrigues which there abound, and failing to 
 subdue which, my realm and my person are in 
 danger. Nevertheless, all this need not prevent 
 me from feeling and testifying for you the respect 
 and the friendship which you can expect from a 
 good son, although my duty to my subjects and 
 to my crown is esteemed by me as my first earthly 
 calling. Having always received from me number- 
 less proofs of regard, I feel astonished that you 
 should imagine that I am capable of conceiving 
 against you violent resolutions : believe me, 
 Madame, that such thoughts have never entered 
 my head, nor have they been concerted by any of 
 my servants. For what end or aim you persist 
 in impressing upon the world that your ruin is 
 resolved I cannot imagine, when all the evil which 
 you have hitherto received is separation from 
 myself a fact which you have yourself brought 
 about by opposing and alienating all persons who 
 please me and are likely to serve me and my 
 realm. I hear also, with extreme displeasure, 
 that you are still delaying your departure from 
 Compiegne. If indisposition is the cause of your 
 delay I shall experience a double annoyance, but
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 245 
 
 I do not hear that your illness is serious enough to 
 prevent you from travelling. I request you 
 therefore to set out, for your departure is im- 
 portant to my crown and will check the rumours 
 which you have spread that I have made you a 
 prisoner. At Moulins moreover, you will have 
 no person near you likely to offend you or to 
 curtail in any way your freedom. I doubt not 
 therefore, Madame, that you will promptly comply 
 with my desire, the which accomplished, you 
 shall always receive the truest tokens of regard 
 and honour from, Madame, 
 
 " Your majesty's humble and obedient son, 
 
 " Louis." 
 
 Marie replied in tones of indignant reproach ; 
 she denies that she had ever troubled the realm, 
 and asserts that M. le Cardinal never desired re- 
 conciliation and was not sincere in his overtures 
 to be restored to her good graces. " Do me the 
 favour, if it pleases you, to believe that it is out 
 of my power to comply with your Majesty's com- 
 mands to leave this place and to journey towards 
 Moulins. I beg you to reflect, that having re- 
 ceived the treatment which I have, I possess good 
 cause for the apprehensions which smite me and 
 which prevent me from repairing to Moulins, 
 from which place I might be seized and put in a 
 boat on the Rhone, and so, against my will, be 
 transported on board your Majesty's galleys, 
 which are assembling (at Marseilles) for Italy. 
 Italy, it is true, is the land of my birth, but as I
 
 246 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 brought from thence into France all the wealth 
 which appertained to me, there remains for me, 
 even in my own country, neither honour, riches 
 nor refuge, except by the favour of distant re- 
 latives who have never seen me, and who would 
 have great right to decline to receive me in their 
 dominions, seeing that my own son could not 
 tolerate me nor suffer me to end my days within his 
 potent realm." 39 The unhappy princess continues 
 thus throughout a long letter of three pages, and 
 her despair everywhere transpires, as the prompt- 
 ings of her own vindictive temper convinced her 
 that Richelieu would never permit her reconcilia- 
 tion with the King, or share his power with one 
 whom he had so mortally offended. 40 The hopes 
 of the Queen for liberty and revenge centred in 
 her second son, the heir-presumptive. Monsieur 
 had safely arrived in Lorraine, pursued by the 
 victorious arms of his brother to the very walls of 
 Nancy. Richelieu, nevertheless, found it re- 
 quisite to dissimulate in order to achieve his final 
 purpose, which was to drive Marie de' Medici to 
 a voluntary flight from the realm, by practising 
 on her rash and impulsive temper and on her 
 dread of his craft and enmity. 41 In this design he 
 found a ready ally in Pere Joseph, who had 
 managed to render himself agreeable to the Queen 
 and was not suspected by her. The King had 
 evidently misgivings, and perhaps relentings, in 
 favour of his mother, nor was it probable that 
 Louis could ever be induced to sign against her 
 a decree of exile or of imprisonment in a state
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 247 
 
 fortress. The Cardinal perceived that the very 
 tenure of his power depended on the dissensions of 
 the royal family : on the absence of his haughty 
 and intriguing patroness ; in the humiliation of 
 Queen Anne of Austria ; the disgrace of M. d'Or- 
 leans ; the banishment of the Princes of the blood 
 royal and the discontent of such formidable 
 vassals of the crown as Bouillon, Guise, Rohan, 
 Epernon and others. Le Pere Joseph, therefore, 
 wrote to Marie, offering his good offices to recon- 
 cile her with the minister, and sent his missive 
 by a humble Capuchin brother. In that clever 
 satire, " Le Catolicon Franyais," which professes 
 to reveal the mental craft of the statesmen of 
 this period, Richelieu is made thus to argue : 
 " Whilst I diverted that good lady (Marie de' 
 Medici) by divers journey ings to and from Com- 
 piegne, I built up and cemented by Pere Joseph 
 the old suspicions that I had infused on both 
 sides ; telling the King that Monsieur was the 
 elder born in his mother's affection ; and to the 
 Queen, that her son who piqued himself on his 
 powers of dissimulation meant to snare, entrap 
 and hold her captive." Marie de' Medici, mean- 
 time, had been herself busily weaving an intrigue 
 by which she hoped to break her bonds and taste 
 the delights of revenge. Marie de Beuil, Countess 
 de Moret, once a mistress of Henri Quatre, had 
 espoused the son of the Marquis de Vardes, 
 governor of the neighbouring fortress of La 
 Capelle, and resided with her husband in that 
 stronghold. The countess found means to
 
 248 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [leso- 
 
 communicate secretly with the Queen and offered 
 to receive her in La Capelle provided she could 
 escape from Compiegne. Marie eagerly embraced 
 the overture ; taking the precaution, however, to 
 write to the Archduchess Isabel, asking for tem- 
 porary refuge at Brussels, in case any accident 
 after leaving Compiegne should frustrate her 
 design. The Queen, therefore, escaped the sur- 
 veillance of her jailors at ten o'clock on the night 
 of July 10th, attended only by La Mazure, lieu- 
 tenant of her body-guard. 42 Her fears had been 
 strongly excited during the preceding day by the 
 report of d'Estrees, that the Marshal Schomberg 
 was on his way to Compiegne at the head of 1200 
 horse to convey her to Marseilles, where she was 
 to be put on board a ship bound for Leghorn. 
 There is no doubt that the subtle Richelieu, aware 
 of the Queen's intrigues with Madame de Vardes, 
 employed gentle pressure to urge her departure 
 from Compiegne, and had taken care to remove 
 all obstacles. At the end of the street of Com- 
 piegne, the Queen found a coach and six, provided 
 by Madame de Fresney, niece of the Bishop of 
 Leon, who took her uncle's equipage without his 
 knowledge or assent a freedom which nearly 
 cost the bishop his see. 43 The Queen passed the 
 river Aisne at Choisy, relays of horses awaited 
 her along the road, and the venture appeared 
 to prosper beyond her most sanguine hopes. 
 Madame de Vardes, however, failed to meet her 
 Majesty at the appointed place a league from La 
 Capelle. After an interval of suspense a messen-
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 249 
 
 ger appeared, who announced that the old Mar- 
 quis de Vardes had suddenly entered La Capelle, 
 and after arresting his son for his traitorous 
 correspondence with the Queen-mother, had sent 
 Madame de Vardes and the ladies privy to the 
 plot to deliver up the fortress, under strong escort 
 to Paris to await the stern pleasure of the Car- 
 dinal. Richelieu received daily advices from 
 Compiegne, all of which he jotted down in his 
 Journal. Aware, therefore, of the design of the 
 Queen to entrench herself in La Capelle, he had 
 given notice to the Marquis de Vardes 44 to circum- 
 vent the project by his own opportune arrival. 
 The unfortunate Marie, therefore, not daring to 
 return to Compiegne, took the road with the 
 utmost precipitation to the town of Avesne, where 
 she was received with ostentatious honour by the 
 Marquis de Crevecceur. A messenger was de- 
 spatched to Brussels to inform the Infanta Dona 
 Isabel of the Queen's arrival. The Prince d'Epinay, 
 governor of the province of Hainault, received 
 commands to attend her Majesty to Mons, where 
 the Infanta repaired for an interview. Marie, 
 again fatally swayed by her resentments, suffered 
 herself to be escorted by the Spanish ambassador, 
 the Marquis de Aytona, whom she subsequently 
 deputed to compliment and thank Dona Isabel. 
 The frantic anger of Louis XIII. against his 
 mother needed no further impetus after her im- 
 prudence had been expatiated upon in council by 
 the Cardinal de Richelieu. In reply to the letter 
 despatched by Marie, the King wrote : " Madame,
 
 250 THE MARRIED LIFE OF fieao- 
 
 my cousin the Cardinal de Richelieu gives me 
 daily numerous proofs of devotion, fidelity, affec- 
 tion and sincerity. He pays a religious defer- 
 ence to my commands, and the faithful care 
 he gives to the welfare of my realm and my own 
 person vouch for his truth. You will therefore 
 permit me, Madame, to observe, that the act 
 which you have just committed and the intrigues 
 in which you participate, have enlightened me as 
 to your past intentions and put me on my guard 
 against future attempts. The respect, Madame, 
 which I ought to bear you prevents me from 
 adding more to this epistle." 45 
 
 Some officious person at this season remarked 
 to Anne of Austria, that, at least, M. le Cardinal 
 showed her more indulgence and respect than he 
 had vouchsafed to Queen Marie. Anne assumed 
 her most icy manner and replied with scornful 
 gesture, " There can and shall be no comparison 
 between the Queen-mother and myself, her rank 
 is not such as mine ; she has not the influence and 
 support which I possess and which I have the 
 right to expect." 46 
 
 The triumphant Richelieu consummated his 
 victory by the issue of a proclamation of outlawry 
 against all the followers of the Due d'Orleans. The 
 names of the proscribed traitors were the Count de 
 Moret, natural brother of the King ; the Dukes de 
 Bellegarde, d'Elbceuf, de Rohan ; the Presidents 
 le Coigneux and de Payen, and M. de Puylaurent, 
 le P. Chanteloube, 47 confessor to Marie de' Medici ; 
 and Mousignot, private secretary to Monsieur.
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 251 
 
 When this edict was sent to the Parliament to be 
 registered, the members modified the decree 
 against the adherents of the heir-presumptive, by 
 entering on the register what was called un arret 
 de partage ; which placed on record the names of 
 the members protesting against the decree. The 
 King therefore commanded the attendance of the 
 High Court in the great gallery of the Louvre. 
 Louis commanded the registers to be laid before 
 him, and with his own hand he tore therefrom 
 the leaf upon which the act had been inscribed 
 under protest. The King then caused a decree 
 of the privy council to be inserted, which pro- 
 hibited any debate in the Chambers upon matters 
 relating to state affairs topics which appertained 
 only to the ministers and sworn counsellors of 
 the crown. 
 
 Judicial proceedings were next instituted 
 against the Countess de Fargis, who was supposed 
 to be lingering in the neighbourhood of Paris in 
 disguise. Such was the terror inspired by the 
 late proceedings of the King and his minister, that 
 the friends of Anne of Austria failed in their 
 allegiance to her service and caprice. The Abbess 
 of the Val de Grace, 48 stirred by a significant hint 
 from the Palais Cardinal that seditiously inclined 
 sisterhoods had been dissolved and their members 
 draughted into more loyal communities, hastened 
 to send information to the Cardinal that two 
 suspicious personages, thought to be Croft and 
 Montagu, had asked at the gate of the convent to 
 speak with her Majesty ; moreover, that a letter
 
 252 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 had been delivered into the hands of the Queen by 
 an unknown person as her Majesty entered the 
 nunnery upon her first visit after the return of the 
 court from Compiegne. The personages mentioned 
 in the letters of de Fargis taken from M. Senelle 
 were arrested and subjected to severe interro- 
 gatories. Amongst these persons were the Marquis 
 de Crequi and the Count de Cramail, M. Senelle 
 and Mademoiselle du Tillet. This last lady de- 
 posed that she had twice forwarded letters from 
 the accused to M. de Cramail ; also that two days 
 after the return of the court from Compiegne, 
 Anne had sent for her to take charge of a letter 
 which her Majesty desired secretly to forward to 
 de Fargis, but that the Queen had decided finally 
 to send it by a special messenger. " I feel no 
 surprise that Madame de Fargis has been dis- 
 missed from the Queen's service ; the mystery 
 is, what influence could ever induce M. le Cardinal 
 to sanction the nomination of une femme si 
 decriee to the first office in her Majesty's house- 
 hold ! " 49 was the malicious comment of Made- 
 moiselle du Tillet, in allusion to the notorious 
 intrigues which once subsisted between de Fargis, 
 Cramail, Richelieu and the disgraced Lord- 
 Keeper de Marillac. As the countess never 
 surrendered to take her trial in obedience to the 
 citation of the criminal court sitting at the 
 Arsenal, judgment was allowed to go by default. 
 The award of the court declared la Dame de 
 Fargis d'Angennes guilty of high treason and 
 sentenced her to decapitation, which decree was
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 253 
 
 performed on an effigy of the countess in the 
 Place du Carrefour de St. Paul, November 8th, 
 1631. M. Senelle, upon whom the letters of the 
 countess were found, was condemned to the 
 galleys for life ; Vaultier to perpetual imprison- 
 ment in the Bastille. 50 The Marshal de Marillac, 
 generalissimo of the Italian army, towards whom 
 Richelieu bore inveterate hate, was arrested and 
 put upon his trial upon frivolous charges of mal- 
 versation during the construction of the citadel of 
 Verdun, by which he had derived illicit profit ; 
 and of maladministration of the King's moneys 
 forwarded for the payment of the army under his 
 command. The true crime of Marillac was his 
 offer at the memorable secret conference at 
 Lyons, during the King's illness, to slay the ob- 
 noxious Cardinal minister with his own hand. 
 The Lord-Keeper Chateauneuf presided at the 
 trial which took place, against all precedent, in 
 the private mansion of Richelieu at Ruel. On the 
 8th of May sentence of decapitation was pro- 
 nounced upon Marillac ; the crime of this old and 
 faithful servant of Henri Quatre being his devoted 
 attachment to the widow of his late master, and 
 the power which his probity, virtue and affa- 
 bility enabled him to exercise over the army under 
 his command. " A page ought not to be flogged 
 for the misdeeds for which I am arraigned ! For 
 forty years I have served two great kings : all 
 that they can accuse me of are trifling inac- 
 curacies in accounts for lime, straw, hay, wood 
 and stone ! " The following day the head of
 
 254 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 Marillac fell. 51 So great was the horror and 
 irritation of Queen Marie when she heard of this 
 murder, that she is said to have made a solemn 
 vow that if ever she returned to France and 
 regained her lost power, the head of Richelieu 
 should be severed, without form or process, on the 
 spot upon which the virtuous and good marshal 
 suffered. The ex-Lord Keeper, brother of Maril- 
 lac, survived his brother only four months ; he 
 died at Chateaudun, crippled from the dampness 
 and unhealthiness of his prison, and over- 
 whelmed with grief at the ruin of his house. 
 
 Richelieu, meantime, despatched letters and 
 missives in every direction, to express his dismay 
 at the arrest and flight of Marie de' Medici, to- 
 wards whom he positively avers that no harm or 
 disgrace was intended, except a temporary exile 
 to her dower castle of Moulins. 
 
 In one of these epistles addressed to the Car- 
 dinal de la Valette, Richelieu thus expresses his 
 regrets : " It is with the most incredible and 
 smarting regret that I announce to you the resolve 
 which his Majesty found himself obliged to take 
 at Compiegne, to request the Queen his mother to 
 retire for a time to Moulins. I would wish, at the 
 price of my blood and at the forfeiture of my life, 
 to have rendered this separation unnecessary, 
 although, please God, its duration will be brief. If 
 it had pleased Almighty God to have granted my 
 prayers my last moment would have preceded 
 this alienation, for which I can never be con- 
 soled, seeing a Queen whom I have so long revered
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 255 
 
 and served reduced to this condition. But the 
 sway of evil and termagant spirits had too long 
 dominated over the court. During the war in 
 Italy, they did all they could to produce a failure 
 of that campaign, since which Monsieur has 
 fled from court. The King on many occasions 
 entreated the Queen his mother to open her eyes 
 upon these woes and to arrest their progress, but 
 her Majesty was not pleased to comply ; nor 
 would she enter the council chamber, saying that 
 she did not wish her name to be used as an 
 authority for the indispensable measures there 
 resolved. The King, finding her inexorable in 
 this resolution, wisely decided that if she declined 
 to permit her influence to be used in support of 
 his government, her presence in Paris was highly 
 adverse to the welfare of his realm as declaring 
 herself malcontent and remaining at court gave 
 to many personages boldness and freedom to pro- 
 claim themselves so likewise." 52 A few days later, 
 the Cardinal wrote to the Commander de la Porte, 
 uncle of M. de St. Simon, to announce the de- 
 parture of Marie from Compiegne. In this letter 
 he says : " Believe me, there is nothing in the 
 world which we would not have done to persuade 
 the Queen to renounce her alliance with Monsieur 
 and with the realm of Spain. We offered to con- 
 fide to her the government of Anjou, and to con- 
 firm her Majesty's sway over other places already 
 conferred ; but she steadily refused all honour- 
 able terms and requisite precautions which 
 we proposed." 53 " The Queen," said Richelieu,
 
 256 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 " treated in the same manner persons who 
 
 brought her an atrocious calumny or a pure 
 
 truth. She kept the secret of all, and received true 
 
 friends and false ones with the same cordiality. 
 
 Every one, therefore, fearlessly palmed upon her 
 
 bad coin mingled with good. I lost my hold on 
 
 the Queen-mother," continues he, " by not putting 
 
 down evil cabals when they first cropped out. To 
 
 save one's self, one must seize the initiative. It is 
 
 better in such circumstances to do much rather 
 
 than little, provided precaution goes only the 
 
 length of exiling from court all personages who, 
 
 being able to perpetrate evil, inspire suspicions by 
 
 imprudent or malignant conduct and censure." 64 
 
 Having thus punished his late opponents, exiled 
 
 the Queen-mother and suspended a threatening 
 
 scourge over the head of his sovereign's wife, 
 
 Richelieu next offered admonition to his royal 
 
 master. Imbued with a thorough persuasion of his 
 
 own administrative capacity and the weakness of 
 
 the King, Richelieu caused the following maxims 
 
 to be laid before Louis by the Capuchin Joseph ; 
 
 in which, article by article, he prescribed the 
 
 manner in which he chose to wield the arbitrary 
 
 power he had usurped : 
 
 1. 
 
 A great Prince ought to have a council of state 
 to advise with on the affairs of his realm. 
 
 2. 
 
 It is necessary for a King to have a prime 
 minister ; and this prime minister must have
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 257 
 
 three qualities, to wit, to possess no other 
 interest than that of his Prince, to be able and 
 faithful, and to be a member of Holy Church. 
 
 3. 
 
 A Prince ought to love his prime minister with 
 perfect affection. 
 
 4. 
 
 A Prince ought never to dismiss or degrade his 
 prime minister. 
 
 5. 
 
 A Prince ought to confide implicitly in his 
 prime minister. 
 
 6. 
 
 A Prince ought always to grant free and con- 
 stant access to his presence to his prime minister. 
 
 7. 
 
 A Prince ought to invest his prime minister with 
 sovereign authority over the people of the realm. 
 
 8. 
 
 A Prince ought to heap honours and riches on 
 his prime minister. 
 
 9. 
 
 A Prince ought to regard his prime minister as 
 his richest treasure. 
 
 10. 
 
 A Prince ought to put no faith in reports and 
 accusations against his prime minister ; he ought 
 not to take pleasure in such slander, but on the 
 contrary rigorously punish him by whom his 
 minister is falsely accused.
 
 258 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 11. 
 
 A Prince ought to make plenary revelation to 
 his prime minister of all slanders and accusations 
 hurled against the said minister ; even when the 
 King may have solemnly promised secrecy. 
 
 12. 
 
 A Prince ought not only to love his realm, but 
 his prime minister also ; after them, his kindred 
 and relatives. 
 
 13. 
 
 A Prince ought to forestall calamity by wise 
 provision. 
 
 14. 
 
 A Prince is not to be blamed for using just 
 severity in governing his realm. 
 
 15. 
 
 A Prince ought carefully to prevent his kingdom 
 from being governed by women and favourites. 
 
 The audacity of these fifteen maxims wrung a 
 grim smile from Louis XIII. He, however, care- 
 fully put the paper by, in the presence of the wily 
 Capuchin ; and desired the reverend father to 
 assure himself that he had perfect faith in the 
 fidelity, ability and resource of M. le Cardinal. 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER FIVE 
 
 1 The Queen-mother seems also to have acquiesced in the propriety of 
 this dismissal : " La reine-mere vint au conseil ou 1'on resolu la liberte 
 de M. de Vendome, et 1'eloignement de Madame do Fargis." Journal 
 de Richelieu. 
 
 2 " On resolut, aussi, de mander au Marquis de Mirabel que le roy 
 d6siroit qu'il vescut en France comme les ambassadeurs de France font
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 259 
 
 en Espagne ; et qu'il ne vint plus au Louvre sans audience, et ne pensat 
 plus n'y sa femme d'avoir libre entree, laquelle ils avaient usurpee 
 jusques a present." Ibid. 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
 4 " Mecontent do la Reyne Regnante centre M. le Cardinal." Richelieu 
 always speaks of himself in the third person. Ibid. 
 
 6 " La petite Lavaux a dit au cardinal quo la colere de la reine avoit 
 etc jusqu'au point de dire : Je ne luy pardonnerai jamais non janiais ! ' ' 
 Ibid. 
 
 6 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu es Orages de la Cour, &c. &c. 
 
 7 Sister of the brothers De Luynes. The Duchess, when Madame de 
 Vernet, had been dismissed for her share in the disorders of tha 
 court when at Amiens. She had subsequently married the Duke de 
 Bouillon. 
 
 8 " La Reine a encore tenu ce meme langage a M. de Chaulnes (Honore 
 de Luynes) le 2 Janvier, 1631, a ce qu'il dit a M. le Cardinal." 
 
 9 One of the four secretaries of state, and often sent by the King to 
 expostulate with Queen Anne. 
 
 10 Walter Montague, then a monk of St. Martin de Pontoise, and 
 greatly in the confidence of the Queens. 
 
 11 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 12 Probably to Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 13 " Ces lettres parlaient de la mort du Roi advenant, de faire epouser 
 la reine a Monsieur. Elle ecrit au Comte de Cramail qu'elle envoyait 
 des memoires a la reine contre le Cardinal. Les lettres tesmoignent 
 un veritable amour entre elle et le Comte de Cramail." Journal de 
 Richelieu. 
 
 14 " Le Marquis de Mirabel dit a Bonnevil, quoique pique de la defense 
 d'entrer au Louvre, qu'il eut voulu qu'on cut oste Madame de Fargis il 
 y a longtemps." Ibid. 
 
 15 " Elle repondit, qu'elle serait bien mechante de dire quelque choie 
 contre lui ; n'en ayant aucun sujet." Ibid. 
 
 16 " II arriva, comme la reyne se couche a minuit, une grosse et grande 
 bougie qui dure jusqu'a neuf ou dix heures du matin, s'eteignit sur les 
 quatre heures du matin. La reyne envoya querir le dit Censure pour 
 lui demander si cela ne signifioit qu'elle dut perdre ? " " On dit que la 
 reine a di verses prophecies, qui lui disent que dans la fin de 1631 elle 
 sera aussi heureuse et grande que jamais ! " Ibid. 
 
 17 " Louis declara que le Petit Luxembourg demeureroit a Richelieu, 
 II fallut encore que la Reine Marie devorat encore le chagrin d'apprendre 
 qu'on faisoit des changements dans son palais au gr6 du Cardinal et de 
 sa niece, qu'on y batissoit des bains, et qu'on y touchoit meme a la 
 maitresse muraille du Grand Palais." Galerie des Personnages Illustres 
 de la Cour de France. 
 
 18 Sir Herbert Croft, who, espousing the faith of Rome, became a lay- 
 brother of the Benedictines of Douay, 1607. Croft died April 1632
 
 260 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1680- 
 
 leaving four sons and three daughters, born in wedlock previous to his 
 profession. Croft and Montague were heart and soul devoted to the 
 interests of Anne of Austria. 
 
 19 Journal de Richelieu Retraite de Monsieur. 
 
 20 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. The duke had an interview with 
 the Princess de Conty, which lasted three hours. The same evening 
 these illustrious ladies, Mesdames de Conty, de Mouay, and the Duchess 
 d'Ornano, conversing together, betrayed their suspicion of the flight of 
 Monsieur, which Richelieu states that they could only have learned 
 from Queen Anne. " Je gage que Monsieur n'aura pas le coeur de 
 publier qu'il est sorty a cause du traitement qu'on fait a la Reyne sa 
 mere," said Madame d'Ornano. " Si fera, que je croy," replied Madame 
 de Conty. " II le fera," continued the princess ; " j'en suis asseuree ; 
 et je vous dis que la Reyne savoit bien sa sortie." This conversation 
 Richelieu remembered. 
 
 21 " Que peu s'en etoit fallu qu'elle ne fust evanouie quand Monsieur 
 luy avoit mande qu'il s'en alloit de la cour." 
 
 22 Jean Souffran, Jesuit, confessor to Marie de' Medici and to Louis XIII. 
 He followed the queen in her exile, and died at Flushing in 1641. 
 
 23 Mem. Recondite. Mem. du Cardinal de Richelieu. Notice des 
 Editeurs. MSS., Bibl. Imp., Lettres de Marie de' Medici. F. Colbert. 
 
 24 Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de France, t. 4. 
 
 25 " Le roy parlant du conseil qu'il prit pour ce regard dit a tout le 
 monde, que la necessite de ses affaires ne lui pouvoit permettre d'en 
 prendre d'autre." 
 
 26 Mem. du Cardinal de Richelieu. Leti, Teatro Gallico. " La Reine- 
 mere," writes Bassompierre, " fut encore sollicitee par le Roy de 
 s'accommoder avec le Cardinal. Mais comme elle est tres entiere et 
 opiniatre, et que la plaie etait encore recente, elle n'y put etre portee." 
 
 27 Mem. de Motteville, t. 1. 
 
 28 Mem. de Motteville. Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. Journal de 
 Richelieu. 
 
 29 " La Reine prit seulement une robe de chambre, et toute en chemise 
 passa chez la Reine sa belle-mere, qu'elle trouva dans son lit assise sur 
 son seant. Elle tenoit les genoux embrasses, ne sachant que deviner de 
 ce mystere." Motteville, t. 1. 
 
 30 Motteville, t. 1 ; MS. Beth. B. Imp., Fontanieu. 
 
 31 Motteville, t. 1. Victor Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. 
 
 32 Madame de Senece was first dame du palais to Queen Anne. 
 
 33 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort, p. 10. 
 
 34 Bassompierre states, " Que les larmes de la Reine-mere ne couloient 
 pas, mais se dardoient hors de ses yeux." 
 
 35 MS. Bibl. Imp. Fontanieu, 262, p. 126. Madame de Guercheville 
 remained as lady-in-waiting on the Queen. She had also her favourites, 
 L^aterina Selvaggio, and M. Fabroni and his wife. 
 
 " MS. Bibl. Imp. Fontanieu, 262, p. 131. MS. Dupuy, Bibl. Imp., 49.
 
 
 1631] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 261 
 
 The King sent the secretary of state, Ville-aux-Clercs, to inform his 
 mother, " Qu'elle avait liberte de sortir, et de se promener lorsque le 
 temps le voudroit permettre." Also, that M. Vaultier, her physician, 
 should return to her when she had obeyed the command of the King to 
 retire to Moulins. Aubery, Mem. pour servir a 1'Histoire du Card, de 
 Richelieu. Lettre de Ville-aux-Clercs. 
 
 37 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. " L'ambassadeur tesmoigna au 
 Roi, et ensuite a tant d'autre persomies, le deplaisir qu'il avait de ce 
 refus, et qu'il etait sur le point d'en faire une plainte publique au 
 Nonce, et aux autres ambassadeurs, mais il s'etait retenu par les 
 persuasions de son secretaire." 
 
 38 MS. Bibl. Imp. Fontanieu, 262, p. 131. 
 
 39 Marie de' Medici a Louis XIII. ; Bibl. Imp., MS. Font., 262, p. 135. 
 
 40 "phe Queen pertinaciously demanded that her physician, Vaultier, 
 should return to her. The King promised that he should meet her at 
 Moulins. Meantime, however, Marie was informed of his committal to 
 the Bastille. The King consented that two of the Queen's women should 
 return to the Luxembourg, to pack up her wardrobe and rich effects. 
 Also that Calignon, her secretary, might visit, and arrange her 
 papers." 
 
 41 The King seems animated by the most perfect good faith throughout 
 his correspondence during Marie's detention at Compiegne. His Majesty 
 appeared willing to make any concession, short of permitting the Queen- 
 mother to return to Paris. Finding that Marie's objections to Moulin 
 were not to be overcome, he offered her the choice of the castle of Angers 
 or of any other chateau in that government. He proposed that she 
 should occupy the castle of Blois ; he offered to dismiss her guards and 
 to provide that everywhere the Queen should be treated as " souveraine 
 dame, mere, et reine." Louis wished his mother to quit Compiegne, to 
 contradict the reports that he had arrested and confined her to that 
 palace. Marie, with her usual obstinacy, protested that nothing should 
 induce her to leave Compiegne, except to rejoin his Majesty in Paris. 
 " Elle a envoye qu6rir des soyes pour travailler a des ouvrages, a present 
 que les jours sont grands," wrote d'Estrees to the secretary, Ville-aux- 
 Clercs. 
 
 42 Information faite par M. de Nesmond, Maitre des Requetes, sur la 
 sortie de la Reine-mere de Compiegne. Aubery, Mem. pour servir a 
 1'Hist. du Card, de Richelieu. 
 
 43 Ibid. The bishop was tried for high treason ; suspended from his 
 episcopal functions ; and was restored only after the decease of the 
 Cardinal. Urquefort, L'Ambassadeur et ses Fonctions, livre 1, p. 112. 
 
 44 Rene Dubec, premier Marquis de Vardes. The marquis married 
 Helene d'O. His son, Ren6 II. du nom, espoused Jacqueline de Benil, 
 Countess de Moret ; and their eldest son, the third Marquis de Vardes, 
 Count de Moret, was the celebrated cavalier of Louis XIV., captain of 
 the Swiss and body guards.
 
 262 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 
 
 45 Lettre de Louis XIII. a Marie de' Medici. Bibl. Imp. MS. Font. 204. 
 
 46 Journal do Richelieu. 
 
 47 Le Pere Chanteloube was banished, or rather fled, to Brussels, to 
 avoid arrest for an alleged connivance in a plot to carry off Madame de 
 Combalet. " Afin de mettre le cardinal a la raison, quand elle auroit 
 ce qu'il aimoit tant. Mademoiselle de Rambouillet etait avec elle : elle 
 alloit voir Madame de Rambouillet." The plot was real one of Marie 
 de' Medici's insane expedients to annoy the Cardinal. 
 
 48 M. de St. Etienne married Marie de Tremblay, sister of Father 
 Joseph. The Abbess of the Val de Grace was a sister of M. de St. 
 Etienne, and therefore honoured with marks of gracious notice by the 
 famous Capuchin. 
 
 49 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. Amsterdam, 1664. 
 
 50 Ibid. 
 
 61 Vie du Marechal de Marillac. Bayle Diet. Tallemant des Reaux. 
 Bassompierre. Mem. du Sieur de Pontis ; the which contain a full 
 detail of the trial and execution of the unfortunate marshal, as de 
 Pontis was the officer charged with the guard of Marillac after his arrest. 
 
 52 Aubery, Mem. pour 1'Hist. du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 5. 
 
 53 Ibid. 
 
 51 Memoire donne au Roy par le Cardinal de Richelieu apres que la 
 Reyne-mere 1'eut eloigne de sa maison, touchant les cabales dans la 
 cour. Aubery, t. 5, p. 266. " n ne faut pas croire, Sire, qu'on puisse 
 avoir des preuves mathematiques des conspirations et des cabales ; elles 
 ne se connoissent ainsi que par 1'evenement, lorsqu'elles ne sont plus 
 capables de remedes," writes the politic minister.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 1631-1637 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA, MADEMOISELLE DE LA FAYETTE, 
 AND THE DUCHESS DE CHEVREUSE 
 
 AFTER the return of Anne of Austria from Com- 
 piegne, her restless spirit subsided. Everywhere 
 the policy and the will of Richelieu were domi- 
 nant : alliance with him conferred power, and 
 opposition to his fiats, disgrace and ignominy. 
 The palace swarmed with his spies, and even in 
 the retirement of her bedchamber, Anne knew 
 that the Cardinal's wary eye tracked her actions 
 and analysed her motives. But one fact foiled 
 the will of the Cardinal and that was her own 
 indomitable hate and enmity. Had the Queen 
 joined her interests to those of Richelieu had 
 she smiled on the minister and declared her- 
 self favourable to his policy and to his power 
 the aspect of Anne's daily life would probably 
 have been transformed from a lot of obscurity and 
 persecution to the most brilliant and powerful 
 position ever occupied by a queen-consort of 
 France. The proposition had been more than 
 once made to her by the Cardinal through Mes- 
 dames de Chevreuse and de Fargis. 1 Often, Riche- 
 lieu was heard to lament the division subsisting 
 between himself and Queen Anne, and to laud 
 rapturously her beauty, wit and sagacity ; while 
 
 263
 
 264 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 he pathetically deplored that these rare gifts 
 should be employed in plots against the govern- 
 ment, in upholding rebel vassals of the crown, 
 and above all, in supporting M. d'Orleans in his 
 criminal attempts to inflict upon France the curse 
 of civil war and foreign invasion. The hidden 
 motives of this disloyalty and indifference to the 
 interests and glory of her adopted country, the 
 Cardinal discerned in the uncertainty of the King's 
 life, and in the hope which ever animated the 
 childless Queen that on the death of Louis XIII. 
 she might a second time ascend the throne as 
 the consort of the brother and successor of her 
 husband. Actuated by this wicked foresight, 
 Anne, Richelieu averred and with much apparent 
 truth, sacrificed her conjugal and queenly duty, 
 and made no effort to conciliate her husband or 
 to efface from his suspicious mind the impression 
 cast thereon by the revelations consequent on the 
 trial of Chalais. No relations could be colder than 
 those subsisting between Louis and his consort 
 during the winter and the spring of the years 
 1631-2. The King avoided his wife in private ; 
 while in public, ceremonious etiquette divided 
 them. Anne never set foot within the King's 
 apartments ; all her communications with his 
 Majesty passed through the hands of Richelieu, 
 and were generally imparted to the minister by 
 the Spanish ambassador or by Madame de 
 Sendee. When Louis visited his palaces of Com- 
 piegne, Fontainebleau, Versailles or Vincennes, 
 notice was given to her Majesty, who made pre-
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 265 
 
 paration to follow the King, or accepting the 
 alternative generally offered, she retired to St. 
 Germain and lived there in strict privacy. Anne 
 now received a liberal allowance for her privy 
 purse : at this period the sum amounted to ten 
 thousand pounds yearly, which she disposed of at 
 will, and upon which no demand was made for 
 expenses connected with her household. 
 
 With the people of Paris Anne was popular ; 
 there was a fascination in her smile and manner 
 which made the Parisians greet her with en* 
 thusiasm ; besides, they half resented her shabby 
 equipages, and the absence of pompous appareil, 
 and of the attendants, which had formed the 
 escort of the queens her predecessors. The Queen 
 was never attended by more than three ladies ; 
 and the edict, given after the trial of Chalais, 
 suspended the functions of the noblemen of her 
 household excepting when the royal pair made a 
 joint progress. The people, therefore, cheered 
 their young Queen on her dreary progresses to the 
 convents of Val de Grace and the Carmelites of 
 the Rue St. Jacques, despite her well-known 
 mutinous defiance of the will of her liege lord 
 Louis XIII. and the law of his minister. The 
 Queen was, nevertheless, compelled to dissimu- 
 late her discontent ; utter isolation might lead to 
 her banishment from the capital, could Louis be 
 persuaded that her presence had little influence 
 on the assembling at the Louvre of the few great 
 personages in the good graces of the Cardinal, 
 who composed the court. She had, therefore,
 
 266 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 summoned Mirabel to the Val de Grace who 
 obeyed her behests at the risk of being arrested, 
 conducted to the frontier and dismissed the realm 
 to request him to wait upon Richelieu and hint, 
 in the name of his Catholic Majesty, that "the 
 latter regretted his Eminence did not frequent the 
 lever or the saloon of Queen Anne his sister, as 
 such intimacy could not fail to be productive of 
 happy results and might give M. le Cardinal 
 opportunity for friendly counsel." 2 Richelieu 
 thanked the ambassador for his obliging dis- 
 course, but gave no intimation as to whether he 
 purposed to act in accord thereto. Probably the 
 Cardinal preferred to trust to the good offices of 
 Madame de Chevreuse to bring about a better 
 understanding between the Queen and himself, 
 rather than to venture alone into her Majesty's 
 presence. The approaching return of Marie de 
 Rohan to court excited in the bosom of the power- 
 ful minister hopes which were never realised. 
 He professed profound admiration for the clever 
 and witty Duchess ; he wished for her friendly 
 alliance, and if the scandalous chronicles of this 
 reign are to be believed, he desired of her some- 
 thing more in addition. Marie, wearied of her 
 enforced sojourn at Dampierre, and anxious to 
 share the power of her friend Chateauneuf, be- 
 fooled the Cardinal by professions of admiration, 
 and by promises of converting Anne of Austria 
 from his foe to a devoted ally.' The adoration 
 which King Louis began to lavish on Mademoi- 
 selle de Hautefort, any comment upon which his
 
 1687] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 267 
 
 Majesty fiercely resented, began to inflict un- 
 easiness on the minister. Anne had already 
 thrown the glamour of her fascinations over her 
 young dame (Valours, and showed no jealousy of 
 her influence with the King ; while Marie de 
 Hautefort bravely informed Richelieu, " that she 
 loved and revered her royal mistress, and could 
 not blame her Majesty if, when surrounded by 
 neglect and persecutions, she had recourse to the 
 sympathy and aid of her brother King Philip." 
 One of the most remarkable faculties possessed by 
 the Queen was the power of commanding the 
 affectionate attachment of her principal ladies; 
 those who most disapproved of her intrigues when 
 they entered her service, never afterwards be- 
 trayed her to the minister. The gentle manners 
 of the Queen, her apparent helplessness, her affec- 
 tionate condescension, the interest she showed 
 in the personal affairs of her friends and the 
 tearful softness of her blue eyes, were powerful 
 weapons against the ascendency of the Cardinal 
 within the precincts of the palace. 
 
 Meantime, the sombre and imperious admira- 
 tion of Louis XIII. filled the mind of Marie de 
 Hautefort with foreboding. Amongst the beauti- 
 ful women of the era of Louis XIII., Marie de 
 Hautefort stands prominent, as one of the most 
 noble, heroic, and virtuous. Firm in her prin- 
 ciples and devoted in her friendship and duty to 
 the Queen her mistress, Marie seems to have con- 
 fided to Anne her misgivings. Endowed with a 
 heart worthy of a queen or of a heroine, Marie at
 
 268 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 first beheld with complacency the homage of her 
 King, and accepted with elation the assiduities 
 of Richelieu. For her sake and to obtain the 
 coveted interview, Louis daily repaired twice and 
 thrice to the apartments of the Queen, where 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort was often summoned 
 from a conference with her Majesty to become the 
 recipient of the sighs and plaints of the King. 
 Anne comforted and reassured her friend ; the 
 King professed sentiments purely Platonic ; he 
 wanted, he said, the solace of friendship and con- 
 fidential intercourse ; he liked to cavil at his 
 minister ; above all he desired faithful, exclusive 
 attachment. Marie, inspired with genuine com- 
 passion for the dreariness of a life of emotions 
 so repressed, accepted, with the secret sanction 
 of the Queen, the office of comforter. Anne gloried 
 in the hope that in this liaison she descried the 
 future germ of her enemy's downfall. The King's 
 bashful shyness in his intercourse with Marie 
 allayed the most prudish suspicion. It is related 
 that one day Louis abruptly entered the Queen's 
 closet, when Anne was sitting tete-a-tete with her 
 dame (Vatours, who with heightened colour was 
 reading to her Majesty a note, which on the 
 entrance of the King she hastily folded. A dark 
 shadow gloomed over the King's brow, and he 
 peremptorily demanded to see the letter so hastily 
 hidden. Treason to his realm might afford a 
 daily pastime to Anne of Austria, while treason 
 against his attachment might give delight to 
 Marie de Hautefort for Louis had been informed
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 269 
 
 by his minister of the admiration professed by the 
 Due de Liancour and the young Prince de Mar- 
 sillac 3 for the lovely young dame d'atours. By 
 some historians, the letter is said to have been 
 written by Richelieu, and that it contained offers 
 of a reciprocal friendly alliance ; others state 
 that the epistle congratulated Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort on her favour, and ended by a demand 
 for protection from some cringing courtier. True 
 to herself, however, Marie refused to gratify the 
 curiosity of the King, and to end the debate she 
 hid the note in her bosom. 4 Anne, meantime, 
 looked on with mocking derision, especially when 
 she beheld the confusion of the King and his 
 hesitation to draw the note from its hiding-place. 
 Her Majesty, however, presently seized the hands 
 of Mademoiselle de Hautefort and laughingly 
 exhorted the King " to take the note whilst she 
 thus held its owner captive." Louis blushed, 
 stammered, advanced and retreated ; and at 
 length, taking up from the hearth a small pair of 
 silver tongs, he tried to possess himself of the 
 note which was visible beneath the transparent 
 lace which covered Marie's bosom. The peals of 
 laughter which this extraordinary device drew 
 from the Queen, and the blushing confusion and 
 deprecatory looks of Marie, fairly drove Louis 
 from the apartment. 6 The ladies then hastened 
 to destroy the letter, just in time to forestal a 
 formal summons for its surrender by the under- 
 secretary of state, Machault. " Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort is of tall stature and fine figure, her
 
 270 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 eyes are blue, large, open and full of vivacity ; 
 her nose is aquiline, her mouth small and rosy, 
 while her smile displays teeth, white and even as 
 pearls. Two little dimples gave a grace to the 
 lovely mouth and cheeks. The colour of her hair 
 is blond cendre, of which she has an abundance, 
 falling in ringlets around a beautiful and stately 
 throat. In her aspect there is altogether so much 
 dignity, gentleness, and grace, that it excites 
 sentiments of tenderness, awe, and esteem." Such 
 is the description given of the charms of the young 
 dame tfatours by a contemporary. 6 The heavy 
 assiduities of Louis were often felt as insupport- 
 able restraints by one so gifted and charming, 
 who beheld all the cavaliers of the court van- 
 quished by her fascinations, but nevertheless 
 withheld from offering personal homage, daunted 
 by their dread of exciting the resentment of the 
 sovereign. Madame de la Flotte, however, did 
 not fail to remind her grand-daughter that the 
 homage of Louis XIII. had enabled her adorers to 
 discern many a captivating grace hitherto undis- 
 covered, when Marie was the humble fille d'honneur 
 of the exiled Queen-mother. When the Louvre rang 
 with the praises of Mademoiselle de Hautefort 7 
 and the courtiers celebrated the charms of 
 
 Hautefort la merveille ! 
 
 Reveille 
 
 Tous les sens de Louis, 
 Quand sa bouche vermeille 
 Lui fait voir un souris ! 
 
 the Cardinal deemed it time to provide an anti- 
 dote, which he summoned in the form of the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 271 
 
 Duchess de Chevreuse, and in the promotion to 
 a more distinguished position in the royal house- 
 hold of another fair young maid of honour, Louise 
 Angelique Motier de la Fayette. Richelieu felt 
 that if the Duchess was on his side, he had nothing 
 to fear from the probable combination of the 
 Queen and La Hautefort. He relied on the 
 sagacity of Marie de Rohan 8 to resume her old 
 ascendency over the heart of Anne of Austria, 
 and to drive into obscurity the presumptive girl 
 who had dared to aspire to royal favour and to 
 the confidence of the Queen. After five years of 
 exile Madame de Chevreuse, therefore, re-appeared 
 permanently, as she hoped, on the scene of her 
 ancient triumphs, much to the dismay of her 
 husband, who during her enforced residence at 
 Dampierre, had been revelling in luxurious ease, 
 troubling himself seldom with the wishes or the 
 fate of his consort. Madame de Chevreuse, as the 
 widow and sole heiress of the late Constable de 
 Luynes, had brought her second husband immense 
 wealth in jewels, lands and rich effects. The Due 
 de Chevreuse was recklessly extravagant : being 
 in want of a coach, he was once known to com- 
 mand fifteen to be built that he might select the 
 most comfortable. His donations to dissolute com- 
 panions were immense. The Duke, nevertheless, 
 knew how to uphold his dignity as became a scion 
 of Lorraine-Guise and greatly disapproved of his 
 wife's proceedings. The return of the Duchess, 
 therefore, was an event which he deprecated, the 
 more especially, as, under the cloak of her new
 
 272 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 favour with Richelieu and the Lord-Keeper 
 Chateauneuf, Madame de Chevreuse commenced 
 a suit against her husband for profligate expendi- 
 ture during her absence, and demanded a separa- 
 tion de corps et de biens which she easily obtained. 
 Monsieur de Chevreuse, therefore, retired from the 
 Hotel Luynes, while the Duchess complacently 
 established herself alone in that splendid mansion 
 and prepared for the career before her. Anne 
 received her old friend with open arms ; and 
 this cordiality ought to have aroused Richelieu 
 to examine the sincerity of the professions of the 
 Duchess. Madame de Chevreuse became a daily 
 visitor at the Louvre, though Louis refused to 
 reinstate her in her old apartments within the 
 palace and evidently regarded her presence as an 
 unwelcome intrusion. The court, nevertheless, 
 during the next few months, was joyous and 
 gallant. Richelieu and his master required the 
 splendour and excitement of a few brilliant festi- 
 vals to neutralize, in degree, the gloom everywhere 
 prevalent, and to divert public attention from 
 politics and from the discontent manifested in the 
 provinces at the exile of the Queen-mother and 
 of the heir -presumptive. "The court was very 
 agreeable at this period," recounts Mademoiselle : 9 
 " the attachment of the King to Madame de 
 Hautefort contributed greatly to our pleasure, as 
 his Majesty tried to find her daily diversion. 
 Hunting was the greatest of the King's recrea- 
 tions ; and we often accompanied his Majesty. 
 Mesdames de Hautefort and St. Louis, d'Escars
 
 1687] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 273 
 
 and de Beaumont attended me. We were attired 
 in our respective colours, and rode palfreys richly 
 accoutred. To shade our complexion from the 
 sun, we all wore hats ornamented with a great 
 quantity of drooping plumes. The hunt always 
 was made to take the direction of some great 
 house, where we found a sumptuous collation 
 prepared. When we returned the King usually 
 entered my coach, sitting between me and Ma- 
 dame de Hautefort. When his Majesty was in 
 good humour, he conversed very agreeably. At 
 this period he permitted us to speak of the Car- 
 dinal de Richelieu ; and as a sign that he was not 
 displeased at our comments, he joined in our con- 
 versation. As soon as we returned to the Louvre 
 we repaired to the saloon of the Queen, where I 
 took pleasure in waiting upon her Majesty whilst 
 she supped, her maidens handing the dishes. 
 Three times a week we had the diversion of music, 
 and the King's musicians attended. The airs 
 played and sung were generally composed by the 
 King : he also wrote the words of the songs, 
 which had always Madame de Hautefort for their 
 theme. The humour of the King at this period 
 was so gallant, that at the country collations 
 which he gave us, he sometimes declined to take 
 his place at table but waited upon the ladies, 
 though we were aware that this civility had but 
 one object. He took his repast after we had 
 finished, but pretended not to pay more attention 
 to Madame de Hautefort than to any one of us, so 
 anxious was his Majesty to conceal his gallant
 
 274 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 devoirs. Nevertheless, if any dispute happened 
 between them, all our diversions were immediately 
 suspended ; and if the King came during this 
 interval into the Queen's saloon, he spoke to no 
 one, neither did any person dare to address his 
 Majesty. He retired into a corner and there sat, 
 yawned and slept. The King's melancholy aspect 
 chilled everybody, and during this interval 
 between the quarrel and reconciliation, he con- 
 soled himself by putting down on paper all that 
 he had said to Madame de Hautefort with her 
 replies, and so true is this fact, that after his 
 Majesty's death copious minutes were found 
 amongst his private papers detailing at length all 
 the quarrels he had had with his mistresses, to 
 the eternal praise of whom, be it avowed, as also 
 to his Majesty's honour, he never loved any but 
 the most virtuous and discreet of women." Louis 
 had the greatest horror of profligate liaisons : and 
 though alienated from the Queen, he was rigidly 
 faithful to her. " Mademoiselle de Hautefort told 
 me," writes Madame de Motteville, " that the de- 
 corum of the King was such that he seldom talked 
 to her on any subjects but about his dogs, his 
 birds and hunting. I have seen her, with all her 
 wisdom and virtue, relate with derision the fright 
 the King was in when with her alone, and that 
 at such periods he scarcely dared approach near 
 enough to discourse with her." On occasions, 
 however, when the King and Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort were alone, Marie spoke earnestly 
 respecting the Queen and besought the King to
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 275 
 
 become reconciled to her, and the subject of their 
 frequent disputes, to which Mademoiselle alludes, 
 was the zeal which Marie displayed for the cause 
 of her royal mistress. Louis confided his sus- 
 picions and stated his conviction that Anne was 
 the accomplice of Chalais, and that he owed his 
 life and crown to the vigilance of Richelieu. " The 
 Queen hates me she intrigues against my realm 
 she is Spanish at heart she is perpetually 
 plotting against my happiness." This conviction 
 nothing could ever shake. " Madame," continued 
 Louis, " mark my words you love and support 
 an ungrateful woman. Wait, and see how one 
 day she will repay your services ! " Marie de 
 Hautefort, like many others, believed fervently in 
 the Queen with her sweet smiles and gentle 
 seductions. Anne was mistress of the arts of per- 
 suasion, and the disgraces which followed her per- 
 sistent petty treasons seemed the more to endear 
 her to her adherents. Perhaps her power lay 
 in the unpopularity of the King. The penalties, 
 moreover, with which her deviations were visited, 
 lay open to the comment and pity of the court, 
 while the cause of this severity was often con- 
 cealed by the express command of Louis, who 
 shrank from the publication of his domestic 
 miseries. Anne persuaded her friends that her 
 clandestine correspondences with Spain were inno- 
 cent, and that her stolen conferences with the 
 Spanish ambassador and with Gerbier, Montagu 
 and Croft, Catholic agents of Queen Henrietta of 
 England, were legitimate. She was persecuted :
 
 276 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1681- 
 
 her Majesty, therefore, appealed to the sympathy 
 of her brother King Philip and to that of Marie 
 de' Medici and of Monsieur, and disregarded the 
 tyrannical orders of the minister to be silent and 
 submit. The word of Anne of Austria, as Riche- 
 lieu often observed, could not be depended upon. 
 Her Majesty, it was true, rarely perjured herself, 
 but her modes of evasion and equivocation were 
 so diverse and ingenious that she seldom avowed 
 what she wished to conceal, even under the most 
 rigid examination ; or promised exactly that which 
 she knew she had no intention to fulfil. If Anne 
 could have accepted her lot and her uncongenial 
 consort with resignation, her court might have 
 been brilliant and joyous, despite the absence of 
 the great personages disgraced by the policy of the 
 minister. Beautiful women, such as the Duchesses 
 de Montbazon, 10 de Chevreuse, and the Princess 
 de Guemene, 11 adorned the court circle ; the wit 
 of the Marquise de Sable, and of the Prince de 
 Marsillac, of Madame de Rambouillet and of the 
 Princesses Marie and Anne de Gonzague-Nevers, 
 gave verve and animation ; the rich heiress of the 
 elder branch of Rohan, the grand-daughter of 
 Sully, was a prize sufficient to excite a piquant 
 emulation amongst the younger courtiers ; while 
 the charms of Anne's maidens, Hautefort and 
 Lafayette and de Chemerault, and the grace and 
 repartee of Mademoiselle de Vendome, all might 
 have contributed to the renown of the court. 
 Moreover, there stood in close proximity to the 
 throne Marguerite de Montmorency, Princess de
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 277 
 
 Conde, in the bright zenith of her charms, and 
 still encircled by the halo of the mad passion of 
 Henri le Grand. Besides her, was her daughter 
 Anne Gene vi eve de Bourbon, lovely like her 
 mother, of strong intellect, apt at political in- 
 trigue, in the which she had been nurtured, but 
 shrinking at this very period from sharing the 
 grand ancestral home, name and mature years of 
 the Due de Longueville. By Madame de Conde 
 was her son after M. d'Orleans, heir of the crown 
 afterwards known as the great Conde, whose 
 powerful arm first shook and then established the 
 throne of the future Louis Quatorze. The eagle 
 eye of Richelieu had marked this noble heir of the 
 Condes, and with unfaltering faith in his own 
 fortunes and ability, he had resolved on the first 
 fortunate contingency some opportunity when 
 the dark jealousy of Louis Treize had been roused 
 against the princes of his blood to unite the 
 young Due d'Enghien with his niece, Claire 
 Clemence de Maille-Breze. Mademoiselle de Breze 
 was one of the playfellows of Mademoiselle in her 
 nursery at the Tuileries : she was excessively 
 petite in stature, and wore high-heeled shoes, 
 which entailed upon her many a fall while dancing 
 the leste courante with the merry princess, who 
 seems to have amused herself heartily with the 
 terrors of the timid child. One day Mademoiselle 
 ordered a ballet to be performed in honour of the 
 return of her father, Monsieur, to Paris, in which 
 she and her maidens performed. During a scene 
 of the ballet, a number of caged birds were
 
 278 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [I68i- 
 
 liberated, and a linnet, after flying about the 
 apartment, nestled into one of the deep plaits of the 
 ruff worn by Mademoiselle de Breze, who screamed 
 with fright and fainted as the bird fluttered about 
 her neck. It was to propitiate Madame de Conde 
 that Richelieu caused that wondrous doll's house 
 to be constructed, the first that had ever been 
 seen in France, at a cost of 2000 crowns and 
 presented it to Mademoiselle de Bourbon. 12 The 
 trusty friend and equerry of Anne of Austria, de 
 Rochechouart, Chevalier de Jars, had also re- 
 ceived a pardon and a recall from his banishment 
 in England, where he had remained ever since the 
 memorable embassy of the Duke of Buckingham 
 to Paris, having been convicted of carrying to 
 London certain missives addressed to the am- 
 bassador by his royal mistress. The Christmas of 
 1631 passed away in this negative state of tran- 
 quillity, when, with the public declaration of the 
 marriage of Monsieur with Marguerite, 13 sister of 
 the Duke of Lorraine, occurred the rising in Lan- 
 guedoc on behalf of Monsieur and of his mother 
 the exiled Queen, and the news that Spain was 
 preparing to invade France at the summons of the 
 heir-presumptive. The gallant Due de Mont- 
 morency, seduced by the promises and entreaties 
 of Monsieur, and misled by his statements of the 
 forces he could muster in support of his revolt, 
 promised to receive the Duke in Languedoc, and 
 to place the fortresses and towns therein in the 
 possession of the rebel forces. The Duke pledged 
 himself to Montmorency to enter France at the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 279 
 
 head of 2000 men levies which he purposed to 
 raise in the Netherlands with funds placed at his 
 disposal by the Queen his mother who had dis- 
 posed of her jewels for this purpose, and by the 
 aid of the treasury of Spain. Moreover, the Duke 
 of Lorraine had engaged to join their army with 
 a reinforcement of 1500 men, while a powerful 
 body of Spanish troops was to appear on the 
 frontiers of Savoy, to aid in the overthrow of the 
 usurping minister, and thus to achieve the salva- 
 tion of France, the reunion of the royal family 
 and the liberation of the King. Unhappily 
 some private sources of discontent rendered 
 Montmorency an easy dupe to the sophistry of 
 Monsieur. 14 He allied himself with the Duke, 
 promised to take up arms in his cause, and to 
 open to him a high road through his government 
 of Languedoc. Having agreed to the convention, 
 Montmorency effectually closed against himself 
 the avenues of mercy in the breast of the sus- 
 picious Louis, by sending the Count de Grammont 
 to assure the King of his fidelity, and that the 
 rumours current of his alliance with Monsieur 
 were unfounded. Three days afterwards, Monsieur 
 made his appearance at Lodeve, at the head of an 
 undisciplined band, half Walloon, half Spanish, 
 officered by a few French adventurers and mal- 
 contents, ready to throw for the same lot as 
 Monsieur. With such an army of adventurers, the 
 Duke hesitated not to endanger the lives of cava- 
 liers like Montmorency, Elbceuf, Moret, and M. de 
 la Valette, the husband of his half-sister, Gabrielle
 
 280 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 de Bourbon; and to make the risk still more 
 fatal, he entered France three days before the 
 period agreed upon and while Montmorency was 
 atLunel. All true patriots throughout the realm, 
 much as they deprecated Richelieu's harsh treat- 
 ment of the mother, brother and wife of his 
 sovereign, rose to repulse the invaders. Marshal 
 Schomberg was despatched with an army to bar 
 Monsieur's advance on Orleans and to offer battle 
 to the rebels, while the Marshal de la Force 
 entered Languedoc by the Pont St. Esprit, at 
 the head of a second division. The marriage 
 of Monsieur with Marguerite de Lorraine was 
 solemnly declared null and void, by a mandate of 
 the privy council and by edict of the Parliament, 
 while Louis himself, accompanied by Queen Anne, 
 departed for the scene of conflict. 
 
 Before the arrival of his Majesty, the fight of 
 Castelnaudari had put down the rebellion, by the 
 capture of Montmorency on the battle-field and 
 by the total rout of the rebels by the troops under 
 Schomberg. Monsieur fled from the field without 
 making effort to retrieve the fortune of the day or 
 to save the lives of the brave men deluded to their 
 ruin by his representations. The Duke sought 
 refuge in Beziers, himself secure from the punish- 
 ment due to his rebellion, by his position as heir- 
 presumptive. A great example of royal justice, 
 nevertheless, was needed; and it was decreed 
 that the brave and chivalrous Montmorency should 
 suffer the death of a traitor on the scaffold as a 
 wholesome warning to the Due de Bouillon, to
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 281 
 
 Soissons and other seditious subjects at large. 
 Monsieur, therefore, was informed that pardon for 
 his late enterprise might be obtained, on condition 
 that he abandoned Montmorency and other noble 
 captives taken at Castelnaudari to the penalty 
 they had incurred, and promised for the future 
 "to love and to support the Cardinal-minister." 
 All this Gaston promised with alacrity ; his craven 
 spirit cowered beneath the threats of Louis and 
 his minister who were now on their way to 
 Toulouse, followed by the Princesse de Conde who 
 journeyed thither to intercede for her gallant 
 brother. On the 27th of October, Montmorency 
 was brought under escort by the Marshal de 
 Breze to Toulouse ; and a commission was con- 
 stituted, headed by the Lord-Keeper Chateauneuf , 
 to try him for treason. On the morrow the Duke 
 appeared before his judges. On the 30th of Octo- 
 ber, 1632, sentence was pronounced, and during 
 the afternoon of the same day Montmorency ex- 
 piated his crime on the scaffold. Incredible exer- 
 tions had been made to save his life. Monsieur 
 sent special messengers three times to implore his 
 pardon. Madame de Conde knelt at the feet of the 
 Cardinal imploring his mercy, having been refused 
 admittance to his Majesty's presence. The Dukes 
 d'Epernon and de Chevreuse, the Cardinal de la 
 Valette 15 and the Papal Nuncio Spada, implored 
 that the doom of death might be averted. Louis 
 gloomily replied to all supplications : " The fate 
 of M. de Montmorency remains with the Parlia- 
 ment of Toulouse, his judge I " In former years,
 
 282 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 the Duke had subscribed himself the devoted 
 admirer and servant of Anne of Austria ; and 
 now, in Montmorency's great extremity, the Due 
 d'Epernon requested audience of her Majesty to 
 implore her intercession. Anne turned very pale ; 
 she hesitated, but at length promised to speak to 
 M. le Cardinal. Around the arm of the Duke, when 
 the sleeve of his habit was cut on the field of battle 
 to enable the surgeons to dress his wounds, a 
 bracelet was found containing the portrait of the 
 Queen. The Marshal de Breze, the officer to whom 
 Montmorency surrendered, took the bracelet, 
 which he sent to his kinsman, Richelieu. " The 
 King," says Anquetil, " who was before disposed 
 to show mercy to the Duke, became inflexibly 
 resolved on his death, when he was informed by 
 his minister that a portrait had been taken from 
 the person of the Duke, the original of which 
 respect forbade him to name ; but a portrait, 
 nevertheless, which deeply interested the King." ie 
 Whether Anne was aware of this circumstance 
 cannot be ascertained ; she, nevertheless, ven- 
 tured to appeal to Richelieu, who in his conduct 
 to the Queen mingled a certain gallantry even in 
 his fiercest repulses, and when she condescended 
 to petition, it had often prevailed. Perhaps the 
 thought of the brave hearts and noble reputations 
 wrecked by her levity may have inspired Anne 
 with courage on this occasion. The Duke de Belle- 
 garde owed the disfavour which had terminated 
 in exile to her smiles ; Buckingham had perished 
 by the hand of an assassin when arming in her
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 283 
 
 behalf and as some believed, by her secret com- 
 mand, for the invasion of her adopted country ; 
 Montmorency was about to perish on a scaffold ; 
 the Due d'Orleans, betrayed in the first instance 
 by her beauty and alleged regard into treasonable 
 conspiracy against the state, remained a perpetual 
 dishonour to the crown to which his birth rendered 
 him heir-presumptive, and lived an alien from 
 France. Upon Mesdames de Vernet, de Chevreuse, 
 de Fargis, ruin had fallen for their faithful devo- 
 tion to Anne of Austria ; while exile, death and 
 imprisonment had been, besides, the fate of numer- 
 ous less known agents in her intrigues. Anne, 
 therefore, took courage, and resolved to make an 
 attempt to save the life of Montmorency. More- 
 over, the Queen often asserted that she possessed 
 power over the inclinations of the Cardinal- 
 minister, and that her supplications, when she 
 condescended to make such, would prevail over 
 the most important state interests. This assertion, 
 which was frequently made by Anne, is not devoid 
 of probability. Richelieu's anger at her underhand 
 proceedings seems ever prompted by secret depit ; 
 while the vexatious persecutions by the which he 
 avenged himself, appeared rather to bespeak mor- 
 tification and an irritable impatience at not being 
 able to command submission and confidence. 
 Richelieu listened to Anne's pleadings for the life 
 of Montmorency in silence and tears. " Je plains 
 M. de Montmorency ; mais il ne pent eviter la mort, 
 ou une prison perpetuelle" said he. Her Majesty 
 then asked the Cardinal whether intercession with
 
 284 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [lesi- 
 
 the King would avail, as she was resolved to 
 petition le Roi Monseigneur. " Madame," replied 
 Richelieu significantly, " it is quite possible that 
 your prayers will make a great impression on the 
 mind of the King your consort, they might even 
 induce him to grant your petition ; nevertheless, 
 Madame, I should recommend your silence, for the 
 violence which his Majesty might lay on his own 
 wishes and resolves, would be likely to bring about 
 a return of the serious illness under which the King 
 laboured at Lyons. You understand, Madame ! " 17 
 Anne comprehended that she had received a tacit 
 interdiction, and that if she scorned his prohibi- 
 tion the Cardinal intended to warn the King that 
 her entreaties to him to revoke his resolves had 
 been taken in defiance of the apprehensions ex- 
 pressed by Richelieu concerning the royal health 
 the inference thereby to be deduced being 
 that Anne cared more for the rescue of Mont- 
 morency than for the health of her consort. Louis 
 suffered many relentings and much mental 
 emotion, before he suffered the strong hand of 
 Richelieu to guide his own for the signature of the 
 Duke's death-warrant. Strict justice, doubtless, 
 clamoured for the head of Montmorency ; but 
 Monsieur ought not to have escaped retribution 
 for invading France at the head of a foreign force 
 levied by funds provided by Queen Marie and 
 increased by contributions from the Spanish 
 exchequer. 18 If Monsieur had possessed military 
 talent, or even common sagacity and punctuality, a 
 frightful civil war might have ravaged the kingdom.
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 285 
 
 This formidable invasion had been neutralised 
 only by the childish impatience of Monsieur 
 who arrived at Lodeve three days earlier than the 
 time fixed for the outbreak of hostilities. " As a 
 private individual," said the King, " I would fain 
 save M. de Montmorency, but I should not act 
 as a king if I suffered my people to be invaded and 
 myself to be defied by rebels. I may not exercise 
 compassion ; my duty is stern but it is in- 
 exorable." 19 
 
 The death of the Marshal de Montmorency was 
 first resolved in a private council, at which were 
 present only the King, the Cardinal, his shadow 
 the Capuchin Joseph, and Chateauneuf, lord- 
 keeper. The crime of Montmorency was the more 
 unpardonable, inasmuch as M. d'Orleans had been 
 received in Languedoc with, and by the tacit con- 
 sent of, the States of the province, on the demand 
 of the Marshal an aggravation of his treason 
 which merited direst expiation. The matter was 
 afterwards laid before the privy council . Richelieu 
 opened the debate by demanding that Justice 
 should be permitted to take her course, that a 
 commission should be empannelled to try M. de 
 Montmorency, and that the sentence of the judges 
 should be confirmed. No person present dared to 
 plead in defiance of the opinion of the Cardinal. 20 
 The blood of Montmorency haunted, ever after- 
 wards, the unfortunate King. Madame la Prin- 
 cesse left no pause of forgetfulness to any person- 
 age who had promoted the catastrophe of her 
 brother's overthrow. Her enmity to the Duke of
 
 286 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1681- 
 
 Orleans, who so dishonourably abandoned Mont- 
 morency to his fate, never relaxed. The Lord 
 Keeper Chateauneuf, the presiding judge at the 
 trial of the Marshal, ere long felt the effect of the 
 vengeance of the Conde family, which refused to 
 be propitiated by the gift of a great part of the 
 confiscated possessions of Montmorency, including 
 Chantilly, Ecouen, Marlou and other magnificent 
 domains. 21 The mental and personal gifts of the 
 Due de Montmorency, so highly lauded by most 
 contemporary historians, are more soberly dis- 
 cussed by Tallemant des Reaux, the Brantome of 
 the seventeenth century. " The last Due de Mont- 
 morency," writes Tallemant, 22 " became master 
 of his revenues at the age of nineteen. Although 
 his eyes squinted somewhat, the Duke was a 
 handsome man. He was an adept in the use and 
 practice of the most refined and agreeable gestures, 
 and spoke rather by his arms than with his tongue. 
 He sometimes commenced a compliment and was 
 obliged to stop half way, so that often it was as 
 much as one could do not to laugh. He did not 
 talk nonsense, but he had little wit and no readi- 
 ness of diction. He was brave, rich, gallant, 
 liberal, a good dancer, a graceful rider, a hospitable 
 host to men of wit and learning, many of whom he 
 engaged in his service and who furnished him with 
 verses and sentiments. He gave away to the poor, 
 he was beloved by all the world and adored by his 
 own people. He was very generous. One day the 
 Duke overheard a gentleman exclaim, ' If I could 
 find any person who would lend me 20,000 crowns
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 287 
 
 for two years, my fortune would be made ! ' 
 Montmorency lent the sum. At the expiration of 
 the two years, the gentleman honourably offered 
 the money. ' Go, monsieur,' said the Duke ; ' by 
 keeping your word you have sufficiently repaid 
 me. I present to you this sum with all my heart.' 
 During his passion for Madame de Sable, the Duke 
 one day sent her deeds, making donation of an 
 estate worth 40,000 livres annually, which how- 
 ever the Marquise declined to accept. Mont- 
 morency fell desperately in love with Queen Anne 
 of Austria, but Buckingham and his English 
 lords counteracted that passion." 
 
 The executions over, consequent on the defeat 
 of Castelnaudari, and the awards announced, 
 Louis departed for Versailles, sick and dismal in 
 mind and body and anxious to revert to confiden- 
 tial discussions with Mademoiselle de Hautefort. 
 Monsieur was permitted to repair to Orleans, 
 gratified by the assurances given him by the 
 Capuchin Joseph, " that his Majesty pardoned his 
 treason, but could on no account acknowledge 
 the legality of his marriage with Marguerite de 
 Lorraine." The Duke's penitence was always very 
 evanescent and his fears of Richelieu acute ; he 
 therefore speedily again took occasion to retire 
 to Brussels, on the plea that after the execution 
 of the Due de Montmorency his honour forbade 
 him to remain a placid spectator of the " perfidi- 
 ous perfidies " of M. le Cardinal de Richelieu, 
 which tended to the ruin of the kingdom and of 
 the royal dynasty. Louis, on his departure from
 
 288 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631_ 
 
 Toulouse, left Queen Anne in the safe custody of 
 his minister, who conducted her, attended by the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse and the Marquise de Senece, 
 to Bordeaux. Much against her will, the Queen 
 had been compelled to accompany her consort 
 to the scene of warfare in the West, but the risk 
 had been considered too great to suffer Anne to 
 remain alone in the capital while the kingdom 
 was menaced by a Spanish invasion both in 
 Languedoc and Picardy. The ambassador Mirabel, 
 it was true, was withdrawn from Paris, in con- 
 sequence of the close alliance now subsisting 
 between France, the Protestant princes of Ger- 
 many, and Sweden, to cripple the imperial power 
 of Ferdinand II. and to promote the downfall of 
 Spanish predominance in the councils of Europe. 
 Anne, nevertheless, was strongly suspected of 
 making communications to her brother through 
 one Gerbier, an attache of the English embassy. 
 Moreover, it had been ascertained that she had 
 sent for Seiior Navas, Spanish charge d'affaires, 
 then resident in Paris, who was introduced at dusk 
 hour into an apartment of the Salles des Bains at 
 the Louvre. The Queen addressed Navas as she 
 passed out attended by Madame de Chevreuse on 
 her way to the grands appartements and said only, 
 though significantly, the words : " Take care of 
 yourselves ; I know that there is a traitor amongst 
 you who betrays to M. le Cardinal all that passes." 
 This intimation was given just before the rising in 
 the South and excited much suspicion. Richelieu 
 from that moment watched Madame de Chev-
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 289 
 
 reuse, Chateauneuf and others who under colour 
 of devotion to his interests might be carrying on 
 a double game. Chateauneuf was always present 
 when the minister communicated to Louis the 
 cancans, as well as the more important facts 
 gleaned by his secret police. Anne, therefore, 
 in consequence of these reports, had not been 
 suffered to seek her accustomed refuge at St. 
 Germain during the King's progress to the South. 
 In answer to some inquiries made by Richelieu 
 Madame de Chevreuse, nevertheless, had boldly 
 replied that, " having asked her Majesty whether 
 she might assure the King that her correspondence 
 and conduct were such as his Majesty approved, 
 Queen Anne had frankly replied in the affirmative. 
 The Duchess, therefore, informs M. le Cardinal 
 that she believes the Queen has no relations with 
 Spain, with Monsieur, with the Queen-mother or 
 with any person." 23 
 
 After his return to Paris, Richelieu set himself 
 to elucidate the mystery which tormented him, 
 and by the aid of his trained spies to investigate 
 more closely the life of Madame de Chevreuse. 
 During the sojourn of Anne and her court at 
 Bordeaux, the Cardinal had been severely indis- 
 posed from the fatigue and agitation of the late 
 trials so much so that for some hours his case 
 was thought desperate. The Queen, however, had 
 not thought proper to suspend her evening recep- 
 tion, and the Cardinal was informed that the 
 beautiful Duchess and her friend Chateauneuf had 
 danced together merrily, and had even been
 
 290 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 overheard to make sundry uncomplimentary allu- 
 sions to the sick minister. Such levity seemed ill to 
 accord with the expressions of devotion proffered 
 by Madame de Chevreuse, or with the gratitude 
 so fluently professed by M. de Chateauneuf for his 
 elevation to the high office of Lord-Keeper of the 
 Great Seal of France. The King retired to St. 
 Germain after giving his minister a splendid 
 welcome back to Paris, where he brooded over 
 his regrets for the death of Montmorency, and 
 nursed his returning indignation against the 
 Queen, upon whom he mentally resented every 
 fresh aggression on France made by her Spanish 
 kindred. The Queen, again established amid the 
 solitudes of the Louvre, summoned her little knot 
 of intimates. These personages were Mesdames de 
 Chevreuse, de Senece, 24 de Montbazon, de Haute- 
 fort, de la Fayette, Madame de la Flotte, the 
 Princess de Conde, the Lord-Keeper Chateauneuf, 
 the Chevalier de Jars, the Count de Biron, 
 Montagu and many personages of inferior rank 
 who in former reigns would not have been ad- 
 mitted to les petites entrees of the Queen of France. 
 A precious document, 25 found by M. Victor Cousin 
 in the archives of the French Foreign Office that 
 rich mine of historical wealth now unfortunately 
 closed to the public recounts the surgings of the 
 great Cardinal's wrath against his suspected foe, 
 Chateauneuf, as daily he added one fact to 
 another, until, exasperated by such ingratitude, 
 Richelieu ordered his arrest, February 1633, and 
 the seizure of the papers and effects of the un-
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 291 
 
 happy Lord-Keeper. The true cause of this arrest 
 was occasioned by the mad jealousy of Richelieu, 
 who found that he had been deceived and flouted 
 by the beautiful woman whose professions of love 
 and fidelity had disarmed his suspicion. Madame 
 de Chevreuse had all along been the ally, and it 
 must be added the mistress, of Chateauneuf, over 
 whom she exercised such sway that the political 
 secrets of the Cardinal, of necessity confided to the 
 Lord-Keeper, had been betrayed to the Duchess 
 and by her confided to Anne of Austria. Far, 
 therefore, from having performed the conditions 
 of her recall from exile, the Duchess had fomented 
 and had been the soul of every hostile intrigue 
 " indeed the world seemed too small to hold this 
 intriguing and turbulent pair." " Chateauneuf," 
 writes the Cardinal in his Memoir, " mingled in all 
 the cabals of the court ; particularly he took part 
 with our factious ladies, the principal of whom 
 was the Duchess of Chevreuse, whose conduct and 
 evil spirit had often displeased the King, as she 
 never failed to join the cabals raised against his 
 crown ; but more than this, she appeared always 
 as a dangerous leader of parties." Richelieu com- 
 mences the recital of his private grievances against 
 Chateauneuf from a very early period. " During 
 the predominance of the Marquis d'Ancre, le Sieur 
 de Chateauneuf was on bad terms with the Cardinal 
 de Richelieu. When the Cardinal believed himself 
 to be dismissed (' Journee des Dupes '), the said 
 Sieur de Chateauneuf did all he could against 
 him. n In this curious document, the names of the
 
 292 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iesi- 
 
 persons mentioned are indicated by ciphers: 
 number 9 stood for Madame de Chevreuse. 
 Richelieu accuses Chateauneuf of gross perfidy ; 
 of being on the side of Monsieur and the Queen- 
 mother, while taking office under his ministry ; 
 of betraying state secrets to Madame de Chev- 
 reuse and even to Queen Anne ; of keeping up 
 a private and traitorous correspondence with 
 England, of which the Cardinal had been warned 
 by Weston, the English ambassador in Paris, who 
 declared that the Lord-Keeper constantly cor- 
 responded with Queen Henrietta Maria, and gave 
 pernicious advice to her Majesty upon religious 
 questions ; 26 that her Britannic Majesty had been 
 heard several times to express disgust at the 
 policy of the Cardinal in supporting the Protes- 
 tant princes of Germany against the Emperor ; 
 adding, " that M. le Garde des Sceaux did not 
 share in such councils, but that he was her 
 especial friend and servant, and that France 
 would be much better governed after the death of 
 M. le Cardinal." Richelieu also accuses Chateau- 
 neuf of duplicity in the affair of M. de Mont- 
 morency ; stating that the Lord-Keeper told 
 M. de Chaudebonne, the confidential agent of 
 Monsieur and others, that he had desired to save 
 the life of the duke and had vainly made inter- 
 cession when, on the contrary, M. le Garde des 
 Sceaux had been the first to propose the execution 
 of the said duke, and had told the Cardinal that 
 he would never consent to so pernicious a use 
 of the royal clemency ; that he had, moreover,
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 298 
 
 proposed that execution should be done by mandate 
 of the council ; and had angrily deprecated the 
 resolve taken to try M.de Montmorency before a 
 regularly constituted court ; that Chateauneuf 
 had betrayed to Madame de Chevreuse the fact of 
 the marriage of Monsieur with Marguerite de 
 Lorraine, when it greatly imported to the royal 
 service that the accomplishment of such should 
 be held secret. Chateauneuf had also tried to 
 discredit the Cardinal de Richelieu with the Jesuit 
 Order. He was also in frequent correspondence 
 with the exiled rebels with Monsieur and Queen 
 Marie all in defiance of his oath of fidelity to the 
 King and of the duties and responsibilities of his 
 office. This paper the Cardinal drew up for his 
 own special use, and it does not seem to have been 
 produced against the Lord-Keeper. On the 25th 
 of February, 1633, Chateauneuf was arrested at 
 St.-Germain-en-Laye on leaving the palace after 
 an audience of the King, and conducted under a 
 strong escort to his chateau at Ruff ec, in Limousin. 
 The day following his house in Paris was searched 
 by the under secretaries of state, Bouthillier, 
 Bullion and Chavigny, who seized his papers, 
 which filled several large coffers, and conveyed 
 them to the abode of M. de Bullion. On the 29th 
 of February, the papers were sorted and analysed 
 and forwarded to Richelieu, who discovered what 
 he suspected a large packet of letters addressed 
 to Chateauneuf by the Duchess de Chevreuse, 
 partly written in cipher, the key to which, how- 
 ever, was found in an ebony cabinet, which had
 
 294 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 been also conveyed from the house of the Lord- 
 Keeper, on the supposition that important papers 
 were concealed in its secret recesses. Amongst the 
 spoil captured were fifty-two letters from Madame 
 de Chevreuse ; thirty-one from Montagu, which 
 treated of foreign alliances and conspiracies for 
 the overthrow of Richelieu's power ; twenty-nine 
 letters from the Chevalier du Jars, who seems to 
 have acted as a busy agent of M. d'Orleans in 
 France during the late risings, and as his royal 
 highness's servant in every mischievous intrigue 
 for the subversion of the government ; thirty-one 
 letters from the Queen of Great Britain ; and one 
 paper of verses all which were immediately 
 placed in a portfolio and forwarded unopened to 
 King Louis at St. Germain. Numbers of letters, 
 also, were found from Lord Holland, M. de Puy- 
 laurents, favourite-in-chief of Monsieur, from the 
 Duke de Vendome and the Count de Biron all 
 bitter opponents of the Cardinal. 27 The correspon- 
 dence of Madame de Chevreuse with the Lord- 
 Keeper was the booty which Richelieu panted to 
 peruse, and to gain possession of which he had 
 instituted these summary proceedings. The rage 
 and mortification of Richelieu are not to be 
 described when he discovered by this correspon- 
 dence that the woman whom he admired, and 
 whom he had restored to her former proud 
 position, was faithless, and pitilessly ridiculed his 
 weakness to his fortunate rival. What was worse, 
 the Cardinal saw himself designated in their cor- 
 respondence under a sobriquet too insulting and
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 295 
 
 indecent to find place in these pages. " 28 J8 
 (Madame de Chevreuse) saw 22 (the Cardinal) 
 to-day, when with 24 (the Queen). He paid 24 all 
 the compliments imaginable before 28, to whom 
 he affected to speak coldly and indifferently ; but 
 she treated him in her accustomed manner, and 
 feigned not to perceive his humour. In reply to a 
 jest hazarded by the Cardinal, Madame de Chev- 
 reuse rallied him, even to the point of speaking 
 slightingly of his power. The Cardinal seemed 
 astonished rather than angry, and changed his 
 tone to one of civility and great courtesy. I know 
 not whether it was that he did not wish to show 
 anger in the presence of the Queen, or whether he 
 did not desire to quarrel with Madame de Chev- 
 reuse. I am to see the Cardinal to-morrow at two 
 o'clock. Be assured that Madame de Chevreuse 
 will have left this world when she ceases to belong 
 to you." 29 In another letter Richelieu stumbled 
 on the following observations : " I (Madame de 
 Chevreuse) have no news lately from the Cardinal. 
 If he is as glad not to hear of me as I am not to 
 hear from him, he is now highly content, and I 
 delivered from a persecution from which time and 
 my own good wit may free me. The tyranny of 
 the Cardinal momentarily increases. He storms 
 and raves because 28 (Madame de Chevreuse) does 
 not call upon him. Twice I have written to him 
 compliments of which he is unworthy a thing 
 I should never have done but for M. de Chevreuse, 
 who tells me that is the way to buy peace. The 
 favour of the King has raised his presumption to
 
 296 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 a pitch which cannot be surpassed. He thinks to 
 daunt me, and would fain persuade himself that 
 there is nothing that I would not do to appease 
 him, although I prefer to perish rather than to 
 make submission. The pride of the Cardinal is 
 intolerable to me. He said recently to my husband 
 that my humour was unbearable to a sensitive 
 person like himself, and that he had resolved to 
 render me in future no especial attention, as I 
 was not capable of conferring either friendship or 
 confidence. I confide this only to you. Do not 
 apprise M. de Chevreuse that you know this. He 
 has quarrelled with me, being intimidated by the 
 insolence of the said Cardinal, and because I 
 would not endure such obloquy. I have that 
 opinion of your courage and affection that I wish 
 you to know everything that concerns me. I so 
 entirely trust you that I deem my interests as safe 
 in your hands as in my own. Love me with 
 fidelity, and believe that, despite of persecution, 
 I will ever show myself worthy thereof." Again 
 the Duchess wrote : " To-night the Cardinal sent 
 me a letter by express, to implore me to grant 
 him two things : the first was, not to speak to 
 M. de Biron, and the second, never to admit 
 you (M. de Chateauneuf). My resolve to demon- 
 strate my affection for M. de Chateauneuf is 
 stronger than any consideration for the Cardinal. 
 I have therefore excused myself to the said 
 Cardinal, on the plea that my affairs with M. de 
 Chevreuse compel me to see M. de Chateauneuf." 
 The Duchess sends with this letter a valuable
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 297 
 
 diamond to her lover ; she exhorts him to be 
 firm as the precious gem she sends him, and to 
 shine like its lustrous rays, a light amid darkness. 
 Again she writes in the third person : "I believe 
 that M. de Chateauneuf is absolutely devoted to 
 Madame de Chevreuse. Madame de Chevreuse 
 promises eternal fidelity to M. de Chateauneuf. 
 If all the world turn against M. de Chateauneuf, 
 Madame de Chevreuse will love and esteem him 
 worthily. If he loves her as he states, Madame de 
 Chevreuse will satisfy him, for all the powers of 
 earth cannot make her change her resolve. She 
 swears to you that this is fact, and commands you 
 to believe it and to love faithfully." The Duchess 
 kept this vow. To the day of his death she was 
 faithful in her attachment to the Lord-Keeper 
 through weal and woe, refusing to participate in 
 any future triumphs after the death of their 
 enemy, Richelieu, unless shared by him. Chateau- 
 neuf had passed his fiftieth year, he was plain in 
 person, without courtly grace or wit. Amid all 
 her aberrations, Madame de Chevreuse never 
 abjured her one great redeeming attribute 
 fidelity. Bitter must have been Richelieu's reflec- 
 tions as he perused this correspondence, and 
 probably pictured the mocking lip and wicked 
 merriment of the beautiful syren whom he feared, 
 and whom, because he st) feared, he wished to 
 bend to his toils. " The Cardinal's mad vagaries 
 are wonderful ! ' : continues the impracticable 
 Duchess. " He sent for Madame de Chevreuse, and 
 made strange complaints. He declared that she
 
 298 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [icai- 
 
 was perpetually sparring with him in the presence 
 of Lord Jermyn, in order that the said lord might 
 return to his country and recount how little 
 respect she bore him. He said he knew that 
 Madame de Chevreuse and M. de Chateauneuf 
 understand each other ; and that she also receives 
 M. de Biron, though all the world knows that the 
 said Biron is in love with her a proceeding M. le 
 Cardinal is resolved no longer to tolerate. Madame 
 de Chevreuse is in better health, and more resolved 
 than ever to esteem M. de Chateauneuf as she has 
 promised him." " Chateauneuf," writes Tallemant, 
 " etoit un homme tout confit en galanterie. I have 
 seen him ride on horseback by the Queen's coach, 
 on the side occupied by Madame de Chevreuse, 
 attired in a splendid satin robe, and displaying 
 his horsemanship. The Cardinal was devoured 
 with jealousy, especially as it was suspected that 
 the Garde des Sceaux was also an admirer of the 
 Queen." The thunder of the minister's wrath soon 
 fell on these unhappy triflers. The very nature of 
 the correspondence seized in the dwelling of M. de 
 Chateauneuf precluded his public arraignment for 
 treason. The King's sister, Henrietta Maria, was 
 compromised, and Richelieu shrank from public 
 ridicule, such as would have befallen him on the 
 publication of the letters of Madame de Chev- 
 reuse and from the unsparing revelations likely 
 to fall from the lips of the Duchess if put upon her 
 trial by the side of Chateauneuf. Orders were 
 despatched to remove the ex-Lord-Keeper to the 
 citadel of Angouleme, where he was subjected to
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 299 
 
 severe incarceration and privations, for what the 
 Cardinal called " un mauvais procede" and totally 
 debarred from communication with the world. 
 Having thus avenged himself on his faithless 
 friend, Richelieu proceeded next to exile the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse, with all startling formali- 
 ties. In the dead of the night, an officer of the 
 royal guard, followed by a troop, entered the 
 court-yard of the superb dwelling of the Duchess. 
 An instant interview was demanded de par le roi. 
 Madame de Chevreuse appeared and was pre- 
 sented with a lettre de cachet, which exiled her to 
 Dampierre, where she was to remain under sur- 
 veillance. Five hours only were allowed her to 
 make preparation for departure from the capital. 30 
 Escorted by a guard of soldiers, Madame de 
 Chevreuse reached her destination before the 
 Queen heard of her exile. 
 
 The minor personages, meanwhile those with- 
 in the reach of the minister's vengeance paid the 
 penalty of their patron's misdemeanour. Arrests 
 were made on all sides : a fear came over the 
 people of Paris that another dire conspiracy had 
 transpired. The Chevalier du Jars was arrested, 
 thrown into the Bastille, tried before the infamous 
 Judge Laffemas, popularly called le bourreau du 
 Cardinal, tortured, condemned to decapitation for 
 holding intelligence with Monsieur, and for trea- 
 sonable collusion with the enemies of the realm. 
 On the scaffold with his head on the block, the 
 unfortunate man, waiting for the headsman's 
 swift blow, was informed that the King's gracious
 
 300 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 clemency had commuted his punishment into in- 
 carceration for life in the Bastille. 31 The Chevalier 
 fainted away, and suffered ever afterwards from 
 partial paralysis of the limbs. The brother of the 
 Garde des Sceaux, the Marquis de Hauterive, 
 escaped in disguise to the coast, put off from 
 France in a fishing smack and was landed in 
 Holland after undergoing extraordinary perils 
 and privations. The Count de Leuville, the 
 young son of Hauterive, was seized and conveyed 
 to the Bastille by command of Richelieu ; while 
 every relative, however distant, of the ex-Keeper 
 of the Seals was banished from the capital. The 
 depit amoureux of the Cardinal could scarcely 
 avenge itself more rigorously, especially after 
 Queen Anne received commands from the lips of 
 her royal consort to cease all correspondence with 
 the exiled Duchess on pain of incurring his signal 
 displeasure. 
 
 Anne, deeming that she had been treated with 
 very little deference in the matter, and that some 
 communication was due to her dignity before 
 her chief lady of honour was summarily deposed 
 and exiled, listened to her husband's prohibition 
 with that icy composure which Louis said, " was 
 always a sure indication that the Queen intended 
 to follow her own pleasure." It was now the 
 Queen's habit, when in Paris, to retire during a 
 part of every day to the Val-de-Grace. In the 
 oratory stood a box in which Anne placed any 
 correspondence she wished to despatch secretly, 
 and in which she found the letters sent to her
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 301 
 
 privately under cover to the abbess, or that had 
 been boldly left for her at the gate. The touriere 
 was the Queen's devoted servant, and received all 
 letters, which she gave to the abbess, who at the 
 same time confided to her any which had been 
 written by the Queen and left at the convent to be 
 despatched. Letters from the King of Spain, 
 from the Empress Marguerite her sister, from the 
 Infant Don Ferdinando, from Queen Henrietta 
 Maria, from the Queen-mother, and from Mon- 
 sieur, thus came to Anne privately and unknown 
 to the King. At this period the energies of 
 France were almost spent in maintaining the 
 national honour. War was raging in Germany, 
 and every political betrayal might cause events of 
 momentous import ; and French soldiers were 
 meeting on the field of battle the combined hosts 
 of Spain and the Empire. From the Val-de- 
 Grace Anne, therefore, communicated with the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse, and for some weeks they 
 interchanged a secret but active correspondence. 
 Madame de Chevreuse, furious against the Car- 
 dinal, was ready to sacrifice anything for ven- 
 geance. Dampierre, the place of her exile, was 
 then a dreary and half-furnished chateau. 32 M. 
 de Chevreuse cherished a great distaste for the 
 place, which, during the reign of Henri Quatre, 
 had likewise been his prison, to avenge the 
 audacity of his homage to the favourite, the 
 Marquise de Verneuil. Richelieu had managed to 
 infuse an additional sting in his punishment by 
 sending the Duchess to her husband's castle of
 
 302 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1681- 
 
 Dampierre, from whom, when in the plenitude of 
 her power and pride she had obtained a separa- 
 tion. Correspondence at length failed to satisfy 
 the Queen and her friend ; they determined to 
 meet, in defiance of the minister and his man- 
 dates. One day, therefore, Marie disguised her- 
 self in the coarse garb of a peasant woman, and 
 stealing from the castle on foot actually arrived 
 at the Val de Grace at vesper hour. Anne was in 
 her oratory, and the two friends fell into each 
 other's arms to weep and lament their persecu- 
 tion and to devise fresh snares to entrap their 
 common enemy. " Madame de Chevreuse," writes 
 Tallemant, " was exiled to Dampierre, from 
 whence she came to visit the Queen, in the 
 disguise of a dirty vagrant, at the hour we call 
 entre Men et loup." This meeting occurred twice, 
 according to the statement which, at a subsequent 
 period, the Queen was compelled to make on oath. 
 Other chroniclers, however, relate that the clan- 
 destine interviews between Anne and her friend 
 were frequent and were, for an interval, enjoyed 
 with impunity. 
 
 The audacious defiance of his command, never- 
 theless, at length came to the knowledge of the 
 Cardinal, and was by him communicated to King 
 Louis. A few hours later a coach, escorted by a 
 company of musketeers, drove into the court- 
 yard of the castle of Dampierre, and Madame de 
 Chevreuse was directed to enter the vehicle. In 
 vain Marie expostulated and petitioned for delay ; 
 she was compelled to submit, and on being shown
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 303 
 
 the instructions given to the commanding officer 
 of the escort, even to congratulate herself on the 
 leniency with which she was treated. The Con- 
 stable de Luynes had bequeathed the domain and 
 chateau de Milly to his widow. The castle was a 
 few miles from Tours, and stood in the midst of a 
 vast forest. Before the high altar of its chapel 
 was the tomb of the late Constable. To this 
 lonesome abode Richelieu now consigned the 
 Duchess ; one waiting-woman only was permitted 
 to share her capitivity, her actions were sub- 
 jected to strict surveillance, and all pecuniary 
 expenses incurred by the inmates of the chateau 
 were to be defrayed and regulated by the Due de 
 Chevreuse ! In vain Marie, frantic with im- 
 potent rage, defied, and even threatened, her foe : 
 so vigilantly was the surveillance maintained by 
 the officer on guard that, for an interval, the 
 restless intrigante was thoroughly caged. 
 
 King Louis XIII., during these events, gave the 
 Cardinal no less cause for dissatisfaction. His 
 Majesty's platonic friendship with De Hautefort 
 prospered not : if the latter spoke to any cavalier 
 of the court, if she smiled while Louis felt sad, if 
 she yawned with irrepressible ennui during their 
 evening's discourse, sombre suspicion enveloped 
 the King's mind, and petulant repinings ensued. 
 " This young lady," relates Tallemant, " wishing 
 to marry and secure a position, suffered the 
 King's attentions impatiently. She was very hand- 
 some ; but during eight days the King agreed 
 well with her, and during a subsequent eight days
 
 304 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 he quarrelled with her." Louis vainly tried to 
 detach Mademoiselle de Hautefort from her duty 
 and affection for the Queen, whom Marie reso- 
 lutely supported. He forbade her to accompany 
 her mistress to the Carmelites or to the Val de 
 Grace ; but as this injunction was never officially 
 communicated, Marie chose to treat the King's 
 wishes with disregard. She likewise showed her- 
 self impenetrable to the overtures of the Cardinal, 
 and frequently spoke in derisive terms of his 
 designs, while she dared to amuse his Majesty 
 by the repetition of the scandals current in Paris 
 respecting certain private incidents in the life of 
 the great minister. A cabal in the household was 
 therefore formed, under the auspices of Richelieu, 
 to dethrone a personage so self-willed and dis- 
 interested, and to attempt to enlist the royal 
 sympathies for Louise de la Fayette, another of 
 her Majesty's maidens, who, in addition to a 
 pretty face, was an accomplished singer. Ac- 
 cordingly, the Due de St. Simon, the Bishop of 
 Limoges, uncle of Mademoiselle de la Fayette, the 
 Duke d'Halluyn, 33 Madame de Senece, and 
 Mesdemoiselles d'Aiches, de Vieux-Pont, and de 
 Polignac, and M. Sanguin, maitre d'hotel to the 
 King, and to whom Louis showed much friendly 
 regard, united in lauding the perfections of la 
 Fayette. St. Simon and the Cardinal feigned 
 anger and vexation at the impertinent indepen- 
 dence displayed by la Hautefort, and con- 
 fidentially advised the King to punish her by 
 appearing to transfer the honour of his notice to
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 305 
 
 la Fayette. 34 The King approved, and promised 
 to follow the counsel of his friends. The same 
 evening la Fayette was desired by the Cardinal to 
 take her harp and to sing a song composed and 
 set to music by his Majesty. The delight and 
 astonishment of the King were extreme, the 
 beautiful voice of la Fayette had never before 
 charmed the court-circle during his dreary and 
 decorous flirtation with la Hautefort. From that 
 evening Louis devoted himself to la Fayette. The 
 timid blushing girl, brimful of sentiment and re- 
 verence, proved to be a more congenial companion 
 than the stately and imperturbable la Hautefort, 
 who had condescended to listen to the royal 
 plaints but who by no means deemed it requisite 
 to sympathise therein. Louis Angelique Motier 
 de la Fayette was the only daughter of Jean de 
 la Fayette, Seigneur de Hautefeuille, and of 
 Marguerite de Bourbon Busset, 35 who was de- 
 scended from an illegitimate branch of Bourbon 
 Montpensier. Her great grandmother, Suzanne 
 de Bourbon Busset, Madame de Miossin, was the 
 faithful friend of Queen Jeanne d'Albret, and the 
 governess of Henri Quatre. In family influence, 
 therefore, Mademoiselle de la Fayette surpassed 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort. Her uncle was the 
 Bishop of Limoges, a prelate well known at the 
 court. She was also cousin-german to the Mar- 
 quise de Senece, lady-in-waiting to the Queen ; 
 and second cousin of the famous Capuchin Joseph 
 de Tremblay. The governess of the Queen's 
 maids, Mademoiselle de Polignac, was also a near
 
 306 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [lew- 
 
 relative. With such connections at court persons 
 placed, all of them, in influential positions it has 
 been a subject of wonder that the sagacity of 
 Richelieu did not rather induce him to withdraw 
 from the notice of his royal master a lady so 
 powerfully supported. Mademoiselle de la Fa- 
 yette is described as possessed of many personal 
 attractions : she was a brunette with shining 
 eyes, rather embonpoint in figure, without much 
 dignity of carriage, shy and sedate in manner 
 and speech, given to sentiment, poetry and 
 meditation, and preferring a secluded life to 
 courtly gaieties. She had also been destined from 
 her early youth to a cloister ; her father was poor 
 and proud, and despairing of finding for his 
 daughter an alliance suitable co her birth he had 
 encouraged the longings of the pensive girl for 
 seclusion. In her seventeenth year, Louise was 
 presented to the Queen by Madame de Senece, 
 and enrolled amongst Anne's maids of honour. It 
 is supposed that the determination of Louise 
 sooner or later to embrace a religious life, inspired 
 her with that indifference to censure and dis- 
 regard of worldly interest which distinguished her 
 career. Her regard for the King soon deepened 
 into the purest and most enthusiastic attach- 
 ment; she entered into Louis' fears and heart- 
 quakings at the power of his minister, she 
 soothed and encouraged him while maintaining 
 inviolable silence on all that he confided to her 
 ear, she interested herself as far as might be in 
 his pastimes ; and above all she sympathised in
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 307 
 
 his resentment against Anne of Austria, and to 
 please the King confined herself to the merest 
 routine of duty in her relations with her royal 
 mistress. The interviews between Louis and la 
 Fayette were generally holden in the little cabinet 
 opening from the Queen's state reception-room ; 
 there the pair met to weep and confer. The 
 utmost decorum prevailed during these meetings ; 
 not a wanton thought, it is said, ever troubled the 
 serenity of the King or brought a blush to the 
 fair cheek of his confidente. " Le Roi Louis 
 XIII." said the sarcastic Christina, Queen of 
 Sweden, " rtaime que Vespece en femmes il est 
 entoure de dames d'une sagesse et continence re- 
 connues / ' As for Louis, la Fayette was the idol 
 before whom he offered heart-felt adoration : 
 " Angelique etait sa joie et sa couronne / ' If a 
 thought, however, arose that might sully her 
 purity, the King, it is stated, summoned his 
 confessor and expiated such unholy desire by 
 penance. He seems to have devoutly believed 
 that Providence had set the seal of election on the 
 brow of Louise, and that eventually a cloister 
 would shield her from his love and from the 
 world's perils. Meantime it was his duty to 
 respect and watch vigilantly that no alloy of 
 illicit love might mar the merit of such a sacrifice. 
 Notwithstanding the repute which Louis le 
 Chaste had obtained, there were found persons 
 who disbelieved in such self-denial, and urged the 
 King to console himself for the indifference and 
 misconduct of Anne of Austria by following the
 
 308 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 example of his father. These counsels at length 
 made impression on the King, and yielding to 
 the temptation he one day abruptly proposed to 
 Mademoiselle de la Fayette an establishment at 
 Versailles and the rank of a duchess. With horror 
 and misgiving la Fayette listened to the King's 
 solicitation, and so edifying, it is recorded, were 
 her admonitions that Louis consented to a tempo- 
 rary suspension of their daily interviews to expiate 
 his error. " It was to la Fayette that the King 
 confided his chagrins relative to the Cardinal de 
 Richelieu," relates Madame de Motteville. " That 
 girl had an upright heart, and though she was 
 aware that this confidence would probably be 
 fatal to her interests, she kept the King's secret, 
 and confirmed him in his aversion to the minister ; 
 for she perceived that he was dishonoured by his 
 compliance with the will of the Cardinal. The 
 said Cardinal did all in his power to gain her over 
 to his side, as he did to all persons possessing 
 influence with the King ; but la Fayette showed 
 more courage than those courtiers who had the 
 mean cowardice to carry to the Cardinal an exact 
 account of what the King said to them. A woman 
 showed a firmer and more noble spirit ; but la 
 Fayette had courage to defy the turns of fortune, 
 by her resolution eventually to enter a cloister. 
 The King, therefore, discovering that she was 
 trustworthy, virtuous and beautiful, esteemed 
 and loved her, and I know that he entertained 
 thoughts of her far above the usual feelings of men. 
 The same prudence which induced this generous
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 309 
 
 woman to refuse alliance with the Cardinal de 
 Richelieu prompted her to live on tolerable terms 
 with the Queen. An attachment so perfect could 
 not fail to give contentment to the King and dis- 
 pleasure to the Queen, who, however, was now 
 accustomed to the misfortune of not being beloved 
 by the King her husband. La Fayette confessed 
 her attachment to the King, and as they loved 
 each as the other desired, their bliss ought to have 
 insured the happiness of their lives." Richelieu, 
 however, saw further into human nature than 
 good prosing Madame de Motteville; he per- 
 ceived that he had every evil to dread from the 
 supremacy of la Fayette. The King, it was true, 
 naively betrayed the impressions inspired by the 
 observations of his mistress to his minister, avow- 
 ing them to be such ; but he maintained their 
 propriety and justness with characteristic obsti- 
 nacy. The moment, therefore, that la Fayette 
 ceased to resist and to rebuke the inclinations of 
 the King her ascendency would be omnipotent, 
 and from Versailles she might dictate the edict of 
 his dismissal from power. As yet Mademoiselle 
 de la Fayette had abstained from interfering in 
 political matters. " La Fayette ne fait ni bien, ni 
 mal" was the report hitherto given by Chavigny 
 to the Cardinal de la Valette and others, of the 
 doings in the palace. In vain Richelieu tried to 
 neutralise La Fayette's favour by the same artifice 
 which had succeeded for the downfall of Made- 
 moiselle de Hautefort. Louis would not look at 
 another of Anne's maidens, and listened in
 
 310 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 gloomy silence to Richelieu's laudation of any one 
 amongst the fair bevy. The sole avenue, there- 
 fore, likely to lead to the overthrow of Made- 
 moiselle de la Fayette's influence was to foment 
 the religious scruples of the pair, and to daunt 
 the proud heart of Louise with imaginary dangers, 
 even by inspiring her with a secret conviction 
 that her life was in danger and therefore that a 
 cloister was her only refuge. The system of spies, 
 of warning intimations and the bribery by which 
 the Cardinal inaugurated and maintained his 
 power, rendered possible a conflict such as he now 
 offered to la Fayette. The popular confessor to 
 the ladies and courtiers of the Louvre was le 
 Pere Jean Baptiste Carre, Superior of the order 
 of the Dominicans of France ; an ecclesiastic 
 devoted to Richelieu, whom he worshipped and 
 obeyed with servile zeal. This personage, who 
 was considered a light in his Order being a man 
 distinguished by learning, eloquence, ecclesias- 
 tical power and religious zeal took yearly a 
 solemn oath of obedience 36 to the Cardinal 
 minister, whom he regarded as the incarnation of 
 human power, wisdom and benevolence. Carre 
 addressed to his patron long memorials on public 
 affairs, written with consummate skill ; he tran- 
 smitted notes describing the condition of public 
 feeling towards the minister at home and abroad, 
 gathered from the reports of the foreign monks of 
 his order ; he placed all members of the Domini- 
 can community in France at the disposal of 
 Richelieu, while his judicious counsels and
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 311 
 
 fervent zeal aided the minister in many a dark 
 hour of uncertainty and doubt. This ecclesiastic, 
 therefore, was confessor to the court, and by 
 him much service might be achieved. The post 
 of confessor to the King and Queen was a privilege 
 bestowed by Henri Quatre on the Jesuits, and at 
 this period, the commencement of the year 1636, 
 was, fortunately for the designs of Richelieu, 
 vacant by the dismissal of le P. Souffrant, who 
 had followed the fortunes of Queen Marie. 
 
 Richelieu, by the advice of his own confessor, 
 counselled Louis to confer that office upon 
 Nicholas Caussin, a Jesuit father who had 
 obtained high repute for probity and virtue, and 
 who was the author of a book of religious medi- 
 tations, called " La Cour Sainte," very much 
 admired by pious persons. Intimation of his pro- 
 motion was given to Caussin, who was desired by 
 his Eminence to wait upon the King on the morn- 
 ing of the Feast of the Annunciation, as it was his 
 Majesty's purpose to confess before receiving 
 the Holy Eucharist ; but previously he was 
 instructed to visit the Cardinal at Ruel. This 
 mandate was conveyed to the Jesuit monastery 
 by a young page greatly favoured by the Cardinal, 
 the young Marquis de Cinq-Mars, second son of the 
 Marshal d'Effiat. Caussin repaired to Ruel on the 
 23rd of March, 1636, and was at once admitted to 
 private audience with the minister. With suave 
 indifference Richelieu greeted the reverend father, 
 and after repeating the flattering intimation that 
 the King contemplated bestowing upon him the
 
 812 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 much coveted post of confessor in ordinary, pro- 
 vided that his Majesty received satisfaction from 
 his ministrations on the morrow, proceeded to 
 inform Caussin, " that the King was a noble 
 prince without vice whatever, and that his 
 virtue being a benediction to the realm, it was 
 necessary to encourage such holy inclinations. It 
 was true that, unfortunately, his Majesty had 
 lately appeared much attached to one of the 
 Queen's ladies, although he suspected nothing 
 wrong ; * nevertheless, as a great affection between 
 persons of opposite sexes was dangerous, it would 
 be prudent to check such partialities." 37 The 
 tone of the Cardinal was careless, but his manner 
 significant. Caussin, therefore, departed initiated 
 in the line of action expected from him, but by 
 no means disposed to implicit submission. The 
 following day, Caussin met his royal penitent, 
 whose confession fully enlightened him on the 
 nature of his liaison with Mademoiselle de la 
 Fayette. The King declared himself " more than 
 content " with his new spiritual director, and 
 signed on the same day his letters of office. 
 Caussin being, a few days subsequently at St. 
 Germain for the King's confessor had apartments 
 assigned him in all the royal palaces M. de 
 Noyers, chief secretary of the war department, 
 and Richelieu's confidential friend, paid him a 
 visit at midnight, and said " that he had been 
 directed by M. le Cardinal to apprise him that the 
 young lady whom his Eminence had mentioned 
 to the reverend father contemplated leaving the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 313 
 
 court to embrace a religious life, and that M. le 
 Cardinal desired he should examine her vocation 
 and induce her as soon as possible to carry such 
 design into execution." De Noyers enforced pro- 
 found secrecy respecting his visit, but exhorted 
 Caussin to carry out the views of his Eminence, 
 whose patriotic and disinterested counsels con- 
 ferred prosperity on the realm. 38 It was subse- 
 quently represented to Caussin that Queen Anne 
 beheld the ascendency of la Fayette with extreme 
 displeasure and disbelieved in the innocence of 
 such liaison with her royal consort, and that the 
 King of Spain, who was devoted to his sister, was 
 not likely to be conciliated by the establishment 
 of a maitresse en litre at the Louvre. It was true 
 that Anne did not show the same toleration 
 towards la Fayette as she had manifested towards 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort, who still remained 
 her confidential friend and often shared with 
 her royal mistress the questionable vigils at the 
 Val de Grace. De Hautefort hated Richelieu, 
 disapproved the conduct of the King towards his 
 wife, and did all in her power to reconcile the one 
 and to overthrow the other. La Fayette was the 
 enemy of Richelieu only so far as such enmity 
 pleased the King, who needed a confidente to 
 whom he might exhale his jealousy and occasional 
 exasperation against his minister. She sym- 
 pathised with and admired the King, and felt no 
 regard for Anne of Austria whose intrigues she 
 declined to share. Her crime in Richelieu's eyes 
 was her independence and her true regard for
 
 314 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 Louis, which made him apprehend that one day 
 the restraints interposed by virtue and piety 
 might be cast aside for ever, and that France 
 would adore in Louise Angelique de la Fayette a 
 second Gabrielle d'Estrees. Caussin, the director 
 of the royal conscience, was, meantime, disin- 
 clined to follow the dictation of Richelieu. His 
 Order was jealous of the Dominican communities 
 and of their Superior, Carre ; and resented the 
 fact that Richelieu had not chosen a Jesuit monk 
 for his own confessor. The Jesuits, moreover, 
 strongly protested against the foreign policy of 
 France. The alliance between France, Gustavus 
 Adolphus King of Sweden, the deposed Elector 
 Palatine and the German Protestant Princes, was 
 abhorrent to their principles and hostile to their 
 interests. They sympathised with the exiled 
 Queen-mother and desired her recall, they ap- 
 proved of the marriage of M. d'Orleans and 
 blamed the minister for his persecution of the 
 heir-presumptive. The enmity displayed by 
 Richelieu towards le P. Chanteloube, at one time 
 confessor to Queen Marie de' Medici, who had 
 taken refuge in Brussels to escape the Bastille, 
 added another item to the list of grievances 
 against the Cardinal. In Mademoiselle de la 
 Fayette, therefore, Caussin and his Order descried 
 the antidote to the heretical policy of France, 
 and a source by which peace with Spain and the 
 Empire might be achieved. The Queen's house- 
 hold was a very focus of intrigue, every person 
 appertaining thereto adhered to one of the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 315 
 
 factions of the Queen, the Cardinal or la Fayette. 
 Mademoiselle de Polignac, governess of the maids, 
 the Due de St. Simon, Madame de la Flotte, 
 dame (Tatours, Mademoiselle de Chemerault, 
 Mademoiselle de Filandre, head-dresser to her 
 majesty, Sanguin, chief maitre d' hotel and others, 
 were the hidden spies of Richelieu, who held 
 in his pay even the very scullions of the royal 
 kitchen. 
 
 The Queen herself was hostile to la Fayette, and 
 desired her exile from court ; though, since the 
 marriage of Monsieur, a marked change had come 
 over her Majesty, who seemed now to be less the 
 opponent of Richelieu personally, but rather 
 disaffected on account of his warlike designs upon 
 her brother, Don Philip of Spain. Madame de 
 Senece and the Bishop of Limoges befriended la 
 Fayette, and did all in their power to induce her 
 to relinquish her monastic resolves and to accept 
 the position of state and influence opening to her. 
 The King was in the habit of sending his written 
 communications to Mademoiselle de la Fayette by 
 one Boiszenval, his first valet de chambre. This 
 Boiszenval had been raised from the subordinate 
 service of a valet de garde robe by the favour of 
 Louise, who had obtained for him promotion, in 
 the hope of securing one faithful attendant not 
 seduced by the benefits of M. le Ministre. Riche- 
 lieu, however, soon contrived to lure Boiszenval 
 from his allegiance to a lady whom the Cardinal 
 assured him was on the eve of withdrawing from 
 the world, and whose favour could be but tern-
 
 316 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [iesi- 
 
 porarily exerted in his behalf. Partly intimidated 
 by the half-uttered threat of the minister, and 
 partly prompted by self-interested motives, Bois- 
 zenval sold himself to the Cardinal. Whenever, 
 therefore, he was intrusted with a note by the 
 King to carry to la Fayette, Boiszenval took 
 it straight to Richelieu, who first perused and 
 then, by the aid of his experts in imitating hand- 
 writing, caused the letters to be copied again, 
 altering any profession or statement therein which 
 displeased him. 39 The same method he pursued 
 with regard to verbal messages interchanged 
 between the lovers, which the Cardinal suppressed 
 altogether or moulded to suit his purpose. For 
 some little time this duplicity succeeded, until one 
 day Boiszenval, with unparalleled insolence, said 
 to Mademoiselle de la Fayette, on presenting her 
 with a billet from the King, " If you are sincere, 
 Madame, in your design to become a nun, do so 
 without delay, this probation is too tantalising 
 to his Majesty ! " Such words naturally roused 
 suspicion, and upon comparing notes the King 
 and la Fayette discovered how they had been 
 deceived. 
 
 A few days subsequently Louis suddenly 
 addressed Boiszenval, who was performing his 
 functions at the lever of his Majesty, when the 
 royal chamber was crowded with courtiers. 
 " Boiszenval," said the King, " I have discovered 
 that you are a consummate traitor. I therefore 
 dismiss you. Go ! Never presume to present 
 yourself in my presence again." 40 Boiszenval
 
 16371 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 317 
 
 retired, his patron the Cardinal dared not in- 
 terfere, or perhaps deemed it more politic not to 
 interpose when Louis was roused into so unusual 
 an exercise of decision. Meantime Caussin took 
 every opportunity to ingratiate himself with 
 Mademoiselle de la Fayette, and one day when 
 the Queen was leaving the chapel at St. Germain, 
 she approached him timidly saying, " Reverend 
 Father, I wish if possible to speak with you." 
 Caussin excused himself from an immediate in- 
 terview and fixed four o'clock in the afternoon for 
 the conference. During the interval he saw the 
 King and asked his Majesty's permission to confer 
 with a lady of the household whose name he pre- 
 tended not to know. " Ah ! " said his Majesty, 
 " it was la Fayette. She wishes to consult you 
 on the design she has long entertained of going 
 into a nunnery. Yes, I consent to the con- 
 ference." 
 
 Caussin therefore held a long consultation 
 with Mademoiselle de la Fayette in the presence 
 of Mademoiselle de Polignac, who having been 
 secretly bribed by Richelieu took notes of the 
 conference which ensued. La Fayette then said 
 that she was resolved to enter a nunnery, that 
 God called her to that vocation, that she prayed 
 the reverend father to dispose the mind of 
 the King to permit her retreat, that she was 
 miserable and had scruples on her liaison with 
 the King, and was wearied with the envy and 
 hate of malignant personages. Caussin there- 
 upon represented the privations and hardships,
 
 318 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 of a nun, and asked the pertinent question 
 " whether she had a true call and was not lured 
 thereto by wordly chagrin and by the representa- 
 tions of interested personages ? " La Fayette 
 replied with tears, " that in her early youth a 
 religious life had been her election, that she 
 wished now to enter as a novice the Convent of La 
 Visitation des Filles de Ste Marie, that she 
 should quit the world without bitterness or 
 regret, and that she requested the reverend 
 father to broach the subject to the King, which 
 was the object of the interview which she had 
 requested." 41 Caussin therefore honestly per- 
 formed the task imposed upon him. Louis heard 
 him in gloomy despair. " Although," replied his 
 Majesty, " I regret and deplore her decision yet I 
 dare not hinder her vocation. Nevertheless, tell 
 her to wait until my departure to join my army. 
 Meantime consult Madame de Senece on the 
 subject I leave all to her." 
 
 Madame de Senece, when appealed to by 
 Caussin, as the King doubtless anticipated, abso- 
 lutely refused her assent to the project, and 
 insisted that letters should be despatched to the 
 father and mother of la Fayette, Monsieur and 
 Madame de Hautefeuille, who alone she averred 
 could grant the desired permission. The answer 
 was many months in arriving, the jealous agonies 
 of the Cardinal became intense, and he bitterly 
 reproached Caussin for his lukewarm zeal. " I 
 feared to render myself obnoxious and so to 
 defeat my purpose by a show of too much zeal,"
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 319 
 
 answered the discreet Jesuit. Richelieu turned 
 away with a wrathful gesture, and forthwith 
 charged le Pere Carre to examine and report on 
 the condition of la Fayette's mind, and to in- 
 sinuate himself if possible into her confidence. 42 
 The subterfuge failed : Louise made one con- 
 fession to Carre and then refused to open her mind 
 further to the stern Dominican, who if he failed 
 in obtaining her confidence, at any rate served the 
 Cardinal's purpose by maintaining through other 
 ladies of the palace, his penitents, the most rigid 
 surveillance over her conduct. The curious letters 
 of Carre addressed to the Cardinal still exist in the 
 French Foreign Office every little incident, every 
 insignificant remark, every vacillation of mind 
 relating to the poor girl whom it was Richelieu's 
 purpose to coerce were there recorded. Carre at 
 the beginning of the year 1636 writes to his 
 patron : 43 "I address your Eminence in much 
 depression on account of the danger which besets 
 the vocation of Mademoiselle de la Fayette. M. 
 de Limoges, Madame de Senece and M. le Cheva- 
 lier de la Fayette, uncle of the said lady, came to 
 call upon me this morning between the hours of 
 nine and ten o'clock. All three attacked me 
 furiously M. de Limoges 44 by angry argument 
 and abuse, Madame de Senece by bitter reproaches 
 and M. le Chevalier by atrocious insinuations 
 all because they said that I had plotted and 
 negotiated the retreat of their niece into a con- 
 vent. They asked me why I so acted, and why 
 I had not consulted them ? I replied that my
 
 320 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [lew- 
 
 conscience forbade me to take counsel of persons 
 interested, as they were, in the result ; upon 
 which they poured more abuse on my head, and 
 gave me a formal interdiction, as they said, on 
 behalf of the Queen not to meddle with the con- 
 science of a lady of her household ; and forbade 
 me, on their own responsibility, to interfere with 
 their niece. So behold me, Monseigneur, in 
 despair at being quite powerless to forward the 
 good work unless your Eminence assists me!" 
 Carre goes on to relate that he had called upon the 
 abbess of Ste Marie, who promised to receive the 
 young postulant upon the responsibility of Carre 
 alone. In the evening Carre accidentally ex- 
 changed a few words with la Fayette, and exhorted 
 her to retire without further parley and to ad- 
 dress letters of farewell from the convent to the 
 King, to the Cardinal and to her own relatives ; 
 also, if she so desired, to the Queen. Mademoiselle 
 de la Fayette then remarked, " that was un- 
 necessary, as the Queen would rejoice at her 
 retreat." The following month la petite was still 
 at court, and threw fresh alarm into the mind of 
 Richelieu's zealous agent who was regarded as 
 the most holy and devoted of men by stopping 
 the reverend father, whom she encountered in the 
 apartment of Madame de la Flotte, to inform him 
 " that her relatives and the King forbade her 
 retreat, and threatened if she entered a convent 
 to take her thence by edict of Parliament as 
 being under age." " I replied," writes Carre, 
 " that she need be under no apprehension, for
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 321 
 
 that your Eminence would protect her. I then 
 asked her what her own wishes were ? She re- 
 plied in a labyrinth of words, ' that in a few years 
 she might feel better assured of her vocation.' 
 I said that two supreme reasons induced me 
 earnestly to desire her immediate retreat, the 
 first was the salvation of her soul, the second 
 the welfare of Christendom by the conclusion of 
 peace, which good work the reverend General of 
 our order commanded me to forward, but that it 
 was not probable that the King of Spain would 
 consent to lay down arms while he knew that our 
 holy and good King loved any other woman 
 except his wife, sister of his Catholic Majesty, 
 although he might be aware of the purity and 
 innocency of such attachment. It was my 
 opinion therefore that all conscientious persons 
 should contribute toward so merciful an object." 46 
 Another day Carre writes to the Cardinal to in- 
 form him that Mademoiselle Thomassin 46 told 
 him that la Fayette was suffering from agonies of 
 indecision ; that she feared the King's passion 
 and shuddered at the thought of involving his 
 Majesty in mortal sin ; that she dreaded the re- 
 sentment of the Cardinal, and even feared that 
 some personal catastrophe would befall her in- 
 deed every little vexatious incident was now in- 
 terpreted by la petite as a sign of Divine wrath at 
 her indecision ; " for instance this morning la 
 Fayette came into my apartment," said Thom- 
 assin, " and said that God drew her towards a 
 religious life by inflicting upon her countless
 
 322 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 little mortifications ; she then showed me a little 
 pimple which had appeared on her right cheek 
 during the night, ' a sign,' she said, ' that God is 
 displeased at my delay.' " 47 Richelieu caused it 
 to be intimated to la Fayette that she should be- 
 come a benefactress to any convent she might 
 select by presenting the community with 30,000 
 francs. Never was there a more zealous exponent 
 than Carre of the minister's wishes : the more 
 difficult the enterprise the more important did it 
 appear to Richelieu to separate Louis from his 
 mistress. 
 
 Caussin, meantime, prompted by the wishes of 
 the King if not by his direct commands, did all in 
 his power to induce la Fayette to delay the com- 
 mencement of her noviciate. He represented to 
 her in glowing language the hardships to which 
 she was desirous to submit. Even when she had 
 taken her final resolution to abandon the thorny 
 path of intrigue and of a vain wrestling with the 
 inexorable mind which rules France, Caussin's 
 earnest counsel followed her : " What ! will you 
 quit the court, a King who esteems you, and bril- 
 liant prospects, to take the veil and bury yourself 
 between four walls ! There are only too many un- 
 happy women who have thrown themselves into 
 convents without due reflection, and will you 
 Madame increase the number ? You do not know 
 what it is to relinquish your judgment, to abandon 
 your will, and to live by and at the dictation of 
 strangers who will not permit you to dispose of a 
 pin without their sanction ! You have been as a
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 323 
 
 bird of paradise at court, fed with amber and 
 cinnamon, you have heard nothing but praise, 
 compliments and adulation. Greatly amazed 
 therefore will you feel when a heavy cross is laid 
 on your shoulders and you are hurried up the 
 steep path to Calvary. If you were an old woman 
 desirous to give your last days to penitent repen- 
 tance no one would feel surprise at your resolve, 
 but for a young girl of seventeen years old, good 
 and innocent, to fly from a King to entomb her- 
 self in a prison surpasses belief ! The conversa- 
 tion of the King, has it ever offended you and 
 evoked scruples ? Are you not pure as when you 
 first attracted his regard ? You know his Majesty 
 too well to feel apprehensive that he will ever ask 
 from you anything which the law of God forbids 
 you to grant. I advise you, therefore, stay with 
 the King and do all the good you can through 
 him, as God has been pleased to endow you with 
 such power over his Majesty's mind." 48 Dis- 
 tracted thus by opposite counsels, Mademoiselle 
 de la Fayette fell ill under the conflict ; grave 
 scruples of conscience tormented her, but though 
 she pitied and admired Louis XIII. she had no 
 confidence in his faithful support. She knew that 
 the King could hide nothing from his minister, 
 and that their most secret confidences he often 
 disclosed, especially if she had in any respect 
 assailed the policy or the character of Richelieu. 
 It was a point of honour and habit with the King 
 to repeat to Richelieu every inimical speech. La 
 Fayette could never be sure that the King would
 
 324 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [IOTI- 
 
 not denounce, and then retire with her to weep 
 and bewail Richelieu's tyranny ! " Louis XIII.," 
 said le Pere Caussin, " refrains from expressing 
 all he feels, he does not all that he wills and 
 wills not all that he can ! " But with support so 
 precarious la Fayette might \vell shrink from 
 continuing to brave the hostility of the minister 
 against which not one of the Bang's near kindred 
 could prevail. 
 
 In the early part of May 1637, Mademoiselle de 
 la Fayette, therefore, took her final resolve. One 
 morning when the court was at St. Germain, she 
 presented herself before the King and asked his 
 permission to make an excursion to Paris to see 
 the abbess of the Visitandines, of the Rue St. 
 Antoine. Louis wept but consented, laying, how- 
 ever, strict commands that she should return to 
 St. Germain by a given hour. Accompanied by 
 Madame de Senece, Mademoiselle de la Fayette 
 had an interview with the abbess, who agreed to 
 receive her as a novice at any moment. No further 
 opposition was encountered from Madame de 
 Senece, who had been silenced by a threat con- 
 veyed to her by Carre, 49 "that if she sought again 
 to dissuade Mademoiselle de la Fayette from the 
 resolve which it had taken so long to render active 
 her own exile from court would ensue." The 
 evident displeasure and impatience of Queen 
 Anne, moreover, had due weight with her lady of 
 honour, and so la Fayette was sacrificed to ex- 
 pediency and to the will of the Cardinal. To the 
 reluctant Caussin was entrusted the mission of
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 325 
 
 obtaining the final assent of King Louis. " It is 
 true," said the King, " that she is very dear to me. 
 God help me ! but if a religious life is her vocation, 
 let her depart ! I consent." The same evening 
 la Fayette appeared for the last time in the royal 
 circle. Louis drew her apart and conversed for 
 some time, everybody present remarking on the 
 extreme pallor of the King. In the presence of the 
 court she then thanked the King for his permis- 
 sion, which enabled her to " fulfil the dearest wish 
 of her life." " Go, Madame," replied Louis, 
 scarcely master of his emotion. " God calls you : 
 it is not for man to oppose His will. My authority 
 would have sufficed to assure your continued 
 residence here for I could have forbidden every 
 abbess in the realm to receive you ! Nevertheless, 
 I appreciate the excellency and privilege of so holy 
 a life, and in my last hour God forbid that my 
 conscience should be burdened with the thought 
 that I had deprived you of so precious a voca- 
 tion ! " Louise then said farewell to her royal 
 mistress " qui ne la pouvait aimer." Anne coldly 
 smiled. 50 " The only bitterness of departure," 
 exclaimed Louise afterwards, " is the joy and 
 triumph of my enemies ! " La Fayette then 
 retired to the apartment of the Countess de 
 Fleix, daughter of Madame de Senece. A fit of 
 hysterical weeping relieved her overstrained feel- 
 ings, during which the coach of the King drew up 
 under the archway of the [quadrangle ; for Louis, 
 in bitter affliction, insisted on leaving St. Germain 
 for a retirement of some days at Versailles.
 
 326 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1681- 
 
 " Alas, alas ! I shall never see him again ! " 
 exclaimed Mademoiselle de la Fayette, as she 
 watched the departure by torchlight of the 
 cortege. At dawn Louise, attended by Madame de 
 Senece and by three of the Queen's maidens, de- 
 parted for the Convent of the Visitation, Rue St. 
 Antoine, and was received with great honour 
 and parade by the abbess, who was a Seguier and 
 niece of the new Lord-Keeper of the Seals and of 
 the Bishop of Meaux. 51 
 
 The King, meantime, on his arrival at Ver- 
 sailles, took to his bed and refused during two 
 days to grant audiences. On the third day it was 
 suggested by M. de St. Simon, " that his Majesty 
 need not longer deprive himself of the pleasure of 
 seeing Mademoiselle de la Fayette as all the con- 
 vents opened their portals to the King of France." 
 Louis rose eagerly and with his own hand wrote 
 to the abbess of the Visitandines that he should 
 visit the convent on the morrow to have an inter- 
 view with Mademoiselle de la Fayette. On the 
 arrival of his Majesty he encountered to his sur- 
 prise M. de Noyers, the confidential friend of the 
 minister. The King sharply inquired his busi- 
 ness, and was informed that M. de Noyers had 
 been commissioned to confer with the abbess on 
 the payment of the dowry of the novice. Louis 
 was then solaced by the sight of la Fayette, with 
 whom he conversed for three hours in the convent 
 parloir while his suite waited without the gate. 
 " He was so moved by the description given him 
 by la Fayette of the joys and peace of the monastic
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 327 
 
 state that his Majesty afterwards confessed to 
 le Pere Caussin, that but for his duty to his realm 
 he would willingly follow her example." This 
 interview was followed by many more during the 
 next two months, before the departure of the 
 King for his camp in Picardy. " La cabale de 
 Mademoiselle de la Fayette subsiste toujours ! ' 
 was the mournful comment of Chavigny to the 
 Cardinal de la Valette, generalissimo of the army 
 in Italy. From her retreat Louise dared to speak 
 openly to the King on politics, and pathetically 
 deplored " those great crimes," as she termed 
 them, of his reign the exile of the Queen-mother, 
 and the alliance of France with the Protestants of 
 Germany, against the orthodox and Catholic 
 monarchs of Austria and Spain. She described 
 Richelieu as a man, unscrupulous and relentless 
 in his hatred, unmeasured in his ambition, and 
 who, sooner or later, must, from motives of self- 
 interest and the lust of power, separate his lot 
 from that of the childless King and join the 
 faction of the heir-presumptive. She made touch- 
 ing allusion to the fragility of the health of the 
 King, which at any moment might fail ; and she 
 implored him to listen to the enlightened counsel 
 of le Pere Caussin, his spiritual director and a 
 personage also of great political savoir. In the 
 privacy of the confessional Louis was assailed 
 by the same entreaties. The sombre and even 
 menacing aspect of the King, meanwhile, greatly 
 disturbed the Cardinal, he therefore summoned 
 Caussin, and asked upon what the interviews
 
 328 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 between the King and la Fayette turned, as every 
 one was surprised to see a great King interest 
 himself in the fate and caprices of an insignificant 
 little girl. Caussin skilfully dissembled, but said 
 that the King was disquieted by reports that his 
 Eminence intended to cause Mademoiselle de la 
 Fayette to be carried off secretly and immured 
 in a dismal house an offshoot of the Visitandines 
 of Paris, situated in the wilds of Auvergne. " Ah, 
 Monsieur," continued Caussin, " cease to trouble 
 yourself about this petite demoiselle. What can 
 you fear ? Mademoiselle de la Fayette is only a 
 child." " Doucement, monpere" retorted Richelieu, 
 ironically ; " you are simple, if not evil-minded, I 
 perceive ! Let me enlighten you and expose the 
 malice of the world. Know that this child as you 
 term her has been near overthrowing all. 52 Let 
 her take the veil and occupy herself with her 
 breviary. The King complains that she has 
 entered a nunnery : it is her own fault. Have 
 you not often told me that she complained of his 
 Majesty's eccentric and unequal temper, and 
 that the fear of sudden disgrace made her take 
 the resolve to profess ? ?: Richelieu then, accord- 
 ing to the relation of Caussin himself, proposed a 
 strict alliance, averring that all other confessors 
 of the King had lived in confidential intercourse 
 with him, and that if Caussin would support 
 on all occasions his policy he might command 
 any favour for himself, for his order, or for his 
 kinsmen. The wily Jesuit made cautious reply to 
 these overtures, but the cold indifference of
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 329 
 
 Caussin's manner convinced his Eminence that 
 his sophistry had then failed to gain so important 
 an ally as the director of the conscience of King 
 Louis. 
 
 NOTES ON CHAPTER SIX 
 
 1 " Le Cardinal lui fit dire par Madame de Fargis, dame d'atours, que 
 si elle voulait, il la tireroit bientot de la misere dans laquelle elle vivoit. 
 La reine alors, qui ne croyoit point que ce fut lui qui la fit maltraiter, 
 pensa d'abord que ce fut par compassion qu'il lui offrit son assistance, 
 souffrit qu'il lui ecrivit et lui fit memo reponse ; car elle ne s'imagincit 
 point que ce commerce produisit autre chose qu'une simple galanterie. ' 
 Tallemant. 
 
 2 Journal de Richelieu. " L'ambassadeur m'a dit que j'y devois aller 
 librement quand le roy y etoit, ou n'y etoit pas, luy dire un mot de ce 
 qu'elle devoit faire, tantot la divertir de ce qu'on jugeroit a propos ; quo 
 je luy ferois plaisir d'en user ainsi." 
 
 3 Heir of La Rochefoucauld, and afterwards the celebrated duke of that 
 name, author of " The Maxims." 
 
 4 Monglat states that Mademoiselle de Hautefort exclaimed, " Prenez- 
 la (la lettre) tant que vous voudrez a cette heure ! " Cousin, Vie de 
 Madame de Hautefort. 
 
 5 " Le roi prit des pincettes d'argent qui etaient aupres du feu pour 
 essayer s'il pouvait avoir ce billet avec les pincettes : mais elle 1'avait 
 mis trop avant, et ainsi la reine la laissa aller, apres s'etre bien divertie 
 de la peur de Madame de Hautefort, et de celle du roi." Vie de Madame 
 de Hautefort. Cousin, quoted from la Vie MS. 
 
 6 Vie de Madame de Hautefort. Cousin, quoted from la Vie MS. 
 
 7 Mademoiselle de Hautefort was known at court by the sobriquet of 
 " Sainte Hautefort." 
 
 8 When the Queen Marie de' Medici heard of the return to Paris of 
 Madame de Chevreuse, she exclaimed, " He bien, elle retourne apres 
 cinq ans de banissement ; et avoir ete en divers lieux. Le Cardinal ne 
 sauroit avoir pense, n'y faire la moindre action que je ne sache a quoi 
 elle tend." Aubery, Mem. pour 1'Hist. du Card, de Richelieu, t. 2. 
 
 9 La Grande Mademoiselle Anne Louise d'Orleans, daughter of Monsieur 
 and of Marie, Duchess de Montpensier. Mem., t. i. 
 
 10 Marie de Vertus dite de Bretagne, daughter of Claude de Bretagne, 
 Count de Vertus, and of Catherine Fouquet. She married, in 1628, 
 Hercules de Rohan, Duke de Montbazon, father of the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse. Marie was quite a child when she married the Duke, who 
 took her from a convent, where she was destined to make profession. 
 The Duke de Montbazon, therefore, always called her " Ma rdigieuse." 
 Madame de Montbazon was one of the most beautiful women of the
 
 330 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 court, and one of the most intrigante, and masculine in mind. She died 
 in 1657, aged 45. 
 
 11 Anne de Rohan, wife of M. de Guemene, eldest son of the Duke de 
 Montbazon, and brother of Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 12 " Ou il y avait six poupees, une femme en couches, une nourrice, 
 quasi au naturel, un enfant, une garde, une sage-femme, et la grand'- 
 maman. Mesdemoiselles de Rambouillet et de Bouteville jouaient avec 
 elle, deshabillaient et couchaient tous les jours ces poupees, etc." 
 Tallemant, Hist, du Card, de Richelieu. 
 
 13 Marguerite de Lorraine Vaudemont, daughter of Francois, Count de 
 Vaudemont, and of Franijoise de Salms. Her father was the brother of 
 Henri, Due de Lorraine, and father of Duke Charles IV., Duke of 
 Lorraine in right of his wife Nicole. 
 
 14 Montmorency had asked for the sword of Constable, and for the 
 government of the citadel of Montpellier, which were refused to his 
 solicitations : " On n'avait garde de rendre le Due plus puissant en 
 Languedoc." The Duke had a trifling quarrel with the Duke de 
 Chevreuse, which had incurred the resentment and bad offices of 
 Madame de Chevreuse. Vie du Due de Montmorency Galerie des 
 Personnages Illustres. The Duke proposed to the States of the province 
 to vote a supply for the King's service, which he intended to divert to 
 the purposes of the revolt, as Montmorency himself allows in a letter to 
 Monsieur : " On saisira les secours d'argent qu'ils doivent accorder au 
 Roi pour le service de Monsieur." Mem. du Due de Montmorency : 
 Paris, 1665. 
 
 15 Brother of the first Due d'Epernon, a prelate whose theological 
 attainments were far inferior to his military acquirements. For details 
 of the trial and execution of Montmorency, see Vie du Due de Mont- 
 morency, Paris, 1665 ; Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de 
 Louis XIII., t. 4 ; Mem. de Bassompierre, de Pontis, Tallemant ; 
 Aubery, Hist, du Cardinal de Richelieu ; Pere Griffet, Continuation de 
 1'Histoire du Pere Daniel ; Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. ; Madame 
 de Motteville, Mem., t. 1. 
 
 16 Anquetil. Le Pere Griffet, who states that Richelieu revealed the 
 circumstance to the King, with the intention of increasing the wrath of 
 his Majesty. " Le Due de Montmorency," writes Madame Motteville, 
 " etoit tres assidu aupres d'Anne d'Autriche ; il fit meme le passionne, 
 et il pourrait etre arrive qu'il se fut pare de son portrait par une 
 galanterie espagnole, assez a la mode dans ce temps." 
 
 17 Anquetil ; Motteville ; le P. Griffet ; Galerie des Personnages 
 Illustres de la Cour de Louis XIII. 
 
 18 " Bullion vint a bout de faire abandonner Montmorency par 
 Monsieur, en lui persuadant qu'il falloit absolument une victime a la 
 justice du Roi ; et qu'on le laissoit le maitre de sacrifier Puylaurents ou 
 le Due de Montmorency, et que c'etoit pour lui de voir s'il vouloit 
 conserver le Due, ou Puylaurents,"
 
 1637] AJNNE OF AUSTRIA 331 
 
 19 Vie du Due de Montmorency. 
 
 20 Vie du Pere Joseph Leclerc de Tremblay, Capucin, Instituteur de 
 TOrdre des Filles de Calvaire. 
 
 21 The chateau of Dammartin was given to the Duchesse de Ventadour, 
 half -sister of the unhappy Duke. 
 
 22 Historiette de M. de Montmorency, t. 3 ; Tallemant des Reaux. 
 
 23 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 24 Marie Catherine de la Rochefoucauld, Countess de Rendan, widow of 
 Henri de Beauffremont Marquis de Senece, governor of Auxonne, and 
 ambassador at Madrid during three years of the regency. 
 
 25 Cousin. Mem. de M. le Cardinal de Richelieu centre M. de Chateau- 
 neuf. Archives des Affaires Etrangeres ; France, t. ci. ; douze pages 
 de la main de Charpentier, un des secretaires de Richelieu. 
 
 26 Chateauneuf did not stand alone in this misdemeanour. The king, 
 writing to his sister Queen Henrietta Maria, advises her to have the new- 
 born Prince of Wales baptized privately by her Roman Catholic chaplain, 
 which, if she consented to do, Louis XIII. promises to stand sponsor to 
 the child. " Vous savez, ma soeur, que le seul moyen de vous donner 
 contentement, que la reyne ma mere, et moi nous tenions sur les fonts de 
 bapteme le prince rnon neveu, c'est qu'il soit baptise a la catholique ; a 
 quoi vous pouvez beaucoup contribuer, puisque cela se peut faire par 
 votre aumonier dans votre oratoire, le roy mon frere pouvant alors dire 
 que vous 1'avez fait sans son sceu, et consentement." Lettre de 
 Louis XIII. a la Reyne d'Angleterre. Aubery, Hist, du Card, de 
 Richelieu, t. 5, p. 375. 
 
 27 Proces-Verbal de la Visite des Papiers de M. de Chateauneuf, faite 
 par MM. Bouthillier et de Bullion ; copie communiquee par M. le Due 
 de Luynes ; Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse, p. 242. 
 
 28 The names in the correspondence between Madame de Chevreuse 
 and Chateauneuf were indicated by ciphers : 22 stood for Richelieu ; 
 24, the Queen ; 28, Madame de Chevreuse, who always alludes to herself 
 in the third person. 
 
 29 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. These letters are also quoted 
 by le P. Griffet, Hist, du Regne de Louis XIIL ; Continuation de 
 1'Hist. de France du Pere Daniel. 
 
 30 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse ; Motteville, t. c. 
 
 31 Ibid. 
 
 32 Dampierre became subsequently one of the most magnificent seats 
 in France. It was restored by the grandson of Madame de Chevreuse, 
 son of her son by the Constable de Luynes, upon whom the peerage of 
 her second husband was confirmed. The Due de Chevreuse and de 
 Luynes married the eldest daughter of the famous Colbert, who was a 
 wealthy heiress. Madame de Chevreuse had three daughters by her 
 second husband : Anne Marie de Lorraine, abbess of Pont-aux-Dame ; 
 Henriette, abbess of Jouarre ; and Mademoiselle de Chevreuse, 
 celebrated for her beauty, and the admiration of the coadjutor De Ret z.
 
 332 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 
 
 33 Charles de Schomberg, Due d'Halluyn, Pair et Marechal de France, 
 Marquis d'Epinay, and Comte de Nanteuil. This nobleman eventually 
 married Mademoiselle de Hautefort, September 24, 1646. The duke 
 died 1656. 
 
 34 Mem. de la Porte. Petitot, t. 59. 
 
 36 Daughter of C6sar de Bourbon, Count de Busset, and of Louise de 
 Montmorillon. The branch of Bourbon Busset descended from the 
 turbulent Louis, Archbishop of Liege, who died in 1482, son of 
 Charles I., Duke of Bourbon, and of Agnes of Burgundy. 
 
 36 The words of this oath were, " Ego Frater Joannes Baptista Carre, 
 ordinis Praedicatorum, vestri Novitiatus Generalis Prioris, voveo et pro- 
 metto obedientiam tibi, Domino Eminentissimo Armando Cardinal} 
 Duci de Richelieu, usque ad mortem." Archives des Affaires Etran- 
 geres, France, t. 78 ; Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. 
 
 37 Le Pere Griff et, Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII., t. 3. 
 
 38 Griffet, t. 3. 
 
 39 Siri, Memorie Recondite, t. 4 ; L'Espion, Turc. t. 4 (written by one 
 Paolo Marana) ; Dreux du Radier, t. 6 ; Vie de Mademoiselle de la 
 Fayette. 
 
 40 Siri, t. 8 ; Dreux du Radier, t. 6 ; Le Pere Griffet, t. 3 ; Hist, de 
 Louis XIII. 
 
 41 Griffet, t. 3. 
 
 42 Le Pere Griffet, t. 3 ; Mem. de Motteville, t. 1. 
 
 43 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort, Appendix sur Mademoiselle 
 de la Fayette ; Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France, t. 78, fol. 63. 
 
 44 " L'oncle espdrait pour moins obtenir un chapeau par le moyen de la 
 petite." 
 
 45 Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France, t. 78, fol. 124. 
 
 46 Mademoiselle Thomassin was a dresser in the service of Anne of 
 Austria. 
 
 47 Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France, t. 78, fol. 150, quoted from 
 M. Cousin, Appendix, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. 
 
 48 Mem. de Richelieu, t. x. 
 
 49 Louis XIII. had no very elevated opinion of the capacity of the zealous 
 Dominican. " Le bon Pere Carre," said his Majesty one day, " estun 
 de ces saints qu'on gagne aisement des qu'on a bien dore une chapelle." 
 
 50 Mem. de Motteville ; Griffet, Regne de Louis XIII. ; Dreux du 
 Radier, t. 6. 
 
 51 Ibid. 
 
 62 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort, Bibl. Imp. Val. 73, 74, MS. 
 " Le Cardinal m'a dit que quand le Roi eut ete trois jours sans voir 
 la Fayette il seroit gu6ri, que je ne pouvais ignorer ce que disoit 
 St. Jerdme, qu'il falloit passer sur le corps de son pere, pour courir a 
 1'etendard de la croix. Je lui aurois pu dire," adds Caussin, " que le 
 Saint-Esprit ne se prend pas a coups de canon ; mais je lui dis seulement 
 que si j'eusse presse da vantage, j 'aurois tout gate."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 1637 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE CARDINAL DE 
 RICHELIEU 
 
 THE year 1637 opens an important and myste- 
 rious era in the married life of Anne of Austria. 
 It is the period of her most flagrant treason against 
 her husband's realm, of her reconciliation with 
 the Cardinal de Richelieu, and of the hope which 
 transported France, and which was realised during 
 the following year by the birth of Louis Quatorze. 
 Europe during the year 1637 continued con- 
 vulsed with warfare, every realm seemed shaken 
 to its foundation. The invasion of Germany by 
 Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden in the year 
 1630, in behalf of the Protestant Princes of Ger- 
 many and to serve the cause of the dethroned 
 Elector Palatine, had moved every nation. Spain, 
 united to the Empire by close family ties and 
 political sympathies, threw in her lot with the 
 Emperor Ferdinand II. Soon the war had assumed 
 the terrible aspect of a conflict waged between the 
 Protestant Powers of Europe allied with France, 
 against the orthodox and potent Empires of Spain 
 and Austria. The invasion of the Swedes occurred 
 during the first session of the Diet of Ratisbon, to 
 which the envoys of France, the able diplomatist 
 Brulart and the astute Capuchin father, Joseph 
 
 333
 
 334 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 de Tremblay, had been sent by Richelieu to nego- 
 tiate a peace between France, the Empire and the 
 Dukes of Mantua and Savoy, or to oppose by 
 every artifice the election of the Emperor's eldest 
 son as King of the Romans. The desired pacifica- 
 tion was obtained, Casale was to be surrendered. 
 The Emperor moreover in his anxiety to secure 
 the promise of the imperial dignity for his son, 
 disbanded at the solicitation of a majority of the 
 Electors a part of that vast army under his re- 
 nowned general Albert de Wallenstein, Duke de 
 Friedland, which held the rebellious princes in 
 check and might have arrested the victorious 
 advance from Pomerania of King Gustavus Adol- 
 phus. 1 The Swedish armies laid siege to Stettin, 
 which was soon taken at the point of the sword and 
 the town given up to pillage : the members of the 
 Diet thereupon retired in dismay from Ratisbon 
 without proceeding to the much-coveted election. 
 France meanwhile had been at war with the 
 Emperor and the King of Spain since the year 
 1626 concerning the succession to the Duchy of 
 Mantua. The old policy of Henri Quatre therefore 
 presented itself with double zest to Louis XIII. 
 and his minister : alliance with the Protestant 
 Powers of Europe to bring about the humiliation 
 of the overgrown power of Spain, to wrest the 
 Empire from the Hapsburgs, Archdukes of Aus- 
 tria, by causing the election of a King of the 
 Romans from among the princes of another 
 dynasty, to moderate the pretensions of the 
 Papacy, to confer the power of supreme nomina-
 
 16371 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 335 
 
 tion to ecclesiastical benefices on the rulers of the 
 various countries of Europe, and to abolish the 
 faculty of appeal to Rome in disputed cases con- 
 cerning temporalities. The Great Henry projected 
 this political revolution while holding the Cal- 
 vinists of the realm in strict subjection. Richelieu 
 ventured a step further : he crushed " les religion- 
 naires" drove with a strong hand their allies 
 from the coast of France, resumed possession of 
 their cities of refuge, annulled the charters of La 
 Rochelle and other powerful cities, and whilst the 
 Calvinists cowered before the prestige of the crown, 
 the able minister, to exalt the power of France 
 abroad, joined their foreign allies to effect in other 
 countries the reforms which he had so sternly 
 repressed at home. In 1628 the Valteline was 
 rescued from papal domination and restored to 
 liberty ; and in 1631, two years after La Rochelle 
 fell at the feet of Richelieu, the alliance between 
 the Protestant crown of Sweden with the Catholic 
 realm of France was concluded, for the overthrow 
 of the Imperial House and the reform of the Ger- 
 manic Confederation. The treaty between France 
 and Sweden was signed January 1631 at the camp 
 of Berwalt in Brandenburg ; the plenipotenti- 
 aries who ratified this astonishing alliance were 
 M. de Charnece on behalf of France, and Horn, 
 Marechal de Camp of the Swedish forces, and 
 Bannier, their famed general of infantry. 2 The 
 articles stipulated an alliance offensive and defen- 
 sive between the two crowns ; that the King of 
 France should furnish annually for the service of
 
 336 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 the war an annual subsidy of one million of livres ; 3 
 that the invading army should always be main- 
 tained at a complement of thirty thousand in- 
 fantry and six thousand cavalry. Finally, that 
 the Roman Catholic religion should be respected, 
 and that no wilful spoliation of cathedrals, monas- 
 teries and church treasures should be permitted. 
 England joined the allies, Denmark wished well 
 to the forces of the gallant realm, her neighbour, 
 and thus was inaugurated that contest known 
 under the familiar designation of the Thirty Years' 
 War. France fought well and bravely in the con- 
 test, the success of the Scandinavian monarch 
 was unparalleled, victory followed his banners ; 
 in vain Tilly, Wallenstein, Montecuculi and the 
 Emperor himself sought to arrest his progress. 
 Complete religious and political freedom seemed 
 about to dawn on Germany ; in the space of two 
 years Gustavus Adolphus gained thirty battles 
 and took two hundred towns, no limit therefore 
 could be prescribed to the prowess of a conqueror 
 so mighty. Richelieu thereupon began to reflect ; 
 the war approached the Alsatian frontier, and 
 possibly the Swedish hero might long to test his 
 veteran soldiers against the world-renowned chiv- 
 alry of France. When Germany lay prostrate, 
 Richelieu argued might not the Imperial banner 
 be again raised from the dust by the hero, and 
 Gustavus Adolphus, become the ally of the 
 Emperor Ferdinand, lead his legions over the 
 frontier and dictate the pacification of Europe 
 from Paris ? Long did Richelieu and his two
 
 1687]; ANNE OF AUSTRIA 337 
 
 confidants, the Capuchin and Dominican fathers, 
 Joseph de Tremblay and Carre, ponder over a 
 glory that eclipsed the exploits of the minister in 
 Piedmont and Montferrat, and which reduced 
 the much-lauded conflict of the Pass of Susa into 
 an ignoble skirmish when compared to the mighty 
 victories of Gustavus. The jealousy of the Car- 
 dinal did not long ferment ; on the 6th day of 
 November 1632, the gallant King fell on the 
 plains of Lutzen in the very arms of victory. 
 Gustavus received two mortal wounds from the 
 hand, it was rumoured, of an assassin, who him- 
 self died from the pistol of an officer mysteriously 
 at hand to avenge the assassination. Later the 
 body of this personage was likewise found ex- 
 tended on the battle-field mutilated by sabre 
 wounds. 4 France then rallied from her panic : in 
 the preceding month Montmorency had suffered 
 the penalty of treason ; the rebel league with 
 Spain, cemented by the boyish resentment of 
 Monsieur, was dissolved on the field of Castel- 
 naudari. Monsieur, penitent, as has been before 
 related so long as the rod was suspended over his 
 head, soon regretted his concessions and fled 
 again from the realm. The flight of Orleans gave 
 Richelieu opportunity for completing the annexa- 
 tion of the duchy of Lorraine. Nancy was in- 
 vested and garrisoned by French troops ; the 
 Duke, after a hasty abdication in favour of the 
 Cardinal his brother, fled to Besanon and joined 
 a division of the Imperial army under Monte- 
 cuculi. On the plains of Lombardy the French
 
 338 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 armies encountered the Spanish forces with vary- 
 ing success, and but few notable achievements 
 gave lustre or renown to the contest. The King's 
 generals were Marshal de Crequi and the Cardinal 
 de la Valette, the brother of the famous Duke 
 d'Epernon, who was renowned rather for his 
 military capacity than known as a prince of the 
 Church and Cardinal Archbishop of Toulouse. 
 The Duke of Saxe Weimar, after the death of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, commanded the French con- 
 tingent in Germany, and the war continued to 
 rage with varied success, Bannier, the most re- 
 nowned of the Swedish generals, having the com- 
 mand in chief of the forces. In 1633 Heidelberg 
 was taken by the Swedes, and in September of 
 the same year a Spanish army under the Duke de 
 Feria entered Germany and joined the Imperial 
 forces Feria having first escorted the new gover- 
 nor of the Low Countries, the Cardinal Infant Don 
 Ferdinand, 5 to Brussels. 
 
 In this year the Archduchess Infanta Isabel 6 
 died without posterity, and according to the 
 terms of the will of her father Philip II. King of 
 Spain the sovereignty of the Low Countries re- 
 verted to the Spanish crown. Ferdinand had great 
 influence with his sister Queen Anne of Austria, 
 and was her frequent correspondent, and after 
 his arrival in Brussels most of Anne's private 
 correspondence with Spain passed through his 
 hands. Queen Marie meantime, on the decease of 
 the Infanta, quitted Brussels and retired to Spa, 
 paying a visit en route to the Prince and Princess
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 339 
 
 of Orange at Bolduc. Monsieur however re- 
 mained the guest of the Archduke Ferdinand, 
 fretting at the life of inaction and self-denial 
 which his exile entailed, tenaciously resenting 
 fancied affronts to his high dignity, at variance 
 with the Queen-mother and becoming weary of 
 the society of his estimable but inert consort, 
 whose beauty had now lost its influence over his 
 capricious heart. Meantime the great battle of 
 Nordlingen, gained by the armies of Spain and the 
 Empire over the forces of France and. her allies, 
 September 6, 1634, seemed to awaken again the 
 patriotism of the Duke or perhaps gave him 
 opportunity for the step which he had long medi- 
 tated, his return to France, an event earnestly 
 desired by Richelieu, who felt the necessity of 
 making concessions to a prince who might any 
 day hear himself saluted as King of France. The 
 Duke, as the price of this concession had asked for 
 the recognition of his marriage with Marguerite de 
 Lorraine. Louis offered to submit again the ques- 
 tion of the legality of this marriage to the highest 
 civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the realm, 
 and in case their decision was adverse to in- 
 demnify the Princess, to create her a duchess and 
 not to compel Monsieur to marry again against his 
 inclination. The Duke accepted this proposition, 
 being nevertheless firmly resolved to maintain the 
 validity of his union with Madame, which he re- 
 garded as a master-stroke of defiance to the will 
 of Richelieu. Monsieur also asked for the pay- 
 ment of his debts. Louis generously presented
 
 340 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 his brother with the sum of 400,000 livres for that 
 purpose. Moreover it was stipulated that all the 
 Duke's revenues should be restored, with the 
 donation of a further sum of 160,000 crowns for 
 his immediate equipment. The government of 
 Auvergne was also to be conferred on Monsieur 
 to indemnify him for the loss of that over the 
 Orleanois which had been forfeited after the late 
 rebellion. 7 
 
 Content, as he well might be, with these muni- 
 ficent stipulations, Monsieur, without taking leave 
 of his wife, fled from Brussels on the 12th of 
 September and repaired to St. Germain, where 
 the brothers interchanged a fraternal embrace, 
 Gaston taking Heaven to witness that he would 
 be a true and faithful subject and a sincere and 
 cordial ally of M. le Cardinal. The following day 
 his Eminence regaled the returned prodigal by a 
 sumptuous banquet at Ruel, of which the Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon was queen. From Anne of Austria 
 Monsieur met with a cool reception. His mar- 
 riage and his subsequent persistence in his union 
 with Marguerite de Lorraine dissipated any in- 
 fluence which he had exercised over the mind and 
 conduct of the Queen. In Monsieur Anne now 
 beheld the married heir-presumptive, ready on the 
 demise of his brother and King to seize her crow r n 
 and transfer it to his own consort. More than 
 ever Anne deplored her childless condition, and 
 lamented that in spite of her prayers, offerings 
 and vows after twenty-two years of wedlock the 
 blessing appeared farther than ever from attain-
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 341 
 
 ment. The alienation between Anne and her hus- 
 band had become more confirmed if less visibly 
 demonstrated. Louis, refreshed by the deferential 
 homage of Mademoiselle de la Fayette, or de 
 Hautefort, cared not for another companion. 
 Anne, with her fair beauty, her consciousness of 
 her charms, her petulant and derisive wit, her 
 determined self-will and her Spanish inclinations, 
 had become hateful and sometimes even terrible 
 to the King. Alone in his solitary chamber Louis 
 loved to be at peace, to avoid the trouble and 
 fatigue of kingly rule and to abandon himself to 
 melancholy musings and to the alleviation of his 
 frequent and painful maladies. The excitement 
 of a camp, of a review, of a military progress, alone 
 had power to dissipate his Majesty's constitutional 
 languor. 
 
 The military events of the year 1635 were 
 adverse for France ; notwithstanding incredible 
 efforts on the part of the government, reverses 
 met the allies everywhere. The French had three 
 armies on foot in Germany ; one of 12,000 men 
 under Marshal de Feuquieres and the Duke 
 Bernard of Saxe Weimar ; the second corps de 
 bataille under Cardinal de la Valette was destined 
 to march for the rescue of the Palatinate, Heidel- 
 berg having again fallen ; the third army under 
 Marshal de la Force kept guard on the frontiers 
 of Alsace. In Italy Louis had an army of 12,000 
 men and 2000 horse under the Marshal de Crequi ; 
 in the Valteline the French soldiers numbered 
 1200 men and 800 horse ; in Provence and
 
 342 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 Languedoc and in Lorraine large bodies of troops 
 were quartered. With such forces in the pay of 
 France, in addition to heavy subsidies to the 
 allies of the crown, well might King Louis exclaim 
 in a despatch to the Marshals de Chatillon and de 
 Breze, " Judge, Messieurs, therefore, whether it is 
 possible for me I having to support alone the 
 cost of such great armies to raise other reinforce- 
 ments for my allies. Such armies as mine ought to 
 draw to me all the forces of the said allies ! " 8 
 The most energetic measures nevertheless were 
 necessary, Richelieu beheld with horror the pro- 
 gress of the Imperialists and the slender chance 
 which existed that the Duke of Saxe Weimar 
 would be able to defend the frontiers from inva- 
 sion. Spain threatened Provence and Languedoc, 
 the Imperial armies were marching into Cham- 
 pagne and Picardy, the Duke of Lorraine pre- 
 pared to attack his confiscated duchy, all the 
 resources of Spain and the Empire seemed united 
 to invade France and thus deprive the great Pro- 
 testant League of her chief ally. In the midst of 
 this suspense the fortress of Philipsburg was taken. 
 Utter panic thereupon prevailed throughout the 
 kingdom as treasures and abundant military 
 stores fell into the hands of the enemy. The Mar- 
 shals de la Force and the Duke d'Angouleme were 
 sent into Lorraine to intercept the advance of 
 the Imperial general, Gallas, 9 on the cities of 
 Toul, Metz and Verdun, while the King himself 
 marched to the frontiers of the duchy. Crequi 
 meanwhile entered the Milanese and laid siege to
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 343 
 
 Valenza. A victory soon after gained by the Duke 
 of Lorraine over the troops under La Force, and 
 the news of the capture of the city of Treves by the 
 Spanish commander-in-chief of the forces in the 
 Low Countries, completed the national despon- 
 dency. The gallantry of the Cardinal Infant 
 governor of the Low Countries, and brother of 
 Queen Anne, eminently contributed to the success 
 of the war. The French received another repulse 
 in Italy, where Crequi with his allies the Dukes 
 of Savoy and Parma was compelled to raise the 
 siege of Valenza and retreat before the victorious 
 arms of the Marquis de Alada and Don Carlos 
 Coloma. This disastrous year terminated by the 
 assemblage of a second Diet in Ratisbon by the 
 victorious Emperor, and by the triumphant elec- 
 tion of his son as King of the Romans, who had 
 married the sister of the consort of Louis XIII. 
 
 France, menaced by invasion from every quarter 
 of her territory, concluded alliance offensive and 
 defensive, February 1635, with the States of 
 Holland against Spain and had thus directly 
 challenged that potent monarchy. The treaty 
 was elaborate and calculated to exasperate King 
 Philip and his minister Olivarez. Louis actually 
 therein divided the Netherlands with his Dutch 
 allies ; the share of territory to fall to France in 
 case of victory being Luxembourg, the counties of 
 Artois, Namur, Hainault, Flanders and the Cam- 
 bresis ! The answer of Spain to this challenge was 
 the inroad of a formidable army, early in the year 
 1636, under Prince Thomas of Savoy, Piccolomini
 
 344 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 and Jean de Wert, on the province of Picardy. 
 La Capelle Chatelet and the town of Corbie were 
 captured, and the road to Paris opened for the 
 advance of the enemy on the capital. The con- 
 sternation was so great at court and in the city 
 that the Cardinal dared not show himself, for 
 there was no insult which the populace would not 
 have been ready to shower upon him when the 
 news of the fall of Corbie arrived. Richelieu him- 
 self was so depressed in mind and body at the 
 gigantic war which enveloped France that if Pere 
 Joseph, to whom he confided his trouble, had not 
 encouraged and counselled him he was on the 
 point of retiring from the administration of 
 affairs. 10 Chavigny, Richelieu's confidential friend, 
 describes the panic which followed the advance of 
 the Spanish armies ; " but," says he, " the King 
 has gone for change of air to Madrid, 11 and Mon- 
 signeur to Chaillot, they both now understand 
 each other and are in perfect health." 12 The 
 Count de Soissons meantime was sent into 
 Picardy as commander-in-chief, where Louis him- 
 self followed and took up his quarters in the city 
 of Amiens. The Duke de Montbazon repaired to 
 Soissons, Breze to La Fere, the Count d'Alais 
 to Abbeville, Bethune to La Peronne and Ram- 
 bures to Dourlens all . being eager to defend 
 their country from invasion ; while the Duke de 
 Longueville, at the head of 6000 men, kept guard 
 over the frontier of Normandy. 
 
 The Queen, during these momentous events, 
 resided at St. Germain and took eager interest in
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 345 
 
 the affairs of the war. Notwithstanding the re- 
 newed prohibition of the King, Anne persisted in 
 her clandestine correspondence with her brothers, 
 Don Philip IV., and Ferdinand, governor of the 
 Low Countries. Her indignation had been im- 
 prudently expressed at the treaty concluded by 
 Louis XIII. with the States-General of Holland 
 against Spain, while her Majesty could scarcely 
 conceal her joy at the triumph of her countrymen 
 and at the visible dismay and depression of the 
 minister. While France mourned in consternation, 
 Anne and her favourite ladies exulted, and la 
 Fayette was tauntingly advised by the Queen to 
 counsel King Louis to make timely peace whilst 
 he was able with Spain. The treacherous half- 
 surrender of La Capelle by the governor, M. du 
 Bee, and the unexpected advance of the Spanish 
 army upon Roye, had excited the suspicion of 
 Richelieu. Letters intended for the Cardinal Infant 
 were captured ; the mysterious and suspicious 
 allusions in which, on the condition of the frontier 
 fortresses, inspired him with alarm and indigna- 
 tion. The facts which unaccountably transpired 
 relative to the military resources of the realm 
 proceeded evidently from some personage highly 
 placed and in the daily habit of hearing important 
 discussions relative to the war. Richelieu, never- 
 theless, dared not at this period reveal his con- 
 victions ; his own position was precarious, his 
 enemies many, and the disastrous result of the 
 campaign of 1635-6 had placed sharp weapons in 
 the hands of persons who plotted his overthrow.
 
 346 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 The people generally, pronounced that the alliance 
 of Catholic France and Protestant Germany was 
 unhallowed and likely to be visited with condign 
 j udgment. So anxious was Richelieu to propitiate 
 Louis and to conciliate public opinion, that by 
 the advice of his wily adviser, the Capuchin 
 Joseph, he presented to the King " his Hotel de 
 Richelieu (afterwards Palais-Royal) with all its 
 dependencies ; also his superb and magnificent 
 vessels for the altar of gold and diamonds, his 
 state buffet and its trophies of silver plate valued 
 at three thousand golden marks, his celebrated 
 heart-shaped diamond weighing twenty carats : 
 the whole unconditionally, but reserving to him- 
 self the enjoyment of the above during his life- 
 time." 13 " Monseigneur, by this graceful act you 
 will diminish the dislike felt towards your Eminence 
 by the populace, you will convince the public 
 that you use wisely and liberally the favours and 
 honours given you by the King, and that at your 
 death your only wish is to restore your riches to 
 your benefactor, instead of bequeathing such to 
 your relatives. By this generosity you will acquire 
 immortal renown, and your most bitter enemy 
 must be converted into an eulogist of your dis- 
 interestedness." So argued Pere Joseph ; and 
 Chavigny, therefore, on the 9th of June, 1636, 
 carried the donation signed by his Eminence to 
 the King, who was pleased to accept the gift. 
 The fortune of the great minister soon emerged 
 from the cloud of adversity, to the consternation 
 of his adversaries. In November 1636 Corbie was
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 347 
 
 recaptured and its garrison of 1600 Spaniards 
 compelled to capitulate, and Gallas was repulsed 
 and compelled to retreat from the duchy of Bur- 
 gundy before the gallant deeds of Conde. Suc- 
 cesses also attended the French arms in Lorraine, 
 so that the end of the year 1636 again found the 
 policy of Richelieu in the ascendant, and the 
 minister established and greeted by his sovereign 
 as " Celui qu'il aimoit le plus, avec M. le Cardinal 
 de la Valette, en France" 
 
 Monsieur, meantime, had shared the campaign 
 in Picardy with his cousin, M. de Soissons, the 
 Princes having been declared by the King com- 
 manders of the besieging army. No sooner had 
 Corbie capitulated and the court rejoiced at so 
 glorious an issue of the campaign, when Monsieur 
 again fled from Versailles to Blois, while M. de 
 Soissons in disguise reached the rebel haven, 
 Bouillon's fortress of Sedan. The courtiers were 
 confounded ; Chavigny, in his amusing letters, 
 which relieve the dry details of military proceed- 
 ings, finds no word to express his amazement at 
 such an escapade. " The King," says Chavigny, 
 " sent for Monsieur after the surrender of Corbie, 
 to consult with him on the dispersion of the army 
 and the towns in which large garrisons should 
 winter, after which his Majesty said to his 
 brother that it was now time that he should enjoy 
 himself a little in Paris. Monsieur, however, in- 
 sisted upon departing into Champagne, to which 
 his Majesty declined to assent as there was no 
 military work in the province requiring his High-
 
 348 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1C37 
 
 ness's presence. I do not know whether this 
 denial offended Monsieur ; it is certain, however, 
 that he has again fled from court, which is a thing 
 that fills us with despair, for it appears as if the 
 same work and negotiations have to begin over 
 and over again ! " 14 The true reason of the flight 
 of the Duke and of the Count de Soissons, was 
 their dread of Richelieu's vengeance after his 
 detection of a plot concocted between them to 
 assassinate the minister on one of his visits to the 
 royal abode a castle in the vicinity of Amiens. 
 The design failed owing to the faint-heartedness 
 of the Duke, who assuredly then held his enemy in 
 his toils, as Richelieu, separated from his own 
 attendants, was conversing with Monsieur, around 
 whom stood the four gentlemen who, on a signal, 
 were to give the fatal blow. Monsieur, assailed 
 with a remorseful panic, suddenly ran up some 
 steps leading to the King's apartment, leaving 
 Richelieu surrounded by his intended assassins, 
 who, perceiving the Duke's perturbation, dared 
 not strike. Richelieu, with admirable sang-froid, 
 comprehending how matters stood, bowed, and 
 calmly entered his coach which was in waiting. 
 The Cardinal then caused the rumour to be circu- 
 lated that the King had resolved on the arrest of 
 M. d'Orleans and of M. de Soissons on their return 
 to Paris. The flight of the Princes ensued, and 
 neither of them quitted their retreat until fresh 
 calamities convulsed the realm. Monsieur, never- 
 theless, obtained from his brother the long-sought 
 recognition of his marriage with Marguerite de
 
 16371 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 349 
 
 Lorraine " provided that Monsieur espoused not, 
 with the Princess, the pretensions and resentment 
 of Duke Charles of Lorraine, her brother." 16 
 
 The year 1637 opened with the capture of 
 Landrecy and the siege of La Capelle ; important 
 military events, which, united to the victories of 
 the Duke of Weimar in Alsace, restored the mili- 
 tary prestige of France. The desire, therefore, to 
 conclude an honourable peace with Spain, and 
 to put an end to the warfare in Italy, was now 
 earnestly entertained by Richelieu. To effect 
 this boon without compromising his sovereign, the 
 Cardinal opened a private correspondence with 
 the powerful minister and favourite of Philip IV., 
 the Count-duke de Olivarez. In this patriotic 
 and laudable design, Richelieu found himself 
 foiled by the intrigues of Anne of Austria, who 
 counselled her brother to enforce a solution of the 
 political events leading to the war at the sw r ord's 
 point rather than by the pen of the diplomatist. 
 Richelieu confided his suspicions to Pere Joseph, 
 and asked his invaluable assistance to unravel 
 the intrigue. The doubts of Richelieu were first 
 excited during the month of April of the .year 
 1637 ; during the following months of June and 
 July the minister acquired more positive know- 
 ledge on the subject of the Queen's frequent corre- 
 spondence with the enemy. He had resolved to 
 send a secret agent to Spain to test the popular 
 feeling of the country in regard to the war with 
 France and the private dispositions of the 
 Spanish ministers. For this purpose, by the
 
 350 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 advice of Pere Joseph, a monk of the order of 
 Recollets, one Jerome Bachelier was selected 
 partly for his skill in chicane, but more especially 
 as he was slightly acquainted with Olivarez, with 
 whom Bachelier had conferred when sent to 
 Spain some years previously on a mission con- 
 nected with his order. Some ostensible errand, 
 however, it was needful to provide, in order to 
 procure for Bachelier an audience of the Count- 
 duke. Richelieu therefore suggested to Anne of 
 Austria, that as God had not yet granted her 
 prayer for offspring, and as she had already caused 
 prayers to be put up at every shrine in France, 
 it might be advisable to solicit her brother, King 
 Philip, to send her a fragment of some renowned 
 saint of Spain, whose intercession might procure 
 for her the unspeakable blessing of becoming the 
 happy mother of a Dauphin. Anne assented, and 
 wrote to the King her brother, to send her the arm 
 of the holy and blessed St. Isidore of Seville, to be 
 enshrined in her chapel of Val de Grace, that she 
 might daily kneel in supplication before this pre- 
 cious relic of the Oracle of Spain. Probably on 
 this occasion Richelieu addressed to the Queen 
 the following extraordinary epistle, which affords 
 in itself no clue to the period when it was written : 
 " It is impossible for me to express to your 
 Majesty the affliction with which I am inspired, in 
 finding, from the letter with which I have been 
 honoured, that God still withholds from your 
 marriage the benediction which we had all trusted 
 to obtain from His goodness. I assure your
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 351 
 
 Majesty that the King grieves as much for the 
 affection which he bears you as for his own sake, 
 and for the welfare of this realm. Nevertheless I 
 pray you to take comfort. What God withholds 
 at one time He bestows at another, and the 
 Almighty, having hitherto testified a peculiar care 
 for France, will in His own good time crown the 
 blessings he has showered upon us by giving the 
 one boon alone capable of consummating our 
 felicity. I pray earnestly that so it may be : 
 deign to believe, Madame, that no one desires this 
 blessing more fervently than myself." 16 The 
 Queen, however, far from being penetrated with 
 Richelieu's devotion for her welfare, while solicit- 
 ing through Bachelier the arm of St. Isidore, wrote 
 by ses voles secretes to her brother the King, to be 
 on his guard against the intrigues of the monk 
 sent with her petition, as his true mission was 
 secret and political. Bachelier, accordingly, on 
 his arrival at Madrid found every ministerial door 
 closed against him and audience of the Count- 
 duke refused unless he first made a statement of 
 his errand. Compelled to submit, Bachelier had 
 then the mortification to find his request referred 
 to the Archbishops of Toledo and Seville, who had 
 received his Catholic Majesty's commands to com- 
 ply with the pious petition of his sister, the very 
 Christian Queen. Foiled in his design and con- 
 firmed in his distrust of the Queen by Bachelier's 
 report, " that the intimation of the true object of 
 his mission proceeded from a high authority in 
 France," 17 Richelieu commenced in good earnest
 
 352 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 investigations which he resolved should issue in 
 the repudiation of Anne of Austria, or in her per- 
 fect submission to his decrees, of whatever nature 
 he thought proper to propose. His first step was to 
 place spies about Madame de Chevreuse, who was 
 considered by his Eminence as the mischievous 
 instigator and upholder of Anne's misdemeanours ; 
 his second, by the aid of Father Joseph and the 
 Archbishop of Paris, to introduce a young Capu- 
 chin monk as confessor to some of the sisterhood 
 of Val de Grace trusting by this device to gain 
 insight into her Majesty's proceedings when at the 
 convent, from whence all her private correspon- 
 dence was despatched. It was discovered by this 
 means that a person in disguise was in the habit 
 of leaving letters for the Queen at the convent, 
 which were delivered to the abbess, who now 
 placed them in a recess in the wall by the side of 
 the altar in the Queen's oratory. Anne always pro- 
 ceeded to the convent to peruse her letters and to 
 indite her answers, which she placed in the same 
 hiding-place. A few hours after the Queen's visit 
 the same messenger appeared at the convent-grate, 
 to whom the letters were given by the abbess her- 
 self. This messenger was soon traced by Richelieu's 
 secret police ; he was discovered to be la Porte, the 
 Queen's faithful servant, who had before suffered 
 in her cause. He was followed to the hotel of the 
 English embassy where he was heard to inquire for 
 one M. Auger, and from the same embassy he was 
 one morning pursued to the convent where he was 
 seen to leave a letter at the grate of the parloir. 18
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 353 
 
 Madame de Chevreuse, meantime, had ex- 
 perienced some alleviation in the rigour of her 
 captivity at Milly. She had been suffered to 
 leave that dismal chateau and take an hotel in 
 Tours, where her proceedings with the old Arch- 
 bishop of Tours afforded great scandal to his pious 
 flock. 19 The prelate was so fascinated with the 
 beauty and wit of the Duchess that he became a 
 martyr to her caprice, and showed perfect in- 
 difference to the decorum appertaining to his high 
 position. 
 
 Richelieu therefore, sent an exempt of his police 
 down to Tours to watch the manoeuvres of his old 
 enemy, and discovered that missives were often 
 mysteriously despatched by Marc de la Porte, 
 brother of the Queen's servant, and valet in the 
 service of the Duchess, who also was in the habit 
 of receiving packets from his brother in Paris ; 
 the copy of a letter, moreover, alleged to have 
 been written by Madame de Chevreuse to the 
 Duke de Lorraine, was transmitted by an anony- 
 mous hand to the Cardinal de Richelieu. In this 
 letter the duchess taunted her old admirer with 
 his languid zeal against the despoiler of his duchy 
 the tyrant Richelieu whom, with the same 
 perverted taste which characterised her inter- 
 cepted correspondence with Chateauneuf, Ma- 
 dame de Chevreuse vilified in opprobrious terms. 
 Richelieu now thought it time to humble the 
 haughty Princess who had dared to defy his 
 power, reject his amity and to ridicule his ad- 
 miration. The gravity of the Queen's offence
 
 354 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 merited arrest for high treason. From Louis 
 XIII. Anne had little indulgence to expect ; pre- 
 possessed with the idea that she had sanctioned, 
 and even devised, the conspiracy for which 
 Chalais suffered, the King was ready to believe 
 any infamy which might be alleged against his 
 imprudent consort. 
 
 On the last day of July 1637, Richelieu assem- 
 bled the council of state at the Louvre, previous to 
 the departure of the King for Chantilly, whither 
 Louis was going to spend the month of August, 
 in high dudgeon that the remonstrance of his 
 minister had prevented him from superintending 
 in person the siege-works before La Capelle. After 
 giving certain explanations relative to the pro- 
 gress of the campaign in Picardy, Richelieu 
 suddenly rose and denounced the secret intelli- 
 gences between Anne of Austria, the King of 
 Spain, and the Cardinal Infant governor of the 
 Low Countries. " Sire, we have arrived at that 
 period of national calamity when the treasonable 
 relations of a queen of France with the enemy 
 must be arrested. Her Majesty, I have reason to 
 believe, has made important political disclosures, 
 the proofs of which exist in the convent of the Val 
 de Grace." Richelieu then accused the Queen of 
 illicit correspondence with Madame de Chevreuse, 
 with Mirabel, late Ambassador of Spain at the 
 court of France, with the Spanish ministers in 
 London and Brussels, with the Queen Marie de' 
 Medici, and with the Queen of England, whom 
 she had perniciously exhorted to make innova-
 

 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 855 
 
 tions in religion highly displeasing to Charles I., 
 under the delusive hope that Spain would inter- 
 pose to put down seditious risings in Britain. 20 
 The sensation excited by the Cardinal's discourse 
 was acute enough to satisfy his anticipations ; the 
 council clamoured that investigations should be 
 instituted into an affair which so nearly concerned 
 the national honour and the military renown of 
 France ! The King, informed beforehand of 
 Anne's misdemeanours, listened in sullen. wrath, 
 and empowered his ministers to make all pre- 
 paratory arrests and examinations for the eluci- 
 dation of the business. 
 
 44 There is already sufficient evidence for the 
 arrest and arraignment of the Queen on a charge 
 of high treason," exclaimed the Chancellor 
 Seguier. " Such a process, however, would shake 
 the prestige of the monarch and degrade the royal 
 dignity. I put to you, therefore, Sire, whether it 
 will not be better to avoid so cruel an extremity 
 and to exact instead from the Queen Infanta a 
 plenary confession, and to compel the accept- 
 ance of pledges which hereafter shall suffice to 
 prevent future correspondence ? " 21 
 
 The moderate advice of Seguier met with 
 applause and with protestations from the Car- 
 dinal minister 44 that his fealty to the state sur- 
 passed only his reverence for her Majesty." The 
 Chancellor was then commanded by the King to 
 make the necessary perquisition into the affair 
 14 without favour or dread " ; and a mandate was 
 addressed by Louis to the Archbishop of Paris,
 
 356 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 directing and requiring him to grant every 
 facility for the investigation requisite in the 
 nunnery of Val de Grace which was under his 
 jurisdiction. Lastly, a lettre de cachet was signed 
 by the King decreeing the arrest and transfer of 
 Pierre la Porte to the fortress of the Bastille. 22 
 
 The Queen, meantime, unconscious of the gulf 
 yawning at her feet, had been present a few days 
 previously at the profession of Louise Angelique 
 de la Fayette in the nunnery of the Visitandines. 
 Louis, overwhelmed with grief at this separation, 
 had exhausted his powers of persuasion to induce 
 la Fayette to reconsider her resolve. He accused 
 the Cardinal of using menace to hasten this deter- 
 mination, and one day Louis suddenly returned 
 from Fontainebleau to Paris, after the reception 
 of a letter from Louise in which she expressed 
 some apprehension of the Cardinal's violence. 
 "If M. le Cardinal causes Mademoiselle de la 
 Fayette to be abducted and carried into Auvergne, 
 as he once threatened, I swear that I will fetch her 
 thence in the very teeth of the Lord Cardinal and 
 of all the devils in his train ! " 23 " Sire," ex- 
 claimed la Fayette, " cease to urge me. I have 
 vowed allegiance to a higher Potentate than your- 
 self. Let me become His faithful subject." * 4 
 The sermon on the profession of la Fayette was 
 preached by Caussin, who was moved to tears as 
 he contemplated the fair young girl about to be 
 sacrificed to a court intrigue. The Queen threw 
 the black veil over the head of la Fayette, who 
 wept without ceasing throughout the ceremony.
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 357 
 
 At the conclusion of the service Anne retired to 
 the abbess's parlour and sent for Caussin. Her 
 Majesty then, after a touching allusion to the 
 scene which they had just witnessed, said that 
 her conscience obliged her to remark to the 
 reverend father that she deemed it to be his 
 bounden duty to represent to the King that his 
 people groaned under the burden of taxes and 
 subsidies to defray the expenses of a war excited 
 and maintained by the ambition of the Cardinal ; 
 that the aim of the Cardinal was so to daze the 
 mind of the King that his services could not be 
 dispensed with ; that his ambition and treachery 
 maintained a perpetual feud between the King 
 and his nearest and dearest connections and some 
 of his most faithful nobles, most of whom would 
 serve the realm with greater ability than M. le 
 Cardinal. In reply to this somewhat officious 
 address, Caussin assured her Majesty of his zeal 
 and loyalty, but said " that he had made a rule 
 never to interfere in politics, but in other matters 
 he would faithfully acquit himself as his con- 
 science might dictate." 25 
 
 On the 3rd of August Louis departed for Chan- 
 tilly. On the following day Anne also left Paris, 
 not having the slightest suspicion of the peril 
 awaiting her. Anne was followed to her coach by 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort and other ladies who 
 took leave of her Majesty for the period of her 
 absence at Chantilly. La Porte was amongst the 
 Queen's attendants ; before leaving the Louvre 
 Anne beckoned to this individual and gave him
 
 358 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 two letters one folded and addressed, the other 
 in a blank envelope and unsealed. Her Majesty 
 said, " Carry this letter to the post ; as for this 
 one, I will tell you what you must do with it ! " 
 Anne was proceeding to give la Porte the necessary 
 instructions when a nobleman of the court ap- 
 proached, to w r hom she was compelled to speak ; 
 the Queen then hurriedly entered her coach with 
 Madame de Senece and drove out of the court- 
 yard. " The Queen," says la Porte, " made me 
 understand by a sign that both these letters were 
 for Madame de Chevreuse ; she omitted, however, 
 to tell me what she desired me to do with the 
 letter enclosed without an address in a sheet of 
 paper, but I concluded that her Majesty might 
 send me word the same evening. Afterwards I 
 took the determination, as I did not hear, to send 
 them both by a special messenger whom I trusted 
 and knew." 28 The Queen had no sooner quitted 
 the precincts of the Louvre than la Porte was 
 arrested and conveyed to the Bastille by Goulart, 
 ensign of les Mousquetaires du Roi. On his 
 person were found the letters given to him by 
 Anne, one of which was openly addressed to the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse, a mere letter of gossip, and 
 was to have been forwarded by the royal mails ; 
 the other letter was written partly in a cipher of 
 numerals, and made allusion to some recent inter- 
 course of letters between the Duchess and the 
 Duke of Lorraine. The Queen, moreover, therein 
 refused to sanction, " as too perilous," a project 
 proposed by Madame de Chevreuse, to visit the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 359 
 
 Louvre in disguise that she might confer on im- 
 portant matters with her Majesty. The letters 
 were both in the handwriting of the Queen, and 
 on the envelope of the unsealed letter was the 
 sign $, which La Porte afterwards avowed was the 
 hieroglyphic by which Anne indicated the letters 
 that were to be sent to the Duchess by " les voies 
 secrets" A third letter was also found in the 
 pocket of La Porte from Madame de Chevreuse, 
 which however, contained nothing particular 
 except a request that La Porte would remind the 
 Countess de Lude to ask the Queen to interest 
 herself in the prompt settlement of a law-suit then 
 pending between the Duchess and M. de Chev- 
 reuse. 
 
 The news of the arrest of La Porte came acci- 
 dentally to the ears of Mademoiselle de Hautefort, 
 who was spending the interval of the Queen's 
 absence from Paris at the house of her grand- 
 mother, Madame de la Flotte Hauterive. A cer- 
 tain M. de Guigencourt happened to be loitering 
 in the vicinity of the Louvre and saw the arrest 
 made. Being slightly acquainted with La Porte 
 he followed the soldiers and their prisoner as far 
 as the gates of the Bastille. La Porte was known 
 to be a confidential servant of the Queen, 
 Guigencourt therefore hastened to Mademoiselle 
 de Hautefort to impart to her the event he had 
 witnessed. The magnitude of the catastrophe was 
 too well comprehended by La Hautefort, who, 
 devoted to Anne of Austria, cleverly partook in 
 all her secrets without becoming involved in their
 
 860 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 disastrous course. She instantly saw the expe- 
 diency of warning the Queen without loss of time ; 
 but as her letter might be intercepted or be 
 delayed by etiquette from immediate presenta- 
 tion, Mademoiselle de Hautefort enclosed it to 
 Mademoiselle de Chemerault, her intimate friend, 
 who was then in waiting at Chantilly, adjuring 
 her to lose no time in presenting the enclosure to 
 her royal mistress. Mademoiselle de Chemerault 
 was not a favourite with the Queen, who thought 
 her bavarde and coquette; she had not therefore the 
 privilege of early entree to the bed-chamber. To 
 attract Anne's attention was therefore her only 
 chance of obeying the urgent mandate of La 
 Hautefort. On presenting herself at the Queen's 
 toilette, Mademoiselle de Chemerault arrayed her- 
 self splendidly, putting the note in her bosom. 
 The Queen, attracted by the unusual sight of a 
 grande toilette before she had commenced her own, 
 looked displeased, and commenced in a bantering 
 tone to rebuke La Chemerault for her folly. A 
 sign, however, soon caught her eye, Anne being 
 ever on the alert for the denouement of her 
 intrigues. The Queen, therefore, still pretending 
 to rally the vanity of La Chemerault, approached, 
 and the latter, while making profound obeisance, 
 contrived to retreat, until a large mirror screened 
 the Queen from the watchful eyes of Madame de 
 Senece and others. In an instant the important 
 missive was transferred from the bosom of La 
 Chemerault to that of the Queen. Anne returned, 
 and with heightened colour seated herself before
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 361 
 
 her toilette-table. Soon, however, under some 
 slight pretext, she rose and retired alone into the 
 cabinet fitted up for her oratory, when opening 
 the note she possessed herself of its alarming 
 contents. 27 " The Queen," says the author of the 
 Vie de Madame de Hautefort, " fell back almost 
 senseless with alarm when she had perused the 
 letter. Such a surprising sickness and indifference 
 subsequently overpowered her Majesty that for 
 forty hours not a morsel of food passed her lips, 
 she who had usually so good an appetite." Made- 
 moiselle de Hautefort informed the Queen that 
 she had not imparted the subject of her letter to 
 Mademoiselle de Chemerault, and that she would 
 obey in all matters her directions. The Queen 
 presently sent cordial thanks to Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort by La Chemerault for the important 
 service which she had rendered her, and begged 
 the continuance of her assistance in this ex- 
 tremity. 28 " The unhappy Princess having no 
 mercy to expect from her consort or from a 
 minister who on more than one occasion had 
 threatened her with exile and divorce, believing 
 herself lost, abandoned herself at first without 
 regard to appearance or to prudence to the 
 anguish and despair which possessed her." " Lost, 
 lost ! " she was overheard to murmur, " the Car- 
 dinal will marry his niece to the King and she 
 will bear children never mind how ! " alluding to 
 Madame d'Aiguillon, whom Anne detested for her 
 sanctimonious manners and for her undeviating 
 allegiance to her uncle. On the 7th of August
 
 362 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 Richelieu arrived at Chantilly. Anne, who does 
 not appear to have made any appeal meantime to 
 the King, immediately sent her secretary, M. Le 
 Gras, to wait upon Richelieu, to inquire on her 
 behalf, " what had happened to cause the arrest 
 of La Porte ? as she assured his Eminence that 
 she had availed herself of the services of the said 
 La Porte to send friendly letters to Madame de 
 Chevreuse only, and protested on her honour 
 that she had never sent a line into Flanders nor 
 into Spain, by the aid of the said La Porte or by 
 that of any other person or medium whatever." 29 
 Richelieu, who, owing to the services of Seguier 
 and other persons who readily came forward 
 with their evidence now that an accusation was 
 made, knew as well as the Queen herself the ex- 
 tent of her misdemeanours, made no reply to a 
 statement so at variance with the truth. The 
 silence of the minister increased the anguish and 
 suspense of the Queen. " Silence," she observed, 
 " was more cruel in this extremity than the most 
 bitter reproaches." Anne knew not the extent of 
 her peril ; she was ignorant of the quarter from 
 whence the blow proceeded, whether discovery 
 of her secret correspondences in France had only 
 been made, or whether her danger proceeded 
 from letters and reports forwarded by the Ambas- 
 sadors at Madrid and Brussels. La Porte, however, 
 knew enough, as she was aware, to authorise her 
 arrest, and she had reason to doubt whether his 
 fidelity and fortitude would stand the terrible 
 ordeal of the torture-chamber of the Bastille. In
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 
 
 her agony Anne knew not to whom to turn for 
 counsel ; she desired to see Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort, and she even expressed a wish to 
 confer with the Duchess d'Aiguillon but no per- 
 son was permitted access to her presence. By 
 some one of the numerous expedients in which 
 Anne was an adept, she contrived to communicate 
 by letter with the Due de la Rochefoucauld and 
 with M. de Puisieux, an ex-secretary of state 
 whom Richelieu had exiled, to implore their 
 counsel. M. de la Rochefoucauld relates in his 
 Memoirs that the Queen proposed to him, in order 
 to save her from perpetual imprisonment for life 
 in the fortress of Havre, which she felt certain was 
 a doom impending over her, that he should carry 
 her off from Chantilly and convey her to the pro- 
 tection of her brother at Brussels. 30 Meantime, 
 her devoted friend, Marie de Hautefort, was 
 moving heaven and earth to devise a method of 
 communicating with La Porte, to satisfy the 
 Queen's anxious solicitude to secure his silence, 
 and to inform him of the peril of his royal mis- 
 tress which might be consummated by a single 
 imprudent admission. " Consternation is im- 
 printed on the face of the Queen," writes Grotius, 
 the Swedish Ambassador, to the Chancellor Oxen- 
 stiern, " and her health visibly suffers. 31 The rare 
 visits which she now receives from the ladies of the 
 court announce some serious complication ; per- 
 haps, at the suggestion of officious ecclesiastics, 
 the Queen, it may be proved, has been guilty of 
 some crime, hoping to benefit the Roman Catholic
 
 364 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 faith which is deemed endangered by the alliance 
 of France with so-called heretics." 
 
 Several letters addressed to Anne of Austria had 
 fallen into the Cardinal's hands during the brief 
 interval after La Forte's arrest and his own arrival 
 at Chantilly. He had also ascertained that within 
 the last eight months La Porte had conveyed five 
 little packets of writing to Auger at the English 
 embassy, sent by the Queen ; and that letters had 
 frequently, sometimes thrice a week, been taken 
 therefrom and delivered by La Porte himself into 
 the Queen's hands. La Hautefort, about the 12th 
 of August, nine days after the arrest of La Porte, 
 sent word to the Queen through Mademoiselle 
 Chemerault whom Anne found herself compelled 
 to trust, that it was reported in Paris " that La 
 Porte, under the influence of torture, had made 
 important confessions ; and as it would be highly 
 expedient to gain some intelligences within the 
 Bastille, she had obtained a list of the personages 
 confined in the fortress, which she had sent for 
 her Majesty's inspection." Anne replied, " that 
 she was too afflicted and troubled in her mind ; 
 that she could think of nothing but her griefs ; 
 and that as she felt unequal to any mental exer- 
 tion, she confided implicitly in the affection and 
 ability of Madame de Hautefort." 32 
 
 On the Feast of the Assumption Anne attended 
 mass and received the Holy Eucharist in the 
 chapel at Chantilly. Driven frantic by her terror 
 and suspense, as it must charitably be supposed, 
 Anne, while she knelt before the altar, sent for
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 365 
 
 Le Gras, her secretary, and for Caussin, the King's 
 confessor ; and with the Sacred Elements on her 
 lips, she laid her hand on the altar and took oath 
 that she had never held treasonable correspon- 
 dence with any foreign potentate ; adding " that 
 she required and charged them both to repair to 
 the presence of King Louis and report what they 
 had seen and heard." 83 This terrible act of perjury 
 invalidates for ever any statement put forth by 
 Anne of Austria, and gives probability to all sub- 
 sequent charges preferred by her enemies, show- 
 ing that there was no act, however flagrant, from 
 which the Queen shrank in order to deliver herself 
 from peril and disgrace. " La reine estfausse ; elle 
 est perfide et ingrate" was a plaint which often 
 escaped Louis XIII. with more justice, perhaps, 
 than many have been inclined to believe, and 
 explains the neglect in which Louis suffered his 
 consort to exist, though she wore the crown- 
 matrimonial of France, and was the eldest sister 
 of the most puissant monarch in Christendom. 
 
 The extreme perturbation of Anne's mind is not 
 accounted for by subsequent revelations, much 
 as they damaged her character as a wife and a 
 Queen ; it seems therefore almost certain that the 
 omnipotent minister, having made his terms with 
 the Queen, suffered enough to transpire to justify 
 in the sight of the King and his subjects the com- 
 motion he had made, while suppressing evidence 
 which must have rendered her crime unpardon- 
 able in the opinion of King Louis and the nation. 
 
 On the 16th day of August, Le Gras, with much
 
 366 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 circumlocution informed the Queen " that more 
 was known by M. le Cardinal than she suspected ; 
 that a warrant was out for the arrest of the abbess 
 of Le Val de Grace, and for her transfer as a 
 prisoner to the castle of Bussiere ; that Madame 
 de Chevreuse was to be conveyed to the fortress 
 of Loches ; while La Porte had suffered one severe 
 interrogatory in the Bastille before MM. de Laffe- 
 mas and La Poterie." The Queen after an inter- 
 val of reflection and with all the appearance of 
 desperate resolution, sent Le Gras to request that 
 the Cardinal de Richelieu would visit her early 
 on the morrow, as she had revelations to make. 
 Aware of what must be the result of the search 
 about to be instituted in her apartments at the 
 Val de Grace, Anne dreaded the wrath and fury 
 of Louis XIII. rather than the indignation of 
 Richelieu, over whom she had already witnessed 
 the power of her charms. The exultation of the 
 Cardinal was doubtless great ; the Queen had 
 been brought to seek his assistance and one link 
 in the chain of her subjugation had been wrought. 
 On the morrow, therefore, August 17th, 1637, 
 Richelieu, after first seeking an audience of the 
 King to ask his permission to hold interview with 
 her Majesty, entered Anne's presence. His Emi- 
 nence was attended by the two secretaries of state, 
 Chavigny and de Noyers, by his own private secre- 
 tary and by two gentlemen of his household. 
 Anne was sitting under her canopy of state, look- 
 ing ill, depressed, her eyes swollen with weeping. 
 Hearing that the Queen was unattended by any
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA . 367 
 
 of her women, the Cardinal caused Madame de 
 Senece to be summoned, who took her place be- 
 hind the Queen's fauteuil. Anne languidly ex- 
 tended her hand to Richelieu, who, kneeling, 
 pressed it to his lips. A few compliments were 
 interchanged ; the Queen then said in a hurried 
 voice " that she had sent for M. le Cardinal to 
 avow to him that she had written to M. le Cardinal 
 of Spain, her brother ; and that her letter had 
 been despatched par des voles secrets to Brussels ; 
 the letter, nevertheless, contained expressions only 
 of sisterly regard, with inquiries after the health 
 of his Royal Highness, with other demands of like 
 innocent import." 34 When the Queen ceased 
 Richelieu sternly replied, " Madame, to my certain 
 knowledge other subjects have been discussed in 
 your said letters. If you desire my interposition 
 it is necessary that you should make frank confes- 
 sion, as I have assurance from the King your 
 august consort that he will pardon the said devia- 
 tions of which he has cognisance ; in proof of 
 which I have assembled the personages present to 
 witness my declaration. If you have nothing more 
 to confide to my ear I will repair to his Majesty 
 and take his royal commands on the steps which 
 his duty to his realm may require." Menace 
 lurked in the bland words of his Eminence, " the 
 King promised oblivion for those misdemeanours 
 of which he was cognisant." What revelations lay 
 hidden in the caskets of the Val de Grace or in the 
 breast of the prisoner La Porte ? And what did the 
 threat signify, " that Richelieu would take the
 
 368 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 royal commands on the measures necessary for the 
 welfare of the realm " ? With a shuddering sob 
 Anne then requested Madame de Senece, the 
 secretaries of state and others, to retire and leave 
 her alone with Monsieur le Cardinal. 
 
 The Queen then confessed all to Richelieu, 
 showing, according to his statement, marvellous 
 confusion at the deed of perjury which she had 
 committed on the Feast of the Assumption. 
 
 Anne admitted : 1st. That the letters seized on 
 the person of M. Senelle, and addressed to her by 
 Madame de Fargis during the years 1631-1632, 
 were genuine and not forged missives, as she had 
 at the time pertinaciously insisted. 2ndly. That 
 she had written to the Cardinal Infant, to Mirabel, 
 to Gerbier, the English resident at Brussels, and 
 had received frequent replies from these person- 
 ages. 3rdly. That her letters were written in her 
 private closet, then given to La Porte, who trans- 
 ferred them to M. Auger, secretary to the English 
 ambassage, who forwarded them to Brussels. 
 4thly. That in these letters she had testified dis- 
 content at her position, and that she had written 
 to Mirabel letters, and received in return answers, 
 which would be very displeasing to the King her 
 lord. 5thly. That she had given notice of the 
 journey into Spain of the monk Bachelier, and 
 had warned them to open their eyes and detect 
 the private designs for which he had been sent. 
 6thly. That she had disclosed to the Marquis de 
 Mirabel that a reconciliation with M. de Lorraine 
 was talked about in France, and had warned
 
 1637J ANNE OF AUSTRIA 369 
 
 them (the Spaniards) to be on their guard. 7thly. 
 That she had demonstrated much annoyance when 
 she heard it spoken of as probable that the 
 English were about to reconcile themselves with 
 France instead of persevering in their alliance 
 with Spain. Sthly. That the letter found upon 
 La Porte was to have been conveyed to Madame 
 de Chevreuse by the Sieur de la Thibaudiere, and 
 that in the said letter she mentioned the project 
 of a secret visit which the duchess contemplated 
 paying to her. " Whilst her Majesty was making 
 this confession, her condescension was such," 
 writes Richelieu, " that she several times ex- 
 claimed, ' Quelle bonte faut-il que vous ayez, M. le 
 Cardinal ! ' and protesting that she should feel 
 everlasting obligation towards the person who 
 would extricate her from her dilemma, she did me 
 the honour to say, c Give me your hand, M. le 
 Cardinal ! ' and presented her own as the pledge 
 of the fidelity with which she intended to adhere 
 to her promises. However, out of respect, I with- 
 drew further from her Majesty while she made 
 the said protestations." 35 
 
 Such was the substance of the confession made 
 by the Queen and suffered to transpire by Riche- 
 lieu ; it was first reserved for the ear of the King 
 alone but eventually got wind at court. No one 
 believed that the whole truth had been disclosed ; 
 and what was mere conjecture in France took the 
 form of positive assertion abroad, in those coun- 
 tries especially whose secret archives might have 
 betrayed the facts. What passed besides at this 
 
 2A
 
 870 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 interview of two hours between Richelieu and 
 Anne of Austria and on what terms his forbear- 
 ance and protection were purchased can never 
 now be disclosed. That Richelieu informed the 
 Queen that on the following day the convent of 
 Val de Grace was to be searched and its abbess 
 arrested appears more than probable by the 
 strange fact which took all the ministers by sur- 
 prise excepting Richelieu, and also the most 
 ardent of Anne's adherents, that not a single 
 document of any description not even a scrap of 
 writing of later date than the year 1630 was dis- 
 covered in her Majesty's apartments or in any 
 other chamber of the convent. The deposit of her 
 papers in her convent stronghold was a fact con- 
 stantly admitted by the Queen to her intimates. 
 All her private correspondence was addressed 
 from thence, and in the subsequent examinations 
 it was admitted when the confession could do no 
 harm by the proofs being destroyed that all the 
 Queen's recent private letters had been there re- 
 ceived, read and the answers thereto despatched 
 from the nunnery ; also that the ciphers for her 
 foreign correspondence were, until recently, left 
 in a coffer standing in her oratory. The fact 
 might have excited less surprise if it had been 
 remembered that the abbess, Louise de Milly, was 
 a cousin of the famous Capuchin Joseph, Riche- 
 lieu's second self his constant guest and private 
 counsellor. A hint to Le P. Joseph, after Riche- 
 lieu's interview with Anne of Austria, might 
 authorise the Capuchin to communicate with the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 371 
 
 abbess, so that during the night of the 18th of 
 August she might have committed to the flames 
 all documents that compromised her royal mis- 
 tress ; or what is most probable, she may by 
 command of the Queen have delivered the papers 
 to the Capuchin. This supposition would corrobo- 
 rate the subsequent evidence of a poor nun of the 
 convent, that one night she had seen the abbess 
 convey with her own hands to the chapel two 
 coffers adorned with the initials of her Majesty. 
 Anne afterwards explained, on the demand of 
 the Chancellor, that these coffers contained only a 
 reliquary and a few jewels. So strange did the 
 non-appearance of these papers appear that all 
 kinds of suppositions were invented to account 
 for their disappearance. The author of the Vie du 
 Pere Joseph asserts that the Queen was supposed 
 to have received friendly warning from the Chan- 
 cellor Seguier, and had contrived by some method 
 to withdraw her most dangerous papers from the 
 convent, which she desired the abbess to deliver 
 to Madame de Sourdis. 36 This statement is most 
 improbable ; in the first place the name of 
 Madame de Sourdis never occurs in the history of 
 the Queen's private life at this period, secondly 
 the police of the Cardinal de Richelieu was too 
 vigilant to permit of the surreptitious withdrawal 
 of important papers from a nunnery under its 
 especial surveillance. Besides, the Queen evidently 
 knew not of the intended search at the Val de 
 Grace until after her interview with the Cardinal. 
 So carefully was the secret of this visit preserved
 
 372 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 that the Archbishop of Paris, who accompanied 
 Seguier to the convent, knew nothing of the 
 measures to be pursued until he found himself 
 vis-a-vis to the Chancellor in his coach and on his 
 way thither. Seguier, in the proces verbal of his 
 visit, addressed to Richelieu, plainly states his 
 opinion that some friend of the Queen had been 
 beforehand and had effectually removed all traces 
 of her guilt. " It is our unanimous opinion," writes 
 Seguier, " that some one has here given important 
 notice of events not that the Archbishop is impli- 
 cated, because Monseigneur was not himself cog- 
 nisant of any such intended visit but we think it is 
 probable that the Queen, suspecting some inquiry 
 might be made, has so directed the reverend Mother 
 that no important papers should be found." This 
 is not the language of a person who had been him- 
 self the author of the important notice of events, 
 which he deprecates as having partially defeated 
 the ends of justice. 37 
 
 To return to the interview between Richelieu 
 and Queen Anne at Chantilly when the Cardinal 
 took leave Anne remained alone, apparently con- 
 vulsed with sorrow. His Eminence then sought 
 the presence of the King, who waited with extreme 
 impatience to hear the result of the interview. 
 Louis pursued the affair with extraordinary ar- 
 dour ; he insisted upon perusing every deposition 
 made, the reports of the Chancellor and other 
 officers of the Crown were submitted to his inspec- 
 tion, and it was evident that his Majesty ex- 
 pected and probably wished to obtain revelations
 
 1637J ANNE OF AUSTRIA 378 
 
 of the last importance. The Cardinal repeated 
 the admissions made by Anne, but remarked 
 that the Queen's fault, though doubtless grave, 
 was, he trusted, not unpardonable. He ventured 
 therefore to ask the royal clemency on her behalf. 
 Louis sullenly demanded to peruse the confession 
 in the Queen's own handwriting before he ac- 
 corded any grace whatever. Le Gras 38 was then 
 summoned and sent to the Queen with this hu- 
 miliating order. Very bitter must have been 
 Anne's tears while she accomplished this unwel- 
 come and degrading task. The document laid 
 before the King, and amended by the pen of 
 Richelieu, whom Anne consulted, is as follows : 
 
 " UPON the assurance given us by our very dear 
 and beloved cousin, the Cardinal Due de Riche- 
 lieu, who on our prayer came to confer with us, 
 that the King, our very revered lord and spouse, 
 had commanded him to inform us that like as he 
 had aforetimes forgiven deeds committed by us 
 displeasing and disagreeable to his Majesty 
 especially in the affair of and concerning La Dame 
 de Fargis during the years 1631, 1632 he was 
 disposed again to grant us the same grace, on con- 
 dition that we confess and declare frankly and 
 truly all the secret intelligences which we have 
 holden unknown to his Majesty both within and 
 without the kingdom, the persons whom we have 
 employed, and the chief events which we have 
 imparted, or those which in a like manner have 
 been transmitted to us :
 
 374 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 " We Anne, by the grace of God, Queen of 
 France and Navarre, avow and admit that we 
 have written several times to M. le Cardinal 
 Infant our brother, to the Marquis de Mirabel, to 
 Gerbier, the English resident in Flanders, and 
 that we have frequently received letters from the 
 said personages. 
 
 44 That these letters were written in our closet, 
 La Porte our porte-manteau in ordinary, being 
 only in our confidence ; we gave our letters to 
 the said La Porte, who carried them to Auger, 
 secretary of the English embassy, who forwarded 
 them for us to Gerbier. 
 
 " That amongst other subjects, we sometimes 
 testified our discontent and resentment at our 
 domestic position, and we acknowledge to have 
 written and received letters from the Marquis de 
 Mirabel, conceived in terms likely to be greatly 
 offensive to the King. 
 
 " We acknowledge to have given notice of the 
 journey into Spain of a monk of the order of 
 Minimes, and we advised that a strict watch 
 should be kept over his actions. 
 
 " We also warned the Marquis de Mirabel that 
 the reconciliation of the Duke of Lorraine with the 
 King was spoken of, and that he had better pro- 
 vide in time against such a vexatious event. 
 
 " We moreover own to having testified and ex- 
 pressed great annoyance when it was supposed 
 that the English were about to be reconciled with 
 France instead of remaining the allies of Spain. 
 
 " That the letter taken from La Porte was to
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 375 
 
 have been delivered to a certain Sieur de la Thi- 
 baudiere, and that the letter made mention of a 
 journey projected by Madame de Chevreuse who 
 wished to pay us a clandestine visit. 
 
 " We freely and candidly confess to all the 
 above-mentioned facts and voluntarily declare 
 them to be true. We promise never more to be 
 guilty of like faults, and we engage to live with 
 the King, our very honoured lord and husband, 
 as beseems a person who holds no other interest 
 but the welfare of his royal person and realm. In 
 witness of which we sign this present with our own 
 hand and cause it to be countersigned by our 
 private counsellor and secretary and keeper of 
 our privy seal. 
 
 " Done at Chantilly, this 17th day of August, 
 1637. 
 
 (Signed) " ANNE. 
 " LE GRAS." 39 
 
 This document Anne's secretary conveyed to 
 Richelieu, who presented it to King Louis, assur- 
 ing his Majesty that he believed the Queen had 
 candidly confessed the truth, as La Porte had 
 undergone already two rigid interrogatories and 
 had revealed nothing. He therefore advised him 
 to grant the Queen pardon for the misdeeds of 
 which she had made written confession. Louis 
 consented, which fact demonstrates the extra- 
 ordinary influence exercised over the King's mind 
 by his minister as he was induced so to do with- 
 out waiting for the report of the search at the Val
 
 376 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 de Grace, or for the result of the examination of 
 the abbess, Louise de Milly. That the King con- 
 sidered his pardon as a mere form, perhaps due to 
 the dignity of the Queen-consort, is evident, as 
 after this document was signed Louis commanded 
 the investigation into Anne's conduct and her 
 correspondence to be pursued with increased 
 rigour. The additional revelations which came to 
 the King's knowledge were severely punished by 
 him without regard to this absolution, and there 
 is little doubt that if the various proces verbaux 
 had not been toned down or suppressed by the 
 Cardinal, and the Queen's letters in the Val de 
 Grace totally abstracted, that Louis would have 
 proceeded with rigour to punish Anne's infidelity. 
 The form of the King's letter of pardon ran thus : 
 
 " AFTER having perused the frank confession 
 which the Queen our dear spouse has made of all 
 that has lately displeased us in her conduct, and 
 on the assurance which she gives us that she will 
 for the future conduct herself as her duty to us 
 and to our realm commands we declare, that we 
 pardon and obliterate from our mind the said 
 past events and promise in accordance to live 
 with her as a good king and husband should do. 
 In witness of which we sign the present, and 
 cause it to be countersigned by one of our privy 
 counsellors and secretaries of state. Done at 
 Chantilly, this 17th day of August, 1637. 
 
 (Signed) " Louis. 
 
 " BOUTHILLIER." 40
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 377 
 
 Louis, accompanied by the Cardinal, then pro- 
 ceeded to the Queen's apartment. Anne rose 
 and threw herself at the King's feet, craving his 
 pardon. Louis coldly laid before her Majesty her 
 confession, with his pardon appended thereto, 
 saying : " All this, Madame, that you have here 
 confessed would not, as you are aware, be par- 
 doned in Spain ; nevertheless I am willing to 
 forgive all that you have so far avowed. It is my 
 pleasure, however, that for the future you show 
 to Madame de Senece and cause her to peruse any 
 future letters you send abroad ! " " Sire," replied 
 the Queen, " I never can extinguish the love 
 which I bear towards my brothers, nevertheless, 
 for the future I will learn so to demonstrate my 
 affection as to commit no infidelity or trans- 
 gression against your realm ! " 41 
 
 Seguier, meantime, accompanied by the Arch- 
 bishop of Paris, by the two secretaries of state, 
 Chavigny and De Noyers and by the M. de la 
 Potherye, suddenly appeared before the gates of 
 the Val de Grace and demanded admission de par 
 le Roy. A guard of soldiers surrounded the 
 convent, and archers penetrated even into the 
 interior of the house. Seguier assembled the com- 
 munity in the refectory, where the Archbishop 
 opened the proceedings by pronouncing a solemn 
 excommunication against the abbess or any 
 member of the sisterhood who should equivocate, 
 conceal or suppress the truth relative to the 
 grievous scandal which had caused the visit of M. 
 le Chancelier. The abbess was then arrested and
 
 378 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 conveyed a prisoner to her cell by seven soldiers 
 of the guard. The prioress likewise suffered the 
 same indignity, but was ordered by Seguier to 
 point out the chests, coffers and closets where 
 papers were stored, and to attend him during his 
 search. The nuns remained in the refectory, at 
 the door of which soldiers were stationed. Seguier 
 first demanded to be led to the Queen's apart- 
 ments. A rigid examination then took place 
 every closet, desk, drawer and chest was rifled. 
 In a small recess to the right of the altar a number 
 of letters were seized, but they proved to be 
 papers of no consequence in the present inquiry, 
 but were epistles received in the year 1630 by her 
 Majesty, chiefly from Madame de Chevreuse. A 
 small leather coffer was found locked, which 
 upon being eagerly opened contained only gloves 
 de peau (TAngleterre, with a little friendly note 
 from Queen Henrietta Maria. In the coffer with- 
 in which so many discoveries were expected, and 
 where the Queen's clandestine correspondence was 
 placed by the abbess, nothing was found but 
 scourges and " disciplines " of various degrees 
 of severity. The chapel, the oratory and the 
 private cell of the abbess were next searched, but 
 nothing was discovered. The abbess was then 
 led into the awful presence of Seguier to suffer the 
 ordeal of a first interrogatory, and to hear the 
 reading of the decree of her banishment and 
 probable deposition from her abbatial dignity. 
 The narrative is thus vividly given by Seguier 
 himself in a despatch to his chief, Richelieu :
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 379 
 
 " The nuns of the Val de Grace appeared to be in 
 great consternation at the orders which they re- 
 ceived. The mother abbess seemed amazed. 
 We judged, nevertheless, that some one had given 
 them notice of our intended visitation not of the 
 visit of the Archbishop, as Monseigneur was not 
 himself cognisant of such a visit but it is our 
 opinion that the Queen, suspecting something, 
 warned the abbess, who took care that we should 
 find no papers. The letters which we brought 
 away are all written in the year 1630. Nothing 
 here shows that the Queen has since corresponded. 
 Nothing can have been abstracted since we took 
 possession of the convent ; a guard was placed 
 over the Queen's apartments whilst we examined 
 the cell of the abbess. The said superior wished 
 to appear indisposed, she said that she was 
 feverish and ill. The doctor, however, whose 
 advice we took, stated that she had no fever be- 
 yond that excited by the events of the day. This 
 said abbess is very wily ; she is a native born of 
 Franche Comte. After the oaths which we ad- 
 ministered she must be very subtle and advised 
 if she has not told the truth. The Archbishop 
 solemnly excommunicated her unless she con- 
 fessed all, and declared her incapable of being 
 absolved therefrom ; she then took oath on the 
 Holy Eucharist which is the most stringent 
 oath that we could administer. She testifies the 
 strongest affection for the Queen and denies 
 everything. She says that her Majesty has been 
 wickedly accused of many false things, but she is
 
 380 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 a just and virtuous princess. When she was 
 leaving the convent she said that God would 
 avenge her for the cruelty and injustice under 
 which she suffered, and that wrong could not 
 last for ever. Her community was reluctant to 
 permit her to leave : there was, however, no 
 resistance, but perfect obedience to the mandate 
 of the King so much so, that such submission is 
 rarely met with in other convents. All the nuns 
 of the community offered to attend her." " 
 
 The unfortunate abbess was placed in a coach 
 surrounded by a guard, and conveyed to the 
 Castle of Bussiere ; there she was subjected to 
 rigorous imprisonment, being debarred for many 
 weeks from taking the air and from communica- 
 tion with her relatives. 
 
 Richelieu had prescribed the points on which 
 the examination at the Val de Grace was to turn, 
 which had been signified in writing by De Noyers. 
 Anne's confession was cleverly made the basis of 
 all future inquiry, and, as it seems, the aim of the 
 examinations which ensued was rather to confirm 
 her assertions for the satisfaction of the King 
 than to elicit further discovery. Her Majesty, 
 however, in her confession of the 17th of August, 
 had made no mention of the abbess of the Val de 
 Grace. On the very morning therefore of the 
 domiciliary visit to the convent, Richelieu hastily 
 sought an interview with the Queen and ex- 
 tracted from her further admissions, which Anne 
 gave thus, under her own sign-manual, and sent 
 by Le Gras to the minister :
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 381 
 
 " The Queen has commanded me further to 
 inform Monseigneur 1'Eminentissime, Cardinal 
 Due de Richelieu, as follows : 
 
 " That she confesses to have given a cipher to 
 La Porte, to use in his correspondence with the 
 Marquis de Mirabel, in order that he might write 
 to the said Marquis the items mentioned in her 
 declaration of the 17th day of this month, and 
 that the said La Porte returned to her said 
 Majesty the cipher, which the Queen burnt. 
 
 " That her Majesty knows that the Duke de 
 Lorraine sent an envoy to Madame de Chevreuse, 
 but she is not aware whether it was to treat con- 
 cerning public or private affairs her Majesty 
 not wishing or intending to accuse Madame de 
 Chevreuse in this matter, but she leaves it to La 
 Porte to confess what he may know of the affair. 
 
 "It is true that Madame de Chevreuse visited 
 her Majesty twice in the Val de Grace during her 
 second exile to Dampierre ; she also owns to have 
 received letters from the said Dame de Chevreuse 
 at the said Val de Grace. Moreover, quite recently, 
 a man was sent to convey news of Madame de 
 Chevreuse to the Queen when at the Val de 
 Grace. 
 
 " That her Majesty wrote many times from the 
 Val de Grace to Madame de Chevreuse before the 
 outbreak of the war. 
 
 ' That the Chevalier de Montagu visited her 
 Majesty once at the Val de Grace, where also 
 she received several letters from the said lord, 
 sent through Auger ; the said letters being only
 
 382 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 complimentary effusions. Letters also were sent 
 by Montagu for Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 " That when the Queen was at Lyons and 
 wrote to the abbess of Val de Grace to forward 
 letters in the words, ' Give these to your relative,' 
 her Majesty thereby meant to say, ' Send these 
 letters to Madame de Chevreuse.' ' 
 
 The King's assertion to La Hautefort, " that 
 the Queen was a traitor to her friends," seems 
 rather confirmed by Anne's gratuitous statements 
 relative to her devoted friend the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse. From these last admissions Riche- 
 lieu framed his instructions to his examiners at 
 Val de Grace, and for the personages whom he 
 was about to despatch to interrogate Madame 
 de Chevreuse. The Cardinal doubtless wished 
 to have all the high personages concerned at his 
 mercy, though perhaps he might not choose to 
 submit them all to that of King Louis. 
 
 " INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN UNDER THE HAND OF M. 
 DE NOYERS, FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE 
 ABBESS OF LE VAL DE GRACE. 44 
 
 " The Queen has confessed that when she 
 directed the abbess thus ' Donnez cette lettre a 
 votre parente,' that she meant to indicate the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse. 
 
 " That she often wrote from the Val de Grace 
 to persons in Spain when the Marquis de Mirabel 
 was in Paris. 
 
 " That she has confided to the care of the 
 abbess two reliquaries and some jewels.
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 383 
 
 " These three confessions cannot comprehend 
 all, therefore it will be necessary to put the 
 following queries to the abbess Louise de Milly : 
 
 " Inquire of the said abbess if the Queen never 
 wrote in her convent ? Ask her also whether the 
 Queen wrote during the residence of the Marquis 
 de Mirabel in Paris ? and how often and to whom ? 
 And what the direction meant on one of the letters 
 c Donnez cette lettre a votre parente ' ? 
 
 " If the said abbess persists in saying that she 
 was to give the letter to one of her own relatives 
 and not to Madame de Chevreuse, a fresh oath is 
 to be administered to her and she is to be again 
 exhorted to speak the truth. If she continues to 
 persist in her assertion it is to be represented to 
 her how miserable and degraded is her perjured 
 state, seeing that the Queen has confessed quite 
 the contrary to the King, allowing that while 
 the Marquis de Mirabel was here she often wrote 
 letters from the Val de Grace addressed to per- 
 sonages in Spain and Flanders, and confessing 
 that the words, 4 Donnez cette lettre a votre parente? 
 were meant to designate Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 " You will then take notice whether the said 
 abbess contradicts her Majesty's assertion or 
 confirms it. 
 
 " She is then to be asked whether the Queen 
 has confided to her care any papers, packets, 
 ciphers or other things ? If she denies that such 
 is the fact another oath is to be administered, 
 then if she still persists in her assertion she is to 
 be told that the Queen admits to have confided to
 
 384 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 her care a large and a small reliquary and 
 jewels." 
 
 Furnished with these instructions commis- 
 sioners were sent down to Bussiere to interrogate 
 the abbess for the second time, August 28th. 
 She then confessed that the Queen had often 
 written letters in her convent though she knew not 
 to whom they were addressed, that Madame de 
 Chevreuse went under the sobriquet of sa parente, 
 that she knew nothing of the Queen's employ- 
 ment when at the convent, but she received her 
 Majesty at the portal of the convent, led her through 
 the grille and to the door of her private parlour, 
 that she had no acquaintance with La Porte, 
 that she had received the two reliquaries in trust 
 for the Queen, both of which might be found at 
 the convent also the jewels, which Madame de 
 la Flotte could identify, that she had spoken the 
 truth, that the Queen had often written from the 
 Val de Grace but had not informed the abbess of 
 the contents of her letters, and that all letters 
 sent from the convent had been asked for in the 
 name of the Duchess de Chevreuse. 46 
 
 The interrogatories put to La Porte in the 
 Bastille were of much the same character, and 
 referred rather to the Queen's clandestine corre- 
 spondence seven years back than to the present 
 charges against her. The devotion manifested 
 by La Porte was heroic, and ought to have been 
 put forth in a better cause. He avowed that he 
 had carried letters to and from the Val de Grace
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 385 
 
 to Madame de Chevreuse, but vehemently 
 denied that the Queen had foreign correspond- 
 ents, or that he had holden intercourse in her 
 behalf with the foes of France. His cool self- 
 possession never varied. Nothing could be ex- 
 tracted damaging to the reputation of the Queen 
 or of Madame de Chevreuse, except that in 
 defiance of the royal prohibition they corre- 
 sponded and sometimes used numerals as a cipher. 
 His first interrogatory occurred on the 13th of 
 August. All that was obtained from La Porte in 
 the way of avowal was that the figure 2 in the 
 letter found in his pocket meant the Queen, the 
 number 3, M. le Cardinal, 19, Madame de Chev- 
 reuse, 15, M. de Montbazon, &c. His second 
 examination took place on the 14th of August, 
 and again La Porte obstinately denied that the 
 Queen had any foreign correspondents as far as he 
 knew, all that he could testify to were letters 
 of the year 1630 addressed to Madame de Chev- 
 reuse, and the two letters taken from him which 
 were intended for the same noble lady. By the 
 command of the King, whose suspicions were 
 excited by the discrepancy between La Porte's 
 statements and the Queen's confession, Anne's 
 apartments in the Louvre were examined. 
 Seguier was also commanded to search the hotel 
 de Chevreuse, and to bring every paper found 
 therein or in the Louvre direct to the King. The 
 result was the capture of a few more letters of 
 ancient date, both in the handwriting of the 
 Queen and of the Duchess, in which the Cardinal
 
 386 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 was very hardly treated by both. As it was 
 evident that Anne had not avowed all her deal- 
 ings with the foes of France, when through the 
 Cardinal she obtained pardon, but on the contrary 
 had afterwards made fresh revelations, Louis re- 
 solved that she should undergo a fresh examina- 
 tion before the Chancellor Pierre de Seguier, the 
 point especially to be elicited being what had 
 become of the correspondence known to have been 
 harboured at the Val de Grace ? This ordeal 
 Anne was compelled to submit to on the 22nd of 
 August, but there exists no proces-verbal of its 
 course. M. Cousin, in his admirable life of Ma- 
 dame de Chevreuse, doubts that the Queen was 
 ever subjected to this indignity at all, but 
 Madame de Motteville and the famous Made- 
 moiselle de Montpensier, Siri and others assert 
 in their Memoirs that the examination did in 
 reality occur. Madame de Motteville, indeed, 
 states the fact on the authority of Anne of 
 Austria, in whose service she remained to the end 
 of the Queen's life. It is nevertheless proved by 
 modern research that Anne was never subjected 
 to the outrage of having her pockets, the bosom 
 of her dress and her farthingale searched like a 
 common felon by the Chancellor, as has been 
 universally asserted in all narratives of the event 8 
 of this period. The scene of the Queen's humilia- 
 tion was said to have been her apartment in the 
 Val de Grace, but Anne was at Chantilly during 
 the whole of these proceedings, while the true 
 revelation of what occurred on the visit of Seguier
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 387 
 
 to the convent is still on record under his own 
 hand and seal in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. 
 " It was at Chantilly," relates Madame de Motte- 
 ville, " that this grand affair occurred, the very 
 remembrance of which in after days inspired the 
 Queen with horror. It was supposed that the 
 Cardinal wished to reduce her to extremity by his 
 measures that he might send her back to Spain." 
 Anne meanwhile continued at Chantilly in 
 agonies of suspense. Distrusting the Cardinal, 
 and dreading lest the torture would wring from 
 her faithful La Porte admissions which Richelieu 
 might find it impossible to conceal from the King, 
 she was almost distracted with apprehension. It 
 was besides imperative that La Porte should con- 
 firm her confessions, as much for the satisfaction of 
 the King as for his own escape from cruel torture, 
 which would certainly be mercilessly applied by 
 Laffemas until he had owned all she had declared 
 that he knew. An attempt to communicate with 
 La Porte in order to inform him what she had 
 avowed became therefore highly important for 
 Anne's safety. She had written, after her inter- 
 view with Seguier, to her faithful Marie de Haute- 
 fort detailing the course of events, the admissions 
 she had made, and imploring her friend, by every 
 pathetic entreaty, to devise some means of com- 
 municating with La Porte in the Bastille and 
 with Madame de Chevreuse at Tours. Anne's 
 appeal was answered by self-sacrificing devotion 
 on the part of Mademoiselle de Hautefort, indeed 
 there are on record few more touching instances of
 
 888 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 courageous affection. Within the Bastille the 
 Chevalier de Jars still lingered, his sentence of 
 death, as has been before related, having been 
 commuted on the scaffold to imprisonment for 
 life in that fortress. It occurred, therefore, to 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort that M. de Jars, who 
 had already twice paid the penalty of a terrible 
 punishment for his attachment to the fortunes of 
 the Queen, might be again induced to risk his 
 life a third time in her cause. 46 With M. de Jars, 
 however, Mademoiselle de Hautefort had no 
 acquaintance ; she therefore applied to Madame de 
 Villarceaux, a niece of the late lord-keeper, who 
 was intimately acquainted with the poor prisoner, 
 and was at stated intervals permitted to visit him 
 in the Bastille. Madame de Villarceaux pitied the 
 Queen, and agreed to ask M. de Jars whether he 
 could assist her in this extremity. Suffering had 
 made the Chevalier cautious, and de Jars declined 
 to compromise the miserable position which he 
 owed to the King's clemency, 47 adding that in 
 itself the thing was impossible, as La Porte was 
 incarcerated in a deep dungeon and was never 
 suffered to see the light of day except when 
 brought before his judges for examination. 
 
 Madame de Villarceaux communicated her 
 failure to la Hautefort. The latter, upon con- 
 sideration, resolved to incur the risk of writing a 
 letter to de Jars which Madame de Villarceaux 
 promised to carry in person. The interview be- 
 tween M. de Jars and his friend took place in an 
 inner court of the prison, where vigilant eyes could
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 389 
 
 watch the actions of the imprisoned persons thus 
 favoured. De Jars, nevertheless, was able to read 
 the letter, but again refused to tamper in any 
 new intrigue. In despair at her repeated failures, 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort resolved to accompany 
 Madame de Villarceaux in disguise, see M. de Jars 
 and lay upon him the peremptory commands of 
 the Queen that he should again serve her. Made- 
 moiselle de Hautefort, therefore, joined her friend 
 early one morning in the disguise of a soubrette ; 
 over this costume she threw a large, coarse cloak, 
 having a wide hood in which she concealed her 
 face. It was an unusual privilege, that of admit- 
 ting female visitors to see a prisoner in the Bastille 
 upon three consecutive days, under the iron rule 
 of the then captain of the Bastille, who was the 
 elder brother of the Capuchin Joseph, and still 
 more so to admit the same persons and to leave 
 them to discourse freely. It is just possible, there- 
 fore, that Richelieu might have been an unsus- 
 pected confederate in Mademoiselle de Hautefort's 
 project. There exists, however, no evidence to 
 confirm the supposition, except the extreme im- 
 probability that Mademoiselle de Hautefort and 
 her friend were able to outwit the minister and 
 his Argus-eyed jailers at the Bastille in the manner 
 which they subsequently achieved. The pair on 
 the morning of the 26th of August, therefore, drove 
 to the Bastille and on demand were admitted 
 into the little court. The hour was so early that 
 the Chevalier had not yet quitted his cell. Madame 
 de Villarceaux therefore sent a message to the
 
 390 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 effect that she wished to see him without delay, 
 as she had brought the sister of his sick valet de 
 chambre, who, having been given over by the 
 doctor, had sent his sister to speak to his master 
 on urgent affairs. The Chevalier, knowing that 
 his valet was in perfect health, began to suspect 
 some unwelcome and perhaps dangerous solicita- 
 tions and very unwillingly descended to greet his 
 friend Madame de Villarceaux. The supposed 
 soubrette advanced towards him, apparently in 
 great distress ; presently she took his hand, and 
 raised her hood. " What, Madame, it is you ! ' 
 exclaimed M. de Jars, aghast. Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort let her hood drop and putting her 
 finger to her lips, made a curtsey, and assuming 
 the deportment of one in her apparent condition, 
 said, " You may well be surprised, Monsieur, to see 
 me here, but vour astonishment will increase when 
 
 J 
 
 you learn that I come by the absolute command 
 of the Queen." Marie then took a paper from her 
 pocket, and giving it the Chevalier, continued, 
 " This, Monsieur, is what the Queen has given me 
 to confide to you ; you are required to employ your 
 influence and wit in this horrible place to cause 
 that small paper to reach the hands of the prisoner 
 La Porte who is confined here in a dungeon. I 
 feel assured, Monsieur, knowing your loyalty and 
 your love for our dear royal mistress, that you 
 will not abandon her in this hour of her extreme 
 peril. I have already, through Madame de Villar- 
 ceaux, attempted to secure to her Majesty your 
 aid, without which I dare not contemplate the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 391 
 
 future." De Jars hesitated ; suffering had broken 
 his courage and had impaired his powers of re- 
 source. Mademoiselle de Hautefort perceived his 
 agitation ; tears trembled in her own eyes as she 
 hurriedly exclaimed, " Oh, Monsieur ! Monsieur ! 
 can you hesitate to serve the Queen ? Do I not 
 run also perilous risks ? for if I should be dis- 
 covered what would become of me ? ' De Jars 
 at length said, " The will of the Queen shall be 
 performed as far as I am able. I see no alterna- 
 tive. God help me ! I have just escaped the scaf- 
 fold and this affair if discovered will again con- 
 sign me to death but I am worn out, broken in 
 health ! Say to the Queen, Madame, that as I 
 served her in the days of hopeful youth I now 
 devote to her the remnant of my life." 48 He then 
 concealed the Queen's letter in his sleeve, the 
 two ladies hurried from the prison and returned 
 without accident to the Louvre. 
 
 A few hours later the King arrived at the 
 Louvre and commanded the presence of Marie de 
 Hautefort and of his confessor. Nothing tran- 
 spired relative to either of these interviews, and 
 the King after giving audience to Seguier and 
 others returned to Chantilly. Louis was gloomy 
 and ill, he was evidently displeased that no 
 progress had been made in the elucidation of the 
 problem of the Queen's innocence or guilt, for 
 nothing could divert him from the persuasion that 
 the perusal of the letters which he hoped to have 
 seized in the Val de Grace, and the confessions 
 of La Porte, would throw light on the fall of the
 
 392 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 fortresses of Corbie and La Capelle, and on the 
 treacherous surrender of Catelet to the Spaniards. 
 The Chevalier de Jars, meanwhile, considered 
 how he could best discharge the perilous mission 
 confided to him, and which he set about under 
 the conviction that his life would be sacrificed in 
 the attempt. The Queen ever held the lives and 
 fortunes of her friends cheap when her interest 
 prompted a sacrifice. The King was right when 
 he declared that Anne's disposition w r as ungrate- 
 ful and egotistical. La Porte was a prisoner au 
 secret, immured in one of the deepest dungeons of 
 the Bastille. The Chevalier at length ascertained 
 that the dungeon of La Porte was under the tower 
 in which he himself w r as imprisoned. His room 
 was at the top of the tower, below were two other 
 cells, and in the one on the basement story, im- 
 mediately over the den in which La Porte lay, 
 was a certain Baron de Tenance and one Reveil- 
 lon a servant of the unfortunate Marshal de 
 Marillac. De Jars commenced operations by 
 making a hole in the floor of his room. When he 
 had accomplished this undertaking in the night, 
 he \vas able to communicate with the inmates of 
 the cell below who were two poor clowns im- 
 prisoned for seditious conduct at Bordeaux. They 
 agreed to help in the design, and during the sub- 
 sequent night they also succeeded in piercing their 
 floor and in communicating with the prisoners 
 below. De Jars, on learning their success and who 
 the prisoners were, lowered a small fragment of 
 paper on which he wrote his object, and implored
 
 1G37J ANNE OF AUSTRIA 393 
 
 their aid in communicating with the prisoner 
 below. " They promised to serve him," relates La 
 Porte in his Memoirs, 49 " for prisoners are inspired 
 with the strongest kindness for each other. The 
 said prisoners, therefore, made a hole in the floor- 
 ing of their room under which was my dungeon, 
 which hole they concealed during the day by put- 
 ting over it the leg of their table. When they heard 
 my soldier open the door of my dungeon to per- 
 form some necessary service in the morning, know- 
 ing therefore that during that brief interval I was 
 alone, they lowered to me the letter which they 
 had received. The first letter which I got simply 
 informed me that a lady had been making in- 
 quiries about me, who desired to know what ques- 
 tions had been put in my interrogatories, and 
 also to give me some important information 
 which should be imparted on receiving assurance 
 that this first letter had reached me safely. That 
 I was to confide in the writer who was a prisoner 
 also and the devoted servant of my mistress, and 
 that he warned me to confide in no one, but to 
 suspect everybody in the Bastille except himself. 
 I had, however, neither pen nor ink to make reply ; 
 besides, I suspected the writer. Two days after- 
 wards, when my soldier had left my cell on his 
 accustomed errands, I saw another letter descend 
 to me which reproached me for not writing, and 
 which gave me some important hints from the 
 quarter my advices came. I therefore took 
 courage, and the same night, when my soldier 
 was asleep, I softly rose and placing myself before
 
 394 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 the lamp with my back to him, I crushed a little 
 coal, which I mixed with cinder-dust, burnt straw, 
 and kneaded with oil from my lamp. Then I took 
 a straw and scrawled upon the back of a letter- 
 cover which they had left in my pocket that so 
 many things had been demanded of me that I 
 could not answer the questions, but that I had 
 confessed nothing which could injure any one. 
 When my soldier again left me the prisoners 
 above spoke to me, hearing the door of my 
 dungeon open, and they then lowered to me a 
 thread with a little pebble attached, to which I tied 
 my letter which they instantly drew up." The 
 following day the letter written by Anne of 
 Austria reached La Porte. " I was then fully in- 
 structed what the Queen had acknowledged and 
 therefore what facts it was requisite that I should 
 confess at my next interrogation." This narrative, 
 extraordinary as it appears, is confirmed by 
 authentic evidence, besides being related by La 
 Porte himself. The plotters were never discovered, 
 and M. de Jars suffered no additional penalty for 
 his chivalrous devotion. The question which 
 naturally occurs is could it be probable that 
 in the Bastille itself it was possible, in the space 
 of four days, for prisoners to perforate, unknown 
 to their jailers, three floorings of one of the 
 strongest towers of the fortress, to communicate 
 with each other through the fissures thus made, 
 and finally to penetrate to a prisoner in a dungeon 
 under ground, constantly guarded by a soldier, in 
 the brief intervals in which he was left alone, and
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 395 
 
 through an aperture in the roof of his dungeon 
 without attracting attention or discovery ? The 
 incident seems drawn from the pages of romance 
 instead of being a veritable episode of prison- 
 life within that dreadful fortress. Anne's secret 
 moreover was known by de Jars, by the Bordeaux 
 captives, by MM. de Tenance and de Reveillon, 
 who all preserved religious silence on the event. 
 That the deed was accomplished there is no reason 
 to doubt, but whether the prisoners deceived 
 their governor M. de Tremblay, or his brother the 
 wily Capuchin, or his Eminence the Cardinal, as 
 they fancied and believed, or that their purpose 
 was connived at by these personages, is a point 
 which may be surmised but never ascertained. 
 
 La Porte received his information not a day too 
 soon. On the 27th of August he was summoned 
 before Seguier, who was attended by Laffemas and 
 la Potherye. On the 19th of August, Seguier, who 
 seems to have proceeded in good earnest with the 
 investigation, had written to Richelieu to inform 
 him of the little progress made. " La Porte," 
 writes the Chancellor, " has been now interrogated 
 three times. Your Eminence will perceive that he 
 stoutly refuses to afford any information on the 
 matters mentioned by the Queen in the letter 
 taken from him. M. de la Potherye awaits an 
 order to proceed again to La Bussiere ; it is requi- 
 site to continue the process and the interroga- 
 tories of the abbess of Val de Grace. I have sent 
 an order to Patrocle 50 and to his wife to repair 
 to Bourges, according to the command which I
 
 396 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 received from the King. He intends to obey, but 
 declares he is innocent. He has written to the 
 King, which letter I send to your Eminence to 
 present if you should deem it expedient." 51 
 
 La Forte's fourth examination took place in the 
 torture- vault of the Bastille. Surrounded by the 
 terrible implements, lurid light shining only within 
 the chamber, exhausted by hunger and by the 
 pestilential atmosphere of his cell, Anne's faithful 
 servant was again summoned to confess the enter- 
 prises which he had undertaken in her behalf. 
 Falling on his knees, La Porte now promised to 
 make ample confession on the sole condition that 
 Anne would send one of her officers to command 
 him to speak. The judges consulted together, 
 when Seguier desired the prisoner to name the 
 person whom he wished to see. La Porte asked 
 for La Riviere, an officer of the Queen's household 
 and a friend of M. de Laffemas a person in whom 
 he placed no trust, but whom, with wonderful 
 dexterity, being instructed beforehand in what 
 he was to avow, he requested to see in order to 
 disarm suspicion. It so happened that this La 
 Riviere was a prisoner in the Bastille where he 
 had been consigned for some trifling offence. La 
 Porte therefore was sent back to his dungeon for 
 a few hours and the sitting suspended. Seguier, 
 meantime, communicated with the King, believ- 
 ing that important revelations were at last forth- 
 coming. Louis approved of the decision of the 
 judges and unhesitatingly directed that a ficti- 
 tious message should be delivered as from the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 397 
 
 Queen by La Riviere, whose mission was to be 
 further authenticated by the important credential 
 of a letter addressed to La Porte in the Queen's 
 own hand commanding him expressly to confess 
 everything. 52 How this letter was extorted there 
 is no record, probably the stern order of her 
 consort in person left Anne no alternative but to 
 submit to this fresh ordeal. During the night of 
 the 27th of August the same personages met 
 again, surrounded by the same grim entourage. 
 " La Riviere," writes Seguier in his proces-verbal 
 of the examination, " being sent for, explained to 
 the prisoner that her Majesty commanded him to 
 reveal the truth, otherwise she would for ever 
 abandon and desert him. The said La Porte then 
 dropped on his knees, saying that as the Queen 
 willed it he would confess all that he knew, to 
 wit that about eight months ago by order of 
 the Queen he conveyed four or five small packets 
 to a person named Auger who lived in the Fau- 
 bourg St. Germain, and that he had been to the 
 same house to receive letters for the Queen which 
 were given to him, that he denied any intimacy 
 with M. Auger and had never spoken to him but 
 once when the said Auger was leaving the Queen's 
 apartments in the Louvre. He also confessed that 
 the Queen had recently given him a paper which 
 he had the curiosity to peruse and found to be 
 the cipher used in her correspondence with Madrid. 
 He kept it only one day as he was ignorant what 
 he was to do with it, the Queen never having given 
 directions, that he knew nothing of the envoy
 
 398 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 sent to Madame de Chevreuse from Lorraine and 
 strenuously denied knowledge thereof. He denied 
 that he was in the habit of carrying letters to the 
 Val de Grace and stated that he had attended the 
 convent chapel once only on a Good Friday. 
 Being asked if M. Patrocle, usher to the Queen, 
 knew of the late menees ? he replied that he was 
 not aware that the Queen had ever employed the 
 said Patrocle in secret on important missions. 
 La Porte added that he knew of nothing more, 
 but after he had received permission from her 
 Majesty he resolved to avow all frankly. That 
 the reason he had before denied knowledge of 
 that which he now confessed was that he wished 
 to keep his fidelity without alloy to the Queen his 
 mistress, but that having been exonerated by 
 the permission of her Majesty he gladly relieved 
 his conscience by avowal." 53 So admirable did 
 La Porte's constancy appear to Richelieu, that he 
 was heard to lament that he possessed not so 
 faithful a servant. 
 
 The Cardinal, meantime, took the singular re- 
 solve to confer privately and invisibly with La 
 Porte. Chavigny had apartments at the Arsenal, 
 in the garden of which a broad gravel pathway led 
 to a postern of the fortress, often used by the late 
 Due de Sully in his double capacity of Grand 
 Master of Artillery and Governor of the Bastille. 
 Richelieu placed himself upon Chavigny's bed, 
 and drawing the curtains closely round com- 
 manded the prisoner to be brought into the 
 chamber. La Porte instantly recognised the
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 399 
 
 voice of the Cardinal, a fact which his circum- 
 spect and respectful replies betrayed. Finding 
 that he could elicit nothing further by way of 
 evidence, Richelieu admonished La Porte in the 
 name of the Queen to make a clean breast, and 
 referred to her Majesty's late letter. " I am 
 amazed," replied La Porte, " that her Majesty has 
 again thought it necessary to command me to 
 confess the truth, seeing that my various interro- 
 gatories have doubtless been submitted to her 
 inspection by which she might perceive that I 
 have told all I knew. Nevertheless, if to speak 
 falsely will serve her Majesty, although it would 
 doubtless consign me to the scaffold, I am ready 
 to obey and submit." 54 
 
 Richelieu probably was not the dupe of La 
 Porte's affected simplicity ; he had convicted the 
 Queen fully and utterly by her own verbal con- 
 fession, under her own hand and seal and by the 
 incontrovertible evidence of the papers he had 
 openly produced without reference to any docu- 
 ments which he might choose to suppress. The 
 alternative cannot be evaded that either the 
 Queen, informed of the proceedings about to be 
 taken against her, found means to destroy her 
 papers at the Val de Grace, or that Richelieu 
 caused a surreptitious seizure to be made thereof, 
 to be used according to circumstances and at his 
 pleasure. The painful dismay evinced by Anne, 
 when at Chantilly she heard of the arrest of La 
 Porte from Mademoiselle de Hautefort, seems to 
 be quite at variance with a notion that she was
 
 400 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637 
 
 expecting and prepared to encounter the storm. 
 Aware that no treasonable correspondence existed 
 to convict her, she could have afforded to wait 
 tranquilly the manoeuvres of the Cardinal, and 
 to brave, as she had so often done before, the 
 wrath of the King her husband. 
 
 To restore a semblance of festivity and concord 
 at Chantilly, the Cardinal caused numerous invi- 
 tations to be issued. It was necessary to show 
 to the country at large that the Queen was not a 
 prisoner nor in immediate peril of divorce or of 
 imprisonment for life in the fortress of Havre as 
 it was reported all over the realm. The King 
 also had sunk into a fit of morbid gloom from 
 which nothing seemed to rouse him, deepened by 
 the conviction that one night, on passing along 
 a gallery of the chateau, he had seen the appari- 
 tion of the late Marshal de Montmorency. 
 
 Mademoiselle de Montpensier and her troop of 
 young and noble maidens, her playfellows, were 
 therefore summoned to make the sombre chateau 
 ring with merriment. " After I arrived at Chan- 
 tilly," relates this shrewd young lady, who was 
 then only ten years old, " I put every one into 
 good humour. The King was devoured with 
 melancholy and suspicions which had been in- 
 spired by the Queen. The Queen was in bed, and 
 ill, which she might well have been for a smaller 
 cause than the affront which she had just received 
 for the Chancellor had examined her at Chan- 
 tilly on the day preceding that of my arrival. 
 She was in the first agony of her grief at this
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 401 
 
 affront, which however the presence of Madame 
 de St. George allayed, as it was through her that 
 the Queen now determined to continue her inter- 
 course with Monsieur." 55 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVEN 
 
 1 Harte's History of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus, t. 1. Galeazzo, 
 Hist, delle Guerre di Ferdinando II. e III. contro Gostavo-Adolfo Re di 
 Suetia, e Luigi XIII. Re di Francia. 
 
 2 Harte's History of Gustavus Adolphus, t. 1, p. 231. 
 
 3 Equivalent to 400,000 crowns, as stated in the treaty of Berwalt. 
 
 4 Harte, t. 1. Galeazzo, Hist, delle Guerre di Ferdinando II. The name 
 of the officer who gave the mortal wound to the great Gustavus was 
 Maurice Falkenberg. The Duke of Saxe Lauenburg was suspected as the 
 contriver of the base assassination. Vie du Pere Joseph de Tremblay. 
 
 5 Brother of the Queen of France, towards whom Anne showed extra- 
 ordinary attachment. 
 
 6 Daughter of Philip II. and of Elizabeth de Valois. She was a princess 
 of sagacity and piety, and was greatly venerated by her subjects and 
 by her kinsmen of Spain. The Archduchess Infanta is interred in the 
 church of Ste. Gudule of Brussels. 
 
 7 Articles de raccommodernent de M. le Due d'Orleans avec le Roy son 
 Frere, etc. Aubery, Mem. pour 1'Hist. du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 2, 
 p. 232. 
 
 8 Aubery, t. 2. 
 
 9 Mathias, Count Gallas or Galasso, a native of the district of Trent. 
 Count Gallas died 1646. He held supreme command at the battle of 
 Nordlingen. 
 
 10 Vie du Pere Joseph de Tremblay. The Capuchin taunted his patron, 
 as " une poule mouillee," for his panic ; and advised him to show 
 himself boldly to the populace. 
 
 11 Madrid is a chateau in the Bois de Boulogne, which was built by 
 Francis I. after his return from his captivity in Spain. The King used 
 to retire there, and the courtiers spoke of his Majesty, " comme etant 
 a Madrit," during the period of his temporary seclusion. 
 
 11 Aubery, t. 3. 
 
 13 Hist, du Card. Due de Richelieu. 
 
 14 M. de Chavigny au Cardinal de la Valette. Aubery, Mem. pour 
 1'Hist. du Card. Due de Richelieu, t. 3. Paris, a 21 Nov., 1636. 
 
 15 Aubery, t. 2. Promesses du Roy et de M. le Due d'Orleans. Signed 
 at Orleans, February 6th, 1637. Siri, Memorie Recondite, t. 9. Galerie 
 des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de Louis XIII., t. 4. 
 
 16 Aubery, t. 5. 
 
 17 Vie du Pere Joseph. Siri, Memorie Recondite. 
 
 2o
 
 402 THE MARRIED tIFE OF [1637 
 
 8 *' Le Capucin missionnaire raconta tout au Pere Joseph, et celui-ci au 
 Cardinal. Son Eminence resolut de rompre ce commerce ; et fit com- 
 prendre au Roi le danger qu'il y avait d'ecrire clandestinement a un 
 ennemi de 1'Etat." Vie du Pere Joseph de Tremblay, Capucin nomm6 
 au Cardinalat. 
 
 19 Bertrand de Chaux, Archbishop of Tours, whose ignorance and sim- 
 plicity were the best excuses for his aberrations. 
 
 20 Vie du Card. Due de Richelieu. Siri, Galerie des Personnagea 
 Illustres, t. 4. Preface aux Mem. de Richelieu depuis 1'ann. 1616 a 
 1620. Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie. 
 
 21 Proces-Verbal du Chancelier (Seguier). MS. Bibl. Imp. Suppl. Fr. 
 No. 4068. Pieces relatives a 1 'affaire du Val de Grace. 
 
 22 Ibid. Mem. de la Porte, Coll. Pettitot. 
 
 28 Journal du Card, de Richelieu, publi6 en 1648. 
 
 24 Vie de Mademoiselle de la Fayette, Dreux du Radier. " Le Roy et 
 
 elle se quitterent les larmes aux yeux." 
 
 86 Griffet, Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII., t. 3, ann. 1637. 
 
 26 Mem. de Richelieu, t. 10. Interrogators de la Porte. Ibid. 
 Memoires. Lettre du Pere Carre au Cardinal de Richelieu. " La Porte, 
 lo jour qu'il fut pris, avoit voulu donner les lettres de la Reyne a un 
 gentilhomme qui refusa de les prendre, feignant qu'il devoit demeurer 
 ici encore trois jours. La Porte lui conseilla de prendre conge de la 
 Reyne lorsque sa majeste entreroit en carrosse ; ce qu'il fit : et elle ne 
 manqua pas de lui dire, ' La Porte vous doit donner une lettre,' a 
 laquelle il s'excusa. Madame de la Flotte m'avertit qu'une personne 
 lui avoit dit, que la Porte avoit un chiffre qui servoit a d^chiffrer lee 
 lettres qu'on ecrivoit a la Reyne." Cousin, Appendice, Vie de Madame 
 de Chevreuse. 
 
 27 Vie Inedite de Madame de Hautefort, publiee par M. Victor Cousin, 
 Vie d'Anne d'Autriche ; Mem. de Motteville, vi. 
 
 28 Ibid. 
 
 29 Relation de ce qui s'est pass6 en 1'affaire de la Reine sur le sujet de La 
 Porte, et de 1'Abbesse de Val de Grace. MS. Bibl. Imp. Suppl. F. 4068. 
 so Mem. pp. 352, 353, et seq. 
 
 31 Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de Louis XIII., t. 4. 
 " On parle fort a la Cour de 1'affaire de la Reine," writes Grotius in 
 another despatch. " Les gens disent communement qu'en voyant lee 
 lettres qu'elle ecrivoit en Espagne par I'Angleterre surprises et 
 dechiffrees, elle a demande pardon au Roi ; et qu'en presence de 9 
 t&noins, entre lesquels on compte son propre confesseur, celui du Roi, 
 et De Noyers, elle confessa avoir 6crit a Madrid sur les moyens de 
 traverser la ligue projectee entre la France et 1'Angleterre ; marque les 
 endroits faibles ou le royaume peut etre attaque ; et averti le roi 
 d'Espagne de ee defier d'un certain Bachelier, envoy6 en France sous 
 pretexte d'acquitter un voeu de la Reine a St. -Isidore," &c. &c. 
 
 32 Vie MS, Cousin ; Vie de Madame de Hautefort.
 
 1637] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 403 
 
 33 MS. Bibl. Imp. Suppl. Fr. 4068. 
 
 34 The letter alluded to by the Queen is probably the following on 
 one of the few letters written during her married life extant. The letter 
 is given as in the original, in Anne's phraseology and spelling : 
 " Hermano mio Sino fuera porque temo de cansar le, con mis cartas no 
 dejaria pasar ningun ordinario sin escrivirle ; mas, no peudo acabar ? 
 conmigo el dejar pasar este sin hazerlo, y dezir lo que he sentido harto 
 que ayan venido dos o tres sin haber sabido nuevas suyas ; y por aca se 
 dizen algunas tan diferentes de las que yo deseo, que aunque no las 
 creo, no dejare de da me grandissima pena ; y asi le supplico que mande 
 que no venga ningun ordin sin que yo sepa nuevas suyas ; y quando no 
 me pudiere escribir, mande que escrivan a Don Christoval para que el 
 me las pudiere dar. Si supiese lo que yo me huelgo con ellas, no duda de 
 la mercedes que me haze, que tendria muchiss cuyadado que no me 
 faltasen algun dia. Espero en Dios, que le podre dezir el consuelo que 
 es para mi ; y que con esto se puede haber (sufrir) todo : el me cumple 
 este deseo, que le prometo que despues de la salvacion es el mayor que 
 tengo. Suplico Nro. Senor que me guarde Hermano mio como deseo." 
 MS. Bibl. Imp. Ponds. Fr., 92413747, fol. 3. 
 
 35 MS. Bibl. Imp. Supplement Fran9ois, No. 4068. Pieces relatives a 
 T affaire de 1637. 
 
 36 Jeanne de Montluc, Countess de Carmain, daughter of Sieur de 
 Montesquion and of Jeanne de Foix : she married Charles d'Escoubleau, 
 Marquis d'Alluye et de Sourdis, and died in 1657. 
 
 37 Bibl. Imp. MS. Suppl. Fr. 4068. All these manuscript relations of 
 events are in the handwriting of the Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 38 The Queen's private secretary. 
 
 39 MS. Bibl. Imp. Suppl. Fr. 4068. This document is in the hand- 
 writing of Le Gras, and was a copy furnished to the Cardinal in obedience 
 to his mandate. The original may perhaps be still on the shelves of the 
 French Foreign Office ; though, probably, Anne of Austria, after her 
 accession to power as Regent of France, would decree the suppression of 
 this and many other damaging papers connected with her career as 
 Queen-consort. 
 
 40 Ibid. 
 
 41 Galerie des Personnages Dlustres de la Cour de Louis XIII., t. 4. 
 
 42 MS. Bibl. Imp. Suppl. Fr. 4068. Lettre Autographe du Chancelier 
 Seguier au Cardinal de Richelieu, avec une note de sa main. 
 
 43 Ibid. Nouvelle Declaration de la Reine, 22 Aoust, 1637. 
 
 44 Ibid. Instructions de la main de De Noyers adressees au Chancelier 
 pour interroger La Porte, et 1'Abbesse du Val de Grace. 
 
 45 Ibid. Interrogatoire de 1'Abbesse du Val de Grace, du 28 Aoust. 
 
 46 Francois de Rochechouart, Chevalier de Jars, had suffered exile for 
 his connivance in the revels of the Court when at Amiens, and attended 
 his friend the Duke of Buckingham to England. On his return to France, 
 he again imprudently suffered himself to be drawn into the correspond-
 
 404 ANNE OF AUSTRIA [1637 
 
 ence between Chateauneuf and Madame de Chevreuse, and had been 
 accused of carrying Anne's correspondence to Monsieur. 
 
 47 De Jars was then a prisoner at large within the precincts of the 
 fortress. 
 
 48 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. Motteville, Mem., t. 1, p. 83. 
 " Ce fut en cette occasion que Madame de Hautefort, voulant genereuse- 
 ment se sacrifier pour la Reine, se deguisa en demoiselle suivante, pour 
 aller a la Bastille donner une lettre a La Porte ; ce qui se fit avec beau- 
 coup de peine, et de danger pour elle, par I'habilete du commandeur de 
 Jars qui etait encore prisonnier, et etait creature de la Reine," &c. 
 
 49 Mem. de La Porte (Petitot Coll.), p. 370. 
 
 60 This Patrocle was a valet de chambre in the service of the Queen, 
 upon whom the suspicions of the King had fallen. 
 
 61 MS. Bibl. Imp. Suppl. FT. 4068. 
 
 58 " Le Roi commanda a la Reine d'ecrire de sa main a La Porte, pour 
 lui commander de dire tout ce qu'il savait ; mais comme il crut qu'elle 
 avait ete forcee d'ecrire cette lettre, il ne changea rien en sa conduite." 
 Mem. de Motteville, t. 1, p. 85. 
 
 63 MS. Bibl. Imp. Suppl. Fr. 4068. Dernier Interrogatoire de La Porte. 
 
 64 Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de Louis Treize, t. 4. 
 Mem. de Richelieu. Mem. de Madame de Motteville, t. 1. 
 
 66 Mem. de Mademoiselle de Montpensier, t. 1. Madame de St. George 
 was Jeanne de Harley one of the ladies once in attendance on Henrietta 
 Maria, Queen of England, and who had been dismissed by Charles I. 
 for her intrigues at the English court, and her noisy querulousness of 
 disposition. Madame de St. George on her return to France had been 
 appointed governess to Mademoiselle.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 1637-1639 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA, MOTHER OF THE t)AUPHIN 
 
 THE Duchess de Chevreuse during this interval 
 had not escaped the shock which was rending the 
 court. Neither the Queen nor her friend, Made- 
 moiselle de Hautefort, dared to incur the suspicion 
 of correspondence with a personage so distrusted 
 by the minister. After her visit to the Bastille 
 Mademoiselle de Hautefort sent her cousin, M. 
 de Montalais to Tours, to seek, accidentally as it 
 should appear, an interview with the duchess to 
 impart the import of Anne's avowals, and the 
 stage which the judicial proceedings had reached. 
 M. de Montalais was also desired to reassure the 
 duchess by a promise from Marie de Hautefort to 
 give her timely notice, should affairs assume a 
 serious aspect, by sending her a book of Hours 
 bound in red velvet, while if matters were likely 
 to be amicably settled, a volume of Hours 
 bound in green velvet should apprise Madame de 
 Chevreuse of the felicitous news. 1 Envoys de- 
 spatched in the King's name, however, soon waited 
 upon the Duchess to subject her to severe interro- 
 gatories. The noblemen thus sent were the 
 Marshal de la Meilleraye, the Bishop of Auxerre 
 and the Abbe Dorat, treasurer of the Sainte 
 Chapelle, who was a personage known and trusted 
 
 405
 
 406 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 by the Duchess. The private instructions of the 
 commissioners empowered them to apply every 
 pressure to extort confession ; if Madame de 
 Chevreuse denied her guilt and audaciously defied 
 their authority the envoys were instructed to 
 commit her a close prisoner in the neighbouring 
 castle of Loches that fortress of evil repute for 
 its oubliettes and darksome prison cells. M. de la 
 Meilleraye, who was a near kinsman of the Car- 
 dinal's, was commissioned to assure the Duchess of 
 the good will of Richelieu, who still acknowledged 
 himself the slave of her charms and her wit, in 
 proof of which M. le Cardinal, being informed 
 that her pecuniary circumstances were embar- 
 rassed, from the narrow income allowed her by 
 the Due de Chevreuse, had sent her 10,000 livres 
 in gold. Madame de Chevreuse laughed in her 
 sleeve, demurely accepted the gift, protesting that 
 she had nothing to confess but would answer any 
 interrogatories put to her. Aware that the letter 
 had been seized in which she had proposed to 
 Anne of Austria to pay her a clandestine visit, the 
 Duchess was able to return an apparently candid 
 and truthful reply to the questions put to her 
 upon this subject. " I protest," replied she, 
 " that in making this proposition I had no other 
 object in view, excepting to pay my respects to 
 the Queen, and to transact a few private affairs 
 of my own in Paris. Far from intending to pre- 
 judice her Majesty against the Cardinal, it was 
 my firm intent to exert all the influence which I 
 possessed in his behalf ! ' : She then proceeded to
 
 1639| ANNE OF AUSTRIA 407 
 
 eulogise the administration of the Cardinal, and to 
 make great protestations of future friendship. The 
 Duchess however was thoroughly on the alert ; 
 she distrusted and knew the value of Richelieu's 
 fine protestations, she appreciated the dislike 
 of the King and the danger to which she was 
 exposed relative to her correspondence with 
 Lorraine. The Duke her husband, upon being 
 asked whether he would answer for her appear- 
 ance if summoned to Paris, and whether he 
 would undertake to put a stop to future clandes- 
 tine correspondences replied by a shrug and an 
 emphatic negative. 2 Anne's friend meantime, 
 the Prince de Marsillac, 3 heir of the Duke de la 
 Rochefoucauld, had been significantly warned by 
 Richelieu to refrain from visits or correspondence 
 of any kind with the exiled Duchess. His father 
 moreover had extorted an oath that he would 
 avoid such communication, threatening in case 
 of disobedience, that which in the present temper 
 of the court it would have been easy to obtain a 
 lettre de cachet to imprison him in the Bastille. 
 The young Prince, in despair at being thus obliged 
 to abandon his royal mistress, did the best thing 
 for her interests which he could under the 
 circumstances he communicated confidentially 
 with Sir Herbert Croft who was at Douay, and 
 induced him to repair in disguise to Tours. Croft 
 succeeded in his mission, and after two secret 
 interviews with the Duchess, raised her alarm to 
 the highest pitch of terror, and in her haste to 
 avoid incarceration at Loches, she resolved to fly
 
 408 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 from France and take refuge in Spain with the 
 brother of her good and persecuted royal mis- 
 tress. Madame de Chevreuse was the more re- 
 solved to adhere to this resolution upon learning 
 privately from the Marshal de la Meilleraye the 
 terms which would insure her exemption from 
 arrest. The Cardinal prescribed the cessation, 
 total and complete, of intercourse of any descrip- 
 tion with Anne of Austria ; her acknowledgment 
 that she had guiltily and maliciously incited 
 Queen Anne to acts of disloyalty to the realm and 
 to the King ; and her voluntary retreat back and 
 continued residence at the Chateau de Milly. 
 Hastily therefore the Duchess made preparation 
 for flight ; her jewels which were valued at the 
 sum of 400,000 francs spoils taken from the un- 
 fortunate Marquis d'Ancre she sent by Croft to 
 the Duke de la Rochefoucauld and his son at 
 Verteuil, with a paper by which she bequeathed 
 the jewels to the Prince de Marsillac in case of her 
 death. The money sent to her by Richelieu 
 amply sufficed for her wants during her journey. 
 On the 6th of September therefore the Duchess 
 after undergoing a fourth ordeal before Richelieu's 
 envoys, pretended illness and lassitude to a 
 degree which she said nothing but a solitary 
 evening drive in her coach could relieve. The 
 Duchess set out unmolested and continued her 
 drive until nine o'clock, when at a given spot the 
 coach stopped and she alighted in the dress of a 
 cavalier, having managed during the route from 
 Tours to effect that transformation. A faithful
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 409 
 
 servant, probably the brother of La Porte, was in 
 waiting with a saddle-horse which the intrepid 
 duchess mounted, and without attendants or 
 baggage of any kind, set off in headlong flight to 
 the frontier. 4 The coach returned by a cir- 
 cuitous way to Tours, and drew up before her 
 door with all due ceremony, as if its mistress was 
 about to descend and enter the mansion. By this 
 stratagem the flight of Madame de Chevreuse was 
 unknown until the middle of the following day 
 when she was beyond pursuit. The Duchess rode 
 without drawing rein until she arrived at Ruffec, 
 a place one league from Verteuil, the magnificent 
 palace of the La Rochefoucaulds. Unwilling to 
 compromise her friends, and yet being in urgent 
 need of assistance, Madame de Chevreuse wrote 
 hastily the following note to the Prince de Mar- 
 sillac at a way-side hostelry, which she sent up to 
 the chateau by a peasant boy : " MONSIEUR, 
 The writer of this note is a French gentleman who 
 implores your help to save his life. He has un- 
 fortunately fought a duel and killed his anta- 
 gonist, a gentleman of rank, which sudden event 
 obliges him to fly from France to escape arrest. 
 You, Monseigneur, he hears, are likely to be 
 generous enough to afford your protection to an 
 unknown. He implores you therefore to lend 
 him a coach and servants to help him on the way." 
 " I sent my own coach," states the young 
 Prince de Marsillac, when interrogated on the 
 affair, " with a servant named Poter, who had a 
 suspicion that the distressed cavalier was Madame
 
 410 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 de Chevreuse." 5 " One hundred yards from my 
 master's chateau I met a young cavalier wearing 
 a flaxen wig, w r ho appeared almost spent with 
 fatigue. He entered the coach alone and im- 
 mediately threw himself at the bottom to repose," 
 was the evidence of the servant. Poter drove 
 Madame de Chevreuse rapidly to a lone hunting 
 seat where she arrived at three o'clock in the 
 morning, and was received by one Malbasty, a 
 trusted retainer of La Rochefoucauld. Madame 
 de Chevreuse rested some hours, then still being 
 attended by Poter and Malbasty she again took 
 horse. She wore a black casaque, and doublet 
 and hose, boots, spurs and rapier, and her fore- 
 head was bound with a scarf of black taffetas, to 
 protect a wound which she pretended to have re- 
 ceived in the duel. At the first halt after leaving 
 the house of M. de la Rochefoucauld, the little 
 hostelry was full of people and she was obliged to 
 rest on a truss of hay in an outhouse, and was soon 
 in a deep sleep. So fair and gracious was the 
 aspect of the sleeping young cavalier, that a kind, 
 honest farmer's wife of the district passing by, 
 was lost in admiration. " Never did I behold so 
 fair and comely a lad ! " exclaimed she, her heart 
 melting with compassion at the comfortless plight 
 of the stranger. " Monsieur, come and rest in my 
 house, it will be a pleasure to serve such as you." 
 Onwards however, in her painful flight, Madame 
 de Chevreuse was compelled to hasten ; Riche- 
 lieu's myrmidons were Argus-eyed, and were 
 spread over every province of France. Once she
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 411 
 
 was near capture by the Marquis d'Antin and a 
 band of bold retainers. Again, when close to 
 Bayonne, a gentleman at the head of a troop of 
 followers rode up to take a closer inspection of so 
 jaunty a cavalier and swift horseman. " Par le 
 Sang-Dieu ! ' : exclaimed the rough Bearnais 
 gentleman, " if Monsieur were not dressed en 
 cavalier, I should say that I saw the Duchesse de 
 Chevreuse ! " " Monsieur, I have the honour to 
 be related nearly to the said lady Duchess ! " re- 
 plied the brave woman with a laugh, as she 
 galloped past waving her cap to the Bearnais 
 and his motley entourage. To troublesome in- 
 quirers as to her name, rank and business, the 
 Duchess mysteriously hinted that she was the 
 young Duke d'Enghien, flying to escape the 
 Bastille for an intrigue (T amour, in which a life had 
 been lost. At length after several weary days 
 the bourne was attained and the rocky heights 
 of Irun rose before the eager gaze of the poor 
 fugitive. Flight then became unnecessary, and 
 Madame de Chevreuse, beyond the power of her 
 adversary, had leisure to summon resolution and 
 courage for fresh enterprise, especially as the 
 corregidor of Irun, upon hearing the name of the 
 illustrious fugitive, called to place himself and the 
 resources of the town at her disposal. Madame 
 de Chevreuse made a first use of her power by 
 despatching a messenger to Madrid, with letters 
 addressed to their Catholic Majesties, praying for 
 protection and the loan of equipages and an 
 outfit suitable to her sex and station. 6
 
 412 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1687- 
 
 The flight of Madame de Chevreuse and her 
 daring defiance greatly incensed the King. Be- 
 fore she had crossed the frontier half a dozen 
 emissaries were in full chase after the fugitive, all 
 being the bearers of pacific declarations from the 
 Cardinal. The Duke de Chevreuse, roused for 
 once from his sloth, despatched his steward 
 Boispille in hot pursuit after his runaway consort. 
 Boispille came up with his mistress at Irun only, 
 and was there treated with some truths from her 
 lips to convey to his master, which led him to 
 regret his bootless journey. The envoy of the 
 Cardinal pursued his journey with more delibera- 
 tion, stopping at Tours and at Verteuil to 
 examine the Archbishop and the Duke de la 
 Rochefoucauld, on the causes of the sudden flight 
 of the Duchess, and to take cognizance of the 
 measure in which they had been her abettors. 
 The old Archbishop gave his evidence, weeping 
 bitterly for the loss which he had sustained : 7 
 " The said lady Duchess called upon me to tell me 
 that she had received warnings from two different 
 personages sent purposely to apprise her that it 
 had been determined to arrest and confine her in 
 the Bastille, and that a troop of horse was already 
 under orders to fetch her. She had therefore 
 come to the resolve to fly from France, and that 
 such haste was requisite that she had no choice but 
 to re tire into Spain." Vignier then continued his 
 journey to Verteuil, leaving the prelate to mourn 
 at leisure " the eclipse of the bright light which 
 had shone upon his diocese." The loan of the
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 413 
 
 coach by the Prince de Marsillac to Madame de 
 Chevreuse being a high crime and misdemeanour 
 in the opinion of Richelieu, was punished by a 
 painful journey under arrest to Paris, and by 
 ten days of imprisonment in the Bastille. 8 The 
 President then proceeded to the Pyrenean fron- 
 tier to reprimand the incorrigible fugitive, but 
 upon her promise of amendment to assure her of 
 pardon provided she would obediently return to 
 Tours and agree to a sojourn of three months at 
 Dampierre, after which she might be permitted to 
 appear again in Paris. This grace, however, was 
 to be conceded only on the distinct understanding 
 that the Duchess forthwith quitted the Spanish 
 territory. An imbroglio of foreign affairs in 
 Lorraine, England, Spain and Brussels, rose in 
 grim array before Richelieu, if he suffered the 
 escape from France of that esprit brouillon, that 
 termagant fury, that false-lipped syren Madame 
 la Duchesse de Chevreuse ! When Vignier ar- 
 rived at Irun the Duchess was already on the road 
 to Madrid, welcomed by Philip IV. as the dear 
 friend and fellow-sufferer of his beloved sister, 
 Dona Ana, and cheered by the frenzied applause 
 of the people who flocked in crowds to gaze on her 
 fair face and form. 
 
 Richelieu began now to tire of the judicial in- 
 vestigations, and having achieved his object he 
 pressed the King to put an end to the public 
 excitement, " and to the disgraceful aspect of a 
 divided court," by giving his final fiats on the fate 
 of the culprits still detained in durance. Anne
 
 414 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 was therefore suffered to return to the Louvre. 
 Louis, still unforgiving and still unconvinced, 
 imposed upon the Queen a list of prohibitions, 
 which as applied to a wife and to a sovereign 
 princess seem of unsurpassed severity, and cal- 
 culated to cast a shadow on the throne itself. 
 The rules, written entirely by the King, were 
 presented to Anne of Austria by the Cardinal de 
 Richelieu, whose exhortations doubtless schooled 
 her rebellious heart to outward submission. 
 
 " NOTE OF THE MATTERS TO WHICH I REQUIRE 
 THE ASSENT OF THE QUEEN 
 
 " I desire that the Queen shall never more write 
 to Madame de Chevreuse, because the pretext of 
 this correspondence has been the blind behind 
 which she has been able to correspond abroad and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 " I desire that Madame de Senece shall in 
 future render to me a strict account of all the 
 letters written by the Queen, and that these 
 said letters shall be folded and sealed in her 
 presence. 
 
 " It is my will that Filandre, the Queen's chief 
 dresser, shall inform me every time that the Queen 
 writes the which it is impossible for the Queen to 
 do without the knowledge of the said Filandre, as 
 she has charge of the Queen's writing implements . 
 
 "I forbid the Queen to pay visits to any con- 
 vents until I give her notice of my wishes in 
 this respect. If I should ever rescind this my
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 415 
 
 command, it is my will that for the future she shall 
 be attended in her visits to any convent whatever 
 by her first lady in waiting and by the dame 
 d'atours, who are never to leave her Majesty alone. 
 
 " I beg the Queen to remember that should the 
 fancy again seize her to hold foreign correspond- 
 ences, or to communicate intelligence from this 
 country, directly or indirectly, that in such case, 
 she has agreed to forfeit the benefit of the oblivion 
 which I have conceded to her past bad conduct. 
 
 " The Queen will take notice that I forbid her 
 to see or to hold communication with Croft, or 
 with any other of the friends and emissaries of 
 Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 " Done at Chantilly, this 17th day of August, 
 1637. (Signed) " Louis." 
 
 Lower down on the same paper, Anne, with 
 trembling hand, subscribes her humble acceptance 
 of these stern behests of her consort, thus : 
 
 " I promise the King to observe, faithfully and 
 religiously, all that he has been pleased to com- 
 mand me. " ANNE." 9 
 
 The abbess of the Val de Grace, after suffering 
 prolonged imprisonment at Bussiere, was deposed 
 from her dignity and sent into a distant convent 
 as a simple nun. La Porte, after enduring im- 
 prisonment for a year in the Bastille, w r as released 
 from custody and exiled to his native town of 
 Seiches in Anjou, under the prohibition of never 
 quitting the limits of the province on penalty of
 
 416 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 a fresh arrest. The nuns of the Val de Grace 
 remained for some time under the ban of their 
 ecclesiastical superior, the Archbishop of Paris ; 
 the rules of their Order were restored in full 
 severity, and the fine music in their chapel which 
 had rendered it the resort of the beau monde of 
 Paris on high festivals was suspended. With the 
 elevation of a new abbess 10 the sisterhood gradu- 
 ally emerged from the cloud, but for some years 
 the fair form of the young Queen of France never 
 crossed the threshold of her once beloved retreat. 
 Anne, however, was nearer being avenged on 
 the Cardinal de Richelieu for all his evil revelations 
 than she supposed. Throughout the painful affair 
 the Jesuit Caussin, confessor to the King, had 
 stood her friend, perhaps not so much out of 
 conviction of her innocence as from the per- 
 suasion that Anne henceforth could continue to 
 share the throne of France only by Richelieu's 
 sufferance, and consequently by living in com- 
 plete subjection to his will. As one of the cabal 
 to promote the deposition of the Cardinal from 
 power patronised by the Queen- mother and 
 Monsieur, Caussin deemed it his duty to avail 
 himself of the visible discontent of the King at 
 the failure of the proceedings against La Porte 
 and others, to arouse the royal conscience on the 
 heinousness of the alliance of France with the 
 German and Swedish heretics, on the wickedness 
 of the attempt to separate the Duke of Orleans 
 from his wife, and on the prolonged and painful 
 exile of Marie de' Medici. Mademoiselle de la
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 417 
 
 Fayette, now known as La Sceur Angelique, 11 
 seconded these intrigues with all her might, and 
 spoke with the authority of one dead to the world 
 and its carnal influences, and alive only to the 
 promptings of religion, honour and truth. From 
 the Low Countries the Queen- mother corresponded 
 with Caussin, and exhorted him by every holy 
 inspiration of principle and right, to awaken the 
 mind of the King to the fact that his person, his 
 family, his realm and his consort were alike bound 
 in the adamantine chains of a relentless enemy, 
 whose Satanic ambition had no parallel on earth. 
 Caussin even presented to the King a letter from 
 Marie de' Medici, touching in its pathetic appeals, 
 but yet leavened with a haughty spirit of defiance 
 towards her ancient foe. Louis was moved. He 
 replied, " I wish, I wish, that I could restore her, 
 and bring her back to me ; but I dare not discuss 
 the subject with M. le Cardinal. If you can 
 prevail, be sure that I will give my sanction ! " 12 
 Sometimes Louis appeared to yield to the argu- 
 ments of his confessor, at other times he pleaded 
 fatigue and refused to listen to a word, then 
 again, his confessions were interwoven with ejacu- 
 lations expressive of his sorrow for the misdeeds 
 of his minister. Caussin at length ventured to 
 propose that the Cardinal should be dismissed and 
 his place filled by the Due d'Angouleme, natural 
 son of King Charles IX., a prince of no knowledge, 
 firmness or principle, and who had passed the 
 greater part of his life a state prisoner in the 
 Bastille. Louis, who loved to hear his minister
 
 418 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 depreciated, and who delighted to discuss pro- 
 posals which made clear to him that a stroke of 
 his pen would overthrow the omnipotent Cardinal, 
 listened with complacency, and replied to the 
 pleadings of the Jesuit by nods of assent, but 
 refused to commit himself by a single written line. 
 At this period the latter months of the year 1637 
 the Bishop of Mans died, and at the suggestion 
 of Caussin the King gave the vacant bishopric to 
 his sub-almoner, the Abbe de la Ferte, without 
 previously naming the matter to Richelieu. This 
 success fairly turned the scheming brain of the 
 Jesuit. M. d'Angouleme one day asked his inter- 
 cession with the King to insure the nomination 
 of a lady, to whom he had promised his interest, 
 as abbess of some sisterhood just deprived of its 
 chief. 13 Caussin promised his help, adding that 
 soon it would be for Monseigneur to confer favours 
 and not to demand them ! Being pressed by the 
 Duke for an explanation, Caussin committed the 
 folly of betraying the intrigue afloat. The Duke, 
 frightened out of all propriety by this alarming 
 revelation, implored to be excused from accepting 
 a position for which he was totally unqualified, 
 adding passionately, " that the intrigue would be 
 defeated ; that Louis never meant to dismiss a 
 minister who, though a domestic tyrant, had 
 filled the world with the glorious renown of France 
 and her King ! >: " Monsieur," said the Jesuit, 
 " you will ere long be called upon to assume the 
 presidency of affairs, or to return to your apart- 
 ment in the Bastille." The Duke, without further
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 419 
 
 parley, rushed to the apartments of Chavigny 14 in 
 the Arsenal, and with the voice and manner of a 
 man who deems his life at stake, implored the 
 minister to wait upon the Cardinal at Ruel and 
 impart the proposition just made by the reverend 
 father, adding " that he had neither share nor 
 blame in the concoction of so shameless an 
 intrigue." 
 
 Subsequent to this astonishing act of folly, 
 Father Caussin, in the plenitude of his new-fledged 
 power, took upon himself to affirm to the King his 
 conviction of the perfect innocence of Anne of 
 Austria ; that her late persecution was an egre- 
 gious sin, and that the Cardinal had trumped up 
 the letters which witnessed against her to serve 
 his own unrighteous ends. Louis listened in sullen 
 incredulity and wrath ; the animosity of the 
 Cardinal's enemies led them into the error of 
 exaggeration, and Louis le Juste was ever ready 
 to set himself right with his minister by betraying 
 and deriding a calumniator. The Cardinal makes 
 wrathful entry of the misdeeds of Caussin in his 
 Diary : "Of all the persons w r ho misbehaved 
 themselves concerning the affair of La Porte, and 
 who testified malignant discontent towards the 
 government, no one ventured to such lengths as 
 good little Father Caussin, who had the temerity, 
 the impudence and the folly to say to the King 
 some months after the arrest of the said La Porte 
 that the discovery which had been made of letters, 
 and of the secret intelligences which the Queen 
 held in Flanders, in Spain and with the Duke of
 
 420 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 Lorraine, astonished him beyond measure, as he 
 could not understand how the Cardinal could find 
 it in his heart to treat the Queen as he had done, 
 seeing that he was once much attached to her 
 Majesty, and it was known bore her yet great affec- 
 tion. This insinuation was dictated by the most 
 black and damnable malice that could possess 
 the mind of any monk whatever. In the first 
 place, the Cardinal did not cause the arrest of La 
 Porte, but the King did by his absolute authority ; 
 neither was it in the power of the said Cardinal to 
 prevent the heinous nature of the Queen's letters 
 from becoming apparent. Moreover, the said 
 Caussin had the audacity to accuse M. le Cardinal 
 of a lie, on the simple assertion of a Princess 
 convicted of having made false oaths on several 
 occasions and on this one especially, when she 
 found herself compelled to acknowledge the falsity 
 of several matters which she had sworn to be true 
 upon the Holy Eucharist." 15 The Cardinal then 
 proceeds to relate how the King, sickening at the 
 deceit practised by his confessor, paid him a visit 
 one morning at Ruel, to denounce these slander- 
 ings. His Majesty afterwards declared his resolve 
 to dismiss Caussin from his important office of 
 confessor, and was moreover desirous that the 
 said Jesuit should be exiled from Paris. The 
 friends of Caussin relate that the King, convinced 
 by his remonstrances, commanded him to be at 
 Ruel on the morning of the 9th of December, 
 1637, to propose the reforms in the administra- 
 tion needful " for our conscience and our welfare,
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 421 
 
 and we will support you." "I pictured to my- 
 self," says Caussin, " the Cardinal furious as a 
 great dragon, and fit to tear my eyes out so soon 
 as I should commence to represent in his presence 
 the sins of his administration." 16 Caussin, it is 
 asserted, duly presented himself at Ruel where 
 the King also arrived. At the last moment accord- 
 ing to Caussin the courage of Louis failed, and 
 he dared not bring his minister face to face with 
 his accuser. The reverend father therefore re- 
 ceived a command to retire from Ruel back to his 
 convent in Paris. The same evening the secretary 
 of state, de Noyers, called upon the Provincial of 
 the Order and delivered to him a lettre de cachet 
 which directed Caussin to leave Paris on the fol- 
 lowing morning for Rennes, under the surveillance 
 of an exempt of the guard, and forbidding him 
 meantime to hold communication with any per- 
 sonages whatever. The prohibition was extended 
 to " les convents de jemmes" evidently with a 
 view to prevent Caussin from visiting La Soeur 
 Angelique in the adjacent nunnery of the Visitan- 
 dines. Caussin resigned himself to his fate with 
 tolerable submission ; his papers were seized and 
 carried to the victorious Richelieu. Two months 
 subsequently, Caussin, on reading an official state- 
 ment in the Gazette on the appointment of his 
 successor to the office of confessor to Louis XIII., 
 which amongst other things declared " that le 
 Pere Caussin had been dismissed for his want of 
 discretion, and for conduct so inconsiderate that 
 the heads of his Order were surprised that he had
 
 422 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 been so long tolerated at court, rather than 
 aggrieved by his dismissal," was imprudent enough 
 to indite a letter of absolute denial of the charges 
 to de Noyers. This epistle fell of course into the 
 hands of Richelieu, who summoned the Provincial 
 Binet, and in great rage, after reading the letter 
 aloud, insisted that Caussin should be sent on 
 a missionary expedition to Quebec. Binet re- 
 spectfully observed, " that a mission so perilous 
 and therefore glorious, was considered the highest 
 reward of saintly virtue, and therefore it was 
 impossible so to honour a priest lying under the 
 censure of his superiors." Caussin was eventually 
 routed from his peaceful retreat in the old city of 
 Rennes and confined to the inhospitable and rude 
 district round Quimper, where he remained under 
 surveillance until the death of the royal penitent 
 whom he had risked so much to reform. 17 Made- 
 moiselle de la Fayette, on her first interview with 
 Louis, ventured to remonstrate, and to decry the 
 tyrannous jealousies of the Cardinal. " What 
 would you, Madame ! " exclaimed the King, pas- 
 sionately. " God bestows upon every unfortunate 
 some power of self-defence, my wife is barren 
 and she hates me, my mother wishes to dethrone 
 me, my brother desires to put my crown on his 
 head, my chief nobles dislike me they betray 
 me and rebel against my power ; but for M. le 
 Cardinal therefore I perhaps should not long 
 keep my throne ! J: Sceur Angelique however 
 ventured to allude to the heavy taxation to the 
 alliance of Catholic France with heretic rebels
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 423 
 
 to the oppression of Richelieu's secret police and 
 to his ever-ready Bastille warrants. His Majesty 
 listened awhile, then suddenly rose and departed 
 without uttering a word. In the evening however 
 he sent de Noyers to the convent to say " that he 
 did not altogether disapprove the liberty which 
 Soeur Angelique had taken, and that he would 
 pay her another visit in the course of a few days." 
 Meantime the arm of St. Isidore arrived, and 
 was exhibited in great pomp before the high altar 
 of the church of Notre Dame. The Queen, attended 
 by her ladies, received the precious relic, walking 
 in procession from the Louvre to Notre Dame, 
 where pontifical mass was said by the Archbishop 
 of Paris. By command of the Cardinal, prayers 
 were commanded in every church and chapel in 
 the capital to obtain from God the blessing of 
 royal progeny. Persons conversant with the daily 
 life and habits of the royal pair however knew 
 that alienation between their Majesties was never 
 so complete and apparently insurmountable. The 
 Queen inhabited the Louvre, the King seldom 
 approached that palace except for state audiences 
 and receptions, but passed his time in wandering 
 between the chateaux of Madrid, Fontainebleau, 
 Ruel and Chantilly. The apartments once occu- 
 pied by Louis in the Louvre were actually without 
 furniture. When their Majesties met it was 
 observed that, beyond the profound bow which 
 Louis made to his consort, or rather to her chair 
 of state on entering or leaving the saloon, he 
 never addressed his discourse to her, but appeared
 
 424 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 exclusively occupied with Mademoiselle de Haute- 
 fort, who had again become the object of the 
 King's dreary homage. When her companions 
 congratulated de Hautefort on what they termed 
 " the return to her of the sunshine of royal 
 favour," she replied indifferently, " that she was 
 glad only, on perceiving that her influence was 
 reviving, in order to serve the Queen her mistress, 
 and thereby to parry the cunning thrusts of M. le 
 Cardinal." Predictions of the approaching birth 
 of a Dauphin, nevertheless, were circulated by the 
 hundred through every province of the realm ; 
 monks and nuns alike declared themselves in- 
 spired and forwarded oracles to the Cardinal- 
 minister, to lay before their Majesties. People 
 marvelled, and discussed the miraculous revela- 
 tion, which after twenty-three years of suspense, 
 and at a period apparently the least propitious for 
 domestic felicity, and while evil tongues yet spoke 
 flippantly of Anne's recent narrow escape from 
 divorce, promised so halcyon an event. On the 
 3rd of November 1637, the Holy Virgin it was 
 averred appeared to le Pere Fiacre, an Augus- 
 tinian monk of Paris, while in obedience to the 
 edict he was making diligent intercession on her 
 Majesty's behalf. The Holy Virgin assured the 
 monk that Anne's prayers should be granted on 
 condition that the Queen performed three neu- 
 vaines in her honour, one of which should be said 
 in the church of Notre Dame de Grace of Cot- 
 tignac. To convince Father Fiacre that the vision 
 was neither a dream nor an illusion, the Virgin
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 425 
 
 appeared to him as she was represented on the 
 altar-piece of the church at Cottignac, attended 
 by cherubs and surrounded by radiant effulgence. 
 Fiacre instantly waited on the Cardinal and de- 
 tailed his vision. Richelieu therefore introduced 
 him to the Queen, who listened to his narrative 
 with mingled trepidation and delight. Anne 
 despatched the monk to the church of Cottignac 
 to verify his vision by contemplating its famous 
 picture, and commissioned him to offer rich gifts 
 at the sacred shrine and to perform for her the 
 neuvaine due as the condition of the miracle pro-* 
 mised. 18 Another monk, le Pere Vincent, on his 
 return from a pilgrimage to Notre Dame de 
 Savona, predicted the approaching birth of a 
 Dauphin : 
 
 Enfant, qui doit porter dessus ton front empreint 
 
 Des mille dons du ciel le divin caractere, 
 La vertu de Frangois, et 1'heur de Charles Quint, 
 
 La clemence de Henry, la valeur de son P&re. 
 
 In all the Franciscan convents of the realm 
 ceaseless petitions were especially offered to obtain 
 the much-coveted gift, the servants of Heaven 
 made constant prayer and multiplied their acts 
 of devotion, principally on the festivals of our 
 Lord and his Holy Mother, on the feasts of 
 St. Michael the Archangel, Standard-bearer of 
 the Heavenly Hosts, on those of St. Denis, St. 
 Martin, St. Remy, Ste. Anne, Ste. Genevieve, St. 
 Louis and St. Germain. 19 Richelieu meantime 
 exhorted the Queen to make overtures of recon- 
 ciliation to her husband, who on his side was 
 admonished by Mademoiselle de Hautefort to
 
 426 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 accept these submissions, and to restore to her 
 his conjugal regard. The new confessor, the Pere 
 Sirmond, spoke to Louis earnestly and patheti- 
 cally on his systematic alienation from the wife 
 united to him by the ministration of Holy 
 Church, and prompted by the Cardinal, he dis- 
 cussed at length from the confessional the forlorn 
 condition of the realm, which might perchance 
 rejoice in the security to be conferred by the birth 
 of an heir-apparent, if the King actuated by a 
 sense ctf duty would no longer banish from his 
 heart his lawful consort, the sister of the most 
 potent monarch in Christendom. 
 
 Louis listened to these unwonted objurgations 
 in irritable sullenness, his nerves were shaken with 
 intermittent fever and his dejection deepened 
 at the perverse independence of Marie de Haute- 
 fort, who insisted on the privilege of speaking 
 freely in return for the burdensome confidences 
 he imposed upon her. The birth of a Dauphin had 
 become an indispensable condition of Richelieu's 
 future political and personal grandeur. Monsieur 
 hated the minister with the spite of a puny intel- 
 lect, Madame his consort, and possibly the future 
 queen, had vowed a deep vow of vengeance for the 
 insults inflicted by Richelieu and for the quibbles 
 respecting her marriage and her consequent 
 penury and exile. Conde, first prince of the blood, 
 and next in succession to Monsieur, owed the 
 minister an equivalent for many a humiliation and 
 rebuff. Madame la Princesse, Marguerite de 
 Montmorency, cried for revenge for the blood of
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 427 
 
 her brother, the ill-starred and gallant Moiit- 
 morency who perished on the scaffold at Toulouse. 
 In the entourage of Gaston the King, Richelieu 
 moreover saw Marie de' Medici, returned from her 
 ignominious exile, wielding at will the sceptre of 
 her incapable and frivolous son, fervid in her 
 wrath and ready to execute the oath attributed 
 to her : " to cause the head of M. le Cardinal to 
 roll in the dust which had licked up the blood of 
 that true knight and nobleman, Montmorency ! " 
 A Dauphin therefore was the only safeguard for 
 the life, the liberty and the future power of the 
 haughty Cardinal. The steadily declining health 
 of the King foretold that at no distant period the 
 throne would become vacant ; a vista of power and 
 glory absolutely dazzling unfolded before Riche- 
 lieu during the consequent long minority, when 
 all the functions of the crown might centre in the 
 hands of a feeble woman as Regent of France 
 a Princess ignorant of politics, bound to her 
 minister perhaps by the fetter of a terrible 
 secret, and timid in the assertion of her preroga- 
 tive as a queen, by the yoke of years of repression 
 and seclusion. The King hated his brother and 
 abhorred his sister-in-law, whose children he in- 
 tended to disown as princes of the blood, but he 
 was inspired, in common with the other princes of 
 Europe, with chivalrous veneration for his wife's 
 kindred, the dynasty of Charles Quint and for the 
 power of the Catholic King. This feeling had saved 
 Queen Anne from divorce. A son therefore would 
 be welcomed it was presumed by King Louis, in
 
 428 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1687- 
 
 order to displace Monsieur his heir-presumptive, 
 while respect for the august dignity of a Queen- 
 Infanta must stifle the impertinent conjecture of 
 the captious, even if profane doubts awoke in the 
 mind of the princes interested in the purity of 
 the succession. Through Father Carre, who still 
 diligently performed his functions at court as con- 
 fessor to the Queen's ladies and maidens and in- 
 former to the Cardinal, SoeurAngelique was enlisted 
 to lecture Louis on his domestic delinquencies. 
 The month of December, 1637, thus approached, 
 the Queen making sojourn in the Louvre and 
 being still fettered by the restrictions placed upon 
 her intercourse with her friends and the male 
 members of her household. Louis resided during 
 this period chiefly at Versailles. One afternoon, 
 ennui more than usually depressing the royal 
 mind, his Majesty resolved to sleep at St. Maur 
 where he had a hunting establishment, and on 
 passing through Paris to refresh his spirit by a 
 visit to the convent of the Faubourg St. Antoine. 
 The conversation with La Soeur Angelique lasted 
 four hours, and embraced every possible topic. 
 Mademoiselle de la Fayette implored the King as 
 usual to be reconciled to his consort, to refrain 
 from giving undue prominence by the honour of 
 his exclusive notice, however innocent, to any lady 
 of the court, and finally she again exhorted him 
 to restrain the arrogance of Richelieu, and to 
 recall the Queen-mother and his late confessor, 
 Caussin, from exile. Her words for the moment 
 deeply moved the King and he rose to depart
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 429 
 
 lauding the sanctity of his monitress and half 
 promising to conform to her counsel. During the 
 conference however a great storm of wind and 
 snow had arisen, evening was advancing apace, 
 and Guitaut, captain of the guard, pronounced it 
 alike inexpedient to proceed to St. Maur or to 
 return to Versailles. The King, greatly provoked, 
 declared his resolve to brave the storm and regain 
 Versailles, as his apartments at the Louvre were 
 not prepared and none of the officers of his house- 
 hold in Paris. " Sire," boldly retorted Guitaut, 
 "while the Queen resides at the Louvre you 
 cannot want either a supper or a lodging ! " 20 The 
 King replied in a vexed tone that he would wait 
 awhile, for that probably the weather might 
 change. The storm however increased in violence 
 and a pouring rain set in. All chance therefore 
 of a speedy change of weather vanished. Guitaut 
 again pressed the King to take refuge in his 
 Louvre. " The Queen sups and retires too late for 
 our habits ; we choose therefore rather to claim 
 the hospitality of M. le Cardinal," replied Louis. 
 After some further debate and delay, the King 
 nevertheless, was induced to repair to the Louvre, 
 where he arrived about ten o'clock. This decorous 
 resolution has been ascribed to the politic counsels 
 of Mademoiselle de la Fayette. Anne, previously 
 apprised of the probable visit of her lord by her 
 zealous friend Guitaut, received the King with 
 smiles and welcome, while Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort indicated approval of his presence by 
 the warmth of her greeting. The supper was laid
 
 430 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 in Anne's cabinet, and was served by her Majesty's 
 maids. The evening passed merrily, for the 
 Queen put forth those enchanting graces of 
 manner usually reserved for strangers, and for 
 which she was renowned. The depression of the 
 King was at length dissipated, the smiles of the 
 Queen's syrens banished irritating reminiscences, 
 Anne's coquettish enticements prevailed and the 
 King, won to temporary oblivion of his wrongs, 
 accepted her hospitality for the night. 21 Louis 
 departed on the following morning for Versailles, 
 but invited the Queen to pay him an early visit 
 there. Thus it was said was accomplished in the 
 year 1637, through the combined influences of the 
 elements and the politic counsels of the friends of 
 France, that conjugal reunion which had been 
 broken by the indiscretions to use no harsher 
 term committed by Anne of Austria during the 
 embassy in 1626 of the Duke of Buckingham, 
 which unhappy impressions were confirmed on the 
 King's mind, never more to be effaced, however 
 he might dissemble, by the revelations which 
 came to light during the trial at Nantes of the 
 Prince de Chalais. 
 
 Madame de Chevreuse meantime had been 
 received in state by Philip IV. and his Queen, who 
 sent royal coaches, drawn by six mules, and a 
 military escort, to bring her into Madrid. Her 
 charms and vivacity captivated the King and 
 Olivarez, who experienced besides malicious 
 pleasure in affording so vivid a welcome to a foe 
 of Richelieu a lady who had foiled him with his
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 431 
 
 own weapons. The Queen, Isabel of France, 
 loved to discourse with Madame de Chevreuse on 
 the glories of that court which she had quitted 
 when too young to appreciate its fascinations, 
 also she held conferences to modify the stiff 
 farthingale and other antiquated specimens of 
 Spanish attire, so as to assimilate the toilette of 
 her ladies with the rich robes and flowing hair of 
 the Duchess. Marie notwithstanding her successes 
 in Madrid, pined for home and for communica- 
 tion with France, which so long as she resided in 
 the Spanish capital was closed to her. The Due 
 de Chevreuse feared to compromise himself by 
 writing to his wife, while Boispille, their con- 
 fidential agent, declined to answer letters sent 
 from Spain. The Duchess therefore, much to the 
 regret of King Philip, quitted Madrid ** at the 
 commencement of the year 1638, and journeyed 
 to London, where she was cordially welcomed by 
 Queen Henrietta. Madame de Chevreuse was, 
 however, suffering from pecuniary difficulties, 
 her gorgeous style and munificence agreed badly 
 with sequestrated revenues, while she possessed 
 but two private sources likely to supply her wants. 
 The Queen owed her a large sum of money and 
 there remained still to her the resource of pledging 
 her superb jewels which she had confided to her 
 friend the Prince de Marsillac. Madame de 
 Chevreuse therefore wrote to Anne to beseech 
 her to repay this debt, she asked her Majesty to 
 refund to Richelieu the 10,000 livres he had " in- 
 solently " sent her, and remit the remainder to
 
 432 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 London through the ambassador. ' ' I have desired 
 my messenger, Madame, to inform you of a strait 
 which I can neither forget nor conceal from you. The 
 condition in which I find myself prevents me from 
 paying this debt, while your position enables you 
 easily to acquit it. I beseech you therefore to do 
 so, and moreover to make known your indigna- 
 tion. If you could repay to me the remainder of the 
 debt, believe that it would be a very acceptable 
 relief to her who is absolutely yours, the which 
 I know that you think. Believe, therefore, that 
 you could not render me a more signal service." " 
 Whether Anne found it so easy to acquit the debt 
 we have no record, but it does not seem that she 
 interested herself in the many petitions addressed 
 by the fugitive to Richelieu for permission to 
 return home, or to extricate her revenues from 
 the lavish profligacies of M. de Chevreuse. Secure 
 of the mistress, the Cardinal could now fearlessly 
 assume a high patronising tone and easy jocu- 
 larity as he discussed the "high-flown romance" 
 of Madame la Duchesse, and gibed at the in- 
 fluence which she supposed that she exercised 
 over " that mad enthusiast," M. de Lorraine. 
 When M. le Due de Chevreuse ventured to in- 
 tercede, the Cardinal blandly condoled with him 
 on the trials he had endured from the capricious 
 frenzies of his consort ; when M. le Due de Mont- 
 bazon, father of the Duchess, mediated, Richelieu, 
 by a witty turn in the discourse poured the 
 merriment of the bystanders like a flood on his 
 unlucky petitioner, who though a very great
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 433 
 
 lord, yet from his simplicity and an unfortunate 
 habit of saying the very reverse of that which he 
 desired to express, was the butt of the court. 24 
 To Boispille and to the Abbe Dorat, Richelieu 
 condescended to be more explicit. He presently 
 intrusted to their care for delivery to the Duchess 
 a declaration signed by the King, in which Louis 
 granted his pardon for the late misdemeanours 
 of Marie de Rohan Chevreuse, in her traitorous 
 endeavours to induce M. de Lorraine to refuse 
 reconciliation with France. His Majesty therein 
 interdicted the Duchess from seeing the Queen, 
 from corresponding with any person out of the 
 realm, and restricted her residence to the 
 chateau de Dampierre. As for la petite pro- 
 menade that Madame la Duchesse had thought 
 proper to make in Spain, the King consented to 
 draw over it the veil of his royal oblivion. When 
 this document was presented to the Duchess she 
 absolutely refused the offered grace. " I will not 
 be pardoned for a fault which I have not com- 
 mitted, neither will I be shut up at Dampierre ; 
 all that I promise is not to approach within five 
 leagues of the court ! " Dorat returned to Paris 
 with this answer. Richelieu however was re- 
 solved sooner or later to wring a confession of 
 guilt from the Duchess, as he had compelled 
 her royal mistress to admit her misdeeds. He 
 received Dorat's communication with ironical 
 smiles, and commissioned him to demand from 
 Madame de Chevreuse an avowal, at least, that 
 she had joined Anne of Austria in an intrigue
 
 434 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 against his power and fame. Moreover, that she 
 had been a consenting party to the insulting term 
 of ignominy applied to him by the ex-keeper of 
 the seals, Chateauneuf. The spoiled, petulant 
 beauty again returned a passionate denial, and 
 also addressed a letter of reproach to M. le Car- 
 dinal. Richelieu avoided sending a direct answer 
 to the Duchess, but wrote a letter to Dorat to be 
 shown to and perused by her. Always gallant 
 and piquant when addressing a beautiful lady, 
 the apparent bonhomie and indulgent reprimands 
 of the Cardinal must have been bitter to the 
 Duchess, who beheld kings at her footstool. " The 
 letter which I have received from Madame de 
 Chevreuse," wrote the Cardinal to Dorat, " is 
 throughout a bitter upbraiding that I do not 
 serve her as she desires, rather than a gracious 
 appreciation of the things which I have lately 
 done to satisfy her. The civility which is due to 
 a lady prevents me from attempting a reply, as 
 thereby I should be certain to displease her ; but 
 her advantage, nevertheless, induces me to ad- 
 dress you, in order that you may represent to her 
 certain matters in which she is much interested. 
 She is displeased that I desire to extort from her 
 some acknowledgment of her secret dealings with 
 foreign princes. It is difficult to cure a sick man 
 who denies that he has anything amiss. Physi- 
 cians, while they expect to be apprised of the 
 ailments of their patients, conceal them from 
 strangers. You know better than most people 
 that, concerning Madame de Chevreuse, I have
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 435 
 
 acted with the secresy of a physician and a con- 
 fessor. I do not even scruple to avow that since 
 the affair of M. de Chateauneuf, many damning 
 proofs of her guilt have fallen into my hands. 
 Madame de Chevreuse cannot expect that I 
 should shock the feelings of the King by declaring 
 her innocent, when his Majesty has before him 
 proofs to the contrary. I, nevertheless, herewith 
 send her a pardon, pur et simple, such as she 
 demands. Madame de Chevreuse however will 
 probably deem it strange and irksome that she is 
 not permitted to roam all over France at her 
 pleasure, such places excepted as may be honoured 
 by the presence of the King and the Queen. Be- 
 fore she undertook her late excursion into Spain 
 Tours was her residence. If since that time she 
 has done any thing or deed worthy of commenda- 
 tion or of greater consideration, I confess my 
 error in not granting her the perfect liberty which 
 she demands. If her actions however have not 
 been immaculate, she is unreasonable and errs 
 against the rules of sound politics in expecting an 
 augmentation of grace in proportion to the 
 multiplication of her misdemeanours. Time and 
 good conduct may bring her the realisation of all 
 her wishes ; my power is not potent enough, 
 neither is my will so infirm as to decree a liberty 
 prejudicial to the realm, and by its temptations 
 unbecoming to Madame de Chevreuse. You will 
 nevertheless assure her that in every true 
 interest I will help her with cordial affection, I 
 will even bow admiringly before a mind such as
 
 436 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 hers, when not swayed by selfish passion or by 
 unlawful prejudice." 26 The Duchess, however, 
 relieved from her most pressing pecuniary necessi- 
 ties, laughed at the objurgations of her wary foe, 
 danced with Queen Henrietta at Whitehall, 
 flirted with King Charles, despatched exquisite 
 little caricatures of Richelieu to Madrid for the 
 edification of her friends, prayed publicly for 
 Queen Marie de 5 Medici and for all the unfor- 
 tunate exiles driven from France, and scandalised 
 the ambassador of King Louis until electrified 
 by the astonishing news that the pregnancy of 
 Queen Anne of Austria was officially proclaimed 
 throughout France. 
 
 The calamities of the war and the alleged 
 tyranny of the able minister were forgotten in the 
 delirious joy occasioned by this event. In France 
 no one stayed to cavil or to criticise, in the over- 
 whelming thankfulness felt that an heir to the 
 sceptre of Henri Quatre might be born, and 
 the realm delivered from probable civil war on 
 the death of Louis XIII., or from the unsteady 
 rule of Monsieur. Processions perambulated the 
 streets. Te Deums were chaunted in Notre 
 Dame and in all the principal cathedrals, alms 
 never before so inundated the kingdom, and 
 jubilee resounded even amid the frightful soli- 
 tudes of La Grande Chartreuse of Grenoble. The 
 countenance of Louis Treize however did not 
 grow more cheerful, and though he walked in the 
 chief processions yet their object might have been 
 penitential rather than jubilant to judge by the
 
 1639J ANNE OF AUSTRIA 437 
 
 gloom- stricken face and careless garb of the 
 monarch upon whom such a blessing had been 
 bestowed. In Rome masses were celebrated for 
 the Queen's safe delivery and for the birth of a 
 male heir to Bourbon. In Madrid a court 
 procession to the chapel of the Virgen de Atocha, 
 testified the participation of their Catholic Ma- 
 jesties in an event so important to the Infanta 
 Queen of France. By the advice of Richelieu and 
 of Le Pere Joseph, Louis was induced to make a 
 solemn dedication of himself and his realm to the 
 Virgin Mary, through whose direct interposition 
 the prayers of all France had been miraculously 
 answered. This consecration was performed with 
 great pomp during the month of February 1638, 
 in the church of Notre Dame. 26 Abroad, where 
 public sentiments were not fettered by interest, 
 respect or by the hand of arbitrary authority, 
 speculations the most derogatory to the majesty 
 of the crown and personally mortifying to the 
 King prevailed. Lampoons, pamphlets, 27 para- 
 graphs in the public gazettes, hinted that the 
 devotion of M. le Cardinal de Richelieu for the 
 future prosperity of France had comprehended 
 and embraced every function and privilege of 
 majesty. Other pamphleteers, more audacious, 
 feigned to bewail the future calamities of Europe 
 when a crowned son of Richelieu should wield the 
 destiny of the nation. In Holland especially such 
 libels abounded. In England they fluttered for 
 an interval but were finally put down by the high 
 hand of authority. The vanquished Huguenots
 
 438 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 of France ventured on a feeble lampoon in verse, 
 which beginning with the Dukes of Orleans and 
 Buckingham enumerated the alleged egarements 
 of her very Christian Majesty. Most of these 
 squibs and satires penetrated into the interior of 
 the Louvre and became fiery darts in the bosom 
 of the suspicious Louis, who persuaded that he 
 had been before betrayed by the Queen was 
 only too accessible to sinister impressions. Anne 
 herself was elated and triumphant ; from being 
 considered a personage secondary in importance 
 almost to the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, she found the 
 state saloons of the Louvre crowded when she 
 appeared in public, for the King had again firmly 
 refused to annul his ordinance of the year 1626, 
 which interdicted gentlemen from paying their 
 respects in private to the Queen. 
 
 Louis continued to find some solace in the 
 society of Mademoiselle de Hautefort and in 
 conning over military details. The smiles of the 
 latter during the month of June were however 
 eclipsed by the angry discussions which arose on 
 the appointment of the household of the expected 
 enfant de France. Mademoiselle de Hautefort 
 asked that her grandmother, Madame de la 
 Flotte, should be nominated to the high office of 
 gouvernante to the expected Dauphin, or Madame 
 Royale. The Cardinal however had other views ; 
 the cradle even of the heir of France must not be 
 rocked by an enemy Madame de la Flotte was 
 garrulous and swayed by her grand-daughter 
 who had shown herself inimical. Madame de
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 439 
 
 Lansac, a near relation of Richelieu's and 
 daughter of M. le Marquis de Souvre, ex-preceptor 
 to Louis XIII., was selected for the coveted 
 honour, while Mademoiselle de Hautefort was 
 propitiated by her own nomination as survivante 
 to the office of dame (Valours, then filled by 
 Madame de la Flotte. This favour conferred upon 
 Marie de Hautefort the title of Madame, and it 
 was a distinction which had never before been 
 bestowed on an unmarried lady. The Queen 
 passively submitted to the nomination of Madame 
 de Lansac, and when the latter presented herself 
 to tender homage received her with great affa- 
 bility. Madame de Lansac had received ample 
 instruction from the rapid pen of Richelieu how 
 she was to conduct herself and what she was to 
 say on her first audience, in her new capacity, 
 with the Queen. All Richelieu's agents moved 
 and spoke and thought at his dictation, his 
 forethought embraced every possible casualty, 
 and even when burdened with the weight and 
 responsibility of a war, he could prescribe the 
 trifling etiquettes of a court audience. " Madame 
 de Lansac is hereby informed," wrote Richelieu, 
 " that the King has written to the Queen to inform 
 her Majesty that he has chosen her to fill the office 
 of governess to the child which it may please God 
 to give him. When her Majesty shall be pleased 
 to send for Madame de Lansac and shall ask the 
 said lady whether she is aware of the honour 
 about to be conferred upon her, the said lady 
 shall candidly answer that rumour having placed
 
 440 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 her on the list of the personages eligible for 
 the honour, and being apprised that the King 
 had seen her name without displeasure, her 
 reluctance to be thought importunate and pre- 
 suming had prevented her thenceforth from 
 paying frequent court as usual to her Majesty." 28 
 Madame de Lansac was then instructed to whisper 
 her grief that it had been reported such nomina- 
 tion might be unwelcome to her Majesty. She 
 was then directed, upon leaving the royal apart- 
 ments, to visit Mesdames de Hautefort and de la 
 Flotte, " so that nothing mischievous to Madame 
 de Lansac may be insinuated by these persons to 
 her Majesty." Anne of Austria played her part 
 to perfection, declared herself perfectly satisfied 
 with the appointment and overwhelmed the 
 future gouvernante with flattering indications of 
 approval. Madame de Lansac however was not 
 deceived by these demonstrations, she was a 
 shrewd, self-possessed woman of a certain age, 
 proud of being a Souvre and the intimate friend 
 of Madame d'Aiguillon, and devoted to the glory 
 and to the prosperity of her kinsman the great 
 Cardinal. She was aware that Richelieu dis- 
 trusted Madame de Senece and Mesdames de 
 Hautefort and de la Flotte, and that she was 
 placed at the Louvre to keep the Queen under 
 surveillance not indeed rudely to interfere with 
 Anne's pleasures and pastimes, or to force advice 
 upon her Majesty, but simply to keep the Cardinal 
 au courant with the Queen's domestic avocations 
 and intimates.
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 441 
 
 King Louis meanwhile wandered discon- 
 solately from St. Germain to Versailles and back 
 again, in despair at the ireful and unforgiving 
 mood of Madame de Hautefort who declined 
 his confidences and refused either to look at him 
 or to speak to him. Richelieu had taken his 
 departure for the seat of war in Picardy, and 
 to Amiens were the letters addressed which 
 described to his Eminence the " doings " at St. 
 Germain. Le Pere Carre, Chavigny and Bullion 
 wrote daily and sometimes thrice a day, alarming 
 despatches relative to the royal despair and the 
 obduracy of Madame de Hautefort. These de- 
 spatches must have been heavy burdens on the 
 unfortunate ministers, they are dated at all 
 hours some at midnight, others were written at 
 three o'clock in the morning. Chavigny, whose 
 amusing pen lightens the details of many a dreary 
 despatch, seems to enter into the ludicrous 
 position ; in various letters, all following closely, 
 he gives the Cardinal the following scraps of 
 information : " Monseigneur will have heard of 
 the indisposition of the King by the letters of 
 M. Bouvard (the royal physician in ordinary). 
 His Majesty is a prey to incredible indecision, he 
 is ready to fall on his knees before sa dame and 
 pray for pardon. This evening in the circle 
 there was little conversation. When we were 
 alone, the King after a long argument on the 
 subject of de Hautefort of which I had the best, 
 exclaimed, ' Lost ! lost ! I am impatient to see 
 her. I love her better than all the rest of the
 
 442 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 world combined. I will kneel to ask her par- 
 don ! ' " The King during the last two days 
 has been at Versailles on account of the continua- 
 tion of his quarrel with Madame de Hautefort. 
 The said lady now declares a fresh cause of offence, 
 inasmuch as the Duke de Montbazon was indis- 
 creet enough to say to her in the presence of the 
 King, ' that the reason she hated Madame de 
 Lansac was that the latter lady would not permit 
 her son to marry the said de Hautefort ' the 
 which disobliging remark his Majesty con- 
 firmed. . . . This afternoon his Majesty wrote to 
 your Eminence to state that the displeasure and 
 dissatisfaction which he experienced from de 
 Hautefort would compel him to send her from 
 court. His Majesty however countermanded 
 the courier, being determined to make a last 
 effort this evening to reconcile himself with the 
 said lady." 29 " The King did me the honour to 
 assure me," writes Bullion, " of the affection and 
 confidence which he felt towards your Eminence. 
 His Majesty said, ' Madame de Hautefort has 
 observed to me that M. le Cardinal and myself 
 are great friends, nevertheless, mark my words, 
 Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo ; for neither 
 M. le Cardinal, nor myself, nor my good servants 
 find favour at St.-Germain.' I said that I was 
 aware that efforts were made to unite the interests 
 of the Queen and Madame de Hautefort, and 
 that by the mediation of a young lady whose 
 name I could not remember. ' Ah ! ' said the 
 King, ' you mean Beaumont, but she gives de
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 443 
 
 Hautefort bad advice. At St. Germain they do 
 nothing but quarrel," so much so that I am weary 
 and long to be with M. le Cardinal. La Hautefort 
 does nothing but sting Madame de Lansac. Upon 
 the matter of the Queen's letters, de Hautefort 
 told me to-day that Madame de la Flotte did not 
 now deem it a part of her duty to inform me 
 when her Majesty writes and to whom ! ' Upon 
 which I remarked, ' that his Majesty ought to 
 thank God for the wise counsels of your Eminence 
 in advising the nomination of Madame de Lansac, 
 as evidently, on the dicta of Madame de Haute- 
 fort, he cannot place confidence in the zeal of La 
 Flotte.' " 30 Such were the puerile despatches 
 which harassed Richelieu at the seat of war. His 
 Eminence wrote three long letters of condolence 
 to the King ; he also addressed Madame de 
 Hautefort, and represented the responsibility 
 which she incurred by agitating the mind of the 
 King as yet only imperfectly recovered from 
 fever. Perhaps the ferment frightened de Haute- 
 fort, or the entreaties of Anne of Austria were 
 united with those of the ladies of her household 
 in praying Marie to receive the King again into 
 favour. A smile from the syren, which beamed 
 the more brilliantly after information had been 
 conveyed to her by Chavigny that the King had 
 despatched a missive to Sceur Angelique, and the 
 reconciliation was achieved, Louis promising 
 to Madame de la Flotte the survivance of the 
 charge of lady of honour, then filled by Madame 
 de Senece. Richelieu indicates his joy at the
 
 444 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 restoration of concord in the following pithy 
 sentences : "I am enchanted to learn that 
 harmony again subsists between your Majesty's 
 dignity and your partiality ; the latter, in my 
 opinion, will ever be innocent and pure. I feel 
 extreme gladness that the King now finds con- 
 tentment in his innocent recreations, and I pray 
 God with all my heart that such may long time 
 endure ! " 31 
 
 The great event of the accouchement of the 
 Queen was now approaching. On the 1st of Sep- 
 tember 1638, the Princesses and ladies nominated 
 to be present on the occasion arrived at St.-Ger- 
 main-en-Laye. Monsieur also appeared, captious 
 as usual, and greatly incensed that his wife had 
 not received a special summons, that the recog- 
 nition of her claims might be made on so supreme 
 an occasion. Whilst the Duke of Lorraine her 
 brother was at war with his liege the King of 
 France, Marguerite deemed it prudent not to 
 venture within the grip of her enemy the Cardinal- 
 minister, unless specially protected by a safe- 
 conduct which Louis had indignantly refused to 
 grant. The Queen felt the first symptoms of 
 labour at two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, 
 September 5th. At four o'clock, Anne sent for 
 her almoner the Bishop of Lisieux and com- 
 manded a mass to be celebrated in her room, 
 there being present only the midwife Madame 
 Peronne and Mademoiselle Filandre chief tire- 
 woman, the indisposition of her Majesty being 
 kept secret by her special command. At five
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 445 
 
 o'clock, Filandre caused the King to be apprized 
 of the approaching event. 32 Louis arose and 
 commanded the presence of all official personages, 
 and that his medical staff should repair to the 
 large saloon. In twenty minutes the inmates of 
 the chateau were wild with excitement and 
 expectation. The guard was posted and every 
 avenue leading to the palace kept by a strong 
 piquet of soldiers. The gentlemen of the King's 
 Swiss guard, bearing their battle-axes and hal- 
 berts, ranged themselves in the vestibule of the 
 palace. At six o'clock, the ladies whose right it 
 was to be present in the Queen's chamber entered 
 and took their seats on chairs covered with cloth 
 of gold. These were the Princess de Conde, the 
 Countess de Soissons, the Duchess de Vendome, 
 the mistress of the robes Duchess de Mont- 
 morency, the Duchess de Bouillon, the Marquise 
 de Lansac, Mesdames de Senece and de la Flotte. 
 In a saloon adjoining, were Seguier the chancellor, 
 Chavigny, Bullion, Mesdames de Guemene, de la 
 Trimouille, de Villauxclers, de Hautefort, de 
 Liancour, and de Mortemar. The prelates were 
 the Archbishop of Bourges, the Bishops of 
 Lisieux, 33 Chalons and Meaux. 34 In another 
 lofty chamber several hundred personages of 
 minor condition waited the event. At nine 
 o'clock a sensation of terror pervaded the assem- 
 blage, the Queen was reported to be in extreme 
 peril and a hasty message from Dame Peronne 
 summoned the surgeons in waiting. Seguier, 
 also, went to inform the King of this crisis, who
 
 446 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1687- 
 
 does not appear to have paid any previous visit to 
 his consort. Louis then entered the apartment 
 pallid and downcast ; he approached the tem- 
 porary altar, and kneeling, prayed aloud that God 
 would grant a safe and speedy delivery to the 
 Queen his consort. Masses were then commenced 
 by the Bishop of Lisieux in the royal chamber ; 
 while the Bishop of Meaux recited the Divine 
 Office in the saloon, which was fervently joined 
 in by all present. 35 
 
 The King, meantime, discoursed with Madame 
 de Hautefort who was weeping bitterly. At 
 half-past ten, Madame de Senece approached 
 with a message from the Queen to her royal 
 consort. Anne sent her greeting, an assurance of 
 her courage and an entreaty that the King would 
 retire to partake of his accustomed collation at 
 eleven o'clock. Louis consequently retired after 
 a brief conference with Bouvard. He had scarcely 
 seated himself at table when the sound of a great 
 commotion was heard, and several messengers 
 rushed unceremoniously into the royal presence 
 with the news that the Queen's delivery was near. 
 Shouts of exultation greeted the King as he again 
 approached the chamber. " C'est un Dauphin ! 
 C'est un Dauphin ! " Madame de Senece met the 
 King at the door of the chamber and placed in 
 his arms the new-born babe, who gave token of 
 vigour by shrill cries. 36 The company simultane- 
 ously gave thanks on their knees to Providence 
 for so inestimable a gift. 
 
 The Queen meantime, overwhelmed with the
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 447 
 
 tumult and the heat, fainted away ; but presently 
 reviving, she clasped her hands and returned 
 thanks to God for her preservation, and for the 
 birth of a Dauphin, who was brought to her by 
 the Dame de Giraudiere, his wet-nurse. As yet 
 the King had never approached the couch of his 
 consort. Anne had now given a Dauphin to 
 France ; Louis heard himself hailed as happy 
 father and fortunate prince ! Etiquette there- 
 fore required that congratulations between the 
 royal pair shoud be exchanged in the presence of 
 the august personages around. " The King," 
 relates Madame de Motteville, " was obliged to 
 be urged to approach the Queen his consort and 
 to embrace her after her accouchement. ' ' The child, 
 by the command of the King, was immediately 
 baptized by the Bishop of Meaux, and received 
 the name of Louis. 
 
 During the hour of his wife's greatest peril the 
 King stood at a window talking to Madame de 
 Hautefort. This discourse is reported by the 
 author of the " Life of Madame de Hautefort," 
 lately published for the first time by M. Cousin. 
 The author who describes herself as the intimate 
 friend, and one of the last earthly companions of 
 Marie de Hautefort, vouches for the perfect 
 accuracy of her narrative. A passage so strange 
 and painful requires almost the confirmation of 
 more than one narrator ; nevertheless the conduct 
 of the King throughout the hours preceding 
 the birth of Louis XIV., and the indifference he 
 afterwards manifested towards the Queen, give
 
 448 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 an aspect of truth to the statement, which must 
 prevent it from being altogether rejected as 
 apocryphal. " The King, seeing Madame de 
 Hautefort standing near a window, approached 
 her. Perceiving that she was weeping, the King 
 in a whisper bade her not afflict herself so greatly 
 as she had no reason to do so. Madame de Haute- 
 fort, surprised to hear such a speech at a moment 
 so critical, replied angrily ' that she wondered at 
 the unfeeling observation of his Majesty, consider- 
 ing the dangerous condition of the Queen.' The 
 King, with a cheerful manner, said ' I shall be 
 pleased enough if they save the child it is quite 
 enough. You, Madame, I think, would find no 
 reason to regret the loss of the mother ! ' Madame 
 de Hautefort thereupon cast down her eyes, and 
 showed plainly to the King that she had no 
 pleasure in such discourse. The Queen passed a 
 bad night. His Majesty also never slept nor 
 retired to bed, but occupied himself with La 
 Chesnaie, one of his principal valets de chambre, 
 in examining a History of France, to find a pre- 
 cedent for the marriage of a King of France with 
 a subject." 
 
 At mid-day, September 5th, Louis proceeded 
 in state to the chapel of the castle, escorted by a 
 hundred gentlemen-at-arms, to be present at the 
 Te Deum chaunted for the auspicious birth of a 
 Dauphin. Pontifical mass was next celebrated, 
 during which Louis made rich offerings. The King 
 then returned to the Queen's chamber, to be 
 present while M. le Dauphin was escorted in the
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 449 
 
 arms of his nurse to his own apartments, which 
 were hung with white silk damask, and where he 
 was received by his gouvernante, Madame la Mar- 
 quise de Lansac. Louis then held a council, at 
 which missives were written and despatched to 
 the potentates of Europe and to the municipal 
 authorities of the realm. In Paris the news was 
 already known ; the cannon of the Bastille and 
 of the Arsenal thundered through the streets, and 
 the bells of Notre Dame and of the Sainte- 
 Chapelle rang merry carrillons. On the quay in 
 front of the Hotel de Ville tables were spread, at 
 which, for three days, every comer was welcome 
 to drain a goblet or to eat a morsel in honour of 
 M. le Dauphin. At night the capital was a blaze 
 of illuminations, such as had never before been 
 witnessed ; fireworks of wonderful conceits and 
 brilliancy being also displayed. The fagades of the 
 Louvre, the Tuileries, the Palais Cardinal, the 
 Hotel d'Aiguillon, the Spanish and English Em- 
 bassies, shone with resplendent light. The festivi- 
 ties lasted for several days with undiminished 
 splendour ; never before had the birth of an 
 heir- apparent been celebrated with rejoicings so 
 magnificent. In the provinces the pageants almost 
 surpassed in splendour and variety those of the 
 capital. The great religious houses of the realm 
 proclaimed largesse and gave bounteous alms and 
 prayers. " Vive le Prince Dauphin, Vattente de la 
 France ! " was the greeting often heard to be ex- 
 changed between individuals in the first fervour 
 of their enthusiasm. 37 
 
 ti
 
 450 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 The Cardinal de Richelieu meantime was at 
 St. Quentin, directing the progress of the campaign 
 in Picardy, but more especially the operations of 
 the siege of St. Omer, which, under the Marshal 
 de Chatillon, were not attended with desirable 
 success. " The great Armand, Cardinal Due de 
 Richelieu, was at St. Quentin when he received 
 the very happy and very agreeable news of the 
 birth of a Dauphin, by several couriers despatched 
 by their Majesties," relates Hilarion de Coste. 
 " His Eminence immediately repaired to the large 
 church to chant the Canticle of Thanksgiving, and 
 to give in person benediction to the people who 
 flocked in numbers to the service. There were 
 present Charles de Valois, Due d'Angouleme, and 
 all the lords in the army of Picardy, M. de Noyers, 
 M. de Choisy and many other privy councillors. 
 His Eminence ordered a brilliant display of fire- 
 works and a salute of all the artillery in the 
 place." Richelieu, on the following day, enter- 
 tained the officers at a superb banquet, and com- 
 manded the poor in St. Quentin and Amiens to be 
 entertained at his expense. His letter of congratu- 
 lation to King Louis was terse but expressive : 
 " Sire, The birth of Monsieur le Dauphin has 
 ravished me with joy. I pray that as he is Theo- 
 dosius, the gift which God has given you, so may 
 he be, by possession of the great and heroic quali- 
 ties which adorned the Emperors of that name. 
 I earnestly pray that God may overwhelm your 
 Majesty with benedictions as many and fervent 
 as he prays who is for ever your Majesty's devoted
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 451 
 
 subject and servant." 33 To the Queen, Richelieu 
 wrote : " Madame, Great joy is not loquacious ; 
 therefore I know not how to express to your 
 Majesty that which I feel for her happy accouche- 
 ment, and for the birth of Monseigneur le Dauphin. 
 I believe and trust that God has given him to 
 Christendom to appease and to allay troubles, 
 and to confer upon us the benediction of peace. 
 I vow to Monseigneur from his birth and hence- 
 forth the devotion and zeal which has always 
 inspired me to serve the King and your Majesty. 
 I am, your Majesty's eternal and devoted subject, 
 -The Cardinal Due de Richelieu." 39 
 
 The recovery of the Queen was rapid, and on 
 the 26th of September the ceremony of " church- 
 ing " was performed in Anne's audience chamber 
 by the Bishop of Lisieux and other prelates. The 
 King had already quitted St. Germain to solace 
 himself with the pleasures of the chase at Chan- 
 tilly. Anne, now a proud and happy mother, sat 
 under her canopy of state, Madame de Lansac 
 standing on her right holding the young prince. 
 While the prayers of the Offertory were being 
 recited, the Queen arose, and taking the babe in 
 her arms, traversed alone the vast apartment, and 
 kneeling at the altar, " made an oblation of her- 
 self and her new-born son to the King of Kings, 
 and afterwards devoutly received the Holy Eu- 
 charist." The Abbot of St. Denis and the Bishop 
 of Brieux held the stole over the head of M. le 
 Dauphin during the ceremonies at the altar. When 
 the Bishop of Lisieux began to read the Gospel,
 
 452 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 the royal child fixed his eyes earnestly on the 
 prelate. It was considered, likewise, as remark- 
 able that in reciting certain words of the Gospel, 
 when the bishop took the hand of the little Prince, 
 he squeezed the prelate's finger with wonderful 
 strength and vigour. 40 On the 27th of September 
 Richelieu arrived in Paris, and on Wednesday, 
 the 29th, he repaired to St. Germain to visit the 
 Queen and her son. Louis met the Cardinal at St. 
 Germain and conducted him to the presence of 
 her Majesty. " It would be impossible," writes a 
 famous chronicler, "to describe the transports of 
 his Eminence and with what joy he was possessed 
 on beholding that admirable child in the arms of 
 his mother a babe which had been the object of 
 his ardent aspirations and whose birth fulfilled 
 his fondest desires. His said Eminence then took 
 leave and departed for Ruel." 41 
 
 As soon as Anne was able to go abroad, the 
 King, Queen and court walked in procession from 
 the Louvre to Notre Dame. The shrines of St. 
 Landry, St. Denis, St. Eleutherius and St. Gene- 
 vie ve were carried in the procession, which con- 
 sisted of the court, the ecclesiastics and monks 
 and nuns of the capital, the trade guilds and the 
 municipality of Paris. The glorious strains of Te 
 Deum Laudamus echoed along the vaulted aisles 
 of the grand old cathedral, while the people on the 
 line of procession rapturously cheered the royal 
 pair. Cardinal de Richelieu and the Papal Nuncio, 
 in pontificalibus, received their Majesties at the 
 porch of the church and preceded them to their
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 453 
 
 chairs of state. The congratulations of his Holi- 
 ness being especially cordial, Louis wrote thus to 
 the Pope on the birth of his son : 
 
 LOUIS XIII. TO POPE URBAN VIII. 
 
 " VERY HOLY FATHER, As it has pleased 
 Almighty God always to give us grace to over- 
 come tribulations contrary to the peace of our 
 realm, we ever maintained a good hope that He 
 would at length confer upon our royal consort and 
 ourself the one remaining blessing so ardently 
 desired by our subjects. God has at length granted 
 us a son which the Queen has brought forth 
 safely. As this child has been given to us many 
 years after our marriage, we regard his birth as a 
 special benediction from God, bestowed upon us 
 and upon the Queen, and whilst we return thanks, 
 and while our subjects throng the churches for the 
 same object we have thought good thus to address 
 your Holiness. 
 
 " Your devoted son, 
 
 " Louis." 42 
 
 The Pope deputed Cardinal Sforza to proceed 
 to France on a special mission of congratulation, 
 and to present to the royal child the splendid 
 robes, cradle, linen, cushions and hangings, 
 blessed by the pontifical hand the customary 
 offering made by the Popes on the birth of the 
 heir of the Eldest Son of the Church. 43 
 
 When rejoicing ceased for the birth of M. le 
 Dauphin, and excitement was allayed, people fell 
 again into their old train of speculation. Monsieur
 
 454 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 quitted St. Germain declaring himself highly 
 dissatisfied and highly perplexed, while his ad- 
 herents openly counselled him to take up arms to 
 proclaim the illegitimacy of the so-called Dauphin 
 and to assert his own rights. In Paris itself a 
 pamphlet of the most scandalous and odious 
 nature 44 appeared, which was eagerly circulated. 
 A story was likewise whispered, proceeding, it was 
 rumoured, from the high authority of a very 
 virtuous lady of the palace, that the Queen had 
 given birth to twin sons, the last born of whom 
 had immediately and mysteriously disappeared. 
 The friends of Monsieur asserted that Chavigny, 
 the Cardinal's second self, had remained during 
 the Queen's labour, against all precedent, in the 
 antechamber of her oratory, which opened close 
 to the ruelle of the royal bed ; that much mystery 
 had been observed, and that the King had not 
 been present when the child called " the Dauphin " 
 was born all of which were allegations proved to 
 be true. Other writings were published, alleging 
 that for certain reasons well known to many 
 the so-called Dauphin could not be the son of 
 Louis XIII. 45 No confirmation of these suspicions 
 however could be extracted from the placid mien 
 of the Cardinal or from the extreme veneration 
 which he displayed towards the royal babe, never- 
 theless it was deemed strange that his Eminence 
 should have been absent at St. Quentin at a 
 moment so important to the realm as the birth of 
 the future king. The antecedent history of the 
 Queen unfortunately gave probability to these
 
 '''l/l.j's/tt
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 455 
 
 suspicions. The events of the year 1637, though 
 arising altogether from her own indiscretions, 
 were perilous, and the danger greater than she 
 had ever previously incurred. The King was ready 
 to visit her offences with the utmost possible 
 retribution, being no longer deterred by the fear 
 of a declaration of war with Spain, as hostilities 
 with that realm were then absolutely pending. 
 The dreadful indispositions which, every six 
 months, menaced the life of Louis XIII., made 
 Richelieu dread a speedy fall from power, the 
 confiscation of his vast wealth and probable 
 exile from the realm. It was said, and with what 
 truth may never now be known, that Anne and 
 her old enemy Richelieu, apprehending persecu- 
 tion and degradation on the accession of the Duke 
 of Orleans, combined, in order to maintain their 
 power and influence ; that the mind of the Queen 
 was hard and determined, and that her detesta- 
 tion of Louis XIII. was such that no crime against 
 him would deter her from following her own 
 interests. The silence of Marie de' Medici was 
 also looked upon as ominous, for the Queen- 
 mother it was averred, would on so joyful an 
 occasion have given some signal mark of sym- 
 pathy with the nation. King Louis XIII., never- 
 theless, did not disown his Dauphin nor display 
 any doubt respecting his legitimate birth. It 
 might be that he shrank from a contest with the 
 Queen, supported by the power of the Spanish 
 monarchy, by Richelieu and by the wishes and 
 wants of the nation.
 
 456 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 In after times, when in the days of the Fronde 
 Paris rose against the Regent and her minister 
 Mazarin, the conduct of Queen Anne had been 
 such, that many, who had previously disbelieved 
 the rumours connected with the birth of Louis 
 XIV., avowed their conviction that such surmises 
 probably had not arisen without foundation. 
 
 As soon as the Queen removed to the Louvre a 
 fresh surprise awaited the public by the dismissal 
 of all her chief ladies a measure which did not 
 tend to allay the impertinent conjectures current. 
 Madame de Senece had never become cordially 
 reconciled to Richelieu after the profession of her 
 niece la Fayette ; she moreover dared to speak 
 and act independently of the minister. The Mar- 
 quise was a lady of the highest rank, and possibly 
 Richelieu deemed it indispensable to appoint to 
 so confidential a post a personage of less exalted 
 birth, and devoted to his will. Whether the Queen 
 privately gave her assent to this measure does not 
 appear probably she did ; outwardly however 
 she evinced dissatisfaction and even sorrow and 
 made angry comments when the dismissal of her 
 old friend was notified to her by the following brief 
 note brought by Chavigny, written and signed by 
 the King. 
 
 " To THE QUEEN. 
 
 " These three words are to inform you that I 
 have resolved, for certain considerations as im- 
 portant to you as to myself, to dismiss Madame 
 de Senece, as the Sieur de Chavigny will more
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 457 
 
 amply explain and in whose words you will place 
 confidence." 4a 
 
 As the Queen was accustomed to receive such 
 communications in a mutinous spirit, which she 
 could not at once discard, Richelieu drew up a 
 summary of the replies advisable for the King to 
 adopt in answer to his consort's expected ex- 
 postulations. " When her Majesty shall arrive at 
 St. Germain, his Majesty may, if he so pleases, 
 greet her with the words : ' I made known to your 
 Majesty that when Madame de Senece shall have 
 obeyed me, I will listen willingly to anything you 
 may have to allege on her behalf. If she has really 
 departed from Paris on her way home, you may 
 speak, but Madame, before argument, I insist 
 upon obedience.' Then if the Queen persists in 
 pursuing the discourse, it will be advisable for 
 your Majesty to add : ' You are aware of the 
 many impertinences of which Madame de Senece 
 has been guilty, I have seen you smile at them a 
 hundred times. You may say that people are not 
 dismissed because they sometimes make impudent 
 speeches. I answer that I have not banished 
 Madame de Senece for this cause only. You 
 also know the kind of spirit which she harbours 
 towards him who has the conduct of my affairs. 
 Upon this subject you probably know more than 
 myself, but I also know facts which are concealed 
 from you. I know the persons whom she employs 
 to anger me when I am out of temper. I have 
 knowledge of the warnings which she has given
 
 458 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 against all truth, to certain persons, that I in- 
 tended to arrest them. There are many other 
 matters, and I appeal to you, Madame, whether 
 I should be well advised to keep such a person 
 at my court ? ' " 47 
 
 Such was the objurgation which Richelieu 
 prepared and forwarded to his royal master. 
 The helplessness of Louis XIII. is pitiable. 
 Whether Louis used the words thus put into his 
 mouth is doubtful, for the Queen took the resig- 
 nation of Madame de Senece with marvellous 
 tranquillity, appearing occupied solely with M. le 
 Dauphin whom she drove out daily in her coach. 48 
 
 The Countess de Brassac received the office 
 vacated by Madame de Senece : she was a Ste. 
 Maure, 49 and aunt of the Marquis de Montausier. 
 Her husband had once professed the Huguenot 
 faith, and had served the cause as governor of St. 
 Jean d'Angely, but like many other officers, on 
 the fall of La Rochelle, he had conformed to the 
 orthodox faith, and through the patronage of 
 Pere Joseph, received the splendid reward of the 
 government of the provinces of Saintonge and 
 Angoumois. " Madame de Brassac," says Talle- 
 mant, " was a very gentle and modest person, 
 who understood Latin and amused herself 
 with theology and mathematics. She is said to 
 have understood Euclid. Her chief delight was 
 dreamy meditation. When she was appointed as 
 lady of honour, she told the Cardinal that she 
 preferred a retired life, and that it would be easy 
 for him to find another lady whom the office would
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 459 
 
 better suit, moreover that she could not pretend 
 to offer him the services with the Queen that his 
 Eminence had a right to expect. Nevertheless, she 
 behaved so well that she pleased both the Queen 
 and the Cardinal, although the Gospel tells us that 
 we cannot serve two masters. The Queen praised 
 her to everybody, which is not faint eulogy." 
 M. de Brassac received at the same time the office 
 of steward of the Queen's household, in the room 
 of M. Sanguin. The Bishop of Limoges was dis- 
 missed from his office of almoner to the Queen, 
 which was bestowed on the Bishop of Lisieux. 
 Many of the Queen's maids, Mesdemoiselles de 
 Beaumont, d'Aiches and de Polignac were dis- 
 missed; other ladies were also doomed by the 
 Cardinal, amongst whom were Madame de Haute- 
 fort and her grandmother, Madame de la Flotte 
 for to rid the court of these personages Richelieu 
 now discovered a way. 
 
 At this period, the beginning of the year 1639, 
 the Cardinal stood high in the good graces of their 
 Majesties. The cabal of the Queen and her late 
 confidentes looked on with amazement at the 
 entente evidently ratified between their royal mis- 
 tress and her late enemy. ' The Queen receives 
 M. le Cardinal with every demonstration of bien- 
 veillant friendship." Another writer, in a letter to 
 the exiled Bishop of Limoges, relates : " The loves 
 of the King do not go better than usual. On the 
 contrary, from bad to worse, as it seems. It is 
 rumoured that we shall soon see further changes." 
 The secret of the discord alluded to between
 
 460 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 Madame de Hautefort and the King was, that 
 after their former quarrel, Louis had promised 
 Madame de la Flotte, dame d'autors, the place of 
 lady of honour whenever such became vacant by 
 the resignation of the Marquise de Senece. The 
 office having fallen at the disposal of the crown, 
 Marie de Hautefort insisted that Madame de la 
 Flotte should be installed in the coveted post, 
 which would have given Mademoiselle de Haute- 
 fort increased rank at court, as she had been 
 gratified with the survivance of her grandmother's 
 office, and would therefore succeed her as dame 
 d'atours. Louis returned a positive refusal, and 
 stormy interviews were succeeded by intervals of 
 sullen alienation. Richelieu had long sought to 
 discover an antidote to the ill-humours of de 
 Hautefort, which increased the morbid despon- 
 dency of the King to a degree often unpleasantly 
 manifested during the transaction of business of 
 state. Not one of the ladies, her companions in 
 office, was capable of performing the role of la 
 Fayette. Mademoiselle de Chemerault, who alone 
 seemed to attract any portion of the royal notice, 
 was silly and frivolous, and quite incapable of 
 sustaining that solid and sentimental discourse in 
 which the King professed to delight. Amongst the 
 pages of honour in the service of Richelieu was 
 Henri Cinq-Mars d'Effiat, youngest son of the 
 Marshal d'Effiat, a beautiful and brilliant youth 
 of eighteen, an adept in all the arts and pastimes 
 of courts. The early boyhood of Cinq-Mars had 
 been spent in the solitudes of his father's wild
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 461 
 
 domain in Auvergne. Left to his own devices, and 
 without companions of his own age or rank, Cinq- 
 Mars had become a proficient in the sports and 
 outdoor pastimes in which boys of his age de- 
 lighted. He was an expert snarer of birds, a good 
 horseman, he could fish, wrestle, run, and loved 
 the wild life of the woods, through which he used 
 to roam with ever-increasing delight. At the age 
 of fifteen, the Marshal 80 sent for his son and en- 
 rolled him as page in waiting to the Cardinal, who 
 was a kinsman of d'Effiat. Cinq-Mars quitted 
 Auvergne in despair ; but once installed at the 
 Palais Cardinal, his good looks, quickness and 
 natural grace attracted the notice of Richelieu. 
 The boy was at once, by his command, placed 
 under suitable masters, all of whom he enchanted 
 by his good humour and merry spirit. Soon Cinq- 
 Mars became the accomplished cavalier and grand 
 gentleman, and indulged to the bent of his desires 
 by the Cardinal, presently assumed the airs of the 
 most finical petit-maitre. " This young cavalier," 
 writes a contemporary, " by the charm of his dis- 
 course and by the grace of his manners gained 
 all hearts. Nature had lavished upon him choice 
 gifts." Unfortunately there was no basis of educa- 
 tion and moral culture to support these brilliant 
 but superficial gifts. Cinq-Mars was vain, caprici- 
 ous, irritable, self-indulgent, and seeing himself 
 the idol of the Cardinal's household, conceived so 
 high a notion of his own importance as greatly to 
 amuse, but yet perplex, his patron. Richelieu 
 nevertheless resolved to introduce Cinq-Mars to
 
 462 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 the King, and moreover to recommend him to 
 Louisas a suitable and amusing companion for his 
 leisure hours. He therefore gave him the office of 
 master of the wardrobe, and recommending pru- 
 dence, submission and good humour, installed 
 Cinq-Mars in the royal household. Louis at first 
 disdained Cinq-Mars, whose levity had been repre- 
 sented to him by some personage of the court who 
 was probably jealous of the favourite page of M. le 
 Cardinal. Among his other gifts, Cinq-Mars pos- 
 sessed a melodious voice, and the King over- 
 hearing him one day singing some melancholy 
 cadence from one of the royal compositions, im- 
 mediately took him into favour. The early pur- 
 suits of Cinq-Mars then greatly aided his rise to 
 favour. He talked to the King of piscatory ex- 
 ploits, taught his Majesty a new way to snare 
 magpies, advised the King on the management 
 of his kennels at St. Maur and Fontainebleau, 
 and whittled away with Louis on the wooden toys 
 which his Majesty manufactured during his hours of 
 recreation. After the lapse of a few months, there- 
 fore, the influence of Cinq-Mars was in the ascen- 
 dant and that of Marie de Hautef ort on the decline. 
 Meantime, through Mademoiselle de Cheme- 
 rault, who was now told to do his bidding, Riche- 
 lieu kept vigilant watch over the household at St. 
 Germain. In this correspondence the personages 
 of the court have each a nom de plume : for 
 instance, the King and Queen have the sobriquet 
 of Cephale and Procris ; Madame de Hautefort 
 is Aurore ; Madame de Lansac, La Baleine ;
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 463 
 
 Madame de la Flotte, La Vieille. The disorders 
 and the perpetual dissensions, meantime, arrived 
 at such a pitch that the Cardinal found it expe- 
 dient to strike. He therefore humbly represented 
 that a further clearance of the intrigantes of the 
 court was requisite, unless his Majesty chose to 
 release him from the burden of affairs. Louis 
 abruptly asked if there was not an antidote 
 without proceeding to such extremity. Richelieu 
 replied by cunningly demanding the exile of 
 Madame de Hautefort for a fortnight only, " to 
 prove to unprincipled agitators that the said lady 
 was not the most powerful person in the realm." 
 The King, who had quarrelled with de Hautefort 
 on account of some sarcasms which she had 
 uttered concerning Cinq-Mars and his airs, con- 
 sented to the proposition, and desired his minister 
 to see that his will was notified. The day pre- 
 viously Louis had returned from a hasty visit to 
 Amiens, and on seeing de Hautefort in the circle, 
 he angrily accosted her in these words : " Madame, 
 I understand that you have been slandering Cinq- 
 Mars, take care in future of your words take 
 heed, I again repeat, or I shall know how to 
 punish with due severity 1 " 
 
 As soon as the consent of Louis had been ex- 
 torted, Richelieu despatched Chavigny to signify 
 to Madame de Hautefort the order for her depar- 
 ture on the morrow, without farewell audience of 
 the King. He also recommended that Madame de 
 la Flotte and Mademoiselle de Chemerault should 
 likewise retire for a season. In one of their most
 
 464 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 confidential interviews, however, Louis had ad- 
 jured and commanded Madame de Hautefort on 
 no account to quit the court without obtaining an 
 interview with him, in defiance even of his own 
 assumed command. She therefore determined to 
 brave the wrath of the Cardinal and not to leave 
 Paris without an audience. Indignation and pique 
 at treatment so unceremonious agitated Marie de 
 Hautefort, and she flew to the Queen's chamber 
 to impart the news. Anne wept and sobbed aloud 
 as she clasped her friend in her arms. The Queen, 
 however, declined to interfere, but suggested 
 that probably the report of her approaching mar- 
 riage with M. le Comte de Gesvres had angered the 
 King, and which a few words would explain. The 
 homage of the brave young Count de Gesvres, 
 captain of the King's guards, had been com- 
 placently received by Madame de Hautefort, who 
 weary of cabals naturally inclined towards so 
 advantageous an alliance. The cancans of the 
 court reached the King's ear during his visit to 
 the camp. Inflamed with wrathful jealousy, Louis 
 sent an exempt of the royal guard to M. de 
 Tresmes, father of de Gesvres, to express his 
 indignation that the latter had presumed to seek 
 the hand of la Dame de Hautefort, domestique de 
 la Reyne, without his royal permission ; but as 
 such indecorum had been committed, the King 
 commanded M. de Gesvres to espouse the said 
 lady before the approaching season of Lent. If the 
 said de Gesvres declined to do so, the Count de 
 Tresmes, under peril of the royal displeasure, was
 
 1639J ANNE OF AUSTRIA 465 
 
 to seek out another bride for his son before the 
 above-mentioned period. The displeasure of 
 Louis XIII. was no passing cloud, both de 
 Gesvres and his father disavowed the intention 
 the former thanking his Majesty for the gracious 
 permission he had given him to seek the hand of 
 Madame de Hautefort in marriage. Returning to 
 St. Germain after this piece of tyranny, the King, 
 embittered by his past annoyance, addressed the 
 severe reproof to Marie concerning Cinq- Mars. 
 Richelieu knew how to time his opportunities, and 
 probably insinuated that a temporary exile would 
 render de Hautefort more submissive and careful 
 for the future. 61 
 
 Madame de Hautefort, early the following 
 morning, presented herself at the door of the royal 
 apartment to see the King before he proceeded to 
 hear mass. The halberts of the sentinels were 
 instantly crossed to bar her ingress into the apart- 
 ment, while the officer in the guard-chamber 
 explained " that the King had given orders to deny 
 admittance to Madame de Hautefort." Pale with 
 anger, Marie refraining from useless clamour 
 descended to the guard-chamber through which 
 the King had necessarily to pass on leaving the 
 chapel. As she waited there, perhaps bitter 
 thoughts crossed the mind of Marie de Hautefort 
 of another adventure, when in a still more gloomy 
 chamber she had borne the jibes and curious 
 glances of the soldiers, on behalf of a royal mis- 
 tress who now declined to make one single effort 
 on her behalf. After a short interval the door 
 
 2
 
 466 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 opened, and Louis leisurely entered attended by 
 Cinq-Mars and followed at a little distance by a 
 troop of courtiers. He started when he beheld 
 Madame de Hautefort and retreated a step in 
 confusion. Marie approached with dignity : 
 " Sire," said she, " relying on your royal word, 
 I have not believed or obeyed the order which I 
 have received in your name to leave the court, 
 neither, after your protestations, can I believe it 
 unless I receive the command from your own 
 lips ! " Louis confusedly replied " that he had 
 given such command and avowed it, and that 
 her exile was to extend over only fifteen days, to 
 which he had assented with extreme regret for 
 certain important reasons of state ! 5: " Sire, the 
 fifteen days will extend to the end of your Majesty's 
 life ! Therefore I bid you eternal farewell ! " Louis 
 made no reply but hurriedly passed on. 62 
 
 Madame de Hautefort, perceiving that appeal 
 would be useless, and irritated by a low and mock- 
 ing obeisance from M. de Cinq-Mars as he passed 
 her, retired and prepared for immediate depar- 
 ture. Her last interview with the Queen added to 
 her discomposure. Anne, though she took from 
 her own ears a pair of superb diamond earrings and 
 gave them to de Hautefort, yet manifested a calm- 
 ness and indifference most mortifying. When 
 informed that Mademoiselle de Chemerault had 
 likewise been dismissed, Anne declined to make 
 her a parting gift, or to give her a written testi- 
 monial of satisfaction at her services. De Cheme- 
 rault, whom Madame de Hautefort considered her
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 467 
 
 bosom friend, had since the affair of the Val de 
 Grace been the spy of the Cardinal, and had not 
 only betrayed her friend but the Queen also in 
 various little trifles which came under her observa- 
 tion. Probably Anne knew more on this subject 
 than she chose to avow. Madame de Hautefort 
 nevertheless, indignant at her dismissal and at 
 the indifference manifested by their Majesties, 
 addressed a letter of reproach to the Queen before 
 she quitted the Louvre. " Madame," wrote de 
 Hautefort in the first glow of her wrath, 53 " if I 
 might be permitted to judge your Majesty's senti- 
 ments by my own, I should never dare to say to 
 you adieu for ever, dreading lest that cruel word 
 might endanger your life, as it does my own even 
 while I write it. But as God has conferred upon 
 you the gift of resignation, such as you have 
 shown in many other emergencies, I should wrong 
 Providence and your own constancy if I pre- 
 sumed to fancy that my disgrace and misfortune 
 could disturb either your health or your repose. 
 It is therefore for ever, Madame, that I say to 
 you this word, Adieu ! I beg your Majesty to 
 believe that in whatever part of the world fortune 
 may lead me, I shall persevere in that fidelity and 
 attachment to you which is the true cause of my 
 persecution, regretting only not to be able to 
 suffer more evils for the love of you." 
 
 Madame de Hautefort proceeds to rate the 
 Queen in the same sarcastic strain for her il- 
 liberality to Mademoiselle de Chemerault, who 
 had been dismissed without gratuity, with the
 
 468 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 payment only of her salary of 4000 crowns, " and 
 in the same summary manner, Madame, that you 
 would discharge Michelette ! 64 Madame, if a great 
 Queen like yourself has not money in hand to 
 reward and help a girl whom she has professed 
 to love, at least a present might be vouchsafed, a 
 pension promised, or a letter written to prove to 
 the girl's mother that your Majesty feels satisfied 
 with her past services. Although I have heard with 
 intense mortification the dread which you now mani- 
 fest to displease him 55 who tears me from you, I 
 protest, Madame, that your timidities and conces- 
 sions grieve and pique me more for your own sake 
 than for my own, as I might find consolation for my 
 own wrongs, if I could be certain that this injury 
 is the last that you will receive from his hands." 
 Generous, warm - hearted and imprudent, 
 Madame de Hautefort left many friends at court, 
 and the renown of a spotless reputation. She was 
 attended from Paris to Mans by M. de Villers, an 
 intimate friend of her family, and followed by 
 the Marquis de Noirmoutier who had long been 
 madly enamoured of her, and who hoped to 
 receive in her adversity that encouragement for 
 his honourable proposals which Madame de Haute- 
 fort had before denied him when at court. 56 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHT 
 
 1 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. 
 
 2 Tallemant des Reaux, t. 2. 
 
 3 FranQois, second Due de la Rochefoucauld, born in 1613, author of 
 the Maxims, and of the History of the Regency of Anne of Austria. The 
 duke married the only daughter and heiress of Andre de Vivonne, 
 Seigneur de la Chateigneraie. He died March 17, 1680.
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 469 
 
 4 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. Tallemant, t. 1. 
 
 5 La Rochefoucauld, Mem. p. 326-7, ft seq. 
 
 6 Extrait de 1'Information faite par le President Vignier de la sortie 
 de Madame de Chevreuse hors de France. Bibl. Imp. Du Puy. 499-500. 
 Published also by M. Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. Mem. de 
 La Rochefoucauld. 
 
 7 " Voila ou elle s'assisa en me disant adieu ; et ou elle me dit quatre 
 paroles qui m'assommarent f " exclaimed the illiterate prelate, in the 
 fervour of his grief. One day he had a melodrama on the story of 
 Mariamne performed to please the Duchess : " Monseigneur," said the 
 Duchess, " il me semble que nous ne sommes point touches de la Passion 
 comme de cette comedie." "Je crois bien, Madame," replied the 
 Archbishop ; " ceci c'est histoire ! Je 1'ai lu dans Josephe ! " 
 Tallemant des Reaux, t. 2. 
 
 8 M6m de La Rochefoucauld. Mem. de Motteville. 
 
 9 Bibl. Imp. MS. Suppl. Fr. 4068. Nouvelle Declaration de la Reine 
 de la main de Le Gras. 
 
 10 Marie de Burges. 
 
 11 Mademoiselle de la Fayette soon edified her community by the ardour 
 of her devotions and the ingenuity of her penances. One day some fruit 
 was served on the refectory table, so worm-eaten and covered with ants 
 as to be rejected by the nuns. La SOBUT Angelique, however, ate the 
 fruit with unction as an act of penance, to the great admiration of the 
 sisterhood. La Soeur Angelique eventually quitted the convent for 
 that at Chaillot which needed reform and discipline. She eventually 
 became abbess of this community, and lived in intimate friendship with 
 Queen Henrietta Maria, who patronised the convent, in which she spent 
 much of her time. 
 
 12 Griffet, Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII. 
 
 13 Probably the community of Avenay in the vicinity of Rheims, which 
 had just lost its young abbess, Benedicte de Gonzague de Cleves-Nevers. 
 
 14 " II y a trois semaines que nous cherchons ce qui met le Roi de si 
 mauvaise humeur, et le voila trouve ! Je vous promets que j'en infor- 
 merai M. le Cardinal a votre avantage, et que vous serez bientdt delivre 
 de toute inquietude," replied Chavigny, laughing. Griffet. 
 
 15 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. Amsterdam. 
 
 16 Griffet, Regne de Louis XIII. Bernard, Hist, de Louis XLTI. 
 
 17 " On disoit du Pere Caussin, ' qu'il avait mieux fait ses affaires a la 
 Cour Sainte (in allusion to his celebrated book), qu'a celle de France.' " 
 
 18 De Coste. Eldges des Dauphins de France. 
 
 19 Ibid. Fondations Royales Discours, par 1'Abbe Richard. 
 
 20 Griffet, Siri, Dreux du Radier, La Rochefoucault, Le Vassor, Motte- 
 ville, Marana, Journal de Verdun, &c. &c. 
 
 21 Quattro hore spese il re in quel colloquio, si che 1'hora trovatasi 
 troppo tarda per ritornare, quella notte nevosissima (correndo il mese di 
 Dicembre), a Groisbois, convenne per forza necessita dormire a Parigi ;
 
 470 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1637- 
 
 e rimasto il letto del re a Groisbois, la regina colla cena gli fece parte del 
 suo. Siri. Hilarion de Coste, Eloges des Dauphins de France. 
 
 22 In a Memoire sent by the Duchess to the Cardinal through Boispille, 
 she assures his eminence of the discretion of her conduct while resident 
 at the Spanish Court : " Madame de Chevreuse ne s'est obligee a rien 
 de tout en Espagne ni en Angleterre ; ne se trouvera pas qu'elle ait pris 
 un teston fors les bonnes cheres et traitements. Les dernieres paroles 
 que le roi d'Espagne lui dit furent, de faire ses recommandations en 
 Angleterre ; et que si elle allait en France qu'elle assurat la Reine sa 
 bonne-soeur, de ses bonnes volontes. Elle a parle comme elle devoit en 
 Espagne, et croit que c'est une des choses qui 1'a le plus fait estimer par 
 le Comte-Duc, lequel, elle croit, n'a pas rabattu de 1'estime qu'il faisoit 
 de son Eminence." Bibl. Imp. MS. Colbert. 
 
 23 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 24 One day M. de Montbazon was conversing in the presence of the 
 Queens Marie de' Medici and Anne of Austria, and let slip the words : 
 " Vive Dieu, je ne suis ni Italien, ni Espagnol ; je suis homme de 
 bien ! " Tallemant, t. 6. 
 
 25 Galerie des Personnages Ulustres de la Cour de Louis XIII., t. 4. 
 Le Cardinal de Richelieu a 1'Abbe Dorat. MSS. de Colbert, Bibl. Imp., 
 t. ii. fol. 18. 
 
 26 Hilarion de Coste. Eloges des Dauphins de France, p. 198. Declara- 
 tion du Roi par laquelle S. M. prend pour Protectrice de ce Royaume la 
 tres sainte Vierge Marie. Lancelot Recueil, MS. 
 
 27 One of these, Harmonie de 1'amour, et de la justice de Dieu, by 
 Fra^ois Davesne, was circulated privately, and was published never- 
 theless in 1650. Another pamphlet written by Vergerius, a German 
 nom de plume, was also circulated, especially in England. 
 
 28 Cousin, Appendice, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. Archives des 
 Affaires Etrangeres, t. 88, fol. 409. Memoire pour Madame de Lansac. 
 
 29 Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France, t. 89 ; Chavigny au 
 Cardinal. All published for the first time by M. Victor Cousin, Vie de 
 Madame de Hautefort, Appendice. 
 
 30 Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France. Bullion au Cardinal, 
 23 Aout, 1638. 
 
 31 Archives Etrangeres, France, t. 89, fol. 105, fol. 122. 
 52 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. 2. 
 
 33 Philippe Cospean. 
 
 34 Dominique S6guier. 
 
 35 De Coste. Eloges des Dauphins de France. Godefroy, Naissance de 
 Monseigneur le Dauphin, a present le Roy Louis XIV., p. 209, et seq. 
 
 36 Vallot, the royal physician in ordinary, attributed the strength and 
 liveliness of the child to the copious doses of " quinquina et vin 
 emetique," which he had caused the Queen to swallow. 
 
 37 Godefroy, Grand Cer6m. de France, t. ii. p. 209, et seq. Naissance 
 de Monseigneur le Dauphin, a present le Roy Louis XIV.
 
 1639] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 471 
 
 38 Aubery, Mem. pour servir a 1'Hist. du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. v. 
 
 39 Ibid. 
 
 40 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. 2. 
 
 41 Ibid. The Queen likewise received warm congratulations from the 
 Cardinal de la Valette, and writes to thank him, " et lui temoigner com- 
 bien elle avait eu agreable la part qu'il prenoit a ses contentements." 
 MS. Bibl. Imp., F. Dupuy, 569, fol. 37. 
 
 42 MS. Bibl. Imp., Dupuy, 549. 
 
 43 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France. 
 
 44 D'un Cas Extraordinaire, &c. &c., Paris, 1638. A suggestion was 
 made by this author, relative to the favour bestowed by the Queen on 
 Mazarin. At this early period of Mazarin's French career, he is certainly 
 unjustly reflected upon. Mazarin was created by the Pope Legate of 
 Avignon, in 1635. In the year 1636 he paid a brief visit to Paris, and 
 returned to Avignon. In October of the year 1637 he was recalled to 
 Rome by the Pope, where he remained until the year 1639. 
 
 45 The royal physician, Valot, expresses himself thus, in a curious MS. 
 of the Bibl. Imperiale, brought to light by M. Paulin Paris. He says : 
 " Quela France avait presque perdu toutesles assurances d'une heureuse 
 succession ; car le Roi commencait a se ressentir d'une faiblesse sin- 
 guliere causee avant age par ses longues fatigues : et 1'opiniatrete d'une 
 longue maladie 1 'avait reduit en etat de ne pouvoir esperer une longue 
 vie, ni une plus parfaite guerison," etc. 
 
 46 Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, t. 88. Cousin. 
 
 47 Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, t. 89. Cousin, Appendice Vie de 
 Madame Hautefort. 
 
 48 " La Reine n'abandonne guere le petit prince, qui est gros et fort. 
 Elle prend grand plaisir a le faire jouer, et a le mener promener dans 
 son carrosse quand il fait beau ; c'est tout son divertissement, aussi n'y 
 en a-t-il point d'autres dans la cour." Mademoiselle Andrieu, Femme- 
 de-chambre de la Reine, a Madame de Senece. 
 
 49 Catherine de Ste. Maure. 
 
 50 Antoine Coiffier, Marquis d'Effiat, born 1581, died 1632 ; Grand 
 Master of Artillery, and a Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 81 Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. 
 
 52 Ibid. Dreux du Radier, Vie de Madame de Hautefort. 
 
 53 Vie Inedite de Madame de Hautefort. Cousin. 
 
 54 Anne de Pluviers de St. Michel, fille-demoiselle de la chambre. 
 This Mademoiselle de St. Michel appears likewise to have been one of 
 the caballers of the household. 
 
 55 The Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 66 Mademoiselle de Hautefort retired, in the first instance, from the 
 Louvre to the Convent des Dix Vertus ou Madelonettes, where she 
 remained some six weeks as a boarder. On the 27th of December, 1639, 
 she quitted Paris, " resolue comme un capitaine," as le P. Carre reported 
 to Richelieu.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 1639-1642 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE MARQUIS DE CINQ-MARS 
 
 THE agents of Richelieu kept all the banished 
 ladies under surveillance. Madame de Fargis had 
 sought refuge from persecution in Holland, where 
 she lived in extreme penury, avenging herself for 
 her sufferings by surpassing even Dutch pamph- 
 leteers in animosity. Madame de Chevreuse 
 continued to toy with the great Cardinal and 
 to carry on a correspondence, half-friendly, 
 half -menacing. Richelieu demanded unreserved 
 confession of past misdemeanours, unreserved 
 submission, and unreserved confidence in his good 
 will. Madame de Chevreuse, almost broken- 
 hearted at her prolonged exile, complied at length 
 so far as to consent to sign a document in which 
 " she deplored her past bad conduct, and 
 promised to pay no more clandestine visits to 
 Paris." * Richelieu thereupon sent an agent to 
 London, with a large sum of money sufficient to 
 acquit the debts of the Duchess, and a very friendly 
 letter exhorting her to return immediately 
 to Paris. The day was fixed for the Duchess to 
 present herself at Whitehall to say farewell to 
 their Britannic Majesties, the coach which was 
 to convery her to Dover was ordered and every 
 preparation made, when she received the follow- 
 
 472
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA 473 
 
 ing anonymous letter of sufficiently alarming 
 import : "If you love Madame de Chevreuse, 
 save her from the ruin which is sure to overtake 
 her in France. This warning is not a mere 
 supposition. The advice I give must be followed 
 if Madame de Chevreuse wishes for security ; M. 
 le Cardinal has said too much evil respecting her 
 and her traffickings with Lorraine and Spain to 
 grant oblivion. There is no resource for Madame 
 de Chevreuse but patience for the present, or 
 perdition attended with the keen regrets of the 
 writer." Neither date nor any other indication 
 betrayed the author of this note. Madame de 
 Chevreuse suspected that the writer was Queen 
 Anne, but carefully suppressed her suspicions. 
 A few hours subsequently the Duke of Lorraine, 
 who was the devoted friend of the Duchess, wrote 
 thus in dismay to protest against the rashness of 
 her unconditional return to France : " Madame, 
 I am advised that it is the design of M. le Car- 
 dinal de Richelieu to offer to you every imagin- 
 able concession to persuade you to return, but 
 afterwards he means to cause you to perish 
 miserably." 2 The enmity of Richelieu was doubt- 
 less greatly exaggerated. The probabilities are 
 that if Madame de Chevreuse had returned she 
 would not have been permitted to reside in Paris, 
 as the dislike manifested by the King for the 
 partner of his consort's past transgressions, and 
 the newborn prudence of the Queen, must have 
 rendered unavailing any counter entreaty pre- 
 ferred by the Duchess. M. de Lorraine, at the
 
 474 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 period when he thus addressed Madame de 
 Chevreuse, was actuated by intense indignation 
 at the protection accorded by King Louis to his 
 forsaken wife Nicole, whom though the true 
 heiress of Lorraine he had abandoned for the 
 beautiful Beatrice de Cusance, Princesse de 
 Cantecroix. Madame de Chevreuse, nevertheless 
 declined to continue her journey ; she showed the 
 warning letters to Boispille, and instructed him 
 to take copies, which he was to lay on his return 
 before M. le Cardinal. The Duchess, moreover, 
 honourably returned the money sent by Richelieu, 
 and professing intense desire to receive an ex- 
 planation from his Eminence relative to the 
 mysterious letters addressed to her, she prepared 
 to wait events in Brussels. Another and more 
 ominous signal of danger the Duchess descried in 
 the coldness of Anne of Austria, and in the 
 Queen's marked change of opinion relative to the 
 expediency of the return of her friend, which until 
 recently she had urged and discussed as perfectly 
 feasible. Seeing the Due de Chevreuse one day 
 at St. Germain, Anne inquired after the health of 
 the Duchess his wife. The Duke, who was not 
 overburdened with wit, after satisfying her 
 Majesty, pathetically deplored the exile of his 
 dear consort, adding " that her Majesty was 
 responsible for her absence which she might now 
 terminate at pleasure." The Queen, in her most 
 icy manner replied, " that M. le Due was unjust 
 to attribute the absence of Madame de Chevreuse 
 to want of zeal on her behalf, that she still loved
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 475 
 
 the Duchess and would be glad to see her, 
 nevertheless she counselled her never to return 
 to France ! " The result was duly transmitted to 
 the Duchess who wisely thereupon resolved to 
 follow the counsel. Much correspondence ensued, 
 which is still extant, between Madame de 
 Chevreuse and Richelieu, but the gist of all the 
 letters written by the Duchess merged in the 
 remark with which she terminates one of the last 
 of the series : En attendant il vaut mieux souffrir 
 que de perir" 
 
 Madame de Hautefort led a tranquil though 
 unexciting life at the chateau de la Flotte, where 
 she was joined by her mother. No further com- 
 munication seems to have passed between de 
 Hautefort and the King. Anne's faithful servant 
 La Porte often partook of the patronage and hos- 
 pitality of the chateau de la Flotte. Madame de 
 Hautefort also made the acquaintance of Scarron 3 
 during her exile in the neighbourhood of le Mans, 
 and her favour and countenance in happier times 
 first introduced the merry poet-buffoon to the 
 salons of the capital. Madame de Senece lived in 
 a style of feudal splendour in her grand old 
 ancestral castle of Randan, maintaining always a 
 close correspondence with the court, in which 
 like Richelieu she had her swarm of venal spies 
 and adherents. 
 
 The King, meantime, did not find all the satis- 
 faction which he had anticipated in the society of 
 his new favourite Cinq-Mars. The last new habit 
 or the last sally of boyish passion of M. de Cinq-
 
 476 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 Mars sufficed to convulse the court. Elated by 
 his extraordinary favour the head of this young 
 cavalier was fairly turned, his will was law. He 
 entered the royal apartments at pleasure, con- 
 tradicted the King publicly, emptied the royal 
 purse and assumed privileges which bewildered 
 the nobles of the grande entree. The first gift of 
 the infatuated Louis was a large pecuniary bene- 
 faction, given after the capture of Hesdin. In the 
 space of a few months the Due de Bellegarde 
 resigned the office of Grand Ecuyer, in considera- 
 tion of an indemnity of 100,000 francs, which Louis 
 immediately bestowed on his young favourite. 4 
 Cinq-Mars and his royal master bickered and 
 disputed like schoolboys ; often their quarrel 
 ended by a written treaty, gravely signed by 
 Louis and his protege, and witnessed by the 
 gentleman in waiting. The King kept a diary in 
 which he regularly entered the details of these 
 ignoble quarrels, which at the end of a certain 
 period his Majesty forwarded to Richelieu for 
 his perusal. Soon the lever of " the young 
 adventurer " was crowded by veterans, courtiers 
 and by ministers, anxious for his good word and 
 support in the royal closet. These devoirs were 
 pleasant to render. Cinq-Mars had a sunny 
 smile and a voice most courteously toned for all, 
 he was merry and communicative, liberal with the 
 royal purse, and showed infinite relish for a good 
 story, or for a morsel of well-flavoured scandal. 
 His handsome face and good figure recommended 
 him to the fair ladies of the court, some of
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 477 
 
 whom rapturously lauded in verse his auburn 
 curls daintily perfumed with musk and amber- 
 gris. Of the Cardinal, Cinq-Mars stood in whole- 
 some awe ; but yet a sensation of exulting 
 triumph reigned when he perceived that even the 
 great minister, his former patron, approached him 
 with caution as if he also was dazzled with the 
 greatness of his rise. So long as Cinq-Mars aspired 
 only to lead the fashions of the court and to 
 amuse the King's solitary hours Richelieu per- 
 mitted him to revel in his self-sufficient pride. 
 Cinq- Mars paid profound respect to Anne of 
 Austria, who now lived in almost utter seclusion 
 at St. Germain absorbed by her young son and 
 by her beautiful gardens. No palace fetes en- 
 livened the court : the stars of Paris society were 
 the Duchess d'Aiguillon, the Duchess de Mont- 
 bazon, Madame de Rambouillet, Madame de 
 Sable, the beautiful Princess Marie de Gonzague 
 Nevers, and the Princess de Conde. The splendid 
 entertainments given by these ladies were assid- 
 uously frequented by M. de Cinq-Mars, who 
 soon excited the speculation of all his friends by 
 the warmth of his homage to the Princess Marie 
 de Gonzague who had been once secretly affianced 
 to Monsieur a pretension which the King angrily 
 ridiculed. Another kind of entertainment which 
 Cinq-Mars patronised were the receptions of the 
 notorious courtezan Marion de Lorme ; 5 and 
 Louis, who loathed such irregularities, perpetually 
 tormented and irritated him by injunctions to fore- 
 go this intimacy. Cinq-Mars retorted insolently ;
 
 478 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 and puzzled his Majesty by desiring him to ask his 
 Eminence the Cardinal whether the soirees of such 
 a fascinating siren as the Demoiselle de Lorme 
 were to be lightly relinquished. 
 
 Such was the progress of the domestic life of 
 King Louis until the 21st of September of the year 
 1640. At ten o'clock in the evening of that day 
 Queen Anne presented her husband and the 
 nation with a second son. The Queen was ill only 
 for two hours ; and the royal babe was born in the 
 presence of the King, and of Mesdames de Conde, 
 de Vendome, de Montmorency, de Lansac, and de 
 Brassac. The Cardinal, as before, was absent 
 from the capital at the camp near Chaunes, but 
 a messenger was immediately despatched to carry 
 the joyful news to his Eminence. The child was 
 baptized in the Queen's bed-chamber by the 
 Bishop of Meaux and was named Philip. 6 " I 
 have heard the Queen say that the King testified 
 more joy at the birth of this son than he did when 
 M. le Dauphin was born," relates Madame de 
 Motteville. " The reason doubtless was that his 
 Majesty did not expect the great happiness of 
 beholding himself the father of two sons he who 
 never hoped to see himself a father." Great re- 
 joicings ensued throughout the realm for the birth 
 of M. le Due d'Anjou ; the child however was weak 
 and puny, and very different in strength and 
 vivacity to Anne's beautiful first-born. Madame 
 de Lansac had the charge of both the children ; 
 but the Queen was a devoted mother, and spent 
 hours in watching the slumbers of her infants.
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 479 
 
 From the birth of Louis, whom the people 
 surnamed Dieu-donne, Anne appears to have 
 relinquished her correspondences with Spain and 
 with other princes inimical to France. Although 
 the Queen treated the Cardinal in public with cold 
 hauteur, letters often passed between them, and 
 it was remarked that when she had any petition 
 to prefer to the King it was Richelieu's assist- 
 ance which she now sought. Madame d'Aiguillon 
 was evidently welcome to the Queen, and on 
 more than one occasion her Majesty accepted 
 fetes from the Cardinal at Ruel, where the Duchess 
 presided as hostess a condescension which she 
 had never before vouchsafed. 7 The marriage of 
 the niece of the Cardinal, Claire Clemence de 
 Maille, with the Due d'Enghien, son of Cond, was 
 well received, against all expectation, by Anne, 
 who overwhelmed the timid young bride with 
 caresses and favours. Whilst M. d'Enghien was 
 gaining that experience in arms which rendered 
 him one of the greatest captains of the age, the 
 bride of the future Great Conde was sent by her 
 uncle to the convent of the Carmelites de St. 
 Denis to complete her education. " Our minis- 
 ter," writes la Grande Mademoiselle, 8 " ought 
 apparently to have repaid this great honour of 
 alliance by marriage with the royal house, by 
 submission and assiduous duty to M. le Prince de 
 Conde ; it was quite the contrary, however, M. 
 le Prince asked the Cardinal almost on his knees 
 to give Mademoiselle de Breze to his son, as if 
 she had been the queen of the whole world. To
 
 480 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 testify to the minister that he wished for no other 
 interests or attachments, he actually requested 
 him to unite his nephew, M. le Marquis de Breze, 
 with Mademoiselle de Bourbon ! M. le Cardinal 
 replied that he had no objection to give gentle- 
 women to princes, but not simple gentlemen to 
 princesses : he therefore only did M. le Prince the 
 favour to grant Mademoiselle de Breze to M. 
 d'Enghien. They were affianced in the chamber 
 of the King. A ball followed, at which Made- 
 moiselle de Breze, being extremely little, fell 
 whilst she was dancing a couranto, because to 
 make her look taller they had given her such 
 high-heeled shoes that she could scarcely stand. 
 All the company laughed, not excepting M. 
 d'Enghien who had consented with great regret 
 to this alliance in order not to displease Monsieur, 
 his father." 
 
 In the midst of all his magnificence and succes- 
 ses the health of Richelieu languished. Out- 
 wardly the smooth intellectual face showed no 
 sign of suffering, and the upright, majestic 
 figure bravely bore the burden of fifty years and 
 of the political cares which seldom permitted 
 respite from toil. The Cardinal constantly 
 suffered from abscesses in his side and on his 
 shoulders, which at times caused him excruciating 
 agony. He was subject also to violent pains in 
 the head, and to sleeplessness ; yet the bright, 
 brave spirit struggled on. In the camp and in the 
 council- chamber Richelieu was ever at his post, 
 writing voluminous despatches with a hand and
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 481 
 
 arm sometimes partially disabled by pain, but 
 alluding therein only casually to his sufferings. 
 The Cardinal usually retired for the night at 
 eleven o'clock : he slept for four hours, and at 
 three o'clock his secretary entered with writing 
 materials and a despatch-box. Richelieu rose 
 and dictated despatches until six o'clock, when he 
 again retired to bed for two hours. Every 
 Sunday he received the Holy Eucharist at dawn. 
 He dined at one o'clock, then considered to be a 
 very late hour. The afternoon was spent with 
 the King, in granting audiences, in receiving 
 artists, men of letters, and in taking exercise on 
 foot and an airing along the fashionable pro- 
 menade of Paris, Le Cours de la Reine, which was 
 close to the Luxembourg palace, the unfinished 
 residence of the unfortunate Queen-mother. At 
 night Richelieu supped magnificently a banquet 
 of which it was considered the highest honour to 
 partake. Cards, music and conversation were 
 then the pastimes of the salons of the Palais 
 Cardinal until eleven o'clock, when the Cardinal 
 withdrew except on special occasions. 
 
 Early in the New Year, 1641, the everlasting 
 disputes of the King and his favourite more than 
 ever harassed Richelieu. Both the King and 
 Cinq-Mars appealed to him to settle their silly 
 bickerings. Though the torment was irksome, 
 yet to Richelieu it was not unacceptable inas- 
 much as it assured him that his influence was 
 dominant. As a specimen of the ludicrous cor- 
 respondence which troubled the repose of the 
 
 2H
 
 482 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 great minister, is the following epistle from the 
 King: 
 
 " From St. Germain, this 5th day of January, at 
 
 four o'clock of the evening, 1641. 
 " I regret much to trouble you again with the 
 bad tempers of M. le Grand. On his return from 
 Ruel he gave me the packet which you sent. I 
 opened, and read its contents. I then said to M. 
 le Grand, * The Cardinal writes to me that you 
 have testified to him much anxiety to please me ; 
 nevertheless, you still refrain from giving me 
 content on a subject which I often speak upon, 
 that is your extreme laziness.' M. le Grand re- 
 plied, ' that you had been remonstrating with 
 him thereon; but upon that chapter it was not 
 his intention to change, nor did he intend to do 
 better than heretofore.' This speech made me 
 angry. I said : ' A man of your rank ought to 
 render himself worthy of high military commands, 
 you have always assured me that such is your 
 ambition, but idleness, I can tell you, is very con- 
 trary to such aspirations.' He then rudely re- 
 plied, * that he had never such idea, nor intended 
 to aspire to military commands.' I replied that 
 he had so done, but refrained from pursuing the 
 theme. I presently resumed my remarks upon 
 slothfulness, observing ' that this vice rendered 
 a man incapable of any good thing, and that it 
 was worthy only of the loungers of the Marais, 
 who thought of nothing but pleasure ; and that 
 if it was his intention to continue this life of sloth
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 483 
 
 he had better retire thither.' He then arrogantly 
 replied, ' that he was quite ready to retire.' I 
 then said 4 If I possessed not more self-control 
 than yourself, I know what I should answer you ; ' 
 adding, that being under such obligations to me, 
 he ought not to speak in such uncouth fashion. 
 M. le Grand then said, with his usual insolence, 
 4 that he did not want my benefits and was ready 
 to give me back all that I had bestowed, and that 
 he could do very well without me, and was just 
 as content to be simply Cinq-Mars as M. le Grand ; 
 but as for changing his habits and way of life, he 
 could not and would not.' We then continued to 
 rally one another in this manner until I descended 
 into the courtyard of the castle, expressing my 
 wish, 'that while he continued in the same evil 
 humour he would refrain from presenting him- 
 self before me.' He replied, ' that he would 
 willingly refrain.' I have not seen him since. 
 All this passed in the presence and hearing of de 
 Gordes. " Louis. 
 
 " P.S. I have shown this letter to de Gordes, 
 who testifies to have read nothing therein but the 
 truth." 9 
 
 Cinq-Mars, in the same style of excitement, 
 writes on this occasion both to Richelieu and to 
 M. de Noyers. To the former he prefers an en- 
 treaty that he will abandon him to his fate and to 
 the anger of the King, as he finds his position at 
 court insupportable. 10 To de Noyers he is more 
 explicit. " You may judge of my miserable con-
 
 484 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 dition, by contemplating the extremities to which 
 I am constantly driven. I conjure you, if you 
 ever felt friendship for me, combine no longer to 
 force upon me so wretched a life, but consult 
 with his Eminence on the means of my deliverance 
 so that the aversion of the King may no longer 
 persecute me. This is all that I wish and all 
 that I desire. -Effiat de Cinq-Mars." " A few 
 hours after writing these epistles, the King and his 
 favourite had made friends, and had again become 
 inseparable to the consternation of all persons 
 foolish enough to have interfered in the quarrel. 
 Whenever the King sulkily refused to see Cinq- 
 Mars who usually sat with his Majesty at night 
 until he fell asleep the valets and pages in wait- 
 ing concealed him in a dark corridor, and when 
 his accustomed time for retiring arrived, Cinq-Mars 
 boldly walked from the ante-chamber of the royal 
 apartment, bowing to the courtiers who waited 
 to attend him to his own chamber, as if his vigil 
 had been accomplished. The attachment which 
 Cinq-Mars entertained for the Princess Marie de 
 Gonzague, and his hopes of gaining her hand, 
 gradually produced that reformation in his habits 
 which Louis had vainly recommended. During 
 the course of the summer of 1642, his self-posses- 
 sion and apparent steadiness of conduct gained 
 for him commendation and increased influence 
 over the mind of his royal master. The silent but 
 irresistible influence of the Cardinal minister from 
 thenceforth set in, to check the career of the 
 favourite and to circumvent his ambitious pro-
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 485 
 
 jects. Marie de Gonzague bade Cinq-Mars obtain 
 the sword of Constable of France, with the patent 
 of duke and peer, as the price of her hand. One 
 day therefore M. le Grand with characteristic 
 audacity waited on the minister and asked for 
 the interest of the latter to procure the hand of 
 the Princess Marie and the rank of a duke. 
 Richelieu eyed his suppliant with a glance of 
 mingled amusement and irony ; chiding the 
 ambitious young man for his presumption, while 
 absolutely refusing the patent he craved. " As 
 for the Princess Marie, you must be crazy, Mon- 
 sieur, to aspire to the hand of a Princess who was 
 once destined to be the bride of Monsieur ; while 
 Madame Marie herself is mad if she has given you 
 the encouragement you are bold enough to pro- 
 claim!" 12 Cinq-Mars however believed in his 
 own destiny, and in the attachment of Marie de 
 Gonzague. He haughtily left the presence of 
 Richelieu, resolved as he declared to follow the 
 example of the late Duke de Luynes who foiled 
 the Queen- mother, and had won the baton of 
 Constable of France and with it the hand of 
 Marie de Rohan. 
 
 Some time elapsed, and it happened that M. le 
 Grand was with the King, when Richelieu and the 
 lords of the privy council entered to confer with 
 his Majesty. Louis, after some hesitation, took 
 his favourite by the hand, saying in a weak voice 
 addressing Richelieu : "In order that this, my 
 dearest friend, may one day be capable of serving 
 me, it is my will that he now takes his seat in my
 
 486 THE MARRIED LIFE OF peso- 
 
 council." The Cardinal smiled his affable smile, 
 complimented M. le Grand, but submitted to his 
 royal master documents of trivial moment only, 
 and took his leave. At the usual hour Richelieu 
 had his private audience : M. de Cinq-Mars was 
 then summoned, and briefly informed by the King, 
 in his driest voice, that his admission to the 
 council-board was cancelled ! The King also 
 added several uncomplimentary allusions to the 
 dissipations in which he was informed that 
 M. le Grand habitually indulged. 13 From that 
 moment Cinq-Mars was the deadly enemy of 
 Richelieu, and resolved to compass his overthrow 
 or to perish in the attempt. The old elements of 
 cabal were still dispersed throughout the realm, 
 but a wiser and more subtle man than Cinq-Mars 
 would have avoided renewing the life and vitality 
 of a combination which had always dissolved 
 before the test of Richelieu's genius. There was 
 Monsieur pining in discontent at Blois, wiiose 
 mind was always in a chronic state of rebellion ; 
 there was the Duke de Bouillon, whose stronghold 
 of Sedan rendered him a giant in civil commo- 
 tions, who had just coyly accepted the minister's 
 overtures of reconciliation, and had been invested 
 with the command-in-chief of the army of Italy ; 
 there was Madame de Chevreuse and Queen Marie 
 de' Medici exiles, women of parts and vindic- 
 tive, ready to assail their foe even with the 
 weapons of treason ; there was moreover Queen 
 Anne of Austria, still shy, reserved and supposed 
 to be devoted to her brothers ; and still the un-
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 487 
 
 relenting opponent of Richelieu. The change in 
 Anne's position was not considered ; for it never 
 entered the calculations of the eager conspirators 
 that the mother of the Dauphin of France might 
 be inspired with other views and designs than the 
 narrow prejudices which had actuated the child- 
 less Queen. 14 The aim of the new conspiracy 
 professed to provide for the government of the 
 realm after the death of the King, to secure to 
 the Duke of Orleans his rights as lieutenant- 
 general of the realm, and to the Queen her law- 
 ful position as guardian and tutoress of the young 
 King. To render this distribution of power even- 
 tually possible, it was deemed necessary to over- 
 throw Richelieu, to annihilate his power by the 
 authority of the King, and to divide among the 
 princes of the blood the functions which he had 
 usurped. The personage who negotiated the 
 treaty between Cinq-Mars, the Duke de Bouillon, 
 and the Duke of Orleans, was M. de Thou, the 
 eldest son of the famous historian of that name. 
 De Thou had also certain liberty of access to the 
 presence of Anne of Austria, as in former days he 
 had advanced money at the request of her Majesty 
 to assist the necessity of the Duchess de Chevreuse 
 and other of the banished ladies. Monsieur 
 eagerly entered into a conspiracy, the aim of 
 which was to exalt him so highly. Bouillon also 
 suffered himself to be persuaded the object of 
 the conspiracy, he flattered himself, was patriotic, 
 and trenched neither on the royal power nor the 
 prerogative.
 
 488 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 Meantime, Cinq-Mars laboured assiduously to 
 imbitter the spirit of Louis against his minister ; 
 all Richelieu's shortcomings were aggravated, his 
 omissions proclaimed, and the suspicions with 
 which the world had echoed were assiduously 
 poured into the royal ear. The faults of M. 
 d'Orleans were on the contrary palliated, and 
 a pathetic picture was drawn by the wily favourite 
 of Monsieur's unhappy condition, banished from 
 the heart and the court of his brother and sub- 
 jected to a surveillance dishonouring to the royal 
 blood. Maudlin tears ran from the King's eyes as 
 Cinq-Mars drew an affecting picture of the perse- 
 cution and restraints to which his Majesty was 
 himself subjected by his ungrateful minister. 
 Finally Cinq-Mars wept himself at the scenes 
 which his imagination portrayed. Louis, who 
 never enjoyed a luxury so keen as that conferred 
 by a sentimental scene of the kind, replied in 
 broken murmurs to the plaints of his favourite, 
 echoed all his aspirations for release from a condi- 
 tion of such grinding tyranny, pitied his brother, 
 and groaned under the burden of the sin and 
 the cost of a war directed against the orthodox 
 dynasties of Austria and Spain. Cinq-Mars, young, 
 inexperienced and unacquainted with the wonder- 
 ful calibre of the royal mind, fell into raptures of 
 gratified ambition. Puffed up with conceit, M. le 
 Grand clasped the King in his arms and besought 
 him to trust to him for aid and deliverance, boast- 
 ing that he had conceived a project which ere long 
 would bring them happy emancipation. Louis
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 489 
 
 started, looked curiously on his young favourite 
 and solemnly bade him beware of the arts and 
 irresistible power of M. le Cardinal. Cinq-Mars 
 smiled, entreated Louis to be silent and cautious, 
 to invite M. d'Orleans to court, and steadily to 
 decline the proposal of the Cardinal to undertake 
 the siege of the fortress of Perpignan in person. 15 
 Won by the caresses and submissiveness of his 
 favourite, and really shrinking from the yoke of 
 Richelieu, Louis became gloomy in the company 
 of his minister, but not communicative. Sickness 
 and repeated meditations on death, and the 
 almost daily use of the confessional, had rendered 
 the King unwilling to pursue the war or to remain 
 the ally of the heretic sovereigns of Europe. The 
 aptness of Cinq-Mars, his newly adopted habits of 
 industry, and his majestic person as it ripened 
 into manhood inspired Louis w r ith the hope that 
 he had at length found a minister able to bear the 
 burden of affairs, and also to become the delight 
 and companion of his own leisure hours. The 
 eloquence of M. le Grand had done more to under- 
 mine the power of the Cardinal de Richelieu than 
 the machinations of any previous enemy. A plot, 
 however, under the guidance of Monsieur, directed 
 by the inspirations of M. de Cinq-Mars, imbibed 
 from the fitful humours of his royal master, was 
 almost certain to fail in some important link. The 
 first overtures had been wilily concerted ; dis- 
 content was rampant amongst the high noblesse 
 of the realm, and a coalition amongst the friends 
 and adherents of the banished nobles, such as the
 
 490 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 Dukes de Vendome, de Bellegarde, de la Valette, 
 and d'Elbceuf, might have seriously embarrassed 
 the government of Richelieu. The chief conspira- 
 tors, however, Cinq-Mars, Bouillon and Monsieur, 
 wanted speedy action the minister held posses- 
 sion of the fortified places of the realm ; the 
 humour of the King might change ; the co-opera- 
 tion of Anne of Austria seemed uncertain against 
 the urgent counsel and entreaties of M. de Thou, 
 it was therefore resolved to negotiate a treaty 
 with Spain. One M. de Fontrailles, cousin to Cinq- 
 Mars, a person of wit, judgment and courage, 
 was chosen for the dangerous mission to Madrid. 
 Fontrailles had a deformed person, and specially 
 detested the minister for some sharp witticisms 
 which had greatly wounded his vanity. 18 Fon- 
 trailles, therefore, departed for Madrid, em- 
 powered to place the realm of France under the 
 protection of Philip IV. The Catholic King was 
 to be asked for a subsidy and for troops to garrison 
 Sedan and other places, and also to give a pledge 
 that Spanish troops should enter France at the 
 bidding of the conspirators. The Count-duke 
 hesitated, so many intended invasions of France 
 had brought disgrace to the arms of Spain, and 
 ruin to the promoters of such design. The name 
 of Monsieur no longer carried prestige, for his 
 inconstancy and want of mental balance pre- 
 cluded confidence. When informed, however, 
 that Cinq- Mars and the Duke de Bouillon were to 
 be partners in the proposed treaty, Olivarez, with 
 some misgiving, accepted the alliance, as any
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 491 
 
 diversion likely to draw off the armies of France 
 from before Perpignan might be considered an 
 advantage. It was first expressly stipulated that 
 no enterprise should be undertaken at variance 
 with the interests of Queen Anne or of M. le 
 Dauphin and his brother. 17 The document pro- 
 vided that Philip IV. should furnish a force of 
 12,000 foot soldiers and of 5000 horse ; that a sum 
 of 400,000 crowns should be placed at the disposal 
 of the confederates ; that Sedan should be garri- 
 soned with Spaniards on the written request of 
 Bouillon ; and that that fortress should be placed 
 at the disposal of the Queen, should she deem it 
 prudent to flee thither for refuge with M. le 
 Dauphin, for which purpose 300,000 livres were 
 to be provided by his Catholic Majesty for the 
 strengthening of the fortifications. 18 The expe- 
 diency of removing the principal obstacles to the 
 designs of the confederates, by taking the life of 
 Richelieu, was discussed and enjoined on M. de 
 Fontrailles to recommend to his patrons. This 
 treaty, being signed by Philip IV., was brought 
 back to France in triumph by Fontrailles, who 
 repaired with it to Chambord, where the Duke of 
 Orleans was enjoying the pleasures of the chase 
 as unconcernedly as if no momentous issue de- 
 pended on his fidelity and prudence. Fontrailles 
 then left the realm ; no persuasion sufficing to 
 induce him to incur the risk and the certain ruin 
 of a premature discovery of the treaty which he 
 had negotiated. 
 The Due de Bouillon, meantime, had joined the
 
 492 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 army in Italy, having first signed an order ad- 
 dressed to his commandant in Sedan, empowering 
 that officer to deliver up the fortress on any sum- 
 mons from Monsieur, from Queen Anne, or from 
 M. le Grand. The negotiations with Spain, mean- 
 time, were not of course confided to King Louis. 
 As long as the secret of a conspiracy was hidden 
 from the Cardinal and its object the downfall only 
 of Richelieu, to be brought about by a confederacy 
 of French nobles, the King evidently had no objec- 
 tion to the undignified position of one of the cabal. 
 In their foolhardy presumption, Cinq-Mars and 
 Bouillon and the Duke of Orleans had now ven- 
 tured many steps farther ; they had insolently 
 trenched on the prerogative in providing for the 
 future government of the realm, and had rendered 
 themselves guilty of high treason by the crimes 
 of speculating on the demise of the King, and by 
 negotiations with a foreign power than which, in 
 the opinion of the jealous and sombre Louis, there 
 could be no more abominable offence. A con- 
 spiracy to bring about the fall of an obnoxious 
 minister, having the sovereign as its true, though 
 concealed leader, needed no foreign aid to compass 
 its end. The progress, however, was slower than 
 suited the keen fears of Cinq-Mars and Bouillon. 
 The dubious conduct of Anne of Austria perplexed 
 them and inspired dread. Without due caution 
 they had confided to her the outline of their first 
 project ; but Anne had since sedulously avoided 
 intercourse with M. le Grand. When some of the 
 details of the plot which, as long as the conspira-
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 493 
 
 tors were only subjects and Frenchmen, was 
 declared to be undertaken to secure the eventual 
 rights of Monsieur, brother of the King were con- 
 fided to her Majesty by M. de Thou, she had ex- 
 hibited the greatest agitation and had commanded 
 silence. The suspicion, therefore, flashed on the 
 minds of the three conspirators that after all the 
 surmise might be true, that Anne and her recon- 
 ciled but late enemy had privately resolved the 
 matter of the rights of Monsieur and the future 
 government of the realm, and that her Majesty 
 was not inspired with any desire to behold the 
 claims of Monsieur vindicated. On the first word, 
 therefore, spoken by Anne of Austria, Riche- 
 lieu held their lives in his hand. To save them- 
 selves from this peril, Cinq-Mars had resorted to 
 the expedient of a treaty with Spain the be- 
 loved Spain of Anne's youthful years making 
 therein a distinct recognition of the claims of the 
 Queen to the regency in the event of a minority. 
 Anne, however, steadily declined any communica- 
 tion, hints were lost upon her, and each of the 
 ladies in intimate daily commune had been placed 
 in the palace by Richelieu. 19 One day Cinq-Mars 
 pointedly asked the Queen whether she had lately 
 heard from the King her brother ? Anne replied 
 in a voice made purposely audible to every one 
 present, " that she had altogether refrained, 
 during many months past, from correspondence 
 with his Catholic Majesty or with any Spanish 
 personage, such intercourse having been forbidden 
 by her lord the King." The communication,
 
 494 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 therefore, of the treaty concluded with Spain 
 seems to have been deferred and left to the 
 ambassador of his Catholic Majesty. 
 
 Cinq- Mars attended his royal master from St. 
 Germain on the 23rd of January to Perpignan, 
 while Anne seems to have permitted Richelieu to 
 leave Paris for the seat of war without revealing 
 the important secret, as far as it had come to her 
 knowledge, nor did she even make an attempt to 
 lighten the cloud of apprehended disgrace which 
 pressed upon the mind of the minister. The Queen 
 appears to have been restrained by a certain sense 
 of honour from making revelations confided to 
 her in the belief that she was swayed by former 
 political partialities ; probably she also hoped, 
 knowing or suspecting nothing of the negotiations 
 with her brother, that a project so crude and of 
 such imperfect development might be eventually 
 abandoned. 
 
 The King took leave of the Queen on the 23rd 
 of January 1642. His adieux were harsh and 
 threatening. He forbade the Queen to leave St. 
 Germain during his absence, even to visit Paris ; 
 and again renewed his interdict againt her corre- 
 spondence with Madame de Chevreuse or with 
 any foreign potentate. Neither was Anne to visit 
 the Val de Grace nor the Carmelite convent ; nor 
 was she to withdraw the young princes even for an 
 hour from the surveillance of Madame de Lansac. 
 In case the Queen disobeyed these injunctions, his 
 Majesty gave orders to the captain of his guards, 
 M. de Tresmes, to conduct the dauphin and his
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 495 
 
 brother, attended by Madame de Lansac, to Vin- 
 cennes, there to reside until his own return from 
 the South. " Monseigneur, the little dauphin," 
 relates Madame de Motteville, " had not com- 
 pleted his third year before he began to give his 
 father umbrage. The Queen did me the honour to 
 relate that the child, seeing his father one evening 
 wearing his nightcap after his return from a 
 hunt, began to cry, simply because, as he had 
 never before seen the King in that guise, he was 
 frightened. The King, nevertheless, became very 
 angry, and scolded her Majesty, saying ' that she 
 brought up her sons to hate him, and therefore 
 it was his intention soon to take them both 
 entirely from her care and society ' a threat 
 which, had Louis lived, he doubtless would have 
 put into execution." 
 
 The King, accompanied by Cinq-Mars, at length 
 set out for Perpignan. Louis treated Richelieu, 
 who also attended him, with imperious disdain, 
 and appeared more and more infatuated with his 
 handsome favourite. At Briare the court made 
 sojourn for a few days, and here Cinq- Mars de- 
 signed the arrest or the assassination of his 
 Eminence. There was a majesty and a constancy 
 of purpose in the aspect of Richelieu which seemed 
 to defy fate. A few hours before the proposed 
 assassination (which was to be effected after the 
 model of that of the Admiral de Coligny),the nose of 
 M. le Grand began to bleed. The persons around 
 interpreted the seizure into an omen of approach- 
 ing danger ; and superstitious dread, therefore,
 
 496 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1689- 
 
 induced Cinq-Mars to recall his sanguinary com- 
 mands. 20 At Briare, however, Richelieu fell so 
 dangerously ill that his life was despaired of, an ab- 
 scess having formed on the left lung, which caused 
 him excruciating torture. Cinq-Mars, therefore, 
 believing that a natural death would soon rid 
 him of the benefactor whom he was betraying 
 with such scandalous ingratitude, induced the 
 King to hasten forwards to Narbonne, leaving the 
 Cardinal at Briare, to resume his journey if return- 
 ing strength permitted. Richelieu recovered suffi- 
 ciently in the course of a few days to follow the 
 court ; but not wishing in his sickness and pros- 
 tration to confront his foe, he turned aside and 
 proceeded to Tarascon, where he again took to his 
 bed. Chavigny, il Pastor Fido, as he is termed in 
 the secret ciphers used by the adherents of the 
 minister, alone followed his benefactor, confident 
 still in the bright star of Richelieu. Cinq-Mars, 
 meanwhile, felt stricken under the weight of his 
 secret. Monsieur had left Chambord, and was then 
 enjoying himself in a boisterous state of elation 
 at the baths at Bourbon, and whether the impor- 
 tant parchment, on the safe preservation of which 
 the lives of the confederates depended, was left 
 behind at Chambord or was carelessly tossing 
 amongst the baggage of the Duke, was uncertain. 
 From Paris, the Princess Marie de Gonzague 
 sent warnings that rumours of an alarming nature 
 were abroad, that the Queen was sad, and re- 
 ported to be in constant correspondence with the 
 Cardinal, whose return to favour was predicted.
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 497 
 
 To allay these anxieties, M. le Grand despatched 
 an urgent summons to the Duke de Bouillon, who 
 was at Casale to return to France, so that they 
 might be delivered from disquietude by the 
 prompt overthrow of their enemy. 
 
 Meanwhile the Spanish charge d'affaires in Paris 
 proceeded to St. Germain, and after much solicita- 
 tion, obtained a stolen interview with Queen 
 Anne. From the lips of the envoy, the Queen first 
 received a detail of the treaty recently negotiated 
 with the Spanish cabinet, and at once disavowed 
 all knowledge of or connivance in the deed. 
 Much surprised, the envoy left a copy of the 
 treaty with her Majesty. A few days subsequently, 
 as the Cardinal de Richelieu was lying on his bed 
 in his lonely chamber at Tarascon, a packet was 
 brought to him Avhich had arrived by courier from 
 Paris. The feeble fingers of Richelieu nervously 
 grasped the papers, and he commenced their 
 perusal. Soon his eyes sparkled with triumph, he 
 raised himself from his pillow and the hue of life 
 again mantled his pallid face. " Surely," exclaimed 
 he, " Providence must watch with special love over 
 Richelieu, and the welfare of this great realm ! J! 
 The paper in his hand was a facsimile of the 
 treaty executed between Philip IV. of Spain and 
 the subjects of his Christian Majesty Orleans, 
 Cinq- Mars, Bouillon, and Fontrailles. It never 
 transpired publicly who was the sender of the 
 document, and whose, therefore, had been the 
 hand to restore Richelieu to life and hope. A paper 
 moreover accompanied the document, containing 
 
 2 i
 
 498 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 certain hints which implicated M. de Thou and 
 others. 21 Amidst the variety of speculations upon 
 the quarter from whence the Cardinal derived 
 this most opportune succour, two suggestions only 
 obtained credence with the public. 
 
 The first and most generally believed opinion 
 was that Anne of Austria had forwarded the docu- 
 ment to the Cardinal, perfect understanding now 
 subsisting between the Queen and Richelieu. 
 Anne, it was alleged, beheld with intense dis- 
 approbation a foreign raid on the future dominions 
 of her son, aided by a conspiracy of the nobles, 
 and therefore it was her Majesty's intention to 
 lend powerful support to the minister with whom 
 she was agreed in all matters concerning the pre- 
 sumed long minority of the future King. More- 
 over, it was observed that the Queen often gave 
 cordial and confidential greeting to M. Mazarin, 
 the Papal Nuncio, who was in the Cardinal's 
 confidence and had been especially recommended 
 to her royal bienveillance by Richelieu. The second 
 surmise respecting the good genius who had sent 
 the minister such precious intelligence was that 
 Madame de Chevreuse was that person. Fontrailles 
 retired to Brussels where Madame de Chevreuse 
 was sojourning ; he might therefore have be- 
 trayed the secret to the Duchess, or she might 
 have been apprised thereof by the Archduke, 
 governor of the Low Countries. These last sup- 
 positions will hardly stand the test of examina- 
 tion ; it was not likely that Fontrailles, who was 
 one of the conspirators, should furnish the Duchess
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 499 
 
 with arms against himself ; 22 neither does it seem 
 probable that the generous and impulsive Marie 
 de Rohan would gratuitously betray her friend 
 de Thou with whom she was in intimate cor- 
 respondence, and to whom she was, moreover, 
 heavily in debt for to his liberality she owed the 
 payment of her English creditors. 
 
 As soon as Richelieu had made himself master 
 of the details of " the infamous league concocted 
 by M. le Grand," he summoned Chavigny to 
 his bedside. A long and important conference 
 ensued, at the termination of which Chavigny 
 departed for Narbonne, the bearer of the treaty, 
 and of a letter from Richelieu to lay before the 
 King. 23 Louis was horrified at the revelation and 
 could scarcely be persuaded to believe in the guilt 
 of Cinq-Mars. The subtle tongue of Chavigny, 
 however, destroyed every doubt : and pointing 
 to the fatal treaty, he drew so overpowering a 
 picture of the perils of the realm ; of the black 
 ingratitude of M. de Cinq-Mars, of the treachery 
 of the Duke of Orleans, and of the dark league 
 to which both his Majesty and his faithful minister 
 had nearly fallen victims, that the unhappy King 
 shivered at the retrospect. Chavigny's pertinent 
 remarks on the perfidy of his idol did not, how- 
 ever, vanquish the intense reluctance of the King to 
 grant a warrant for the arrest of all the delinquents 
 this time not excepting even Monsieur. The 
 agitation of jtouis was pitiable to behold, and his 
 lamentations moving in their accent of helpless 
 misery. Suddenly he threw himself on his knees
 
 500 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 before a crucifix hanging in the alcove close to his 
 bed, and prayed long and fervently. He then 
 caused his confessor, the Abbe Sirmond, to be 
 summoned. Sirmond, however, declared that it 
 was the duty of the King to exact exemplary 
 punishment for crimes of so heinous a nature. 
 The wrath of Louis was rising, and presently he 
 signed an order for the arrest of M. le Grand which 
 he gave with his own hand, though with tears, to 
 Charost, captain of the guard on duty at Narbonne. 
 The decisive order given, the mind of Louis again 
 became disturbed bv doubt. So sombre and 
 
 / 
 
 wrathful was his mood that de Noyers wrote in 
 dismay to Tarascon to request that M. Mazarin 
 might be sent to allay, by persuasive logic, the 
 royal disquietude. " I fear that it will be neces- 
 sary to devise some plan by which M. Mazarin 
 may discourse with the King, who has now strange 
 reveries. His Majesty said to me yesterday that 
 he had suspicions that beloved names had been 
 substituted for those of the true criminals. The 
 King was very ill all night, at two o'clock his 
 Majesty took a draught and afterwards slept for 
 two hours." 24 In another letter, likewise ad- 
 dressed to Chavigny by his colleague in office, who 
 had returned to consult with the Cardinal, the 
 latter writes, " It is my opinion that the sooner 
 M. Mazarin arrives the better. His Majesty re- 
 quires consolation, for his heart is very big with 
 grief." * 5 Again, in a despatch to Richelieu, de 
 Noyers sends the intelligence " The King said in 
 my ear to-day, that ' Seclan was worth the price of
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 501 
 
 a pardon, but that as for M. le Grand he never 
 will pardon him but would leave him to the judg- 
 ment of his peers.' : Sentiments of compassion 
 and remorse for the share he had had in the 
 conspiracy of Cinq-Mars, and the humiliation of 
 reconciliation with Richelieu likewise harassed 
 the mind of Louis. His Majesty wrote two letters 
 to Richelieu, inviting him to return, and filled 
 with professions of everlasting gratitude for the 
 " watchful vigilance which never slumbered and 
 that had again guarded his realm." 
 
 Cinq-Mars, meantime, received positive intima- 
 tion of the menaced catastrophe ; the reserve, 
 besides, of the King's manner on dismissing him 
 for the last time from the presence attracted his 
 attention. Every indication the presence of 
 Chavigny especially, and the sudden resolve of 
 the King to remain at Narbonne might have 
 warned him of lurking peril. An assignation with 
 the daughter of a gunsmith proved his ruin. 
 While at this woman's house on the night of the 
 13th of June 1642, a friend hurriedly apprised 
 him of the order issued, and that Charost was then 
 out to effect his arrest. Through by-streets the 
 unhappy young man fled back to his chamber in 
 the archiepiscopal palace ; the royal apartment, 
 however, was strictly guarded, and no access was 
 possible to the King. Cinq-Mars then despairingly 
 threw himself on horseback and galloped towards 
 the gates of the town, whilst Charost and his 
 archers were searching the house he had just 
 quitted. The gates were closed and guarded.
 
 502 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 Cinq-Mars alighted from his horse, and in the 
 darkness of the night again made his way back to 
 the abode of his mistress. The soldiers had just 
 quitted the house. Cinq-Mars therefore crept into 
 a stable and hid himself under some trusses of 
 hay. Unfortunately the master of the house, one 
 M. Burgos, returned home and discovered the 
 fugitive. Burgos consulted a friend, who advised 
 him not to incur the wrath of the King by con- 
 cealing a culprit whose capture was certain on the 
 morrow. Burgos therefore informed Charost where 
 his intended prisoner lay concealed, and a party 
 of soldiers soon dragged the unfortunate man 
 from his hiding-place. 26 Cinq-Mars was then 
 placed in a coach and immediately conducted 
 to the citadel of Montpellier. M. de Thou was 
 arrested the same night and despatched under a 
 guard to Tarascon, to be subjected to the search- 
 ing cross-examination of the Cardinal. An officer, 
 M. Duplessis Praslin, was sent to arrest the 
 Due de Bouillon at Casale and to commit him 
 to close custody in that citadel ; all of which 
 was achieved after some little resistance and 
 an attempt at concealment on the part of the 
 duke. 27 
 
 The Duke of Orleans on the first rumour of the 
 arrest of Cinq-Mars fled into the province of 
 Auvergne, hiding in the old dilapidated chateaux, 
 or roving about in disguise amid the mountainous 
 districts. The Abbe de la Riviere was sent to 
 Tarascon to assure the Cardinal that the Duke 
 had been more sinned against than transgressing.
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 503 
 
 The betrayal of the league with Spain was not 
 then known to Monsieur, who had not even con- 
 fided the matter to his envoy, La Riviere. The 
 Abbe was therefore so taken by surprise as to 
 utter several damaging observations relative to 
 his master's case on being shown the treaty by 
 Richelieu. The latter now seemed at the summit 
 of triumph ; his enemies had fallen with signal 
 defeat, and the realm exposed to the treacherous 
 machinations of rebels and of their foreign ally 
 had need of his support. The King was again at 
 his feet, humbled, feeble, desolate, and sick with 
 bodily infirmities aggravated by agitation and 
 distress. But the health of Richelieu also was 
 evidently sinking, and his sufferings were palpable 
 enough to enable him to exact as a crowning con- 
 cession that his royal master should pay him the 
 indispensable visit of reconciliation. The inter- 
 view took place at the little hamlet of Montfrin, 
 distant about three miles and a half from Taras- 
 con. Both the King and his minister were too ill 
 to sit up. Louis travelled in a litter, and was 
 lifted therefrom on to a couch, upon which he was 
 carried into the Cardinal's bed-chamber. 28 The 
 interview passed in dejection and submission on 
 the part of the King, and in tears and eloquent 
 appeals by Richelieu. Again the destiny of the 
 kingdom was confided to Richelieu's wisdom, 
 and absolute power given him over the fate of 
 all the prisoners under arrest. At this interview 
 doubtless the secret of how he came by the treaty 
 was revealed by Richelieu to his royal master
 
 504 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 Fabert, a lieutenant of the royal guard, who 
 arrested Cinq-Mars, stated that the persons in 
 possession of this secret were MM. de Chavigny 
 and de Noyers, secretaries of state, the King, the 
 Duke of Orleans, the Queen, Mazarin, and him- 
 self, but that they all took heed not to divulge so 
 important a fact. " One day some importunate 
 person asked M. le Prince de Conde how the treaty 
 with Spain had been discovered," relates Talle- 
 mant. " M. le Prince replied in a whisper. 
 M. Voiture, who w r as present, said afterwards to 
 M. de Chavigny, 'You make so much fuss about 
 your grand secret, nevertheless M. le Prince 
 knows it.' Chavigny replied, ' M. le Prince de 
 Conde does not know our secret, nevertheless if 
 he did he would not dare to reveal it ! ' Voiture 
 therefore understood that the information came 
 from the Queen, besides it was remarked that 
 no more was said about taking her children from 
 her as the King had threatened. It may be urged 
 however that if such conjecture was true, Madame 
 de Lansac would not have dared to draw back the 
 curtain of the Queen's bed and tell her abruptly 
 that M. le Grand was arrested. This in my 
 opinion," continues Tallemant, " is no contra- 
 diction of the supposition. Madame de Lansac, 
 for obvious reasons, was permitted nay perhaps 
 ordered to make such sudden revelation to avert 
 suspicion." Tallemant, moreover, might have 
 added that Anne's betrayal of the conspiracy 
 having been made with the greatest secrecy, 
 Madame de Lansac was not likely to suppose that
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 505 
 
 her royal mistress suspected even the probability 
 of so sudden an arrest. 
 
 In the archives of the French Foreign Office, 
 however, M. Cousin discovered invaluable docu- 
 ments, which disclose the sentiments of the Queen 
 on the arrest of Cinq-Mars. On being apprised of 
 the event Anne wrote, through Le Gras her con- 
 fidential secretary, to Richelieu, a letter full of 
 congratulation and indignation at the criminals : 
 " The extreme ingratitude of Cinq-Mars inspires 
 her Majesty with a horror which she is attempting 
 to express in a letter to the King, which she prays 
 M. le Cardinal to present." 29 " The Queen," writes 
 M. de Brassac, " is so rejoiced at the propitious 
 termination of the conspiracy that the indisposi- 
 tion from which she was suffering vanished under 
 the influence of her joy." 30 When Chavigny 
 returned to Paris at the end of July, to institute 
 commissions to try the prisoners, he paid his 
 respects to the Queen at St. Germain, and writes 
 to report his interview to the minister : "I found 
 the Queen so grateful and mindful of the great 
 obligations which she owes to your Eminence, that 
 I firmly believe it would be a task of great diffi- 
 culty to induce her to act in anything without 
 your counsel and permission ; she has resolved 
 to follow your wishes in all matters, and has 
 commanded me to give you this assurance on her 
 behalf. ..." Again Chavigny writes, August 12th, 
 " I am more than ever persuaded that the tender 
 regard which the Queen testifies towards you, 
 Monseigneur, is sincere ; and that there is now
 
 506 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1689- 
 
 nothing easier than to keep her in this mind, as 
 she aspires to no other favour in the world than to 
 be with her children, without pretending to direct 
 their education, which she passionately hopes that 
 your Eminence will superintend. The Queen com- 
 manded me to say to your Eminence that she is 
 inspired with the greatest impatience to greet you 
 again." 31 Fontrailles, in a deposition 82 made when 
 all peril was over, states " that M. de Thou, in the 
 last visit which he paid him, informed him that, 
 to his surprise, the Queen knew of his (Fontrailles) 
 mission to Spain, and its object ; and that it was 
 his opinion her Majesty learned the event from 
 Monsieur, and was in her heart glad at a con- 
 spiracy which would act as an earthquake in the 
 court, and from the results of which she might 
 herself derive good rather than harm." Another 
 piece of circumstantial evidence which seems to 
 affix the betrayal of the conspiracy upon Anne 
 was her sudden fear lest Madame de Chevreuse 
 should be permitted to return to France. The 
 Duchess was in a position to hear much at the 
 Spanish court of Brussels ; besides her warm 
 friendship for M. de Thou might induce her to 
 make inconvenient endeavour to clear up the 
 mystery. The Queen, openly faithless at last to 
 her oldest and most devoted friend, sent for 
 Chavigny one morning and asked him whether it 
 was true that the Cardinal was about to yield to 
 the importunity of the Duchess de Chevreuse and 
 permit her to return to France. " Without wait- 
 ing for my reply," writes Chavigny to Richelieu,
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 507 
 
 ;t her Majesty proceeded to inform me that she 
 should deeply regret the return of the said lady ; 
 for that she now valued her at her proper worth. 
 The Queen then directed me to request your 
 Eminence, in her name, not to permit the Duchess 
 de Chevreuse to return to France, but that if 
 your Eminence had any inclination to confer a 
 favour on the said lady Duchess it might not be 
 that of her recall. I then assured her Majesty you 
 would give her satisfaction on this point. I never 
 saw indications of more sincere satisfaction than 
 that shown by the Queen when I delivered 
 your message. She moreover protested that she 
 would nevermore permit Madame de Chevreuse 
 to approach her person, but has taken the firm 
 resolve, which she intends to maintain as if her 
 salvation depended thereon, never to surfer any 
 person to speak to her or to give her counsel 
 which tended to the violation of the smallest of 
 her duties and of her promises." 33 In the 
 generous enthusiasm of her disposition Madame 
 de Chevreuse relied on Anne's friendship, though 
 sorely puzzled by the reports wafted to the court 
 of Brussels of the Queen's strange indifference to 
 those whom she used to term her friends. She 
 heard with surprise of the Queen as being present 
 at the sumptuous fetes of the Palais Cardinal, 
 even when the King was too indisposed to be the 
 guest of Richelieu ; that her Majesty's fair face 
 now beamed with smiles and condescension when 
 speaking with the minister, who on the occasion 
 of her visits, gave pompous entertainments and
 
 508 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1689- 
 
 stood during the evening behind Anne's chair 
 arrayed in splendid robes of scarlet velvet glitter- 
 ing with gems. GJ Madame de Chevreuse, neverthe- 
 less, still believed in the Queen ; attributing all 
 that appeared strange in her Majesty's deport- 
 ment to the inevitable exigencies of her position. 
 If any event could have tempered the exulta- 
 tion which possessed the heart and mind of Riche- 
 lieu, it must have been the tidings which reached 
 him while at Tarascon of the death of Marie de' 
 Medici, his earliest friend and benefactress. The 
 Queen expired at Cologne on the night of the 3rd 
 of July 1642. Her disorder was dropsy and ulcera- 
 tion of the legs, consequent it is supposed on 
 ignorant medical treatment. Such had been the 
 forlorn desolation of this great Princess, mother of 
 a King of France and of the Queens of England 
 and Spain, of a Duchess Regent of Savoy and of 
 Monsieur, that during the early winter months of 
 1642 bread and fuel had absolutely failed her ! 
 " Marie wearied all the world and was herself 
 in turn wearied to such degree that she sought 
 throughout the universe for a resting-place, and 
 found none. England through the intrigues of 
 Richelieu rejected her, Spain through dread of 
 what she might betray closed the portals of the 
 Low Countries, Holland daunted by the frown 
 of Richelieu declined to receive her. At length she 
 repaired to Cologne, where she resided during 
 nine months reduced to indigence, and compelled 
 to use the wooden furniture and cupboards of her 
 apartment for fuel, during the cold of that most
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 509 
 
 rigorous season of 1642." 35 France, it was true, 
 could not hold Richelieu and the Queen-mother, 
 and one was obliged to succumb before the genius 
 and fortune of the other. Marie, ill-advised to her 
 last hour, stifled the generous remorse which on 
 several occasions arose in the bosom of her great 
 adversary, by the vindictiveness of her impotent 
 threats, and by the vow she had registered, if 
 ever she returned to France, to compass the 
 judicial death or the assassination of Richelieu. 
 It was unjustifiable, nevertheless, to sequestrate 
 her revenues, to dishonour the pecuniary drafts 
 which her necessity compelled her to give on the 
 exchequer of her son the King, and to poison 
 the ear and alienate from the friendless Princess 
 the regard of the potentates, her nearest kinsmen, 
 by mendacious slanders, listened to only because 
 they were propounded by the envoys of mighty 
 France. On her dying bed Marie forgave all her 
 enemies and Richelieu by name. The Papal 
 Nuncio, who assisted her in that solemn hour, 
 asked her whether as a supreme act of faith and 
 humility she would send a bracelet she then wore 
 on her arm to the Cardinal ? The dying Queen 
 turned impatiently away. "Ah, Jest trop!" ex- 
 claimed she with energy, and spoke no more for 
 several hours. The last will and testament of 
 Marie de' Medici was witnessed by the Nuncio, by 
 the Archbishop of Cologne and by other Church- 
 men of note. Marie's bequests were numerous, as 
 she left legacies to all her servants and officers. 
 To Anne of Austria she bequeathed the diamond
 
 510 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 ring of her own betrothal to Henri Quatre. To her 
 daughter Henrietta, Queen of England, her frag- 
 ment of the true Cross encircled by pearls and 
 diamonds. 36 The remains of the Queen were 
 interred in the cathedral of Cologne ; subsequently 
 the coffin was exhumed during the regency of 
 Anne of Austria and transported to France, where 
 it was placed in the royal mausoleum at St. Denis. 
 The death of Marie de' Medici inspired no mer- 
 ciful promptings in the heart of Richelieu. Though 
 crippled with bodily infirmities he panted for 
 vengeance on those who had so nearly compassed 
 his overthrow. The King, incensed by his vivid 
 representations, seemed to find solace only in 
 vituperations on the career of his late unhappy 
 favourite. Louis now declared that he had never 
 truly liked Cinq-Mars, whose idleness le faisoit 
 vomir ; his Majesty further exclaimed with 
 childish inanity, " That great, fat, idle, wicked 
 boy Cinq-Mars never said a pater, nor could he 
 ever induce him to try." When the King was at 
 Lyons on his road back to Paris, Cinq-Mars sent 
 an impassioned appeal for pardon and for an in- 
 terview. Louis, when he received the message, 
 was pleasantly engaged in his apartment over a 
 stove, boiling a composition of sugar and treacle, 
 which schoolboys in the nineteenth century call 
 lollipop. " No," said his Majesty in reply to the 
 appeal, taking the pan off the fire and shaking its 
 contents, " No ! the soul of Cinq-Mars is as black 
 as the bottom of this pan ! I will give him no 
 audience ! " a7 M. de Thou, meantime, was put
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 511 
 
 on board a barge under a guard of soldiers, and 
 followed in the train of the Cardinal up the Rhone 
 to Lyons. His fate does not appear to have 
 evoked from his contemporaries that tribute of 
 sympathy which posterity has assigned him. 
 Possessing a name illustrious in legal and literary 
 annals, de Thou displayed a sensitive eagerness to 
 be recognised as an equal by the feudal princes of 
 the land. His mind was inconstant, restless and 
 craving for novelty. His character was so un- 
 decided that it is recorded, when he left home he 
 sometimes lingered for an hour on his doorstep 
 before he could make up his mind in what direc- 
 tion to walk. He entered into the designs of M. 
 le Grand from delight at the notoriety they were 
 likely to confer. He had attached himself to the 
 car of Madame de Guemene, and bore patiently 
 the caprices of so great a lady, solely that his name 
 might be linked with hers en rapport, as one of 
 her accepted admirers. Cinq-Mars had nicknamed 
 de Thou " Son Inquietude," 'as he was always in 
 a chronic state of excitement and never happy 
 except in a state of ferment. 
 
 The commission for the trial of MM. Cinq-Mars 
 and de Thou was issued on the 6th of August, 
 1642. The royal commissioners were the Chan- 
 cellor Seguier and six other judges. Louis pub- 
 lished a manifesto, addressed to the Parliament of 
 Paris, in which he brands his late unfortunate 
 favourite with angry epithets. The King states 
 that the cunning policy of the Sieur de Cinq-Mars 
 was to proclaim evil tidings and to hide happy
 
 512 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 events, to depreciate the policy of Richelieu and 
 to laud that of Olivarez, to mock at religion with 
 a facility which testified that the love of God was 
 far from his heart. " His imprudence, impudence, 
 flippancy, and the intelligences which he held in 
 our army," continues his Majesty, " confirmed our 
 growing suspicions. We afterwards discovered 
 that his evil-balanced mind had betrayed him into 
 forming a league against our realm ; that the Due 
 de Bouillon was to open at Sedan the portals of 
 our kingdom to foreign armies, at the head of 
 which our very dear brother the Due d'Orleans 
 was to march, and that this miserable man was 
 to join them, in case he could not serve his faction 
 better by remaining near our person and ruining 
 the influence of our cousin the Cardinal de Riche- 
 lieu." Louis thus continues, and states the items 
 and condition of the treaty. 88 The Chancellor, 
 after subjecting the accused persons to one in- 
 terrogatory, repaired to the town of Villefranche 
 in the Beaujolais jto question Monsieur, who had 
 been reduced to a pitiable condition of terror on 
 being apprised that his doings with Spain were 
 known to his brother. He therefore avowed all he 
 knew with the most naive candour, and declared 
 himself ready to assist M. le Cardinal in forward- 
 ing the ends of justice on the persons arrested. 
 This contemptible prince confirmed by his con- 
 fession that which was already known. 89 He vin- 
 dicated de Thou from being an accomplice in the 
 Spanish treaty, but acknowledged that he was 
 aware that such a document had been obtained.
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 513 
 
 Finally Monsieur delivered up to the Chancellor 
 the original treaty which had been brought to 
 Chambord by M. de Fontrailles. 
 
 The prisoners Cinq-Mars and de Thou were 
 both confined in the fort of Pierre Encise of 
 Lyons, to which place the former had been trans- 
 ferred. Richelieu during the trial remained in 
 the neighbourhood of Lyons with his niece, 
 Madame d'Aiguillon, and other friends. The 
 fatal treaty was evidence sufficient to procure 
 the condemnation of Cinq-Mars, who behaved 
 throughout the trial with a courage and lofty re- 
 signation which affected even his judges. He was 
 condemned to the question, ordinaire et extra- 
 ordinaire, but by command of the King was only 
 led into the torture chamber and there required 
 again to make solemn affirmation that he had 
 nothing more to confess. De Thou was likewise 
 condemned to suffer the extreme penalty of the 
 law because il avail brouille, and had not de- 
 nounced the traitorous conspiracy to which he had 
 been all along privy. Sentence of decapitation 
 was pronounced on both the prisoners, September 
 12th, 1642, which was executed the same day. 
 Cinq-Mars died like a hero and a Christian, he 
 forgave his enemies and with steady resolution 
 laid his head on the block, which was severed from 
 his body at the first blow. The spectators melted 
 into tears as they witnessed the cruel fate of a 
 cavalier so accomplished and beautiful, and 
 whose errors had been fostered and encouraged by 
 the selfish indulgences of the King. De Thou met 
 
 2 K
 
 514 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 his fate calmly but with less outward courage. 
 His face was pallid as he ascended the scaffold 
 streaming with the blood of his unfortunate 
 friend, and it was observed that his arms 
 trembled. Less fortunate than Cinq-Mars, the 
 headsman, unnerved by the tragedy already 
 enacted, failed at the first stroke to sever the 
 head. The blow descended on the skull but for- 
 tunately rendered the unhappy sufferer senseless, 
 while the horror of the spectators was such, as the 
 executioner finished his dreadful task, that women 
 fainted and the mob with groans and cries of 
 indignation pressed towards the scaffold, and 
 were restrained only from tearing it down by the 
 advance of troops from the garrison. 40 It was 
 supposed that the torture had been spared Cinq- 
 Mars by the craven fears of Louis XIII. lest the 
 former might betray the plans which they had 
 formerly discussed to the detriment of the Car- 
 dinal. Probably had Cinq-Mars known less of 
 the King's secret sentiments, his life might have 
 been spared to the agonised supplications of his 
 mother. " Madame," wrote the Cardinal from 
 Lyons to the unhappy mother, 41 " if your son had 
 been only guilty of the many plots now come to 
 light for my destruction I would forget my own 
 injuries to grant your desires, but your son 
 having been convicted of most perfidious infidelity 
 towards the King, and having placed himself at 
 the head of a league to disturb the prosperity of 
 his master's reign and to betray him for strangers 
 and foreigners, enemies of this realm, I must
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 515 
 
 decline to interest myself in his affairs altogether. 
 I pray, Madame, that God may console you." 
 The Duke of Bouillon, meantime, had remained a 
 prisoner in the fort of Casale, from whence, after 
 the death of Cinq-Mars, he was removed to Lyons. 
 His ultimate fate excited many discussions in 
 council. The Duke, admonished by the fate 
 of M. de Montmorency, and therefore relying 
 little on the consideration due to his august rank, 
 wrote to the Cardinal offering to submit to any 
 terms he might think fit to impose short of exile 
 and confiscation of his wealth and dignities. 
 Madame de Bouillon, 42 who was a woman of 
 courage and spirit, rendered the Duke's letter the 
 more emphatic by writing to the Cardinal implor- 
 ing his powerful intercession with the King, but 
 stating in positive language that if the persuasion 
 of his Eminence failed she intended to deliver 
 up the fortress and principality of Sedan to the 
 Spaniards. The Prince of Orange, uncle of the 
 Due de Bouillon, also sent the Count d'Estrades 
 to Paris to offer intercession. The Prince, during 
 Richelieu's temporary eclipse, had stood his firm 
 friend in genuine admiration of his administra- 
 tive talents. The Prince had directed the Dutch 
 ambassador to wait upon King Louis before his 
 departure for Perpignan, to express the regret of 
 the States that the Cardinal de Richelieu seemed 
 to have fallen from the royal favour, which 
 declension occasioned great uneasiness to the 
 German allies of the crown, who, by their con- 
 fidence in the ability of the great Cardinal, were
 
 516 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 restrained only from concluding a peace with 
 Spain. This good office Richelieu resolved to 
 requite by sparing the life of the Due de Bouillon. 
 A private arrangement was therefore concluded. 
 Bouillon confessed his guilty connivance in the 
 machinations of Cinq-Mars, and gratefully ac- 
 cepted the terms of pardon imposed which were, 
 " the cession of the fortress and principality of 
 Sedan to the crow^n, with all the neighbouring 
 lands appertaining to Bouillon, and the artillery 
 and munitions in store, in return for life and 
 liberty, which the Duke humbly craves may be 
 accorded to him within the next fourteen days." 43 
 The possession of Sedan was more important to 
 the King of France than the enforcement of the 
 law against Bouillon, for the death on the scaffold 
 of the Duke could not have been followed by the 
 legal confiscation of his principality which he 
 held independently of the crown. The Duchess, 
 therefore, might have called Spanish troops to her 
 aid, or what was most probable after the death 
 of the Duke she would have delivered up Sedan 
 to the Prince of Orange and a Dutch garrison 
 to hold in trust for the young Duke her stepson. 
 A pardon under the great seal was issued on the 
 15th of September by the King, " in consideration 
 of the earnest intercessions of our cousins, the 
 Prince of Orange and the Landgravine of Hesse." 
 The following day Bouillon was set at liberty and 
 retired to his chateau de Turenne. 44 Mazarin 
 negotiated the treaty and was sent by Louis to 
 take possession of S6dan on behalf of the crown,
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 517 
 
 He narrowly escaped capture by the Count de 
 Bucquoy, an officer in the pay of Spain, who set 
 an ambuscade of 800 cavaliers near to Donchery 
 to attack the Cardinal and his escort, which 
 consisted of twenty-two companies of Swiss and 
 royal guards. Mazarin, however, happily avoided 
 the peril by travelling by night. He entered 
 Sedan where he was received by the Duchess de 
 Bouillon, who delivered up the fortress and its 
 stores in accordance with the treaty signed by her 
 husband and thus the great chieftains of La 
 Marck ceased to be sovereign princes. 
 
 " Sire ! your enemies are dead and Perpignan 
 is yours ! " wrote Richelieu from Lyons to the King 
 on the 14th of September. The great southern 
 fortress, reported to be impregnable, had fallen 
 most opportunely, so as to enable the Cardinal to 
 proclaim its surrender in the same despatch which 
 informed the King of the execution of Cinq-Mars 
 and of M. de Thou. The glory of the capture 
 of Perpignan remained with the Marshal de la 
 Meilleraye who commanded the last storming of 
 the iron walls of the citadel, which, perched on 
 the summit of an almost perpendicular rock, 
 could not be mined. There was one weak point 
 only by which the garrison might be driven forth 
 the want of water : the assault given by the 
 Marshal destroyed the only well of the fortress, 
 and ten days afterwards the garrison capitulated. 
 
 Richelieu now prepared for his triumphant 
 advance to the capital. The temper of the King 
 was not satisfactory ; he simply expressed his
 
 518 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 obligations to his minister, and there was a gloom 
 and reserve in his communication which disturbed 
 Richelieu. The Queen hastened however to 
 write to the Cardinal ; and she sent him a portrait 
 of M. le Dauphin, which attention, as he observed 
 to the Duchess d'Aiguillon, greatly comforted 
 him : "I cannot sufficiently thank your Majesty 
 for this favour. I revere the portrait of M. le 
 Dauphin, as I shall all my life revere his person. 
 May God grant that my successors in office may 
 render him the faithful services that I have always 
 offered to the King and to your Majesty." 4S 
 
 From Lyons the Cardinal travelled to the 
 capital with the pompous progress of a sovereign 
 prince. His infirmities were now so great that he 
 could not bear the motion of any kind of carriage 
 drawn by horses. The greater part of the 
 journey therefore was performed by water. The 
 Cardinal had thus a comfortable journey from 
 Tarascon to Lyons, but from Lyons to Roanne, 
 the place where he was to embark on the Loire, 
 many miles of country intervened. A large 
 chamber of wood was therefore built, having 
 windows and doors, draped on the outside with 
 red damask and ornamented with gold mouldings. 
 In wet weather a cover of oil cloth was prepared 
 to case the damask and to render the chamber 
 waterproof. Inside was a bed, a couch, a table, 
 a mirror and a chair for the secretary of the 
 minister or for the occupation of Madame 
 d'Aiguillon. Twelve gentlemen of the guard bore 
 along this sumptuous litter by gilded staves resting
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 519 
 
 on their shoulders. In this state the Cardinal 
 was borne from Lyons to embark on the river 
 Loire by his devoted gentlemen in turn who all 
 persisted in marching bareheaded. His barge was 
 superbly adorned and his couch was placed on 
 deck under a velvet canopy. The barge was 
 followed by that of Madame d'Aiguillon, then 
 came the superb litter in a boat surmounted by 
 the royal standard and by the banner of Riche- 
 lieu. The flotilla was attended by a number of 
 smaller barges and boats which gliding up the 
 river presented a picturesque spectacle. On 
 either side of the river a squadron of cavalry 
 followed the state barge to watch over the safety 
 of the great minister. Every night Richelieu 
 landed and was borne, reclining in his litter, to 
 the lodgings prepared in each of the large towns on 
 his route. No obstacles were suffered to impede 
 his progress, walls were thrown down to facilitate 
 the passage of his litter, the windows of houses 
 were taken out to give it admittance into the 
 chamber prepared ; if the lodging happened to be 
 on the second story of a house, a gradual ascent 
 from the street or the courtyard to an aperture 
 on a level with the chamber was constructed of 
 planks railed in on each side up which he was 
 borne by his faithful body-guard. 46 When his 
 Eminence arrived at a town a deputation of 
 municipal authorities received and attended him 
 to his abode, the bells of the town rang merrily 
 and the flag of Richelieu was seen floating side 
 by side with the banner of the fleurs-de-lis. The
 
 520 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1689- 
 
 pompous landing at Nevers was witnessed and 
 described by the Abbe de Marolles, 47 the faithful 
 friend and almoner of the Princess Marie de 
 Gonzague-Nevers, who heart-broken at the 
 execution of Cinq-Mars, had retired to the palace 
 of her ancestors to deplore her fault in having 
 stimulated the ill-regulated ambition of that un- 
 fortunate man. 
 
 The Cardinal rested for an interval at Fontaine- 
 bleau, and arrived at Ruel about the middle of 
 October 1642. 48 The acute pains which con- 
 stantly racked his limbs rendered him irritable 
 and more than ever inclined to domineer over 
 a master only too ready to concede. Indeed 
 Richelieu's pretensions and demands showed 
 that for the future he intended to share the royal 
 splendour as well as the power of the throne. 
 Louis paid his minister a visit on his arrival at 
 Ruel ; the Cardinal did not rise as his Majesty 
 entered the chamber. His bodily infirmities were 
 probably the occasion of this disregard of proper 
 etiquette, and as such Louis would have excused 
 the omission. The Cardinal however coldly re- 
 marked, " that princes of the Church were not 
 bound to show deference to any secular power, 
 and that for the future he should avail himself 
 of his privilege." Queen Anne and her Dauphin 
 visited Ruel on the same day. Richelieu kissed 
 her Majesty's hand and asked permission to 
 embrace Monseigneur, but did not rise from his 
 couch. 49 Against M. d'Orleans the anger of 
 Richelieu burned fiercely, and he made no
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 521 
 
 attempt to conceal his sentiments of profound 
 contempt and indignation. In this feeling Louis 
 entirely sympathised with his minister, and be- 
 tween the two an edict was concerted to deprive 
 Monsieur and his posterity of their rights to the 
 succession in the event of the extinction of the 
 issue male of Louis XIII. : a forfeiture justly 
 incurred by his repeated and malignant treason. 
 This edict was likewise to debar the Duke for ever 
 from holding executive or military functions in 
 the realm ; it again denied the validity of his 
 marriage with Marguerite de Lorraine, and in- 
 terdicted his residence in Paris or wherever the 
 court might be sojourning. The secret was con- 
 fided to Mazarin, to Chavigny and to de Noyers. 
 It was proposed to present the Act of Deprivation 
 for the sanction of the Parliament of Paris, and 
 subsequently to convoke the States of the realm 
 to give it final ratification. The death of the 
 Cardinal however intervened before this great 
 judicial decree was ready for presentation either 
 to the council of state or to the Parliament. 
 Cardinal Mazarin meantime had been promoted 
 to the place vacant by the death of Father 
 Joseph 50 that of confidential adviser and bosom 
 friend of the minister. The charming manners of 
 the subtle Italian, his pliability and keen intellect, 
 his vast conceptions of the power of the sovereign 
 prerogative, and his unaffected sympathy for the 
 woes, mental and bodily, of Richelieu, rendered 
 him an indispensable personage at the Palais 
 Cardinal. Mazarin's 61 soft words and winning
 
 522 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 appeals fell like oil on the billows of royal wrath, 
 and often under his soothing expostulations 
 Louis' troubles subsided. It was remarked by 
 all the habitues of the Louvre that since the death 
 of Cinq-Mars the temper of the King had become 
 more morose, and that at times his Majesty 
 could scarcely conceal his fear and his detestation 
 of his minister. So threatening was the temper 
 of the King, that Richelieu remembering the fate 
 of the Marquis d'Ancre seldom ventured to the 
 Louvre. About this time therefore he demanded 
 that his guards might attend him to the palace 
 and wait his exit in the guard- chamber of the 
 Louvre. The request threw the King into a 
 paroxysm of wrath, which was increased when 
 one afternoon Chavigny appeared with a per- 
 emptory demand from the minister for the dis- 
 missal of four officers of the household to wit, 
 Troisville, lieutenant of the famed Mousque- 
 taires du Roi ; of MM. Tailladet, La Salle, and 
 des Essarts, captains in the body-guard. The 
 Cardinal pleaded that his life was not safe from 
 the violence of these gentlemen ; that M. de Cinq- 
 Mars had deposed at his trial that the King on 
 introducing to him M. de Troisville said, " Behold 
 M. le Grand, a truly faithful man who wall any 
 day at my command rid me of M. le Cardinal ; " 
 that if his Majesty should be pleased to deny his 
 request he must retire from the perilous burden 
 of affairs. " But, M. de Chavigny," replied the 
 King, " consider Troisville 62 serves me faith- 
 fully, and he has received abundant proofs of my
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 523 
 
 satisfaction at his services ! " " Sire ! " retorted 
 Chavigny, " consider also how well M. le Cardinal 
 has served you ! consider that he is faithful and 
 moreover indispensable to your government. You 
 ought not to weigh a M. de Troisville in the same 
 balance ! j: Louis made no reply and the secre- 
 tary of state therefore withdrew to report to 
 Richelieu the result of his audience. " What, M. 
 de Chavigny, you said nothing more ! You did 
 not press the King more urgently, you did not 
 tell his Majesty that he had no alternative but to 
 comply ! " exclaimed the Cardinal, fiercely. 63 A 
 few days elapsed during which Richelieu caused 
 rumours to be bruited abroad that he was about 
 to resign the conduct of affairs. The panic was 
 great, and the Dutch ambassador again asked 
 audience of the King to impart the fears of his 
 government. He intimated that the appoint- 
 ment of a minister professing a less liberal policy 
 than M. le Cardinal would necessarily be followed 
 by a treaty of peace between the States of Holland 
 and his Catholic Majesty, as it did not seem 
 probable that a minister of rigid orthodoxy w r ould 
 long maintain the alliances of the French crown 
 with the heretic Powers of Europe. The same 
 remonstrances were spoken by Grotius on behalf 
 of the young Queen Christina of Sweden. The 
 adherents of Monsieur also took heart and began 
 to show themselves in Paris. The Cardinal was 
 enraptured at the ferment, which completed the 
 despairing perplexity of the King. Chavigny 
 therefore soon afterwards appeared at St.
 
 524 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 Germain, and presented a paper which contained 
 the formal resignation by Richelieu of his offices 
 and a demand for permission to withdraw to the 
 chateau de Richelieu. The fury of the King was 
 now vehemently excited. " Leave me ! ' : ex- 
 claimed his Majesty, " leave me, sir, and carry 
 back this paper to him who sent you, and say that 
 I mistrust those around him far more than he 
 suspects the worthy lieutenant of my musketeers 
 and the three honest captains he names ! I refer 
 to you, Chavigny, and to your friend de Noyers. 
 If Troisville and the others are exiled I will 
 banish you both from court at the same time." 6i 
 Notwithstanding the displeasure of the King, 
 Richelieu persisted in his demand of retiring from 
 office. On the 26th of November therefore the 
 three captains received conge. The King made 
 one more effort on behalf of Troisville, whom 
 he highly esteemed, but this resistance was a 
 further incentive to the Cardinal to insist upon 
 his dismissal. " Perseverance, like faith, removes 
 mountains," observed his Eminence to Mazarin ; 
 " Troisville shall decamp." Louis was com- 
 pelled by his inert habits and his inaptitude for 
 affairs to accept this alternative rather than the 
 resignation of his minister. He however refused 
 to nominate other persons to the posts vacated, 
 but decreed that his exiled officers should continue 
 to receive their pay regularly as if in actual service. 
 On the 1st of December Louis sent a gracious 
 message to Troisville. " I am expressly ordered 
 by his Majesty," said the King's envoy, " to
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 525 
 
 assure you of his favour. If he has reluctantly 
 consented to your exile from the importunities of 
 the Cardinal his Majesty has diminished towards 
 you nothing of his accustomed bienveillance, he 
 permits you to leave the court but only for an 
 interval. The King commands you to retire to 
 Moustiers, your pensions and your pay will be 
 remitted to you as usual, the only difference being 
 that his Majesty increases them by one half and 
 bids you remember him with affection." 55 Trois- 
 ville left the Louvre with tears of regret, ready to 
 perpetrate any deed at the bidding of his master. 
 He quitted Paris, omitting the usual formality of 
 leaving his name at the Palais Cardinal. Mazarin 
 then repaired to St. Germain, and with his sleek 
 tongue and ready plausibility tried to soothe the 
 King, and to induce him to receive again the 
 two secretaries of state Chavigny, who was 
 popularly nicknamed " the Cardinal's jackal," 
 and de Noyers. 
 
 A greater Master, how r ever, than the one whom he 
 so recklessly braved demanded from the Cardinal 
 an account of his stewardship. The agitation of 
 his conflict with the King had greatly exhausted 
 his strength. On the 1st of December, the day 
 upon which Troisville left Paris, Richelieu awoke 
 in a shivering fit and suffering intolerable pain in 
 the right side and in the chest. The physician bled 
 him and applied blisters. On the following days, 
 Sunday and Monday, Richelieu was no better ; 
 his respiration was laboured and his sufferings 
 constant. On Tuesday mass was said by Lescot,
 
 526 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 bishop- designate of Chartres and confessor to his 
 Eminence. Afterwards the Cardinal received the 
 Holy Eucharist with great outward demonstra- 
 tions of fervour. On this day also prayers for his 
 recovery were said in all the churches of the capital. 
 During the afternoon of this same day the suffer- 
 ings of Richelieu became so intense that his 
 physicians, believing that he could not survive 
 many hours, recommended that a despatch should 
 be sent to St. Germain to inform Louis of the 
 extremity of his minister who earnestly desired 
 an interview. The King immediately repaired in 
 somewhat ungracious mood to the Palais Car- 
 dinal. 6 * The scene in the sick man's chamber was 
 striking and impressive. Richelieu, propped up by 
 pillows and gasping for breath, was supported 
 by the Duchess d'Aiguillon, by his nephew the 
 Marshal de Breze and by Chavigny on one side ; 
 on the other side of the couch stood Mazarin and 
 the bishop of Chartres. The room was filled by a 
 throng of courtiers, bishops and attendants, 
 whose glances were riveted on the agonised face 
 of the sufferer. At a little altar not very distant 
 from the bed, Seguier, bishop of Meaux, offered 
 intercessory prayers and read passages from 
 1' Office des Mourants. All retired as King Louis 
 entered attended by the Marquis de Villequier. 
 The fast-fleeting strength of Richelieu seemed 
 restored on beholding the King. " Sire," said he, 
 *' I now say to you adieu for ever in this world. 
 In taking my leave of your Majesty, I behold your 
 kingdom more puissant than ever and your
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 527 
 
 enemies vanquished ; the only recompense I 
 presume to beseech is your favour and protection 
 for my nephews and kinsmen. Your Majesty has 
 many learned and competent personages in your 
 council retain their assistance." Faintness com- 
 ing over the sufferer, Louis took a cup from the 
 hand of an attendant and himself administered 
 a restorative. Richelieu's voice had sunk to a 
 whisper ; he afterwards, it was said, recommended 
 Mazarin as his successor. 67 The King made a 
 general promise to attend to the advice given him 
 and hurriedly took his leave of the dying man. 
 Afterwards his Majesty addressed a few words to 
 the Duchess d'Aiguillon, who sat apart [weep* 
 ing bitterly. He then leisurely strolled through 
 Richelieu's matchless gallery of pictures, before 
 returning to the Louvre, with an air of heartless 
 unconcern which occasioned many comments.* 8 
 
 After the departure of the King, Richelieu lay 
 in silence and exhaustion for upwards of an hour. 
 He then called his physicians and asked how long 
 he was likely to survive. These personages declared 
 that they even then did not despair of his life, as 
 Providence would doubtless work a miracle on 
 behalf of a personage so indispensable to the 
 realm. A murmur of impatience escaped the 
 lips of the Cardinal, and beckoning to Chicot, 
 physician in ordinary to the King, he said : " Mon- 
 sieur, I conjure you as a Christian gentleman and 
 not regarding your medical capacity, to tell me 
 how long I have to live." " Monseigneur, I be- 
 lieve that within four-and-twenty hours you will
 
 528 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 be either cured or at rest." " I understand : you 
 speak like an honest man," replied the Cardinal. 
 Addressing his confessor, Lescot, he then requested 
 that Extreme Unction might be administered 
 with as little delay as possible. The Cardinal then 
 conversed for a few minutes in a whisper with his 
 niece, Madame d'Aiguillon, and extorted from her 
 a promise that she would relinquish her resolve to 
 embrace a monastic life. 59 At midnight, Decem- 
 ber 3rd, the last Sacraments were administered. 
 The Host was borne to the bedside of the dying 
 man by the Cure de St. Eustache. He rose from 
 his pillow and with outstretched arms exclaimed, 
 pointing to the Ciborium, in a voice which had 
 suddenly recovered its loud ringing tones : " Be- 
 hold my Judge and my Saviour ! I pray Him to 
 condemn me, if I have not preferred before all 
 things the welfare of religion and the prosperity 
 of this realm ! Speak to me, M. le Cure ; speak as 
 to a great sinner treat me as one of the least of 
 your penitents ! ' : The priests present then recited 
 the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. " Do 
 you, Monseigneur, faithfully believe and hold all 
 these articles of the Christian Faith ? " " With- 
 out simulation ; if I had a thousand lives I would 
 give them for the Faith and for Holy Church," 
 replied Richelieu. " Monseigneur, do you pardon 
 your enemies ? and if it should please God to 
 restore you to health, do you purpose to serve 
 Him with tenfold zeal, tenfold devotion ? ' "I 
 forgive my enemies, even as I pray for pardon 
 If God in His Omniscience foresees that hereafter,
 
 1C42J ANNE OP AUSTRIA 529 
 
 should my life be granted to me, I might fail in 
 my devotion, may He rather smite me with 
 instant death ! ' : replied the Cardinal ; adding 
 feebly, after an interval, " God's will be done ! 
 I ask not, I pray not for life. His will be done ! " 
 The sacred rites were then administered. " I was 
 smitten with wonder and amaze at beholding a 
 man raised to the very pinnacle of fortune show 
 so little regard for life, and depart willingly from 
 so magnificent and heroic a destiny," writes one 
 of the spectators of the last hours of Richelieu to 
 the ambassador in Rome, M. de Fontenoy Mareuil. 
 " I admired the gravity and sweetness displayed 
 by him who had charmed all hearts and won all 
 intellectual minds during the last fleeting moments 
 of life." 60 
 
 The sensation in Paris, meantime, was tremen- 
 dous the portals of the Palais Cardinal stood open 
 and personages of distinction were passing and 
 repassing every hour during the day and night. 
 While the last Sacraments were being adminis- 
 tered a crowd kept possession of the neighbouring 
 streets, awaiting with anxious interest the reports 
 of the messengers hourly despatched to the 
 Louvre. 61 Within the palace the vast apartments 
 were thronged even the bedchamber of the dying 
 man was thrown open for the convenience of the 
 more eminent amongst the courtiers, who desired 
 to gaze upon the last mortal agonies of the great 
 minister. The following morning, being Decem- 
 ber 4th, a slight improvement in the Cardinal's 
 condition was reported. He again engaged in 
 
 2L
 
 530 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 prayer, bade farewell to Chavigny, and thanked 
 his physicians for their care. As the morning 
 advanced however it was evident that Richelieu 
 was fast passing away. At eleven o'clock he 
 fainted but recovered again, and about midday 
 he expired, apparently without much suffering. 
 After recovering from his sudden faint, Richelieu, 
 though speechless, continued in possession of his 
 other faculties up to the last moment. 82 Solemn 
 silence fell on the assemblage present after the 
 great master-spirit of the age had passed from 
 earth. Madame d'Aiguillon then tenderly kissed 
 the lifeless lips, and was led to the door of the 
 appartement by the Due de Breze. 
 
 The friends of Richelieu then slowly approached 
 to gaze on the corpse. MM. de Guiche and de 
 Breze advanced first ; they were followed by 
 Mazarin and by Chavigny who both wept bitterly. 
 An hour thus elapsed, when by command of the 
 Due de Breze, nephew of the deceased Cardinal, 
 the folding doors of the chamber were closed to 
 enable the attendants to perform the last sad offices. 
 
 Information of the death of the Cardinal de 
 Richelieu was conveyed to the King by de Noyers. 
 Louis was sitting alone in his dreary chamber over- 
 looking the Seine. He heard the tidings in silence, 
 but a pallor overspread his cheek. At length his 
 Majesty observed while waving his hand in sign 
 of dismissal to de Noyers : " Voila un grand 
 politique mort ! " 63 
 
 A post-mortem examination of the Cardinal's 
 remains was made immediately after his death.
 
 1042] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 531 
 
 His lungs were extensively diseased ; and the 
 immediate cause of death was found to be the 
 breaking of an abscess on the left lobe of the 
 lungs. The body was embalmed and lay in state 
 for five days. The funeral obsequies were cele- 
 brated with little pomp in the church of the Sor- 
 bonne, where the body of the great Cardinal was 
 deposited in the magnificent mausoleum which he 
 had caused to be constructed before the high altar 
 of that church. 
 
 By his last will and testament Richelieu con- 
 firmed to the King his previous donations of the 
 Palais Cardinal, of his superb golden altar 
 vessels, and of his largest diamond. He, moreover, 
 bequeathed to the King tapestry hangings for 
 eight spacious chambers and three state beds, 
 which were to be selected by the Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon. To Armand de Maille, 64 Due de 
 Breze, his nephew and god-son, he bequeathed the 
 duchy of Fronsac, the duchy of Beaufort, and 
 other lands and manors together with a sum of 
 several millions of livres. To his niece, the 
 Duchess d'Aiguillon, he bequeathed the H6tel 
 du Petit Luxembourg and his chateau de Ruel, 
 with an immense revenue, the whole to revert on 
 her death to the Due de Richelieu. The Duchess 
 also inherited her uncle's jewels and his cele- 
 brated service of gold plate. The eldest son of his 
 brother-in-law, the Marquis de Pontcourlay, was 
 the Cardinal's principal heir. 65 To him the duchy 
 of Richelieu was bequeathed, the ancient barony 
 of Barbezieux, the principality of Mortagne, the
 
 532 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 counties of Cosnac and Saugeon, and the rich 
 manors of La Ferte, Bernard, Brouage, and d'Hiers, 
 besides a sum of more than three millions sterling. 
 All the furniture of the Palais Cardinal excepting 
 that bequeathed to King Louis the splendid 
 galleries of paintings and sculpture, the collec- 
 tions of china, the cabinet of gems and enamels 
 and Venetian glass, were left to the future Due de 
 Richelieu to furnish the Hotel de Richelieu. His 
 library was bequeathed by the Cardinal to the 
 nation, under the perpetual guardianship of the 
 members of the College de Sorbonne, from amongst 
 whom the librarians were always to be chosen. 
 The amount bequeathed by Richelieu in legacies 
 to his friends and servants alone exceeded the 
 sum of two millions of francs. 66 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER NINE 
 
 1 " On soup9onnoit a la Cour de France que Chevreuse vint a Londres 
 pour proposer un manage entre le Prince d'Espagne, et la fille ainee du 
 Roi de la Grande Bretagne." Bibl. Imp. MS. de Colbert, t. ii., pub- 
 lished by M. Cousin. Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Paul Scarron, born 1610, the first husband of Madame de Main- 
 tenon. Madame de Hautefort, on her return to the court, presented the 
 poet to the Regent Anne. " Madame, permettez que je sois votre 
 malade, en titre d'office," exclaimed Scarron, facetiously. Scarron was 
 already crippled and deformed from an immersion of many hours in the 
 river Sarthe to escape the consequences of a youthful frolic in which 
 he had incurred the indignation of his townsmen. 
 
 4 Vie de M. de Cinq-Mars, Grand Ecuyer de France. Galerie des Per- 
 sonnages Illustres de la Cour de Louis XIII. Tallemant des Reaux. 
 " Nous avons un favori a la cour, qui est M. de Cinq-Mars, fils de feu 
 M. le Marechal d'Effiat, dependant, tout-a-fait de Monseigneur le 
 Cardinal. Jamais le roi n'a eu passion plus violente pour personne que 
 pour lui. Sa Majeste recompense la charge de Grand Ecuyer qu'a M. 
 de Bellegarde, pour la lui donner. Ce n'est pas un trop vilain debut 
 pour un homme de dix-neuf ans."' Lettre de M. de Chavigny a M. de 
 Mazarin.
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 533 
 
 5 Marion de 1'Orme, born in 1611, died in 1650. " C'etoit une belle 
 personne," relates Tallemant ; "le nez lui rougissait quelquefois, et 
 pour cela elle se tenait les matinees entieres les pieds dans 1'eau." She 
 used to visit Richelieu : " deguisee en page ; il la regut en habit de 
 satin gris de lin, en broderie d'or et d'argent, botte, et avec des plumes." 
 Tallemant, t. 2, p. 194. 
 
 6 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. ii. Naissance de Mon- 
 seigneur le Due d'Anjou, Philippe de France. Hilarion de Coste, 
 filoges des Dauphins de France. 
 
 7 " La petite cour de la reine ressembloit a des pensionnaires en recre- 
 ation Madame d'Aiguillon faisoit les honneurs avec le Cardinal." 
 M6m. d'Anne de Gonzague, Princesse Palatine. 
 
 8 Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier, t. 1. Galerie des Person- 
 nages Illustres de la Cour de Louis XIII. , t. 4. 
 
 9 Aub6ry, Mem. pour servir a 1'Hist. du Card, de Richelieu, t. 5. 
 
 10 Ibid. 
 
 11 Ibid. 
 
 12 Proces Verbal du Proces de Cinq-Mars et de M. de Thou. Tallemant 
 des Reaux. Vie de M. de Cinq-Mars. Galerie des Personnages Illustres 
 de la Cour de Louis XIII., t. 4. 
 
 13 Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de Louis XIII. , t. 4, 
 p. 518. 
 
 14 Many persons, however, thought that the Queen, moved by insatiable 
 ambition, and even fearful that untoward revelations might hurl her 
 from the throne, encouraged the malcontents so long as their machina- 
 tions were confined to France. " M. le Grand a ete pousse a son mauvais 
 dessein par la Reine-mere, par sa fille, par la Reine de France, par 
 Madame de Chevreuse, par Montagu, et autres papistes d'Angle- 
 terre." Archives des Affaires fitrangeres, France, t. 101. Lettre, 44. 
 Juillet. 
 
 15 " Le Roy s'est afin retourne dans son lit, et m'a dit d'une voix 
 attendrie : ' Bon soir, faite pour le mieux ; mais ne commettez point 
 d 'imprudence.' Jugez, ma chere princesse, si je ne suis pas autorise a 
 tout entreprendre ! " Lettre de M. de Cinq-Mars a la Princesse Marie 
 de Gonzague de Nevers. 
 
 16 Louis d'Astarac, Vicomte de Fontrailles. The Cardinal one day 
 encountered Fontrailles in an antechamber of the Louvre, as his 
 Eminence was advancing in haste to receive some ambassador. " Rangez- 
 vous, rangez vous, Monsieur ! " exclaimed Richelieu, hurriedly. " Ne 
 vous montrez pas ! Get ambassadeur n'aime pas les monstres ! " 
 
 17 Mademoiselle asserts that the Queen was secretly apprised of the 
 treaty by the Duke of Orleans, that she did not disapprove, but 
 resolutely refused to share the peril. The duke was the only personage 
 who was aware of Anne's knowledge, and of her resolve to take no share 
 in the proceedings, but on the contrary, to disavow all relations with 
 the conspirators. The Queen never ceased, it is alleged, to suspect
 
 534 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1689- 
 
 Richelieu, whatever might be the near liaison between them ; " Sa 
 Majeste," writes the Duo de Bouillon, "ne douta point que si le Roi 
 venait a mourir, le ministre ne voulut lui oter ses enfants pour se faire 
 donner a lui-meme la regence ; aussi par le moyen de M. le Grand, elle 
 voulait assurer sa puissance." 
 
 18 Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII. , Le Vassor. Bernard. M6m. de 
 Bouillon, de la Rochefoucauld, &c. 
 
 19 The Duke de la Rochefoucauld, in his Memoirs (p. 362, et seq.), affirms 
 that Anne knew of the negotiations of Cinq-Mars with sundry vassals of 
 the crown, and sent M. de Thou to inform him, " de sa liaison avec M. lo 
 Grand, et qu'elle lui avait promis que je serois de ses amis." The duke, 
 however, acquits the Queen of any knowledge of the dealings of the con- 
 spirators with Spain, of which he states that her Majesty was perfectly 
 ignorant, and disclaimed with horror when they came to light. 
 Apparently Anne wished to profit by the conspiracy, but to avoid ita 
 penalties. 
 
 20 Vie de M. de Cinq-Mars ; Hist, du Card. Due de Richelieu. 
 
 21 Anne distrusted the Duke of Orleans, who never ceased to make open 
 declaration of the illegitimacy of the young Dauphin and his brother. 
 Her Majesty, it was alleged, wished to secure the regency by any 
 method, but she shrank in displeasure before a combination, 
 strengthened by the adhesion of Spain, and of which Monsieur was 
 chief, which might hereafter be used against the rights of her son. 
 
 22 Fontrailles replied, in answer to the solicitations of Cinq-Mars not 
 to abandon France : " ' Pour vous, Monsieur, vous serez encore d'assez 
 belle taille quand on vous aura ote la tete de dessus les epaules, mais 
 en verite je suis trop petit pour cela.' H se sauva en habit de capucin, 
 comme il etoit alle faire le traite en Espagne." 
 
 23 Richelieu draws a frightful picture in this letter of the probable 
 troubles lurking over the realm : amongst other subjects of alarm he 
 instances, les lettres du Prince d'Orange ; la gazette de Brussels et 
 celle de Cologne ; les preparatif s de la reine-mere pour venir en France ; 
 ce qui s'ecrit par lettres sures de Madame de Chevreuse ; les avis que 
 viennent d'ltalie ; les esperances des Espagnols ; et la resolution que 
 Monsieur a prit de ne pas venir a la Cour. 
 
 24 Lettre de De Noyers a Chavigny, retourne a Tarascon. Archives des 
 Affaires Etrangeres, t. 102. Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 25 Ibid. 
 
 26 Vie de Cinq-Mars. Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la 
 Cour de Louis XIII. San Treijo. Le Vassor, Mem. du Cardinal de 
 Richelieu. 
 
 27 Langlade, Vie de Frederic Maurice de la Tour d'Auvergne, Due de 
 Bouillon. Paris, 1692. 
 
 28 Le Vassor, Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII. Bayle Diet. Article 
 Louis XIII. Nouvelle Vie d'Anne d'Autriche, t. 1. 
 
 29 Vol. MS. 101,
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 535 
 
 30 Juillet, 1642. Ibid. vol. 102. Archives dee Affaires fitrangeres de 
 France. 
 
 31 Ibid. MS. 
 
 32 Fontrailles. Relation des choses particulieres do la Cour pendant la 
 faveur de M. de Cinq-Mars. Pettitot, vol. 54. 
 
 33 MS. Archives des Affaires fitrangeres, vol. 102. Lettre 28 Juillet. 
 
 34 At one of these entertainments, called " Le Ballet des Prosperites 
 de 1'armee de France," the Bishop of Chartres handed the salver of 
 refreshments to the Queen. The salver held twenty silver dishes piled 
 with preserved fruits, sweetmeats, and marmalade. Mem. de 1'Abbe 
 de Marolles. 
 
 35 Dreux du Radier. Vie de Marie de' Medici. Mem. de Brienne, t. 2. 
 Motteville M6moires, t. 1. Siri M6m. Recondite. The following verse 
 was composed in allusion to the place of her interment, near the shrine 
 of the Three Kings in the Cathedral of Cologne : 
 
 " Tros Reges mihi dona ferunt : dat thura BRITAKNTTS, 
 Aurum IBER ; at myrrham tu mihi, NATE, dabis." 
 
 36 Testament de Marie de' Medici, Reine, Mere du Roi. Journal de 
 Richelieu. 
 
 37 Tallemant des Reaux. The royal words were, " L'ame de Cinq-Mars 
 est aussi noire que le cul de ce poelon." 
 
 8 Lettre de Cachet au Parleinent de Paris sur les Deportments de 
 M. de Cinq-Mars. Archives Curieuses, t. 5, 2me series. 
 
 39 Ibid. Richelieu assured Monsieur that this submission to the royal 
 will " ne lui porterait aucun deshonneur ; et qu'au contraire s'il le 
 faisait resoluement et noblement, elle passerait pour une acte de bonte 
 et de gdnerosite tout a fait digne d'un grand prince ! " When Richelieu 
 had extorted from the craven Prince all he wanted he speedily changed 
 his tone ! 
 
 40 Proces de MM. de Cinq-Mars et de Thou : Archives Curieuses, t. 5. 
 Vie de M. de Cinq-Mars. Galerie des Personnages Ulustres de la Cour de 
 Louis XIII., t. 4. 
 
 41 Aubery, Mem. pour servir a 1'Histoire de Card, de Richelieu, t. 5. 
 Marie de Fourci, Marechale d'Effiat. Cinq-Mars had one sister, Marie 
 Coiffier : she was first betrothed to Jean d'Aligre, Seigneur de Beauvais, 
 but eventually married Charlesde la Porte, Marshal Due de la Meilleraye. 
 Their only son was the husband of the heiress of Mazarin, Hortense 
 Mancini. 
 
 42 Langlade : Vie du Due de Bouillon (Fred. Maurice). See the letters 
 which passed between Richelieu and Madame de Bouillon, Aubery, t. v. 
 
 43 " On arreta," writes Langlade, " que le Roy auroit la place ; qu'il en 
 donnerait la recompense en terres dans le royaume ; que pendant qu en 
 travailleroit a 1 'execution des conditions, le due sorterait de prison." 
 
 44 " La chaque jour le due donnait quelques heures a la lecture des 
 Saints Peres, et a la priere," Langlade, Vie du Due de Bouillon,
 
 536 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1639- 
 
 45 Aubery, Mem. pour 1'Hist. du Card, de Richelieu, t. v. 
 
 46 " Comme le Cardinal etait incommode, il trouva moyen de marcher 
 sans se lever de son lit, y etant couche et porte par seize personnes. 
 Jamais il n'entroit par la porte dans la maison ou il devoit loger ; mais 
 M. du Noyers, faisant pour le dire ainsi le marechal de logis, allait 
 devant, et avoit soin de faire faire une overture a 1'endroit des fenetres 
 de la chambre ou il devoit reposer. On dressoit en meme temps un 
 grand echafaud dans la rue, sur lequel on montait par des degres afin 
 que Ton put passer, et faire entrer dans la chambre, le lit magnifique 
 dans lequel son Eminence etait couchee." Mem. du Sieur de Pontis. 
 
 47 Mem. de Michel de Marolles : Paris, 1656. 
 
 48 " On tendit les chaines a Paris dans toutes les rues ou il devoit 
 passer, afin d'empecher la grande confusion du peuple, qui accourait de 
 toutes parts pour voir cette espece de triomphe d"un Cardinal, et d'un 
 ministre couche dans son lit," &c. 
 
 49 Hist, de la Fronde Sainte Aulaire, p. 72. 
 
 50 Father Joseph de Tremblay died at Ruel in April of the year 1638. 
 
 51 Giulio Mazzarini, born 1592, died 1661. 
 
 52 Henri Joseph de Peyre, Comte de Troisville. 
 
 53 Tallemant Le Cardinal de Richelieu. " La tete vous a tourne, 
 M. de Chavigny, la tete vous a tourne ! " Chavigny ensuite lui jura 
 qu'il avoit dit au Roi, " Sire, il faut que vous le fassiez ! " 
 
 54 Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de France, t. 4. 
 
 55 Ibid. Hist, du Cardinal de Richelieu. Mem. du Sieur de Pontis. 
 
 56 " Le 2 Decembre apres de longues solicitations, Louis alia voir 
 Richelieu," &c. 
 
 57 The Cardinal had previously communicated with Mazarin, and had 
 promised to recommend him to the Bang. 
 
 58 Le Roi ne fut voir le Cardinal qu'un peu avant qu'il mourut, et 
 Tayant trouve fort mal, en sortit fort gai. Tallemant des Reaux. 
 
 59 Madame d'Aiguillon renouvelait tous les ans le vreu de Carmelite ; 
 elle 1'a renouvele sept f ois. Le Cardinal fit consul ter s'il etait obligatoire, 
 on lui repondit que non. " Je vous prie " (said Richelieu on his death- 
 bed) " d'avoir soin del'education des jeunes Pontcourlay, vos neveux, et 
 les miens ; retirez vous, ma niece, je vous prie vous etes la personne 
 que j'ai le plus aimee." 
 
 60 Lettre sur le Trepas de Monseigneur 1'Eminentissime Cardinal de 
 Richelieu a Monseigneur le Marquis de Fontenoy Mareuil, Ambassadeur 
 de sa Majeste a Rome. A Paris, 1650. 
 
 61 The King remained at the Louvre ; the Queen was at St. Germain. 
 
 62 Lettre sur le Trepas de I'Eminentissime Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 Galerie des Personnages Illustres, &c., t. 4. Mem. de Pontis, Tallemant, 
 Bassompierre, Motteville ; numbers of detached pamphlets, Le Vassor, 
 Leti, Siri, and MSS. authorities, Bibl. Imp. Beth. : Colbert, &c. 
 
 13 Mem. du Sieur de Pontis, who stood in the guard-chamber adjoining 
 the King's apartment during the visit of de Noyers. " Apres," relates
 
 1642] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 537 
 
 de Pontis, " les Marechaux de la Meillerayc et dc Breze s'avisa de se 
 jetter aux pieds du Roi, et lui demander sa protection ; le Roi les 
 embrassa et leur dit, qu'il les aimeroit toujours pourvu qu'ils le servissent 
 fidelement." 
 
 64 Armand de Maill6 Breze, Due de Fronsac, born 1619, died 1648, son 
 of Urbain de Maille, Marquis de Breze, and of Nicole du Plessis, second 
 sister of the Cardinal, who died 1635, insane. 
 
 65 Fran9ois de Vignerot, son of Rene de Vignerot, Seigneur de Pont- 
 courlay, and of Fransoise du Plessis de Richelieu, eldest sister of the 
 Cardinal. Madame d'Aiguillon was the sister of Fra^ois de Vignerot, 
 who succeeded, on the death of his uncle, to the dukedom of Richelieu, 
 &c. 
 
 86 Testament du Cardinal de Richelieu. Hist, du Cardinal de Richelieu, 
 Leclerc, Richard, and Le Pere Griffet. Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 1643 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA A WIDOW 
 
 Louis XIII. survived his minister only five 
 months and ten days. The bent figure, the 
 emaciated features, and the feeble voice of the 
 King when he appeared in public for the first time 
 after the decease of Richelieu inspired his loving 
 subjects with painful apprehensions. The deceased 
 Cardinal and his royal master had mutually worn 
 each other out by the bitter irritation of their 
 dissensions. Remorse likewise was said to oppress 
 the King for the death of Montmorency, and his 
 sleep was broken by wailing regrets for his lost 
 favourite, Cinq-Mars. Louis confirmed all the 
 testamentary bequests of the Cardinal, and the 
 court went into mourning for a fortnight. The 
 Queen now made her abode entirely at St. Ger- 
 main ; there is no record of her sentiments on the 
 death of the Cardinal, except that she was much 
 moved by the recital of " the pious end " made by 
 Richelieu. Madame de Motteville says, " qu'elle 
 n'etait pas fort affligee" but rather absorbed by 
 the novelty of her position in the realm, as mother 
 of two beautiful sons and the wife of a King whose 
 health was evidently on the decline. Mazarin was 
 now constant in his homage to Anne of Austria. 
 Chavigny declared himself her ardent partisan, 
 
 538
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 539 
 
 and ready to defend her against the atrocious 
 imputations of M. d'Orleans, who avowed his 
 opinion in public at several places in Auvergne 
 and the Orleannois, that Monsieur le Dauphin and 
 his brother were illegitimate, and stated that it 
 was his intention to fight for the succession to the 
 crown. Anne experienced no gentler treatment 
 from the King her husband, " who knew her too 
 well to be deluded by her soft speeches and syren 
 charms." * The Queen doubtless found consola- 
 tion in the brilliant future unfolding before her ; 
 she drew nearer every day to the possession of 
 power as Regent of France during a long minority, 
 and Mazarin now hoped to win special graces from 
 her notice. The King though ill and depressed* 
 attended daily to affairs and declared that he 
 would not be teased by a prime minister. He 
 opened all despatches himself, granted pardons, 
 permitted the return of the exiles and did every- 
 thing in his power to convince his people that the 
 late rigorous and despotic administration had been 
 against his will and contrary to his disposition. 
 The King had immediately recalled his favourite 
 Troisville and reinstated him in his command, 
 which he exercised on the occasion of the Car- 
 dinal's funeral. He also released the Marshal de 
 Bassompierre from the Bastille, where that once 
 gay and gallant cavalier had languished ever since 
 the arrest of the Queen-mother at Compiegne, 
 solely because he was a warm admirer of Marie 
 de' Medici, and that he had advised the imprison- 
 ment of Richelieu at the secret council summoned
 
 540 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 by the Queen-mother at Lyons when the life 
 of the King had been in danger. 2 The Marshal 
 de Vitry, the slayer of the Marquis d'Ancre, also 
 obtained release from the Bastille. The Cardinal 
 had thought that so devoted a servant to his King, 
 and a hand so dexterous in the use of a pistol, was 
 better under the safe custody of his faithful de 
 Tremblay than at large. The Count de Cramail 3 
 was likewise released ; also M. Vaultier, the 
 physician of the late unfortunate Queen- mother. 
 The political exiles, moreover, eagerly sought the 
 clemency of the King. The Dues d'Elbceuf, de 
 Vendome, de Bellegarde, de Guise, returned home ; 
 swarms of minor personages flocked back again to 
 France. No one seems to have appealed in vain to 
 the mercy of the King excepting the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse and Madame de Fargis. Madame de la 
 Flotte was also reinstated, but Mesdames de 
 Senece, de Hautefort and de Chemerault, holding 
 that their recall to court ought to have been a 
 spontaneous act of clemency, declined to petition. 
 Madame de Chevreuse received a harsh and decided 
 refusal, indeed the mind of the King appeared 
 so exasperated against her that no one presumed 
 to mention her name. 
 
 During the first few days of his independence 
 Louis appeared almost childishly elate with his 
 achievements in the transaction of affairs. After- 
 wards, his Majesty seemed to move like a man in 
 a dream, during the discharge of the many royal 
 functions which he had suffered to devolve upon 
 Richelieu. M. de Noyers appeared at first likely
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 541 
 
 to monopolise the royal favour, to the astonish- 
 ment and annoyance of Chavigny and Mazarin. 
 Previous to the death of Richelieu he had seemed 
 to be particularly obnoxious to the King, who 
 often was so irritated as to make disobliging 
 sallies on his repulsive features and fussy 
 manners. The influence of de Noyers during 
 these first days of emancipation had a twofold 
 source he was a man of strong, patient en- 
 durance and equable nerves, and having far less 
 self-appreciation than Chavigny or Mazarin, 
 suffered the King to vaunt his own powers of 
 decision and penetration. When Louis retreated 
 into his melancholy retirement when the labour 
 of the day was over, de Noyers followed his 
 Majesty and helped him to carve and fit together 
 the little wooden shrines for the reception of 
 relics which it was the King's pastime to fashion. 
 Louis also diverted his mind by playing on the 
 guitar ; he likewise composed an air, to set to the 
 words of the flippant song written by M. Miron, 
 in ironical homage of the deceased Cardinal,, and 
 beginning with the line 
 
 " Ah ! il a pass6, il a pli6 bagage, M. le Cardinal ! " 
 
 De Noyers also used his brief influence to ruin 
 Father Sirmond, confessor to the King. Sirmond 
 had insisted on the arrest and execution of M. 
 de Cinq-Mars. The King never forgave his 
 counsels nor his importunity, and subsequently 
 the royal confessions became so meagre and 
 Sirmond's opportunities for admonition so brief,
 
 542 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 that he found himself obliged to advise with 
 Richelieu on the matter. Louis, therefore, gladly 
 sent the reverend father a lettre de cachet, dispen- 
 sing with his future services. Le Pere Dinet, 
 another Jesuit, succeeded to the vacant office, in 
 which however he was scarcely installed when 
 the death of the King occurred. 
 
 The King's health meantime continued grad- 
 ually to decline, and his failing strength, which 
 during the month of March compelled him fre- 
 quently to keep his bed, reassured M. de Chavigny, 
 who aspired to the post of first minister. Many 
 matters had to be discussed which were quite out 
 of the political depth of M. de Noyers. Louis, 
 feeling that his life could not be much longer pro- 
 longed, decided to settle the important question 
 of how the government of the country should be 
 conducted during the minority of the future King. 
 Chavigny having possessed the entire confidence 
 of the late Cardinal, the King commanded his 
 presence at St. Germain. The nomination of a 
 regent occasioned a bitter struggle in Louis' 
 mind. If Monsieur had been loyal and on good 
 terms with his brother, there can be no doubt that 
 the high office would have been assigned to him. 
 A Prince however who had three times rendered 
 himself amenable to the penalties of treason, and 
 who moreover denied the legitimacy of the 
 Dauphin, could not be safely trusted with supreme 
 power during the minority. Conde, next in 
 succession after Monsieur, was a prince of feeble 
 health, advanced in years and of a character so
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 543 
 
 peculiar as totally to unfit him for the office ; 
 besides, Louis knew his wife well enough to feel 
 sure that she would form a coalition with Mon- 
 sieur for the restoration of their legitimate 
 authority, rather than submit to such an arrange- 
 ment. Ancient precedent, public opinion and 
 the aspirations of the feudal nobles of the realm 
 w r ho all had been under the ban of Richelieu and 
 for the most part exiles from the splendour of the 
 court during the reign of Louis demanded that 
 Queen Anne might be declared regent of the realm 
 during the minority of her son. The Queen had 
 beauty, fascinating manners, the support of Spain, 
 the prestige of her position as Queen-mother, and 
 last though not least, she had won the devotion of 
 Mazarin. By many contemporaries it is believed 
 that Richelieu, appreciating the rare gifts of 
 Mazarin, had specially commended the Queen to 
 his care, and had besought her Majesty to place 
 herself unreservedly under his guidance. Anne 
 moreover, in the presence of the King, had 
 ventured to assert her right to wield the sceptre in 
 the name of her son. Louis therefore understood 
 the entreaties of Chavigny, who besought him " to 
 make so wise and prudent a disposition of the 
 royal power, that on his decease the kingdom 
 might not be plunged into a bloody war either by 
 the insinuations of Monsieur respecting the birth 
 of the future king or by the feuds of rival claim- 
 ants for power." Mazarin in a few days was 
 summoned to St. Germain, and it was at length 
 resolved to take some decided step to stifle the
 
 544 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 pretensions of Monsieur. The project of the 
 deceased Cardinal was revived, and an edict was 
 prepared in which Louis solemnly declared that 
 the Duke of Orleans had forfeited all claim to the 
 regency in the event of a minority. Mademoiselle, 
 the young and spirited daughter of Monsieur, hear- 
 ing of the decree, proposed to throw herself at the 
 feet of the King as he entered the Chamber to 
 implore its abrogation. This intention coming to 
 the ears of Louis he sternly forbade such inter- 
 cession. In January 1643, the Declaration 
 against Monsieur received the sanction of the 
 Chambers, on the express and personal demand 
 of the King, who repaired to the Palais in person 
 to present the edict to his faithful commons.* 
 Monsieur made no public protest against his 
 exclusion from the regency, but clamoured to be 
 permitted to throw himself at the feet of the King, 
 whose devoted servant he should ever remain, 
 being now delivered from the thraldom of the 
 hated Richelieu. The Abbe de la Riviere arrived 
 in Paris to negotiate his master's return ; the 
 Duke made no stipulations but submitted entirely 
 to the good pleasure of the King. The failing 
 condition of the King's health was so well known 
 that no one now opposed the royal will ; the 
 sceptre was passing from the hand of Louis it 
 was for his successor to maintain or to annul any 
 edict given during these his last hours. 
 
 The council, meantime, assembled to settle the 
 vexed question of the regency a matter which 
 admitted of no delay, for the health of the King
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 545 
 
 from the beginning of April, 1643, began to fail 
 alarmingly, and his Majesty was able only to 
 leave his bed-chamber during a few hours of the 
 afternoon. At length it was determined to name 
 the Queen as Regent, and the Duke of Orleans 
 Lieutenant- Governor of the realm, during the 
 minority. Mazarin addressed the council at length, 
 and his observations appeared greatly to impress 
 the King. Louis, however, could not be per- 
 suaded to grant to the Queen unlimited authority 
 as Regent, and the restrictions with which he 
 fettered her authority would have reduced her 
 power to a mere cipher. " You do not know the 
 Queen ! You deprecate the evils which arose 
 during the regency of the late Queen, Marie de' 
 Medici, our revered mother ; would you there- 
 fore behold this realm reduced to worse straits ? 
 The Queen needs the guidance and control of a 
 council ! " 6 No remonstrances could divert Louis 
 from his resolution or restrain him from exacting 
 the most stringent and binding pledges from all 
 the great functionaries of the realm to maintain 
 his decree intact. The edict commences with a 
 long and wordy preamble, setting forth the 
 benefits which had accrued to the nation during 
 the reign of the King, and stating the love and 
 devotion felt by Louis for his people and the 
 realm. The Queen is then named in the next 
 clause, " as Regent of France," and intrusted with 
 the education of her children and with the 
 administration of the realm during the minority 
 of the young King. " We have good hope and
 
 546 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 trust that the virtue and piety of the Queen, our 
 beloved wife and consort, will render her ad- 
 ministration prosperous. Nevertheless the office 
 of Regent is a trust of great weight, upon the due 
 discharge of which depends the welfare and glory 
 of the kingdom, and as it is impossible that the 
 Queen can have the requisite knowledge to con- 
 duct the course of great and important events, 
 which is acquired only by long experience, we 
 have thought good to name a Council of Regency, 
 by the advice of which, and under her Majesty's 
 authority, state affairs shall be resolved by a 
 plurality of votes. We cannot make a more 
 worthy choice of persons therefore, to compose 
 this Council, than to nominate our very dear and 
 beloved cousins the Prince de Conde, the Cardinal 
 de Mazarin, our very dear and trusty the Sieur 
 Seguier, Chancellor of France, Lord Keeper, and a 
 Knight of our Order, and our very dear and faith- 
 ful Bouteillier, secretary of finance, and de 
 Chavigny, secretary of state. We will and 
 command that our very dear brother the Duke of 
 Orleans shall be President of the Council of Re- 
 gency, and in his absence the Prince of Conde, 
 or in default of the said Conde the Cardinal 
 Mazarin. It being our belief that we cannot 
 make a more competent choice of ministers, we 
 forbid this Council to be changed, diminished, or 
 increased for any cause or pretence, excepting by 
 the death of, or by the treason of, any of the 
 above-mentioned high personages ; in that case 
 the place may be filled as the lady Regent shall
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 547 
 
 decree by and with the advice of the said Council. 
 
 We declare that it is our will that all affairs 
 
 relating to peace or to war and other matters 
 
 important to the realm, even to the voting and 
 
 disposal of the finances, shall be laid before the 
 
 Council and decided by a majority of votes ; 
 
 also that in the event of the great offices of the 
 
 crown becoming vacant those of superintendent 
 
 of finance, first president, and attorney-general in 
 
 our Court of Parliament, that of secretary of state, 
 
 secretary at war, governors of our frontiers and 
 
 their fortresses they shall be bestowed by the 
 
 said lady Regent, with and by the consent and 
 
 advice of the said Council ; neither shall it be 
 
 considered valid or legal if the said lady Regent 
 
 shall give such charges and offices without the 
 
 sanction of her Council. All other and minor 
 
 offices of the government are to be bestowed after 
 
 such participation and sanction of the Council. 
 
 As for the gift of the archbishoprics, bishoprics, 
 
 abbeys and benefices generally, appertaining to 
 
 the crown, they shall be bestowed only on godly 
 
 and eminent personages who have been at the 
 
 least three years in holy orders ; we desire and 
 
 decree that the said Lady and Regent, mother of 
 
 our children, shall follow the example which we 
 
 have set in the bestowal of these dignities, and 
 
 that she shall confer them by the advice only of 
 
 our cousin the Cardinal de Mazarin, to whom we 
 
 have expressed our earnest desire that God may 
 
 be honoured by this our nomination. The said 
 
 Cardinal has given us so many proofs of fidelity
 
 548 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 and intellect, in the management of divers im- 
 portant matters within and without our realm, 
 that we believe, after ourselves, we cannot con- 
 fide the execution of this the most important of 
 our functions to any personage who will more 
 worthily and conscientiously acquit himself 
 thereof." 6 
 
 Such was the paragraph of the royal decree con- 
 cerning Queen Anne and her functions as Regent 
 of France. Power could not have been more 
 limited, fettered, or reduced to mere outward 
 show. The Queen could not confer the smallest 
 office in the realm or in the King's state house- 
 hold without the previous consent and approval 
 of the Council of Regency. She might decide 
 neither on affairs connected with war, nor assent 
 to a pacification without the Council. She had no 
 power over the revenue, nor could she assign the 
 smallest pecuniary gratification independent of 
 the Council. She could not compel the registra- 
 tion of any edict, nominate the officers of the 
 Royal Guard, or visit offenders with loss of pre- 
 ferment or degradation without the intervention 
 of the Council. In ecclesiastical affairs she was 
 made subservient to Mazarin, who was to wield, 
 almost independently of the Queen, the vast 
 powers and resources of the Gallican Church. The 
 Queen might only appoint, without previous 
 appeal, the officers of her own household and 
 those connected with the nursery establishment of 
 the young King and his brother, or, as his 
 Majesty advanced in years, those subordinate
 
 1643J ANNE OF AUSTRIA 549 
 
 posts in the palace not already attached in the 
 special gift of some higher officer of the crown. 
 
 The paragraph of the celebrated edict relating 
 to the Duke of Orleans was drawn in the following 
 language : "To testify to our very dear brother 
 the Duke of Orleans that nothing has been 
 capable of alienating our affection, we will and 
 decree that he shall be Lieutenant-General of the 
 young King in all the provinces of the realm, to 
 exercise such authority under the Queen Regent 
 and her Council ; and this notwithstanding the 
 Declaration registered by our Court of Parliament, 
 which declares the said Duke incapable of holding 
 chief office in the administration of our realm. 
 We trust and rely upon his honour that he will 
 pay implicit obedience to our will, and that he 
 will from henceforth serve the realm and our 
 children with the fidelity and loving kindness 
 which his birth and the many bounties and 
 graces which we have conferred exact. Never- 
 theless, we declare that in case our said dear 
 brother objects, or rebels against the ordinances 
 contained in this our present Declaration, we will 
 that he be held deprived of the office of Lieu- 
 tenant- General ; and we expressly forbid all or 
 any of our subjects to recognise him or to obey 
 him in such capacity." 7 Monsieur, therefore, re- 
 ceived a very guarded bequest of power and was 
 to be controlled in the exercise of his high military 
 powers by the decrees of the Council, which in 
 reality meant the united will of Conde and of 
 Mazarin as these personages were certain to
 
 550 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 exercise despotic authority over their colleagues 
 and to command at will a majority of votes. 
 
 Nor was the humiliation of the Queen yet suffi- 
 ciently palpable and her power as Regent neutra- 
 lised. A subsequent clause decreed the following 
 against Madame la Duchesse de Chevreuse, who 
 was supposed by the King, as by the greater 
 part of the courtiers, to be her Majesty's bosom 
 friend. " It being our royal will and duty to 
 prevent troubles, and to f orestal the evil designs of 
 such of our subjects who might desire to subvert 
 these our arrangements, made for the welfare and 
 prosperity of our kingdom, we, having perfect 
 knowledge of the bad conduct of the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse and of the artifices which she has 
 employed to create divisions in the realm, also 
 being aware of the factious and treasonable in- 
 telligences which she still entertains with our 
 enemies, we hereby interdict her return to the 
 realm during the continuance of warfare. We 
 will moreover, that when peace shall be ratified, 
 the said Duchess 8 shall return only by permission 
 of the Queen Regent given with the sanction of 
 the Council. If such permission be conceded, we 
 decree that the royal grace shall be vouchsafed on 
 condition only that the said Duchess never 
 approaches the court nor the person of the said 
 Queen and Regent." The same ban likewise was 
 enforced respecting the unfortunate ex-Keeper of 
 the Seals, Chateauneuf, who was not to receive 
 alleviation of his captivity during the prevalence 
 of war, and afterwards if the Queen and Council
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 551 
 
 were inclined to exercise clemency in his behalf 
 he was never to appear again at Court. 
 
 The edict being decided upon and drawn up 
 with suitable explicitness, Mazarin advised that 
 its terms should be first privately communicated 
 to several leading members of the Parliament of 
 Paris, and to the other personages concerned in 
 its decrees, offering to be himself the medium of 
 such communication. The decree met with a 
 favourable reception from the Parliament, and 
 it was evident would be immediately passed and 
 registered on its formal presentation to the 
 Chamber. Monsieur made no objection indeed 
 his name appearing at all in the edict of regency 
 might be considered an act of signal grace and 
 forbearance which he owed only to Mazarin. 
 Many uneasy doubts were expressed however 
 on the reception likely to be given to the document 
 by the Queen the personage most concerned 
 and aggrieved by its arbitrary enactments. Car- 
 dinal Mazarin however undertook to present the 
 act to her Majesty and to explain and persuade 
 her into acquiescence. Unless Anne could be in- 
 duced to take oath to observe the King's will the 
 decree would become null and void. The regency 
 descended to her by right and by precedent ; she 
 had possession of the person of the young King 
 and his brother ; she commanded the allegiance 
 of that formidable party in the realm the foes 
 and opponents of Richelieu's policy of repression, 
 who were all ready to hail the Regent, in the hope 
 of speedy restoration to the feudal strongholds
 
 552 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 and provincial commands, which in preceding 
 reigns had enabled them to defy the power of the 
 crown. Mazarin accordingly sought audience of 
 the Queen, and his persuasive tongue secured her 
 outward submission to the will of the King. 
 There may have been considerations of high 
 prudence on the part of Anne, in not provoking 
 a contest, of which posterity is not cognizant- 
 considerations, if a particle of truth is to be sifted 
 from the pamphlets, private letters and writings 
 of the day, potent enough not only to strip Anne 
 of Austria of her most ambitious pretensions but 
 which might have precipitated her from the 
 elevation of the throne into the everlasting gloom 
 and seclusion of a cloister. If the Duke of 
 Orleans, the son of Henri Quatre, had been on 
 terms with the King his brother, and if he had 
 been a man of honour, truth, valour and capacity, 
 the last weeks of the unhappy reign of Louis XIII. 
 might have transmitted a startling record on the 
 page of history. Prudence therefore being the 
 better part of valour, Anne agreed to make sub- 
 missive acceptance of the terms proposed to her. 
 There is little doubt however that Mazarin and 
 the Queen then concerted together the design 
 which they subsequently brought to so successful 
 an issue. 9 Time was precious, and the day 
 following therefore Anne entered the council 
 chamber to take the required oath of adhesion to 
 the articles of the edict concerning her future 
 regency, and to affix her signature to the docu- 
 ment. The Duke of Orleans had likewise been
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 553 
 
 summoned to St. Germain for the same purpose. 
 Did the memory of Anne of Austria then trans- 
 port her back to her previous summons before 
 the council, when guilty and trembling she con- 
 fronted the King and his stern minister, and felt 
 that the prestige only of her birth had prevented 
 her from being banished from France in disgrace 
 and ignominy ? She stood now before the same 
 monarch in the ripe maturity of her charms, still 
 a Queen, the mother of two hopeful sons, the 
 future Regent of the realm, proud, unconquered 
 by past perils and vicissitudes ; her great enemy 
 first vanquished and then removed by death, and 
 awaiting the commands of a husband who hated 
 but who still tolerated her, and whose sceptre was 
 about to pass from his dying hand into her own ! 
 Anne felt her triumph. Fate had hitherto been 
 adverse, but she seemed to have conquered 
 destiny. The Queen took the pen humbly pre- 
 sented by Mazarin, affixed her signature and 
 took oath for the faithful observance of articles 
 which she had deliberately resolved to do her 
 utmost in concert with Mazarin to annul so soon 
 as life had left the King. M. d'Orleans then went 
 through the same formality sincerely on his 
 part, as the provisions of the edict gave him an 
 authority which for the time satisfied his am- 
 bition. When the act had received due authen- 
 tication, and the signatures " Louis," " Anne," 
 " Gaston," stood below, with the words added, 
 written by the King's own hand " Ce que dessus 
 est ma tres expresse et dernier e volante, que veux
 
 554 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 etre executee " Anne arose, and kneeling at the 
 King's footstool, expressed her thanks and devo- 
 tion. Louis coldly withdrew his hand, which the 
 Queen had clasped, and rising, turned away 
 without uttering a syllable in reply. 10 The act 
 was then countersigned by the three secretaries 
 of state and subsequently presented to the 
 Chambers and passed unanimously. 
 
 Louis never more presided at the council-board. 
 The greater part of the day he spent reclining in 
 his chaise a la Romaine, which was placed at the 
 window of the Cabinet de la Reine in the Chateau 
 Neuf de St. Germain, and from which an en- 
 chanting view was obtained of the surrounding 
 landscape with the towers of St. Denis in the dis- 
 tance. The King's observations were of the most 
 depressing kind and sometimes very embarrassing 
 to his attendants. " Ah ! " said his Majesty one 
 day to Troisville, pointing towards the abbey, 
 " there I shall soon repose a long repose. My 
 poor body I fear will be roughly shaken going 
 thither the roads are in bad condition." 1X An- 
 other day the eyes of the King gloomily surveyed 
 the train of nobles which followed the Queen one 
 afternoon from the old chateau, from which her 
 Majesty by the express desire of her consort had 
 not removed. " These people come here to see 
 whether I am quickly dying, especially M. de 
 Beaufort. 18 Ha ! if only I could recover I would 
 make them all pay dearly for their wish to see me 
 dead I " It is a remarkable circumstance that the 
 name of Mazarin occurs only once in the minute 
 narrative which we possess of the last lingering
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 555 
 
 six weeks of the King's life a time when death to 
 the weary, [aching heart and limbs would have been 
 a priceless boon. Mazarin even was absent from 
 the death-chamber of the King, though de facto 
 prime minister of France and Cardinal Nuncio. 
 Once and once only he appeared in the halls of 
 St. Germain at this crisis, and that was at the 
 summons of Anne of Austria, to represent the Pope 
 as godfather to the Dauphin. The last day upon 
 which Louis was able to resort to any of his 
 favourite occupations was on the 1st of April 
 1643. His Majesty on that day spent several hours 
 in colouring caricatures. From that period to the 
 19th day of the same month he was carried from 
 his bed to his couch for a few hours daily. On 
 Sunday morning, April 20th, the King said on 
 waking, to his first valet de chambre, " I do not feel 
 very ill but my strength declines. I prayed to 
 God during the night to shorten my sufferings. 
 I cannot rise. M. Bouvard," continued Louis, 
 addressing one of his physicians, whose turn it had 
 been to watch during the night, " M. Bouvard, I 
 have never had heart concerning my malady. I 
 have requested that you will admonish me when 
 my end approaches. I am dying, I know well." 
 On the same afternoon Louis was lifted from his 
 bed for the last time into his easy chair, by the 
 direction of Chicot, first physician in ordinary. 
 The King fainted, but was wheeled to his favourite 
 window, where M. Chicot read to him, as he could 
 bear it, passages from " La Vie des Saints," and 
 the 17th chapter of the Gospel of St. John. 
 The mind of the King seems to have been much
 
 556 THE MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 agitated at intervals by painful reminiscences of 
 some of the events of his reign, and he was heard 
 to deplore, as a grave dereliction of his duty to his 
 people, that he had suffered the royal prerogative 
 to be exercised so entirely by the remorseless hand 
 of Richelieu. To the Prince de Conde he one day 
 expressed bitter regret that he had assented to the 
 death of the brave and gallant Montmorency 
 whose ancestors had been the loyal upholders of 
 the crown. The King acknowledged that he had 
 been compelled to journey to Toulouse, but had 
 always intended to grant life to M. de Mont- 
 morency ; he had however finally suffered him- 
 self to be over-persuaded by alleged reasons of 
 state. " Remorse has always haunted me, Mon- 
 seigneur, for this deed. Ah ! it is the unhappy 
 lot of rulers to hear nothing but adverse state- 
 ments against their nearest and dearest friends, 
 relatives and subjects, and to be compelled to 
 act upon political considerations. Happy is the 
 sovereign who has strength to resist such in- 
 sinuations ! " The death of M. de Cinq-Mars was 
 a subject so agitating to the unhappy King that 
 any allusion to it was cautiously avoided. 
 
 On the 21st of April, Louis assembled the 
 principal personages of the court around his bed 
 for the last time. His object was to proclaim the 
 Queen as future Regent of France, but bound by 
 the limitations imposed by the Patent of Regency 
 which had now passed the Chamber, Louis 
 neglected no means to impress his will in this 
 respect on the nation, and to make solemn declara-
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 557 
 
 tion of such in the most public and formal manner 
 possible. " The King performed this action with 
 an air of composure and satisfaction," relates 
 Dubois, a valet de chambre in the royal service, to 
 whom posterity is indebted for the most graphic 
 and minute details extant of the last days of 
 Louis XIII. 13 " The Queen was present, also M. le 
 Prince de Conde, M. le Due d'Orleans, and all the 
 greatest lords of the court ; MM. the ministers 
 w r ere likewise present. The King ordered the cur- 
 tains of his bed to be drawn aside, he then spoke 
 in a low voice to the Queen, to M. his brother, and 
 to M. le Prince. His Majesty then raising his voice 
 addressed the assemblage ; he next commanded 
 M. de la Vrilliere, secretary of state, to read aloud 
 the edict of the Queen's future regency in order 
 that everybody should hear and note his royal 
 will. M de la Vrilliere, much moved by a command 
 which seemed to indicate his Majesty's approach- 
 ing dissolution, read the edict, standing at the foot 
 of the King's bed, tears falling from his eyes as he 
 proceeded. The Queen also sat at the foot of the 
 King's bed in an armchair, which I had the honour 
 to bring to her Maj esty . She also melted into tears, 
 everybody present then began to weep. The read- 
 ing of the edict over, the King spoke to the 
 Queen, 14 to M. his brother, to M. le Prince, and 
 then to the deputies sent by the Chamber to 
 whom he made many moving observations. The 
 King looked better, his face was flushed with 
 vivid colour, and he appeared calm and in no 
 apprehension of death. When the assemblage
 
 558 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 dispersed he conferred for some time with M. de 
 Meaux, his almoner, and with his confessor. In 
 the evening, some pages of the ' Vie des Saints ' 
 were read aloud to his Majesty." 15 Probably it 
 was after this formal and affecting recognition of 
 herself and her children that Anne sent Chavigny 
 to Louis with a message, " assuring the King that 
 she had not been the guilty accomplice of M. le 
 Prince de Chalais, but had always been his 
 Majesty's faithful and devoted consort and now 
 very humbly besought his pardon for any mis- 
 deed she had unknowingly committed." " M. de 
 Chavigny," replied the King, " in the condition 
 in which I now am it is my duty to forgive the 
 Queen, but I am not bound to believe her state- 
 ments. Carry my answer to her Majesty." 16 
 Louis, therefore, went down to the tomb firmly 
 persuaded that he had received deep and vital 
 injury from the Queen his consort. 
 
 On the following day, April 22nd, the public 
 ceremony of the baptism of the Dauphin was 
 performed in the chapel of the old palace of St. 
 Germain by the special command of the dying 
 King. The child at his birth had been privately 
 baptized in the Queen's chamber, it having been 
 resolved to defer the public ceremonial until the 
 conclusion of the war. Time was speeding, and it 
 was requisite that the child who would ere long 
 bear the appellation of Most Christian should be 
 publicly received into the bosom of Holy Church. 
 At five o'clock on the evening of Wednesday, 
 April 22nd, the court assembled in the great saloon
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 559 
 
 of the old palace. Mazarin, Chavigny, the Bishops 
 of Beauvais and Meaux, and other eminent and 
 favoured persons were present. Queen Anne 
 entered the presence chamber leading her son by 
 the hand, who wore a robe or overcoat of cloth of 
 silver. 17 The procession then formed for the chapel 
 thus the young Dauphin walked, preceded by 
 gentlemen of the chamber and followed by his 
 gouvernante Madame de Lansac ; the Queen 
 came next, attended by [the Princess de Conde, 
 the Countess de Soissons and by the young 
 and lovely bride Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, 
 Duchess de Longueville. Mazarin followed, 
 marching alone, as the representative of his Holi- 
 ness Urban VIII., godfather to the Dauphin. 
 Most chroniclers however erroneously assert that 
 the Cardinal was himself the sponsor, and that 
 Louis, to secure his loyal devotion to the future 
 child-King by a stroke of policy, had so honoured 
 him. On approaching the altar Anne was received 
 by Seguier Bishop of Meaux, and by six other 
 mitred prelates. The Queen knelt at her prie-dieu 
 and the little Dauphin fell on his knees on the 
 same cushion. The Bishop of Meaux, at the con- 
 clusion of the anthem which was " a motett of 
 ravishing harmony " approached her Majesty. 
 Anne rose and presented her son. Madame de 
 Lansac then lifted the little Dauphin on to the 
 desk of the Queen's prie-dieu, upon which a rich 
 cushion had been placed. The Cardinal de Mazarin 
 then took his place at the right of the child, and 
 Madame de Conde as godmother on the left, the
 
 560 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 Queen holding her Dauphin from behind by his 
 robe to prevent him from falling. " M. le Dauphin 
 looked as beautiful and as innocent as an angel, 
 kneeling with folded hands, holding his eyes wide 
 open but showing a bashfulness and modesty sur- 
 prising for a child of his tender years." Madame 
 de Conde, on being asked by the officiating prelate 
 the appellation of Monseigneur, named him Louis. 
 At the ceremony of the anointing, the Queen 
 opened the vest of the Dauphin, and declined the 
 services of Madame de Lansac. When Seguier 
 asked, " Ludovici dbrenuncias Sathance, pompis 
 et operibus suis ? " the child answered without 
 being prompted by his mother, " Abrenuncio." 
 To the three interrogatories respecting his faith 
 in the Divine revelation and mysteries, he replied, 
 " Credo." The ceremony concluded by the choir 
 intoning " Regina Cceli " ; the procession then 
 formed and returned to the palace. 18 Dubois says, 
 " M. le Dauphin was christened in the old chapel 
 of the palace at St. Germain ; all passed in the 
 presence of the Queen without much pomp, on 
 account of the illness of the King. I had a great 
 desire to see this ceremony, and on my return to 
 the King's chamber his Majesty asked me what 
 had passed, and I had the honour of relating to 
 him all I had seen. The Queen, M. le Cardinal, and 
 the court arrived soon afterwards and entertained 
 the King with an account of the good behaviour of 
 M. le Dauphin." Dubois then adds a note at the 
 foot of his page, denying a story current in his 
 day, to wit, " that M. le Dauphin being near the
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 561 
 
 bed of the King, his Majesty asked him his name. 
 ' Louis XIV.,' promptly replied the young Prince, 
 to which the King is said to have replied, ' Pas 
 encore, mons fils, pas encore ! ' 
 
 On the 24th a great panic convulsed the court : 
 the unhappy King was reported to be sinking fast. 
 Dubois again chronicles the events of that exciting 
 day. " Everybody looked in despair : M. de 
 Souvre commanded me to send and tell the 
 Queen that she must come immediately, and bring 
 her children to receive the dying benediction of 
 the King. He afterwards ordered me to be in 
 waiting to receive her Majesty, and to ask her to 
 enter the King's chamber by the small closet. 
 The day was bitterly cold and boisterous. The 
 Queen arrived ; I addressed myself to Madame de 
 la Flotte and gave her the message from M. de 
 Souvre. She was about to repeat my words to the 
 Queen, when her Majesty interposed, saying, ' I 
 heard ! ' The crowd round the portal of the palace 
 was prodigious and the confusion great. A lord 
 present therefore took M. le Dauphin, and another 
 M. d'Anjou, and went through the crowd, leaving 
 the Queen alone in her coach with Madame de la 
 Flotte. Her Majesty called out, 'Is there no per- 
 sonage present to help me ? Am I to be left 
 thus ? ' Hearing her Majesty call and not daring 
 to offer my own services, I plunged amongst the 
 courtiers, and finding M. le Due d'Uzes, one of 
 the gentlemen of the Queen's household, brought 
 him to the coach, who handed her Majesty into 
 the palace. The Queen went straight to the King's 
 
 2N
 
 562 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 bed, and throwing herself on her knees by the 
 pillow weeping, talked to the King for some time 
 in private, every one observing that the manner 
 of his Majesty seemed affectionate. Madame la 
 Duchesse de Vendome, meantime, had got M. 
 d'Anjou in her arms, who was crying desperately 
 because his nurse had been left behind. The 
 Duchess called me, and asked me to pacify the 
 young Prince as well as I could. I carried him 
 therefore into the King's closet, and making him 
 sit on the table, I told him that the King had a 
 little gold horse and that he meant to give it to 
 Monseigneur le Dauphin, and another to himself 
 if he behaved better than his brother. By this 
 stratagem he ceased to cry, and I took him to 
 Madame de Folaine, his nurse, who had been lost 
 outside in the throng." Louis presently gave his 
 benediction to his kneeling wife and children. The 
 room was then immediately cleared, as the King 
 was exhausted by the tumult and for want of air. 
 "Ah, Messieurs, donnez moi la vie," gasped the 
 poor King, making signs for the eager crowd to 
 retreat from the chamber and pointing to the 
 closely shut windows. The end however was not 
 yet ; the King rallied again, if such words can be 
 applied to the lethargic stupor into which he sank. 
 On the 8th of May Queen Anne left the old 
 chateau of St. Germain to occupy a room separated 
 only by a small octagon chamber from the King's 
 apartment. The public conduct of Anne of Austria 
 at this crisis of her life had been blameless ; no 
 devoted wife could have been more punctual in
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 563 
 
 her visits to the sick chamber, and it was known 
 that she held herself ready at any hour of the day 
 or night to flit between the two chateaux, if her 
 presence should be deemed desirable or neces- 
 sary. Anne never left the palace but to visit the 
 King ; she granted audiences only to Mazarin and 
 Chavigny and the Bishop of Beauvais ; she held 
 no communication with her exiled friends not 
 even with Madame de Hautefort. The latter, 
 anxious to be with the Queen on the very day of 
 her proclamation as Regent, had without any 
 communication with Anne ventured up in dis- 
 guise to Paris accompanied by her Majesty's 
 devoted servant, La Porte. Madame de Haute- 
 fort expected on her arrival in the capital to be 
 greeted with the welcome news of the death of the 
 King, instead of which she found the Parisians 
 speculating on the recovery of their liege, as a 
 more favourable bulletin from St. Germain had 
 been that morning posted on the gateway of the 
 Louvre. The pair had travelled to Paris exulting 
 in their future favour when Anne found herself 
 omnipotent, for how could her Majesty, they 
 argued, testify in too marked a manner her grati- 
 tude for and appreciation of past services such as 
 their own ? The duo found lodgings with con- 
 siderable difficulty in a furnished house near the 
 Hotel de Conde, but fearing that their incognito 
 might be betrayed they crept out of Paris at early 
 dawn on the following morning and retraced their 
 steps towards Blois. 19 The self-command of the 
 Queen was admirable, not a word betrayed her
 
 564 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1648 
 
 sentiments respecting the future government of 
 the realm ; not a murmur her appreciation of the 
 severity with which her power as Regent was 
 limited. To the Due de Beaufort only she testified 
 some confidence by giving him a private command 
 never to leave the young Dauphin, but vigilantly 
 to watch the deportment of Madame de Lansac, 
 whom the Queen never seems to have taken into 
 favour. 
 
 From the time of her removal to the Chateau 
 Neuf, Anne shared the vigils of the King's atten- 
 dants, sitting for hours in the ruelle of the bed, a 
 book of Hours in her hand, watching the change- 
 ful expression of the sufferer's features or listen- 
 ing with bated breath to his delirious wanderings. 
 M. de Souvre, the Bishop of Meaux, and Dubois 
 were constantly in the chamber, as was also Dinet, 
 the King's confessor. One evening Louis suddenly 
 woke with a start, and said to Conde who was 
 bending over the pillow, " Ha ! M. le Prince, I 
 have been dreaming that your son d'Enghien had 
 come to blows with our enemies, and that after a 
 very hard-fought and obstinate battle, we gained 
 the victory and drove our foes from the battle- 
 field." This declaration was afterwards considered 
 as a prediction made by the King of the great 
 battle of Nordlinghen, so gloriously won at the 
 very hour of Louis's waking, by d'Enghien on the 
 plain upon which France and her heretic allies 
 had been beaten in 1634 by the united armies of 
 Spain and the Empire. 
 
 On Ascension Day, May 14th, 1643, Louis XIII.
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 565 
 
 expired. He had endured his long and weary 
 sufferings with touching resignation, and died at 
 length a death of painless exhaustion. His con- 
 fessor Dinet soothed his last moments, aided by 
 the Bishops of Meaux and de Lisieux. There were 
 present in the death chamber the Queen, the Due 
 d' Orleans, the secretary of state de Chavigny, the 
 Marquis de Souvre, Conde, the Chancellor Seguier, 
 Madame de Brassac, the Dues de Liancour and de 
 Beaufort, and the Bishops of Meaux and Lisieux, 
 the royal almoners, and all the ecclesiastical mem- 
 bers of the royal household. In an adjoining 
 chamber were many principal courtiers, prin- 
 cesses and ladies, and the First President of the 
 Parliament of Paris. All persons present wept and 
 prayed, while the Bishop of Meaux read the solemn 
 prayers of the Church for a soul departing. Sud- 
 denly the King opened his eyes and said in a quick 
 and anxious voice, " Dinet ! thoughts arise which 
 trouble me ! " " Sire, resist them. Fight under 
 the glorious banner of the Redeemer ! struggle 
 for victory ! You are now in the thickest of the 
 conflict, we will all aid you with our prayers ! ' 
 The King spoke no more : Dubois supported his 
 head, while he gently sank and expired at a quarter 
 to three o'clock in the afternoon, May 14th, 1643. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans and the Prince de Conde 
 then approached to lead the Queen from the 
 death-chamber. She arose from her knees weep- 
 ing, and suffered the Princes to conduct her back 
 to her apartment. 
 
 Anne of Austria was a Widow.
 
 566 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1643 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER TEN 
 
 1 " Le roi fit hier assez mauvaise chere a la reine. II est toujours fort 
 anime centre elle, et en parle a tous moments." Archives des Affaires 
 Fjtrangeres, France, t. 102. Cousin, Vie de Madame Chevreuse. 
 
 2 Bassompierre did not long survive his liberation. He died suddenly, 
 in the night of October 12th, 1646, at Provins, and was found dead in 
 his bed. 
 
 3 The Count de Cramail had been imprisoned for his correspondence 
 with Madame du Fargis. 
 
 4 Mem. de Mademoiselle, t. 1. 
 
 5 De Reaux, t. 3, p. 80. 
 
 6 Declaration du Roi verifiee en Parlement, le 21 Avril, 1643. 
 Registres du Parlement de Paris. 
 
 7 Declaration du Roi, &c. Registres du Parlement de Paris. 
 
 8 Louis XIII. commonly alluded to Madame de Chevreuse as " Le 
 Diable." 
 
 9 Anne, however, showed outward discontent at the " officious pro- 
 ceedings of M. de Mazarin," and said, " Que tout son ennemi que fut 
 Richelieu, il n'aurait pas pu lui faire plus de mal que M. de Mazarin, 
 qu'elle accusait d'avoir determine le roi a ces mesures." Her Majesty 
 feigned to applaud the conduct of M. de Noyers, who finding that his 
 presence at court would no longer be tolerated by Chavigny and 
 Mazarin, retired to his country house, under pretext of displeasure at 
 the " Act to restrain the powers of the future Queen-Regent." 
 
 10 Tallemant, t. 3. Griffet, Regne de Louis XIII. 
 
 11 Another day, calling his faithful Du Pontis to the side of his 
 chair, Louis raised his sleeve and showed his arm, exclaiming, " Tiens 
 Pontis, regarde ce bras. Voila quels sont les bras du roi de France." 
 " Je vis en effet," relates Pontis, " mais avec un angoisse, et un serre- 
 ment de coeur que je ne puis exprimer, que c'etait comme un squelette, 
 qui avait la peau collee sur les os, et qui etait tout couvert de grandes 
 taches blanches." Mem. du Sieur du Pontis. 
 
 12 The party of the Queen bore the sobriquet of " Importants." M. de 
 Beaufort was recognised as their chief. 
 
 13 Memoire Fidel e des choses qui se sont passees a la mort de Louis XIII. , 
 Roy de France et de Navarre. Fait par Dubois, 1'un des valets de 
 chambre de sa Majeste, le 14 Mai, 1643. Curiosites Historiques, 
 Amsterdam, 1759, in 8vo. Also Archives Curieuses, t. 5. 
 
 14 Leti states (Teatro Gallico), without citing any authority, that the 
 words of the King were, " In nome del Signore cara moglie, e cara 
 fratello, siate ben unite insieme nel governo del Regno e del Delfino 
 mio successore, come del mio fanciulletto, il principe Filippo." 
 
 16 Mem. de Dubois des choses qui se sont passees a la mort de Louis XIII. 
 Curiosites Historiques.
 
 1643] ANNE OF AUSTRIA 567 
 
 16 Mem. du Due de la Rochefoucault, Petitot vol. 51. The Duke was 
 always a devoted adherent of the Queen. 
 
 17 Queen Anne wore a superb robe of blue velvet, embossed with golden 
 fleurs-de-lis. On her head was a diamond tiara, with a long veil of 
 silver tissue attached. 
 
 18 Godefroy : Grand Cerem. de France, Bapteme de Monseigneur le 
 Dauphin, a present Louis XIV., t. 2. 
 
 19 M6m. de La Porte. Petitot, t. 59, p. 394 et seq.
 
 INDEX 
 
 AIOCTILLOX, Duchesa d'; tee Com- 
 balet 
 
 Aligre, Chancellor d', 104, 106-7 
 
 Altamira, Countess of, 4, 6 
 
 Ancre, Marquis d', 3, 4, 8, 21, 27, 29- 
 
 33, 35, 41, 43 
 Marquise d', 35, 42 
 
 Angouleme, Due d', 417-8 
 
 Anjou, Philip, Due d', 478, 561-2 
 
 Anne of Austria, her parentage, 1 ; 
 birth and early years, 4-5 ; be- 
 trothal, 5-6 ; marriage, 1-2, 12- 
 20 ; personal appearance, 18 ; first 
 meddles in politics, 22-3 ; home- 
 sick, 24 ; adopts French fashions, 
 25 ; flightiness, 26 ; is deprived of 
 her Spanish attendants, 46 ; falls ill, 
 47 ; jealous of: the Duchess de 
 Luj-nes, 50-2 ; has a fauase-couche, 
 55-6 ; early dissensions with Marie 
 de' Medici, 59-61 ; coquets with 
 the Duke of Orleans, 61-2 ; courted 
 by Richelieu, 66-71 ; her relations 
 with Buckingham, 69, 72, 74-90, 
 145-6, 154-8, 166 ; in disgrace, 
 95-6 ; plots against Richelieu, 
 100-4, 111-2; falls into still 
 deeper disgrace, 115-6, 121-3; 
 arraigned before the Privy Council, 
 125-7 ; her punishment, 135-8 ; 
 intrigues against France, 152-3, 
 159-64, 170-1 ; founds a convent, 
 170-3 ; first meeting with Mazarin, 
 180-1 ; utters threats against 
 Richelieu, 213-5 ; refuses to go to 
 the play with Louis, 216 ; restric- 
 tions on her liberty, 217 ; Madame 
 de Fargis removed from her service, 
 217-20 ; stormy interview with 
 Richelieu, 220-1 ; imparts State 
 secrets to foreign envoys, 2234, 
 288 ; her parting interview with 
 Marie de' Medici, 223-7 ; Marie de 
 Hautefort appointed her maid of 
 honour, 237 ; betrayed by hec 
 friends, 251-2 ; rejects overtures 
 from Richelieu, 263-4 ; frigid rela- 
 tions with Louis, 264-5 ; her privy 
 purse, 265 ; popularity with the 
 
 Parisians, 265 ; her power of in- 
 spiring affection, 267, 275-6 ; her 
 untruthfulness, 276-7 ; her efforts 
 to save the life of Montmorency, 
 281-4 ; forbidden to correspond 
 with Madame de Chevreuse, 300 ; 
 her mode of clandestine correspon- 
 dence, 300-1 ; hostility towards 
 Louise de la Fayette, 313, 315, 
 3245 ; correspondence with her 
 brother Ferdinand, 338, 345 ; re- 
 joices at Spanish victories over 
 France, 344-5 ; foils Richelieu's 
 efforts for peace with Spam, 349- 
 51, 354-6 ; her secret messenger 
 arrested, 357-62 ; contemplates 
 flight to Brussels, 363 ; swears her 
 innocence on the altar, 3645 ; con- 
 fesses her guilt to Richelieu, 367- 
 72 ; signs a written confession, 
 373-5 ; fruitless search for her 
 private papers, 377-80 ; makes 
 further admissions to Richelieu, 
 280-4 ; examined before the Chan- 
 cellor, 386-7 ; communicates with 
 La Porte in the Bastille, 387-94 ; 
 the King's confessor advocates hec 
 cause, 419 ; obtains a relic to cure 
 barrenness, 423-5 ; reconciled with 
 Louis, 429-30 ; Madame de Chev- 
 reuse requests her to repay a loan, 
 431-2 ; public rejoicings on the 
 announcement of her pregnancy, 
 436-8 ; governess appointed for 
 the expected heir, 438-41 ; birth 
 of Louis XIV., 444-7 ; rapid re- 
 covery from confinement, 451-2 ; 
 rumours as to the paternity of her 
 son, 453-6 ; Louis dismisses hen 
 chief ladies, 456-9 ; becomes 
 friendly with Richelieu, 459, 479 ; 
 coldness towards Madame de Chev- 
 reuse, 474-5, 506-8 ; lives in seclu- 
 sion, 477 ; birth of her second son, 
 478 ; declines to join a conspiracy 
 against Richelieu, 493-4, 497; 
 informs on the conspirators, 497-9, 
 503-8 ; nominated Regent, 542-9, 
 551-2
 
 570 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Asturias, Philip, Prince of the, 1, 5 
 Aubasine, Abb6 d', 117, 125 
 Audilly, d', a Chamberlain of the 
 
 Duke of Orleans, 118-9 
 Auger, of the English Embassy, 352, 
 
 364, 368, 373, 381, 397 
 
 BACHELIER, Jerome, 350-1, 368 
 Barbin, Steward of the Quoen's 
 
 household, 42-2 
 Bassompierre, Marshal de, 28, 31, 48, 
 
 53-4, 56, 154-6, 174, 181, 182, 185- 
 
 6, 188-9, 201, 240, 539-40 
 Beaufort, Due de, 564 
 Bellegarde, Due de, 10, 52, 61, 125, 
 
 131, 250, 282, 476, 490, 540 
 Bellievre, Huguenot leader, 29 
 Bentivoglio (Papal Nuncio), 51 
 Berulle, Cardinal de, 148 
 Binet, Provincial of Jesuits, 422 
 Biron, Marshal de, 104, 294, 296, 298 
 Boccan, 70 
 Bois d'Annemets, de, 98, 108, 117, 
 
 125, 130 
 Boispille, Steward to de Chevreuse, 
 
 412, 431, 433, 474 
 Boissiere, Madame de la, 86 
 Boiszenval, Valet de Chambre to the 
 
 King, 315-6 
 
 Bordeaux, 11-12, 17, 19-21 
 Bouillon, Due de, 3, 27-9, 487, 490-2, 
 
 497, 502, 512, 515-7 
 Duchess de, 190, 215 
 Boutillier, Under -Secretary of State, 
 
 212-3, 546 
 
 Bouvard, Physician to the King, 555 
 Brassac, Comtesse de, 458-9 
 Breves, de, Governor of Gaston, Duke 
 
 of Orleans, 97 
 Breze, Claire de Maille, 277-8, 479-80 
 
 Marshal de, 281-2 
 Brienne, Comte de, Memoires, 70-1 
 Brissac, Marshal de, 11, 16 
 Brulart, the Diplomatist, 333-4 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 69, 72, 74-87, 
 145, 150, 152, 154-9, 165-6, 
 282-3 
 
 Duchess of, 85 
 Burgos, 12-16 
 
 CANDALE, Comte de, 120 
 
 Carlisle, Earl of, 71 
 
 Carre, Pere, 310-1, 314, 319-22 
 
 Casale, Siege of, 167-8, 174, 179, 192, 
 
 197, 334 
 
 Castro, Pedro de, 15 
 Catherine de' Medici, 16, 48 
 
 Caussin, Pere, 311-4, 317-8, 322-4 
 
 327-9, 356-7, 416-22 
 Chalais, Prince de, 98, 101, 106, 108- 
 
 12, 114-8, 120-1, 124-31, 133, 136-9 
 Chanteloube, Pere, 250, 314 
 Chapelle, Sieur de la, 9 
 Charles I., King of England, 71, 73, 
 
 145-6, 150, 156, 164, 229, 436 
 IX., King of France, 16 
 Charost, Captain of the Guard, 500-2 
 Chateauneuf, Lord Keeper, 162, 200- 
 
 2, 218,220,235, 253, 281,289-300, 
 550-1 
 
 Chaulnes, Due de, 53, 79, 80-1, 85, 215 
 Chavigny, 344, 346-8, 398, 419, 441- 
 
 3, 454, 456-7, 496, 499-501, 504-7, 
 524-6, 530, 538-9, 541-3, 546, 558 
 
 Chemerault, Mile, de, 315, 360-1, 364, 
 460, 462-3, 465-8, 540 
 
 Chevreuse, Duchess de, 43-7, 50-2, 
 54-6, 60, 68-74, 76-8, 81, 85, 88, 
 90, 100-1, 103, 108, 112, 117, 121- 
 2, 124-5, 127-31. 133-7, 144-5, 
 148-51, 155, 159-62, 167, 178, 201- 
 2, 218-9, 263, 266, 270-2, 289-99, 
 301-3, 352-3, 369, 381-7, 405-15, 
 430-6, 472-5, 498, 506-7, 540, 550 
 
 Chicot, Physician to the King, 527-8, 
 555 
 
 Christina, Queen of Sweden, 307 
 
 Christine, Princess of Piedmont, 42, 
 50, 74 
 
 Cinq-Mars, Marquis de, 311, 460-3, 
 465-6, 475-8, 481-96, 499-505, 510- 
 14, 556 
 
 Coigneux, de, President, 98, 122, 130- 
 1,250 
 
 Combalet, Madame de, Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon, 63, 123, 174, 177, 189, 
 191-2, 194, 196-8, 215, 217, 222, 
 340, 361, 438, 479, 518, 526-8, 
 539-1 
 
 Concini, see Ancre, Marquis d' 
 
 Conde, Prince de, 3, 22, 27-9, 57, 63, 
 65, 99, 120, 134, 426, 504, 542- 
 3, 546, 549, 556, 564 
 Princess de, 55, 57, 276-8, 281, 
 285-6 
 
 Conty, Princess de, 84, 178, 182, 192, 
 197, 240 
 
 Cordova, Margarita de, 15 
 Don Gonzales de, 179 
 
 Corsini, Papal Nuncio, 63 
 
 Cotton, Pere, 10 
 
 Courtenvault, de, Attendant on Louis 
 XIII., 9 
 
 Cousin, Victor, 290, 386, 447, 505
 
 INDEX 
 
 571 
 
 Cramail, Comte de, 252, 540 
 Crequi, Marshal de, 240, 252, 338, 
 
 341-2 
 Croft, Sir Herbert, 223-4, 251, 275, 
 
 408, 415 
 
 DAXSE, Michel, 173, 215 
 Denbigh, Countess of, 85 
 
 Earl of, 75 
 
 Dinet, Pere, 542, 564-5 
 Dorat, Abbe, 433-5 
 Duhallier, of the King's Archers, 34 
 Duplessis-Mornay, Huguenot leader, 
 3-4, 29, 149 
 
 EBOLY, Prince of, 1 
 Elbceuf, Duke of, 120, 490 
 Elizabeth, Princess of the Asturias, 1, 
 
 6-7, 17-19 
 
 Enghien, Duke of, 277, 479-80, 564 
 Epernon, Duke of, 4, 117-8, 137, 240, 
 
 247, 281-2 
 Estrees, Marshal d', 233, 235 
 
 FABGIS, Madame de, 146-8, 160-1, 
 169, 171, 178, 183-4, 202, 204, 
 210, 213-4, 216-21, 223, 237, 
 251-3, 263, 273, 472, 540 
 Monsieur de, 147 
 Felton, John, 165-6 
 Ferdinand II., King of Spain, 161 
 Ferdinand, Infant, 338-9, 343, 345 
 Fiacre, Pere, 424-5 
 Filandre, Mdlle. de, Queen's Tire- 
 woman, 315, 414, 444-5 
 Fleurance, Preceptor to the King, 10 
 Flotte, Madame de la, 148, 191-2, 
 237, 270, 315, 384, 438, 440, 443, 
 459-60, 463, 540, 561 
 Fontrailles, de, conspirator, 490-1, 
 
 497, 498-500, 506 
 Force, Marshal de la, 53, 341-2 
 
 GERBIER, Steward to the Duke of 
 Buckingham, 75, 145, 368 
 
 Gesvres, Comte de, 464-5 
 
 Gonzague, Marie de, 154-5, 161, 176, 
 477, 484-5, 496, 520 
 
 Grammont, Duke of, 17 
 
 Gregory XV., Pope, 64 
 
 Grotius, Swedish Ambassador, 363, 
 523 
 
 GuemenS, Madame de, 511 
 
 Guise, Duchess of, 78, 133, 182 
 
 Duke of, 5, 11, 17, 18, 20, 27, 99, 
 182, 540 
 
 Guitaut, Captain of the Guard, 429 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, 
 193, 314, 333-i, 336-7 
 
 HALLIER, du, Captain of the Body- 
 guard, 110, 116 
 
 Halluin, Duchess de, 132 
 
 Hamilton, Marchioness of, 85 
 Marquis of, 75 
 
 Hautefort, Marie de, 148, 181, 191-2, 
 231, 237-9, 267-76, 303-5, 313-28, 
 359-61, 363^, 387-91, 405, 424-6, 
 429, 438-43. 446-8, 459-60, 462-8, 
 475, 540, 563 
 
 Hauterive, Marquis d', 300 
 
 Henri IV., King of France, 1, 2-3, 
 335 
 
 Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I. 
 of England, 42, 71-2, 74, 79-81, 
 83-5, 87, 145-6, 154, 166, 229, 292, 
 298, 354-5, 378, 431, 436, 510 
 
 Herouard, Jean, 8-11, 30 
 
 Holland, Earl of, 294 
 
 Huguenots, 3-4, 11, 21-2, 27, 29, 53, 
 65, 72, 94, 109, 149-52, 156, 161, 
 167, 174-5, 224, 335, 437, 458 
 
 INFANTADO, Duke of, 16 
 Isabel, Queen of Philip IV. of Spain, 
 431 
 
 JAMES I., King of England, 69, 72 
 Jars, Chevalier du, 88, 278, 294, 299- 
 
 300, 388-92, 394-5 
 Joinville, Prince de, 17 
 Joseph, Pere ; see Tremblay 
 
 LAFAYETTE, Louise de la, 271, 304-10, 
 
 312-28, 356-7, 417-8, 422-3, 428-9 
 Lainez, Marquis de, 108, 113-4 
 Lansac, Madame de, 439-40, 443, 
 
 448, 451, 462, 478, 494, 504, 559, 
 
 564 
 La Porte, Equerry to theQueen, 82-3, 
 
 85-9, 161-i, 173, 352, 357-64, 374- 
 
 5, 384-99, 415-6, 563 
 Launay, Madame de, 86-7 
 Le Gras, Private Secretary to the 
 
 Queen, 365-6, 373, 380, 505 
 Lerma, Duke of, 4, 12, 13 
 Lescot, Confessor to the Duke de 
 
 Richelieu, 525-6, 528 
 Lesdiguieres, Duchess of, 178, 182 
 
 Duke of, 29, 62, 79, 149 
 Lindsay, Earl of, 166-7 
 Loches, 48-9 
 
 Longueville, Duchess of, 22, 28, 277 
 Lorme, Marion de, 477-S
 
 572 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lorraine, Duke of, 151-2, 164, 229, 
 278-9, 342, 343, 349, 358, 374, 
 381, 473-4 
 
 Marguerite of, 178, 278, 280, 293, 
 339, 348-9, 444, 521 
 
 Loudun, Treaty of, 2 
 
 Louis XIII., early years, 7-11 ; mar- 
 riage, 11-20 ; first conjugal 
 dissensions, 22-6 ; seized with 
 epilepsy, 29-30 ; instigates the 
 assassination of Concini, 31-4 ; 
 banishes his mother from 
 Paris, 39-42 ; his recreations, 
 47-8, 58, 176, 272-3, 541 ; 
 becomes reconciled to his 
 mother, 49-50 ; first dawnings 
 of jealousy, 51-2, 61-2 ; his 
 anger against Luynes, 53-5 ; 
 intrigues against Richelieu, 
 63-4 ; jealous of Buckingham, 
 84, 87-8 ; threatens a divorce, 
 89; weak health, 97, 99; 
 dissensions with his brother, 
 102-7 ; plot against his life, 
 114-30, 133-9; enters La 
 Rochelle, 167 ; commands a 
 military expedition to Italy, 
 168 ; heads a campaign against 
 the Huguenots, 174-5 ; heads 
 an expedition against the 
 Spanish, 179-81 ; dangerous 
 illness, 181-2, 184-9; rapid 
 recovery, 190 ; his aversion to 
 State business, 194-5 ; be- 
 comes reconciled to Richelieu, 
 195-202 ; censures the Spanish 
 Ambassador, 211-2, 242-3 ; 
 requests his mother to leave 
 Paris, 227 ; his relations with 
 Marie de Hautefort, 237-9, 
 267-70, 272-5, 302-4, 424, 426, 
 438-9, 441-3, 447, 460-8, 475 ; 
 forbearance towards his mother 
 241-5 ; anger at her flight, 
 249-50 ; his bashfulness, 268- 
 9 ; his remorse for the death of 
 Montmorency, 285, 290, 400, 
 538 ; his relations with Louise 
 de la Fayette, 304-29, 356, 
 416-7, 422, 428-9; pays his 
 brother's debts, 339-40; his 
 love of solitude, 341 ; hears 
 convincing proof of Anne's 
 treason, 373, 375 ; pardons 
 her, 375-6 ; dictates terms to 
 her, 413-15 ; dismisses her 
 confessor, 416-22 ; declaims 
 
 against his family, 422 ; recon- 
 ciliation with Anne, 429-30 ; 
 letter to Urban VIII. on the 
 birth of the Dauphin, 453 ; 
 dismisses the Queen's chief 
 ladies, 456-9 ; relations with 
 Cinq-Mars, 460-3, 475-8, 480- 
 6, 488-9, 510-12 ; dislikes his 
 eldest son, 495 ; has Cinq- 
 Mars arrested, 499-502 ; com- 
 pelled by Richelieu to dismiss 
 Troisville, 522-5 ; failing 
 health, 538-9 ; releases a 
 number of prisoners, 539-40 ; 
 nominates Anne as Regent, 
 542-9 ; last days, 554-8, 561 ; 
 death, 564-5 
 XIV., 446-7, 448-9, 451-5, 494- 
 
 5, 520, 539, 558-62 
 Louvigny, Comte de, 98, 106, 108, 
 
 120, 124-6, 128, 139 
 Lude, Comte de, 97-8 
 Luxembourg, Due de, 53, 79 
 Luynes family, see also Luxembourg 
 
 and Chaulnes, 8, 31-2 
 Due de, 13-5, 21-3, 25, 28-30, 
 31-3, 35-6, 38-9, 43-6, 50, 
 52-5, 57, 63, 97 
 
 Duchess de, afterwards de Chev- 
 reuse ; see Chevreuse 
 
 MADEMOISELLE, La Grande, 272-3, 
 277-8, 386, 400-1, 479-80, 544 
 
 Malherbe, Francois, 186-7 
 
 Mantua, 151, 167, 179, 334 
 
 Maqueda, Duke of, 16 
 
 Marcheville, de, Attendant on Gaston 
 of Orleans', 98, 117-9 
 
 Marguerite, Infanta, 102 
 
 Marie de' Medici becomes Regent, 3 ; 
 her iniudicknis training of Louis, 
 7-8 ; her first meeting with Anne, 
 19-20 ; signs the Treaty of Loudun, 
 21 ; her policy opposed by Anne, 
 22-3 ; retires to the Luxembourg, 
 24 ; her undue influence over 
 Louis, 25 ; her power begins to 
 decline, 26-9 ; tries to exile Luynes, 
 33 ; imprisoned in her apartments, 
 35, 39 ; banished to Blois, 40-2 ; 
 flies to Loches, 48-9 ; reconciled to 
 Louis, 50 ; regains power, 57 ; 
 dissensions with Anne, 59-60 ; 
 promotes the advancement of 
 Richelieu, 63-4 ; sanctions the 
 marriage of Henrietta to Charles 
 I., 72 ; accompanies Henrietta to
 
 INDEX 
 
 573 
 
 Amiens, 79-80, 83-4; pleads the 
 cause of Anne with Louis, 88 ; 
 intrigues to overthrow Richelieu, 
 100 ; temporarily reconciled to 
 Richelieu, 104 ; present at the 
 arraignment of Anne, 126-7 ; ac- 
 cused of complicity, 129-30, 135 ; 
 at the marriage of Gaston d'Or- 
 leans, 132-3 ; presents Mile, de 
 Hautefort to Louis, 148 ; opposes 
 the re-marriage of Gaston, 154-5, 
 218-9 ; represents the King in his 
 absence, 170, 174 ; at feud with 
 Richelieu, 176-8 ; becomes recon- 
 ciled to Anne, 178 ; seeks to over- 
 throw Richelieu, 181-6, 192-208; 
 again attempts to dislodge Riche- 
 lieu, 222-3 ; her mandate dis- 
 honoured by the Treasury, 224 ; 
 supplies funds for seditious risings, 
 225 ; her intrigues discovered by 
 Louis, 2267 ; Richelieu proposes 
 to arrest her, 228-30 ; her conduct 
 reprobated by Charles I., 230-1 ; 
 Richelieu begs her forgiveness, 232 ; 
 she is arrested, 233-7 ; detained at 
 Compiegne, 240-2, 245-8 ; escapes 
 to Mons, 24850 ; rising on her 
 behalf, 278-80 ; retires to Spa, 338- 
 9 ; corresponds with the King's 
 confessor, 417 ; appeals to Louis 
 for pardon, 417 ; death, 508-10 
 
 Mayenne, Due de, 2, 5, 6, 27, 29 
 
 Mazarin, Cardinal, 180-1, 498-500, 
 516-7, 521-2, 524, 526-7, 538-9, 
 541, 543, 545, 551-5, 559-60 
 
 Milly, Luisa de, 171-3, 212, 251, 370- 
 1, 377-SO, 382, 415 
 
 Mirabel, Marquis de, 90, 100, 119, 
 168-70, 183, 203, 212-6, 218, 220, 
 223, 242-3, 264, 288, 368, 381, 
 383 
 
 Montagu, Walter, 155, 159-64, 217, 
 275, 294, 381-2 
 
 Montague, Lord, 145-6 
 
 Montauban, 53-4, 175 
 
 Montbazon, Due de, 43-4, 50, 385, 
 432-3, 442 
 
 Monteleone, Marquis of, 16, 24-6, 32, 
 46-7 
 
 Montglat, de, Attendant on Louis 
 XIIL, 9 
 
 Muntmorency, Duchess de, 46-7, 56-7 
 Due de, 3, 52, 61, 278-87, 556 
 
 Montpensier, Marie de, afterwards 
 Duchess of Orleans ; see Orleans 
 
 Moret, Cornte de, 247, 250 
 
 Motteville, Madame de, Mtmoirea, 67, 
 76-8, 83^, 86-7, 171-2, 234-5, 237, 
 274-5, 308-9, 386-7, 447, 495, 538 
 
 NAVAS, Spanish charge, d'affaires, 288 
 Nevere, Due de, 3, 151, 167, 192 
 
 Duchess de, 11, 17-18 
 Nogent, de, Gentleman of the Cham- 
 ber to the Queen, 203-4 
 Noirmoutier, Marquis de, 468 
 Noyers, de, Under-Secretary to the 
 King, 176, 312-3, 326, 382-3, 421, 
 423, 500-1, 504, 521, 524-5, 530, 
 540-2 
 
 OLIVABEZ, Count of, 16, 152, 349-50, 
 490-1 
 
 Orange, Prince of, 515-6 
 
 Orleans, Gaston, Duke of, 29, 31, 41, 
 57-9, 66, 84, 96-109, 111-2, 
 115-24, 127-39, 158, 162, 174, 
 176, 202-5, 218-20, 222, 224-5, 
 243, 246, 250, 278-85, 287, 
 337, 339-40, 347-8, 486, 488, 
 490-3, 496-7, 502, 506, 520-1, 
 539, 544, 545-6, 549-53, 565 
 Marie de Montpensier, Duchess 
 of, 61-2, 98-9, 101, 103, 119, 
 121, 130, 163-4 
 
 Ornano, Marshal d', 97-8, 101-7, 121, 
 131, 240 
 
 Osorio, Luisa de, 15 
 
 PASTRANA, Duke of, 1, 6-7 
 Patrocle, Valet de Chambre to the 
 
 Queen of Spain, 395, 398 
 Perrans, of the King's Archers, 34 
 Philip II. of Spain, 1 
 
 III. of Spain, 1, 4-6, 12-3 
 
 IV. of Spain, 115, 150, 152, 276, 
 345, 350-1, 490-1, 493, 497 
 
 Piedmont. Prince of, 50 
 Polignac, Mile, de, 317, 459 
 Putange, de, Equerry in Waiting to 
 
 the Queen, 81-3, 88 
 Puylaurens, de, 98, 105, 108, 125, 130 
 
 RE, Ee de, 150, 152, 157-S 
 
 Retz, Cardinal de, 48, 62 
 
 Ribera, Physician to the Queen, 88 
 
 Ribeyra, Francisco de, 15 
 
 Richlieu, Cardinal Due de, in the 
 service of Marie de' Medici, 34, 
 40, 42 ; his merits recognised 
 by Luynes, 55 ; admitted to the 
 Privy Council, 63 ; created Car- 
 dinal, 64 ; commencement of his
 
 574 
 
 INDEX 
 
 rule, 64-6 ; courts Anne, 66-8 ; 
 becomes suspicious of Buckingham, 
 78 ; his system of espionage, 84, 
 170, 191, 214-6, 263, 310-1, 314-6, 
 352, 440, 472 ; wrests concessions 
 from the Huguenots, 94 ; Marie de' 
 Medici seeks to overthrow him, 
 100, 176-8, 181-5; has Marshal 
 d'Ornano arrested, 104-6 ; offers to 
 resign, 107 ; plot to assassinate 
 him, 108, 111 ; his successful 
 counterplot, 112-30, 133-9; his 
 measures against the Huguenots, 
 149-50 ; conducts the siege of La 
 Rochelle, 164-7 ; at loggerheads 
 with the Spanish Ambassador, 168- 
 9 ; public prayers for his downfall, 
 173 ; presents Mazarin to Anne, 
 180-1 ; the King promises to dis- 
 miss him, 185-9 ; prepared for 
 flight, 190 ; regains the royal 
 favour, 190-202 ; prohibits private 
 interviews between Anne and the 
 Spanish Ambassador, 211-4 ; seizes 
 seditious letters addressed to Anne, 
 218-9 ; twits her on their contents, 
 220-1 ; insulted by Gaston d'Or- 
 leans, 224-6 ; avenges himself on 
 Bassompierre, 240 ; connives at 
 the escape of Marie de' Medici, 246- 
 9 ; outlaws the followers of Gaston, 
 250-1 ; has Marillac beheaded, 
 253^4 ; feigns dismay at Marie's 
 escape, 2546 ; dictates his con- 
 ditions to Louis, 256-8 ; his admi- 
 ration for Madame de Chevreuse, 
 266 ; braved by Marie de Haute - 
 fort, 267 ; marries his niece to the 
 Due d'Enghien, 277, 479-80 ; has 
 the first doll's house ever seen in 
 France constructed, 278 ; fooled by 
 Madame de Chevreuse, 290-9 ; has 
 her arrested and banished, 299, 
 3023 ; takes steps to remove 
 Louise de la Fayette from Court, 
 309-22; his relations with the 
 King's confessors, 327-9 ; promotes 
 an alliance with Sweden, 333-7 ; 
 afraid to show himself in public, 
 344 ; presents the Palais Royal to 
 Louis, 346 ; discovers a plot on his 
 life, 348 ; has Madame de Chev- 
 reuse watched, 352-4 ; accuses 
 Anne of treason before the Council, 
 354-6 ; hears Anne confess her 
 guilt, 367-72 ; extracts further 
 admissions from her, 380-4 ; con- 
 
 fers privately with La Porte, 398- 
 9 ; sends a bribe to Madame de 
 Chevreuse, 406 ; is in danger of 
 dismissal, 416-9 ; his anxiety for 
 the birth of a Dauphin, 426-7 ; 
 offers a conditional pardon to 
 Madame de Chevreuse, 432-6 ; 
 departs for the seat of war in Pi- 
 cardy, 441 ; his letters on the birth 
 of Louis XIV., 450-1 ; high in the 
 graces of both King and Queen, 459 ; 
 introduces Cinq-Mars to Louis, 461- 
 2 ; his health languishes, 480 ; 
 harassed by disputes between Louis 
 and Cinq-Mars, 482 ; Cinq-Mars 
 becomes his enemy, 484-6 ; fresh 
 conspiracy to overthrow him, 486- 
 9, 495-6 ; Anne discloses the plot 
 to him, 497-9 ; his vengeance, 510- 
 5 ; increasing pretentious, 520, 
 522-3 ; Mazarin becomes his con- 
 fidential adviser, 521-2 ; falls 
 seriously ill, 525-9 ; death, 530 ; 
 his will, 531-2 
 
 Riviere, Abbe de la, 98, 502-3, 544 
 Rochefort, Comte de, 113^, 119, 126 
 Rochefoucauld, Due de la, 363, 408, 
 
 412 
 
 Rochelle, La, 149-52, 156-52, 164-7 
 Rohan, Due de, 29, 150, 152, 174, 250 
 Duchess de, 132 
 
 Marie de, afterwards Duchess 
 de Luynes, and subsequently 
 de Chevreuse, see Chevreuse 
 Rubens, Peter Paul, 59 
 
 SABLE, Marquise de, 60-1, 78-9, 287 
 
 St. Georges, Madame de, 145 
 
 St. Gery, 108, 125 
 
 St. Paul, Comtesse de, 146 
 
 St. Simon, Due de, 186-7, 195, 198-9, 
 
 304, 315, 326 
 St. Surin, 158 
 Saumur, 120 
 Savoy, Duke of, 151-2 
 Scarron, Paul, 475 
 Schomberg, Marshal de, 156, 158, 181, 
 
 220, 248, 280 
 Segueran, Pere, 88-9 
 Seguier, Pierre de, 355, 371-2, 375-6, 
 
 385-7, 395-8, 445, 511-3, 546 
 Senec6, Marquise de, 221, 231, 234- 
 
 7, 264, 305, 318-9, 324, 375, 414, 
 
 440, 446, 456-8, 475, 540 
 Sessa, Duke of, 16, 18-9 
 Sforza, Cardinal, 453 
 Sillery, Chancellor de, 63
 
 INDEX 
 
 575 
 
 Sirmond, Abbe, 500, 541-2 
 Soissons, Comte de, 29, 99, 107-8, '.12, 
 
 119, 124, 134, 137, 178, 223, 344, 
 
 347-8 
 
 Soubise, 155 
 
 Souffran, Pere, 181, 185, 187-9, 228 
 Sully, Maximilian de, 3, 4, 29 
 
 TALLEMANT des Reaux, Historiettes, 
 
 286, 298, 302, 303-i, 458-9, 504 
 Termes, de, Attendant on Louis 
 
 XIII., 9 
 
 Themines, Marshal de, 27-8 
 Thou, de, Fra^ois, 487, 490, 493, 
 
 498-9, 502, 506, 510-4 
 Toiras, de, Jean, 157-8 
 Torres, Countess de las, 15, 18, 20, 
 
 24-5, 46 
 
 Tremblay, Joseph de, 63, 113, 122-3, 
 125-6, 129-31, 165, 192, 195, 
 246-7, 256, 287, 305, 333-4, 
 344, 346, 349-50, 352-3, 371, 
 436, 458, 521 
 
 Governor of the Bastille, 389, 395 
 Tresmes, Captain of the Guard, 494-5 
 Troisville, de, Lieutenant of Mous- 
 
 quetaires, 522-5, 529, 554 
 Tuscany, Grand Duke of, 4 
 
 URBAN VIII., Pope, 453, 559 
 
 Uzeda, Duke of, 5, 16, 18-9 
 Uzes, Due d', 561 
 
 VAIR, Du, Keeper of the Seals, 29-30 
 Val de Grace, 171-3, 212-7, 223, 300- 
 
 1, 352, 356, 370-2, 378, 416 
 Valencey, de, 109-11 
 Valette, Cardinal de la, 215-7, 338, 
 
 341 346 
 
 Due de la, 98, 108, 118, 124, 490 
 Valois, Elizabeth de, 16 
 Vardes, Marquis de, 247-9 
 Vaultier, Physican to the Queen, 173, 
 
 203, 210, 253, 540 
 Vendome, Due de, 27, 29-30, 98, 107- 
 
 8, 112, 116, 121, 129, 134, 294, 
 
 490, 540 
 Philippe, Chevalier de, Grand 
 
 Prior, 98, 107-8, 112, 116, 121, 
 
 129 
 
 Vernet, Madame du, 81-2, 88 
 Verneuil, Mile, de, 56 
 Vieuville, Marquis de, 62-3 
 Villarceaux, Madame de, 388-90 
 Villequieras, Duchess of, 41 
 Villeroy, Secretary of State, 4, 29 
 Vitry, Marshal de, 32, 33-5, 540 
 Voiture, Vincent, 504 
 Vrilliere, de la, Secretary of State, 
 557 
 
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