V
 
 THE 
 
 MARRIED LIFE 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA,
 

 
 THE 
 
 MARRIED LIFE 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTEIA, 
 
 ' QUEEN OF FRANCE, MOTHER OF LOUIS XIV. 
 
 AM) 
 
 DON SEBASTIAN, KING OF PORTUGAL 
 
 isiontal 
 
 FROM NUMEROUS UNPUBLISHED SOURCES, 
 
 INCLUDING MS. DOCUMENTS IN THE BIBLIOTHEQUE IMPERIALS, AND 
 THE ARCHIVES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 
 
 MARTHA WALKER FREER, 
 
 Author of "The Life of Margnerite d'Angouletne, Queen of Navarre ;" "The Life of 
 
 Jeanne d'Albret ; " " The Court and Times of Henry III., King of France and 
 
 Poland ; " " The Life of Henri Qiiatre^' &.C., tic. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 
 
 1864. 
 [The right of Translation is reserved.]
 
 F14- 
 
 LONDON 
 BBADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHTTEFEIARS.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 PAGE 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND LOOS XIII 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM . . 44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE CONSPIRACY OF THE PRINCE 
 
 DE CHALAIS 108 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND MARIE DE' MEDICI . . . .166 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND MADEMOISELLE DE HAUTEFORT . 242 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA, MADEMOISELLE DE LA FAYETTE, AND 
 
 THE DUCHESSE DE CHEVREUSE 301
 
 THE 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF ANNE OF 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 16121617. 
 
 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 XIIL, 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 DBS MAGNIFICENCES. 
 
 In celebration of the auspicious event of the mar- 
 riages, 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 banquet- 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 2 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 ings at the Louvre, at Fontainebleau, and at St. 
 Germain. The Spanish Ambassador, Duque de Pas- 
 trana, 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 consort of the heir of Spain.* The Duke de 
 Mayenne 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 
 
 * MS. Bibl. Imp. Colbert 500, vol. 140, p. 32. Mem. de Wicquefort 
 t. 1, p. 4.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 3 
 
 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 humiliation 
 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."* The allies towards whom Henry inclined 
 were the King of England, the German Protestant 
 Princes, and the Dutch Republic. 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 freedom her tributary king- 
 doms 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 
 
 * 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. 
 
 B2
 
 4 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 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 devotion 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 Bou- 
 illon, the Constable de Montmorency, and the Duke 
 de Nevers, retired from court and intrenched them- 
 selves within their respective governments. " France/' 
 said they, " is now governed in Turkish fashion by 
 that scoundrel and traitor the Florentine Concini ; 
 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 for- 
 tresses therefore soon bristled with arms ; and Mornay, 
 exulting already in the hope of success, defied the 
 menaces of the Regent ; and the more conciliatory 
 overtures of his old adversary the secretary of state, 
 Villeroy. The government of Queen Marie thus be- 
 came isolated, and found support only from the Duke 
 d'Epernon,* from Soissons, and other antagonists of 
 
 * 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
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 5 
 
 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 Hugue- 
 nots 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 Tuscany* uncle of the Queen, under- 
 took to make the first overtures to obtain the re- 
 newal of the ancient alliance of the crowns. The 
 Duke of Lerma,f prime minister of Philip III., 
 graciously responded to the advance ; and, a few 
 months later, the double alliance between the chil- 
 dren of France and Spain was proposed and ac- 
 cepted. 
 
 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 devoirs. 
 Anne was a fair and bonny child, the darling of 
 
 died in 1646, at the age of 88. "Tout chez lui etait splendeur et 
 faste." 
 
 * 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. 
 
 t Don Francisco Rojos de Sandoval, Duke of Lerma, minister and 
 favourite of Philip III., King of Spain.
 
 6 THE MARKIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 the ceremonious court of Madrid, and of her father 
 and her gentle mother, Marguerite.* She seems 
 never to have been consigned to the dreary mono- 
 tony of a royal nursery establishment, but appears to 
 have always followed the queen her 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 Vil- 
 lela,f which was heard throughout the peninsula. 
 Anne was eleven years old when she was betrothed 
 to Louis XIIL, and thus became the heroine of the 
 splendid ambassage 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 
 themselves 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- 
 
 * Marguerite of Austria, daughter of Charles, Archduke of Gratzen, and 
 niece of the Emperor Maximilian II. 
 
 t See History of Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, chap. 3.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 7 
 
 descension, embraced the ambassador cordially, and 
 presented to him the Prince of 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 sumptuous 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 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 con- 
 sisted of rich lands in Touraine and Le Pays Char- 
 train ; 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.' 55 ' The pecuniary settlements being thus made 
 to the satisfaction of King Philip, the Infanta was 
 saluted, and treated as Queen of France ; " a dignity 
 which her Highness accepts with marvellous dignity 
 and gravity." When Mayenne took leave of her 
 
 * Leonard, Contrats et Traites de Paix, etc. MS. Archives de Simancas, 
 K. 22, quoted by Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche.
 
 8 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612- 
 
 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 I" 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, Madame 1 I have spoken, 
 and shall not retract," retorted the young Queen, 
 pettishly.** 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 Asturias, in the Louvre. 
 Madame Elizabeth wore a surcoat and robe of car- 
 nation-coloured satin, a cross of diamonds, and a 
 chain of pearls. " M. 1'Ambassadeur," 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 
 
 * Dreux du Radier, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche.
 
 1617. J ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 9 
 
 trust to render myself worthy of both the one and 
 the other, as I ought."* 
 
 The bridegroom elect of Dofia 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 miser- 
 able jealousies of the favourites and advisers 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 accomplishments, 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 indulgent 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 
 retentive of petty affronts. His household was not 
 selected with a view to correct the nervous shyness, 
 and overbearing pride of his character. The fears of 
 the Queen, and the ignoble precaution of her ser- 
 
 * 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.
 
 10 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 vants the Marquis d'Ancre and his wife, induced 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,* 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 con- 
 ferred by royal caprice. Louis nevertheless, showed 
 aptitude for many boyish pastimes : 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 employ- 
 
 * 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, M. de Pequigny.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 11 
 
 ments of his royal master ; so minute as to become 
 ludicrous, when the learned doctor condescended 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 jottings; and the mystery solved, why 
 the son of Henri IV. grew up to become the most 
 timid, miserable, suspicious, and self -distrusting 
 monarch who ever filled a throne, though possessing 
 capacity, and sonie appreciation for things good, 
 noble, and true. Herouard writes : 
 
 "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 there- 
 upon composed the following verse : 
 
 " II y avait en ma cuisine 
 Une petite marcassine 
 Laquelle est morte de douleur 
 D'avoir perdu son gouverneur ! " 
 
 * Journal du Roy Louis XIII. , par M. Jehan Herouard, son Premier 
 Medecin. MS. Bibl. Imp. Colbert, 2601. 6 vols. in fol.
 
 12 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 "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 Feuillantine 
 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 Uh. His Majesty dined at Ruel. At mid- 
 day 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 lAth, Friday. His Majesty commenced 
 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 \ ' ' 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-
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 13 
 
 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 after- 
 wards at tennis. 
 
 " December 22nd. His Majesty went to hunt* on 
 the plain of St. Denis ; he was suffering from tooth- 
 ache, but would not confess it, for fear of losing 
 his hunt. On his return his Majesty complained 
 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 decoc- 
 tion of vinegar and rose-leaves, after which the pain 
 subsided. 
 
 "December 31st, Wednesday. The King confessed 
 in the evening to le P. Cotton, his confessor and 
 preacher in ordinary, in order to touch, on the 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 
 
 * " 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 ; 
 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 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 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 occa- 
 sion so august. The Duchess de Nevers Catherine 
 de Lorraine, and the Duke de Guise, escorted Madame 
 to Bordeaux, and from thence to St. Jean de Luz ; 
 where, on the banks of the Bidassoa, 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.* 
 Their progress, however, had been dreary and peri- 
 lous : 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 Bordeaux, and the 
 
 * Godefroy, Grand Cerem., t. 2, pp. 60-80.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTKIA. 15 
 
 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 Cond6 * and 
 Conty,f the Duchesses de Guise,J de Vendome, and 
 de Montbazon. 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 Valladolid 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 representative of his Christian 
 Majesty being the Duke of Lerma. Two days before 
 this solemnity, Anne made formal renunciation of 
 her right of succession to the Spanish crown ; and of 
 the rich personalty and money of her deceased 
 
 * Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency, daughter of Henri Constable 
 de Montmorency. 
 
 + Louise Marguerite de Lorraine Guise, daughter of Henri Due de Guise, 
 slain at Blois, 1588. 
 
 J Heuriette de Joyeuse, who had first espoused the Duke de Mont- 
 pensier. 
 
 Franoise de Lorraine Mercosur. Her husband was the son of Henri IV 
 and Gabrielle d'Estrees.
 
 16 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 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 
 therefore of competent years to understand the tenor 
 and significance of the above articles declare, that I 
 hold myself content with the dowry assigned 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 right hand resting on 
 the Holy Gospels contained in this missal by my side } 
 to abide by the said renunciation ; which I sign in the 
 presence of my lord and father, and of my brothers, 
 who have been pleased to assist at this solemnity."* 
 
 King Louis, meantime, despatched his favourite 
 Luynes from Bordeaux to Burgos, to greet his 
 consort, and to convey to her a letter, f 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 Cadeuet, 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 scornful 
 
 * MS. Archives de Simancas, A. No. 65, quoted by M. Capefigue. 
 
 t Tallemant, that cruel satirist, writes, "Le roi commen9a par son cocher 
 Saint- Amour a t6moigner de 1'affection pour quelqu'un. II voulut envoy er 
 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.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 17 
 
 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 favourite. It was said 
 at court, that at this period Luynes, Cadenet, and 
 Brantes had only one court-habit amongst them ; 
 and that the Auvergnat brothers owed their favour 
 to their skill in snaring magpies ! * 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 mistress. Luynes presented the royal letter 
 to her youthful Majesty enclosed in a portfolio of 
 rose-coloured silk, embroidered in pearls with the 
 ciphers L. and A. " Madame," wrote King Louis 
 XIIL, " 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 
 
 * Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriclie. MS. Simancas, B. 5. 
 VOL. i. c
 
 18 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 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 festivals, and the mag- 
 nificences over which she had been selected to pre- 
 side. 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 con- 
 cerning the health of your Majesty, and the desire 
 which you express to see me. I also 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 comforting assurances which 
 he gives me. I kiss the hand of your Majesty, whom 
 may God preserve, as I pray. ANA/'* 
 
 * Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriclie. MS. Simancas, B. 5.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 19 
 
 The Queen sent her lord a present of a superb 
 rosary ; also what doubtless would be less welcome 
 a list of the ladies of her Spanish household, whom 
 she wished might be permitted to continue their 
 services in the Louvre. The Condesa de las Torres, 
 Dona Luisa de Osorio, and Dona Marguerita de 
 Cordova were the chief personages 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 impolitic 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 convey each 
 to her newly adopted country. The banks of the 
 river were kept by squadrons of light 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 
 
 c2
 
 20 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 their battle-axes, were stationed at intervals ; while 
 thousands of spectators 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 embarka- 
 tion, magnificent pavilions and platforms rose, 
 draped with white and yellow silk hangings, for the 
 ladies of the courts of France and Spain not offici- 
 ally present at the ceremony. Anne quitted Bur- 
 gos November the 20th, and after taking sorrowful 
 leave of her father, commenced her journey towards 
 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 XIIL, and 
 to conduct, the young Princess of France to Guada- 
 laxara. In the suite of the young Queen were the 
 Duque de Uzeda, son of the cardinal minister Lerrna, 
 the Dukes de Sessa, Maqueda, Infantado, the Count 
 de Olivarez, and the Marquis de Monteleone, the 
 newly appointed 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 rams ; and horses could with difficulty be
 
 1617.] ANXE OF AUSTRIA. 21 
 
 found for the transport of the prodigious cavalcade 
 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 Bor- 
 delais. Anne passed the night of the 23rd of 
 November 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'Elbceuf, and de Grammont, and the 
 Prince de Joinville. Amid loud acclamations, and 
 discharges of artillery, the Princess stepped into the 
 barge, and was rowed to the landing-place on 1'Ile 
 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
 
 22 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 audience of her Majesty ; while the Spanish courtiers 
 paid the same devoirs to Madame Elizabeth. The 
 Duchess de Nevers and the Duke de 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 embroidered with gold, having 
 wide and pendent sleeves looped up with bouquets of 
 diamonds. A small ruff of fine Flemish lace en- 
 circled 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 bloom- 
 ing face greeted the eyes of the fastidious courtiers ; 
 and a complexion of dazzling brilliancy, said to be 
 unrivalled 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 
 
 v 
 
 velvet cushions, and flirting their fans. The cere- 
 mony of salutation performed, her Majesty rose and 
 quitted the pavilion. Madame Elizabeth did the 
 same, and the Princesses exchanging a cordial kiss, 
 moved slightly apart and conversed, while their
 
 1617.] AN^E OF AUSTRIA. 23 
 
 attendants delivered 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, 
 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.* 
 
 Her Majesty reposed that night in the citadel of 
 Bayonne, and early the following morning she de- 
 parted 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 
 
 * Godefroy, Grand Cere'in. de France, t. 2, p. 70, et seq.
 
 22 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 audience of her Majesty ; while the Spanish courtiers 
 paid the same devoirs to Madame Elizabeth. The 
 Duchess de Nevers and the Duke de 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 embroidered with gold, having 
 wide and pendent sleeves looped up with bouquets of 
 diamonds. A small ruff of fine Flemish lace en- 
 circled 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 bloom- 
 ing face greeted the eyes of the fastidious courtiers ; 
 and a complexion of dazzling brilliancy, said to be 
 unrivalled 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 cere- 
 mony of salutation performed, her Majesty rose and 
 quitted the pavilion. Madame Elizabeth did the 
 same, and the Princesses exchanging a cordial kiss, 
 moved slightly apart and conversed, while their
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTKIA. 23 
 
 attendants delivered 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, 
 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.* 
 
 Her Majesty reposed that night in the citadel of 
 Bayonne, and early the following morning she de- 
 parted 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 
 
 * Godefroy, Grand Cere"m. de France, t. 2, p. 70, et seq.
 
 26 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 ing back to the Louvre the great peers of the realm ; 
 it conciliated the Huguenot faction ; and allayed the 
 frantic apprehensions raised by the matrimonial alli- 
 ances with Spain. The treaty was warmly pro- 
 moted by M. de Luynes ; who from thenceforth 
 ventured to wrestle against the hitherto omnipotent 
 influence of the Marquis d'Ancre, and his wife. To 
 Marie de' Medici the pacification was also welcome ; 
 although Conde became installed thereby as Presi- 
 dent of the Council of State. She trusted by this 
 compact to find an antidote to Spanish ascendency 
 in her domestic circle ; and to the influence exer- 
 cised 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 dis- 
 tinct recognition from government ; and Huguenot 
 members were declared eligible to sit in the Parlia- 
 ment of Paris. No foreigner was from thenceforth 
 to be naturalised in France, with a view to his in- 
 stalment in offices of state ; Conde" was to preside 
 over and to countersign the Privy Council edicts ; and 
 all fiefs and properties confiscated for past rebellion 
 were to be restored to their former possessors. The 
 Marquis d'Ancre relinquished his government of
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTKIA. 27 
 
 Normandy to M. de Longueville, and ceded the 
 citadel of Amiens. Measures so popular were ne- 
 vertheless 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 exqui- 
 site 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 
 bewildered 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 
 dynasty of Spain against all assailants. Thoroughly 
 imbued with the maxims and the instructions show- 
 ered 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 
 by Monteleone ; who had at this period free
 
 28 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 access to the palace.* 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 secresy 
 whenever state matters were imparted to her ear, 
 her Majesty was desired to make exception to this 
 rule in favour of Monteleone,f 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 independence, by her sub- 
 mission 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, 
 
 * 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 dissimulation. 
 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 information of the opinions 
 and intended measures of the French Government were to be obtained by 
 the Queen at any cost, or risk whatever. 
 
 t Don Hettore Piguatello, Duke of Monteleone, and Viceroy over 
 Catalonia.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 29 
 
 however, for the happiness of Anne of Austria, was 
 the enmity of de Luynes ; the favourite angrily re- 
 sented 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, ap- 
 peared to indicate the willingness of his Catholic 
 Majesty to favour the usurping rule of Concini. The 
 King spent his days in listless 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 apartments 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 Luxembourg, a 
 palace which owed its noble embellishments to 
 her taste and munificence. " The household of 
 our young Queen," wrote Monteleone, "is not yet 
 named. Her apartments at the Louvre are suit- 
 able 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
 
 30 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 mistress. The Infanta-queen is daily received with 
 cordial delight by her subjects.* Notwithstanding 
 the splendour of her outward position, Anne's affec- 
 tion reverted to Spain, to its peaceful palaces, reve- 
 rent 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 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 demeanour so offended them as 
 solemn hauteur, and distant formality. Anne there- 
 fore only too readily arrayed herself in the most 
 bewitching modes a la Franpaise ; and, yielding to 
 the vivacity 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, Monteleone, 
 
 * Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche. Archives de Simancas, A. 74.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 31 
 
 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 comments on the quarrels of 
 the royal pair, " who often disputed, like froward 
 children, over their pastimes." He then proceeds to 
 censure the undue influence exercised by Marie de' 
 Medici over the King ; especially complaining that the 
 Queen-mother and M. de Luynes prevented his Ma- 
 jesty from demonstrating proper conjugal devotion 
 towards his consort, by inspiring chimerical fears of 
 the danger, which might be apprehended from the 
 birth of offspring, at a period when his Majesty him- 
 self, 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, 
 
 " 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 erery one ascribes her Ma- 
 jesty's unfortunate flightiness of manner to her 
 youth. Her Majesty never speaks without jesting 
 like a child ; we cannot induce her to apply herself
 
 32 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 to serious matters ; she forgets all counsels and in- 
 struction with incredible facility ; and her petulance 
 is such that we have neither leisure, nor courage to 
 interfere. I must add that although we give con- 
 tinual 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 converse with her daily on matters private and 
 domestic ; but I dread the weariness and impatience 
 which these interviews will finally, but too surely, 
 inspire/' * A fete occasionally enlivened 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 per- 
 formed a saraband with her royal consort, and was 
 arrayed in great splendour. 
 
 The burdened spirit of Marie de' Medici, however, 
 found little pleasure in the pageantries which 
 charmed her daughter-in-law. Marie beheld her 
 precious, but much abused, power passing away ; 
 and deep dejection oppressed her. The Pacification 
 of Loudun had brought little intermission to her 
 anxieties. Before the signature of that compact 
 she had wrestled with the malcontents in distant 
 
 *Capefigue, Vie d'Anue iTAuttiche. Archives de Simancas, A. 74.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 33 
 
 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,* swarmed 
 iu the saloons of the Louvre, and clamoured that 
 every privilege granted at Loudun, should be 
 conceded. Conde tyrannised over the council ; de- 
 fied 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 consteration 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 Bouillon, de Ven- 
 donie, 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.! Orders were 
 
 * Concini had purchased in 1610, a few months after the death of Henri 
 Quatre, the inarquisate d'Ancre, for the sum of 130,000 livres. 
 t Histoire de la Mere et du Fils, annee 1617.
 
 34 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 then issued for the arrest of the colleagues of M. le 
 Prince ; but MM. de Vendome and de Mayenne, on the 
 first symptoms of agitation, fled from Paris ; while 
 Bouillon received timely warning of the event at Cha- 
 renton, and escaped to Soissons. Riots ensued in Paris 
 on the arrest of Conde ; the windows of the Hotel Con- 
 cini were smashed ; and a turbulent rabble assaulted 
 the Queen's palace of the Luxembourg, and forcing 
 an entrance therein, burned and destroyed rich furni- 
 ture to the value of 200,000 crowns. A council of 
 war was hastily formed, and measures adopted to 
 subdue the rebellion of the fugitive princes, and to 
 arrest their persons. Conde was transferred to the 
 Bastille byThemines and Bassompierre ;* 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 Coude, Anne fancied that she descried 
 redemption for her Spanish ladies from heretic 
 threats ; and the repression of the insolent assump- 
 tions of de Luynes. Marie herself was not, however, 
 deceived by the success of her hazardous experiment. 
 
 rual tic ma Vie.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 35 
 
 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 occa- 
 sion proposed to relinquish, filled her mind with fore- 
 boding. France trembled on the verge of a civil 
 war ; names potent in the provinces, such as Lon- 
 gueville, Nevers, Guise, Mayenne, Vendome, Bouillon, 
 La Rochefoucault, Soissons, had raised the standard 
 of revolt against a government guided by Concini, 
 the Florentine gambler.* The Huguenots flew to 
 arms for the rescue of Conde : Sully, Villeroy, Bel- 
 lievre, Duplessis-Mornay, Rohan, Lesdiguieres, in- 
 scribed their honoured names at the foot of mani- 
 festoes 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 administration 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. Ger- 
 
 * 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, exclaimed, sotto voce, 
 ' ' Uu vaisseau qui est a Fancre n'a pas besoiii de voile. " Which piece of 
 wit flew throughout Paris. Tallemant ; Dreux du Eadier.
 
 36 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 mains, was seized with a fit of epilepsy, on All Saints' 
 Day, 1616. The Regent was performing her devo- 
 tions in the chapel of Feuillantine monastery, when 
 summoned in haste back to the Louvre. Concini and 
 his wife, during the panic, got possession 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, impru- 
 dently asked him, what he thought of his Majesty's 
 sudden 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.* 
 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 : f " Sire," said the artful favourite, 
 
 * Bassompierre, Hist, de ina Vie. Histoire de la Mere et du Fils. 
 t Mem. Anecdotes, ou Galerie des Personnages de la Cour de France, 
 sous les Regnes de Henri IV. et Louis XIII.
 
 1C] 7.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 37 
 
 " 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, meanwhile, over- 
 whelmed 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.* 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 mo- 
 ment of despair, the Marquis confessed to Bassom- 
 pierre 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 livresfor a life inter- 
 est in the revenue of the duchy of Ferrara. " Sire," 
 thereupon said de Luynes, " Concini is king of this 
 
 * Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vic.
 
 33 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 realm ; he exercises absolute sway over this kingdom ; 
 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 towards yourself. He is daily in 
 the habit of consulting 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 ma- 
 jesty the Queen-mother, you, Sire, may imagine how 
 potent may become her power when the loyal rebel- 
 lion 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 ? " These words festered on the irritated 
 mind of the King already 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 cava- 
 liers, but with little talent or genius; nevertheless, 
 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
 
 1C17.] ANSTE OF AUSTRIA. 39 
 
 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 
 nattering assurance of the good-will of the Catholic 
 King, received in reply from de Luynes, the words 
 accompanied by an expressive gesture. " I under- 
 stand your Excellency ; and at a suitable period you 
 will perceive that I have accepted and profited by 
 your message/'""" With subtle perfidy de Luynes, hav- 
 ing thus encompassed his rival, brought the dark 
 anger of the King to a climax by becoming the me- 
 dium 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 
 
 * Capefigue, Anne d'Autriche, p. 44. MS. de Simancas, A. 74.
 
 40 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 the gardeners of the Tuileries, high in the good 
 graces of Louis, for his skill in trapping little birds.* 
 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 themselves 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.f This 
 fresh tracasserie completed the exasperation of the 
 King. Hitherto his Majesty had resisted the sangui- 
 nary malevolence of his favourite; but now Louis gave 
 permission that weapons might be used in case Concini 
 opposed the mandate of arrest. Luynes therefore 
 
 * The name of this person was du Buissou . 
 t Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre.
 
 1617.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 41 
 
 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 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, exclaim ed,"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 las 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.* The body 
 of the unfortunate Concini was dragged by the hair 
 of the head to a porter's lodge at hand, and ignonri- 
 
 * Hist, dcs plus Illustres Favoris, Dupuy, Elzevir, in 8vo. Journal de 
 ma Vie, Bassompierre. Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII.
 
 42 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1612 
 
 niously 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 billiard-table, talking excitedly, 
 and receiving the congratulations of his court.* 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 con- 
 veyed 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 gal- 
 lery of the church of St. Germain 1'Auxerrois. The 
 
 * "Ah, M. de Liujon," exclaimed the king, slyly, "me voilh, enfin Roi !"
 
 1G17.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 43 
 
 populace however, on the morrow violated the 
 grave ; and tearing the body therefrom, dragged it 
 through the streets of Paris, and after frightful mu- 
 tilations, hung it by the feet from a gibbet. Three 
 days after this assassination, an edict emanated from 
 the royal pen, bestowing the immense confiscation 
 of the property of the Marquis d'Ancre on M. de 
 Luynes ; together 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. * 
 
 M. de Luynes,f had now scaled the perilous emi- 
 nence of royal favour : he had attained to princely 
 wealth ; and needed only a suitable matrimonial alli- 
 ance to confirm his fortunes ; and to win, as he 
 hoped, the favour of Queen Anne of Austria. 
 
 * 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. 
 
 t 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 !
 
 44 THE MAKRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 16171625. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 
 
 THE catastrophe which had overthrown the reign- 
 ing 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 feel- 
 ing. 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 re- 
 mained under guard in her apartments.* Louis 
 sent a message to his mother, stating his intention 
 to assume the conduct of affairs; and praying her 
 Majesty to absent herself for a period from Paris, by 
 
 * When she was informed of the assassination of Conciiii, Marie de' 
 Medici exclaimed, "J'airegne 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 no me parle 
 plus de ces gens-la ; je les ai avertis du malheur ou Us se sout precipites ! 
 Que ne suivoient-ils mes avis ? "
 
 1625.] ANXE OF AUSTRIA. 45 
 
 doing which she would enable him to prove himself, 
 as always, her dutiful and devoted son. The greatest 
 fear was manifested by de Luvnes 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 utmost lati- 
 tude 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 departure 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 ill 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 Lu0n. 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
 
 46 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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, GCSVTCS, 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 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 inter- 
 cession 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 
 farewell visits of the court/"" Marie's self-command 
 
 * Recit veritable de tout ce qiii s'est pnssr an Louvre, &c., .Archives 
 I'urieuses, t. 2, 2eme serie. Hist, de la Mere et du Fils, Uicheliuu.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 47 
 
 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 Luyries ; 
 as he attributed her Majesty's composure to the 
 fierceness of her wrath, and her craving for revenge, 
 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 parting interview. 
 Marie coldly remarked : " Mesdames, 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 dis- 
 pleased with myself ; nevertheless, 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 be pardoned for the crime by 
 which he was persuaded 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- 
 
 Le Vassor, Hist, du Regne de Louis XIII. Vie de Marie de' llediei, 
 du Riulit.T.
 
 48 THE MARRIED LIFE (TF [1617 
 
 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 farewells. The 
 streets of Paris were thronged with spectators, by 
 whom the demeanour of the departing 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 household, including the Bishop of 
 Lu^on, 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 Vincennes. From 
 thence edicts were issued, which displaced most of 
 the public officers nominated during the regency. 
 Barbin, the trusted servant of the Queen-mother, 
 was consigned to the Bastille : and the trial of the 
 unfortunate Marquise d'Ancre was commenced, and 
 brought to a termination by a sentence of decapita- 
 tion. This decree was executed on the 8th of July, 
 1617, the miserable and half-insane woman being 
 condemned as a witch, and guilty of high treason in 
 the sight of God and man.* 
 
 * Histoire Tragique du Marquis d'Ancre et de sa Femme, Archives 
 Curieusos, t. 2, 2eme serie. Bibl. Imp. MS. Dupuy, vol. 661, fol. 127.
 
 1625.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 49 
 
 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 neces- 
 sary 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 Pefia, 
 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 saraband with one of Anne's 
 Spanish maidens for the diversion of her majesty ,* 
 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. 
 
 * Dreux du Radier, Vie de la Reine Anne d'Autriche. Cayet, Chron. 
 Septe"naire. Tallemant des Re"aux. Concini's son eventua Uy became pos- 
 sessed of the foreign investments made by his parents, and inherited a 
 patrimony of 2,000 pounds of annual revenue. He died without posterity, 
 at Florence. '
 
 50 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 
 
 Mademoiselle de Montbazon, who had just com- 
 pleted seventeen years, was a charming and beau- 
 tiful girl, gifted with extraordinary powers of in- 
 tellect ; 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 audacious tongue ; she loved splen- 
 dour, 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 Mademoiselle 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 bewil- 
 derment 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 condescensions, but renowned at 
 court for his ludicrous and ignorant blunders, and for
 
 1625.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 51 
 
 * 
 
 his total want of discrimination. The duke's levues 
 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 Jiigh-spirited daughter ; and as he revered 
 few things not present to his visual comprehension, 
 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 proposed to him by his sovereign. 
 The handsome person of the young favourite* 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 
 
 * " 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. " 
 
 i: -
 
 52 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 th 6 Duchess de Luynes, surintendente de la maison de 
 la, Heine, an office which conferred almost absolute 
 power over the Queen's household ; and to possess 
 which, it is thought, greatly influenced the decision of 
 Mademoiselle de Montbazon. De Luynes, in addition, 
 bribed the good graces of his lady-love by magni- 
 ficent gifts ; and, as crowning tokens of his devotion, 
 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 unfor- 
 tunate Marquise d'Ancre a casket of which a queen 
 might have been proud. The marriage took place 
 in the month of August, 1617 ; and the King created 
 his favourite, according 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 household.* A feminine revolt followed 
 this appointment. Anne absolutely refused to 
 
 * " 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 cependant M. 
 de Luynes veut qui la maison de la reine passe sous sa disposition," &c. 
 Le Contadin Proven9al, Pamphlet centre JI. le Due de Luynes, Con- 
 ne'table de France.
 
 1625.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 53 
 
 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 Mont- 
 morency, first dame du palais, gave in her resig- 
 nation, " as, being the widow of the late Constable 
 de Montmorency, 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 house- 
 hold, especially Madame de las Torres, and the old 
 Duchess of Villequieras, her majesty's former gover- 
 ness ; 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 depar- 
 ture of the said duchess.* Monteleone faithfully 
 reported the matter to Philip III., who, with- 
 out further parley, recalled all the Spanish ladies, 
 much to the distress and indignation of the Queen. 
 Anne, meantime, had been so excited by the vexa- 
 
 * MS. Simaiicas, 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. "
 
 54 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 tious 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 Montmorency returned to 
 the Louvre, and generously helped Madame de 
 Luynes to discharge her functions at her Majesty's 
 bedside ; for etiquette required that a duchess 
 should replace the surintendente during those inter- 
 vals 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 quan- 
 tity 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 between 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 
 incomparable 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-
 
 1625.] ANXE OF AUSTRIA. 5 
 
 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 
 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."* " 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!" "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,f 
 
 * "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'e"taient les premiers venus. " Tallemant, Vie de 
 Louis XIII. 
 
 t Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie.
 
 56 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1.617 
 
 " 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 retired 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.* Her two women followed, and 
 her chevalier 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 outside 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 welcomed 
 by Epernon, and afterwards received an oath of 
 fidelity from the soldiers of the garrison. The 
 utmost panic seized the King and his ministers when 
 they heard of this event. Louis returned 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 
 
 * Hist, de la Mere et du Fils, t. 2. Dreux du Radier, t. 5.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 57 
 
 Loches, had summoned. Bentivoglio, who then 
 filled the post of Nuncio at the court of France, 
 caused this suggestion 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 elements of revolt were not extinct 
 in France. Moreover, 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 inter- 
 view of reconciliation with the King. The Cardinal 
 de la Rochefoucault was 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 Nor- 
 mandy. The Prince of Piedmont, whose recent 
 marriage with the Princess Christine without the 
 consent or participation of the Queen-mother, had 
 filled the measure of Marie's grievances,"* now made 
 reparation by visiting her Majesty at Angouleme. 
 
 * " Marier mafille a un prince Stranger sans m' avoir appelee, afin que 
 ma honte soit manifests a tous les roys et princes de la Chrestieute, et de 
 toute la France, " wrote Marie, indignantly, in the letter addressed to her 
 son, and entitled " Plaintes de la Reyne-Mere an Roy son Fils."
 
 58 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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 promised 
 to join the court at Tours. The young Queen, there- 
 fore, 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 returned to Paris, having re- 
 ceived a promise from Queen Marie to join her 
 there, after she had visited her new government 
 of Anjou, and the fortresses ceded in that pro- 
 vince. 
 
 During the next two years the history of the young 
 Queen presents few incidents worthy of record. 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 first 
 moved the heart of Louis Treize, and taught his 
 
 * 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 
 sceur de Verneuil, qui est une parcsseuse." MS. Bibl. Imp. F. fr. 3818.
 
 1625.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 59 
 
 Majesty some of the tender refinements of la belle 
 passion. " The King," writes the Ambassador, 
 " 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 imputa- 
 tion of criminal intrigue. Your Majesty should exhort 
 the Queen to propitiate her husband, and to render 
 herself agreeable and necessary to him by the thou- 
 sand little coquetteries proper to enchain and entice 
 volatile hearts." Anne was too haughty and re- 
 sentful to profit by such counsel : she adopted with 
 the Duchess de Luynes a distant and condescend- 
 ing demeanour ; but towards the King her manner 
 was grave, serious, and respectful. Louis, at this 
 period, showed great consideration 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 in- 
 surrection excited by the distrust of Marie de' 
 Medici in the provinces recently confided to her 
 the young Queen, " to the joy of everybody," daily
 
 60 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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 
 over the content of the Queen by the anger which 
 Louis displayed at the assiduities manifested towards 
 her by the Dukes de Montmorency and de Belle- 
 garde. M. de Luynes was even one day compelled to 
 leave the circle at the peremptory command 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 petulance, and his own neglect 
 of her in private, angered the Queen ; who now hav- 
 ing attained to woman's estate, arid being conscious 
 of her charms, resented the querulous tyranny to 
 which she was often subjected. The Duchess de 
 Luynes meantime lived in the greatest harmony with 
 her parvenu lord, spite of the prevalent rumours re- 
 specting her intimacy with her liege.* 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 ; nevertheless, she 
 never at this period succeeded in gaining even the 
 coldest approval from her royal mistress. Anne had 
 a pungent tongue, and her memory was seldom at 
 
 " La Duchesse de Luynes etait tres bien avec son mari." Madame de 
 Motteville, Mem., vol. i.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 61 
 
 fault ; the Queen, therefore, in her circle, often 
 in the most naive manner alluded to reminiscences 
 which the superb minister would fain have forgot- 
 ten. His four years of rule, however, had weakened 
 his influence with the King, who could not en- 
 dure the brightness of the light which he him- 
 self had kindled. The lips of Louis often turned 
 white with passion as he beheld the homage ex- 
 acted by de Luynes, "Le Roy Luynes," as he 
 bitterly murmured.* Nevertheless, 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 afterwards sumptuously en- 
 tertained by the Constable at his Hotel, the former 
 abode of the Marquis d'Ancre ; but which was then 
 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 per- 
 sonages, Louis, with the most amazing recklessness, 
 had created a duche pairie. Cadenet espoused the 
 heiress of Pequigny, and was made Duke de Chaul- 
 nes ; Brantes made a still more illustrious alliance, 
 
 * One day Louis, riding by the Hotel de Luynes, saw the English 
 ambassador alight from his coach and enter the mansion. "Ah! il va k 
 1'audience du Roi Luynes," bitterly exclaimed the King.
 
 62 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 and married the heiress of Luxembourg, Charlotte 
 Marguerite, only daughter of the Duke de Piney Lux- 
 embourg, whose title he eventually bore. 
 
 The new Constable meantime followed his royal 
 master to the siege of Montauban, one of the strong- 
 holds 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 dis- 
 taste of the King for De Luynes increased during the 
 progress of the siege operations ; his arrogant inde- 
 pendence sometimes excited his Majesty to frenzy. 
 Bassompierre was made the confidant of Louis's dis- 
 satisfaction, very much to the dismay of that astute 
 personage. "I will compel him, the base-born in- 
 grate, to restore all that he has rifled ; he desires to 
 make himself King, but I shall counteract his plots ! 
 The poor adventurer ! " sneered the petulant boy- 
 King, " 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 Bassom- 
 pierre, " I have heard that it ranks as heinous sin to
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 63 
 
 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 ! " Such 
 being the sentiments of the King, expressed in semi- 
 confidence to the most privileged amongst his cour- 
 tiers, predictions abounded on the approaching over- 
 throw 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' 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 ex- 
 traordinary genius of the Bishop of Luon ; 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.
 
 64 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 Luynes left a son and one daughter* 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 
 indolent ; 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 hus- 
 band not to act in defiance of such authority. It 
 happened that the Princess de Conde f suffered from 
 temporary indisposition, and was compelled to keep 
 her bed in her apartments at the Louvre. Anne 
 
 * Anne Marie de Luynes, who died a nun, at Maubuisson, in great odcnir 
 of piety. The son of the Constable, Louis Charles Albert, Due de Luynes, 
 was born December 25, 1620, and died October, 1690. 
 
 t Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 65 
 
 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 adven- 
 tures of the Marshal 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 necessary 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 
 Mademoiselle 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 sud- 
 denly 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 courtiers, and moved the king to 
 one of those bursts of passion to which he was sub- 
 ject. 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 deli- 
 vered to the delinquents by the Queen-mother, who 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 administered to each an angry reprimand, and dis- 
 missed the ladies, weeping bitterly.* The Duchess 
 de Montmorencyf was thereupon promoted to the 
 office of surintendente, which she retained for many 
 years, conciliating every one by her gentle and win- 
 ning 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 Con- 
 stable de Luynes, Marie again beheld herself supreme 
 over the court, ruling almost as imperiously 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 resolute character ; 
 while Marie relied on the hidden support, and 
 sage counsels of her chancellor, Richelieu, bishop of 
 Lugon. The power and disaffection 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 
 
 * Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre. Annee 1622. 
 
 t Laurence de Clermout, 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.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 67 
 
 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 Hugue- 
 not 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 patronizing the Princess 
 de Conde. The young Duke 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, idolized by his mother for 
 his sprightly wit, and for his apparent devotion 
 to herself. The brothers, in character, were en- 
 tirely 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 -seeking. 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 melodious ; he excelled in the compo- 
 sition of charades, and jeux d' esprit ; and he aimed 
 
 JP2
 
 68 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 at a lisping precision of speech, which ere long became 
 a fashion at court. Beneath this effeminate exterior, 
 nevertheless, the heroic spirit of his ancestors of 
 Albret slumbered. Monsieur showed an early pre- 
 dilection 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.* Monsieur's inclination for magnificence 
 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 stables, 
 which, a few years subsequently, were razed to 
 the ground, when the Duke capriciously trans- 
 ferred 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 ; spend- 
 ing 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 
 
 * Un gentil mot du Sieur de Pluvinel tait Que le Roy a pied est Roy de 
 ses sujets ; mais qu'a cheval il est Roy des Rois voulant montrer com- 
 bien est excellente en cette art sa majeste. Le Portrait du Roy Louis XIII., 
 par le Sieur de Bellemavre au Sieur de Merencourt a Venise. Paris, 1618.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 69 
 
 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, ad- 
 justed many a little dispute arising between Anne 
 and the Queen-mother, which might have acquired 
 unsought-for importance, if submitted to the arbi- 
 tration of Louis Treize. Prominent amongst the 
 grievances between Anne and her imperious mother- 
 in-law, was the fact that Marie proposed that the 
 state receptions 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 
 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,* who, after her marriage, had again ap- 
 
 * Marie de Rohan, widow of the deceased Constable de Luynes. She
 
 70 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 peared at court as chief lady of honour in waiting, 
 and wiser perchance for her brief eclipse. Marie 
 also complained, that Anne, when addressing her 
 by letter, terminated with the words " votre affec- 
 tionee fille" instead of by the formula, in imita- 
 tion of that adopted by the King, of "wire 
 ires humble et obeissante file? 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, " Aune is truly 
 pious ; her heart is noble, her constancy great, 
 her self-control eminent : she unhappily remembers 
 injuries ; but she is easily persuaded by commenda- 
 tion, and by affectionate appeal." The intercourse 
 between Anne and Monsieur was not over-pleas- 
 ing to Louis XIII. ; that sombre nature ever 
 construed friendship for another, into depreciation 
 of himself. Anne, unhappily for her future peace, 
 
 married the Duke de Clievreuse in 1622. " C'e*tait le second des MM. 
 de Guise, et le mieux fait de tons les quatre : le Cardinal etait plus beau, 
 mais M. de Clievreuse ^tait I'homine de la meilleure mine qu'on pouvait 
 voir ; il avait de 1'esprit passablement. " Tallemant, t. 2, p. 38.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 71 
 
 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 " brilliant women," 
 the glory of the Parisian saloons of the 17th and 
 1 8th 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 orna- 
 ments of the world, are created to become the reci- 
 pients of such homage ; they may therefore accept, 
 and ought to encourage adoration and service; which, 
 however, they need repay only by innocent condescen- 
 sions." Such a code was repugnant to the jealous tem- 
 per of the King; isolated, and living at the Louvre, as 
 her sister-in-law the Queen of Spain, lived in the seclu- 
 sion 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 sus- 
 ceptibilities, which became further aggrieved by the 
 ironical expostulations with which Anne met his 
 remonstrances. "The admiration shown for me by 
 MM. les Dues de Montmorency and de Bellegarde, 
 is only a just tribute to the attractions of their
 
 72 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 queen ! "* exclaimed Anne, proudly. Louis also tartly 
 reprimanded his consort for permitting the assi- 
 duities of Monsieur ; inasmuch as her coquetting 
 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- 
 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, 
 
 * "Le Due de Montmorency e"tait tres assidu aupres d'Anne d'Autriche ; 
 il fit mme le passione". Louis en parut aiarme ; et les amis du Due lui con- 
 se"illerent de s'absenter dela cour, Marie de' Medici se chargeant de convaincre 
 son fils que ce bruit injurieux a la jeune reine n'e*tait 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."
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 73 
 
 and did all she could to render Monsieur indifferent ; 
 "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, con- 
 tinued to be in the ascendant. The death of the Car- 
 dinal 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 Queen's, received the seals. 
 The Chancellor de Sillery was banished from the 
 court ; and, at the urgent demand of the Queen- 
 mother, 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 Holi- 
 ness to neutralise the effect of the public demand.
 
 74 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 Richelieu discovered the intrigue through the cele- 
 brated Capuchin, Father Joseph de Tremblay,""" and 
 meekly informed his patroness. Upon this Marie 
 promptly proposed a marriage between M. Combalet, 
 nephew of de Luynes, with Mademoiselle de Pont de 
 Courlay,f the niece of Richelieu, and thus won the true 
 support of de Luynes. All persons, therefore, being, 
 as the Queen hoped, propitiated, 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 her eulogy of " the humble prelate 
 
 * Franois Leclerc de Tremblay, born in Paris, Nov. 4th, 1577, son of 
 Jean Leclerc de Tremblay, French Ambassador at Venice, chancellor of 
 the Duke d'Alen9on, brother of Henry III., and of Marie de la Fayette, 
 daughter of Claude de la Fayette, Sieur de St. Remain. He took the habit 
 of St. Francis, February 2, 1599, and entered the monastery of the Great 
 Franciscans, Rue St. Honore. 
 
 t 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 saparure of diamonds worth 12,000 crowns.
 
 1625.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 75 
 
 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 con- 
 sented to dispatch an express to Rome, to contra- 
 dict " the error of the nuncio/' who had misunder- 
 stood the royal observation ; and to ask for the 
 prompt elevation of M. de Lu9on. 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 unrivalled daring Marie 
 might well consider her newly -recovered power, 
 steadfast and immoveable ! 
 
 The rule of the Cardinal de Richelieu commenced. 
 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
 
 76 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 of malcontents which stung, and ravaged his fair 
 heritage and prerogatives. Richelieu displayed ter- 
 rible pictures : 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 sy nodical action. He then 
 changed the scene to the domestic disquietudes of 
 the court the towering ambition of Marie de' Me- 
 dici, 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 unprincipled 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 head- 
 strong will and lack of filial deference ; 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' Me- 
 dici ; 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 con- 
 sequence overlooked, in his astuteness, by Richelieu.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 77 
 
 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 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 encased the potent hand 
 so terrible in its blows, enabled the first years of his 
 ministry his initiation 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 chroniclers of the 
 period. It is asserted that Richelieu attempted to 
 strengthen his position by commencing an intrigue 
 with the wife of his sovereign. There is no doubt 
 that the isolated position of the young and fas- 
 cinating Queen, estranged from her royal husband 
 partly through his strange caprices, and exactions,
 
 78 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 and badly counselled by her friend and confident* 
 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 fall- 
 ing 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. 
 Richelieu'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 poli- 
 tical personage which she never ceased from aspiring 
 to become. " The Queen," says Anne's ardent friend 
 and apologist, Madame de Motteville, " confessed to 
 me that in her youth she never could comprehend 
 that what is called I'honnete galanterie could be 
 blameable, 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 re- 
 putation, 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
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 79 
 
 day Richelieu was craving her friendship, and 
 assistance with an air too gallant and animated, and 
 with words of passionate admiration, and that she, 
 who detested him, was preparing to answer in con- 
 temptuous 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 remember his 
 presumption ; " but I did myself infinite injury with 
 the King my consort ; for the bad offices of M. le 
 Cardinal increased our misunderstandings."* Riche- 
 lieu, it might be imagined, would have been the 
 last man to involve himself in the meshes of a 
 perilous intrigue : but it is asserted, that the Cardinal, 
 at this period, was consumed with a frantic admira- 
 tion for his young mistress ; and that Anne, whose 
 heart remained untouched, amused herself by ridi- 
 culing and spurning , this foible. But for certain 
 suspicious incidents which occurred between the 
 pair, years after this event, and when the Car- 
 dinal's passion was supposed to be extinct, the 
 episode would seem too improbable to challenge 
 
 *" Le Cardinal haissait Monsieur ; et craignant, vu le pen de santd ijne 
 le Roi avait, (ju'il ne pan-in t a la couronne, il fit dessein de gagner la Eeine. 
 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 6tait fort mal- 
 traitue de 1'un et de 1'autre. Apres il lui fit dire, par Madame de Fargis, dame 
 d'atotirs, que si elle vouloit, il le tireroit bientot de la misere dans laquelle 
 elle vivoit." Tallemaut, t. 2, p. 282.
 
 80 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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 mistress. Intrigue, unhappily, 
 occupied the mind of the Duchess ; and, incor- 
 rigible in her vanity, Marie succeeded too well in 
 diverting the melancholy of the Queen by the recital 
 of her forbidden diversions. When condoled with by 
 her intimates on the indolence, and pompous empti- 
 ness of the Duke her husband, Madame de Chevreuse 
 replied promptly, " Je men endommage ! " Subse- 
 quent to this period Madame de Chevreuse engaged 
 in a correspondence with the handsome Earl of Hol- 
 land, then Lord Rich, who had visited France in 1622, 
 to negotiate for the Rochellois ; and who 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,
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTK1A. 81 
 
 the favourite of James I. of England, often afforded 
 a theme for the writers. The magnificence of 
 Villiers, his beauty of person and chivalrous cha- 
 racter, 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 ap- 
 preciating his rare powers. Anne believed this 
 hero-worship to be blameless, the great ocean 
 separated her from Buckingham, besides, it in- 
 vested 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 repri- 
 mands of the Louvre. 
 
 While Anne was thus indulging in soft blandish- 
 ments, she, with her imprudent confidents, ventured 
 upon all kinds of malicious minauderies towards the 
 Cardinal. They dared to jest with, and ridicule his 
 professions ; and to devise des puits d'amour, into 
 which they devoutly hoped he might fall. One day 
 the flippant Duchess told his Eminence that her 
 Majesty would be charmed, she thought, to see a 
 churchman arrayed in cloth of silver, gris de lin ! 
 Still further, these thoughtless women are said to 
 have indulged their mirth. The Count de Brienne 
 
 VOL. I. r.
 
 82 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617- 
 
 is the relater of the anecdote, which he thus retails :* 
 " The Queen and her confidante were at this time mad 
 with fun and frolic. One day, when they were convers- 
 ing together, and could talk and laugh at nothing, 
 save at the expense of the amorous Cardinal, Madame 
 de Chevreuse said, ' He is, I assure you, passionately 
 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 1 Richelieu 
 appeared 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 
 
 * Me'm. de Briemie, t. 1, p. 274. "On rioit a gorge deployee ; et qui 
 pouvait s'en empe'cher, puisque apres cinquante ans j'en ris encore moi- 
 meme ?" asks the Count de Brienne, when he ends his story.
 
 1625.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 83 
 
 Vautier and by Beringhen, remained concealed be- 
 hind a screen, through which the gestures and 
 movements of the dancer were seen ! " 
 
 The Cardinal speedily detected the escapades 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 friend- 
 ship, his paternal care ; and, in the haughtiness 
 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 mi- 
 nister 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 Car- 
 lisle 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 
 
 G2
 
 84 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 took place, May llth, 1625, on a platform of state 
 raised before the portal of Notre Dame. Madame de 
 Chevreuse had been the great promoter of the alli- 
 ance, 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 ladies." 
 Marie de' Medici also sanctioned her daughter's mar- 
 riage with a heretic prince ; and entered into the 
 views of Richelieu ; who desired, with politic fore- 
 sight, to wrest from the Huguenots of the realm 
 their great ally, by uniting the crowns in matri- 
 monial alliance. The young Queen at first de- 
 clared herself inimical to the alliance, on account of 
 her sister the Infanta Marguerite, whom she held to 
 have been betrayed, and deserted by King Charles. 
 Persuaded by Madame de Chevreuse, Anne, swayed 
 by a multitude of motives, at length cordially 
 congratulated her sister-in-law, whose society, 
 nevertheless, she seems to have seldom sought ; and 
 declared herself " so truly French as to prefer the 
 alliance of Charles with Henriette, rather than that 
 with her own sister Madame llnfante,* for whom 
 she had other views ! " King James, before his 
 decease, had issued a command to the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, " to get the English fleet in order, to bring 
 
 * The Infanta Marguerite espoused the Emperor Ferdinand III.
 
 1625.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 85 
 
 over our dearly beloved daughter, the princess Hen- 
 rietta :" 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 expectation of the visit ; and amongst 
 those whose anticipations were perhaps the keenest, 
 was the fair Queen of France, and her companion, 
 Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 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 adherents ; and was 
 fettered by no scruples. 
 
 The King seldom saw his consort in private. He 
 was often absent from Paris on short military cam- 
 paigns ; 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 sharing 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 apart- 
 ments. Louis had nothing to say to a young and 
 beautiful woman ; he loved to sit in silent abstrac-
 
 86 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 tion, 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 Haps- 
 burg, whose overthrow, he was wont to declare, it 
 was the high mission of France to accomplish. This 
 indifference between the royal couple enabled Riche- 
 lieu to insert the wedge of a still more entire dis- 
 union : 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 Henriette ; he was 
 also, with the duchess his wife, chosen to conduct 
 Queen Henriette to Dover, to meet her newly 
 espoused lord. The duke's wealth and splendid 
 jewels, was the public reason assigned for the distinc- 
 tion conferred upon him ; for Madame de Chevreuse 
 possessed, by the bequest of her first husband, the 
 diamonds of the unfortunate Marquise 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 profusion adorning the per- 
 sons of subjects ! "* The duchess coveted the am- 
 
 * Thomson's Life of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.
 
 1(525.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 87 
 
 bassage to the court of England, not so much to dis- 
 play 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 Marie Henriette remained a memo- 
 rable 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, never- 
 theless, she \vas compelled to yield precedence' to 
 Marie de' Medici.* The charming bride, Princess 
 Henriette, won, by her grace and amiability, 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."f In most of his 
 despatches Holland mentions Anne of Austria ; so 
 that the imagination of Buckingham, by the time he 
 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 
 
 * Godefroy, Grand Ce're'in. de France, t. 2. Mercure de France, ann. 
 1625. "Apres suivait le reine de France tres snperbement vetue d'une 
 robe de toile d' argent en broderie ; mene'e et coiiduite par ses deux 
 e"cuyers. " 
 
 t Thomson's Life of the Duke of Buckingham.
 
 88 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 tendered by her Majesty. Rumours of the superb 
 retinue appointed to attend the Duke of Buckingham, 
 excited curiosity, and interest in Paris. It was ironi- 
 cally 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 
 attended by a band of musicians ; and by his staff 
 of Thames watermen twenty-two in number clad 
 in rich liveries. For his personal attire, Bucking- 
 ham 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 
 diamonds, 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, and
 
 1625.] ANKE OF AUSTRIA. 89 
 
 spurs, all- studded with diamonds ; and another rich 
 suit of purple satten embroidered with fine pearls."* 
 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 cavaliers found no rallying point as they be- 
 held the personal gifts of Villiers, and the kingly 
 carriage " of the handsomest-bodied nfan of Eng- 
 land." The polish of his address, which Clarendon 
 lauds as " sweet and accostable," and his generosity 
 and magnificence, were noted with admiration. 
 Nevertheless, the pomp affected by the Duke kindled 
 the ire of his entertainers ;f an( i 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 
 
 * Bassompierre. JKm. d'un Favory du Due d'0rle"ans : ecrit par M. de 
 Bois d'Annemets 1'heureux Favory. Thomson's Life of the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham. Cabala MS., 312. 
 
 t The Duke was hospitably entertained by the Duke de Chevreuse at his 
 hotel, Rue St. Thomas du Louvre.
 
 90 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 persuaded her royal mistress, at the suggestion, it 
 is said, of Lord Holland, that to flatter and encou- 
 rage 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, 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 Madame 
 de Motteviile,* 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, 
 
 * Me'm. 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.
 
 1625.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 91 
 
 magnificent, liberal, and the favourite of a great 
 king. He had the spending of all his master's trea- 
 sure, 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 blameable, desires ? If the happiness was his of 
 persuading those around that his homage was not im- 
 portunate, we must presume that his aspirations were 
 received, as the Divinities of old were said to accept 
 the offerings 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 con- 
 fessed to me that in her youth, (though the illusion is 
 now dissipated) she did not comprehend that what 
 is termed I'honnete galanterie could be wrong, when 
 no pledges were given or accepted." The experi- 
 ment was a dangerous one, as Anne was not long in 
 discovering ; for the penetrating eye of Richelieu com- 
 prehended the insolence of the aspirations cherished 
 by Buckingham. He beheld with mingled satisfac- 
 tion, and perhaps jealousy, the condescensions of the 
 Queen ; for he perceived 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
 
 92 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 Duke personally ; and her relations with him as the 
 ambassador of the English king. Moreover, a scene 
 of levity in the gardens of the Louvre, most dis- 
 graceful 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 Chev- 
 reuse to the famous coadjutor, Cardinal de Retz, 
 and is recorded by him, doubtless with much pro- 
 fligate 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 Sabl held recep- 
 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 dis- 
 posal. Conde held festivals at Chantilly in his honour; 
 the new constable Duke de Lesdiguieres, and his ple- 
 beian but hearty consort Marie Mignot, welcomed the 
 splendid ambassador and his suite. Anne of Austria
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 93 
 
 was gracious ; liis majesty King Louis, smiled 
 grimly on the genial representative of his brother- 
 in-law ; and Queen Henriet'te 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 ; "* and was in no haste to exchange 
 the revels of the Louvre, for those of Whitehall. His 
 sojourn 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 
 calvacade 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 Belle- 
 garde, de la Force, and d'Elbo3uf ; and the Duke of 
 Buckingham and his colleagues, Lords Carlisle and 
 Holland. At Amiens the royal progress was arrested 
 
 * The name given to the Duchess of Buckingham in their correspondence 
 by Kinjf Charles and her husband.
 
 94 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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. Buck- 
 ingham, meantime, acted the despairing and dis- 
 tracted 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 injurious inferences. There seems to be little 
 doubt but that her heart and fancy were touched 
 by the devotion of Buckingham ; who talked in ex- 
 alted 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 incited 
 him to bolder enterprise. Festivals, meantime, diver- 
 sified the sojourn of the court at Amiens. The bap- 
 tism of the eldest son of the Duke de Chaulnes* 
 was celebrated by a fete given at the citadel. The 
 
 * Honore d' Albert, Seigneur de Cadenet, created Duke de Chaulnes on 
 his marriage with Charlotte d'Ailly, Countess de Chaulnes and dePequiny. 
 The King gave him the government of Picardy.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 95 
 
 sponsors of the young heir were the three queens, 
 Marie, Anne, and Henriette, and Monsieur. Bucking- 
 ham on this occasion appeared in magnificence truly 
 regal, "portant le plus bel habillement, et mieux 
 assort! qui se verra jamais ! " 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 diamonds belonging to the British crown. 
 A ball followed the banquet, which was opened by 
 Buckingham 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'Elboeuf.* 
 The next day Monsieur gave a sumptuous entertain- 
 ment. At the conclusion of the banquet, Buckingham 
 and the English ambassadors escorted Queen Anne 
 to her abode. In the garden on the banks of the 
 Somme, in the soft June moonlight, another suspicious 
 interview between the Queen and the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham ensued ; which produced a disastrous impres- 
 sion even on her Majesty's truest friends, who felt how 
 ungenerously the Duke had compromised their royal 
 mistress. It appears that the Queen, attended by 
 
 * Catherine Henriette de Bourbon, daughter of Henri Quatre and 
 Gabrielle d'Estrees. The Duchess died June 20, 1663.
 
 96 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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 Bucking- 
 ham, 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 require. Nothing 
 at first occurred to disturb the serenity of the pro- 
 menaders : 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. Instead of following the 
 Queen, Madame de Chevreuse 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
 
 1625.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 97 
 
 Queen was heard summoning her equerry. Ma- 
 dame de 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 respectfully asked the cause of her alarm, her 
 Majesty replied in confusion, " that its cause was, sur- 
 prise at finding herself alone with M. 1'Ambassadeur." 
 " The Duke of Buckingham/' relates la Porte,* an 
 equerry who was in attendance on the queen at 
 Amiens, " finding himself alone with her Majesty, 
 and favoured by the gathering obscurity, took the 
 insolent liberty of attempting to kiss the Queen, 
 who immediately cried out, so that aid quickly ar- 
 rived. Putange, equerry in waiting, was not far 
 away ; and doubtless the consequences might have 
 been perilous had not Putange permitted the said 
 Duke to retire. Everybody in the garden soon 
 gathered on the spot ; then everybody fled, and 
 
 * 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, sitot le due de Buckingham 
 se voyaiit seul avec elle k la faveur de I'obscuiit^ qui commen9ait a chasser 
 la lumiere, s'emancipa fort insolemment jusqu'k vouloir caresser la Reine, 
 qui en merne temps fit un cri auquel tout le monde accourut." Mem. 
 Particuliers de La Porte : Geneve, 1756.
 
 98 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 it was resolved to suppress all mention of the 
 matter." * 
 
 " Chance/' says the methodical Madame de Motte- 
 ville, the confidente of Anne's more sober years, 
 "having led her Majesty with the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham into a walk concealed by a tall trellis or pali- 
 sade, 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, prefer- 
 ring 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 pro- 
 priety prevailed."! 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 unwell to 
 
 * Ibid., Mem. de La Porte. 
 
 + 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."
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 99 
 
 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 Buckingham 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 ol 
 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 probably it was Madame de Vernet.* 
 
 * Xicolette 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 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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, unfor- 
 tunately prevented the embarkation of the Queen 
 of England. The English fleet lay at anchor in 
 Boulogne roads, having landed the Duchess of 
 Buckingham, the Countess of Denbigh, 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 corresponded 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 re- 
 turned with her replies, which appeared to be of the 
 utmost consequence, because Queen Anne ordered 
 M. le Due de 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."* 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 
 
 marriage, had greatly compromised her reputation. She was handsome 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 sub- 
 sequently married Henri de la Marck Due de Bouillon, through the 
 favour of Richelieu. 
 
 * Heiu. Particuliers de M. de La Porte.
 
 1625.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 101 
 
 France, Buckingham determined to bid one more dis- 
 tracted adieu "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 Cardinal 
 de Berulle, and of Henrietta's unwelcome suite of 
 ecclesiastics. Madame de Chevreuse meantime, de- 
 spatched private letters to Anne of Austria, warn- 
 ing 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 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 cavaliers ; I thought that we were deli- 
 vered finally from the society of ' ces Messieurs ' ! " 
 Anne, therefore, being forewarned, had leisure to 
 deny admittance to the Duke had she been wisely
 
 102 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 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 pre- 
 liminary salutations prescribed by royal etiquette 
 to those persons admitted to such audience, the 
 Duke rushed forwards, 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. " ' 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- 
 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."* "When I returned to her 
 Majesty to receive her orders for the morrow," 
 
 * Mem. de Motteville, t. 1.
 
 1625.] ,\NXE OF AUSTRIA. 103 
 
 nevertheless, relates La Porte, " I found both my 
 English lords, who were staying much later than 
 etiquette admitted. Madame de la 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 gentle- 
 men had taken their leave." 4 Buckingham again 
 obtained audience of Anne on the following day ; 
 and then took his final departure for Boulogne. 
 
 The young Queen of England sailed on the 22nd of 
 June,f 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 be- 
 ginning of the month. " Queen Henrietta so it is 
 alleged was detained by her mother's illness ; but if 
 all be true that is reported, 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 
 
 * La Porte, Mem. Particuliers. These memoirs are included in the Col- 
 lection Petitot. 
 
 t Mem. d'un Favory de Monseigneur le Due de Orleans. " C'e'toit 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 flot- 
 tante ayant plusieurs clochers."
 
 104 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1617 
 
 trembled, as she anticipated the effect which the 
 report of the festivities at Amiens might have pro- 
 duced on the mind of her stern consort. " 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 interpreta- 
 tion 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 impos- 
 sible, she having had so many around her. This 
 reason, though incontestable, 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 
 de Yernet, his will that she should resign her 
 office of dame d'atours to the Queen his consort, 
 and retire from court. The same dismissal was 
 given to M. de Putange, and to the Queen's first phy- 
 sician, Ribera,* 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, 
 
 * The reason of the disgrace of Anne's Spanish physician has never been 
 ascertained. Ribera was not permitted to remain in France.
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 105 
 
 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, Segueran 
 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 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.""' Louis addressed the 
 sharpest of written rebukes to his thoughtless 
 consort ; and even threatened her with divorce. 
 " 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 
 
 * Anne sharply observed one day to her royal consort, ' ' Qu'elle n'arait 
 pu empcher que le Due de Boukingham n'eut de 1'estime, et merae de 
 1'amour d'elle ! " an observation which greatly incensed the king.
 
 106 THE MARRIED LIFE OF 1.1617 
 
 against Richelieu glowed fiercely. Anne, in her 
 wrath, accused the Cardinal of seeking to sow 
 dissension between the King and herself, to procure 
 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 divinity 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 Cardi- 
 nal war to the death." It might have been supposed 
 that the chagrin and anxiety which Anne had en- 
 dured would have taught her prudence ; instead of 
 which, her correspondence multiplied with Madame 
 de Chevreuse, who still remained in England, and 
 with the newly-arrived Spanish ambassador, the 
 Marquis 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 acci- 
 dentally discussed in her presence, she coolly con- 
 tradicted the report, saying, "je mens de recevoir 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
 
 1625.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 107 
 
 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 Lon- 
 don; and transmitted for the perusal of the Cardinal 
 minister, and to become the source of endless gloomy 
 ponderings in the mind of King Louis.
 
 108 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 in- 
 cidents of the palace were varied only by the dissen- 
 sions and reconciliations of Marie de Medici, and her 
 minister. These violent spirits differed, clamoured, 
 threatened each other with annihilation, 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 reputa- 
 tion 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
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 109 
 
 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 unfortunate ; 
 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 in- 
 dividual surprises of certain railers, malcontents, and 
 caballers, to find themselves suddenly transported 
 to the Bastille by virtue of a privy-council warrant ; 
 or seized in the night, and conveyed under escort to 
 some distant chateau, all under the hand and seal 
 of the gracious churchman, who dominated at the 
 Louvre. Le Pere Joseph,* or I 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 
 
 * Joseph Leclerc de Tremblay, Capuciii.
 
 110 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 him her vivacity was re- 
 pellant ; while the very sound of her rich and sonorous 
 language reminded Louis of a foe. No rival, never- 
 theless, 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, 
 flippancy of manner was punished by exclusion from 
 the Louvre a rigour which was for some time un- 
 sparingly exercised after the scandals of Henrietta'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 formation of the gardens 
 planned by Henri Quatre. The queen passionately 
 loved flowers ;* and a similarity of taste often 
 brought into her society her young and brilliant 
 
 * Anne had a great aversion to roses, and fainted on inhaling their perfume.
 
 626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. Ill 
 
 .* 
 
 brother-in-law, Monsieur. Impetuous 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 
 mon frere ; she permitted him to kiss her hands ; 
 to enter her presence 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 
 herself 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 the 
 occupier of which was childless, and pronounced 
 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 personage 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
 
 112 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 there- 
 fore, soon resigned his post to the Marshal d'Or- 
 nano, who forthwith entered on his functions, and 
 prospered. Monsieur, on the completion of his educa- 
 tion, 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 tending 
 to their own aggrandisement. The leaders amongst 
 these gentlemen were MM. de Puylaurens, de Chalais, 
 de la Valette, de Bois d'Annemets, the Duke de Yen- 
 dome and the Grand Prior his brother, the young 
 Count de Lude, M. de Marcheville, the Count de 
 Louvigny, and MM. de Coign eux and de la Riviere, 
 and others.* These unruly spirits professed reve- 
 
 * The Count de Soissons and the Duke de Bellegarde inscribed them- 
 selves of the faction of Monsieur. The princes of Vend&me were the sous 
 of Henri Quatre by Gabrielle d'Estrdes.
 
 1626.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 113 
 
 rential devotion for the Queens, Anne and Marie ; 
 they sympathised with the former ; and to mark 
 such feeling attended assiduously the levers of 
 the Spanish ambassador. 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 licence of word 
 and deed, Ornano encouraged such, being con- 
 vinced likewise, that Gaston would ultimately be- 
 come King of France. It might seem difficult 
 for these mischief-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 Mont- 
 pensier ; 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 dis- 
 cussion. The King, the Queen-mother, and Richelieu, 
 promoted it as a matter of sound policy, and of 
 honourable fulfilment of a pledge given by the late 
 king. The Prince and Princess de Conde naturally
 
 114 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 spitefully of his pale fiancee ; 
 and imprudently declared, that, like M. de Buck- 
 ingham, he would vow allegiance only to his sister- 
 in-law, Queen Anne. The young Count de Soissons 
 opposed the alliance, on the ground that Made- 
 moiselle de Montpensier had been promised to him- 
 self 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 accomplished. 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 discussed, which from childhood she 
 had deemed to be her destiny. Anne very im- 
 prudently suffered her wishes and opinions on the 
 alliance to transpire ; 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 believed that she now secretly encouraged
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 115 
 
 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 wished to maintain the French alliance. Anne 
 of Austria, childless, and probably soon likely to 
 become 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 1 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 matrimonial 
 crown of France.* There can be no doubt that at 
 this period the alliance between Monsieur and the 
 Queens, to overthrow the power of Richelieu, was 
 projected. Marie de' Medici fiercely resented the 
 independence of Richelieu, and hated his system of 
 centralization and repression ; and to procure his 
 
 * Consort of Charles Till., and subsequently of Louis XII., by 
 whom the queen had two daughters Claude, heiress of Bretagne, who 
 married Francis I., King of France ; and Renee, married to Duke Ercole I., 
 of Ferrara. 
 
 i 2
 
 116 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 
 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-gover- 
 nor, 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. v * "I acted thus, because I believed 
 that this marriage, favoured by the Queen-mother, 
 was against my interests ; because, if the future 
 
 * ilem. de Motteville, t. i. p. '27.
 
 1626. J AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 117 
 
 Madame bore children, and I had none, she would be 
 more highly considered than myself/'* is Anne's own 
 declaration. Amongst the most devoted admirers of 
 Madame de Chevreuse was Henry de Talleyrand, 
 Prince de Chalais,f master of the wardrobe to the 
 King, and first gentleman to Monsieur, in whose train 
 he always appeared. Chalais, therefore, 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 subject of the King your 
 brother, you will yourself fall into greater subjection 
 to his authority. Your 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 potentate of Europe can you appeal ! ^ " 
 
 * Mem. de Motteville, t. i. p. 27. 
 
 + 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 Jeanuin de Castillo, 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." 
 
 J 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 there- 
 fore possess the value of having been written by an eye-witness of the events 
 which they record.
 
 118 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 The foreign alliance to which, it is supposed, 
 d'Ornano hinted, was the union of Monsieur with 
 the Infanta Marguerite, sister of Anne, once the 
 betrothed of King Charles I. of England, and even- 
 tually 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 determined to 
 have redress, or to withdraw from court. At the be- 
 ginning of Easter week, 1626, the King left Paris for 
 Fontainebleau, accompanied by Monsieur, and by the 
 Queen-mother. Anne likewise received a command 
 to follow ; and as her Majesty loved very much " a 
 respirer Pair des bois" she journeyed thither with 
 pleasure. The day following the arrival of the court 
 at Fontainebleau, Monsieur opened his battery by 
 informing King Louis " that it was a reproach and
 
 1626.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 119 
 
 shame to 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."* 
 Louis replied soothingly, "that he would consider 
 the request, and make answer in a few days." 
 Richelieu, meantime, had his attention riveted on 
 the malcontents; and soon he discovered the simmer- 
 ings of their resentment, and fathomed the sullen 
 passiveness of Anne of Austria. From her Majesty 
 the eyes of his Eminence took survey of the position 
 of the Duchess de Chevreuse in Brussels, "cettefemme 
 qui faisoit plus de mcd gue 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 
 
 * Mem. d'un Favori. Vie du Pere Joseph, Capucin nomine au cardinalat, 
 contenant 1'Histoire Anecdote du Cardinal de Richelieu. A. St. Jean de 
 Maurienne, chez Gaspard Butler. 1704.
 
 120 THE MAERIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 the minister, who received Monsieur's message with- 
 out 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 ; * ailments, which after- 
 wards were declared 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 
 Fontainebleau ; 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 Chancellor d'Aligre were 
 
 * " II luy arriva un accident digne de remarque, ayant etc 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.
 
 1626.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 121 
 
 present. It was resolved to gratify Monsieur, but 
 to arrest so pernicious a counsellor as the Marshal 
 d'Ornano. The introduction of the Duke as a privy 
 councillor was effected on the morrow, after an angry 
 tirade from the Marshal ; who claimed, but was re- 
 fused, 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 
 Ovate, and conveyed to the chamber which had been 
 used as a temporary prison for the unfortunate 
 Marshal de Biron, also made a prisoner at Fontaine - 
 bleau. The tumult in the palace was great ; and 
 Puylaurens, one of the mignons of Monsieur, rushed 
 to the chamber of the Duke, crying out in consterna- 
 tion 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 discussing the 
 odds of a game of tennis. In the apartment 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 com- 
 pelled to order the arrest of the Marshal d'Ornano,
 
 122 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 who had treacherously attempted 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 abomi- 
 nable 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 Monseigneur referred in such language to 
 his Majesty's ministers ? "I speak of, and refer to 
 the accusers of M. d'Ornano. See, Messieurs, whether 
 you will dare to be amongst their number ! " replied 
 Monsieur. The King here assured Monsieur of his 
 affection, saying, " that he regarded him as a son 
 and an only brother, and would soon make clear to 
 him les 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.* A silence of some moments ensued. Riche- 
 lieu then proposed the further arrest of MM. de 
 Masargues and Dangeant, the brother-in-law, and 
 
 * MS. Bibl. Imp. Beth. 9162, fol. 48.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 123 
 
 the secretary of the prisoner ; also, that Madame la 
 Marechale d'Ornano should be arrested, and con- 
 ducted outside the gates of Paris, and there dis- 
 charged from custody.* His Majesty gave assent to 
 these measures ; and then dismissed the high person- 
 ages present, complaining of fatigue. The next day 
 d'Ornano \vas conveyed to the fortress of Vincennes 
 under a strong guard, and confined in its most un- 
 wholesome chamber, which admitted a pestilential 
 malaria from the moat beneath, f The friends of the 
 Marshal asserted, that he was a victim to the King's 
 indecision respecting Monsieur ; for that when the 
 Duke was emancipated from the control of his tutors, 
 his Majesty had commanded Ornano to repress the 
 ardour of Gaston's suit to Mademoiselle de Mont- 
 pensier. The rage of Monsieur was not assuaged 
 when he learned the departure of the Marshal for 
 Vincennes ; and the young cavaliers of his suite assi- 
 duously inflamed his wrath, especially Chalais, and M. 
 de Louvigny. The Duke one day suddenly encoun- 
 tered the Chancellor d'Aligre, and haughtily asked 
 him, whether he was one of those who had counselled 
 the iniquitous arrest of M. d'Ornano \ Surprised by 
 the excitement of the Duke's manner, the Chancellor 
 
 * "Madame d'Ornano fut menee par un enseigne des gardes nomine 
 Fouguerolles a Gentilly." Mem. d'un Favori du Due d'Orleans. 
 t Ibid.
 
 124 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 dis- 
 missal from office.* The Duke put the same abrupt 
 question to Richelieu, who boldly responded, " that 
 he was not intending to make the same answer as 
 M. le Chancelier ; who, as well as himself, had 
 a dvised 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 Monsieur. 
 Without waiting for the royal reply, which Louis never 
 gave but with hesitation, his Eminence ordered his 
 coach and quitted Fontainebleau.f 
 
 This " flight," as it was termed by Monsieur and 
 by the turbulent spirits around him, raised the con- 
 fidence of the conspirators in their insane projects ; 
 and confirmed them in a criminal design they har- 
 boured, to rid themselves of the obnoxious minister 
 by taking his life. The Count de Soissons promised 
 
 * Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie, ann. 1626. " Les dames de la cour," 
 writes the gallant Marshal, " etoient fort melees dans ces intrigues ; 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." 
 
 t Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 125 
 
 his co-operation, after exacting a solemn declaration 
 from Monsieur, that he relinquished 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 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 Chevreuse, 
 meantime, maintained the closest relations with the 
 Marquis de Lainez, an attache of the Spanish lega- 
 tion 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 compulsory 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,* " qui etait tres redoutable 
 et habile, ay ant sur tons part en r esprit de Monsieur" 
 should without delay repair to Havre, and win over his 
 uncle the Due de Villars, governor of that impor- 
 tant port, to the cause of Gaston. Up to this point 
 
 * 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 que le Roi voulait verser sur sa maisou ; il se vantait 
 d'etre le seul Mardochee qui ne flechissait pas le genou devant ce superbe 
 Anian."
 
 126 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 ne- 
 gotiation 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 Ornano, and decided the matter under the 
 presidency of the Duke ; these persons were Chalais, 
 Soissons, the Marquis de la Valette,'* Puylaurens, Bois 
 d'Annemets, Louvigny, Marsillac, Vendome, and St. 
 Gery. The scheme of the assassins was simple in 
 its atrocity : it was planned to send six inferior 
 officers of the household of Monsieur to Fleury, the 
 country house of Richelieu, where the latter was re- 
 siding 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 admittance 
 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, f The Duke 
 
 * Son of the Duke d'Epernon, and husband of Gabrielle de Balzac- 
 Vcrneuil, daughter of Henri IV. and Madame de Verneuil. 
 
 t Bassompierre. Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Due d'Orleans. Mem. 
 Anecdotes, &c., Louis XIII., t. 4. Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA, 127 
 
 was then to put himself at the head of the malcon- 
 tents, 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 accomplices. He possessed a friend, one M. 
 de Valencey, who had appeared to relish the designs 
 of the confederates 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," ex- 
 claimed Valencey in generous indignation, " so auda- 
 cious 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 hasten to denounce the 
 vile conspiracy ! You will at once do so, monsieur ; 
 or take the consequences of my own immediate reve- 
 lation 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 Car- 
 dinal : " 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.'*
 
 128 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 Clialais 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 re- 
 peated 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 Fontainebleau, 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 Fon- 
 tainebleau ; 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 remaining at his house after being 
 warned of his peril deeply affected their Majesties. * 
 This detachment met Richelieu at dawn on his 
 
 * Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie, ann. 1626. Bassompierre was in 
 waiting at Fontaiuebleau while the events occurred which he relates.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 129 
 
 way to Fontainebleau. The duke's assassins had 
 arrived during the night at Fleury, knocked up 
 the household as had been arranged, with every 
 aggravation of insolence, and violence. The doors of 
 the mansion, however, to their surprise, flew open on 
 their mandate. The retainers of Richelieu bowed 
 obsequiously 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 intended 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 proceeded 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 command. Taking Monsieur's shirt from the 
 trembling hands of M. de Chalais, the Cardinal cour- 
 teously handed it to the astonished young prince, 
 and took his leave.* The incident was then suffered 
 
 * Hem. de Richelieu. Bassompierre. The duke, to conceal his design, 
 and to account for an early departure from the palace on the morning fixed
 
 130 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 to drop. Queen Anne and Monsieur were filled 
 with amazement at the failure of their enterprise, 
 not knowing from what quarter the Cardinal had 
 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 Chevreuse. 
 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 conspirators ; amongst 
 whom M. de Chalais, despite of his recent treachery, 
 became the recognised organ of approach to the ear 
 of the Duke of Orleans.* 
 
 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 at- 
 tentions ; and as an eminent mark of confidence, 
 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 Che- 
 
 for the execution of the plot, had organised a hunting expedition. 
 " Monsieur," said Richelieu significantly, on taking leave, "vous ne vous 
 tes par leve assez matin ; vous ne trouverez plus, la bete au gite ! " 
 
 * Chalais promit d'etre fidele a 1'avenir ; et leur donnait cette libre recon- 
 noissance de sa faute, qu'il leur faisoit pour marque de sincerite."
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 131 
 
 vreuse 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 re- 
 ceived 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.* 
 
 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.f " 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 
 
 * Bassompierre ; ibid. Tie du Prince de Chalais, Henri de Talleyrand. 
 Gale"rie des Personnages Illustres de la cour de France. 
 
 + Vie du Pere Joseph. Memoires d'un Favori de Monsieur. Archives 
 Curieuses. 
 
 K2
 
 132 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [16 26 
 
 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 introductions. 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 Marquis de Lainez. To this noble- 
 man 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 neces- 
 sary for his health, though unattainable, on 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 Archduke; and Roche- 
 fort prepared to return to France, triumphant in the 
 possession of a packet of papers, which Lainez, as he 
 anticipated, had affectionately requested him to con- 
 vey 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
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 133 
 
 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 
 Eochefort. The latter continued his journey, and ar- 
 riving 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 ex- 
 amined 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 person of 
 the realm."* 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, 
 
 * Vie du Pere Joseph Leclerc de Tremblay.
 
 134 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 conspi- 
 rators ; 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 be- 
 fore the power won by this knowledge. The letters 
 written by Chalais in return were intercepted ; and 
 by these the Cardinal came by the further informa- 
 tion, that the Spanish cabinet agreed to the design 
 of the conspirators ; but declined to take a part in 
 the plot until some notable success had been attained. 
 The intercepted correspondence was at once laid 
 before the King by his minister. With a cry of an- 
 guish, the unhappy King read, and bewailed the cruel 
 destiny which arrayed against him his nearest kins- 
 men. He insisted, nevertheless, on the immediate 
 arrest of all concerned in the plot. Richelieu com- 
 bated this desire ; he wished to envelope 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 more
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 135 
 
 to be effaced. The apologists of Anne of Austria 
 aver that the Cardinal enveloped her in this conspi- 
 racy, which in reality was aimed only at his own over- 
 throw, on purpose to neutralise her power ; and to 
 render the criminal wife, the helpless 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.* 
 It is not, however, denied that Anne consented to 
 espouse Gaston d'Orleans ; and was looking for- 
 ward to the death of her husband as a fact of 
 speedy accomplishment. 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 
 
 * 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 con- 
 spirators ?
 
 136 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 whose power was not then cemented by public confi- 
 dence, 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 Yendome 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 
 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 ; besides 
 traitorously assuming an attitude hostile to M. de 
 Richelieu.* Meantime, Madame de Chevreuse re- 
 turned to France, and joined her royal mistress at 
 Blois, resuming her empire over the mind of the 
 Queen ; and more than her past influence 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 fron- 
 tier towns, was suggested to Monsieur, by Bois 
 
 * Relation de tout qui s'est passe a I'emprisonnement de M. le Due de 
 VendSme, et M. le Grand Prieur son Frere, au Chateau de Blois. Arcliives 
 Curieuses, t. 3, 2eme series.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 137 
 
 d'Annemets, and Chalais. A certain Abbe* d'Auba- 
 sine 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 
 Angoumois, and of the Pays des Trois Eveches, was 
 disaffected, and a partisan of Monsieur, it was deter- 
 mined 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 aversion to 
 attach his signature to any document. In this 
 instance he suffered himself to be overpersuaded ; 
 and whilst he was engaged in the concoction 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 the pocket of 
 his haul de chausses. This Marcheville, though one 
 of the mignons, had carefully avoided giving coun- 
 tenance to the designs of the malcontents ; and feigned 
 to be ignorant that his royal master had secrets.* 
 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, 
 
 * Mm. d'un Favori de M. leDuc d'Orldans. Archives Curieuses, t. 3.
 
 138 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 infa- 
 tuated Prince to follow up his letter to the Due 
 d'Eperuon by another to M. de la Valette, the 
 duke's son and his lieutenant at Metz ; on whom 
 Gaston was told that he had claims, as Ma- 
 dame de la Valette was the illegitimate daughter 
 of Henri Quatre. The Due d'Epernon, grateful, 
 perhaps, for the clemency 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'Eper- 
 non."* Richelieu, at this juncture, having secured his 
 proofs of the treasonable negotiations pending ; and 
 having skilfully assembled his foes at Blois, presented 
 
 * 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.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 139 
 
 himself before the King, and denounced the trai- 
 tors. He also informed his Majesty that the Count de 
 Soissons had insolently prepared measures to accom- 
 plish 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 sub- 
 mitted by his minister, he ordered the latter to 
 proceed with the utmost rigour to unmask the trai- 
 tors, and to confound their devices ; pledging his 
 royal word to be guided by the counsels of his Emi- 
 nence. Richelieu then advised his master to pro- 
 ceed 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 des- 
 patched Rochefort to Paris, the bearer of an order 
 commanding Madame de Guise and her daughter 
 Mademoiselle de Montpensier, to give his Majesty 
 rendezvous at Nantes thus defeating any enterprise 
 contemplated by the Count de Soissons. Monsieur 
 and his friends now commenced to feel the prick- 
 ings of distrust : private warnings harassed them ; in 
 which it was reported that Goulas, the duke's secre- 
 tary, and MM. de Marcheville and d'Andilly had 
 been observed stealthily creeping from the abode of
 
 HO THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 M. le Cardinal. Moreover, their friends in Brussels 
 seemed to lose heart at the enterprise ; while the 
 Marquis de Mirabel maintained an ominous silence 
 respecting Richelieu, and mentioned even the word 
 " submission." The Queen, likewise, was observed to 
 weep in secret, and that little intercourse 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 between M. 
 deLouvigny 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 pre- 
 sence 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 Lou- 
 vigny, but commanded his arrest before the lapse of
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 141 
 
 three hours. Under the searching scrutiny of Riche- 
 lieu, Louvigny confirmed his previous confession, and 
 owned to be privy to the plot for the assassination of 
 his Eminence ; moreover adding, that Chalais medi- 
 tated 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 there- 
 upon was at once despatched for the arrest of M. de 
 Chalais, who was seized and carried to Nantes, as he 
 was stepping on board the barge in which Monsieur 
 was travelling, at a place just below Amiens. The Car- 
 dinal now held every clue to the projects of his ene- 
 mies. Chalais lay in prison ; Madame de Chevreuse 
 and her royal mistress trembled as the dark tribulation 
 approached. 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 complaisant ; Ma- 
 demoiselle de Montpensier, smitten with awe at find- 
 ing herself involved in a state plot, was humble and 
 obedient. Ornano, and the two brothers De Ven- 
 dorne lay in prison ; Conde, that irascible and touchy 
 personage, so haughtily patronising, had been com- 
 pelled, lest he should be suspected of collusion in the
 
 142 THE MAKRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 plot, to seek the good will of his Eminence at Li- 
 mours ; 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.* 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 never- 
 theless to be exacted from the miserable tools, and 
 dupes of his royal highness's ambition, and dupli- 
 city. Above all, Anne of Austria was for evermore 
 to be reduced to a position of abject dependence on 
 the King and his minister; and 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 
 
 * Nicole du Plessis de Richelieu, sister of the Cardinal de Eichelieu, 
 married Urban Marquis de Braze", 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 Pontcourlay, 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.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 143 
 
 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 
 participated in the cabal, was chosen by Louis as his 
 medium of communication with his brother ; while 
 the Cardinal prepared more potent seduction 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 Beauclerc, 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.* Monsieur, though 
 outwardly free, was warned by the Queen-Mother 
 not to venture without the city, under pain of arrest. 
 
 * Relation de tout ce qui s'est passe au Proces de Chalais. Aubery, 
 Mem. pour servir a 1'Histoire du Cardinal Due de Richelieu, 1. 1. The pro- 
 ceeding 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."
 
 144 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 Madame de Chevreuse, likewise, perceived her- 
 self to be under surveillance; while the young 
 Queen cowered under the displeasure 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 appointed 
 to interrogate the Duke of Orleans. Monsieur 
 was previously admonished to make candid, and 
 ample revelations ; while Pere Joseph "assured 
 Monsieur that if he confessed everything demanded 
 from him, that 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 personages mentioned : its 
 objects being first, to assassinate the Cardinal de
 
 1626.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 145 
 
 Richelieu, and subsequently to dethrone the King 
 for incapacity, mental and physical ; and to marry 
 Queen Anne, to the Duke of Orleans. The plot was 
 to be supported by the influence of the Duke of 
 Buckingham over the English cabinet. Monsieur 
 shuddered at his peril, and clung to the protection 
 of Richelieu as his refuge in the terrible inves- 
 tigations 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 chief- 
 tains ; 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 ; Srdly : That M. de 
 Chalais had told, and sworn to him (Monsieur) that 
 
 YOfc. I, L
 
 146 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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."* This 
 cowardly avowal formed the nucleus of the charge 
 of treason against M. de Chalais. The letters of the 
 Duchess de Chevreuse t, of the Duke d'Epernon, and 
 of M. de la Valette were given in as evidence; 
 also certain letters which had been intercepted, 
 from Joanne's valet to M. de Chalais, addressed to 
 Martin, his brother. Lastly : Richelieu and le Pere 
 Joseph produced their charge against Monsieur, 
 Queen Anne, and Madame de Chevreuse, by show- 
 ing 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 dis- 
 charge of their preliminary duties, previous to com- 
 manding the presence of the criminal before their 
 tribunal. Chalais during this interval had remained in 
 a condition of pitiable despair. Madame de Chevreuse 
 
 * Relation de tout ce qui s'est pass^ au Proces de M. de Chalais. Vie du 
 P. Joseph de Tremblay. Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. 
 
 t 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 respectueuses pour Louis XIII, que ces amauts railloient sur sa 
 froideur, et sur ses autres de"fauts naturels." Galerie des Personnages II- 
 lustres de la Cour de France, t. 4. Lj-on, 1806.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 147 
 
 alone, with noble generosity, sought to soothe his 
 trouble ; and addressed to the poor captive a com- 
 forting note, which she caused to be sewed within 
 the plait of a starched ruff sent to Chalais, by his 
 request, to wear when he appeared before his judges. 
 Such was the panic occasioned by the sudden arrests, 
 and the mysteriousness of the hidden causes of in- 
 quiry, 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'Anne- 
 niets, Puylaurens, St. Gery, Marsillac, le Meille- 
 raye, and de Mouay, nevertheless, that such 
 warrants should first be authenticated by the sign- 
 manual of the King."'" Triumphant in the posses- 
 sion of these documents! Richelieu laid them before 
 the King at a council specially summoned on the 
 
 * Relation'de tout ce qni s'est passe au Proces de M. de Chalais. Aubery, 
 Mem. pour servir a 1'Histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 1. Mem. d'un 
 Favori de M. le Due d'0rle"ans. 
 
 f "Richelieu assura le Nonce Spada que Chalais avait engage Gaston a des 
 eclats qui auroiei^ du devenir tres prejudiciables a la paix du royaume, 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 morrow. Louis desired to hear some of the wit- 
 nesses ; the council was therefore adjourned till 
 after dinner of the same day. Invitations 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 Belle- 
 garde, Louvigny, the Duke d'Elboeuf, le Pere Joseph, 
 the Count de Rochefort, and the Marquis d'Effiat 
 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, un- 
 attended, 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 
 
 comrne de quitter la cour, de se retirer h, La Rochelle, et de scmlever les 
 Huguenots." Galerie des Fersomiages Illustres de la Cour de France.
 
 1626. J 'ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 149 
 
 transpired ; that it was severe and uncompromising, 
 the tears shed by the Queen, and its 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 
 consequences 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 concerning her 
 speculations on the King's intended deposition, and 
 her design to espouse Monsieur, Anne replied, " that 
 she should have gained thereby too small a stake 
 to render it even probable that she had blackened 
 her conscience by the imagination of such a crime!"* 
 "Her Majesty thereupon, with tears, bitterly upbraided 
 the Queen-mother for the persecutions and indig- 
 
 * "Le Roy fit venir la Reine au conseil, oil il lui reprocha qu'elle avoit con- 
 spir6 centre sa vie pour avoir tin autre mari. La Reine, a qui 1'innocence 
 donna des forces, outree de douleur de cette accusation, lui parla avec 
 fennete, et lui dit, a ce que j'ai sgu par elle-m^me, qu'elle auroit trop peu 
 gagne au change pour vouloir se noircir d'un crime pour un petit interet." 
 Motteville, t. L, p. 28. Madame de Motteville always believes the state- 
 ments offered to her by Anne of Austria with implicit faith, deeming her 
 Majesty immaculate.
 
 150 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 nities 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 humiliating inter- 
 rogatory ; and dismissed, 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 considered to be the intimate 
 friend of the unhappy prisoner. Chalais, who was 
 master of the wardrobe, 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,* "was 
 
 * Hist, du Critique et de la Literature, t. 6, p. 219.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 151 
 
 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 Irodequins, and to the pains of degradation, and 
 the confiscation of his estates. No sooner was the 
 unfortunate 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
 
 152 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 of the conspiracy to kill Richelieu at Fleury, he had 
 tampered with the conspirators, at the command 
 only of the minister, to discover their progress and 
 designs. Vanquished at length by the subtle Pere 
 Joseph,* 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 accomplished 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 
 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 
 
 * "Le Capucin 1'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 ete attaquee, cet accuse declara plus qu'il ne savoit 
 pour certain des mecontents. " Vie du Pere Joseph, Capucin.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 153 
 
 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 Mademoiselle de Mont- 
 pensier. The Duke thereupon, ventured to propose 
 stipulations, one of which was, the pardon of M. 
 de Chalais ; but was met by the crushing inti- 
 mation that the criminal had made confession, and 
 had deeply implicated both Monsieur 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 rea- 
 sons, which would prevent his immediate espou- 
 sals ; nevertheless, on the morrow he suddenly 
 visited Marie de' Medici, and assented to his mar-
 
 154 THE MAREIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 riage, provided that the Marshal d'Ornano and 
 Chalais were liberated ; and that certain pecuniary 
 concessions* 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 like- 
 wise commenced in the household of the Duke, on 
 the authority of the King : three of his chamber- 
 lains were summarily dismissed ; and the Due de 
 Bellegarde was placed at the head of his establish- 
 ment.f Louis, meanwhile, offered to his brother 
 oblivion of the past, on condition of his marriage 
 with Marie de Montpensier : J 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 annually ; with a 
 
 * Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Due d' Orleans. 
 
 + Journal de ma Vie. Bassompierre, aim. 1626. 
 
 J Richelieu, it is said, caused Monsieur's horoscope to Le 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 aeternum."
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 155 
 
 nett revenue of 760,000 livres for the expenses of 
 his household.* Le Pere Joseph undertook to 
 render Monsieur satisfied with this munificent offer : 
 a few arguments, a little deprecation, and the trans- 
 parent assurance "that after Monsieur's reconcilia- 
 tion with the King, he would be in a better con- 
 dition to intercede for the prisoner, and the rest 
 of the accused," prevailed. The ceremony of the 
 affiancing was performed August 20th, in the apart- 
 ment of the Queen-mother, by the Cardinal de 
 Richelieu ; and the pair were married at midnight. 
 The ceremony was performed with the pomp befit- 
 ting 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'Elboeuf, Bassompierre, Marsil- 
 lac, the Duchesses de Rohan, d'Halluin, de Guise, 
 de Bellegarde, and others. The King had com- 
 manded that no order of precedence should be ob- 
 served ; and that the ladies should take place in 
 
 * Mem. d'un Favori de M. le Due d' Orleans. Vie du Pere Joseph.
 
 156 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 the vicinity of the haut dais, as they arrived. A 
 scramble for precedence, nevertheless, occurred be- 
 tween the Duchesses d'Halluin and de Rohan the 
 latter lady being the strongminded and resolute 
 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.* " 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 belong- 
 ing to the Queen. 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 laughable 
 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 
 
 * Benediction Nuptiale de Monseigneur le Due d' Orleans, Frere de 
 Louis XIII, et de Marie de Montpensier. Godefroy, Grand Ce're'in. de 
 France, t. 2.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 157 
 
 animal, whose yelps added to the ridicule of this fine 
 marriage." * 
 
 The marriage concluded, f 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, confirmed 
 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 Talleyrand from which Cha- 
 lais sprang-! The sentence was appointed to be 
 carried out three days after the celebration of Mon- 
 sieur's marriage ; meantime, the fate of the minor 
 delinquents was pronounced. Madame de Chevreuse 
 received sentence of banishment from court ; and 
 was conducted by an exempt of the royal guards to 
 her husband's castle of Dampierre ; where she was 
 
 * Mem. d'un Farori de M. le Due d'Orleans. 
 
 f ' ' Chalais apprit ce mariage par le bruit de canon. II ne dit mot, et 
 attend tristement le sort que cet e've'nement lui annonce. On 1'avoit mis 
 en cachot." Galerie des Personnages Illustres, t. 4. 
 
 J 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 Cha- 
 lais said on the scaffold: "Cen'estpas sur 1'esperance qu'on m'a donn6 
 de ma grace que j'ai avoue, mais parceque la conviction etait entiere. "
 
 158 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [162(5. 
 
 consigned to strict surveillance. The King for some 
 days insisted on her imprisonment in the Bastille ; 
 and was deterred only from this severity by the 
 intercession 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 : never- 
 theless, 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."'"" Before her departure for Dam- 
 pierre the Duchess had petitioned to be allowed to 
 retire to England, where her beauty and vivacity 
 had rendered her popular.f 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 per- 
 mission to visit her husband's kindred of Lorraine, 
 at Nancy. The Count de Soissons, advised of the 
 
 * Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. Mem. du Cardinal de Riche- 
 lieu, t. 3. 
 
 f " Madame de Chevreuse fit confesser (aux dames Anglaises) que toutes 
 leurs beautes n'etoient rien au prix de la sienne." Mem. d'un Favori du 
 M. le Due d' Orleans.
 
 1626.] ANXE OF AUSTRIA. 159 
 
 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 tune a captive at Vin- 
 cennes. Conde also bowed before the policy of the 
 Cardinal ; and did not venture to present him- 
 self for a long period at court for his supposed 
 connivance in the plot at Fleury. Sundry minor 
 awards were alloted to the inferior agents of the 
 conspiracy ; fines, imprisonments, and banishments 
 warned the mletaille 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 investigation, dared not afford even a sem- 
 blance of protection or countenance to the Queen.
 
 160 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 On the 27th of August an order was issued, signed 
 by Louis, and countersigned by his minister, for- 
 bidding 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 therefrom in 
 his suite. A restriction more humiliating, and sub- 
 versive of the courtly splendours and deference 
 enjoyed by her predecessors queens of France, could 
 not have been inflicted. Anne likewise received the 
 imperious commands of her royal husband never to 
 grant a private audience without first advertising 
 Queen Marie, or the Cardinal ; and naming the per- 
 sonage whom she was about to receive, and the 
 object of the interview.* Correspondence with 
 Madame de Chevreuse was strictly forbidden ; as also 
 with Madame de la Yalette. The severity of this 
 punishment, however, 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 eflfec- 
 
 * Mem. de la Rochefoucauld, t. 1. Dreux du Radier, Vie d'Anne 
 d'Autriche. Motteville, t. 1. The latter insists that the "persecutions" 
 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 qti'il lui fit. " Griffet, Hist, de Louis XIII., t. 1.
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 161 
 
 tually interfered to ameliorate her position ; or to 
 intercede in her behalf. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans continued to make unceas- 
 ing efforts to procure a commutation of the sentence 
 pronounced on Chalais, but to no purpose. 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, continued his intercession ; and implored 
 the Cardinal 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 * of the unfortunate Chalais ; 
 who, on her knees, implored mercy for her mis- 
 guided sou on the plea, that Chalais had previously 
 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 cle- 
 mency 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 
 
 * Franqoise de Montluc, daughter of Blaise de Montluc, Marshal of 
 France.
 
 162 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 ! " 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 Valette, the Duchess de Chevreuse, and 
 her potent kindred of Rohan, were not likely to 
 have accepted the odium of such a conspiracy with- 
 out 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 re- 
 ception of the letter stated to have been written by 
 the Queen. The Archduchess-Infanta Isabel, more- 
 over, never repudiated the assertion that the intrigue 
 was discussed and matured in Brussels, her own 
 capital ; which so good, and conscientious a princess 
 would have done if possible, in aid of her niece Queen 
 Anne, oppressed under so grave a charge of domestic,
 
 1626.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 163 
 
 and state treason. The fact, however, which seems 
 amply to prove the truth of the conspiracy, and 
 of the charges respecting the Queen, is, that 
 three years later, Anne, of her own accord, pro- 
 posed 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 treat- 
 ment of the day, that the expectation of his death 
 repeatedly acted as a snare, to lure the malcontents 
 to premature revelation of their designs. 
 
 M. de Chalais suffered on the twenty-sixth day 
 of August.* 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 de- 
 position 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 
 
 * Relation du Proces de Chalais. Aubery, Mem. pour servir a 1'Histoire 
 du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 1. " II n'a rien dit h 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 Aoust 1626, a 7 heures du soir. Aube*ry, 
 t. 1. 
 
 M2
 
 164 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626. 
 
 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 of 
 death taken from the common jail, undertook 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.* 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 
 
 " 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 pour lui servir. 
 Mais ga a etc avec si pen 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 e"te contraint de 
 le retourner de 1'autre c6te pour 1'achever de couper, le patient criant 
 jusqu'au vingtieme coup 'Jesus, Maria, et Regina Cceli ! ' " Extraitde 
 Deux Lettres touchant la Mort de M. de Chalais. A bery, Mem. pour 
 servir k 1'Histoire de M. le Cardinal de Richelieu.
 
 :-::-*.: AS2TE OP AUSTBIA, i 
 
 King, high crimes which had no foundation ; and 
 which, for the honour of the crown, needed to be 
 atoned for, and retracted. Having pardoned Mon- 
 sieur for his late, and principal share in the con- 
 spiracy for which Chalais suffered, Louis XIIL and 
 his minister required justification for their clemency ; 
 and a plausible statement, which might clear the 
 reputation of the heir-presumptive of France.
 
 166 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 16261630. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND MARIE DE' 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 suf- 
 fered 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 la- 
 mented her separation from Madame de Chevreuse. 
 Peril and disgrace, however, unfortunately brought 
 not to the Queen's mind a juster appreciation 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 shame- 
 ful abandonment" which she had experienced at
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 167 
 
 Nantes. Festivities were rare events at the Louvre ; 
 and the recent ordinance, forbidding entree to the 
 Queen's cabinets and saloon to the gentlemen of the 
 court, had condemned 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 
 Spain. Aware of this surveillance, the Queen never- 
 theless, 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 minis- 
 ters 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 ne- 
 cessitated their banishment from England. London 
 was provoked 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.* From this lady, 
 
 * 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 Couutesses of Denbigh and Car- 
 lisle, with whom the French ladies were perpetually at feud.
 
 168 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 who was the daughter of the King's old gouvernante, 
 Madame de Montglat, Louis heard of the extravagant, 
 and indecorous manner in which Buckingham raved 
 of the Queen of France ; and of the Duke's indis- 
 creet comments on Anne's unfortunate destiny as 
 a wife. Lord Montague was despatched by Charles 
 to explain the step which he had found himself com- 
 pelled to sanction, relative to the expulsion from 
 England of Henrietta's French attendants.'" 1 Louis, 
 however, being apprized by Madame de St. Georges, 
 that the ambassador carried letters from Buckingham 
 to the Queen, and to the Duchess de Chevreuse, Mon- 
 tague received, on his arrival in Paris, an order to leave 
 the realm without audience ; or being permitted to 
 deliver his despatches. Bassompierre was appointed, 
 a few days subsequently, as ambassador 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 
 execution 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 
 
 * "Les dames et les autres etrangeres resolvent ordre de se preparer 
 a retourner en France dans vingt-quatre lieures. Le Roi les va voir a 
 I'hotel Sommerset, leur declare sa volonte, et leur fait quelques pre- 
 sents. On les embarque au plut6t. Hemiette, dfeole'e, ecrit en France. 
 Personnages Illustres, t. 4.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 169 
 
 banishment of Madame de Chevreuse, was given 
 by the Cardinal to Madame de Fargis, the wife of 
 de Fargis,* 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 flighty and ill regulated, was the con- 
 duct 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 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, 
 
 * Charles d'Angennes, Seigneur de Fargis. He was ambassador in Spain 
 from the year 1620 to 1624.
 
 170 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 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 com- 
 munity, but winning toleration by her incomparable 
 temper, and fun until the death of her father, 
 and of her eldest and only sister, the Countess de 
 Retz.* Madeleine, now sole heiress of her late father, 
 thereupon took leave of her friends the Carmelites, 
 under pretext that her health forbade 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 Ram- 
 bouillet, and there captivated M. de Fargis d'An- 
 gennes, cousin-german of the Marquis de Ram- 
 bouillet, her host. Wit, humour, and joyous abandon 
 were more to a d'Angennes than morality, or bien- 
 seance. Madeleine de Silly became the wife of M. 
 de Fargis, who had just been appointed ambas- 
 sador to Madrid, and accompanied him to Spain. 
 Her sojourn there lasted four years ; and great had 
 been the admiration excited by the graceful, and 
 lively ambassadress. Madame de Fargis, however, 
 rejoiced in her husband's recall from his mission ; for 
 
 * Fraii9oise de Silly, wife of Philippe Emmanuel de Goudy, General des 
 Galeres, subsequently priest of the Order de 1'Oratoire. He died in 
 1662.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 171 
 
 tlie 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 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 introduced the fair petitioner to 
 the potent minister ; * 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 Flottef was at the same 
 time appointed by the Cardinal as governess of 
 
 * " Le Cardinal (de Richelieu) donne des rendez-vous A Madame de 
 Fargis chez le Cardinal de Berulle, k Fontainebleau et ailleurs, de peur 
 de faire trop d'dclat si c'etait chez lui-meme ; et aussi a cause que Berulle 
 passoit pour un be"at." Tallemant, t. 2. 
 
 t Catherine Le Voyer de Lignerolles, wife of Eene du Bellay, Seigneur de 
 la Flotte Hauterive ; her daughter, Eenee du Bellay, was the mother of 
 Marie de Hautefort.
 
 172 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 Queen Marie's maids of honour; and about this 
 period she introduced her grand-daughter, the cele- 
 brated Marie de Hautefort, at the Luxembourg. 
 The merit of Mademoiselle de Hautefort was dis- 
 cerned 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 Cardinal de 
 Richelieu " that she was not the friendless, and in- 
 competent personage he took her to be." Intent 
 on vengeance, few could have more skilfully com- 
 bined the elements of dissension ; or have fostered so 
 cleverly the prevailing discord between the powers of 
 Europe. In France discontent 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 
 paramount over the provinces of the kingdom, saw 
 themselves displaced for trivial misdemeanours ; and 
 their governments given to new men, creatures of 
 the minister, and dependent upon the bounty of 
 the King for their position, and revenue. The 
 Huguenots rebelled under the strong hand of Riche- 
 lieu ; the Rohans beheld their pretensions to the
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 173 
 
 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 renouncing Calvinism. 
 The strongholds wrested from Henri IV. by his 
 restless subjects of the reformed faith, Richelieu now 
 redemanded ; and announced that, that focus of sedi- 
 tion La Rochelle, and its adjacent territory, must 
 submit to the universal ascendency of the crown, by 
 the expulsion 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 Duke 
 de Rohan sent his brothers de Soubise, to implore the 
 aid of Charles I. and the favourable auspices of 
 Buckingham. A mandate of extermination for the 
 great Huguenot citadel had already gone forth ; 
 the engineers, and the surveyors of the Cardinal 
 encircled La Rochelle ; and by the command of his 
 Eminence were engaged in fortifying the island of 
 Re, which had been captured 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 Eng- 
 land. Lord Holland was devoted to her : Bucking;- 
 
 * o
 
 174 THE MAKRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 ham conciliated 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 personal 
 charms. She was, moreover, a near kinswoman 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 inimical, was ready to take 
 up arms on the slightest provocation. The restraint 
 in which her ambassador lived in Paris ; the griev- 
 ances 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 Spanish minister accessible to nego- 
 tiation. The question concerning the succession to 
 the duchy of Mantua, moreover, opened a multitude 
 of grievances, and heartburnings. The new duke 
 was one of Louis' most potent princes, Charles de 
 Gonzague de Cleves, Due de Nevers. The Emperor 
 Ferdinand II. opposed his investiture ; and, in con- 
 cert with the Spanish Viceroy of Milan, and the Duke 
 of Savoy, invaded the duchy and its dependency of
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 175 
 
 Montferrato. Nevers appealed to Louis XIIL, and 
 besought his intervention ; a prayer, to which the 
 politic Richelieu gave little heed, pending his warlike 
 designs on the Rochellois. In the Duke of Lorraine, 
 Madame de Chevreuse found a ready and willing ally.* 
 Charles IV. had espoused his cousin Nicole, eldest 
 daughter of Duke Henry of Lorraine and Margue- 
 rite de Gonzague, 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 
 
 ft/ * 
 
 Yaudemont, as the nearest male heir of the late duke 
 his father-in-law.f 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 inau- 
 gurated by the succour of La Rochelle. The Duke 
 always inclined to the alliance of Austria, rather than 
 
 * " Elle eblouit, seduisit, entraina 1'impetueux et aventureux Charles 
 IV." Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. 
 
 t 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 CharlesV. 
 of Lorraine, who never possessed his duchy, then confiscated by the French. 
 He became the brother-in-law of the Emperor Leopold.
 
 176 THE MABBIED LITE OF 
 
 to that of France. Richelieu had demanded several 
 of Charles' frontier strongholds ; and, unable to cope 
 against so potent a pleader, he had sought safety 
 under the protection of the Emperor. The design of 
 the confederates, 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 campaign, 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 Huguenots ; so now, Philip IV. was ready
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 177 
 
 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 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 pursued 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 pos- 
 sessed 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.* To propitiate Monsieur, and to make 
 
 * Bassompierro : Journal de ma Vic. " En ce temps Madame accoucha 
 d'uiie fille, centre 1'attente et dcsir de leura Majestes et do Monsieur, qui 
 VOL. r. K
 
 178 THE MAERIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 him loyally oblivious of the vexations he had expe- 
 rienced at Nantes, Madame received enthusiastic 
 welcome at the Louvre ; and was invested with pri- 
 vileges derogatory to the prerogatives of the Queen- 
 consort. The Duchess was dispensed from the obli- 
 gation 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 invariable 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,* 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.f The fancy of Monsieur 
 soon became fascinated by the radiant loveliness of 
 a fair young princess of Gonzague-Nevers, daughter 
 
 enssent plut&t demande" un fils ; et elle, etant demeuree malade de sa 
 couche, mourut peu de temps apres." Me"m. de Mademoiselle de Mont- 
 pensier, t. i. Madame, and Queen Anne bad lived in much mutual 
 ness, and dislike. "Madame se regardoit comme la future reine," an 
 exacted obsequious homage. 
 
 * Anne Louise Marie d'Orl^ans, la Grande Mademoiselle. 
 
 t Jeanne de Harlay, Marquise de St. George.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 179 
 
 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, how- 
 ever, 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 Bassompierre his longing desire to return to Paris; 
 and charged the ambassador to sound the Cardinal 
 on the subject, and to hint that great achievements 
 in diplomacy, very advantageous to France, might 
 be obtained by their personal conference.* Bassom- 
 pierre performed his mission, and stated the Duke's 
 wish, which was met on the part of Louis XIII. by an 
 indignant refusal.f Anne also privately requested 
 Bassompierre to write to M. de Buckingham to put 
 
 * " Je lui fis entendre qu'on ne le recevrait pas, et envoy ai Montague en 
 toute diligence vers lui." Bassompierre, Journal. " Buckingham pretend 
 so servir de 1'occasion des brouilleries qu'il cause lui-meme, afin de voir la 
 Heine Anne d' Aut riche, dont il se declarait 1'amant. ' ' Mem. du Due de Rohan. 
 
 t ' ' Puisqu'on refuse de me recevoir en France comme un ambassa- 
 deur qui veut porter la paix, j'y entrerai malgrd les Franc, ois, en general 
 d'armee qui porte la guerre ! " retorted the Duke of Buckingham. Mem. 
 du Due de Rohan. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE MARKIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 off his visit ; and to state, in her name, that such would 
 be very displeasing to her.* 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 Eng- 
 land 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 rebellious sub- 
 jects of the reformed faith. Moreover, Monsieur was 
 again sullen and unmanageable, although 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 en- 
 amoured. The Cardinal, whose policy it was to 
 humour his royal patroness in all possible ways, save 
 in those matters which might have operated for his 
 own downfall, supported her Majesty in this refusal; 
 
 * " La Reine me commauda d'^crire au Due, pour lui faire savoir que 
 sa venue ne lui sera pas agr&ible." Bassompierre.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 181 
 
 and gained over the King to show similar disappro- 
 bation. Monsieur threatened, stormed but was 
 finally propitiated for an interval, by the promise of 
 a military command.* Without waiting, therefore, 
 for his foes to perfect their design, Louis XIII. in- 
 vested La Rochelle; and appointed his brother as 
 general-iii- chief of his armies, nominating Bassom- 
 pierre, and M. de Schomberg, as his aides-de-camp, 
 and counsellors. This concession, however, was ex- 
 torted 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, which prevented Louis from leaving the 
 Ch&teau de Villeroy, whither he had arrived from 
 Paris en route for the camp. 
 
 Buckingham meanwhile set sail, at the beginning 
 of July, 1627, with a fleet of fifty men-of-war, and of 
 sixty smaller vessels, and an army of 7,000 men.f 
 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 Mans- 
 field ; 2ndly, that the French fleet had made prizes 
 
 * Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie ; Tallemant, Vie du Due d' Orleans ; 
 Le Vassor, Histoire du Regne de Louis XIII. 
 
 t Hume, Reign of Charles I. ; Siege de La Rochelle, Archives Curieuses, 
 t. 3, deuxieme series.
 
 182 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 of some small coasting vessels hovering about La 
 Rochelle ; and lastly, because the Huguenots were 
 oppressed, and in danger of losing all their strong- 
 holds, La Rochelle being already besieged. The Duke 
 of Buckingham was more candidly explicit on the 
 causes, and motives of the war. " In spite of all the 
 power and might of France, I will see her fair Queen 
 again ! " exclaimed he publicly, at a farewell ban- 
 quet 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.* 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.f The madness and infatua- 
 tion of this conduct admit of no palliation ; the 
 prosperity of the Duke's career must have in- 
 duced 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 de- 
 cided upon, that the municipality of La Rochelle were 
 
 * Tallemant Des Reaux ; Le Cardinal de Richelieu, " 
 
 f " Cette chambre etait fort dore'e ; le plaucher etait couvert de tapis do 
 Perse, et il y avait line espece d'autel oil etait le portrait de la Reine, arec 
 plusieurs flambeaux allumes."
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 183 
 
 not even apprised of the sailing of the fleet when Buck- 
 ingham appeared before the town : the people there- 
 fore, refused to admit their intending allies, before due 
 inquiry had been made as to the object of the landing 
 of so formidable a force.'" Buckingham thus re- 
 pulsed, attacked the island of Re, and began to batter 
 the great fort of St. Martin, which was defended 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 per- 
 haps a little disheartened by his reception by the 
 Rochellois, abated in much of his boasted vigour. 
 Richelieu immediately ordered the despatch of 6000 
 men under Schomberg, 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 
 
 * 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.
 
 184 THE MARKIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 picture of Anne of Austria hung. Buckingham 
 boldly avowed his admiration for the Queen, and his 
 desire to visit Paris; bitterly complaining of the un- 
 courteous refusal of the prayer, which he had pre- 
 ferred through Bassompierre. He ended by re- 
 questing 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 Majesty, 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 inter- 
 view with the minister, and about to be consigned 
 to the Bastille "for presumptuous and traitorous 
 communication with the enemy ;" a fate from which 
 his kinship to Richelieu delivered him.* Meanwhile 
 the garrison of Fort St. Martin was reinforced by 
 the unforeseen, and gallant descent of Schomberg. 
 The blockade, also, being loosely maintained, the be- 
 leaguered garrison obtained abundance of provision. 
 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 
 
 * Tallemant, Vie du Cardinal de Kichelieu.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 185 
 
 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.* 
 
 The vigilance of the Cardinal was rewarded in 
 another quarter by an important capture. Walter Mon- 
 tague,! as has before been related, had been charged 
 with the perilous office of carrying the correspon- 
 dence, and the replies returned by the English court 
 to Madame de Chevreuse. Through his spies Richelieu 
 learned that suspicious circumstances were attached 
 to the frequent journeys to and from Nancy, made 
 by the young Englishman ; and that the letters he 
 was known to carry, were probably of more mo- 
 mentous import, than effusions sent by the English 
 admirers of the Duchess. A warrant was thereupon 
 issued for the detention of Montague, which was 
 delivered 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.J His papers were seized and despatched 
 to Paris. The fact of the arrest of Montague was 
 
 * Siege de La Eochelle, Archives Curieuses. Hume, Reign of Charles I. ; 
 Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie. 
 
 f 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. 
 
 La Porte, Mem., p. 304.
 
 186 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 communicated to the Queen, as her Majesty was 
 supping in public. Anne turned deadly pale, and 
 pushed the dishes from before her as they were pre- 
 sented ; then rising, at the conclusion of the repast, 
 she retired to her private apartments. Her distress 
 and consternation appear to have been extreme ; 
 it was possible that Montague's papers might again 
 fatally compromise 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 perturba- 
 tion 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 confiscated 
 papers contained. The sympathy of Madame de 
 Fargis at this juncture, elicited the Queen's entire 
 confidence : with all her wilful perversity, and dissi- 
 mulation, there was, at any crisis, a touching help- 
 lessness, and grief in Anne's aspect, which usually 
 proved irresistible in evoking the best energies' of
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 187 
 
 her adherents. Her friends felt themselves honoured 
 by the outward abandonment, on the part of their 
 royal mistress, of the distance imposed by her rank ; 
 by her na'ive appeals to their sympathy ; and by 
 her 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 in- 
 terviews Anne was driven, to hide the miserable 
 intrigues, from which she could not refrain. 
 
 Anne seems always to have taken the opportunity 
 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 Emperor Ferdinand defied
 
 188 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [162(5- 
 
 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-presump- 
 tive to the throne threatened to league with rebels, 
 against whom he had accepted a command. Mon- 
 sieur 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 annulled 
 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 correspon^ 
 dence 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 correspondence injurious to
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 189 
 
 Anne fell into the hands of the King. Richelieu 
 probably did suspect, and acted on his suspicion ; 
 but proof of Anne's misdemeanour failed him ; and 
 it was ever the policy of the Cardinal, " never to 
 accuse, without he could likewise stab/' " The news 
 of the arrestation of my lord Montague threw the 
 Queen into a strange fright," records La Porte :* " she 
 dreaded lest her name might be compromised by 
 the papers taken from Montague ; which, 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 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 cham- 
 ber, 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. 
 
 * Page 304 ct seq., Memoires, La Porto, Pettitot, vol. 54.
 
 190 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 The Queen then explained 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 1 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 believed 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, ' that he would rather die than reveal, or say 
 anything that could injure her! ' When I delivered 
 this reply, the Queen actually trembled for joy ! " 
 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
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 191 
 
 adversity, and desertion by the entry into their har- 
 bour of a fast sailing vessel, bringing a letter from 
 Charles L, assuring the citizens of his continued 
 support : and that he was preparing a fleet, and 
 armament which would at once insure the conces- 
 sion 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 remained in camp until 
 the 9th of February, 1628; when, feeling indisposed, 
 he returned to Paris, leaving Richelieu sole com- 
 mander-in-chief, with the power of life and death 
 over every person engaged in the siege. * 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, 
 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 counsellor 
 
 * Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie ; Siege de La Rochelle, Archives 
 Curieuses. Aube'ry, Mem. 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 comrne a" 
 sa propre personne." Richard, Vie du Pere Joseph.
 
 192 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 tbe Capuchin father, Joseph de Tremblay. The Car- 
 dinal lived in a lone house known as Le Pont do 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 imaginary schemes for the 
 glory, and the political government of France, which, 
 impossible as these designs then appeared, the match- 
 less 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 ; * 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 Portsmouth, as he was 
 again about to embark to relieve Rochelle.f The 
 
 * 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. 
 
 t Hume ; Thomson's Life of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham ; Le 
 Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII.; Rapin, History of the Reign of Charles I.
 
 1630.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA, 193 
 
 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 island, the Duke declined to 
 promote him to the vacant post. The news of the 
 death of Buckingham 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.""* 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 favou- 
 rite, whom she accused of attempting to degrade 
 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 fortifica- 
 
 * Buckingham often spoke of his conquests over royal ladies in terms 
 highly irreverential. Madame de Chevreuse told the celebrated coadjutor 
 archbishop of Paris, De Retz, that the Duke said to her one day, " J'ai 
 aime trois reines, et j'ai etc oblige de les gourmer (to cuff them) toutes 
 trois." "De vivre avec la reine (Anne d'Autriche) d'une maniere un 
 peu galante et rude, a deux faces, de 1'humeur dont je connois la reine," 
 said Madame de Chevreuse.
 
 194 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 tions, 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 sur- 
 rendered, 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 Richelieu 
 celebrated mass at the high altar of the late heretic 
 cathedral dedicated to Ste. Marguerite, after the 
 solemn reconsecration of the church by the Arch- 
 bishop of Bordeaux. The same day Louis XIII. 
 made his state entry into the revolted city. Thus, 
 after seven successful revolts against the royal autho- 
 rity in the space of 100 years, the factious Kochellois 
 were totally subdued ; their fortifications levelled ; 
 their privileges annulled ; and their harbour effec- 
 tually 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
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 195 
 
 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.* 
 
 The submission of La Rochelle was followed by an 
 expedition undertaken by the King in person to com- 
 pel the Spaniards to raise the siege of Casale ; which 
 was invested by Don Gonzalez de Cordova. The 
 Emperor persisted in his refusal to grant investiture 
 of the duchy of Mantua to Charles de Gonzagues ; 
 and demanded that the territory should be relin- 
 quished 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 Richelieu being now favourable 
 to the old tactics of Sully and Henri Quatre, the 
 Duke's prayer was conceded. The reduction of 
 the remaining Huguenot strongholds of the South 
 the minister postponed to the more propitious season, 
 
 * The charms of the Duchess de Chevreuse had much power over Riche- 
 lieu. Madame de Motteville says, " que ce ministre, malgre la rigueur qu'il 
 avait cue pour elle, ne 1'avait jamais haiie; et que sa beaute avait eu des 
 charmes pour lui." Motteville, p. 62, t. i. 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE MAERIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 when both Spain and Austria, humbled by the vic- 
 torious arms of France, as he had predetermined, 
 should thereby be compelled to abandon these rebel- 
 lious 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'Elboeuf, 
 de Schomberg ; the Marshals de Bassompierre, 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 interviews became so fre- 
 quent 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 
 farewell. As the visit of the minister had not been 
 previously announced, he found Mirabel closeted with 
 her Majesty ; the other person only present being 
 Madame de Fargis. The Cardinal advanced, and after 
 inclining profoundly before the Queen, addressed Mi- 
 rabel with his usual bland cordiality of tone. " Mon- 
 sieur 1'Ambassadeur," said he, " his Christian Majesty
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 197 
 
 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 cer- 
 tainly 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. Richelieu 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 my- 
 self 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 repeated 
 
 * Capefigue, Vie d'Anne d'Autriche Archives de Simancas, 471. 
 MS. quoted by M. Capefigue.
 
 198 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 by Richelieu to the King, he was greatly offended 
 that the Queen had declared " that she had the inte- 
 rest 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, represented the 
 absent majesty of France, and held all court recep- 
 tions. 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 themselves at the Louvre. 
 Richelieu's spies, however, soon detected the sub- 
 terfuge ; 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
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 199 
 
 furtive manner, to return to his coach.* The 
 mystery so foolishly maintained by the Queen in her 
 intercourse with her own family, and her pertinacity 
 in refusing 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 ; on any hasty, and inconsiderate word 
 which dropped in her presence from the lips of the 
 King or his minister, concerning their Catholic Majes- 
 ties, f In the abbess of the Val de Grace, Luisa de 
 
 * Journal de Cardinal de Richelieu, qu'il a fait durant le grand orage de 
 la cour, ez annees 1630 a 1644. Tire des M&noires qu'il a ecrit de sa 
 main. Amsterdam, 1664. 
 
 t Philip IV. and Elizabeth de Bourbon, eldest daughter of Henri 
 Quatre and ilarie de' Medici.
 
 200 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 Milley, Anne found a companion and firm friend. 
 The brother of the abbess was a subject of Spain, 
 being a native of Franche Comt6, and governor of 
 Besan^on. Luisa de Milley had been educated in 
 the Carmelite convent of Avila : all her aspirations 
 were therefore Spanish ; and as many of her con- 
 nections resided in Spain, this liaison afforded the 
 Queen an easy, and invaluable mode of communi- 
 cation with her own country. 
 
 "The Queen," writes Madame de Motteville, 
 " being still young, but desirous of providing for 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 conventual purposes, after the 
 Queen had selected a suite of rooms for her own 
 occupation. Anne built a superb private ora- 
 tory, 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
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 201 
 
 appear. The nuns, with their abbess, La Mere d'Ar- 
 bouze, were installed at the Val de Grace in the 
 early part of the year 1623. The community was 
 of the Benedictine order ; and their abbess appears 
 to have been renowned for saintly austerity, as she 
 was transferred 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 
 assumed 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. 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 persecuted 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
 
 202 THE MAREIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 rose on the foundation of the humble convent of La 
 M&re 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 house- 
 hold raised against the minister. Amongst her 
 humbler servants were La Porte, Lavaux, his 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 resentment 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
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 203 
 
 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 terminated by the success- 
 ful 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 Bassompierre 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 "1'Armee 
 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 exemptions. 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 strong- 
 holds of Nimes, Castres, d'Usez, and Montauban, 
 should be demolished. The Huguenots were com- 
 pelled to make restoration of Church lands and 
 benefices seized, or appropriated by them from the 
 commencement of the civil wars in 1561 ; all
 
 204 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 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 distinguished, 
 except for loyalty, and devotion to the glorious race 
 of Bourbon. 
 
 Louis XIIL, 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 provoked 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 establish ascendency 
 over the mind of Louis. "While the Cardinal dic- 
 tated 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 of Richelieu, Louis found
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 205 
 
 recreation in the chase. He also derived relaxation 
 from his musical instruments ; 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 diplo- 
 matic 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 reprimanded 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. Moreover, 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
 
 206 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 to defeat the anger of the Queen-mother : he pre- 
 tended to be overwhelmed with dismay, and prepared 
 to quit Fontainebleau, " as he perceived that his fate 
 was sealed, and her Majesty's displeasure irrevocable." 
 His subtle Eminence next commanded his niece, De 
 Combalet, to resign her office in Marie's house- 
 hold ; 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 delinquent 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.* 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 
 
 * Journal de ma Vie, Bassompierre, annee 1629. Aube'ry, Mm. pour 
 1'Histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu. The Queen-mother, when she first 
 saw the Cardinal after his return, asked after his health. "Jemeporte 
 mieux quebeaucoup de gens qui sont ici ne voudroient !" replied Richelieu.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 207 
 
 she was constantly heard to utter. " M. le Cardinal/' 
 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 Cardinal weeps his crocodile tears at 
 pleasure 1" 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 
 
 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.
 
 208 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 d'etre coquette" the Duke de Guise, Conde, Mon- 
 sieur, the Duchess d'Elbceuf ; Marillac, whose dis- 
 missal from office had been resolved at the Palais 
 Cardinal ; the Duchess de Lesdiguieres, the Marshal 
 de Bassompierre, Mesdames de Fargis and de Chev- 
 reuse, 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 Luxembourg ; 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 retirement ; 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. 
 
 Early in the year 1630, however, the note of 
 warfare again resounded. Spain refused to ratify 
 the concession made by Don Gonsalez de Cordova, 
 Viceroy of Milan, and agreed to by the Duke of 
 Savoy ; and her armies, under the famous Marquis 
 de Spiuola, 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,
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 209 
 
 which he had foreseen : the triumph ot the Emperor 
 over his revolted Bohemian subjects who had thrown 
 off their allegiance and elected for their King the 
 Protestant brother-in-law of King Charles of Eng- 
 land, 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 moment political feuds 
 were forgotten ; and every class in the realm acqui- 
 esced in the wise, and able mandates of the minister. 
 The King insisted 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 influences 
 of the Louvre. His Majesty quitted Paris and 
 arrived at Lyons, accompanied by the Queens,""" about 
 the 3rd of April ; from thence Louis proceeded to 
 
 * 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 effectually 
 subvert the influence of Richelieu. 
 
 TOL. I.
 
 210 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 join the camp at Grenoble, after making a short 
 sojourn in the district of the Lyonnais. Richelieu, 
 meantime, had been negotiating 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 afterwards the famous Cardi- 
 nal 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 espe- 
 cially the Lord Keeper Marillac. In noting this last 
 fact, Richelieu, in his Journal, adds the significant 
 line, 
 
 ' ' Qui amat periculum, peribit in illo. " * 
 
 On the occasion of this visit, Mazarin first bent the 
 knee before Anne of Austria, being presented to her 
 
 * 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 plut6t que de voir le Cardinal. Vaultier a aussi dit, que 
 la Reine espe'roit que Dieu la vengeroit. "
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 211 
 
 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 resemblance 
 to the late Duke of Buckingham."* Anne blushed, 
 and unfurled her fan to cover her confusion. 
 
 Chambery, meantime, capitulated to the royal arms 
 during the sojourn of the Cardinal at Lyons, much to 
 the secret triumph of Louis. The campaign 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 phy- 
 sicians, 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 depres- 
 sion of the King increased ; and Marie de' Medici 
 beheld her son restored, as she hoped, to her ma- 
 ternal influence. Melancholy, irritable at the slightest 
 proposal to discuss or transact state affairs ; anxious 
 alone for conference with his confessor, the vene- 
 rable Pere Souffran; and lured only to momentary 
 
 * Tallemant, Vie du Cardinal de Richelieu, Hist. 66. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 forgetfulness of his misery by the blue eyes of Marie 
 de Hautefort, Louis was ready to agree to any stipu- 
 lation, or concession rather than debate a point.* 
 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 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 downfall of the minister. 
 The principal persons in the secret were the Princess 
 de Conty, the Lord Keeper Marillac, the Duchesses 
 d'Elbceuff and d'OrnanoJ the Duchess de Lesdi- 
 guieres, 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 consulted ; and an active correspondence was 
 again imprudently instituted between the young 
 Queen and Monsieur. The Spanish ambassador, 
 
 * Vittorio Siri, Mem. Recondite, t. 3. Bassompierre. 
 
 ) Henriette Catherine, le*gitimee de France, daughter of Henri IV. and 
 Gabrielle d'Estrees. 
 
 t 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.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 213 
 
 likewise, 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 cahallers became sanguine ; and they proceeded 
 to discuss not only the removal of Richelieu from 
 office, but whether his high misdemeanors 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 proposal 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 employed 
 by the Queen to write epistles, and to convey mes- 
 sages. Anne's animosity against the Cardinal is de- 
 scribed as unsurpassed by that of his most bitter poli- 
 tical opponent. By the advice, it is said, of Madame 
 de Fargis, prompted by Mirabel the Spanish 
 ambassador, Anne was reckless enough to con- 
 sent again to the discussion of the policy of 
 her marriage with Monsieur, in case of the 
 speedy decease of Louis.* Madame de Fargis, 
 at any rate, was a party to this correspond- 
 
 * Dreux du Radier, Vie de la Reine Anne d'Autriche ; Siri, Mem. 
 Recondite ; Aubery, Mem. du Cardinal de Richelieu.
 
 214 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 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 plea- 
 sure, 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 super- 
 lative 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 dis- 
 tinguished for personal, and mental charms; but their 
 married life was fraught with domestic, and political 
 misfortune ; and they failed personally to adapt them- 
 selves, either to the sovereigns their respective hus- 
 bands, or to the manners and 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 sym- 
 pathies, and pursuits. The Queen had many un-
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 215 
 
 doubted grievances to suffer from the frigid, im- 
 perious, 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,* 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 privations 
 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 widowhood, and his accession to the throne 
 of France. 
 
 The precarious condition of Louis' health renewed 
 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 
 
 * "Elle avoit les mains parfaites, et ne les regardoit pas sans une 
 secrete complaisance." Monville, Vie de Mignart, who painted the por- 
 trait of the Queen in 1659.
 
 216 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 were intense, and his strength rapidly failed. 
 Marie de' Medici never left the bedside of the 
 King, except when he was engaged with Souffran, 
 his confessor.* During the intervals of his relief 
 from pain, Marie extorted from the King a 
 solemn promise, or, as is stated by some contem- 
 poraries, 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 received the tidings 
 with resignation, and requested the sacraments of 
 the Church. Mass was celebrated by the Cardinal 
 de Lyons, in the presence of the Queens ;f 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 com- 
 mitted. 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."J He then 
 
 * Recit du Maladie du Roy a la ville de Lyons, par le Rev. P. Souffran, 
 son Confesseur ordinaire. Lyons, Vermonet, 1630. Le Vassor, Hist, de 
 Louis XIII. 
 
 f" "Monsieur le Cardinal de Lyons dit la messe dans la chambre, et le 
 communia. " 
 
 J " Ces paroles attendrirent si fort le coeur de ceux qui etoient presents, 
 que tous, la Reiue, messieurs les Cardinaux, et autres officiers de sa 
 maison, se jettant a genoux, pleurants et sanglottants, crierent : ' C'est a 
 nous, Sire, de vous demauder pardon. Pardonnez-nous, Sire ! ' " Recit du
 
 1630.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 217 
 
 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, profess- 
 ing to be overwhelmed with grief and consternation. 
 On this day Bassompierre returned from a special 
 mission to Monsieur at Orleans, and obtained im- 
 mediate audience of the Queens, Anne and Marie. 
 The Marshal brought messages from Monsieur to his 
 mother, referring to the measures which he con- 
 sidered advisable in case of the demise of Louis, 
 and of his own accession. Amongst other di- 
 rections, 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 precarious condition of the 
 King. What message Bassompierre was intrusted 
 with, to Queen Anne never transpired ; Monsieur 
 had a salutary remembrance 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 
 pertinacious opposition to his union with Marie de 
 
 Pere Souffran. " Ego testis oculatus et auritus," testifies the reverend 
 Jesuit.
 
 218 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 Gonzague. Richelieu, meantime, had been warned of 
 the intrigues concocting against his power, and per- 
 haps against his life, by the zeal of M. de St. Simon ; * 
 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 demeanour, and apparent in- 
 difference to politics. " On my arrival in Paris from 
 my English ambassage," writes Bassompierre, in 
 1627 " I found that Barradas f 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 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." 
 
 * Claude Due 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, II. de St. Simon espoused, Charlotte de 1'Aubespine, who was the 
 mother of the celebrated Due de St. Simon. 
 
 t 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 : "tin jour le 
 Hoi 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 telle colere, qu'il 
 sauta sur les mains du Roi, lui arracha le petit pot ou e"toit 1'eau, et le lui 
 lanca aux pieds."
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 219 
 
 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 distin- 
 guished 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 overthrow ; 
 and immediately set out to neutralize, and confront 
 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 oc- 
 curred 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.* The unex- 
 pected turn in the King's malady caused great 
 affright and consternation ; and a conference was 
 holden in the chamber of Marie de' Medici to decide 
 
 * Recit du Fere Souffran.
 
 220 THE MAKRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 on the steps to be adopted. The Queen-mother 
 dwelt on the solemn promise made her by the King 
 to dismiss his minister Louis having stipulated only, 
 that peace might first be re-established in Germany ; 
 also between France, and the Empire by the conces- 
 sion 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 Cardinal's immediate exile to 
 his diocese of Luon ; Bassompierre his arrest and 
 imprisonment in the Bastille ; the Queen-mother de- 
 clared herself in favour of a sentence of banish- 
 ment ; 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.* 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 retaliated 
 on the wily plotters their own award on himself. The 
 same evening the King passed through another 
 
 * 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 ; Me'm. de Richelieu, 
 depuis 1610 jusqu'a 1620.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 221 
 
 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* 
 in such frantic emotion, when I opened my mission, 
 and seemed on the point of fainting, so that I could not 
 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 character 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 
 
 * "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 R^v. Fere Souffran.
 
 222 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 the event of the King's death he might reckon on a 
 faithful military escort to the frontier.* 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 Car- 
 dinal, in the event which he anticipated, must submit 
 himself to Queen Marie de' Medici, who, he was in- 
 formed, would assume the direction of affairs until 
 the arrival of the new king from Orleans.f Richelieu 
 dismissed the Marshal with a little salutation full of 
 resignation ; and prepared himself for the coming 
 event. His niece, Madame de Combalet, quitted 
 Lyons during the night, taking with her many 
 valuable effects appertaining to her uncle ; while the 
 Cardinal himself made rapid preparation for flight. 
 Everyone 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 
 
 * Preface des editeurs de la premiere edition des Me"moires de Bassom- 
 pierre. Cologne, 1665. 
 
 t Bassompierre is said to have hinted to the Cardinal that he might 
 obtain his desire by prompt application to M. de Villeroi, Governor of 
 Lyons, through II. de Chateauneuf, cousin-german to Villeroi, and the 
 Cardinal's devoted adherent.
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 223 
 
 were adorned, and the gorgeous aisles of St. Jean de 
 Lyons at mid-day echoed to the notes of " Te Beum 
 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 exhaus- 
 tion, feeble but free from pain, and comforted by the 
 favourable verdict of his physicians, who now 
 answered for the life of their royal patient.* 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 re- 
 covery of Louis was marvellously rapid ; on the 14th 
 of October he removed for change of air to the Chateau 
 de Bellecour,f near to Roanne, and soon continued 
 his journey to Paris. Marie meantime, had been laid 
 up for a few days at Lyons with a swelled knee, and 
 did not accompany her spn to Bellecour. Louis 
 
 * Recit du Rev. P. Souffran, who terminates his interesting narrative with 
 the wish that the King's unexpected recovery "serve a 1'amendement de 
 cette cour, qui est maintenant pleine de bonne volonte ; mais connoissant 
 son inconstance je crains que, venient filii usque ad partum, et non est 
 virtus pariendi. " 
 
 \r "Maison de Madame de Chaponay." Bassompierre.
 
 224 THE MAERIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 had urgently prayed his mother to hide their deter- 
 mination 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, remained with the Queens, and even at- 
 
 & 
 tended 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.* Madame de la Flotte 
 originally had visited Paris to sue in person a cause 
 pending before the Parliament of Paris ; and which 
 involved the whole of her little patrimony. She 
 waited upon the powerful minister, authorised by a 
 passport to his presence from Madame de Combalet, 
 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 
 
 * " Un emploi aa-dessous d'elle," says Tallemaut des Beaux.
 
 :::- AXXE or AUSTRIA. 225 
 
 charming face, and dignity of demeanour of the young 
 girl, her companion, confirmed Richelieu's prepos- 
 session. The widow 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 Princesse de Conty; who, captivated by her lovely 
 face, took her that same evening in her coach to the 
 fashionable promenade, Le Cours de la Heine, and 
 introduced her to the Queen-mother. Marie de Haute- 
 fort was subsequently enrolled amongst Marie's 
 maids, and was lodged in the Luxembourg : 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,* the hostile 
 cabal eagerly greeted their Majesties, who returned 
 triumphant in the possession of the King's promise to 
 
 * Marie de' Medici desoendit an convent des Carmelites dn Faubourg 
 St. Jacques, avant d'aUer au Luxembourg. On crot que la perto dn 
 ministrefnt encore eoncatee la, entreles deux nines, et HariHac, Garde des 
 Scranr. Les apolcgistes de ces princesses, sontioment qu'on ne s'occnpa. 
 qne de deration chez les Carmelites ; et qne les deux ranes, entrees dans le 
 monastere, n'eut pas un long entretaen arec MariDae," etc., etc. Galerie 
 des Personnages niustres de la COOT de Prance, pendant les regnes de Henri 
 IV. et de Louis XIIL, t, 4. 
 
 TOL. I.
 
 226 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 exile his minister. The peace, meantime, upon which 
 Louis had based his assent, was on the eve of accom- 
 plishment. 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 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 bewilder- 
 ment of the King amid the accumulations of state 
 business 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 temporary reconciliation with the
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 227 
 
 Cardinal. He explained 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 Ma- 
 jesty. "What ! you hesitate to give this just satis- 
 faction to your mother, and prefer an insolent church- 
 man, who will finally drive your people to revolt, as 
 he has already rendered your court a desert 1 "* The 
 young Queen added her entreaties, and besought her 
 husband to conciliate the Princes, to give due pre- 
 ponderance to the Queen his mother, and to recon- 
 cile himself sincerely 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 
 
 * 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 plut6t au diable, quo je ne me vengeasse !" Another day, Marie, 
 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'e'tais un grand menteur ; et que je lui avait 
 fait signer des papiers pour d'autres." Journal de Richelieu. 
 
 Q2
 
 228 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 sent his niece from Paris, and commanded that his 
 most valuable effects in the Palais Cardinal should be 
 packed ; while he constantly alluded in public to his 
 probable departure, and dismissal from office ; and 
 made parade of recommending 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 
 provinces, 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 lay- 
 ing before his royal master for perusal, and signature. 
 Louis yawned, and irritably pushed aside the ob- 
 noxious documents. On 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
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. . 229 
 
 window. " Let us stay here in peace awhile," said his 
 Majesty listlessly, ." et puis ennuyons-nous, ennuyons- 
 nous, ennuyons-nous!"* Fresh political complications 
 menaced the newly-signed peace of Ratisbon, raised 
 by the clever Richelieu, and his clever agent the Ca- 
 puchin Joseph. The spirit of Louis died within him 
 at the bare contemplation of the diplomacy and in- 
 trigue impending ; and to vanquish which, as Riche- 
 lieu 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 functionary. She declared Richelieu 
 to be an unprincipled 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, 
 that if he will abandon our interests, his political 
 
 * Tallemant des Reaux, Hist, de Louis XIII.
 
 230 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626- 
 
 grievances shall be redressed ? Has lie 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.""' Whilst their Majes- 
 ties were thus in high altercation, 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 con- 
 ferring, f 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 
 
 * Journal de Richelieu sur les orages de la cour, es anne'es 1630 1644. 
 " Qu* ditcs-vous la, Madame ? La colere vous emporte trop loin," exclaimed 
 the King. "Vous m'affligez si sensiblement que je ne me remettrai jamais 
 du chagrin que vous me causez." Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la 
 Cour de France, t. 4. 
 
 t Bassompierre, Journal de ma Vie. Louis is said by Bassompierre to 
 have exclaimed with dismay, on seeing liis minister, " Le voici ! "
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. . 231 
 
 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 undutiful enough to prefer such a varlet to your 
 mother \ Sire, spurn from you this destroyer of your 
 domestic concord, the bitter foe of your 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.* 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 conference with the Princess de Conty,f a de- 
 termined 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 Richelieu. 
 His Majesty then retired, announcing his intention 
 to depart for Versailles; from which palace a letter 
 
 * Galerie des Personnages Illustres, 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. 
 
 + Louise-Marguerite de Lorraine- Guise. After the death of the Prince 
 tie Conty, in 1614, she is supposed to have made a secret marriage 
 \vitli Bassouipierre.
 
 232 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 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 deCombalet, again received notice to pack up 
 her effects, and await the final resolution 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 presi- 
 dency of the council might at least remain with the 
 minister for six weeks longer. "My affairs absolutely 
 demand this concession. In fact, Madame, I have 
 commanded my generals in Italy to hazard a battle if 
 Casale is not surrendered, as stipulated by the peace 
 of Ratisbon." Marie wept, but made no sign of relent- 
 ing. " Madame," resumed his Majesty, eloquent in 
 the defence of a minister, who monopolized all the 
 toils of government, "Madame, I entreat that, at least 
 for this period, you will speak more condescendingly 
 to M. le Cardinal ; 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 expos- 
 tulations ; and peremptorily insisted on the departure 
 of the minister. "Mon fils/' said her Majesty, "either
 
 1630.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 233 
 
 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 Combalet 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, despairing 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 1 My mother is implacable." " Sire, I confess 
 I thought myself in another world on hearing your 
 Majesty so thwarted! Nevertheless, you are our 
 master ; it is for you alone to decide ! " : Louis rose : 
 the shadow of wrathful suspicion fell, which so often 
 darkened his youthful features ; and his lips trembled 
 with passion. " I am master, as you say ; who shall 
 presume to judge between me and my faithful min- 
 ister I I will show them all that I am master ! " 
 The King again fell into taciturn silence. St. Simon 
 
 * Galerie des Pursonnages IHustres, t. 4. The Due de St. Simon, in 
 his Memoirs, relates : "II est souvent arrivd a mon pere d'etre reveille 
 en sursaut en pleine nuit par un Talet de chambre qui tiroit son rideau, 
 one 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 e'toit 
 perdu, et venoit au conseil et au secours de mon pere, sur des avis qu'on 
 lui avoit donnas, ou sur les prises qu'il avoit eues avec le Roi." Mem. t. 
 1, chap. iii.
 
 234 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 had heard enough, however, to encourage him to send 
 word to the Cardinal de la Valette, to counsel Riche- 
 lieu 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 an- 
 nounced her intention to attend her son to Ver- 
 sailles. 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 Luxem- 
 bourg, " 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 con- 
 ferred upon him by his patron, ventured again to rouse 
 Louis from his depression by interceding for Richelieu,
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 235 
 
 whose crime, he said, was " in having dared to 
 repress the treasonable enterprises 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 de- 
 pended on. his remaining in power, as its betrayal 
 would in all probability prove fatal to a private per- 
 sonage. Louis listened with eager interest; so much so, 
 that St. Simon despatched an express to the Cardinal 
 de la Valette, advising his Eminence to set out with- 
 out delay with Richelieu, for Versailles ; but carefully 
 to prevent his intention from transpiring.* This 
 transporting intelligence greeted Richelieu on his re- 
 turn 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 
 
 * " Je ne m'arreterai point a la fameuse Journee des Dupes," writes the 
 Due de St. Simon, "ou mon pere cut 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 Me'moires. 
 Vittorio Siri, however (Mem. Recondite), states that he received every 
 etail of La Journee des Dupes from the lips of M. de St. Simon.
 
 236 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 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 person- 
 ages was M. de Chateauneuf, then the friend of 
 Richelieu, and Lord-Keeper elect after the fall of M. 
 de Marillac, an event resolved upon by the Cardinal. 
 Chateauneuf presented to the Cardinal a letter from 
 the Duchesse de Chevreuse ; who had been tempo- 
 rarily 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.* The news 
 from Versailles soon brought Richelieu Ute-a-tete 
 with Louis XIIL, 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 detail 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 Mon- 
 
 * Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de France, sous les regnes 
 de Henri IV. et Louis XIIL, vol. 4, p. 114, et seq. "Le bagage du 
 Cardinal etait deja en chemin sous 1'escorte de quelques soldats, et ses 
 mulcts allereut jusqu'a trente-cinq lieux au-dela de Paris, sans eutrer dans 
 aucune ville de peur qu'ils ne fussent arretes, et que le peuple ne s'avisat 
 de piller le tre"sor qu'ils porterent."
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 237 
 
 sieur 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 persuade her son to remove him from the 
 conduct of aflairs." " M. le Cardinal," exclaimed 
 Louis, "the Queen my mother, is instigated by 
 a few turbulent spirits to persecute you. I will, 
 however, 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 gentlemen waited, 
 presented him to the assembled court.* 
 
 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 
 
 * "Les Dues de Montmorency et Crequi, avertis sous mains par St. 
 Simon, vont a Versailles ; mais Bassompierre fut une des plus grandes dupes 
 de cette fameuse journee."
 
 238 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1626 
 
 great counter-plot at Versailles 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 is- 
 sued 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 Duchesse 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 ; 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 
 reconciliation. " Thus," says a contemporary, " the 
 great day of St. Martin des Dupes passed without
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTKIA. 239 
 
 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, et feray ce que je veu'x ! 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 voluntarily see M. le Cardinal ; that 
 she would rather die than assist him with her coun- 
 sels ! " 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 con- 
 ference with the Queen-mother, the Marquis de 
 Mirabel the Spanish ambassador, and with her phy- 
 sician 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 read such words 
 as," Qui seminat in lachrymis, in exultatione metat."* 
 Nogent immediately reported what he had heard to 
 the Cardinal, who was at St. Germain. The entente 
 
 * Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu.
 
 240 THE MARRIED LIFE OF . [1626 
 
 between the Queens again renewed Richelieu's 
 terrors. "Bonnevil, 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."* 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 
 
 * "Parceque le clit Cardinal avoit trop de temps a etre chez elle en 
 attendant le conseil qu'on ne tiendroit pas toujours des lors qne le Roi 
 seroit entre ; ce qu'elle ne vouloit pas, pour 1'aversion qu'elle avoit centre 
 luy ; et la peine qne ce luy e'toit de le souffrir, et encore rien qui luy 
 appartient. "
 
 1630.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 241 
 
 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 minister in 
 the court of the Louvre, and responded to his obei- 
 sance by turning his back on Richelieu. Marie also 
 made a razzia in her household, 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 ; * and com- 
 manded him to restore to her the Hotel du Petit 
 Luxembourg, a gift which she had made him in the 
 palmy days of his favour. 
 
 * Marie aggravated this extreme mark of displeasure by sending as her 
 messenger a simple valet de chambre, with a verbal message ! 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 242 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 16301631. 
 
 ANNE OF AUSTRIA AND MADEMOISELLE DE HAUTEFORT. 
 
 MADAME DE FARGIS, meanwhile, continued to 
 assail the Cardinal de Richelieu, to uphraid 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 experi- 
 enced ; 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 personage who had acted in accord with his con- 
 sort throughout her late negotiations with Monsieur : 
 his Majesty, therefore, listened greedily to the defa- 
 matory stories in circulation, and thereupon resolved
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 243 
 
 on the dismissal of de Fargis.* At the same time, 
 Richelieu resolved to forbid the frequent inter- 
 views holden between Anne, and the Spanish am- 
 bassador. 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 ; f also, it was intimated that 
 for the future, when the ambassador 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. I'Ambassadeur, you 
 are cognisant of the intrigues afloat at my court, 
 which deprive me of tranquillity. You ought not, 
 
 * The Queen-mother seems also to have acquiesced in the propriety of 
 this dismissal : " La reine-mere vint au conseil ou Ton resolu la liberte 
 de M. de VendSme, et 1'eloignement de Madame de Fargis." Journal de 
 Richelieu. 
 
 f " On resolut, aussi, de mander au Marquis de Mirabel que le roy 
 de*siroit qu'il vescut en France comme les ambassadeurs de France font en 
 Espagne ; et qu'il ne vint plus au Louvre sans audience, et ne pensat plus 
 n'y sa femme d'avoir libre entre'e, laquelle ils avaient usurpe'e jusques a 
 present." Ibid. 
 
 R 2
 
 244 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 1 " * Richelieu then added, that 
 M. de Barrault, his Majesty's ambassador 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 himself twice in the week to 
 salute her Catholic Majesty, and had not been 
 admitted to audience. Intelligence of these pro- 
 ceedings 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 fur- 
 tive visit the following day, to the Val de Grace, 
 whilst Anne was attending mass in the convent 
 chapel ; and succeeded 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. Boutillier, under secretary of state. The 
 interview is thus related by the pungent pen of 
 
 * Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 245 
 
 Richelieu, in his Diary:* "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 
 prevent 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." f 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 trustworthy sources : let 
 it suffice." Monsieur, also, visited Richelieu to 
 intercede for Madame de Fargis, at the request of 
 the Queen, who was " stirred with marvellous anger 
 at the insult about to be offered to her." Interces- 
 sion, however, proved useless : Louis and his minister 
 were resolved upon the exile of the frivolous and 
 intriguing woman, whose counsels led her mis- 
 tress astray. Richelieu was, doubtless, moved to 
 
 * Journal du Cardinal de Eichelieu. " Mecontentement de la Keyne 
 R^gnante centre M. le Cardinal. " Richelieu always speaks of himself in 
 the third person. 
 
 f* "La petite Lavauz a dit an cardinal que la colere de la reine avoit 
 ete jusqu'au point de dire : Je ne luy pardounerai jamais non jamais ! " 
 Ibid. - t
 
 246 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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, " la 
 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 ambassa- 
 dor 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.' More- 
 over," continues 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.' " 
 
 " 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 indignities to which she 
 was subjected, especially that his Majesty threatened 
 to dismiss her apothecary, Michel Danse : the said 
 Michel Danse having observed to her Majesty,
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 247 
 
 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 * ' that he would mention the 
 request to the King, who was master and lord/ 
 
 " January 6. M. de Chaulnes visited the Cardinal 
 with the King. After his Majesty had departed, the 
 said de Chaulnes informed the Cardinal that his sister, 
 Madame de Bouillon,! 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 
 Majesty'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, ' No ! 
 M. le Cardinal wishes to divorce me from the King, 
 my lord, and send me back to Spain/ J The same 
 
 * Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu es Orages de la Cour, &c. &c. 
 
 + Sister of the brothers De Luynes. The Duchess, when Madame de 
 Vernet, had been dismissed for her share in the disorders of the court 
 when at Amiens. She had subsequent!}- married the Duke de Bouillon. 
 
 J " La Reine a encore tenu ce meme langage a M. de Chaulnes (Honord 
 de Luynes) le 2 Janvier, 1631, a ce qu'il dit aM. le Cardinal."
 
 248 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 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 ; 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 la 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 la Fargis, in defiance of the strict orders 
 given by his Majesty, that the said ambassador 
 should not see the Queen without leave. The am- 
 bassador quitted Yal 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
 
 1631.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 249 
 
 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 accom- 
 pany him to see a comedy : her Majesty refused to 
 go, although M. de Bonnevil* gravely represented 
 the matter. 
 
 " The Cardinal de la Valette informed the Cardi- 
 nal that on a certain day the two Queens, as they 
 retired from the court circle, said (alluding to his 
 Eminence), 'Nous awns bien a faire de luy donner 
 plaisir tandis qu'il nous procure du deplaisir, 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, f in disguise, had talked 
 at the grate with the Queen ; also, that many per- 
 sons 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." | 
 
 This entertaining Journal, written by the Cardinal, 
 
 * One of the four secretaries_of state, and often sent by the King to 
 expostulate with Queen Anne. 
 
 t Walter Montague, then a monk of St. Martin de Pontoise, and 
 greatly in the confidence of the Queens. 
 
 Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu.
 
 250 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 humilia- 
 ting to a great princess. Her personal liberty even 
 was fettered; and St. Germain, the Luxembourg, 
 and the Yal 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 in Paris ; from whence, however, she made 
 precipitate retreat to Jouarre on learning that a 
 packet of letters, which she had formerly written 
 to some personage in Lorraine,* 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 fugitive with sympathy, and 
 listened to her plaints against the Cardinal ; with 
 
 * Probably to Madame de Chevreuse.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 251 
 
 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 per- 
 sonages, 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,* 
 "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 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 
 
 * Journal de Richelieu. " Ces lettres parlaient de la mort du Roi 
 advenant, de faire epouser la reine h Monsieur. Elle ecrit au Comte de 
 Cramail qu'elle envoyait des memoires a la reine centre le Cardinal. Les 
 lettres te"smoignent un veritable amour entre elle et le Comte de 
 Cramail."
 
 252 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1C30 
 
 between the writer, the Queen-consort, and Mon- 
 sieur; 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.' 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 permitted 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 Monsieur, who was then staying at 
 the Luxembourg with Queen Marie, to speak to the 
 King on the same subject. Louis silenced Monsieur's 
 loquacity ; 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 ordered by
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 253 
 
 Lis Majesty Louis XIII., he could in no way 
 interfere." : 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 Chateauneuf, and the ministers 
 of state de Schomberg and d'EflSat, who presented 
 themselves at the portal of Anne's audience 
 chamber, before her Majesty could command her- 
 self sufficiently to reply to their message. Anne's 
 usual placid demeanour faltered somewhat, as she 
 took her seat, and prepared to listen to the com- 
 munication 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 inspec- 
 tion " 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 between 
 Monsieur and herself, in case of the demise of his 
 
 * " Le Marquis de Mirabel dit a Bonnevil, quoique pique' de la defense 
 d'entrer au Louvre, qu'il cut voulu qu'on eut oste Madame de Fargis il 
 y a longtemps." Journal de Richelieu.
 
 254 THE MAKEIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 Majesty. She said " that she had conceived such 
 an aversion for the person of Monsieur, 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 Cra- 
 mail, in which she exhorted 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, 
 therefore, 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."* The audience terminated with a ceremo- 
 nious farewell ; previous to which Richelieu apprised 
 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 departure 
 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 
 
 * Journal de Richelieu. " Elle re"pondit, qu'elle serait bien mechanic 
 de dire quelque chose centre lui ; n'en ayant aucun sujet."
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 255 
 
 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 Luxem- 
 bourg, Anne of Austria at the Louvre, Monsieur 
 at the Hotel d'Orleans, or Richelieu at the Palais 
 Cardinal. Jealousy, suspicions, and a lawless ex- 
 citement relative to the issue of the political feuds 
 prevailing, quenched the wit, the gaiety, and the 
 magnificence of the courtiers. In these days of 
 cabal, frivolous stories acquired a disastrous degree 
 of importance ; a depreciatory 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 * 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 
 
 * " II arriva, comme la reyne se couche a minuit, une grosse et grande 
 bougie qui dure jusqu'a neuf on dix heures du matin, s'e'teignit sur les 
 quatre heures du matin. La reyne envoya queVir le dit Censure pour lui 
 demander si cela ne signifioit qu'elle dut perdre?" "On dit que la 
 reine a diverses prophecies, qui lui disent que dans la fin de 1631 elle sera 
 aussi heureuse et grande que jamais !" Journal de Richelieu.
 
 256 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 circulated 
 by her Majesty's command, depreciating the honour 
 and fame of the minister ; ludicrous incidents were 
 invented, and industriously detailed to undermine his 
 influence, in which ridicule Anne and Marie joined. 
 Marie had appointed Richelieu, 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 com- 
 manded 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 Luxembourg, Queen Marie had promised 
 him an indemnity of 30,000 livres, if, at the com- 
 mand of the King, or from any other motive, she 
 was compelled 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
 
 1631.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 257 
 
 hotel belonged to his minister, and that the Queen 
 could not thus arbitrarily annul an appointment.* 
 Thus thwarted, Marie injudiciously sought support 
 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 salu- 
 tation, 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 coun- 
 tries bearing despatches 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 Car- 
 dinal 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,f who acted as the 
 
 * " 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 touclioit meme a la 
 maitresse muraille du Grand Palais." Galerie des Personnages Illustres 
 de la Cour de France. 
 
 + Sir Herbert Croft, who, espousing the faith of Rome, became a lay- 
 brother of the Benedictines of Douay, 1607. Croft died April, 1632, 
 leaving four sons and three daughters, born in wedlock previous to his
 
 258 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 agent of the English government, and to whom 
 Queen Anne was accused of betraying any state 
 secrets she might become possessed of, relating to 
 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 in- 
 formation to the envoys of foreign states. Dazzled 
 by the promise of future power and consideration, 
 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 con- 
 sulting M. d' Orleans, which was a breach, as Monsieur 
 alleged, of their late treaty of amity. Monsieur, 
 consequently, waited on his Eminence one morning, 
 attended by a numerous suite all having previously 
 been concerted with the Queens : " Your Eminence 
 will doubtless feel surprise at my visit/' began Mon- 
 sieur, in a tone which Richelieu shrank not from 
 calling insolent, in his account of the interview to the 
 
 profession. Croft, and Montague were heart and soul devoted to the 
 interests of Anne of Austria.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 259 
 
 King. "As long as I believed that you were in- 
 clined faithfully to serve my interests, 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 with- 
 draw my promise to aid and to patronise you." * 
 The great minister inclined before the young Prince, 
 and, with an air of deep respect, "begged to be 
 informed in what manner he had failed to give 
 satisfaction to his royal Highness 1 ?" " 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." " 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, 
 receiving 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 notification was also received 
 by the Cardinal with low reverence ; and his Highness 
 
 * Journal de Richelieu Retraite de Monsieur. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 se- 
 ditious risings they contemplated in the provinces. 
 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 ; * and which, by the King's command, had 
 been intrusted to her guardianship for her infant 
 grand-daughter Mademoiselle, whose nursery was in 
 the adjacent palace of the Tuileries. Monsieur was 
 also informed, 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 exhortations, 
 and commendations of his mother, and sister-in-law 
 raised the duke's opinion of his prowess and power ; 
 
 * 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 cceur 
 de publier qu'il est sorty a cause du traitement qu'on fait a la Reyne sa 
 mere," said Madame d'Ornauo. " 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.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 261 
 
 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 chief- 
 tains 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 consternation. 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 misguided son ; " the shock of which had 
 caused her almost to faint* on learning that Mon- 
 sieur had actually quitted the capital. From the 
 lips of his 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 
 
 * " Que peu s'en toit fallu qu'ellene fust evanouie quand Monsieur luy 
 avoit mand^ qu'il s'en alloit de la cour."
 
 262 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 follow- 
 ing 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 pre- 
 tended to ignore. She nevertheless betrayed her 
 influence over Monsieur 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 
 Marguerite of Lorraine ; and gave him the investi- 
 ture 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
 
 1631.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 263 
 
 Majesty had recovered from the first effects of her 
 surprise, and fury on hearing such propositions. 
 The next day Marie sent her confessor, le Pere 
 Souffran,* 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."! A council was therefore summoned, 
 when it was decided to give her Majesty the alter- 
 native 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 re- 
 fusal ; 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 disposed 
 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 
 
 * 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. 
 
 t Mem. Recondite. Mem. du Cardinal de Richelieu. Notice des 
 Editeurs. MSS., Bibl. Imp., Lettres de Marie de' Medici. F. Colbert.
 
 264 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 " 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 intrigue, and 
 seduction that considerable sums had been sub- 
 scribed for that purpose by Spain 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 mal- 
 contents 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 attri- 
 buted 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."
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 265 
 
 Richelieu then proposed the arrest of Marie de 
 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 abundantly 
 employed by the skilful minister in this oration ; 
 which, nevertheless, terminates by exhorting his 
 Majesty " to be brave and politic ; and to remember 
 that an able surgeon, when severing a diseased 
 limb, is careless of the amount of blood which he 
 sheds." Should Louis, nevertheless, 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 entreaties 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 obstinacy 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
 
 266 - THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 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 \ " * 
 
 To accomplish the purpose meditated by the Car- 
 dinal great address was required. The King shrunk 
 from violent measures f against his mother ; and 
 again sought to move her generous forbearance. 
 Finding persuasion fail, Louis ordered a departure of 
 the court for Compiegne, at the suggestion of Riche- 
 
 * Galerie des Personnages Illustres de la Cour de France, t. 4. 
 
 + " 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. "
 
 1631.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 267 
 
 lieu ; 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 cajulerie, 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, remem- 
 bering 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 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. Richelieu still hesitated to offer final 
 defiance to his late benefactress ; while the King, 
 with tears drawn forth by his own lugubrious 
 forebodings, besought his minister to try once more
 
 268 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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.* Marie haughtily 
 retreated ; when the Cardinal, rising, approached the 
 altar whereon the Sacred Elements were exposed, 
 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 ad- 
 herents of Queen Marie, that her Majesty intended to 
 leave Compiegne speedily, " as it was not her inten- 
 
 * 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 e"tait encore recente, elle n'y put etre portee."
 
 1631.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 26 
 
 tion to share the deliberations of the council ; nor 
 longer to sanction by her presence the infamous man- 
 dates 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 surveil- 
 lance 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 gentle- 
 men 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-
 
 270 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 pended. Louis had too little faith in her loyalty and 
 discretion to impart his design ; neither, it is to be 
 feared, was he greatly concerned at the fright likely 
 to be inflicted, by the sudden revelation of so startling 
 an event. Anne had passed the evening in the apart- 
 ments of Marie de' Medici, and had returned there- 
 from 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.* " 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 ah 1 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," re- 
 lates Madame de Motteville. " She had every reason 
 to distrust the King her husband ; and, as she con- 
 fided to me, she believed that some dreadful event 
 was about to happen to her the least that she 
 
 . de Motteville, t. 1.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 271 
 
 expected being, that she was to be banished from the 
 realm. Looking upon the next few minutes as the 
 supreme 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 
 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, desired 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 be- 
 fore his young mistress as she tremblingly advanced 
 with flushed cheeks, and in utter disarray. " Ma- 
 dame," 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 surveillance 
 of the Marshal d'Estrees. It is therefore his Majesty's 
 command, that you attempt not an interview with
 
 272 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 her said Majesty, the Queen-mother ; but that you 
 immediately hasten to the church of the Capuchin 
 convent, where his majesty expects you." ' Chateau- 
 neuf 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 soon recovered her accustomed coolness and 
 decision ; 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 was 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 Ma- 
 demoiselle 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'Stat, expressing a desire to see Queen Anne. 
 
 * M6m. de Motteville. Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. Journal 
 de Richelieu.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 273 
 
 The apartments of the Queen-mother were silent 
 and undisturbed. Filandre made her way to the 
 bed of Caterina Selvaggio chief tirewoman, and whis- 
 pered 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 Ca- 
 terina 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 Senece, carrying a portion of 
 her mistress's attire."" Marie was sitting up in bed, 
 clasping her knees with a face of deepest woe. Anne 
 threw herself in the arms of the unhappy princess, 
 sobbing forth the words, " Oh ! ma me're, 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 1 Speak ! 
 The King, does he desert me 1 What is to become 
 of me 1 " 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 
 
 * " La Reine prit seulement une robe de chambre, et toute en chemise 
 "passa chez la Reine sa belle-mere, qu'elle trouva clans son lit assise sur 
 son s^ant. Elle tenoit les genoux embrasses, ne sachant qtie deviner de ce 
 mystere." Mottevilie, t. 1. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 274 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 many tears the princesses then embraced, and sepa- 
 rated. * 
 
 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 courtiers, many of 
 whom had been roused from their beds to join the 
 King, and scarcely yet comprehended their position. 
 Two ladies also were present Madame de la Flotte 
 and her lovely grand-daughter. The King briefly re- 
 capitulated his reason for the arrest of the Queen his 
 mother. " Madame/' continued his Majesty, address- 
 ing 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 d'atours, Mademoiselle 
 Marie de Hautefort. For both these ladies I request 
 your favour." f Anne had hitherto steadily declined 
 to permit any lady to fulfil the functions of the exiled 
 Madame de Fargis ; J she was, however, now compelled 
 to put the best face on the matter, as the King was 
 evidently in no humour to be trifled with. " Elk les 
 requt toutes deux faisant la meilleure mine du monde," 
 
 * Motteville, t. 1 ; MS. Beth. B. Imp., Fontanieu. 
 t Motteville, t. 1. Victor Cousin, Vie de Madame de Haute- 
 fort. 
 Madame de Senece was first dame clu palais to Queen Anne.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 275 
 
 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 viewed her new ladies, 
 especially Mademoiselle de Hautefort, not only as her 
 rival in the King's favour, hut 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 Made- 
 moiselle 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 inde- 
 scribable consolation in her repose of manner, deco- 
 rous discourse, and sweet smiles. Marie, on her part, 
 professed respectful devotion for Louis Treize ; and 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 exalted him into a hero, whose 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 expression on his sallow, pensive face, 
 sat and sighed by the object of his admiration ; who, 
 serenely gracious, entertained him with the on dits of 
 conventual 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, commanded 
 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 y sent it to Mademoiselle de Haute- 
 fort with a gracious gesture. Marie blushed, for she 
 felt that the eyes of all persons present were watch- 
 ing 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,
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 277 
 
 returned the cushion to the King.* Louis continued 
 his journey with the court to Senlis. There, many 
 victims were sacrificed to the hate, and to the fears 
 of Richelieu ; arrests, perhaps rendered necessary 
 by the catastrophe of Marie's detention at Com- 
 picgne. 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 companion of the queens, and the 
 wife of Bassompierre ; 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, ostensibly 
 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'Eper- 
 non, and the Marshal de Crequi. The Duchesses 
 d'Elboauf, de Rohan, d'Ornano likewise 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 re- 
 sources, and alliances of the realm. The enemies 
 which remained to be overthrown, Richelieu prepared 
 
 * Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort, p. 10.
 
 278 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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,* 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 
 ever to be exiled, so long as the Cardinal retained 
 power. Nevertheless, Richelieu deemed it politic 
 to temporise the conscience, and the filial feelings 
 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 sorrowful 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 
 passageif "The continual excuses which it has 
 
 * Bassoinpierre states, " Que les larrnes de la Reine-mere ne couloient 
 pas, mais se dardoient hors de ses yeux." 
 
 t MS. Bibl. Imp. Fontanieu, 262, p. 126. Madame de Guercheville
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 279 
 
 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 Cornpiegne. 
 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 } r ou 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 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 Ma- 
 jesty asserts that her health is not in condition to 
 
 remained as lady-in.-waiti.ug oil the Queen. She had also her favourites, 
 Caterina Selvaggio, and M. Fabroni and his wife.
 
 280 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [130 
 
 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 Compiegne, 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.* 
 Driven thus into a corner by her enemy the Cardinal, 
 Marie de' Medici had not the tact to dissimulate her 
 resentment and depit ; her protests against the out- 
 rage 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 forwarded to 
 the Parliament of Paris. The members, however, 
 prudently transmitted the document to the King with 
 its seals unbroken. The Marquis de Mirabel mean- 
 time, 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 Com- 
 piegne. Louis wrathfully refused permission. " Sire, 
 apparently, then, her Majesty is a prisoner under 
 
 * MS. Bibl. Imp. Fontanieu, 262, p. 131. MS. Dupuy, Bibl. Imp., 49. 
 -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, M6m. pour servir a 1'Histoire du Card, de 
 Richelieu. Lettre de Ville-aux-Clercs.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 281 
 
 arrest?" " Monseigneur, 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 permission 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." * 
 
 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 re- 
 ceiving the intelligence of his mother's arrest, pro- 
 claimed a levy of troops over all the lands of his 
 appanage, and fled to Nancy, after publishing a 
 
 * Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. " L'ambassadeur tesmoigna au 
 Roi, et ensuite a tant d'autre personnes, le deplaisir qu'il avait de ce refus, 
 et qu'il e"tait sur le point d'en faire une plainte publique au Nonce, et 
 aux autres ambassadeurs, mais il s'^tait retenu par les persuasions de son 
 secretaire."
 
 282 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 hostile manifesto against Richelieu. His Majesty 
 wrote thus from Dijon : 
 
 LOUIS XIII. TO QUEEN MARIE DE 1 MEDICI.* 
 
 " MADAME, I have no occasion to enter into ex- 
 planations with you relative to the reason and just 
 causes, which have compelled me to separate myself 
 from you for an interval, for nobody understands 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, prevented 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 numberless 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 
 
 * MS. Bibl. Imp. Foutanieu, 262, p. 131.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 283 
 
 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 expe- 
 rience a double annoyance ; but 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 important 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 soil, 
 
 " Louis/' 
 
 Marie replied in tones of indignant reproach ; she 
 denies that she had ever troubled the realm, and
 
 284 THE MARRIED LIFE^ OF [1630 
 
 asserts that M. le Cardinal never desired reconciliation, 
 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 commands to leave this place, 
 and to journey towards Moulins. I beg you to reflect, 
 that having received 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 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 relatives, 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/' * The unhappy princess continues 
 thus throughout a long letter of three pages ; and 
 her despair everywhere transpires, as the promptings 
 of her own vindictive temper convinced her that 
 Richelieu would never permit her reconciliation with 
 
 * Marie de' Medici a Louis XIII. ; Bibl. Imp., MS. Font., 262, p. 135.
 
 1631.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 285 
 
 the King ; or share his power with one whom he had 
 so mortally offended. * 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 requisite 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, f 
 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 
 
 * ' ' The Queen pertinaciously demanded that her physician, Vaultier, 
 should return to her. The King promised that he should meet her at 
 lloulins. 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." 
 
 t The King seems animated by the most perfect good faith throughout 
 his correspondence during Marie's detention at Compiegne. His majest 
 appeared willing to make any concession, short of permitting the Queen- 
 mother to return to Paris. Finding that Marie's objections to Moulins 
 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 querir des soyes pour travailler a des ouvrages, a present qua les 
 jours sont grands," wrote d'Estrees to the secretary, Ville-aux-Clercs.
 
 286 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 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'Orleans ; 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 Pre Joseph, 
 therefore, wrote to Marie, offering his good offices to 
 reconcile her with the minister, and sent his missive 
 by a humble Capuchin brother. In that clever satire, 
 " Le Catolicon Fran^ais," 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 journeyings 
 to and from Compiegne, I built up and cemented, 
 by Pere Joseph, the old suspicions that I had in- 
 fused 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, meantime, had 
 been herself busily weaving an intrigue by -which she 
 hoped to break her bonds, and taste the delights of
 
 1631.] AN2TE OF AUSTELL : : 7 
 
 revenge. Marie de Beuil, Countess de Moret, once a 
 mistress of Henri Quatre, had espoused the son of 
 the Marquis de Yardes, governor of the neighbouring 
 fortress of La Capelle, and resided with her husband 
 in that stronghold. The countess found means to 
 communicate secretly with the Queen, and offered to 
 receive her in La Capelle, provided she could escape 
 from Compiegne. Marie eagerly embraced the over- 
 ture ; taking the precaution, however, to write to the 
 Archduchess Isabel, asking for temporary refuge at 
 Brussels, in case any accident, after leaving Com- 
 piegne, should frustrate her design. The Queen, 
 therefore, escaped the surveillance of her jailors, at 
 ten o'clock on the night of July 10th, attended only 
 by La Mazure, lieutenant of her body-guard/* 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 Riche- 
 lieu, aware of the Queen's intrigues with Madame de 
 Vardes, employed gentle pressure to urge her depar- 
 ture from Compiegne ; and had taken care to remove 
 
 * Information faite par SL de Xesmond, Maitre des Eeqnetes, sur 
 sortie de la Eeine-mere de Compiegne. Anbury, Mem. poor servir 
 du Card, de Eichelien.
 
 288 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 all obstacles. At the end of the street of Compiegne, 
 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.* The 
 Queen passed the river Aisne at Choisy ; relays 
 of horses awaited her along the road ; and the ven- 
 ture appeared to prosper beyond her most san- 
 guine 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 
 messenger appeared, who announced that the old 
 Marquis de Vardes, had suddenly entered La 
 Capelle ; and, after arresting his son for his trai- 
 torous 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 
 Cardinal. 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 f to circum- 
 
 * 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. 
 
 t Rend Dubec, premier Marquis de Vardes. The marquis married 
 Helene d'O. His son, Rene II. du nom, espoused Jacqueline de Benil,
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 289 
 
 vent the project by his own opportune arrival. The 
 unfortunate Marie, therefore, not daring to return to 
 Compiegne, took the road, with the utmost precipita- 
 tion, to the town of Avesne, where she was received 
 with ostentatious honour by the Marquis de Creve- 
 cceur. A messenger was despatched 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 XIIL, 
 against his mother, needed no further impetus after 
 her imprudence had been expatiated upon in council, 
 by the Cardinal de Richelieu. In reply to the letter 
 despatched by Marie, the King wrote : " Madame, 
 my cousin the Cardinal de Richelieu gives me daily 
 numerous proofs of devotion, fidelity, affection, and 
 sincerity. He pays a religious deference to my 
 commands ; and the faithful care he gives to the 
 welfare of my realm, and my own person, vouch for 
 
 Countess de Mbret ; and their eldest son, the third Marquis le Vardes, 
 Count de Mover, was the celebrated cavalier of Louis XIV., captain of 
 the Swiss and body guards.
 
 290 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 his truth. You will therefore permit me, Madame, 
 to observe, that the act which you have just com- 
 mitted, 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." ' 
 
 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." f 
 
 The triumphant Richelieu consummated his vic- 
 tory 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'Elboeuf, de Rohan ; the Presidents le 
 Coigneux and de Payen, and M. de Puylaurent, 
 le P. Chanteloube, J confessor to Marie de' Medici ; 
 
 Lcttre do Louis XIII. a Marie de' Medici. Bibl. Imp. MS. Font. 264. 
 
 \- Journal de Richelieu. 
 
 t Le Pi're Chanteloube was banished, or rather fled, to Brussels, to
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 291 
 
 and Mousignot, private secretary to Monsieur. 
 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 par- 
 tage ; 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 pro- 
 test. The King then caused a decree of the privy 
 council to be inserted, which prohibited 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 
 
 avoid arrest for an alleged connivance in a plot to cany off Madame de 
 Combalet. ' ' Afiu de mettre le cardinal a la raison, quand elle auroit 
 ce qu'ilj aimoit taut. Mademoiselle de Eambouillet dtait avec elle : elle 
 alloit voir Madame de Eambouillet." The plot was real one of Marie de' 
 Medici's insane expedients to annoy the cardinal. 
 
 v 2
 
 293 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 service, and caprice. The Abbess of the Val de 
 Grace,* 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 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 inter- 
 rogatories. Amongst these persons were the Marquis 
 de Crequi, and the Count de Cramail, M. Senelle, 
 and Mademoiselle du Tillet. This last lady deposed 
 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 
 
 * M. de St. Etieime 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 
 Capnchiu.
 
 1631.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 293 
 
 Fargis has been dismissed 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 
 household ! " * 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 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 ; Yaultier, to perpetual imprisonment in the 
 Bastille. f 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 malversation during the 
 construction of the citadel of Verdun, by which he 
 had derived illicit profit ; and of mal-administration 
 
 * Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu. Amsterdam, 1661. 
 + Ibid.
 
 294 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 con- 
 ference at Lyons, during the King's illness, to slay 
 the obnoxious Cardinal minister with his own hand. 
 The Lord-Keeper Chateauneuf presided at the trial, 
 which took place, against all precedent, in the pri- 
 vate mansion of Richelieu, at Ruel. On the 8th 
 of May, sentence of decapitation was pronounced 
 upon Marillac : the crime of this old, and faithful 
 servant of Henri Quatre being his devoted attach- 
 ment to the widow of his late master ; and the power 
 which his probity, virtue, and affability 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 inaccuracies in accounts for lime, 
 straw, hay, wood, and stone ! " The following day 
 the head of Marillac fell.* 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 
 
 * Vie du Mare"chal de Marillac. Bayle Diet. Tallemant des Re'autf, 
 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.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 295 
 
 severed, without form or process, on the spot upon 
 which, the virtuous, and good marshal suffered. The 
 ex-Lord-Keeper brother of Marillac, survived his 
 brother only four months : he died at Chateaudun, 
 crippled from the dampness, and unhealthiness of his 
 prison ; and overwhelmed with grief at the ruin of 
 his house. 
 
 Eichelieu, meantime, despatched letters and mis- 
 sives in every direction, to express his dismay at the 
 arrest, and flight of Marie de' Medici ; towards 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 Cardinal 
 de la Yalette, Richelieu thus expresses his regrets : 
 " It is with the most incredible and smarting regret 
 that I announce to you the resolve which his Ma- 
 jesty 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 consoled, seeing a Queen whom I have so 
 long revered, and served, reduced to this condition.
 
 296 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630- 
 
 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 proclaim themselves so likewise." *"" A few days 
 later, the Cardinal wrote to the Commander de la 
 Porte, uncle of M. de St. Simon, to announce the 
 departure 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 confide to 
 her the government of Anjou, and to confirm her 
 
 * Aiibery, Mem. pour 1'Hist. du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 5.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 297 
 
 Majesty's sway over other places already conferred ; 
 but she steadily refused all honourable terms, and 
 requisite precautions, which we proposed." * " The 
 Queen," said Richelieu, " 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 puting 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 perpe- 
 trate evil, inspire suspicions by imprudent, or malig- 
 nant conduct, and censure." f 
 
 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 
 
 * Aubery, Me"m. pour 1'Hist. du Cardinal de Richelieu, t. 5. 
 
 *h 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. 
 Aubrey, t. v., p. 266. " II lie faut pas croire, Sire, qu'on puisse avoir des 
 preuves mathematiques des conspirations et des cabales ; elles ne se 
 connoissent ainsi que pur reVenemeiit, lorscju' elles lie sont plus capables de 
 rernedes, " writes the politic minister.
 
 208 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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. 
 
 4 
 
 2. 
 
 It is necessary for a King to have a prime minister ; 
 and this prime minister must have three qualities, to 
 whit, 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.
 
 1631.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 299 
 
 A Prince ought always to grant free, and constant 
 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. 
 
 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,
 
 300 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1630 
 
 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 forestal 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, carefully 
 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.
 
 1631.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 301 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 16311637. 
 
 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 dominant : 
 alliance with him conferred power, and opposition 
 to his fiats, disgrace and ignominy. The palace 
 swarmed with his spies ; and, even in the retire- 
 ment of her bedchamber, Anne knew that the Car- 
 dinal'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 have declared herself 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
 
 302 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 of France. The proposition had been more than 
 once made to her by the Cardinal through Mesdames 
 de Chevreuse, and de Fargis.* Often, Richelieu 
 was heard to lament the division subsisting between 
 himself and Queen Anne, and to laud rapturously 
 her beauty, wit, and sagacity; while he pathe- 
 tically deplored that these rare gifts should be 
 employed in plots against the government, 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 dis- 
 loyalty, 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 
 
 * " Le Cardinal lui fit dire par Madame de Fargis, dame d'atours, que 
 si elle voulait, il la tireroit bientot de la misere daiis 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, 
 soufTrit qu'il lui ecrivit ct lui fit rnerae reponse ; car elle ne s'imaginoit 
 point que ce commerce produisit autre chose qu'une simple galanterie. " 
 Tallemaut.
 
 1637.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 303 
 
 her husband, or to efface from his suspicious mind 
 the impression cast thereon by the revelations con- 
 sequent 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 Riche- 
 lieu, and were generally imparted to the minister 
 by the Spanish ambassador, or by Madame de 
 Senece. When Louis visited his palaces of Com- 
 piegne, Fontainebleau, Versailles, or Vincennes, no- 
 tice was given to her Majesty, who made preparation 
 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 enthusiasm ; 
 besides, they half resented her shabby equipages,
 
 304 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 func- 
 tions 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 dissimulate 
 her discontent : utter isolation might lead to her 
 banishment from the capital, could Louis be per- 
 suaded 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, summoned Mirabel to the 
 Val de Gr&ce, who obeyed her behests at the risk of 
 being arrested, conducted to the frontier, and dis- 
 missed the realm, to request him to Avait 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 pro- 
 ductive of happy results, and might give M. le Car-
 
 137.J AS^E OF AUSTRIA. 305 
 
 dinal opportunity for friendly counsel."* Richelieu 
 thanked the ambassador for his obliging discourse ; 
 but gave no intimation as to whether he purposed to 
 act in accord thereto. Probably the Cardinal pre- 
 ferred to trust to the good offices of Madame de 
 Chevreuse to bring about a better understanding 
 between the Queen and himself ; rather than to ven- 
 ture alone into her Majesty's presence. The ap- 
 proaching return of Marie de Rohan to court excited 
 in the bosom of the powerful minister, hopes which 
 were never realised. He professed profound admira- 
 tion 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 
 something more in addition. Marie, wearied of her 
 enforced sojourn at Dampierre, and anxious to share 
 the power of her friend Chateauneuf, befooled the 
 Cardinal by professions of admiration ; and by pro- 
 mises of converting Anne of Austria from his foe, to 
 a devoted ally. The adoration which King Louis 
 began, to lavish on Mademoiselle de Hautefort, any 
 comment upon which his Majesty fiercely resented, 
 began to inflict uneasiness on the minister. Anne 
 had already thrown the glamour of her fascinations 
 
 * Journal de Richelieu. " L'ambassadeur m'a dit que j'y deyois aller 
 librement quand le roy y etoit, ou n'y e"toit pas, luy dire un mot de ce 
 qu'elle deroit faire, tantot la divertir de ee qu'on jugeroit a propos ; que 
 je luy feroia plaisir d'en user ainaL" 
 
 VOL I.
 
 308 THE MAREIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 over her young dame d'atours, 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 betrayed her to the 
 minister. The gentle manners of the Queen, her 
 apparent helplessness, her affectionate condescen- 
 sion, the interest she showed in the personal affairs 
 of her friends, and the tearful softness of her 
 blue eyes, were powerful weapons against the as- 
 cendency of the Cardinal, within the precincts of the 
 palace. 
 
 Meantime, the sombre and imperious admiration 
 of Louis XIII. filled the mind of Marie de Hautefort 
 with foreboding. Amongst the beautiful women of 
 the era of Louis XIIL, Marie de Hautefort stands 
 prominent, as one of the most noble, heroic, and 
 virtuous. Firm in her principles, and devoted in 
 her friendship and duty to the Queen her mis- 
 tress, Marie seems to have confided to Anne her
 
 137.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 307 
 
 misgivings. Endowed with a heart worthy of a 
 queen, or of a heroine, Marie at 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 confi- 
 dential intercourse ; he liked to cavil at his minister ; 
 above all, he desired faithful, exclusive attachment. 
 Marie, inspired with genuine compassion 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 inter- 
 course with Marie, allayed the most prudish sus- 
 picion. It is related, that one day Louis abruptly 
 entered the Queen's closet, when Anne was sitting 
 tete-a-tete with her dame d'atours ; who, with height- 
 ened 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 
 
 x a
 
 308 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 brow ; and lie 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 
 by his minister of the admiration professed by the 
 Due de Liancour, and the young Prince de Mar- 
 sillac,* for the lovely young dame d' at ours. By some 
 historians, the letter is said to have been written by 
 Richelieu, and that it contained offers of a recipro- 
 cal 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. f 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 
 
 * Heir of La Rochefoucauld, and afterwards the celebrated duke of that 
 name, author of " The Maxims." 
 
 t Monglat states that Mademoiselle de Hautefort exclaimed, ' ' Prenez- 
 la (la lettre) tant que vous voudrez a cette heure ! " Cousin, Vie de 
 Madame de Hautefort.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 309 
 
 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 apart- 
 ment.* 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 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 
 
 * " Le roi prit des pincettes d' argent qui e'taient 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 duroi." Tie de Madame de Hautefort. 
 Cousin, quoted from la Tie MS.
 
 310 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 dame d'atours by a contemporary.* The heavy assi- 
 duities of Louis were often felt as- insupportable re- 
 straints by one so gifted and charming ; who beheld 
 all the cavaliers of the court vanquished by her fasci- 
 nations ; but, nevertheless, withheld from offering per- 
 sonal homage, daunted by their dread of exciting the 
 resentment of the sovereign. Madame de la Flotte, 
 however, did not fail to remind her granddaughter 
 that the homage of Louis XIII. had enabled her 
 adorers to discern many a captivating grace hitherto 
 undiscovered, when Marie was the humble fille 
 d'honneur of the exiled Queen-mother. When the 
 Louvre rang with the praises of Mademoiselle de 
 Hautefort, f 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 antidote, 
 which he summoned in the form of the Duchess de 
 Chevreuse ; and in the promotion to a more dis- 
 tinguished position in the royal household of another 
 fair young maid of honour, Louise Angelique Metier 
 de la Fayette. Richelieu felt that if the Duchess was 
 
 * Vie de Madame de Hautefort. Cousin, quoted from la Vie MS. 
 t Mademoiselle de Hautefort was known at court by the sobriquet of 
 " Sainte Hautefort."
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 811 
 
 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* to 
 resume her old ascendency over the heart of Anne 
 of Austria ; and to drive into obscurity the presump- 
 tive 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 
 
 * 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." 
 Aube'ry, Mem. pour 1'Hist. du Card, de Richelieu, t. 2.
 
 812 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 
 favour with Richelieu, and the Lord-Keeper Cha- 
 teauneuf, Madame de Chevreuse commenced a suit 
 against her husband for profligate expenditure during 
 her absence, and demanded a separation 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 festivals 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.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 813 
 
 " The court was very agreeable at this period," re- 
 counts Mademoiselle : * " 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 
 recreations ; and we often accompanied his Majesty. 
 Mesdames de Hautefort and St. Louis, d'Escars and 
 de Beaumont attended ine. 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 Madame de Hautefort. When his Majesty 
 was in good humour, he conversed very agreeably 
 At this period he permitted us to speak of the 
 Cardinal de Richelieu ; and as a sign that he was 
 not displeased at our comments, he joined in our 
 conversation. 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, 
 
 * La Grande Mademoiselle Anne Louise d'Orle'ans, daughter of Monsieur 
 and of Marie, Duchess de Monlpensier. Me'm., t. i.
 
 314 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 
 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 every- 
 body ; and during this interval, between the quarrel 
 and reconciliation, he consoled 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
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUST1UA. 315 
 
 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 decorum 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 Mademoi- 
 selle de Hautefort were alone, Marie spoke earnestly 
 respecting the Queen, and besought the King to 
 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 suspicions, 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 happi- 
 ness." This conviction nothing could ever shake. 
 " Madame," continued Louis ; " mark my words you 
 love and support an ungrateful woman. Wait, and
 
 31<J THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 see how one day she will repay your services ! " 
 Marie de Hautefort, like many others, believed fer- 
 vently in the Queen, with her sweet smiles, and 
 gentle seductions. Anne was mistress of the arts of 
 persuasion ; and the disgraces which followed her 
 persistent petty treasons seemed the more to en- 
 dear 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 concealed 
 by the express command of Louis, who shrank from 
 the publication of his domestic miseries. Anne 
 persuaded her friends that her clandestine corre- 
 spondences with Spain were innocent ; and that her 
 stolen conferences with the Spanish ambassador, and 
 with Gerbier, Montague, and Croft, Catholic agents of 
 Queen Henrietta of England, were legitimate. She 
 was persecuted, 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 Richelieu 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
 
 1637.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 317 
 
 seldom avowed what slie 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,* de Chevreuse, and 
 the Princess de Guemene,t 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 granddaughter 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 Ma- 
 
 * 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 
 C'hevreuse. 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 religieusc." 
 Madame de Montbazon was one of the most beautiful women of the court, 
 and one of the most intrigante, and masculine in mind. She died in 1657, 
 aged 45. 
 
 t Anne de Rohan, wife of M. de Guemene", eldest son of the Duke de 
 Montbazon, and brother of Madame de Chevreuse.
 
 318 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1881 
 
 demoiselle de Vendome, all might have contributed 
 to the renown of the court. Moreover, there stood 
 in close. proximity to the throne Marguerite de Mont- 
 morency, Princesse de 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 Genevieve de Bourbon, lovely 
 like her mother, of strong intellect, apt at political 
 intrigue, 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 
 Coudes ; 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'Engheiii 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
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 819 
 
 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 per- 
 formed in honour of the return of her father Mon- 
 sieur, to Paris, in which she and her maidens 
 performed. During a scene of the ballet, a number 
 of caged birds were liberated ; and a h'nnet, 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 won- 
 drous 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.* The 
 trusty friend and equerry of Anne of Austria, de 
 Rochechouart, Chevalier de Jars, had also received 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 mis- 
 sives addressed to the ambassador by his royal 
 
 * "Oil il y avait six poupe'es, 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 poupe'es, etc." Talle- 
 mant, Hist, du Card, de Richelieu.
 
 320 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 mistress. The Christmas of 1631 passed away in 
 this negative state of tranquillity, when, with the 
 public declaration of the marriage of Monsieur with 
 Marguerite,* sister of the Duke of Lorraine, occurred 
 the rising, in Languedoc, on behalf of Monsieur and 
 of his mother the exiled Queen ; and the news that 
 Spain was preparing to invade France at the sum- 
 mons of the heir presumptive. The gallant Due de 
 Montmorency, 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 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 disposed of her 
 jewels for this purpose ; and by the aid of the trea- 
 sury 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 
 
 * Marguerite de Lorraine Vaudemont, daughter of Francois, Count de 
 Vaudemont, and of Fran9oise 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.
 
 1G37.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 321 
 
 to achieve the salvation of France, the reunion of the 
 royal family, and the liberation of the King. Un- 
 happily, some private sources of discontent rendered 
 Montmorency an easy dupe to the sophistry of 
 Monsieur.* He allied himself with the Duke ; pro- 
 mised to take up arms in his cause ; and to open to 
 him a high road through his government of Langue- 
 doc. Having agreed to the convention, Montmo- 
 rency effectually closed against himself the avenues 
 of mercy in the breast of the suspicious 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 malcontents, ready to throw for the same lot as 
 Monsieur. With such an army of adventurers, the 
 Duke hesitated not to endanger the lives of cavaliers 
 like Montmorency, Elbreuf, Moret, and M. de la 
 
 * Montmorency had asked for the sword of Constable, and for the govern- 
 ment 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 Cherreuse, which had incurred 
 the resentment and bad offices of Madame de Chevreuse. Vie du Due de 
 Montmorencj- Galerie des Personnages Illustres. The Duke proposed 
 to the States of the province to vote a supply for the King's sen-ice, 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 Eoi pour le service de Monsieur." 3Ie"m. du Due de 
 Moatmorency : Paris, 1665.
 
 322 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 Valette, the husband of his half-sister, Gabrielle de 
 Bourbon ; and, to make the risk still more fatal, he 
 entered France three days before the period agreed 
 upon, and while Montmorency was at Lunel. All 
 true patriots throughout the realm, much as they 
 deprecated Richelieu's harsh treatment 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 Cas- 
 telnaudari had put down the rebellion, by the cap- 
 ture of Montmorency on the battle-field ; and by the 
 total rout of the rebels by the troops under Schom- 
 berg. 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 punishment due to 
 his rebellion, by his position as heir-presumptive.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 323 
 
 A great example of royal justice, nevertheless, was 
 needed : and it was decreed that the brave and 
 chivalrous Montniorency should suffer the death of a 
 traitor on the scaffold, as a wholesome warning to 
 the Due de Bouillon, to 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-minis- 
 ter." 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 constituted, headed by the 
 Lord-Keeper Chateauneuf, to try him for treason. 
 On the morrow the Duke appeared before his judges. 
 On the 30th of October, 1632, sentence was pro- 
 nounced ; and during the afternoon of the same day, 
 Montmorency expiated his crime on the scaffold. 
 Incredible exertions had been made to save his life. 
 Monsieur sent special messengers three times to im- 
 plore his pardon. Madame de Conde knelt at the 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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* 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 Parliament of 
 Toulouse, his judge ! " In former years, 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 audi- 
 ence of her Majesty to implore her intercession. Anne 
 turned very pale : she hesitated, but at length pro- 
 mised 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 
 
 * 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 dti Due de Mont- 
 morency, Paris, 1665 ; Galerie des Persbnnages Illustres de la Cour de 
 Louis XIII., t. 4; Mm. de Bassompierre, de Pontis, Tallemant ; Aubi5ry, 
 Hist, du Cardinal de Richelieu ; Pere Griflet, Continuation de 1'Histoire 
 du Pere Daniel ; Le Vassor, Hist, de Louis XIII. ; Madame de Motteville, 
 Me*ra., t. 1.
 
 1637.] AXNE OF AUSTRIA. 325 
 
 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." * Whether Anne was aware of this circum- 
 stance cannot be ascertained : she, nevertheless, 
 ventured 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 Bellegarde owed the 
 disfavour which had terminated in exile to her 
 smiles ; Buckingham had perished by the hand of 
 an assassin, when arming in her behalf and, as 
 some believed, by her secret command, for the in- 
 vasion of her adopted country ; Montmorency was 
 about to perish on a scaffold ; the Due d'Orleans, be- 
 trayed in the first instance, by her beauty and alleged 
 regard, into treasonable conspiracy against the state, 
 
 * Anquctil. Le Fere GrilTet, who states that Richelieu revealed the 
 circumstance to tlie King, with the intention of increasing the wrath of his 
 Majesty. " Le Due de Montmorency," writes Madame Motteville, " ctoit 
 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 
 espaguole, assez a la mode dans ce temps."
 
 326 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 devotion to Anne of Austria ; while 
 exile, death, and imprisonment had been, besides, 
 the fate of numerous less-known agents in her in- 
 trigues. Anne, therefore, took courage, and resolved 
 to make an attempt to save the life of Montmo- 
 rency. Moreover, the Queen often asserted that she 
 possessed power over the inclinations of the Car- 
 dinal-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, lliche- 
 lieu listened to Anne's pleadings for the life of 
 Montmorency, in silence and tears. " Je plains 
 M. de Montmvrency ; mais il ne peut eviter la mort, 
 ou une prison perpetuelle" said he. Her Majesty 
 then asked the Cardinal whether intercession with 
 the King would avail, as she was resolved to
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 327 
 
 petition le Hoi Monsigneur. "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 ! " * 
 Anne comprehended that she had received a tacit 
 interdiction ; and that, if she scorned his prohibition, 
 the Cardinal intended to warn the King that her 
 entreaties to him to revoke his resolves had been 
 taken in defiance of the apprehensions expressed 
 by Richelieu concerning the royal health the in- 
 ference thereby to be deduced being, that Anne 
 cared more for the rescue of Montmorency 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 
 
 * Anquetil ; Motteville ; le P. Griffct ; Galerie des Personnages Illustreg 
 de la Cour do Louis XIII,
 
 328 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 of a foreign force, levied by funds provided by 
 Queen Marie, and increased by contributions from 
 the Spanish exchequer.* If Monsieur had possessed 
 military talent, or even common sagacity and punctu- 
 ality, a frightful civil war might have ravaged the 
 kingdom. This formidable invasion had been neutra- 
 lised 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 inexorable." f 
 
 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 unpar- 
 donable, inasmuch as M. d'Orleans had been re- 
 ceived in Languedoc with, and by the tacit consent 
 of, the States of the province, on the demand of the 
 
 * " 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 quo c'etoit pour lui de voir s'il vouloit conserver le Due, 
 ou Puylaurents." 
 
 f Vie du Due de Montmorency.
 
 1(337.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 329 
 
 Marshal, an aggravation of his treason which 
 merited direst expiation. The matter was after- 
 wards 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 enipannelled 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.* The blood 
 of Montmorency haunted, ever afterwards, the un- 
 fortunate King. Madame la Princesse left no pause 
 of forgetfulness to any personage who had pro- 
 moted the catastrophe of her brother's overthrow. 
 Her enmity to the Duke of Orleans, who so dis- 
 honourably abandoned Montmorency 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, Marlon, and other 
 magnificent domains. f The mental and personal 
 gifts of the Due de Montmorency, so highly lauded 
 by most contemporary historians, are more soberly 
 
 * Vie du Pere Joseph Leclerc de Tremblay, Capucin, lustituteur de 
 I'Oi-dre des Filles de Calvaire. 
 
 t The chateau of Dammartin -was given to the Duchesse de Yentadour, 
 half-sister of the unhappy Duke.
 
 330 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 discussed by Tallemant des Reaux, tlie Brantome of 
 the seventeenth century. " The last Due de Mont- 
 morency," writes Tallemant,* " 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 readiness 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 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 
 
 * Historiette de M. de Montmorency, t. 3 ; Tallemant des Re"aux.
 
 1G37.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 331 
 
 this sum with all my heart/ During his passion for 
 Madame cle Sable, the Duke one day sent her deeds, 
 making donation of an estate worth 40,000 livres 
 annually ; which, however, the Marquise declined to 
 accept. Montrnorency fell desperately in love with 
 Queen Anne of Austria; hut 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 confidential 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 Riche- 
 lieu 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 " perfidious 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 Toulouse, left Queen Anne in the safe custody 
 of his minister ; who conducted her, attended by
 
 332 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 consequence of 
 the close alliance now subsisting between France, 
 the Protestant princes of Germany, 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 Senor Navas, Spanish charge 
 d'affaires, then resident in Paris, who was intro- 
 duced, 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 appartcments, 
 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
 
 1<337.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 333 
 
 before the rising in the South, and excited much 
 suspicion. Richelieu, from that moment, watched 
 Madame de Chevreuse, 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, never- 
 theless, 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." * 
 
 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 indisposed, from the 
 
 * Journal du Cardinal de Richelieu.
 
 334 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 reception ; and the Cardinal 
 was informed that the beautiful Duchess and her 
 friend Chateauneuf had danced together merrily ; 
 and had even been overheard to make sundry un- 
 complimentary allusions to the sick minister. Such 
 levity seemed ill to accord with the expressions of 
 devotion proffered by Madame de Chevreusc ; or with 
 the gratitude so fluently professed by M. de Cha- 
 teauneuf 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,* de Montbazon, de Hautefort, de la Fayette, 
 Madame de la Flotte, the Princess de Conde, the 
 
 * Marie Catherine de la Rochefoucauld, Countess do Rendan, \vidow of 
 Henri de Beauffremout Marquis de Sendee, governor of Auxonne, and 
 ambassador at Madrid during three years of the regency.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 335 
 
 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 admitted to Ics petites entrees of the Queen of 
 France. A precious document,* found by M. Victor 
 Cousin in the archives of the French Foreign Office 
 that rich mine of historical wealth now unfortu- 
 nately closed to the public recounts the surgings of 
 the great Cardinal's wrath against his suspected foe, 
 Cliateauneuf, as daily he added one fact to another ; 
 until, exasperated by such ingratitude, Richelieu or- 
 dered his arrest, February, 1633, and the seizure 
 of the papers, and effects of the unhappy Lord- 
 Keeper. The true cause of this arrest was occa- 
 sioned by the mad jealousy of Richelieu, who found 
 that he had been deceived and flouted by the beau- 
 tiful woman, whose professions of love and fidelity 
 had disarmed his suspicion. Madame de Che- 
 vreuse had all along been the ally, and, it must 
 be added, the mistress of Cliateauneuf, 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, 
 
 * Cousin. Me"m. dc M. le Cardinal de Richelieu centre M. de Cliateau- 
 neuf. Archives des Affaires Etrangeres ; France, t. ci. ; douze pages de la 
 main de Cbarpentier, un des secretaires de iiichelieu.
 
 336 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 tur- 
 bulent 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." Riche- 
 lieu commences 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." 
 In this curious document, the names of the persons 
 mentioned are indicated by ciphers : number 9 stood 
 for Madame de Chevreuse. Richelieu accuses Cha- 
 teauneuf 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 Chevreuse, and even to Queen Anne ; of 
 keeping up a private and traitorous correspondence
 
 1637.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 337 
 
 with England, of which the Cardinal had been 
 warned by Western, 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 ; * that her Britannic Majesty had been 
 heard several times to express disgust at the 
 policy of the Cardinal, in supporting the Protestant 
 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 Chateauneuf of duplicity in 
 the affair of M. de Montmorency ; 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 
 intercession when, on the contrary, M. le Garde des 
 Sceaux had been the first to propose the execution 
 
 * Chateauueuf 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 baptised privately by her Roman Catholic chaplain, 
 which, if she consented to do, Louis XIII. promises to stand sponsor to the 
 child. ' ' Vous savez, ma sceur, quo le seul moyen de vous donner con- 
 tentement, que la reyne ma mere, et moi nons tenions sur les fonts de 
 bapteme le prince mon neveu, c'est qu'il soit baptise a la catholique ; a quoi 
 vous pouvez beaucoup contribuer, puisquc cela se pent faire par votre 
 aumGnier dans votre oratoire, le roy mon frere pouvant alors dire quo 
 vous 1'avez fait sans son sceu, etconsentement." Lettrede Louis XIII. a. 
 la Reyne d'Angleterre. Aube'ry, Hist, dn Card, de Richelieu, t. 5, p. 375. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 338 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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, 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 con- 
 stituted 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. Cha- 
 teauneuf 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 Ruffec, 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
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 339 
 
 the abode of M. cle 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, however, was 
 found in an ebony cabinet, which had 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 Puylaurents favourite-in-chief of 
 Monsieur, from the Duke de Vendome, and the Count 
 de Biron all bitter opponents of the Cardinal.* 
 
 * Proces- Verbal de la Yisite des Papiers do M. de Chateauneuf, faite 
 
 z 2
 
 340 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 The correspondence 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 correspondence 
 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 correspondence under a sobriquet 
 too insulting, and indecent to find place in these 
 pages. "28 * ( 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 Chevreuse 
 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 
 
 par MM. Bontliillier et de Bullion ; copie comnmniquee par M. lo Due do 
 Luynes ; Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse, p. 242. 
 
 * 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.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 341 
 
 lie did not wish to show anger in the presence of the 
 Queen, or whether he did not desire to quarrel with 
 Madame de Chevreuse. 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." * 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 compli- 
 ments 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 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 
 
 * Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse. These letters are also quoted 
 by le P. Griffet, Hist, du Rogue de Louis XIII ; Continuatioii de 1'Hist. 
 de France du Pere Daniel.
 
 342 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1681 
 
 recently to my husband that my humour was un- 
 bearable 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 Clievreuse 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 every- 
 thing 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 
 demonstrate 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 diamond to her 
 lover ; she exhorts him to be firm as the precious 
 gem she sends him \ and to shine, like its lustrous
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 343 
 
 rays, a light amid darkness. Again she writes, in 
 the third person : " I believe that M. de Chateau- 
 neuf 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. Chateauneuf had 
 passed his 50th year : he was plain in person, 
 without courtly grace, or wit. Amid all her aberra- 
 tions, Madame de Chevreuse never abjured her one 
 great redeeming attribute fidelity. Bitter must 
 have been Richelieu's reflections 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 so 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
 
 344 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 made strange complaints. He declared that she 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 yalanterie. 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 llichelieu shrank from 
 public ridicule, such as would have befallen him on 
 the publication of the letters of Madame de
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 345 
 
 Chevreuse ; and from the unsparing revelations likely 
 to fall from the lips of the duchess, if put upon her 
 trial by the side of Chtiteauneuf. Orders were 
 despatched to remove the ex-Lord-Keeper to the 
 citadel of Angouleme ; where he was subjected to 
 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 formalities. 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 inter- 
 view was demanded de par le roi. Madame 
 de Chevreuse appeared and was presented with 
 a lettre de 'cachet, which exiled her to Dampierre, 
 where she was to remain under surveillance. Five 
 hours only were allowed her to make preparation 
 for departure from the capital.* Escorted by a 
 guard of soldiers, Madame de Chevreuse reached her 
 destination, before the Queen heard of her exile. 
 
 The minor personages, meanwhile those within 
 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 
 
 * Cousin, Vie de Madame de C'hevreuse ; Motteville, t. c.
 
 346 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 treasonable 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 clemency had commuted his punishment 
 into incarceration for life in the Bastille. * 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 capita]. The depit 
 amouTCux 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 
 
 * Cousin, Vie de Madame de Chevreuse ; Motteville, t. c.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 347 
 
 exiled duchess, on pain of incurring his signal dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 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 des- 
 patch secretly; and in which she found the letters sent 
 to her 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 Monsieur, 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
 
 348 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1G31 
 
 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 Cardinal, 
 was ready to sacrifice anything for vengeance. Dam- 
 pierre, the place of her exile, was then a dreary, and 
 half-furnished chateau.* 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 fa- 
 vourite, the Marquise de Verneuil. Richelieu had 
 managed to infuse an additional sting in his punish- 
 ment, by sending the duchess to her husband's castle 
 of Dampierre ; from whom, when in the plenitude of 
 her power and pride, she had obtained a separation. 
 Correspondence at length failed to satisfy the Queen 
 and her friend : they determined to meet, in de- 
 
 * Dampierro became subsequently one of the most magnificent scats 
 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 Duke de Chevreuse and de Luyncs 
 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 ; Hen- 
 riette, abbess of Jouarre ; and Mademoiselle de Chevreuse, celebrated 
 for her beauty, and the admiration of the coadjutor De Rctz.
 
 1637.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 349 
 
 fiance of the minister, and his mandates. One day, 
 therefore, Marie disguised herself 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 
 persecution, 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 chien et loitp." 
 This meeting occurred twice, according to the state- 
 ment which, at a subsequent period, the Queen was 
 compelled to make on oath. Other chroniclers, how- 
 ever, relate that the clandestine 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 Che- 
 vreuse was directed to enter the vehicle. In vain 
 Marie expostulated, and petitioned for delay ; she 
 was compelled to submit ; and, on being shown the 
 instructions given to the commanding officer of the
 
 350 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 escort, even to congratulate herself on the leniency 
 with which she was treated. The Constable cle 
 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 captivity ; her 
 actions were subjected 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 
 impotent 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 Ma- 
 jesty's platonic friendship with De Hautefort pros- 
 pered 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 dis- 
 course, 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.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 351 
 
 She was very handsome ; but during eight days the 
 King agreed well with her, and during a subsequent 
 eight days he quarrelled with her." Louis vainly 
 tried to detach Mademoiselle de Hautefort from 
 her duty and affection for the Queen, whom Marie 
 resolutely 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 herself 
 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 repe- 
 tition 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 disinterested ; 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. 
 Accordingly, the Due de St. Simon, the Bishop 
 of. Limoges, uncle of Mademoiselle de la Fayette, 
 the Duke d'Halluyn,* Madame de Senece, and 
 
 * Charles de Schomberg, Due d'Halluyn, Pair ct Marechal de France, 
 Marquis d'Epinay, and Comic do Nanteuil. This nobleman eventually 
 married Mademoiselle de Hautefort, September 24, 1646. The duke 
 died 165U.
 
 352 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 Mesdenioiselles d'Aiches, de Vieux-Pont, and dc 
 Polignac, and M. Sanguin, mattre d'hdtel 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 independence displayed by la 
 Hautefort ; and confidentially advised the King to 
 punish her, by appearing to transfer the honour of 
 his notice to la Fayette.* The King approved, and 
 promised to follow the counsel of his friends. The 
 same evening la Fayette was desired by the Car- 
 dinal, to take her harp and to sing a song, com- 
 posed 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 reve- 
 rence, 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 sympa- 
 thise therein. Louise Angelique Motier de la Fay- 
 ette was the only daughter of Jean de la Fayette, 
 Seigneur de Hautefeuille, and of Marguerite de 
 
 * Mdm. dc la Porte. Petitot, t. 50.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 353 
 
 Bourbon Busset,* who was descended from an ille- 
 gitimate 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 Fa- 
 yette 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 Marquise 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 
 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 power- 
 fully supported. Mademoiselle de la Fayette is 
 described as possessed of many personal attractions : 
 she was a brunette, with shining eyes ; rather em- 
 bonpoint in figure, without much dignity of carriage ; 
 shy, and sedate in manner and speech ; given to 
 sentiment, poetry, and meditation ; and preferring 
 
 * Daughter of Cesar de Bourbon, Count de Busset, and of Louise de 
 Montmorillon. The branch of Bourbon Busset descended from the tur- 
 bulent Louis, Archbishop of Liege, who died in 1482, son of Charles I., 
 Duke of Bourbon, and of Agnes of Burgundy. 
 
 VOL. I. A A
 
 354 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 to 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 disregard of 
 worldly interest which distinguished her career. 
 Her regard for the King soon deepened into the 
 purest, and most enthusiastic attachment : she en- 
 tered into Louis's 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 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 cabi- 
 net, 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
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTEIA. 355 
 
 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, "n'aime que 
 I'espece en femmes il estentoure de dames d?une 
 sagesse, et continence reconnues!" As for Louis, la 
 Fayette was the idol before whom he offered heart- 
 felt adoration " Ang Clique etait sa joie et so, cou- 
 ronne ! " 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 re- 
 pute 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 indif- 
 ference, and misconduct of Anne of Austria, by 
 following the example of his father. These counsels 
 at length made impression on the King ; and, yield- 
 ing 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 
 
 A A 2
 
 856 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1681 
 
 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 he 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 trust- 
 worthy, 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 pru- 
 dence which induced this generous woman to refuse 
 alliance with the Cardinal de Richelieu, prompted
 
 1637.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 357 
 
 her to live on tolerable terms with the Queen. An 
 attachment so perfect could not fail to give content- 
 ment to the King, and displeasure 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 pro- 
 priety, and justness with characteristic obstinacy. 
 The moment, therefore, that la Fayette ceased to 
 resist, and to rebuke the inclinations of the King, 
 her ascendency would be omnipotent ; and from Ver- 
 sailles 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 
 jeport 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
 
 358 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 the downfall of Mademoiselle de Hautefort. Louis 
 would not look at another of Anne's maidens ; and 
 listened in gloomy silence to Richelieu's laudation of 
 any one amongst the fair bevy. The sole avenue, 
 therefore, likely to lead to the overthrow of Ma- 
 demoiselle 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 inti- 
 mations, and the bribery by which the Cardinal inau- 
 gurated 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 ecclesi- 
 astic devoted to Richelieu, whom he worshipped, and 
 obeyed with servile zeal. This personage, who was 
 considered a light in his Order being a man dis- 
 tinguished by learning, eloquence, ecclesiastical power, 
 and religious zeal took yearly a solemn oath of obe- 
 dience * to the Cardinal minister, whom he regarded 
 
 * The words of this oath were, " Ego Frater Joannes Baptista Carre', 
 ordinis Pradicatorum, vestri Novitiatus Generalis Prioris, voveo et pro- 
 metto obedientiam tibi, Domino Eminentissimo Armando Cardinal! Duci 
 de Richelieu, usque ad mortem." Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France, 
 t, 78 j Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort.
 
 1637.] ANXE OF AUSTRIA. 359 
 
 as the incarnation of human power, wisdom, and 
 benevolence. Carre addressed to his patron long 
 memorials on public affairs, written with consummate 
 skill ; he transmitted notes describing the condition 
 ot 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 
 Dominican community in France at the disposal of 
 Richelieu ; while his judicious counsels, and 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 meditations, called " La 
 Cour Sainte," very much admired by pious persons. 
 Intimation of his promotion was given to Caussin, 
 who was desired by his Eminence to wait upon the
 
 360 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 King on the morning of the Feast of the Annuncia- 
 tion, 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 much 
 coveted post of confessor in ordinary, provided that 
 his Majesty received satisfaction from his ministra- 
 tions 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." * The 
 tone of the Cardinal was careless, but his manner 
 
 * Le Pere Griffet, Hist, du Regue de Louis XIII. , t. 3.
 
 1637. J ANNE OF AUSTEIA. 361 
 
 significant. Caussin, therefore, departed initiated 
 in the line] of action expected from him, but by 
 no means disposed to implicit submission. The fol- 
 lowing 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 subse- 
 quently 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 depart- 
 ment, 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 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 profound secrecy 
 respecting his visit ; but exhorted Caussin to carry 
 out the views of his Eminence, whose patriotic and 
 disinterested counsels conferred prosperity on the 
 realm.* It was subsequently represented to Caussin 
 that Queen Anne beheld the ascendency of la 
 
 * Griffet, t. 3.
 
 362 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 exaspe- 
 ration against his minister. She sympathised 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 indepen- 
 dence, and her true regard for Louis ; which made 
 him apprehend that one day the restraints inter- 
 posed by virtue, and piety, might be cast aside for 
 ever, and that France would adore in Louise Ange- 
 lique de la Fayette, a second Gabrielle d'Estrees. 
 Caussin, the director of the royal conscience, was,
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTKIA. 363 
 
 meantime, disinclined to follow the dictation of 
 Richelieu. His Order was jealous of the Dominican 
 communities and of their Superior, Carre ; and re- 
 sented 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 approved 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 des- 
 cried 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 household 
 was a very focus of intrigue ; every person apper- 
 taining thereto adhered to one of the factions of the 
 Queen, the Cardinal, or la Fayette. Mademoiselle 
 de Polignac, governess of the maids, the Due de St.
 
 364 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 Simon, Madame de la Flotte, dame d'atours, Mademoi- 
 selle de Che'merault, Mademoiselle de Filandre, 
 head-dresser to her majesty, Sanguin, chief mattre 
 (fhdtel, and others, were the hidden spies of Riche- 
 lieu, 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 mar- 
 riage of Monsieur, a marked change had come over 
 her Majesty, who seemed now to be less the oppo- 
 nent 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 Ma- 
 demoiselle 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 at- 
 tendant not seduced by the benefits of M. le Ministre. 
 Richelieu, however, soon contrived to lure Boiszenval 
 from his allegiance to a lady, whom the Cardinal 
 assured him was on the eve of withdrawing from
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 365 
 
 the world ; and \vhose favour could be but tempo- 
 rarily exerted in his behalf. Partly intimidated by 
 the half-uttered threat of the minister, and partly 
 prompted by self-interested motives, Boiszenval 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 handwriting, caused the letters to be 
 copied again, altering any profession, or statement 
 therein which displeased him.* The same method 
 he pursued with regard to verbal messages inter- 
 changed between the lovers, which the Cardinal sup- 
 pressed 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 sus- 
 picion ; and, upon comparing notes, the King and 
 la Fayette discovered how they had been deceived. 
 A few days subsequently Louis suddenly addressed 
 
 * Siri, Memorie Recondite, t. 4 ; L'Espion, Turc. t. 4 (written by one 
 Paolo Havana) ; Dreux du Radier, t. 6 ; Vie do Mademoiselle de la 
 Favette.
 
 366 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631- 
 
 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." * Boiszenval retired : his patron, the Car- 
 dinal, dared not interfere ; 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. Ger- 
 main, she approached him timidly, saying, " Reve- 
 rend Father, I wish, if possible, to speak with you." 
 Caussin excused himself from an immediate inter- 
 view, 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 pretended 
 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 nun- 
 nery. Yes ; I consent to the conference." Caussin, 
 therefore, held a long consultation with Mademoiselle 
 
 * Siri, t. 8 ; Dreux du Radier, t. 6 ; Le Pere Griffet, t. 3 ; Hist, de 
 Louis XIII.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 367 
 
 de la Fayette, in the presence of Mademoiselle de 
 Polignac, "who having been secretly bribed by Riche- 
 lieu, 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, thereupon, repre- 
 sented the privations and hardships of a nun ; and 
 asked the pertinent question, " whether she had a 
 true call, and was not lured thereto by worldly 
 chagrin, and by the representations of interested 
 personages ? " La Fayette replied with tears, " that 
 in her early youth a religious life had been her elec- 
 tion ; 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." * 
 Caussin, therefore, honestly performed the task im- 
 posed upon him. Louis heard him in gloomy 
 despair. " Although," replied his Majesty, " I re- 
 gret and deplore her decision, yet I dare not hinder 
 
 * Griffet, t. 3.
 
 368 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 her vocation. Nevertheless, tell her to wait until 
 my departure to join my army. Meantime, consult 
 Madame de Sendee on the subject I leave all to her." 
 Madame de Senece, when appealed to by Caussin, 
 as the King doubtless anticipated, absolutely re- 
 fused 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 Car- 
 dinal 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," 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 insinuate himself, if pos- 
 sible, into her confidence.* The subterfuge failed : 
 Louise made one confession to Carre, and then 
 refused to open her mind further to the stern 
 Dominican ; who, if he failed, in obtaining her con- 
 fidence, at any rate served the Cardinal's purpose 
 by maintaining, through other ladies of the palace, 
 his penitents, the most rigid surveillance over her 
 
 * Le P&re Griffet, t. 3 ; M&n. de Motteville, t. 1.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 369 
 
 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:* "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 Senec6, 
 and M. le Chevalier 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 f 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 convent. They asked 
 me why I so acted, and why I had not consulted 
 them ? I replied that my 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 
 
 * Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort, Appendix sur Mademoiselle 
 de la Fayette ; Archives des Affaires Etraugeres, France, t. 78, fol. 63. 
 
 t " L'oncle espe'rait pour moins obtenir un chapeau par le moyen de la 
 petite."
 
 370 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 with the conscience of a lady of her household ; 
 and forbade me, on their own responsibility, to inter- 
 fere 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 Carr4 alone. 
 In the evening, Carre" accidentally exchanged a few 
 words with la Fayette, and exhorted her to retire 
 without further parley, and to address letters of 
 farewell from the convent to the King, to the Car- 
 dinal, and to her own relatives ; also, if she so de- 
 sired, to the Queen. Mademoiselle de la Fayette 
 then remarked, " that was unnecessary, 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 en- 
 countered 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 apprehen- 
 sion, for that your Eminence would protect her.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 371 
 
 I then asked her what her own wishes were? 
 She replied, in a labyrinth of words, ' that in a few 
 years she might feel better assured of her voca- 
 tion/ 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 wel- 
 fare 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 attach- 
 ment. It was my opinion, therefore, that all 
 conscientious persons should contribute toward so 
 merciful an object." * Another day Carre* writes to 
 the Cardinal to inform him that Mademoiselle 
 Thomassin f 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 
 resentment of the Cardinal ; and even feared that 
 some personal catastrophe would befal her indeed, 
 
 * Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France, t. 78, foL 124. 
 f Mademoiselle Thomassin was a dresser in the service of Anne of 
 Austria.
 
 372 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 every little vexatious incident was now interpreted 
 by la petite as a sign of Divine wrath at her 
 indecision ; " for instance, this morning la Fayette 
 came into my apartment," said Thomassin, "and 
 said that God drew her towards a religious life, by 
 inflicting upon her countless 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.' " * Richelieu 
 caused it to be intimated to la Fayette that she 
 should become a benefactress to any convent she 
 might select, by presenting the community with 
 30,000 francs. Never was there a more zealous ex- 
 ponent than Carre" of the minister's wishes : the more 
 difficult the enterprise, the more important did it ap- 
 pear 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 commencement 
 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 resolu- 
 tion to abandon the thorny path of intrigue, and of 
 a vain wrestling with the inexorable mind which ruled 
 France, Caussin's earnest counsel followed her : 
 
 * Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, France, t. 78, fol. 150, quoted from 
 M. Cousin, Appendix, Vie de Madame de Hautefort.
 
 1637.] AXXE OF AUSTRIA. 373 
 
 " What ! will you quit the court, a King who esteems 
 you, and brilliant prospects, to take the veil, and 
 bury yourself between four walls ! There are only 
 too many unhappy women, who have thrown them- 
 selves into convents without due reflection; and will 
 you, Madame, increase the number 1 You do not 
 know what it is to relinquish your judgment, to 
 abandon your will, and to live by, and at the dicta- 
 tion of strangers, who will not permit you to dispose 
 of a pin without their sanction ! You have been 
 as a bird of paradise at court, fed with amber and 
 cinnamon ; you have heard nothing but praise, com- 
 pliments, 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 repentance, 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 herself in a prison, 
 surpasses belief! The conversation of the King, has 
 it ever offended you, and evoked scruples 1 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
 
 374 THE MARUT ED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 you can through him, as God has been pleased to 
 endow you with such power over his Majesty's 
 mind." Distracted 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 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 well shrink from continuing to brave the 
 hostility of the minister, against which not one of the 
 King'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 
 
 * Me"m. de Richelieu, t. x.
 
 1637.J ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 375 
 
 permission to make an excursion to Paris to see the 
 abbess of the Visitandines, of the Rue St. Antoine. 
 Louis wept, but consented ; laying, however, 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 conveyed to her by Carre,* " 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 expediency, and 
 to the will of the Cardinal. To the reluctant Caussin 
 was intrusted the mission of 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 
 
 * Louis XIII. had no very elevated opinion of the capacity of the 
 zealous Dominican. " Le bon Pere Carre," said his Majesty one day, 
 " est un de ccs saints qu'on gague aise'meut des qu'on a bien dore' une 
 chapelle."
 
 376 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 remarking on the extreme pallor of the King. In 
 the presence of the court, she then thanked the King 
 for his permission, 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! Never- 
 theless, 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 vocation ! " 
 Louise then said farewell to her royal mistress 
 " gui ne la pouvait aimer!' Anne coldly smiled.* 
 " The only bitterness of departure," exclaimed 
 Louise afterwards, " is the joy and triumph of my 
 enemies ! " La Fayette then retired to the apart- 
 ment of the Countess de Fleix, daughter of Madame 
 de Senece. A fit of hysterical weeping relieved her 
 overstrained feelings, 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. " Alas, alas ! I shall never see him 
 
 * Mm. de Motteville ; Griffet, Regne de Louis XIII. ; Dreux du 
 Radier, t. 6.
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 377 
 
 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, departed 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.* 
 The King, meantime, on his arrival at Versailles, 
 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 convents 
 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 interview with 
 Mademoiselle de la Fayette. On the arrival of his 
 Majesty, he encountered, to his surprise, M. de 
 Koyers, the confidential friend of the minister. The 
 King sharply enquired his business ; 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 
 
 * Mem. de Motteville ; Griffet, Regne de Louis XIII. ; Dreux ud 
 Radier, t. 6. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 373 THE MARRIED LIFE OF [1631 
 
 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 state, that his Majesty afterwards con- 
 fessed 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 Ma- 
 demoiselle de la Fayette subsists 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 re- 
 lentless 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 touching allusion to 
 the fragility of the health of the King, which at any 
 moment might fail ; and she implored him to listen
 
 1637.] ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 379 
 
 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 between the King and la Fayette 
 turned, as everyone 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 demoisette. What can you 
 fear "? Mademoiselle de la Fayette is only a child/' 
 " Doucement, mon pere," 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.* Let her take the veil, 
 
 * Cousin, Vie de Madame de Hautefort, Bibl. Imp. Val. 73, 74, MS. 
 " Le Cardinal m'a dit que quand le Eoi cut 6t6 trois jours sans voir 
 la Fayette il seroit gueri, que je ne pouvais ignorer ce que disoit St. 
 Jerome, qu'il falloit passer sur le corps de son pere, pour courir a I'd-
 
 380 THE MARRIED LIFE OF ANNE OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 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, 
 according to the relation of Caussin himself, pro- 
 posed a strict alliance, averring that all other con- 
 fessors of the King had lived in confidential inter- 
 course 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 over- 
 tures ; but the cold indifference of 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. 
 
 tendard de la croix. Je lui aurois pu dire," adds Caussin, " que le Saint- 
 Espril ne se prend pas a coups de canon ; mais je lui dis seuleraent 
 que si j'eusse presse" davantage, j'aurois tout gat<5." 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 BRADBUKY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WH1TEFRIAUS.
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 PRINTED IN U S ft-