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Memoirs and Historical Chronicles of the Courts of Europe

by King of France consort of Henry IV Queen Marguerite · English · Gutenberg #12967 · 623,915 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: Memoirs and Historical Chronicles of the Courts of Europe

Author: King of France consort of Henry IV Queen Marguerite
        Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme
        Mme. Du Hausset


        
Release date: July 20, 2004 [eBook #12967]
                Most recently updated: October 28, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12967

Credits: Produced by Robert J. Hall


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS AND HISTORICAL CHRONICLES OF THE COURTS OF EUROPE ***

MEMOIRS AND HISTORICAL CHRONICLES OF THE COURTS OF EUROPE


[Illustration: THE CHILD MOZART, INVITED BY MADAME DE POMPADOUR
TO PLAY AT HER COURT. _From the painting by V. de Paredes._]


MEMOIRS OF MARGUERITE DE VALOIS

_Queen of France, Wife of Henri IV_

OF MADAME DE POMPADOUR

_Of the Court of Louis XV_

AND OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI

_Queen of France, Wife of Henri II_




CONTENTS

LETTER I

Introduction.--Anecdotes of Marguerite's Infancy.--Endeavours
Used to Convert Her to the New Religion.--She Is Confirmed in
Catholicism.--The Court on a Progress.--A Grand Festivity Suddenly
Interrupted.--The Confusion in Consequence

LETTER II

Message from the Duc d'Anjou, Afterwards Henri III., to King
Charles His Brother and the Queen-mother.--Her Fondness for Her
Children.--Their Interview.--Anjou's Eloquent Harangue.--The
Queen-mother's Character.--Discourse of the Duc d'Anjou with
Marguerite.--She Discovers Her Own Importance.--Engages to Serve
Her Brother Anjou.--Is in High Favour with the Queen-mother

LETTER III

Le Guast.--His Character.--Anjou Affects to Be Jealous of the
Guises.--Dissuades the Queen-mother from Reposing Confidence
in Marguerite.--She Loses the Favour of the Queen-mother and
Falls Sick.--Anjou's Hypocrisy.--He Introduces De Guise into
Marguerite's Sick Chamber.--Marguerite Demanded in Marriage by
the King of Portugal.--Made Uneasy on That Account.--Contrives
to Relieve Herself.--The Match with Portugal Broken off

LETTER IV

Death of the Queen of Navarre.--Marguerite's Marriage with Her
Son, the King of Navarre, Afterwards Henri IV. of France.--The
Preparations for That Solemnisation Described.--The Circumstances
Which Led to the Massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's
Day

LETTER V

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day

LETTER VI

Henri, Duc d'Anjou, Elected King of Poland, Leaves France.--Huguenot
Plots to Withdraw the Duc d'Alençon and the King of Navarre from
Court.--Discovered and Defeated by Marguerite's Vigilance.--She
Draws Up an Eloquent Defence, Which Her Husband Delivers before a
Committee from the Court of Parliament.--Alençon and Her Husband,
under a Close Arrest, Regain Their Liberty by the Death of Charles
IX

LETTER VII

Accession of Henri III.--A Journey to Lyons.--Marguerite's Faith
in Supernatural Intelligence

LETTER VIII

What Happened at Lyons

LETTER IX

Fresh Intrigues.--Marriage of Henri III.--Bussi Arrives at Court
and Narrowly Escapes Assassination

LETTER X

Bussi Is Sent from Court.--Marguerite's Husband Attacked with a
Fit of Epilepsy.--Her Great Care of Him.--Torigni Dismissed from
Marguerite's Service.--The King of Navarre and the Duc d'Alençon
Secretly Leave the Court

LETTER XI

Queen Marguerite under Arrest.--Attempt on Torigni's Life.--Her
Fortunate Deliverance

LETTER XII

The Peace of Sens betwixt Henri III. and the Huguenots

LETTER XIII

The League.--War Declared against the Huguenots.--Queen Marguerite
Sets out for Spa

LETTER XIV

Description of Queen Marguerite's Equipage.--Her Journey to Liège
Described.--She Enters with Success upon Her Mission.--Striking
Instance of Maternal Duty and Affection in a Great Lady.--Disasters
near the Close of the Journey

LETTER XV

The City of Liège Described.--Affecting Story of Mademoiselle
de Tournon.--Fatal Effects of Suppressed Anguish of Mind

LETTER XVI

Queen Marguerite, on Her Return from Liège, Is In Danger of Being
Made a Prisoner.--She Arrives, after Some Narrow Escapes, at La
Fère

LETTER XVII

Good Effects of Queen Marguerite's Negotiations in Flanders.--She
Obtains Leave to Go to the King of Navarre Her Husband, but Her
Journey Is Delayed.--Court Intrigues and Plots.--The Duc d'Alençon
Again Put under Arrest

LETTER XVIII

The Brothers Reconciled.--Alençon Restored to His Liberty

LETTER XIX

The Duc d'Alençon Makes His Escape from Court.--Queen Marguerite's
Fidelity Put to a Severe Trial

LETTER XX

Queen Marguerite Permitted to Go to the King Her Husband.--Is
Accompanied by the Queen-mother.--Marguerite Insulted by Her
Husband's Secretary.--She Harbours Jealousy.--Her Attention to the
King Her Husband during an Indisposition.--Their Reconciliation.--The
War Breaks Out Afresh.--Affront Received from Maréchal de Biron

LETTER XXI

Situation of Affairs in Flanders.--Peace Brought About by Duc
d'Alençon's Negotiation.--Maréchal de Biron Apologises for Firing
on Nérac.--Henri Desperately in Love with Fosseuse.--Queen Marguerite
Discovers Fosseuse to Be Pregnant, Which She Denies.--Fosseuse in
Labour.--Marguerite's Generous Behavior to Her.--Marguerite's
Return to Paris




INTRODUCTION

The _Secret Memoirs_ of Henry of Navarre's famous queen possess
a value which the passage of time seems but to heighten. Emanating
as they undoubtedly do from one of the chief actors in a momentous
crisis in French history, and in the religious history of Europe
as well, their importance as first-hand documents can hardly
be overestimated. While the interest which attaches to their
intimate discussions of people and manners of the day will appeal
to the reader at the outset.

Marguerite de Valois was the French contemporary of Queen Elizabeth
of England, and their careers furnish several curious points of
parallel. Marguerite was the daughter of the famous Catherine
de Médicis, and was given in marriage by her scheming mother
to Henry of Navarre, whose ascendant Bourbon star threatened
to eclipse (as afterwards it did) the waning house of Valois.
Catherine had four sons, three of whom successively mounted the
throne of France, but all were childless. Although the king of
the petty state of Navarre was a Protestant, and Catherine was
the most fanatical of Catholics, she made this marriage a pretext
for welding the two houses; but actually it seems to have been
a snare to lure him to Paris, for it was at this precise time
that the bloody Massacre of St. Bartholomew's day was ordered.
Henry himself escaped--it is said, through the protection of
Marguerite, his bride,--but his adherents in the Protestant party
were slain by the thousands. A wedded life begun under such
sanguinary auspices was not destined to end happily. Indeed, their
marriage resembled nothing so much as an armed truce, peaceable,
and allowing both to pursue their several paths, and finally
dissolved by mutual consent, in 1598, when Queen Marguerite was
forty-five. The closing years of her life were spent in strict
seclusion, at the Castle of Usson, in Auvergne, and it was at
this time that she probably wrote her _Memoirs_.

In the original, the _Memoirs_ are written in a clear vigorous
French, and in epistolary form. Their first editor divided them into
three sections, or books. As a whole they cover the secret history
of the Court of France from the years 1565 to 1582--seventeen years
of extraordinary interest, comprising, as they do, the Massacre of
St. Bartholomew, already referred to, the formation of the famous
League, the Peace of Sens, and the bitter religious persecutions
which were at last ended by the Edict of Nantes issued after Henry
of Navarre became Henry IV. of France. Besides the political
bearing of the letters, they give a picturesque account of Court
life at the end of the 16th century, the fashions and manners
of the time, piquant descriptions, and amusing gossip, such as
only a witty woman--as Marguerite certainly was--could inject
into such subjects. The letters, indeed, abound in sprightly
anecdote and small-talk, which yet have their value in lightening
up the whole situation.

The period covered coincides very nearly with the first half
of Marguerite's own life. Incidents of her girlhood are given,
leading to more important matters, personal and political, up
to the twenty-ninth year of her age. The letters end, therefore,
some seven years prior to the death of her brother, Henry III.
of France, and while she was still merely Queen of Navarre. It
will always be a matter of regret that the latter half of her
life was not likewise covered.

These _Memoirs_ first appeared in printed form in 1628, thirteen
years after their author's death. They enjoyed great popularity,
and in 1656 were translated into English and published in London,
with the following erroneous title: "The grand Cabinet Counsels
unlocked; or, the most faithful Transaction of Court Affairs and
Growth and Continuance of the Civil Wars in France, during the
Reigns of Charles the last, Henry III., and Henry IV., commonly
called the Great. Most excellently written, in the French Tongue,
by Margaret de Valois, Sister to the two first Kings, and Wife of
the last. Faithfully translated by Robert Codrington, Master of
Arts." Two years later the work was again translated, this time
under the title of "Memorials of Court Affairs." The misleading
portion of Codrington's title is in regard to the reign of Henry
IV. As already shown, the letters cease before that time, although
chronicling many events of his early career. The present careful
translation has been made direct from the original, adhering
as closely as permissible to the rugged but clear-cut verbal
expressions of 16th century France.

Queen Marguerite herself is described by historians and novelists
as a singularly attractive woman, both physically and mentally.
Of a little above the average height, her figure was well-rounded
and graceful, her carriage dignified and commanding. One writer
thus describes her: "Her eyes were full, black, and sparkling;
she had bright, chestnut-coloured hair, and complexion fresh and
blooming. Her skin was delicately white, and her neck admirably
well formed; and this so generally admired beauty, the fashion
of dress, in her time, admitted of being fully displayed." To
her personal charms were added a ready wit and polished manners.
Her thoughts, whether spoken or written, were always clearly
and gracefully expressed. In her retirement, at the close of
her life, she often amused herself by writing verses which she
set to music and afterwards sang, accompanying herself upon the
lute, which she performed upon skilfully.

Regarding her personal character there has been diversity of
opinion--as, indeed, there has been in the case of nearly every
exalted personage. After her separation from the king, she was the
subject of a scandalous attack, entitled _Le Divorce Satyrique, ou
les Amours de la Reyne Marguerite de Valois_; but this anonymous
libel was never seriously considered. M. Pierre de Bourdeville,
Sieur de Brantôme (better known by the final name), who gives
many facts concerning her later life in his _Anecdotes des Rois
de France_, is a staunch adherent of hers. Ronsard, the Court
poet, is also extravagant in his praises of her, but chiefly of
her beauty. Numerous other poets and romancers have found her
life a favourite subject. Meyerbeer's opera, _Les Huguenots_,
is based upon her wedding, and the ensuing Massacre. Dumas's
well-known novel, _Marguerite de Valois_, gives her a somewhat
dubious reputation, as half-tool, half-agent for Catherine, and
as the mistress of the historical La Mole. This doubtful phase,
however, if true, was but in keeping with the fashion of the
times. It is mentioned merely as a possible line completing the
portrait of this brilliant woman, who lives again for us in the
pages of her _Memoirs_.


           ON MARGUERITE DE VALOIS.

               QUEEN OF NAVARRE.

  Dear native land! and you, proud castles! say
  (Where grandsire,[1] father,[2] and three brothers[3] lay,
  Who each, in turn, the crown imperial wore),
  Me will you own, your daughter whom you bore?
  Me, once your greatest boast and chiefest pride,
  By Bourbon and Lorraine,[4] when sought a bride;
  Now widowed wife,[5] a queen without a throne,
  Midst rocks and mountains[6] wander I alone.
  Nor yet hath Fortune vented all her spite,
  But sets one up,[7] who now enjoys my right,
  Points to the boy,[8] who henceforth claims the throne
  And crown, a son of mine should call his own.
  But ah, alas! for me 'tis now too late[9]
  To strive 'gainst Fortune and contend with Fate;
  Of those I slighted, can I beg relief?[10]
  No; let me die the victim of my grief.
  And can I then be justly said to live?
  Dead in estate, do I then yet survive?
  Last of the name, I carry to the grave
  All the remains the House of Valois have.

[Footnote 1: François I.]

[Footnote 2: Henri II.]

[Footnote 3: François II., Charles IX., and Henri III.]

[Footnote 4: Henri, King of Navarre, and Henri, Duc de Guise.]

[Footnote 5: Alluding to her divorce from Henri IV.]

[Footnote 6: The castle of Usson.]

[Footnote 7: Marie de' Medici, whom Henri married after his divorce
from Marguerite.]

[Footnote 8: Louis XIII., the son of Henri and his queen, Marie
de' Medici.]

[Footnote 9: Alluding to the differences betwixt Marguerite and
Henri, her husband.]

[Footnote 10: This is said with allusion to the supposition that
she was rather inclined to favour the suit of the Duc de Guise
and reject Henri for a husband.]




THE MEMOIRS OF MARGUERITE DE VALOIS


LETTER I

I should commend your work much more were I myself less praised
in it; but I am unwilling to do so, lest my praises should seem
rather the effect of self-love than to be founded on reason and
justice. I am fearful that, like Themistocles, I should appear
to admire their eloquence the most who are most forward to praise
me. It is the usual frailty of our sex to be fond of flattery. I
blame this in other women, and should wish not to be chargeable
with it myself. Yet I confess that I take a pride in being painted
by the hand of so able a master, however flattering the likeness
may be. If I ever were possessed of the graces you have assigned
to me, trouble and vexation render them no longer visible, and
have even effaced them from my own recollection, So that I view
myself in your Memoirs, and say, with old Madame de Rendan, who,
not having consulted her glass since her husband's death, on
seeing her own face in the mirror of another lady, exclaimed, "Who
is this?". Whatever my friends tell me when they see me now, I am
inclined to think proceeds from the partiality of their affection.
I am sure that you yourself, when you consider more impartially
what you have said, will be induced to believe, according to
these lines of Du Bellay:

  "C'est chercher Rome en Rome,
  Et rien de Rome en Rome ne trouver."

  ('Tis to seek Rome, in Rome to go,
  And Rome herself at Rome not know.)

But as we read with pleasure the history of the Siege of Troy,
the magnificence of Athens, and other splendid cities, which
once flourished, but are now so entirely destroyed that scarcely
the spot whereon they stood can be traced, so you please yourself
with describing these excellences of beauty which are no more,
and which will be discoverable only in your writings.

If you had taken upon you to contrast Nature and Fortune, you
could not have chosen a happier theme upon which to descant,
for both have made a trial of their strength on the subject of
your Memoirs. What Nature did, you had the evidence of your own
eyes to vouch for, but what was done by Fortune, you know only
from hearsay; and hearsay, I need not tell you, is liable to
be influenced by ignorance or malice, and, therefore, is not
to be depended on. You will for that reason, I make no doubt,
be pleased to receive these Memoirs from the hand which is most
interested in the truth of them.

I have been induced to undertake writing my Memoirs the more
from five or six observations which I have had occasion to make
upon your work, as you appear to have been misinformed respecting
certain particulars. For example, in that part where mention is
made of Pau, and of my journey in France; likewise where you
speak of the late Maréchal de Biron, of Agen, and of the sally
of the Marquis de Camillac from that place.

These Memoirs might merit the honourable name of history from the
truths contained in them, as I shall prefer truth to embellishment.
In fact, to embellish my story I have neither leisure nor ability;
I shall, therefore, do no more than give a simple narration of
events. They are the labours of my evenings, and will come to
you an unformed mass, to receive its shape from your hands, or
as a chaos on which you have already thrown light. Mine is a
history most assuredly worthy to come from a man of honour, one
who is a true Frenchman, born of illustrious parents, brought
up in the Court of the Kings my father and brothers, allied in
blood and friendship to the most virtuous and accomplished women
of our times, of which society I have had the good fortune to
be the bond of union.

I shall begin these Memoirs in the reign of Charles IX., and
set out with the first remarkable event of my life which fell
within my remembrance. Herein I follow the example of geographical
writers, who having described the places within their knowledge,
tell you that all beyond them are sandy deserts, countries without
inhabitants, or seas never navigated. Thus I might say that all
prior to the commencement of these Memoirs was the barrenness of
my infancy, when we can only be said to vegetate like plants,
or live, like brutes, according to instinct, and not as human
creatures, guided by reason. To those who had the direction of
my earliest years I leave the task of relating the transactions
of my infancy, if they find them as worthy of being recorded as
the infantine exploits of Themistocles and Alexander,--the one
exposing himself to be trampled on by the horses of a charioteer,
who would not stop them when requested to do so, and the other
refusing to run a race unless kings were to enter the contest
against him. Amongst such memorable things might be related the
answer I made the King my father, a short time before the fatal
accident which deprived France of peace, and our family of its
chief glory. I was then about four or five years of age, when
the King, placing me on his knee, entered familiarly into chat
with me. There were, in the same room, playing and diverting
themselves, the Prince de Joinville, since the great and unfortunate
Duc de Guise, and the Marquis de Beaupréau, son of the Prince
de la Roche-sur-Yon, who died in his fourteenth year, and by
whose death his country lost a youth of most promising talents.
Amongst other discourse, the King asked which of the two Princes
that were before me I liked best. I replied, "The Marquis." The
King said, "Why so? He is not the handsomest." The Prince de
Joinville was fair, with light-coloured hair, and the Marquis
de Beaupréau brown, with dark hair. I answered, "Because he is
the best behaved; whilst the Prince is always making mischief,
and will be master over everybody."

This was a presage of what we have seen happen since, when the
whole Court was infected with heresy, about the time of the
Conference of Poissy. It was with great difficulty that I resisted
and preserved myself from a change of religion at that time.
Many ladies and lords belonging to Court strove to convert me to
Huguenotism. The Duc d'Anjou, since King Henri III. of France,
then in his infancy, had been prevailed on to change his religion,
and he often snatched my "Hours" out of my hand, and flung them
into the fire, giving me Psalm Books and books of Huguenot prayers,
insisting on my using them. I took the first opportunity to give
them up to my governess, Madame de Curton, whom God, out of his
mercy to me, caused to continue steadfast in the Catholic religion.
She frequently took me to that pious, good man, the Cardinal
de Tournon, who gave me good advice, and strengthened me in a
perseverance in my religion, furnishing me with books and chaplets
of beads in the room of those my brother Anjou took from me and
burnt.

Many of my brother's most intimate friends had resolved on my
ruin, and rated me severely upon my refusal to change, saying
it proceeded from a childish obstinacy; that if I had the least
understanding, and would listen, like other discreet persons, to
the sermons that were preached, I should abjure my uncharitable
bigotry; but I was, said they, as foolish as my governess. My
brother Anjou added threats, and said the Queen my mother would
give orders that I should be whipped. But this he said of his
own head, for the Queen my mother did not, at that time, know of
the errors he had embraced. As soon as it came to her knowledge,
she took him to task, and severely reprimanded his governors,
insisting upon their correcting him, and instructing him in the
holy and ancient religion of his forefathers, from which she
herself never swerved. When he used those menaces, as I have
before related, I was a child seven or eight years old, and at
that tender age would reply to him, "Well, get me whipped if
you can; I will suffer whipping, and even death, rather than be
damned."

I could furnish you with many other replies of the like kind,
which gave proof of the early ripeness of my judgment and my
courage; but I shall not trouble myself with such researches,
choosing rather to begin these Memoirs at the time when I resided
constantly with the Queen my mother.

Immediately after the Conference of Poissy, the civil wars commenced,
and my brother Alençon and myself, on account of pur youth, were
sent to Amboise, whither all the ladies of the country repaired
to us. With them came your aunt, Madame de Dampierre, who entered
into a firm friendship with me, which was never interrupted until
her death broke it off. There was likewise your cousin, the Duchesse
de Rais, who had the good fortune to hear there of the death
of her brute of a husband, killed at the battle of Dreux. The
husband I mean was the first she had, named M. d'Annebaut, who
was unworthy to have for a wife so accomplished and charming a
woman as your cousin. She and I were not then so intimate friends
as we have become since, and shall ever remain. The reason was
that, though older than I, she was yet young, and young girls
seldom take much notice of children, whereas your aunt was of an
age when women admire their innocence and engaging simplicity.

I remained at Amboise until the Queen my mother was ready to
set out on her grand progress, at which time she sent for me to
come to her Court, which I did not quit afterwards.

Of this progress I will not undertake to give you a description,
being still so young that, though the whole is within my
recollection, yet the particular passages of it appear to me
but as a dream, and are now lost. I leave this task to others,
of riper years, as you were yourself. You can well remember the
magnificence that was displayed everywhere, particularly at the
baptism of my nephew, the Duc de Lorraine, at Bar-le-Duc; at
the meeting of M. and Madame de Savoy, in the city of Lyons;
the interview at Bayonne betwixt my sister, the Queen of Spain,
the Queen my mother, and King Charles my brother. In your account
of this interview you would not forget to make mention of the
noble entertainment given by the Queen my mother, on an island,
with the grand dances, and the form of the _salon_, which seemed
appropriated by nature for such a purpose, it being a large meadow
in the middle of the island, in the shape of an oval, surrounded
on every side by tall spreading trees. In this meadow the Queen
my mother had disposed a circle of niches, each of them large
enough to contain a table of twelve covers. At one end a platform
was raised, ascended by four steps formed of turf. Here their
Majesties were seated at a table under a lofty canopy. The tables
were all served by troops of shepherdesses dressed in cloth of
gold and satin, after the fashion of the different provinces of
France. These shepherdesses, during the passage of the superb
boats from Bayonne to the island, were placed in separate bands,
in a meadow on each side of the causeway, raised with turf; and
whilst their Majesties and the company were passing through the
great _salon_, they danced. On their passage by water, the barges
were followed by other boats, having on board vocal and instrumental
musicians, habited like Nereids, singing and playing the whole
time. After landing, the shepherdesses I have mentioned before
received the company in separate troops, with songs and dances,
after the fashion and accompanied by the music of the provinces they
represented,--the Poitevins playing on bagpipes; the Provençales
on the viol and cymbal; the Burgundians and Champagners on the
hautboy, bass viol, and tambourine; in like manner the Bretons
and other provincialists. After the collation was served and the
feast at an end, a large troop of musicians, habited like satyrs,
was seen to come out of the opening of a rock, well lighted up,
whilst nymphs were descending from the top in rich habits, who,
as they came down, formed into a grand dance,--when, lo! fortune
no longer favouring this brilliant festival, a sudden storm of
rain came on, and all were glad to get off in the boats and make
for town as fast as they could. The confusion in consequence of
this precipitate retreat afforded as much matter to laugh at
the next day as the splendour of the entertainment had excited
admiration. In short, the festivity of this day was not forgotten,
on one account or the other, amidst the variety of the like nature
which succeeded it in the course of this progress.




LETTER II

At the time my magnanimous brother Charles reigned over France, and
some few years after our return from the grand progress mentioned in
my last letter, the Huguenots having renewed the war, a gentleman,
despatched from my brother Anjou (afterwards Henri III. of France),
came to Paris to inform the King and the Queen my mother that
the Huguenot army was reduced to such an extremity that he hoped
in a few days to force them to give him battle. He added his
earnest wish for the honour of seeing them at Tours before that
happened, so that, in case Fortune, envying him the glory he
had already achieved at so early an age, should, on the so much
looked-for day, after the good service he had done his religion
and his King, crown the victory with his death, he might not have
cause to regret leaving this world without the satisfaction of
receiving their approbation of his conduct from their own mouths,--a
satisfaction which would be more valuable, in his opinion, than
the trophies he had gained by his two former victories.

I leave to your own imagination to suggest to you the impression
which such a message from a dearly beloved son made on the mind
of a mother who doted on all her children, and was always ready to
sacrifice her own repose, nay, even her life, for their happiness.

She resolved immediately to set off and take the King with her.
She had, besides myself, her usual small company of female
attendants, together with Mesdames de Rais and de Sauves. She
flew on the wings of maternal affection, and reached Tours in
three days and a half. A journey from Paris, made with such
precipitation, was not unattended with accidents and some
inconveniences, of a nature to occasion much mirth and laughter.
The poor Cardinal de Bourbon, who never quitted her, and whose
temper of mind, strength of body, and habits of life were ill
suited to encounter privations and hardships, suffered greatly
from this rapid journey.

We found my brother Anjou at Plessis-les-Tours, with the principal
officers of his army, who were the flower of the princes and
nobles of France. In their presence he delivered a harangue to
the King, giving a detail of his conduct in the execution of his
charge, beginning from the time he left the Court. His discourse
was framed with so much eloquence, and spoken so gracefully, that
it was admired by all present. It appeared matter of astonishment
that a youth of sixteen should reason with all the gravity and
powers of an orator of ripe years. The comeliness of his person,
which at all times pleads powerfully in favour of a speaker,
was in him set off by the laurels obtained in two victories. In
short, it was difficult to say which most contributed to make
him the admiration of all his hearers.

It is equally as impossible for me to describe in words the feelings
of my mother on this occasion, who loved him above all her children,
as it was for the painter to represent on canvas the grief of
Iphigenia's father. Such an overflow of joy would have been
discoverable in the looks and actions of any other woman, but
she had her passions so much under the control of prudence and
discretion that there was nothing to be perceived in her countenance,
or gathered from her words, of what she felt inwardly in her mind.
She was, indeed, a perfect mistress of herself, and regulated
her discourse and her actions by the rules of wisdom and sound
policy, showing that a person of discretion does upon all occasions
only what is proper to be done. She did not amuse herself on
this occasion with listening to the praises which issued from
every mouth, and sanction them with her own approbation; but,
selecting the chief points in the speech relative to the future
conduct of the war, she laid them before the Princes and great
lords, to be deliberated upon, in order to settle a plan of
operations.

To arrange such a plan a delay of some days was requisite. During
this interval, the Queen my mother walking in the park with some
of the Princes, my brother Anjou begged me to take a turn or two
with him in a retired walk. He then addressed me in the following
words: "Dear sister, the nearness of blood; as well as our having
been brought up together, naturally, as they ought, attach us
to each other. You must already have discovered the partiality
I have had for you above my brothers, and I think that I have
perceived the same in you for me. We have been hitherto led to
this by nature, without deriving any other advantage from it
than the sole pleasure of conversing together. So far might be
well enough for our childhood, but now we are no longer children.
You know the high situation in which, by the favour of God and
our good mother the Queen, I am here placed. You may be assured
that, as you are the person in the world whom I love and esteem
the most, you will always be a partaker of my advancement. I know
you are not wanting in wit and discretion, and I am sensible
you have it in your power to do me service with the Queen our
mother, and preserve me in my present employments. It is a great
point obtained for me, always to stand well in her favour. I
am fearful that my absence may be prejudicial to that purpose,
and I must necessarily be at a distance from Court. Whilst I am
away, the King my brother is with her, and has it in his power
to insinuate himself into her good graces. This I fear, in the
end, may be of disservice to me. The King my brother is growing
older every day. He does not want for courage, and, though he now
diverts himself with hunting, he may grow ambitious, and choose
rather to chase men than beasts; in such a case I must resign to
him my commission as his lieutenant. This would prove the greatest
mortification that could happen to me, and I would even prefer death
to it. Under such an apprehension I have considered of the means
of prevention, and see none so feasible as having a confidential
person about the Queen my mother, who shall always be ready to
espouse and support my cause. I know no one so proper for that
purpose as yourself, who will be, I doubt not, as attentive to
my interest as I should be myself. You have wit, discretion, and
fidelity, which are all that are wanting, provided you will be
so kind as to undertake such a good office. In that case I shall
have only to beg of you not to neglect attending her morning and
evening, to be the first with her and the last to leave her.
This will induce her to repose a confidence and open her mind to
you. To make her the more ready to do this, I shall take every
opportunity to commend your good sense and understanding, and to
tell her that I shall take it kind in her to leave off treating
you as a child, which, I shall say, will contribute to her own
comfort and satisfaction. I am well convinced that she will listen
to my advice. Do you speak to her with the same confidence as
you do to me, and be assured that she will approve of it. It
will conduce to your own happiness to obtain her favour. You may
do yourself service whilst you are labouring for my interest;
and you may rest satisfied that, after God, I shall think I owe
all the good fortune which may befall me to yourself."

This was entirely a new kind of language to me. I had hitherto
thought of nothing but amusements, of dancing, hunting, and the
like diversions; nay, I had never yet discovered any inclination
of setting myself off to advantage by dress, and exciting an
admiration of my person and figure. I had no ambition of any
kind, and had been so strictly brought up under the Queen my
mother that I scarcely durst speak before her; and if she chanced
to turn her eyes towards me I trembled, for fear that I had done
something to displease her. At the conclusion of my brother's
harangue, I was half inclined to reply to him in the words of
Moses, when he was spoken to from the burning bush: "Who am I,
that I should go unto Pharaoh? Send, I pray thee, by the hand
of him whom thou wilt send."

However, his words inspired me with resolution and powers I did
not think myself possessed of before. I had naturally a degree
of courage, and, as soon as I recovered from my astonishment, I
found I was quite an altered person. His address pleased me, and
wrought in me a confidence in myself; and I found I was become of
more consequence than I had ever conceived I had been. Accordingly,
I replied to him thus: "Brother, if God grant me the power of
speaking to the Queen our mother as I have the will to do, nothing
can be wanting for your service, and you may expect to derive all
the good you hope from it, and from my solicitude and attention
for your interest. With respect to my undertaking such a matter
for you, you will soon perceive that I shall sacrifice all the
pleasures in this world to my watchfulness for your service. You
may perfectly rely on me, as there is no one that honours or
regards you more than I do. Be well assured that I shall act
for you with the Queen my mother as zealously as you would for
yourself."

These sentiments were more strongly impressed upon my mind than
the words I made use of were capable of conveying an idea of.
This will appear more fully in my following letters.

As soon as we were returned from walking, the Queen my mother
retired with me into her closet, and addressed the following
words to me: "Your brother has been relating the conversation
you have had together; he considers you no longer as a child,
neither shall I. It will be a great comfort to me to converse
with you as I would with your brother. For the future you will
freely speak your mind, and have no apprehensions of taking too
great a liberty, for it is what I wish." These words gave me
a pleasure then which I am now unable to express. I felt a
satisfaction and a joy which nothing before had ever caused me
to feel. I now considered the pastimes of my childhood as vain
amusements. I shunned the society of my former companions of
the same age. I disliked dancing and hunting, which I thought
beneath my attention. I strictly complied with her agreeable
injunction, and never missed being with her at her rising in
the morning and going to rest at night. She did me the honour,
sometimes, to hold me in conversation for two and three hours
at a time. God was so gracious with me that I gave her great
satisfaction; and she thought she could not sufficiently praise
me to those ladies who were about her. I spoke of my brother's
affairs to her, and he was constantly apprised by me of her
sentiments and opinion; so that he had every reason to suppose
I was firmly attached to his interest.




LETTER III

I continued to pass my time with the Queen my mother, greatly
to my satisfaction, until after the battle of Moncontour. By
the same despatch that brought the news of this victory to the
Court, my brother, who was ever desirous to be near the Queen
my mother, wrote her word that he was about to lay siege to St.
Jean d'Angely, and that it would be necessary that the King should
be present whilst it was going on. She, more anxious to see him
than he could be to have her near him, hastened to set out on
the journey, taking me with her, and her customary train of
attendants. I likewise experienced great joy upon the occasion,
having no suspicion that any mischief awaited me. I was still
young and without experience, and I thought the happiness I enjoyed
was always to continue; but the malice of Fortune prepared for
me at this interview a reverse that I little expected, after
the fidelity with which I had discharged the trust my brother
had reposed in me.

Soon after our last meeting, it seems, my brother Anjou had taken
Le Guast to be near his person, who had ingratiated himself so
far into his favour and confidence that he saw only with his
eyes, and spoke but as he dictated. This evil-disposed man, whose
whole life was one continued scene of wickedness, had perverted
his mind and filled it with maxims of the most atrocious nature.
He advised him to have no regard but for his own interest; neither
to love nor put trust in anyone; and not to promote the views or
advantage of either brother or sister. These and other maxims
of the like nature, drawn from the school of Machiavelli, he was
continually suggesting to him. He had so frequently inculcated
them that they were strongly impressed on his mind, insomuch
that, upon our arrival, when, after the first compliments, my
mother began to open in my praise and express the attachment I
had discovered for him, this was his reply, which he delivered
with the utmost coldness: "He was well pleased," he said, "to have
succeeded in the request he had made to me; but that prudence
directed us not to continue to make use of the same expedients, for
what was profitable at one time might not be so at another." She
asked him why he made that observation. This question afforded the
opportunity he wished for, of relating a story he had fabricated,
purposely to ruin me with her.

He began with observing to her that I was grown very handsome,
and that M. de Guise wished to marry me; that his uncles, too,
were very desirous of such a match; and, if I should entertain a
like passion for him, there would be danger of my discovering to
him all she said to me; that she well knew the ambition of that
house, and how ready they were, on all occasions, to circumvent
ours. It would, therefore, be proper that she should not, for the
future, communicate any matter of State to me, but, by degrees,
withdraw her confidence.

I discovered the evil effects proceeding from this pernicious
advice on the very same evening. I remarked an unwillingness
on her part to speak to me before my brother; and, as soon as
she entered into discourse with him, she commanded me to go to
bed. This command she repeated two or three times. I quitted her
closet, and left them together in conversation; but, as soon as
he was gone, I returned and entreated her to let me know if I had
been so unhappy as to have done anything, through ignorance, which
had given her offence. She was at first inclined to dissemble with
me; but at length she said to me thus: "Daughter, your brother
is prudent and cautious; you ought not to be displeased with
him for what he does, and you must believe what I shall tell
you is right and proper." She then related the conversation she
had with my brother, as I have just written it; and she then
ordered me never to speak to her in my brother's presence.

These words were like so many daggers plunged into my breast.
In my disgrace, I experienced as much grief as I had before joy
on being received into her favour and confidence. I did not omit
to say everything to convince her of my entire ignorance of what
my brother had told her. I said it was a matter I had never heard
mentioned before; and that, had I known it, I should certainly
have made her immediately acquainted with it. All I said was to
no purpose; my brother's words had made the first impression; they
were constantly present in her mind, and outweighed probability
and truth. When I discovered this, I told her that I felt less
uneasiness at being deprived of my happiness than I did joy when
I had acquired it; for my brother had taken it from me, as he
had given it. He had given it without reason; he had taken it
away without cause. He had praised me for discretion and prudence
when I did not merit it, and he suspected my fidelity on grounds
wholly imaginary and fictitious. I concluded with assuring her
that I should never forget my brother's behaviour on this occasion.

Hereupon she flew into a passion and commanded me not to make
the least show of resentment at his behaviour. From that hour
she gradually withdrew her favour from me. Her son became the
god of her idolatry, at the shrine of whose will she sacrificed
everything.

The grief which I inwardly felt was very great and overpowered
all my faculties, until it wrought so far on my constitution as
to contribute to my receiving the infection which then prevailed
in the army. A few days after I fell sick of a raging fever,
attended with purple spots, a malady which carried off numbers,
and, amongst the rest, the two principal physicians belonging
to the King and Queen, Chappelain and Castelan. Indeed, few got
over the disorder after being attacked with it.

In this extremity the Queen my mother, who partly guessed the
cause of my illness, omitted nothing that might serve to remove
it; and, without fear of consequences, visited me frequently.
Her goodness contributed much to my recovery; but my brother's
hypocrisy was sufficient to destroy all the benefit I received
from her attention, after having been guilty of so treacherous a
proceeding. After he had proved so ungrateful to me, he came and
sat at the foot of my bed from morning to night, and appeared as
anxiously attentive as if we had been the most perfect friends.
My mouth was shut up by the command I had received from the Queen
our mother, so that I only answered his dissembled concern with
sighs, like Burrus in the presence of Nero, when he was dying by
the poison administered by the hands of that tyrant. The sighs,
however, which I vented in my brother's presence, might convince
him that I attributed my sickness rather to his ill offices than
to the prevailing contagion.

God had mercy on me, and supported me through this dangerous
illness. After I had kept my bed a fortnight, the army changed
its quarters, and I was conveyed away with it in a litter. At
the end of each day's march, I found King Charles at the door of
my quarters, ready, with the rest of the good gentlemen belonging
to the Court, to carry my litter up to my bedside. In this manner
I came to Angers from St. Jean d'Angely, sick in body, but more
sick in mind. Here, to my misfortune, M. de Guise and his uncles
had arrived before me. This was a circumstance which gave my good
brother great pleasure, as it afforded a colourable appearance
to his story. I soon discovered the advantage my brother would
make of it to increase my already too great mortification; for
he came daily to see me, and as constantly brought M. de Guise
into my chamber with him. He pretended the sincerest regard for
De Guise, and, to make him believe it, would take frequent
opportunities of embracing him, crying out at the same time;
"Would to God you were my brother!" This he often put in practice
before me, which M. de Guise seemed not to comprehend; but I,
who knew his malicious designs, lost all patience, yet did not
dare to reproach him with his hypocrisy.

As soon as I was recovered, a treaty was set on foot for a marriage
betwixt the King of Portugal and me, an ambassador having been
sent for that purpose. The Queen my mother commanded me to prepare
to give the ambassador an audience; which I did accordingly. My
brother had made her believe that I was averse to this marriage;
accordingly, she took me to task upon it, and questioned me on
the subject, expecting she should find some cause to be angry
with me. I told her my will had always been guided by her own,
and that whatever she thought right for me to do, I should do
it. She answered me, angrily, according as she had been wrought
upon, that I did not speak the sentiments of my heart, for she
well knew that the Cardinal de Lorraine had persuaded me into
a promise of having his nephew. I begged her to forward this
match with the King of Portugal, and I would convince her of my
obedience to her commands. Every day some new matter was reported
to incense her against me. All these were machinations worked up
by the mind of Le Guast. In short, I was constantly receiving
some fresh mortification, so that I hardly passed a day in quiet.
On one side, the King of Spain was using his utmost endeavours to
break off the match with Portugal, and M. de Guise, continuing
at Court, furnished grounds for persecuting me on the other.
Still, not a single person of the Guises ever mentioned a word
to me on the subject; and it was well known that, for more than
a twelvemonth, M. de Guise had been paying his addresses to the
Princesse de Porcian; but the slow progress made in bringing
this match to a conclusion was said to be owing to his designs
upon me.

As soon as I made this discovery I resolved to write to my sister,
Madame de Lorraine, who had a great influence in the House of
Porcian, begging her to use her endeavours to withdraw M. de Guise
from Court, and make him conclude his match with the Princess,
laying open to her the plot which had been concerted to ruin
the Guises and me. She readily saw through it, came immediately
to Court, and concluded the match, which delivered me from the
aspersions cast on my character, and convinced the Queen my mother
that what I had told her was the real truth. This at the same
time stopped the mouths of my enemies and gave me some repose.

At length the King of Spain, unwilling that the King of Portugal
should marry out of his family, broke off the treaty which had
been entered upon for my marriage with him.




LETTER IV

Some short time after this a marriage was projected betwixt the
Prince of Navarre, now our renowned King Henri IV., and me.

The Queen my mother, as she sat at table, discoursed for a long
time upon the subject with M. de W Meru, the House of Montmorency
having first proposed the match. After the Queen had risen from
table, he told me she had commanded him to mention it to me.
I replied that it was quite unnecessary, as I had no will but
her own; however, I should wish she would be pleased to remember
that I was a Catholic, and that I should dislike to marry any
one of a contrary persuasion.

Soon after this the Queen sent for me to attend her in her closet.
She there informed me that the Montmorencys had proposed this match
to her, and that she was desirous to learn my sentiments upon it.
I answered that my choice was governed by her pleasure, and that
I only begged her not to forget that I was a good Catholic.

This treaty was in negotiation for some time after this conversation,
and was not finally settled until the arrival of the Queen of
Navarre, his mother, at Court, where she died soon after.

Whilst the Queen of Navarre lay on her death-bed, a circumstance
happened of so whimsical a nature that, though hot of consequence
to merit a place in the history, it may very well deserve to be
related by me to you. Madame de Nevers, whose oddities you well
know, attended the Cardinal de Bourbon, Madame de Guise, the
Princesse de Condé, her sisters, and myself to the late Queen
of Navarre's apartments, whither we all went to pay those last
duties which her rank and our nearness of blood demanded of us.
We found the Queen in bed with her curtains undrawn, the chamber
not disposed with the pomp and ceremonies of our religion, but
after the simple manner of the Huguenots; that is to say, there
were no priests, no cross, nor any holy water. We kept ourselves
at some distance from the bed, but Madame de Nevers, whom you
know the Queen hated more than any woman besides, and which she
had shown both in speech and by actions,--Madame de Nevers, I
say, approached the bedside, and, to the great astonishment of
all present, who well knew the enmity subsisting betwixt them,
took the Queen's hand, with many low curtseys, and kissed it;
after which, making another curtsey to the very ground, she retired
and rejoined us.

A few months after the Queen's death, the Prince of Navarre, or
rather, as he was then styled, the King, came to Paris in deep
mourning, attended by eight hundred gentlemen, all in mourning
habits. He was received with every honour by King Charles and the
whole Court, and, in a few days after his arrival, our marriage was
solemnised with all possible magnificence; the King of Navarre and
his retinue putting off their mourning and dressing themselves in
the most costly manner. The whole Court, too, was richly attired;
all which you can better conceive than I am able to express.
For my own part, I was set out in a most royal manner; I wore a
crown on my head with the _coët_, or regal close gown of ermine,
and I blazed in diamonds. My blue-coloured robe had a train to it
of four ells in length, which was supported by three princesses.
A platform had been raised, some height from the ground, which
led from the Bishop's palace to the Church of Notre-Dame. It was
hung with cloth of gold; and below it stood the people in throngs
to view the procession, stifling with heat. We were received at
the church door by the Cardinal de Bourbon, who officiated for
that day, and pronounced the nuptial benediction. After this we
proceeded on the same platform to the tribune which separates the
nave from the choir, where was a double staircase, one leading
into the choir, the other through the nave to the church door.
The King of Navarre passed by the latter and went out of church.

But fortune, which is ever changing, did not fail soon to disturb
the felicity of this union. This was occasioned by the wound
received by the Admiral, which had wrought the Huguenots up to
a degree of desperation. The Queen my mother was reproached on
that account in such terms by the elder Pardaillan and some other
principal Huguenots, that she began to apprehend some evil design.
M. de Guise and my brother the King of Poland, since Henri III.
of France, gave it as their advice to be beforehand with the
Huguenots. King Charles was of a contrary opinion. He had a great
esteem for M. de La Rochefoucauld, Teligny, La Nouë, and some
other leading men of the same religion; and, as I have since
heard him say, it was with the greatest difficulty he could be
prevailed upon to give his consent, and not before he had been
made to understand that his own life and the safety of his kingdom
depended upon it.

The King having learned that Maurevel had made an attempt upon
the Admiral's life, by firing a pistol at him through a window,--in
which attempt he failed, having wounded the Admiral only in the
shoulder,--and supposing that Maurevel had done this at the instance
of M. de Guise, to revenge the death of his father, whom the
Admiral had caused to be killed in the same manner by Poltrot,
he was so much incensed against M. de Guise that he declared
with an oath that he would make an example of him; and, indeed,
the King would have put M. de Guise under an arrest, if he had
not kept out of his sight the whole day. The Queen my mother used
every argument to convince King Charles that what had been done
was for the good of the State; and this because, as I observed
before, the King had so great a regard for the Admiral, La Nouë,
and Teligny, on account of their bravery, being himself a prince
of a gallant and noble spirit, and esteeming others in whom he
found a similar disposition. Moreover, these designing men had
insinuated themselves into the King's favour by proposing an
expedition to Flanders, with a view of extending his dominions
and aggrandising his power, propositions which they well knew
would secure to themselves an influence over his royal and generous
mind.

Upon this occasion, the Queen my mother represented to the King
that the attempt of M. de Guise upon the Admiral's life was excusable
in a son who, being denied justice, had no other means of avenging
his father's death. Moreover, the Admiral, she said, had deprived
her by assassination, during his minority and her regency, of
a faithful servant in the person of Charri, commander of the
King's body-guard, which rendered him deserving of the like
treatment.

Notwithstanding that the Queen my mother spoke thus to the King,
discovering by her expressions and in her looks all the grief which
she inwardly felt on the recollection of the loss of persons who
had been useful to her; yet, so much was King Charles inclined
to save those who, as he thought, would one day be serviceable
to him, that he still persisted in his determination to punish
M. de Guise, for whom he ordered strict search to be made.

At length Pardaillan, disclosing by his menaces, during the supper
of the Queen my mother, the evil intentions of the Huguenots, she
plainly perceived that things were brought to so near a crisis,
that, unless steps were taken that very night to prevent it, the
King and herself were in danger of being assassinated. She,
therefore, came to the resolution of declaring to King Charles
his real situation. For this purpose she thought of the Maréchal
de Rais as the most proper person to break the matter to the
King, the Marshal being greatly in his favour and confidence.

Accordingly, the Marshal went to the King in his closet, between
the hours of nine and ten, and told him he was come as a faithful
servant to discharge his duty, and lay before him the danger in
which he stood, if he persisted in his resolution of punishing
M. de Guise, as he ought now to be informed that the attempt
made upon the Admiral's life was not set on foot by him alone,
but that his (the King's) brother the King of Poland, and the
Queen his mother, had their shares in it; that he must be sensible
how much the Queen lamented Charri's assassination, for which
she had great reason, having very few servants about her upon
whom she could rely, and as it happened during the King's
minority,--at the time, moreover, when France was divided between
the Catholics and the Huguenots, M. de Guise being at the head
of the former, and the Prince de Condé of the latter, both alike
striving to deprive him of his crown; that through Providence,
both his crown and kingdom had been preserved by the prudence
and good conduct of the Queen Regent, who in this extremity found
herself powerfully aided by the said Charri, for which reason
she had vowed to avenge his death; that, as to the Admiral, he
must be ever considered as dangerous to the State, and whatever
show he might make of affection for his Majesty's person, and
zeal for his service in Flanders, they must be considered as mere
pretences, which he used to cover his real design of reducing
the kingdom to a state of confusion.

The Marshal concluded with observing that the original intention
had been to make away with the Admiral only, as the most obnoxious
man in the kingdom; but Maurevel having been so unfortunate as
to fail in his attempt, and the Huguenots becoming desperate
enough to resolve to take up arms, with design to attack, not
only M. de Guise, but the Queen his mother, and his brother the
King of Poland, supposing them, as well as his Majesty, to have
commanded Maurevel to make his attempt, he saw nothing but cause
of alarm for his Majesty's safety,--as well on the part of the
Catholics, if he persisted in his resolution to punish M. de
Guise, as of the Huguenots, for the reasons which he had just
laid before him.




LETTER V

King Charles, a prince of great prudence, always paying a particular
deference to his mother, and being much attached to the Catholic
religion, now convinced of the intentions of the Huguenots, adopted
a sudden resolution of following his mother's counsel, and putting
himself under the safeguard of the Catholics. It was not, however,
without extreme regret that he found he had it not in his power
to save Teligny, La Nouë; and M. de La Rochefoucauld.

He went to the apartments of the Queen his mother, and sending
for M. de Guise and all the Princes and Catholic officers, the
"Massacre of St. Bartholomew" was that night resolved upon.

Immediately every hand was at work; chains were drawn across the
streets, the alarm-bells were sounded, and every man repaired
to his post, according to the orders he had received, whether
it was to attack the Admiral's quarters, or those of the other
Huguenots. M. de Guise hastened to the Admiral's, and Besme, a
gentleman in the service of the former, a German by birth, forced
into his chamber, and having slain him with a dagger, threw his
body out of a window to his master.

I was perfectly ignorant of what was going forward. I observed
everyone to be in motion: the Huguenots, driven to despair by
the attack upon the Admiral's life, and the Guises, fearing they
should not have justice done them, whispering all they met in
the ear.

The Huguenots were suspicious of me because I was a Catholic,
and the Catholics because I was married to the King of Navarre,
who was a Huguenot. This being the case, no one spoke a syllable
of the matter to me.

At night, when I went into the bedchamber of the Queen my mother,
I placed myself on a coffer, next my sister Lorraine, who, I
could not but remark, appeared greatly cast down. The Queen my
mother was in conversation with some one, but, as soon as she
espied me, she bade me go to bed. As I was taking leave, my sister
seized me by the hand and stopped me, at the same time shedding
a flood of tears: "For the love of God," cried she, "do not stir
out of this chamber!" I was greatly alarmed at this exclamation;
perceiving which, the Queen my mother called my sister to her,
and chid her very severely. My sister replied it was sending me
away to be sacrificed; for, if any discovery should be made, I
should be the first victim of their revenge. The Queen my mother
made answer that, if it pleased God, I should receive no hurt,
but it was necessary I should go, to prevent the suspicion that
might arise from my staying.

I perceived there was something on foot which I was not to know,
but what it was I could not make out from anything they said.

The Queen again bade me go to bed in a peremptory tone. My sister
wished me a good night, her tears flowing apace, but she did not
dare to say a word more; and I left the bedchamber more dead
than alive.

As soon as I reached my own closet, I threw myself upon my knees
and prayed to God to take me into his protection and save me; but
from whom or what, I was ignorant. Hereupon the King my husband,
who was already in bed, sent for me. I went to him, and found the
bed surrounded by thirty or forty Huguenots, who were entirely
unknown to me; for I had been then but a very short time married.
Their whole discourse, during the night, was upon what had happened
to the Admiral, and they all came to a resolution of the next
day demanding justice of the King against M. de Guise; and, if
it was refused, to take it themselves.

For my part, I was unable to sleep a wink the whole night, for
thinking of my sister's tears and distress, which had greatly
alarmed me, although I had not the least knowledge of the real
cause. As soon as day broke, the King my husband said he would
rise and play at tennis until King Charles was risen, when he
would go to him immediately and demand justice. He left the
bedchamber, and all his gentlemen followed.

As soon as I beheld it was broad day, I apprehended all the danger
my sister had spoken of was over; and being inclined to sleep, I
bade my nurse make the door fast, and I applied myself to take
some repose. In about an hour I was awakened by a violent noise
at the door, made with both hands and feet, and a voice calling
out, "Navarre! Navarre!" My nurse, supposing the King my husband
to be at the door, hastened to open it, when a gentleman, named
M. de Teian, ran in, and threw himself immediately upon my bed.
He had received a wound in his arm from a sword, and another by
a pike, and was then pursued by four archers, who followed him
into the bedchamber. Perceiving these last, I jumped out of bed,
and the poor gentleman after me, holding me fast by the waist.
I did not then know him; neither was I sure that he came to do me
no harm, or whether the archers were in pursuit of him or me. In
this situation I screamed aloud, and he cried out likewise, for
our fright was mutual. At length, by God's providence, M. de
Nançay, captain of the guard, came into the bedchamber, and,
seeing me thus surrounded, though he could not help pitying me,
he was scarcely able to refrain from laughter. However, he
reprimanded the archers very severely for their indiscretion,
and drove them out of the chamber. At my request he granted the
poor gentleman his life, and I had him put to bed in my closet,
caused his wounds to be dressed, and did not suffer him to quit
my apartment until he was perfectly cured. I changed my shift,
because it was stained with the blood of this man, and, whilst
I was doing so, De Nançay gave me an account of the transactions
of the foregoing night, assuring me that the King my husband was
safe, and actually at that moment in the King's bed-chamber.
He made me muffle myself up in a cloak, and conducted me to the
apartment of my sister, Madame de Lorraine, whither I arrived
more than half dead. As we passed through the antechamber, all
the doors of which were wide open, a gentleman of the name of
Bourse, pursued by archers, was run through the body with a pike,
and fell dead at my feet. As if I had been killed by the same
stroke, I fell, and was caught by M. de Nançay before I reached
the ground. As soon as I recovered from this fainting-fit, I
went into my sister's bedchamber, and was immediately followed
by M. de Mioflano, first gentleman to the King my husband, and
Armagnac, his first _valet de chambre_, who both came to beg me
to save their lives. I went and threw myself on my knees before
the King and the Queen my mother, and obtained the lives of both
of them.

Five or six days afterwards, those who were engaged in this plot,
considering that it was incomplete whilst the King my husband
and the Prince de Condé remained alive, as their design was not
only to dispose of the Huguenots, but of the Princes of the blood
likewise; and knowing that no attempt could be made on my husband
whilst I continued to be his wife, devised a scheme which they
suggested to the Queen my mother for divorcing me from him.
Accordingly, one holiday, when I waited upon her to chapel, she
charged me to declare to her, upon my oath, whether I believed
my husband to be like other men. "Because," said she, "if he
is not, I can easily procure you a divorce from him." I begged
her to believe that I was not sufficiently competent to answer
such a question, and could only reply, as the Roman lady did
to her husband, when he chid her for not informing him of his
stinking breath, that, never having approached any other man
near enough to know a difference, she thought all men had been
alike in that respect. "But," said I, "Madame, since you have
put the question to me, I can only declare I am content to remain
as I am;" and this I said because I suspected the design of
separating me from my husband was in order to work some mischief
against him.




LETTER VI

We accompanied the King of Poland as far as Beaumont. For some
months before he quitted France, he had used every endeavour
to efface from my mind the ill offices he had so ungratefully
done me. He solicited to obtain the same place in my esteem which
he held during our infancy; and, on taking leave of me, made me
confirm it by oaths and promises. His departure from France,
and King Charles's sickness, which happened just about the same
time, excited the spirit of the two factions into which the kingdom
was divided, to form a variety of plots. The Huguenots, on the
death of the Admiral, had obtained from the King my husband, and
my brother Alençon, a written obligation to avenge it. Before St.
Bartholomew's Day, they had gained my brother over to their party,
by the hope of securing Flanders for him. They now persuaded my
husband and him to leave the King and Queen on their return,
and pass into Champagne, there to join some troops which were
in waiting to receive them.

M. de Miossans, a Catholic gentleman, having received an intimation
of this design, considered it so prejudicial to the interests
of the King his master, that he communicated it to me with the
intention of frustrating a plot of so much danger to themselves
and to the State. I went immediately to the King and the Queen
my mother, and informed them that I had a matter of the utmost
importance to lay before them; but that I could not declare it
unless they would be pleased to promise me that no harm should
ensue from it to such as I should name to them, and that they
would put a stop to what was going forward without publishing
their knowledge of it. Having obtained my request, I told them
that my brother Alençon and the King my husband had an intention,
on the very next day, of joining some Huguenot troops, which
expected them, in order to fulfil the engagement they had made
upon the Admiral's death; and for this their intention, I begged
they might be excused, and that they might be prevented from
going away without any discovery being made that their designs
had been found out. All this was granted me, and measures were
so prudently taken to stay them, that they had not the least
suspicion that their intended evasion was known. Soon after, we
arrived at St. Germain, where we stayed some time, on account
of the King's indisposition. All this while my brother Alençon
used every means he could devise to ingratiate himself with me,
until at last I promised him my friendship, as I had before done
to my brother the King of Poland. As he had been brought up at a
distance from Court, we had hitherto known very little of each
other, and kept ourselves at a distance. Now that he had made
the first advances, in so respectful and affectionate a manner,
I resolved to receive him into a firm friendship, and to interest
myself in whatever concerned him, without prejudice, however,
to the interests of my good brother King Charles, whom I loved
more than any one besides, and who continued to entertain a great
regard for me, of which he gave me proofs as long as he lived.

Meanwhile King Charles was daily growing worse, and the Huguenots
constantly forming new plots. They were very desirous to get
my brother the Duc d'Alençon and the King my husband away from
Court. I got intelligence, from time to time, of their designs;
and, providentially, the Queen my mother defeated their intentions
when a day had been fixed on for the arrival of the Huguenot
troops at St. Germain. To avoid this visit, we set off the night
before for Paris, two hours after midnight, putting King Charles
in a litter, and the Queen my mother taking my brother and the
King my husband with her in her own carriage.

They did not experience on this occasion such mild treatment
as they had hitherto done, for the King going to the Wood of
Vincennes, they were not permitted to set foot out of the palace.
This misunderstanding was so far from being mitigated by time,
that the mistrust and discontent were continually increasing,
owing to the insinuations and bad advice offered to the King by
those who wished the ruin and downfall of our house. To such a
height had these jealousies risen that the Maréchaux de Montmorency
and de Cossé were put under a close arrest, and La Mole and the
Comte de Donas executed. Matters were now arrived at such a pitch
that commissioners were appointed from the Court of Parliament
to hear and determine upon the case of my brother and the King
my husband.

My husband, having no counsellor to assist him, desired me to
draw up his defence in such a manner that he might not implicate
any person, and, at the same time, clear my brother and himself
from any criminality of conduct. With God's help I accomplished
this task to his great satisfaction, and to the surprise of the
commissioners, who did not expect to find them so well prepared
to justify themselves.

As it was apprehended, after the death of La Mole and the Comte
de Donas, that their lives were likewise in danger, I had resolved
to save them at the hazard of my own ruin with the King, whose
favour I entirely enjoyed at that time. I was suffered to pass
to and from them in my coach, with my women, who were not even
required by the guard to unmask, nor was my coach ever searched.
This being the case, I had intended to convey away one of them
disguised in a female habit. But the difficulty lay in settling
betwixt themselves which should remain behind in prison, they
being closely watched by their guards, and the escape of one
bringing the other's life into hazard. Thus they could never
agree upon the point, each of them wishing to be the person I
should deliver from confinement.

But Providence put a period to their imprisonment by a means
which proved very unfortunate for me. This was no other than
the death of King Charles, who was the only stay and support of
my life,--a brother from whose hands I never received anything
but good; who, during the persecution I underwent at Angers,
through my brother Anjou, assisted me with all his advice and
credit. In a word, when I lost King Charles, I lost everything.




LETTER VII

After this fatal event, which was as unfortunate for France as
for me, we went to Lyons to give the meeting to the King of Poland,
now Henri III. of France. The new King was as much governed by
Le Guast as ever, and had left this intriguing, mischievous man
behind in France to keep his party together. Through this man's
insinuations he had conceived the most confirmed jealousy of my
brother Alençon. He suspected that I was the bond that connected
the King my husband and my brother, and that, to dissolve their
union, it would be necessary to create a coolness between me and
my husband, and to work up a quarrel of rivalship betwixt them
both by means of Madame de Sauves, whom they both visited. This
abominable plot, which proved the source of so much disquietude
and unhappiness, as well to my brother as myself, was as artfully
conducted as it was wickedly designed.

Many have held that God has great personages more immediately
under his protection, and that minds of superior excellence have
bestowed on them a good genius, or secret intelligencer, to apprise
them of good, or warn them against evil. Of this number I might
reckon the Queen my mother, who has had frequent intimations
of the kind; particularly the very night before the tournament
which proved so fatal to the King my father, she dreamed that she
saw him wounded in the eye, as it really happened; upon which she
awoke, and begged him not to run a course that day, but content
himself with looking on. Fate prevented the nation from enjoying so
much happiness as it would have done had he followed her advice.
Whenever she lost a child, she beheld a bright flame shining before
her, and would immediately cry out, "God save my children!" well
knowing it was the harbinger of the death of some one of them,
which melancholy news was sure to be confirmed very shortly after.
During her very dangerous illness at Metz, where she caught a
pestilential fever, either from the coal fires, or by visiting
some of the nunneries which had been infected, and from which
she was restored to health and to the kingdom through the great
skill and experience of that modern Æsculapius, M. de Castilian her
physician--I say, during that illness, her bed being surrounded by
my brother King Charles, my brother and sister Lorraine, several
members of the Council, besides many ladies and princesses, not
choosing to quit her, though without hopes of her life, she was
heard to cry out, as if she saw the battle of Jarnac: "There!
see how they flee! My son, follow them to victory! Ah, my son
falls! O my God, save him! See there! the Prince de Condé is
dead!" All who were present looked upon these words as proceeding
from her delirium, as she knew that my brother Anjou was on the
point of giving battle, and thought no more of it. On the night
following, M. de Losses brought the news of the battle; and, it
being supposed that she would be pleased to hear of it, she was
awakened, at which she appeared to be angry, saying: "Did I not
know it yesterday?" It was then that those about her recollected
what I have now related, and concluded that it was no delirium,
but one of those revelations made by God to great and illustrious
persons. Ancient history furnishes many examples of the like
kind amongst the pagans, as the apparition of Brutus and many
others, which I shall not mention, it not being my intention to
illustrate these Memoirs with such narratives, but only to relate
the truth, and that with as much expedition as I am able, that
you may be the sooner in possession of my story.

I am far from supposing that I am worthy of these divine admonitions;
nevertheless, I should accuse myself of ingratitude towards my God
for the benefits I have received, which I esteem myself obliged
to acknowledge whilst I live; and I further believe myself bound
to bear testimony of his goodness and power, and the mercies he
hath shown me, so that I can declare no extraordinary accident
ever befell me, whether fortunate or otherwise, but I received
some warning of it, either by dream or in some other way, so
that I may say with the poet--

  "De mon bien, ou mon mal,
  Mon esprit m'est oracle."

  (Whate'er of good or ill befell,
  My mind was oracle to tell.)

And of this I had a convincing proof on the arrival of the King
of Poland, when the Queen my mother went to meet him. Amidst
the embraces and compliments of welcome in that warm season,
crowded as we were together and stifling with heat, I found a
universal shivering come over me, which was plainly perceived
by those near me. It was with difficulty I could conceal what
I felt when the King, having saluted the Queen my mother, came
forward to salute me. This secret intimation of what was to happen
thereafter made a strong impression on my mind at the moment, and
I thought of it shortly after, when I discovered that the King
had conceived a hatred of me through the malicious suggestions
of Le Guast, who had made him believe, since the King's death,
that I espoused my brother Alençon's party during his absence,
and cemented a friendship betwixt the King my husband and him.




LETTER VIII

An opportunity was diligently sought by my enemies to effect their
design of bringing about a misunderstanding betwixt my brother
Alençon, the King my husband, and me, by creating a jealousy of
me in my husband, and in my brother and husband, on account of
their mutual love for Madame de Sauves.

One afternoon, the Queen my mother having retired to her closet
to finish some despatches which were likely to detain her there
for some time, Madame de Nevers, your kinswoman, Madame de Rais,
another of your relations, Bourdeille, and Surgères asked me
whether I would not wish to see a little of the city. Whereupon
Mademoiselle de Montigny, the niece of Madame Usez, observing to
us that the Abbey of St. Pierre was a beautiful convent, we all
resolved to visit it. She then begged to go with us, as she said
she had an aunt in that convent, and as it was not easy to gain
admission into it, except in the company of persons of distinction.
Accordingly, she went with us; and there being six of us, the
carriage was crowded. Over and above those I have mentioned,
there was Madame de Curton, the lady of my bed-chamber, who always
attended me. Liancourt, first esquire to the King, and Camille
placed themselves on the steps of Torigni's carriage, supporting
themselves as well as they were able, making themselves merry
on the occasion, and saying they would go and see the handsome
nuns, too. I look upon it as ordered by Divine Providence that I
should have Mademoiselle de Montigny with me, who was not well
acquainted with any lady of the company, and that the two gentlemen
just mentioned, who were in the confidence of King Henri, should
likewise be of the party, as they were able to clear me of the
calumny intended, to be fixed upon me.

Whilst we were viewing the convent, my carriage waited for us in
the square. In the square many gentlemen belonging to the Court
had their lodgings. My carriage was easily to be distinguished,
as it was gilt and lined with yellow velvet trimmed with silver.
We had not come out of the convent when the King passed through
the square on his way to see Quelus, who was then sick. He had
with him the King my husband, D'O----, and the fat fellow Ruffé.

The King, observing no one in my carriage, turned to my husband
and said: "There is your wife's coach, and that is the house
where Bidé lodges. Bidé is sick, and I will engage my word she
is gone upon a visit to him. Go," said he to Ruffé, "and see
whether she is not there." In saying this, the King addressed
himself to a proper tool for his malicious purpose, for this
fellow Ruffé was entirely devoted to Le Guast. I need not tell you
he did not find me there; however, knowing the King's intention,
he, to favour it, said loud enough for the King my husband to
hear him: "The birds have been there, but they are now flown."
This furnished sufficient matter for conversation until they
reached home.

Upon this occasion, the King my husband displayed all the good
sense and generosity of temper for which he is remarkable. He
saw through the design, and he despised the maliciousness of
it. The King my brother was anxious to see the Queen my mother
before me, to whom he imparted the pretended discovery, and she,
whether to please a son on whom she doted, or whether she really
gave credit to the story had related it to some ladies with much
seeming anger.

Soon afterwards I returned with the ladies who had accompanied
me to St. Pierre's, entirely ignorant of what had happened. I
found the King my husband in our apartments, who began to laugh
on seeing me, and said: "Go immediately to the Queen your mother,
but I promise you you will not return very well pleased." I asked
him the reason, and what had happened. He answered: "I shall
tell you nothing; but be assured of this, that I do not give
the least credit to the story, which I plainly perceive to be
fabricated in order to stir up a difference betwixt us two, and
break off the friendly intercourse between your brother and me."

Finding I could get no further information on the subject from
him, I went to the apartment of the Queen my mother. I met M. de
Guise in the antechamber, who was not displeased at the prospect
of a dissension in our family, hoping that he might make some
advantage of it. He addressed me in these words: "I waited here
expecting to see you, in order to inform you that some ill office
has been done you with the Queen." He then told me the story he
had learned of D'O----, who, being intimate with your kinswoman,
had informed M. de Guise of it, that he might apprise us.

I went into the Queen's bedchamber, but did not find my mother
there. However, I saw Madame de Nemours, the rest of the princesses,
and other ladies, who all exclaimed on seeing me: "Good God! the
Queen your mother is in such a rage; we would advise you, for
the present, to keep out of her sight."

"Yes," said I, "so I would, had I been guilty of what the King
has reported; but I assure you all I am entirely innocent, and
must therefore speak with her and clear myself."

I then went into her closet, which was separated from the bedchamber
by a slight partition only, so that our whole conversation could
be distinctly heard. She no sooner set eyes upon me than she
flew into a great passion, and said everything that the fury
of her resentment suggested. I related to her the whole truth,
and begged to refer her to the company which attended me, to
the number of ten or twelve persons, desiring her not to rely
on the testimony of those more immediately about me, but examine
Mademoiselle Montigny, who did not belong to me, and Liancourt
and Camille, who were the King's servants.

She would not hear a word I had to offer, but continued to rate
me in a furious manner; whether it was through fear, or affection
for her son, or whether she believed the story in earnest, I know
not. When I observed to her that I understood the King had done
me this ill office in her opinion, her anger was redoubled, and
she endeavoured to make me believe that she had been informed of
the circumstance by one of her own _valets de chambre_, who had
himself seen me at the place. Perceiving that I gave no credit
to this account of the matter, she became more and more incensed
against me.

All that was said was perfectly heard by those in the next room.
At length I left her closet, much chagrined; and returning to
my own apartments, I found the King my husband there, who said
to me: "Well, was it not as I told you?"

He, seeing me under great concern, desired me not to grieve about
it, adding that "Liancourt and Camille would attend the King
that night in his bedchamber, and relate the affair as it really
was; and to-morrow," continued he, "the Queen your mother will
receive you in a very different manner."

"But, monsieur," I replied, "I have received too gross an affront
in public to forgive those who were the occasion of it; but that
is nothing when compared with the malicious intention of causing
so heavy a misfortune to befall me as to create a variance betwixt
you and me."

"But," said he, "God be thanked, they have failed in it."

"For that," answered I, "I am the more beholden to God and your
amiable disposition. However," continued I, "we may derive this
good from it, that it ought to be a warning to us to put ourselves
upon our guard against the King's stratagems to bring about a
disunion betwixt you and my brother, by causing a rupture betwixt
you and me."

Whilst I was saying this, my brother entered the apartment, and
I made them renew their protestations of friendship. But what
oaths or promises can prevail against love! This will appear
more fully in the sequel of my story.

An Italian banker, who had concerns with my brother, came to him
the next morning, and invited him, the King my husband, myself,
the princesses, and other ladies, to partake of an entertainment
in a garden belonging to him. Having made it a constant rule,
before and after I married, as long as I remained in the Court
of the Queen my mother, to go to no place without her permission,
I waited on her, at her return from mass, and asked leave to be
present at this banquet. She refused to give any leave, and said
she did not care where I went. I leave you to judge, who know my
temper, whether I was not greatly mortified at this rebuff.

Whilst we were enjoying this entertainment, the King, having
spoken with Liancourt, Camille, and Mademoiselle Montigny, was
apprised of the mistake which the malice or misapprehension of
Ruffé had led him into. Accordingly, he went to the Queen my
mother and related the whole truth, entreating her to remove
any ill impressions that might remain with me, as he perceived
that I was not deficient in point of understanding; and feared
that I might be induced to engage in some plan of revenge.

When I returned from the banquet before mentioned, I found that
what the King my husband had foretold was come to pass; for the
Queen my mother sent for me into her back closet, which was adjoining
the King's, and told me that she was now acquainted with the
truth, and found I had not deceived her with a false story. She
had discovered, she said, that there was not the least foundation
for the report her _valet de chambre_ had made, and should dismiss
him from her service as a bad man. As she perceived by my looks
that I saw through this disguise, she said everything she could
think of to persuade me to a belief that the King had not mentioned
it to her. She continued her arguments, and I still appeared
incredulous. At length the King entered the closet, and made
many apologies, declaring he had been imposed on, and assuring
me of his most cordial friendship and esteem; and thus matters
were set to rights again.




LETTER IX

After staying some time at Lyons, we went to Avignon. Le Guast,
not daring to hazard any fresh imposture, and finding that my
conduct afforded no ground for jealousy on the part of my husband,
plainly perceived that he could not, by that means, bring about
a misunderstanding betwixt my brother and the King my husband.
He therefore resolved to try what he could effect through Madame
de Sauves. In order to do this, he obtained such an influence
over her that she acted entirely as he directed; insomuch that,
by his artful instructions, the passion which these young men
had conceived, hitherto wavering and cold, as is generally the
case at their time of life, became of a sudden so violent that
ambition and every obligation of duty were at once absorbed by
their attentions to this woman.

This occasioned such a jealousy betwixt them that, though her
favours were divided with M. de Guise, Le Guast, De Souvray,
and others, anyone of whom she preferred to the brothers-in-law,
such was the infatuation of these last, that each considered
the other as his only rival.

To carry on De Guast's sinister designs, this woman persuaded the
King my husband that I was jealous of her, and on that account
it was that I joined with my brother. As we are ready to give
ear and credit to those we love, he believed all she said. From
this time he became distant and reserved towards me, shunning my
presence as much as possible; whereas, before, he was open and
communicative to me as to a sister, well knowing that I yielded to
his pleasure in all things, and was far from harbouring jealousy
of any kind.

What I had dreaded, I now perceived had come to pass. This was
the loss of his favour and good opinion; to preserve which I
had studied to gain his confidence by a ready compliance with
his wishes, well knowing that mistrust is the sure forerunner
of hatred.

I now turned my mind to an endeavour to wean my brother's affection
from Madame de Sauves, in order to counterplot Le Guast in his
design to bring about a division, and thereby to effect our ruin.
I used every means with my brother to divert his passion; but
the fascination was too strong, and my pains proved ineffectual.
In anything else, my brother would have suffered himself to be
ruled by me; but the charms of this Circe, aided by that sorcerer,
Le Guast, were too powerful to be dissolved by my advice. So far
was he from profiting by my counsel that he was weak enough to
communicate it to her. So blind are lovers!

Her vengeance was excited by this communication, and she now
entered more fully into the designs of Le Guast. In consequence,
she used all her art to make the King my husband conceive an
aversion for me; insomuch that he scarcely ever spoke with me.
He left her late at night, and, to prevent our meeting in the
morning, she directed him to come to her at the Queen's levée,
which she duly attended; after which he passed the rest of the
day with her. My brother likewise followed her with the greatest
assiduity, and she had the artifice to make each of them think
that he alone had any place in her esteem. Thus was a jealousy
kept up betwixt them, and, in consequence, disunion and mutual
ruin!

We made a considerable stay at Avignon, whence we proceeded through
Burgundy and Champagne to Rheims, where the King's marriage was
celebrated. From Rheims we came to Paris, things going on in
their usual train, and Le Guast prosecuting his designs with
all the success he could wish. At Paris my brother was joined
by Bussi, whom he received with all the favour which his bravery
merited. He was inseparable from my brother, in consequence of
which I frequently saw him, for my brother and I were always
together, his household being equally at my devotion as if it
were my own. Your aunt, remarking this harmony betwixt us, has
often told me that it called to her recollection the times of
my uncle, M. d'Orléans, and my aunt, Madame de Savoie.

Le Guast thought this a favourable circumstance to complete his
design. Accordingly, he suggested to Madame de Sauves to make my
husband believe that it was on account of Bussi that I frequented
my brother's apartments so constantly.

The King my husband, being fully informed of all my proceedings
from persons in his service who attended me everywhere, could
not be induced to lend an ear to this story. Le Guast, finding
himself foiled in this quarter, applied to the King, who was well
inclined to listen to the tale, on account of his dislike to my
brother and me, whose friendship for each other was unpleasing
to him.

Besides this, he was incensed against Bussi, who, being formerly
attached to him, had now devoted himself wholly to my brother,--an
acquisition which, on account of the celebrity of Bussi's fame
for parts and valour, redounded greatly to my brother's honour,
whilst it increased the malice and envy of his enemies.

The King, thus worked upon by Le Guast, mentioned it to the Queen
my mother, thinking it would have the same effect on her as the
tale which was trumped up at Lyons. But she, seeing through the
whole design, showed him the improbability of the story, adding
that he must have some wicked people about him, who could put
such notions in his head, observing that I was very unfortunate
to have fallen upon such evil times. "In my younger days," said
she, "we were allowed to converse freely with all the gentlemen
who belonged to the King our father, the Dauphin, and M. d'Orléans,
your uncles. It was common for them to assemble in the bedchamber
of Madame Marguerite, your aunt, as well as in mine, and nothing
was thought of it. Neither ought it to appear strange that Bussi
sees my daughter in the presence of her husband's servants. They
are not shut up together. Bussi is a person of quality, and holds
the first place in your brother's family. What grounds are there
for such a calumny? At Lyons you caused me to offer her an affront,
which I fear she will never forget."

The King was astonished to hear his mother talk in this manner,
and interrupted her with saying: "Madame, I only relate what
I have heard."

"But who is it," answered she, "that tells you all this? I fear
no one that intends you any good, but rather one that wishes
to create divisions amongst you all."

As soon as the King had left her she told me all that had passed,
and said: "You are unfortunate to live in these times." Then calling
your aunt, Madame de Dampierre, they entered into a discourse
concerning the pleasures and innocent freedoms of the times they
had seen, when scandal and malevolence were unknown at Court.

Le Guast, finding this plot miscarry, was not long in contriving
another. He addressed himself for this purpose to certain gentlemen
who attended the King my husband. These had been formerly the
friends of Bussi, but, envying the glory he had obtained, were
now become his enemies. Under the mask of zeal for their master,
they disguised the envy which they harboured in their breasts.
They entered into a design of assassinating Bussi as he left
my brother to go to his own lodgings, which was generally at
a late hour. They knew that he was always accompanied home by
fifteen or sixteen gentlemen, belonging to my brother, and that,
notwithstanding he wore no sword, having been lately wounded in
the right arm, his presence was sufficient to inspire the rest
with courage.

In order, therefore, to make sure work, they resolved on attacking
him with two or three hundred men, thinking that night would
throw a veil over the disgrace of such an assassination.

Le Guast, who commanded a regiment of guards, furnished the requisite
number of men, whom he disposed in five or six divisions, in the
street through which he was to pass. Their orders were to put
out the torches and _flambeaux_, and then to fire their pieces,
after which they were to charge his company, observing particularly
to attack one who had his right arm slung in a scarf.

Fortunately they escaped the intended massacre, and, fighting
their way through, reached Bussi's lodgings, one gentleman only
being killed, who was particularly attached to M. de Bussi, and
who was probably mistaken for him, as he had his arm likewise
slung in a scarf.

An Italian gentleman, who belonged to my brother, left them at
the beginning of the attack, and came running back to the Louvre.
As soon as he reached my brother's chamber door, he cried out
aloud: "Bussi is assassinated!" My brother was going out, but
I, hearing the cry of assassination, left my chamber, by good
fortune not being undressed, and stopped my brother. I then sent
for the Queen my mother to come with all haste in order to prevent
him from going out, as he was resolved to do, regardless of what
might happen. It was with difficulty we could stay him, though the
Queen my mother represented the hazard he ran from the darkness
of the night, and his ignorance of the nature of the attack,
which might have been purposely designed by Le Guast to take
away his life. Her entreaties and persuasions would have been
of little avail if she had not used her authority to order all
the doors to be barred, and taken the resolution of remaining
where she was until she had learned what had really happened.

Bussi, whom God had thus miraculously preserved, with that presence
of mind which he was so remarkable for in time of battle and
the most imminent danger, considering within himself when he
reached home the anxiety of his master's mind should he have
received any false report, and fearing he might expose himself
to hazard upon the first alarm being given (which certainly would
have been the case, if my mother had not interfered and prevented
it), immediately despatched one of his people to let him know
every circumstance.

The next day Bussi showed himself at the Louvre without the least
dread of enemies, as if what had happened had been merely the
attack of a tournament. My brother exhibited much pleasure at
the sight of Bussi, but expressed great resentment at such a
daring attempt to deprive him of so brave and valuable a servant,
a man whom Le Guast durst not attack in any other way than by
a base assassination.




LETTER X

The Queen my mother, a woman endowed with the greatest prudence
and foresight of any one I ever knew, apprehensive of evil
consequences from this affair, and fearing a dissension betwixt
her two sons, advised my brother to fall upon some pretence for
sending Bussi away from Court. In this advice I joined her, and
through our united counsel and request, my brother was prevailed
upon to give his consent. I had every reason to suppose that
Le Guast would take advantage of the rencounter to foment the
coolness which already existed betwixt my brother and the King
my husband into an open rupture: Bussi, who implicitly followed
my brother's directions in everything, departed with a company
of the bravest noblemen that were about the latter's person.

Bussi was now removed from the machinations of Le Guast, who
likewise failed in accomplishing a design he had long projected,--to
disunite the King my husband and me.

One night my husband was attacked with a fit, and continued
insensible for the space of an hour,--occasioned, I supposed,
by his excesses with women, for I never knew anything of the
kind to happen to him before. However, as it was my duty so to
do, I attended him with so much care and assiduity that, when
he recovered, he spoke of it to everyone, declaring that, if
I had not perceived his indisposition and called for the help
of my women, he should not have survived the fit.

From this time he treated me with more kindness, and the cordiality
betwixt my brother and him was again revived, as if I had been
the point of union at which they were to meet, or the cement
that joined them together.

Le Guast was now at his wit's end for some fresh contrivance to
breed disunion in the Court.

He had lately persuaded the King to remove from about the person
of the Queen-consort, a princess of the greatest virtue and most
amiable qualities, a female attendant of the name of Changi,
for whom the Queen entertained a particular esteem, as having
been brought up with her. Being successful in this measure, he
now thought of making the King my husband send away Torigni,
whom I greatly regarded.

The argument he used with the King was, that young princesses
ought to have no favourites about them.

The King, yielding to this man's persuasions, spoke of it to
my husband, who observed that it would be a matter that would
greatly distress me; that if I had an esteem for Torigni it was
not without cause, as she had been brought up with the Queen
of Spain and me from our infancy; that, moreover, Torigni was
a young lady of good understanding, and had been of great use
to him during his confinement at Vincennes; that it would be
the greatest ingratitude in him to overlook services of such a
nature, and that he remembered well when his Majesty had expressed
the same sentiments.

Thus did he defend himself against the performance of so ungrateful
an action. However, the King listened only to the arguments of
Le Guast, and told my husband that he should have no more love
for him if he did not remove Torigni from about me the very next
morning.

He was forced to comply, greatly contrary to his will, and, as
he has since declared to me, with much regret. Joining entreaties
to commands, he laid his injunctions on me accordingly.

How displeasing this separation was I plainly discovered by the
many tears I shed on receiving his orders. It was in vain to
represent to him the injury done to my character by the sudden
removal of one who had been with me from my earliest years, and
was so greatly in my esteem and confidence; he could not give
an ear to my reasons, being firmly bound by the promise he had
made to the King.

Accordingly, Torigni left me that very day, and went to the house
of a relation, M. Chastelas. I was so greatly offended with this
fresh indignity, after so many of the kind formerly received,
that I could not help yielding to resentment; and my grief and
concern getting the upper hand of my prudence, I exhibited a
great coolness and indifference towards my husband. Le Guast and
Madame de Sauves were successful in creating a like indifference
on his part, which, coinciding with mine, separated us altogether,
and we neither spoke to each other nor slept in the same bed.

A few days after this, some faithful servants about the person
of the King my husband remarked to him the plot which had been
concerted with so much artifice to lead him to his ruin, by creating
a division, first betwixt him and my brother, and next betwixt
him and me, thereby separating him from those in whom only he
could hope for his principal support. They observed to him that
already matters were brought to such a pass that the King showed
little regard for him, and even appeared to despise him.

They afterwards addressed themselves to my brother, whose situation
was not in the least mended since the departure of Bussi, Le
Guast causing fresh indignities to be offered him daily. They
represented to him that the King my husband and he were both
circumstanced alike, and equally in disgrace, as Le Guast had
everything under his direction; so that both of them were under
the necessity of soliciting, through him, any favours which they
might want of the King, and which, when demanded, were constantly
refused them with great contempt. Moreover, it was become dangerous
to offer them service, as it was inevitable ruin for anyone to
do so.

"Since, then," said they, "your dissensions appear to be so likely
to prove fatal to both, it would be advisable in you both to unite
and come to a determination of leaving the Court; and, after
collecting together your friends and servants, to require from the
King an establishment suitable to your ranks." They observed to
my brother that he had never yet been put in possession of his
appanage, and received for his subsistence only some certain
allowances, which were not regularly paid him, as they passed
through the hands of Le Guast, and were at his disposal, to be
discharged or kept back, as he judged proper. They concluded
with observing that, with regard to the King my husband, the
government of Guyenne was taken out of his hands; neither was
he permitted to visit that or any other of his dominions.

It was hereupon resolved to pursue the counsel now given, and that
the King my husband and my brother should immediately withdraw
themselves from Court. My brother made me acquainted with this
resolution, observing to me, as my husband and he were now friends
again, that I ought to forget all that had passed; that my husband
had declared to him that he was sorry things had so happened, that
we had been outwitted by our enemies, but that he was resolved,
from henceforward, to show me every attention and give me every
proof of his love and esteem, and he concluded with begging me
to make my husband every show of affection, and to be watchful
for their interest during their absence.

It was concerted betwixt them that my brother should depart first,
making off in a carriage in the best manner he could; that, in
a few days afterwards, the King my husband should follow, under
pretence of going on a hunting party. They both expressed their
concern that they could not take me with them, assuring me that
I had no occasion to have any apprehensions, as it would soon
appear that they had no design to disturb the peace of the kingdom,
but merely to ensure the safety of their own persons, and to
settle their establishments. In short, it might well be supposed
that, in their present situation, they had reason to apprehend
danger to themselves from such as had evil designs against their
family.

Accordingly, as soon as it was dusk and before the King's
supper-time, my brother changed his cloak, and concealing the
lower part of his face to his nose in it, left the palace, attended
by a servant who was little known, and went on foot to the gate
of St. Honoré, where he found Simier waiting for him in a coach,
borrowed of a lady for the purpose.

My brother threw himself into it, and went to a house about a
quarter of a league out of Paris, where horses were stationed
ready; and at the distance of about a league farther, he joined
a party of two or three hundred horsemen of his servants, who
were awaiting his coming. My brother was not missed till nine
o'clock, when the King and the Queen my mother asked me the reason
he did not come to sup with them as usual, and if I knew of his
being indisposed. I told them I had not seen him since noon.
Thereupon they sent to his apartments. Word was brought back
that he was not there. Orders were then given to inquire at the
apartments of the ladies whom he was accustomed to visit. He was
nowhere to be found. There was now a general alarm. The King
flew into a great passion, and began to threaten me. He then
sent for all the Princes and the great officers of the Court;
and giving orders for a pursuit to be made, and to bring him
back, dead or alive, cried out: "He is gone to make war against
me; but I will show him what it is to contend with a king of
my power."

Many of the Princes and officers of State remonstrated against
these orders, which they observed ought to be well weighed. They
said that, as their duty directed, they were willing to venture
their lives in the King's service; but to act against his brother
they were certain would not be pleasing to the King himself; that
they were well convinced his brother would undertake nothing
that should give his Majesty displeasure, or be productive of
danger to the realm; that perhaps his leaving the Court was owing
to some disgust, which it would be more advisable to send and
inquire into. Others, on the contrary, were for putting the King's
orders into execution; but, whatever expedition they could use,
it was day before they set off; and as it was then too late to
overtake my brother, they returned, being only equipped for the
pursuit.

I was in tears the whole night of my brother's departure, and
the next day was seized with a violent cold, which was succeeded
by a fever that confined me to my bed.

Meanwhile my husband was preparing for his departure, which took
up all the time he could spare from his visits to Madame de Sauves;
so that he did not think of me. He returned as usual at two or
three in the morning, and, as we had separate beds, I seldom
heard him; and in the morning, before I was awake, he went to
my mother's levée, where he met Madame de Sauves, as usual.

This being the case, he quite forgot his promise to my brother
of speaking to me; and when he went away, it was without taking
leave of me.

The King did not show my husband more favour after my brother's
evasion, but continued to behave with his former coolness. This
the more confirmed him in the resolution of leaving the Court,
so that in a few days, under the pretence of hunting, he went
away.




LETTER XI

The King, supposing that I was a principal instrument in aiding
the Princes in their desertion, was greatly incensed against
me, and his rage became at length so violent that, had not the
Queen my mother moderated it, I am inclined to think my life
had been in danger. Giving way to her counsel, he became more
calm, but insisted upon a guard being placed over me, that I
might not follow the King my husband, neither have communication
with any one, so as to give the Princes intelligence of what
was going on at Court. The Queen my mother gave her consent to
this measure, as being the least violent, and was well pleased
to find his anger cooled in so great a degree. She, however,
requested that she might be permitted to discourse with me, in
order to reconcile me to a submission to treatment of so different
a kind from what I had hitherto known. At the same time she advised
the King to consider that these troubles might not be lasting;
that everything in the world bore a double aspect; that what
now appeared to him horrible and alarming, might, upon a second
view, assume a more pleasing and tranquil look; that, as things
changed, so should measures change with them; that there might
come a time when he might have occasion for my services; that,
as prudence counselled us not to repose too much confidence in
our friends, lest they should one day become our enemies, so was
it advisable to conduct ourselves in such a manner to our enemies
as if we had hopes they should hereafter become our friends.
By such prudent remonstrances did the Queen my mother restrain
the King from proceeding to extremities with me, as he would
otherwise possibly have done.

Le Guast now endeavoured to divert his fury to another object,
in order to wound me in a most sensitive part. He prevailed on
the King to adopt a design for seizing Torigni, at the house
of her cousin Chastelas, and, under pretence of bringing her
before the King, to drown her in a river which they were to cross.
The party sent upon this errand was admitted by Chastelas, not
suspecting any evil design, without the least difficulty, into
his house. As soon as they had gained admission they proceeded
to execute the cruel business they were sent upon, by fastening
Torigni with cords and locking her up in a chamber, whilst their
horses were baiting. Meantime, according to the French custom,
they crammed themselves, like gluttons, with the best eatables
the house afforded. Chastelas, who was a man of discretion, was
not displeased to gain time at the expense of some part of his
substance, considering that the suspension of a sentence is a
prolongation of life, and that during this respite the King's
heart might relent, and he might countermand his former orders.
With these considerations he was induced to submit, though it
was in his power to have called for assistance to repel this
violence. But God, who hath constantly regarded my afflictions
and afforded me protection against the malicious designs of my
enemies, was pleased to order poor Torigni to be delivered by
means which I could never have devised had I been acquainted
with the plot, of which I was totally ignorant. Several of the
domestics, male as well as female, had left the house in a fright,
fearing the insolence and rude treatment of this troop of soldiers,
who behaved as riotously as if they were in a house given up
to pillage. Some of these, at the distance of a quarter of a
league from the house, by God's providence, fell in with Ferté
and Avantigni, at the head of their troops, in number about two
hundred horse, on their march to join my brother. Ferté, remarking
a labourer, whom he knew to belong to Chastelas, apparently in
great distress, inquired of him what was the matter, and whether
he had been ill-used by any of the soldiery. The man related
to him all he knew, and in what state he had left his master's
house. Hereupon Ferté and Avantigni resolved, out of regard to
me, to effect Torigni's deliverance, returning thanks to God for
having afforded them so favourable an opportunity of testifying
the respect they had always entertained towards me.

Accordingly, they proceeded to the house with all expedition, and
arrived just at the moment these soldiers were setting Torigni on
horseback, for the purpose of conveying her to the river wherein
they had orders to plunge her. Galloping into the courtyard,
sword in hand, they cried out: "Assassins, if you dare to offer
that lady the least injury, you are dead men!" So saying, they
attacked them and drove them to flight, leaving their prisoner
behind, nearly as dead with joy as she was before with fear and
apprehension. After returning thanks to God and her deliverers for
so opportune and unexpected a rescue, she and her cousin Chastelas
set off in a carriage, under the escort of their rescuers, and
joined my brother, who, since he could not have me with him,
was happy to have one so dear to me about him. She remained under
my brother's protection as long as any danger was apprehended,
and was treated with as much respect as if she had been with
me.

Whilst the King was giving directions for this notable expedition,
for the purpose of sacrificing Torigni to his vengeance, the
Queen my mother, who had not received the least intimation of
it, came to my apartment as I was dressing to go abroad, in order
to observe how I should be received after what had passed at
Court, having still some alarms on account of my husband and
brother. I had hitherto confined myself to my chamber, not having
perfectly recovered my health, and, in reality, being all the
time as much indisposed in mind as in body.

My mother, perceiving my intention, addressed me in these words:
"My child, you are giving yourself unnecessary trouble in dressing
to go abroad. Do not be alarmed at what I am going to tell you.
Your own good sense will dictate to you that you ought not to
be surprised if the King resents the conduct of your brother
and husband, and as he knows the love and friendship that exist
between you three, should suppose that you were privy to their
design of leaving the Court. He has, for this reason, resolved
to detain you in it, as a hostage for them. He is sensible how
much you are beloved by your husband, and thinks he can hold
no pledge that is more dear to him. On this account it is that
the King has ordered his guards to be placed, with directions
not to suffer you to leave your apartments. He has done this
with the advice of his counsellors, by whom it was suggested
that, if you had your free liberty, you, might be induced to
advise your brother and husband of their deliberations. I beg
you will not be offended with these measures, which, if it so
please God, may not be of long continuance. I beg, moreover,
you will not be displeased with me if I do not pay you frequent
visits, as I should be unwilling to create any suspicions in the
King's mind. However, you may rest assured that I shall prevent
any further steps from being taken that may prove disagreeable
to you, and that I shall use my utmost endeavours to bring about
a reconciliation betwixt your brothers."

I represented to her, in reply, the great indignity that was
offered to me by putting me under arrest; that it was true my
brother had all along communicated to me the just cause he had to
be dissatisfied, but that, with respect to the King my husband,
from the time Torigni was taken from me we had not spoken to
each other; neither had he visited me during my indisposition,
nor did he even take leave of me when he left Court. "This,"
says she, "is nothing at all; it is merely a trifling difference
betwixt man and wife, which a few sweet words, conveyed in a
letter, will set to rights. When, by such means, he has regained
your affections, he has only to write to you to come to him,
and you will set off at the very first opportunity. Now, this
is what the King my son wishes to prevent."




LETTER XII

The Queen my mother left me, saying these words. For my part, I
remained a close prisoner, without a visit from a single person,
none of my most intimate friends daring to come near me, through
the apprehension that such a step might prove injurious to their
interests. Thus it is ever in Courts. Adversity is solitary,
while prosperity dwells in a crowd; the object of persecution
being sure to be shunned by his nearest friends and dearest
connections. The brave Grillon was the only one who ventured
to visit me, at the hazard of incurring disgrace. He came five
or six times to see me, and my guards were so much astonished
at his resolution, and awed by his presence, that not a single
Cerberus of them all would venture to refuse him entrance to
my apartments.

Meanwhile, the King my husband reached the States under his
government. Being joined there by his friends and dependents,
they all represented to him the indignity offered to me by his
quitting the Court without taking leave of me. They observed
to him that I was a princess of good understanding, and that
it would be for his interest to regain my esteem; that, when
matters were put on their former footing, he might derive to
himself great advantage from my presence at Court. Now that he
was at a distance from his Circe, Madame de Sauves, he could
listen to good advice. Absence having abated the force of her
charms, his eyes were opened; he discovered the plots and
machinations of our enemies, and clearly perceived that a rupture
could not but tend to the ruin of us both.

Accordingly, he wrote me a very affectionate letter, wherein he
entreated me to forget all that had passed betwixt us, assuring
me that from thenceforth he would ever love me, and would give
me every demonstration that he did so, desiring me to inform
him of what was going on at Court, and how it fared with me and
my brother. My brother was in Champagne and the King my husband
in Gascony, and there had been no communication betwixt them,
though they were on terms of friendship.

I received this letter during my imprisonment, and it gave me
great comfort under that situation. Although my guards had strict
orders not to permit me to set pen to paper, yet, as necessity
is said to be the mother of invention, I found means to write
many letters to him.

Some few days after I had been put under arrest, my brother had
intelligence of it, which chagrined him so much that, had not
the love of his country prevailed with him, the effects of his
resentment would have been shown in a cruel civil war, to which
purpose he had a sufficient force entirely at his devotion. He
was, however, withheld by his patriotism, and contented himself
with writing to the Queen my mother, informing her that, if I was
thus treated, he should be driven upon some desperate measure.
She, fearing the consequence of an open rupture, and dreading
lest, if blows were once struck, she should be deprived of the
power of bringing about a reconciliation betwixt the brothers,
represented the consequences to the King, and found him well
disposed to lend an ear to her reasons, as his anger was now
cooled by the apprehensions of being attacked in Gascony, Dauphiny,
Languedoc, and Poitou, with all the strength of the Huguenots
under the King my husband.

Besides the many strong places held by the Huguenots, my brother
had an army with him in Champagne, composed chiefly of nobility,
the bravest and best in France. The King found, since my brother's
departure, that he could not, either by threats or rewards, induce
a single person among the princes and great lords to act against
him, so much did everyone fear to intermeddle in this quarrel,
which they considered as of a family nature; and after having
maturely reflected on his situation, he acquiesced in my mother's
opinion, and begged her to fall upon some means of reconciliation.
She thereupon proposed going to my brother and taking me with
her. To the measure of taking me, the King had an objection, as
he considered me as the hostage for my husband and brother. She
then agreed to leave me behind, and set off without my knowledge
of the matter. At their interview, my brother represented to the
Queen my mother that he could not but be greatly dissatisfied
with the King after the many mortifications he had received at
Court; that the cruelty and injustice of confining me hurt him
equally as if done to himself; observing, moreover, that, as
if my arrest were not a sufficient mortification, poor Torigni
must be made to suffer; and concluding with the declaration of
his firm resolution not to listen to any terms of peace until
I was restored to my liberty, and reparation made me for the
indignity I had sustained. The Queen my mother being unable to
obtain any other answer, returned to Court and acquainted the
King with my brother's determination. Her advice was to go back
again with me, for going without me, she said, would answer very
little purpose; and if I went with her in disgust, it would do
more harm than good. Besides, there was reason to fear, in that
case, I should insist upon going to my husband. "In short," says
she, "my daughter's guard must be removed, and she must be satisfied
in the best way we can."

The King agreed to follow her advice, and was now, on a sudden,
as eager to reconcile matters betwixt us as she was herself.
Hereupon I was sent for, and when I came to her, she informed
me that she had paved the way for peace; that it was for the
good of the State, which she was sensible I must be as desirous
to promote as my brother; that she had it now in her power to
make a peace which would be as satisfactory as my brother could
desire, and would put us entirely out of the reach of Le Guast's
machinations, or those of any one else who might have an influence
over the King's mind. She observed that, by assisting her to
procure a good understanding betwixt the King and my brother, I
should relieve her from that cruel disquietude under which she
at present laboured, as, should things come to an open rupture,
she could not but be grieved, whichever party prevailed, as they
were both her sons. She therefore expressed her hopes that I
would forget the injuries I had received, and dispose myself to
concur in a peace, rather than join in any plan of revenge. She
assured me that the King was sorry for what had happened; that
he had even expressed his regret to her with tears in his eyes,
and had declared that he was ready to give me every satisfaction.
I replied that I was willing to sacrifice everything for the
good of my brothers and of the State; that I wished for nothing
so much as peace, and that I would exert myself to the utmost
to bring it about.

As I uttered these words, the King came into the closet, and, with
a number of fine speeches, endeavoured to soften my resentment
and to recover my friendship, to which I made such returns as
might show him I harboured no ill-will for the injuries I had
received. I was induced to such behaviour rather out of contempt,
and because it was good policy to let the King go away satisfied
with me.

Besides, I had found a secret pleasure, during my confinement,
from the perusal of good books, to which I had given myself up
with a delight I never before experienced. I consider this as an
obligation I owe to fortune, or, rather, to Divine Providence,
in order to prepare me, by such efficacious means, to bear up
against the misfortunes and calamities that awaited me. By tracing
nature in the universal book which is opened to all mankind, I
was led to the knowledge of the Divine Author. Science conducts
us, step by step, through the whole range of creation, until we
arrive, at length, at God. Misfortune prompts us to summon our
utmost strength to oppose grief and recover tranquillity, until
at length we find a powerful aid in the knowledge and love of
God, whilst prosperity hurries us away until we are overwhelmed
by our passions. My captivity and its consequent solitude afforded
me the double advantage of exciting a passion for study, and an
inclination for devotion, advantages I had never experienced
during the vanities and splendour of my prosperity.

As I have already observed, the King, discovering in me no signs
of discontent, informed me that the Queen my mother was going
into Champagne to have an interview with my brother, in order
to bring about a peace, and begged me to accompany her thither
and to use my best endeavours to forward his views, as he knew
my brother was always well disposed to follow my counsel; and
he concluded with saying that the peace, when accomplished, he
should ever consider as being due to my good offices, and should
esteem himself obliged to me for it. I promised to exert myself
in so good a work, which I plainly perceived was both for my
brother's advantage and the benefit of the State.

The Queen my mother and I set off for Sens the next day. The
conference was agreed to be held in a gentleman's château, at
a distance of about a league from that place. My brother was
waiting for us, accompanied by a small body of troops and the
principal Catholic noblemen and princes of his army. Amongst
these were the Duc Casimir and Colonel Poux, who had brought
him six thousand German horse, raised by the Huguenots, they
having joined my brother, as the King my husband and he acted
in conjunction.

The treaty was continued for several days, the conditions of
peace requiring much discussion, especially such articles of it
as related to religion. With respect to these, when at length
agreed upon, they were too much to the advantage of the Huguenots,
as it appeared afterwards, to be kept; but the Queen my mother
gave in to them, in order to have a peace, and that the German
cavalry before mentioned might be disbanded. She was, moreover,
desirous to get my brother out of the hands of the Huguenots;
and he was himself as willing to leave them, being always a very
good Catholic, and joining the Huguenots only through necessity.

One condition of the peace was, that my brother should have a
suitable establishment. My brother likewise stipulated for me,
that my marriage portion should be assigned in lands, and M. de
Beauvais, a commissioner on his part, insisted much upon it.
My mother, however, opposed it, and persuaded me to join her in
it, assuring me that I should obtain from the King all I could
require. Thereupon I begged I might not be included in the articles
of peace, observing that I would rather owe whatever I was to
receive to the particular favour of the King and the Queen my
mother, and should, besides, consider it as more secure when
obtained by such means.

The peace being thus concluded and ratified on both sides, the
Queen my mother prepared to return. At this instant I received
letters from the King my husband, in which he expressed a great
desire to see me, begging me, as soon as peace was agreed on, to
ask leave to go to him. I communicated my husband's wish, to the
Queen my mother, and added my own entreaties. She expressed herself
greatly averse to such a measure, and used every argument to set
me against it. She observed that, when I refused her proposal
of a divorce after St. Bartholomew's Day, she gave way to my
refusal, and commended me for it, because my husband was then
converted to the Catholic religion; but now that he had abjured
Catholicism, and was turned Huguenot again, she could not give
her consent that I should go to him. When I still insisted upon
going, she burst into a flood of tears, and said, if I did not
return with her, it would prove her ruin; that the King would
believe it was her doing; that she had promised to bring me back
with her; and that, when my brother returned to Court, which
would be soon, she would give her consent.

We now returned to Paris, and found the King well satisfied that
we had made a peace; though not, however, pleased with the articles
concluded in favour of the Huguenots. He therefore resolved within
himself, as soon as my brother should return to Court, to find
some pretext for renewing the war. These advantageous conditions
were, indeed, only granted the Huguenots to get my brother out
of their hands, who was detained near two months, being employed
in disbanding his German horse and the rest of his army.




LETTER XIII

At length my brother returned to Court, accompanied by all the
Catholic nobility who had followed his fortunes. The King received
him very graciously, and showed, by his reception of him, how
much he was pleased at his return. Bussi, who returned with my
brother, met likewise with a gracious reception. Le Guast was
now no more, having died under the operation of a particular
regimen ordered for him by his physician. He had given himself
up to every kind of debauchery; and his death seemed the judgment
of the Almighty on one whose body had long been perishing, and
whose soul had been made over to the prince of demons as the price
of assistance through the means of diabolical magic, which he
constantly practised. The King, though now without this instrument
of his malicious contrivances, turned his thoughts entirely upon
the destruction of the Huguenots. To effect this, he strove to
engage my brother against them, and thereby make them his enemies;
and that I might be considered as another enemy, he used every
means to prevent me from going to the King my husband. Accordingly
he showed every mark of attention to both of us, and manifested
an inclination to gratify all our wishes.

After some time, M. de Duras arrived at Court, sent by the King
my husband to hasten my departure. Hereupon, I pressed the King
greatly to think well of it, and give me his leave. He, to colour
his refusal, told me he could not part with me at present, as
I was the chief ornament of his Court; that he must keep me a
little longer, after which he would accompany me himself on my
way as far as Poitiers. With this answer and assurance, he sent
M. de Duras back. These excuses were purposely framed in order
to gain time until everything was prepared for declaring war
against the Huguenots, and, in consequence, against the King my
husband, as he fully designed to do.

As a pretence to break with the Huguenots, a report was spread
abroad that the Catholics were dissatisfied with the Peace of Sens,
and thought the terms of it too advantageous for the Huguenots.
This rumour succeeded, and produced all that discontent amongst
the Catholics intended by it. A league was formed in the provinces
and great cities, which was joined by numbers of the Catholics.
M. de Guise was named as the head of all. This was well known to
the King, who pretended to be ignorant of what was going forward,
though nothing else was talked of at Court.

The States were convened to meet at Blois. Previous to the opening
of this assembly, the King called my brother to his closet, where
were present the Queen my mother and some of the King's counsellors.
He represented the great consequence the Catholic league was
to his State and authority, even though they should appoint De
Guise as the head of it; that such a measure was of the highest
importance to them both, meaning my brother and himself; that the
Catholics had very just reason to be dissatisfied with the peace,
and that it behoved him, addressing himself to my brother, rather
to join the Catholics than the Huguenots, and this from conscience
as well as interest. He concluded his address to my brother with
conjuring him, as a son of France and a good Catholic, to assist
him with his aid and counsel in this critical juncture, when his
crown and the Catholic religion were both at stake. He further
said that, in order to get the start of so formidable a league,
he ought to form one himself, and become the head of it, as well
to show his zeal for religion as to prevent the Catholics from
uniting under any other leader. He then proposed to declare himself
the head of a league, which should be joined by my brother, the
princes, nobles, governors, and others holding offices under
the Government. Thus was my brother reduced to the necessity
of making his Majesty a tender of his services for the support
and maintenance of the Catholic religion.

The King, having now obtained assurances of my brother's assistance
in the event of a war, which was his sole view in the league
which he had formed with so much art, assembled together the
princes and chief noblemen of his Court, and, calling for the
roll of the league, signed it first himself, next calling upon
my brother to sign it, and, lastly, upon all present.

The next day the States opened their meeting, when the King,
calling upon the Bishops of Lyons, Ambrune, Vienne, and other
prelates there present, for their advice, was told that, after
the oath taken at his coronation, no oath made to heretics could
bind him, and therefore he was absolved from his engagements
with the Huguenots.

This declaration being made at the opening of the assembly, and
war declared against the Huguenots, the King abruptly dismissed
from Court the Huguenot, Genisac, who had arrived a few days
before, charged by the King my husband with a commission to hasten
my departure. The King very sharply told him that his sister had
been given to a Catholic, and not to a Huguenot; and that if
the King my husband expected to have me, he must declare himself
a Catholic.

Every preparation for war was made, and nothing else talked of
at Court; and, to make my brother still more obnoxious to the
Huguenots, he had the command of an army given him. Genisac came
and informed me of the rough message he had been dismissed with.
Hereupon I went directly to the closet of the Queen my mother,
where I found the King. I expressed my resentment at being deceived
by him, and at being cajoled by his promise to accompany me from
Paris to Poitiers, which, as it now appeared, was a mere pretence.
I represented that I did not marry by my own choice, but entirely
agreeable to the advice of King Charles, the Queen my mother,
and himself; that, since they had given him to me for a husband,
they ought not to hinder me from partaking of his fortunes; that
I was resolved to go to him, and that if I had not their leave,
I would get away how I could, even at the hazard of my life.
The King answered: "Sister, it is not now a time to importune
me for leave. I acknowledge that I have, as you say, hitherto
prevented you from going, in order to forbid it altogether. From
the time the King of Navarre changed his religion, and again
became a Huguenot, I have been against your going to him. What the
Queen my mother and I are doing is for your good. I am determined
to carry on a war of extermination until this wretched religion
of the Huguenots, which is of so mischievous a nature, is no
more. Consider, my sister, if you, who are a Catholic, were once
in their hands, you would become a hostage for me, and prevent
my design. And who knows but they might seek their revenge upon
me by taking away your life? No, you shall not go amongst them;
and if you leave us in the manner you have now mentioned, rely
upon it that you will make the Queen your mother and me your
bitterest enemies, and that we shall use every means to make
you feel the effects of our resentment; and, moreover, you will
make your husband's situation worse instead of better."

I went from this audience with much dissatisfaction, and, taking
advice of the principal persons of both sexes belonging to Court
whom I esteemed my friends, I found them all of opinion that it
would be exceedingly improper for me to remain in a Court now
at open variance with the King my husband. They recommended me
not to stay at Court whilst the war lasted, saying it would be
more honourable for me to leave the kingdom under the pretence
of a pilgrimage, or a visit to some of my kindred. The Princesse
de Roche-sur-Yon was amongst those I consulted upon the occasion,
who was on the point of setting off for Spa to take the waters
there.

My brother was likewise present at the consultation, and brought
with him Mondoucet, who had been to Flanders in quality of the
King's agent, whence he was just returned to represent to the King
the discontent that had arisen amongst the Flemings on account
of infringements made by the Spanish Government on the French
laws. He stated that he was commissioned by several nobles, and
the municipalities of several towns, to declare how much they
were inclined in their hearts towards France, and how ready they
were to come under a French government. Mondoucet, perceiving
the King not inclined to listen to his representation, as having
his mind wholly occupied by the war he had entered into with
the Huguenots, whom he was resolved to punish for having joined
my brother, had ceased to move in it further to the King, and
addressed himself on the subject to my brother. My brother, with
that princely spirit which led him to undertake great achievements,
readily lent an ear to Mondoucet's proposition, and promised to
engage in it, for he was born rather to conquer than to keep
what he conquered. Mondoucet's proposition was the more pleasing
to him as it was not unjust,--it being, in fact, to recover to
France what had been usurped by Spain.

Mondoucet had now engaged himself in my brother's service, and
was to return to Flanders under a pretence of accompanying the
Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon in her journey to Spa; and as this
agent perceived my counsellors to be at a loss for some pretence
for my leaving Court and quitting France during the war, and
that at first Savoy was proposed for my retreat, then Lorraine,
and then Our Lady of Loretto, he suggested to my brother that I
might be of great use to him in Flanders, if, under the colour
of any complaint, I should be recommended to drink the Spa waters,
and go with the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon. My brother acquiesced
in this opinion, and came up to me, saying: "Oh, Queen! you need
be no longer at a loss for a place to go to. I have observed
that you have frequently an erysipelas on your arm, and you must
accompany the Princess to Spa. You must say your physicians had
ordered those waters for the complaint; but when they did so, it
was not the season to take them. That season is now approaching,
and you hope to have the King's leave to go there."

My brother did not deliver all he wished to say at that time,
because the Cardinal de Bourbon was present, whom he knew to
be a friend to the Guises and to Spain. However, I saw through
his real design, and that he wished me to promote his views in
Flanders.

The company approved of my brother's advice, and the Princesse
de Roche-sur-Yon heard the proposal with great joy, having a
great regard for me. She promised to attend me to the Queen my
mother when I should ask her consent.

The next day I found the Queen alone, and represented to her the
extreme regret I experienced in finding that a war was inevitable
betwixt the King my husband and his Majesty, and that I must
continue in a state of separation from my husband; that, as long
as the war lasted, it was neither decent nor honourable for me
to stay at Court, where I must be in one or other, or both, of
these cruel situations: either that the King my husband should
believe that I continued in it out of inclination, and think me
deficient in the duty I owed him; or that his Majesty should
entertain suspicions of my giving intelligence to the King my
husband. Either of these cases, I observed, could not but prove
injurious to me. I therefore prayed her not to take it amiss
if I desired to remove myself from Court, and from becoming so
unpleasantly situated; adding that my physicians had for some
time recommended me to take the Spa waters for an erysipelas--to
which I had been long subject--on my arm; the season for taking
these waters was now approaching, and that if she approved of
it, I would use the present opportunity, by which means I should
be at a distance from Court, and show my husband that, as I could
not be with him, I was unwilling to remain amongst his enemies.
I further expressed my hopes that, through her prudence, a peace
might be effected in a short time betwixt the King my husband
and his Majesty, and that my husband might be restored to the
favour he formerly enjoyed; that whenever I learned the news of
so joyful an event, I would renew my solicitations to be permitted
to go to my husband. In the meantime, I should hope for her
permission to have the honour of accompanying the Princesse de
Roche-sur-Yon, there present, in her journey to Spa.

She approved of what I proposed, and expressed her satisfaction
that I had taken so prudent a resolution. She observed how much
she was chagrined when she found that the King, through the evil
persuasions of the bishops, had resolved to break through the
conditions of the last peace, which she had concluded in his
name. She saw already the ill effects of this hasty proceeding,
as it had removed from the King's Council many of his ablest
and best servants. This gave her, she said, much concern, as
it did likewise to think I could not remain at Court without
offending my husband, or creating jealousy and suspicion in the
King's mind. This being certainly what was likely to be the
consequence of my staying, she would advise the King to give me
leave to set out on this journey.

She was as good as her word, and the King discoursed with me on
the subject without exhibiting the smallest resentment. Indeed,
he was well pleased now that he had prevented me from going to
the King my husband, for whom he had conceived the greatest
animosity.

He ordered a courier to be immediately despatched to Don John of
Austria,--who commanded for the King of Spain in Flanders,--to
obtain from him the necessary passports for a free passage in
the countries under his command, as I should be obliged to cross
a part of Flanders to reach Spa, which is in the bishopric of
Liège.

All matters being thus arranged, we separated in a few days after
this interview. The short time my brother and I remained together
was employed by him in giving me instructions for the commission
I had undertaken to execute for him in Flanders. The King and
the Queen my mother set out for Poitiers, to be near the army of
M. de Mayenne, then besieging Brouage, which place being reduced,
it was intended to march into Gascony and attack the King my
husband.

My brother had the command of another army, ordered to besiege
Issoire and some other towns, which he soon after took.

For my part, I set out on my journey to Flanders accompanied by
the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon, Madame de Tournon, the lady of
my bedchamber, Madame de Moüy of Picardy, Madame de Chastelaine,
De Millon, Mademoiselle d'Atric, Mademoiselle de Tournon, and
seven or eight other young ladies. My male attendants were the
Cardinal de Lenoncourt, the Bishop of Langres, and M. de Moüy,
Seigneur de Picardy, at present father-in-law to the brother of
Queen Louise, called the Comte de Chaligny, with my principal
steward of the household, my chief esquires, and the other gentlemen
of my establishment.




LETTER XIV

The cavalcade that attended me excited great curiosity as it
passed through the several towns in the course of my journey,
and reflected no small degree of credit on France, as it was
splendidly set out, and made a handsome appearance. I travelled
in a litter raised with pillars. The lining of it was Spanish
velvet, of a crimson colour, embroidered in various devices with
gold and different coloured silk thread. The windows were of
glass, painted in devices. The lining and windows had, in the
whole, forty devices, all different and alluding to the sun and
its effects. Each device had its motto, either in the Spanish
or Italian language. My litter was followed by two others; in
the one was the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon, and in the other
Madame de Tournon, my lady of the bedchamber. After them followed
ten maids of honour, on horseback, with their governess; and, last
of all, six coaches and chariots, with the rest of the ladies
and all our female attendants.

I took the road of Picardy, the towns in which province had received
the King's orders to pay me all due honours. Being arrived at
Le Catelet, a strong place, about three leagues distant from
the frontier of the Cambrésis, the Bishop of Cambray (an
ecclesiastical State acknowledging the King of Spain only as
a guarantee) sent a gentleman to inquire of me at what hour I
should leave the place, as he intended to meet me on the borders
of his territory.

Accordingly I found him there, attended by a number of his people,
who appeared to be true Flemings, and to have all the rusticity
and unpolished manners of their country. The Bishop was of the
House of Barlemont, one of the principal families in Flanders.
All of this house have shown themselves Spaniards at heart, and
at that time were firmly attached to Don John. The Bishop received
me with great politeness and not a little of the Spanish ceremony.

Although the city of Cambray is not so well built as some of our
towns in France, I thought it, notwithstanding, far more pleasant
than many of these, as the streets and squares are larger and
better disposed. The churches are grand and highly ornamented,
which is, indeed, common to France; but what I admired, above
all, was the citadel, which is the finest and best constructed
in Christendom. The Spaniards experienced it to be strong whilst
my brother had it in his possession. The governor of the citadel
at this time was a worthy gentleman named M. d'Ainsi, who was,
in every respect, a polite and well-accomplished man, having
the carriage and behaviour of one of our most perfect courtiers,
very different from the rude incivility which appears to be the
characteristic of a Fleming.

The Bishop gave us a grand supper, and after supper a ball, to
which he had invited all the ladies of the city. As soon as the ball
was opened he withdrew, in accordance with the Spanish ceremony; but
M. d'Ainsi did the honours for him, and kept me company during the
ball, conducting me afterwards to a collation, which, considering
his command at the citadel, was, I thought, imprudent. _I speak
from experience, having been taught, to my cost, and contrary to
my desire, the caution and vigilance necessary to be observed
in keeping such places._ As my regard for my brother was always
predominant in me, I continually had his instructions in mind,
and now thought I had a fair opportunity to open my commission
and forward his views in Flanders, this town of Cambray, and
especially the citadel, being, as it were, a key to that country.
Accordingly I employed all the talents God had given me to make
M. d'Ainsi a friend to France, and attach him to my brother's
interest. Through God's assistance I succeeded with him, and so
much was M. d'Ainsi pleased with my conversation that he came to
the resolution of soliciting the Bishop, his master, to grant him
leave to accompany me as far as Namur, where Don John of Austria
was in waiting to receive me, observing that he had a great desire
to witness so splendid an interview. This _Spanish_ Fleming,
the Bishop, had the weakness to grant M. d'Ainsi's request, who
continued following in my train for ten or twelve days. During
this time he took every opportunity of discoursing with me, and
showed that, in his heart, he was well disposed to embrace the
service of France, wishing no better master than the Prince my
brother, and declaring that he heartily despised being under the
command of his Bishop, who, though his sovereign, was not his
superior by birth, being born a private gentleman like himself,
and, in every other respect, greatly his inferior.

Leaving Cambray, I set out to sleep at Valenciennes, the chief
city of a part of Flanders called by the same name. Where this
country is divided from Cambrésis (as far as which I was conducted
by the Bishop of Cambray), the Comte de Lalain, M. de Montigny
his brother, and a number of gentlemen, to the amount of two
or three hundred, came to meet me.

Valenciennes is a town inferior to Cambray in point of strength,
but equal to it for the beauty of its squares, and churches,--the
former ornamented with fountains, as the latter are with curious
clocks. The ingenuity of the Germans in the construction of their
clocks was a matter of great surprise to all my attendants, few
amongst whom had ever before seen clocks exhibiting a number
of moving figures, and playing a variety of tunes in the most
agreeable manner.

The Comte de Lalain, the governor of the city, invited the lords
and gentlemen of my train to a banquet, reserving himself to give
an entertainment to the ladies on our arrival at Mons, where
we should find the Countess his wife, his sister-in-law Madame
d'Aurec, and other ladies of distinction. Accordingly the Count,
with his attendants, conducted us thither the next day. He claimed
a relationship with the King my husband, and was, in reality,
a person who carried great weight and authority. He was much
dissatisfied with the Spanish Government, and had conceived a
great dislike for it since the execution of Count Egmont, who
was his near kinsman.

Although he had hitherto abstained from entering into the league
with the Prince of Orange and the Huguenots, being himself a
steady Catholic, yet he had not admitted of an interview with
Don John, neither would he suffer him, nor anyone in the interest
of Spain, to enter upon his territories. Don John was unwilling
to give the Count any umbrage, lest he should force him to unite
the Catholic League of Flanders, called the League of the States,
to that of the Prince of Orange and the Huguenots, well foreseeing
that such a union would prove fatal to the Spanish interest, as
other governors have since experienced. With this disposition of
mind, the Comte de Lalain thought he could not give me sufficient
demonstrations of the joy he felt by my presence; and he could
not have shown more honour to his natural prince, nor displayed
greater marks of zeal and affection.

On our arrival at Mons, I was lodged in his house, and found
there the Countess his wife, and a Court consisting of eighty
or a hundred ladies of the city and country. My reception was
rather that of their sovereign lady than of a foreign princess.
The Flemish ladies are naturally lively, affable, and engaging.
The Comtesse de Lalain is remarkably so, and is, moreover, a woman
of great sense and elevation of mind, in which particular, as well
as in air and countenance, she carries a striking resemblance
to the lady your cousin. We became immediately intimate, and
commenced a firm friendship at our first meeting. When the supper
hour came, we sat down to a banquet, which was succeeded by a
ball; and this rule the Count observed as long as I stayed at
Mons, which was, indeed, longer than I intended. It had been
my intention to stay at Mons one night only, but the Count's
obliging lady prevailed on me to pass a whole week there. I strove
to excuse myself from so long a stay, imagining it might be
inconvenient to them; but whatever I could say availed nothing
with the Count and his lady, and I was under the necessity of
remaining with them eight days. The Countess and I were on so
familiar a footing that she stayed in my bedchamber till a late
hour, and would not have left me then had she not imposed upon
herself a task very rarely performed by persons of her rank,
which, however, placed the goodness of her disposition in the
most amiable light. In fact, she gave suck to her infant son;
and one day at table, sitting next me, whose whole attention was
absorbed in the promotion of my brother's interest,--the table
being the place where, according to the custom of the country,
all are familiar and ceremony is laid aside,--she, dressed out in
the richest manner and blazing with diamonds, gave the breast to
her child without rising from her seat, the infant being brought
to the table as superbly habited as its nurse, the mother. She
performed this maternal duty with so much good humour, and with a
gracefulness peculiar to herself, that this charitable office--which
would have appeared disgusting and been considered as an affront
if done by some others of equal rank--gave pleasure to all who
sat at table, and, accordingly, they signified their approbation
by their applause.

The tables being removed, the dances commenced in the same room
wherein we had supped, which was magnificent and large. The Countess
and I sitting side by side, I expressed the pleasure I received
from her conversation, and that I should place this meeting amongst
the happiest events of my life. "Indeed," said I, "I shall have
cause to regret that it ever did take place, as I shall depart
hence so unwillingly, there being so little probability of our
meeting again soon. Why did Heaven deny our being born in the
same country!"

This was said in order to introduce my brother's business. She
replied: "This country did, indeed, formerly belong to France,
and our lawyers' now plead their causes in the French language.
The greater part of the people here still retain an affection
for the French nation. For my part," added the Countess, "I have
had a strong attachment to your country ever since I have had
the honour of seeing you. This country has been long in the
possession of the House of Austria, but the regard of the people
for that house has been greatly weakened by the death of Count
Egmont, M. de Horne, M. de Montigny, and others of the same party,
some of them our near relations, and all of the best families
of the country. We entertain the utmost dislike for the Spanish
Government, and wish for nothing so much as to throw off the
yoke of their tyranny; but, as the country is divided betwixt
different religions, we are at a loss how to effect it. If we
could unite, we should soon drive out the Spaniards; but this
division amongst ourselves renders us weak. Would to God the
King your brother would come to a resolution of reconquering
this country, to which he has an ancient claim! We should all
receive him with open arms."

This was a frank declaration, made by the Countess without
premeditation, but it had been long agitated in the minds of
the people, who considered that it was from France they were to
hope for redress from the evils with which they were afflicted.
I now found I had as favourable an opening as I could wish for to
declare my errand. I told her that the King of France my brother
was averse to engaging in foreign war, and the more so as the
Huguenots in his kingdom were too strong to admit of his sending
any large force out of it. "My brother Alençon," said I, "has
sufficient means, and might be induced to undertake it. He has
equal valour, prudence, and benevolence with the King my brother
or any of his ancestors. He has been bred to arms, and is esteemed
one of the bravest generals of these times. He has the command
of the King's army against the Huguenots, and has lately taken
a well-fortified town, called Issoire, and some other places
that were in their possession. You could not invite to your
assistance a prince who has it so much in his power to give it;
being not only a neighbour, but having a kingdom like France at
his devotion, whence he may expect to derive the necessary aid
and succour. The Count your husband may be assured that if he
do my brother this good office he will not find him ungrateful,
but may set what price he pleases upon his meritorious service.
My brother is of a noble and generous disposition, and ready to
requite those who do him favours. He is, moreover, an admirer
of men of honour and gallantry, and accordingly is followed by
the bravest and best men France has to boast of. I am in hopes
that a peace will soon be reëstablished with the Huguenots, and
expect to find it so on my return to France. If the Count your
husband think as you do, and will permit me to speak to him on the
subject, I will engage to bring my brother over to the proposal,
and, in that case, your country in general, and your house in
particular, will be well satisfied with him. If, through your
means, my brother should establish himself here, you may depend
on seeing me often, there being no brother or sister who has
a stronger affection for each other."

The Countess appeared to listen to what I said with great pleasure,
and acknowledged that she had not entered upon this discourse
without design. She observed that, having perceived I did her
the honour to have some regard for her, she had resolved within
herself not to let me depart out of the country without explaining
to me the situation of it, and begging me to procure the aid
of France to relieve them from the apprehensions of living in
a state of perpetual war or of submitting to Spanish tyranny.
She thereupon entreated me to allow her to relate our present
conversation to her husband, and permit them both to confer with
me on the subject the next day. To this I readily gave my consent.

Thus we passed the evening in discourse upon the object of my
mission, and I observed that she took a singular pleasure in
talking upon it in all our succeeding conferences when I thought
proper to introduce it. The ball being ended, we went to hear
vespers at the church of the Canonesses, an order of nuns of
which we have none in France. These are young ladies who are
entered in these communities at a tender age, in order to improve
their fortunes till they are of an age to be married. They do not
all sleep under the same roof, but in detached houses within an
enclosure. In each of these houses are three, four, or perhaps six
young girls, under the care of an old woman. These governesses,
together with the abbess, are of the number of such as have never
been married. These girls never wear the habit of the order but
in church; and the service there ended, they dress like others,
pay visits, frequent balls, and go where they please. They were
constant visitors at the Count's entertainments, and danced at
his balls.

The Countess thought the time long until the night, when she
had an opportunity of relating to the Count the conversation she
had with me, and the opening of the business. The next morning
she came to me, and brought her husband with her. He entered
into a detail of the grievances the country laboured under, and
the just reasons he had for ridding it of the tyranny of Spain.
In doing this, he said, he should not consider himself as acting
against his natural sovereign, because he well knew he ought to
look for him in the person of the King of France. He explained to
me the means whereby my brother might establish himself in Flanders,
having possession of Hainault, which extended as far as Brussels.
He said the difficulty lay in securing the Cambrésis. which is
situated betwixt Hainault and Flanders. It would, therefore,
be necessary to engage M. d'Ainsi in the business. To this I
replied that, as he was his neighbour and friend, it might be
better that he should open the matter to him; and I begged he
would do so. I next assured him that he might have the most perfect
reliance on the gratitude and friendship of my brother, and be
certain of receiving as large a share of power and authority as
such a service done by a person of his rank merited. Lastly, we
agreed upon an interview betwixt my brother and M. de Montigny,
the brother of the Count, which was to take place at La Fère,
upon my return, when this business should be arranged. During
the time I stayed at Mons, I said all I could to confirm the
Count in this resolution, in which I found myself seconded by
the Countess.

The day of my departure was now arrived, to the great regret of
the ladies of Mons, as well as myself. The Countess expressed
herself in terms which showed she had conceived the warmest
friendship for me, and made me promise to return by way of that
city. I presented the Countess with a diamond bracelet, and to
the Count I gave a riband and diamond star of considerable value.
But these presents, valuable as they were, became more so, in
their estimation, as I was the donor.

Of the ladies, none accompanied me from this place, except Madame
d'Aurec. She went with me to Namur, where I slept that night,
and where she expected to find her husband and the Duc d'Arscot,
her brother-in-law, who had been there since the peace betwixt
the King of Spain and the States of Flanders. For though they
were both of the party of the States, yet the Duc d'Arscot, being
an old courtier and having attended King Philip in Flanders and
England, could not withdraw himself from Court and the society
of the great. The Comte de Lalain, with all his nobles, conducted
me two leagues beyond his government, and until he saw Don John's
company in the distance advancing to meet me. He then took his
leave of me, being unwilling to meet Don John; but M. d'Ainsi
stayed with me, as his master, the Bishop of Cambray, was in
the Spanish interest.

This gallant company having left me, I was soon after met by Don
John of Austria, preceded by a great number of running footmen,
and escorted by only twenty or thirty horsemen. He was attended
by a number of noblemen, and amongst the rest the Duc d'Arscot,
M. d'Aurec, the Marquis de Varenbon, and the younger Balençon,
governor, for the King of Spain, of the county of Burgundy. These
last two, who are brothers, had ridden post to meet me. Of Don
John's household there was only Louis de Gonzago of any rank. He
called himself a relation of the Duke of Mantua; the others were
mean-looking people, and of no consideration. Don John alighted
from his horse to salute me in my litter, which was opened for
the purpose. I returned the salute after the French fashion to
him, the Duc d'Arscot, and M. d'Aurec. After an exchange of
compliments, he mounted his horse, but continued in discourse
with me until we reached the city, which was not before it grew
dark, as I set off late, the ladies of Mons keeping me as long
as they could, amusing themselves with viewing my litter, and
requiring an explanation of the different mottoes and devices.
However, as the Spaniards excel in preserving good order, Namur
appeared with particular advantage, for the streets were well
lighted, every house being illuminated, so that the blaze exceeded
that of daylight.

Our supper was served to us in our respective apartments, Don
John being unwilling, after the fatigue of so long a journey,
to incommode us with a banquet. The house in which I was lodged
had been newly furnished for the purpose of receiving me. It
consisted of a magnificent large _salon_, with a private apartment,
consisting of lodging rooms and closets, furnished in the most
costly manner, with furniture of every kind, and hung with the
richest tapestry of velvet and satin, divided into compartments
by columns of silver embroidery, with knobs of gold, all wrought
in the most superb manner. Within these compartments were figures
in antique habits, embroidered in gold and silver.

The Cardinal de Lenoncourt. a man of taste and curiosity, being
one day in these apartments with the Duc d'Arscot, who, as I have
before observed, was an ornament to Don John's Court, remarked
to him that this furniture seemed more proper for a great king
than a young unmarried prince like Don John. To which the Duc
d'Arscot replied that it came to him as a present, having been
sent to him by a bashaw belonging to the Grand Seignior, whose
sons he had made prisoners in a signal victory obtained over
the Turks. Don John having sent the bashaw's sons back without
ransom, the father, in return, made him a present of a large
quantity of gold, silver, and silk stuffs, which he caused to be
wrought into tapestry at Milan, where there are curious workmen
in this way; and he had the Queen's bedchamber hung with tapestry
representing the battle in which he had so gloriously defeated
the Turks.

The next morning Don John conducted us to chapel, where we heard
mass celebrated after the Spanish manner, with all kinds of music,
after which we partook of a banquet prepared by Don John. He
and I were seated at a separate table, at a distance of three
yards from which stood the great one, of which the honours were
done by Madame d'Aurec. At this table the ladies and principal
lords took their seats. Don John was served with drink by Louis
de Gonzago, kneeling. The tables being removed, the ball was
opened, and the dancing continued the whole afternoon. The evening
was spent in conversation betwixt Don John and me, who told me
I greatly resembled the Queen his mistress, by whom he meant
the late Queen my sister, and for whom he professed to have
entertained a very high esteem. In short, Don John manifested,
by every mark of attention and politeness, as well to me as to
my attendants, the very great pleasure he had in receiving me.

The boats which were to convey me upon the Meuse to Liège not all
being ready, I was under the necessity of staying another day.
The morning was passed as that of the day before. After dinner,
we embarked on the river in a very beautiful boat, surrounded by
others having on board musicians playing on hautboys, horns,
and violins, and landed at an island where Don John had caused
a collation to be prepared in a large bower formed with branches
of ivy, in which the musicians were placed in small recesses,
playing on their instruments during the time of supper. The tables
being removed, the dances began, and lasted till it was time to
return, which I did in the same boat that conveyed me thither,
and which was that provided for my voyage.

The next morning Don John conducted me to the boat, and there
took a most polite and courteous leave, charging M. and Madame
d'Aurec to see me safe to Huy, the first town belonging to the
Bishop of Liège, where I was to sleep. As soon as Don John had
gone on shore, M. d'Ainsi, who remained in the boat, and who
had the Bishop of Cambray's permission to go to Namur only, took
leave of me with many protestations of fidelity and attachment
to my brother and myself.

But Fortune, envious of my hitherto prosperous journey, gave me
two omens of the sinister events of my return.

The first was the sudden illness which attacked Mademoiselle
de Tournon, the daughter of the lady of my bedchamber, a young
person, accomplished, with every grace and virtue, and for whom
I had the most perfect regard. No sooner had the boat left the
shore than this young lady was seized with an alarming disorder,
which, from the great pain attending it, caused her to scream in
the most doleful manner. The physicians attributed the cause to
spasms of the heart, which, notwithstanding the utmost exertions
of their skill, carried her off a few days after my arrival at
Liège. As the history of this young lady is remarkable, I shall
relate it in my next letter.

The other omen was what happened to us at Huy, immediately upon our
arrival there. This town is built on the declivity of a mountain,
at the foot of which runs the river Meuse. As we were about to
land, there fell a torrent of rain, which, coming down the steep
sides of the mountain, swelled the river instantly to such a
degree that we had only time to leap out of the boat and run
to the top, the flood reaching the very highest street, next
to where I was to lodge. There we were forced to put up with
such accommodation as could be procured in the house, as it was
impossible to remove the smallest article of our baggage from
the boats, or even to stir out of the house we were in, the whole
city being under water. However, the town was as suddenly relieved
from this calamity as it had been afflicted with it, for, on
the next morning, the whole inundation had ceased, the waters
having run off, and the river being confined within its usual
channel.

Leaving Huy, M. and Madame d'Aurec returned to Don John at Namur,
and I proceeded, in the boat, to sleep that night at Liège.




LETTER XV

The Bishop of Liège, who is the sovereign of the city and province,
received me with all the cordiality and respect that could be
expected from a personage of his dignity and great accomplishments.
He was, indeed, a nobleman endowed with singular prudence and
virtue, agreeable in his person and conversation, gracious and
magnificent in his carriage and behaviour, to which I may add
that he spoke the French language perfectly.

He was constantly attended by his chapter, with several of his
canons, who are all sons of dukes, counts, or great German lords.
The bishopric is itself a sovereign State, which brings in a
considerable revenue, and includes a number of fine cities. The
bishop is chosen from amongst the canons, who must be of noble
descent, and resident one year. The city is larger than Lyons,
and much resembles it, having the Meuse running through it. The
houses in which the canons reside have the appearance of noble
palaces. The streets of the city are regular and spacious, the
houses of the citizens well built, the squares large, and ornamented
with curious fountains. The churches appear as if raised entirely
of marble, of which there are considerable quarries in the
neighbourhood; they are all of them ornamented with beautiful
clocks, and exhibit a variety of moving figures.

The Bishop received me as I landed from the boat, and conducted me
to his magnificent residence, ornamented with delicious fountains
and gardens, set off with galleries, all painted, superbly gilt,
and enriched with marble, beyond description.

The spring which affords the waters of Spa being distant no more
than three or four leagues from the city of Liège, and there
being only a village, consisting of three or four small houses,
on the spot, the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon was advised by her
physicians to stay at Liège and have the waters brought to her,
which they assured her would have equal efficacy, if taken after
sunset and before sunrise, as if drunk at the spring. I was well
pleased that she resolved to follow the advice of the doctors,
as we were more comfortably lodged and had an agreeable society;
for, besides his Grace (so the bishop is styled, as a king is
addressed his Majesty, and a prince his Highness), the news of
my arrival being spread about, many lords and ladies came from
Germany to visit me. Amongst these was the Countess d'Aremberg,
who had the honour to accompany Queen Elizabeth to Mezières, to
which place she came to marry King Charles my brother, a lady
very high in the estimation of the Empress, the Emperor, and
all the princes in Christendom. With her came her sister the
Landgravine, Madame d'Aremberg her daughter, M. d'Aremberg her
son, a gallant and accomplished nobleman, the perfect image of
his father, who brought the Spanish succours to King Charles my
brother, and returned with great honour and additional reputation.
This meeting, so honourable to me, and so much to my satisfaction,
was damped by the grief and concern occasioned by the loss of
Mademoiselle de Tournon, whose story, being of a singular nature,
I shall now relate to you, agreeably to the promise I made in
my last letter.

I must begin with observing to you that Madame de Tournon, at
this time lady of my bedchamber, had several daughters, the eldest
of whom married M. de Balençon, governor, for the King of Spain,
in the county of Burgundy. This daughter, upon her marriage,
had solicited her mother to admit of her taking her sister, the
young lady whose story I am now about to relate, to live with
her, as she was going to a country strange to her, and wherein
she had no relations. To this her mother consented; and the young
lady, being universally admired for her modesty and graceful
accomplishments, for which she certainly deserved admiration,
attracted the notice of the Marquis de Varenbon. The Marquis,
as I before mentioned, is the brother of M. de Balençon, and
was intended for the Church; but, being violently enamoured of
Mademoiselle de Tournon (who, as he lived in the same house, he
had frequent opportunities of seeing), he now begged his brother's
permission to marry her, not having yet taken orders. The young
lady's family, to whom he had likewise communicated his wish,
readily gave their consent, but his brother refused his, strongly
advising him to change his resolution and put on the gown.

Thus were matters situated when her mother, Madame de Tournon, a
virtuous and pious lady, thinking she had cause to be offended,
ordered her daughter to leave the house of her sister, Madame
de Balençon, and come to her. The mother, a woman of a violent
spirit, not considering that her daughter was grown, up and merited
a mild treatment, was continually scolding the poor young lady,
so that she was for ever with tears in her eyes. Still, there
was nothing to blame in the young girl's conduct, but such was
the severity of the mother's disposition. The daughter, as you
may well suppose, wished to be from under the mother's tyrannical
government, and was accordingly delighted with the thoughts of
attending me in this journey to Flanders, hoping, as it happened,
that she should meet the Marquis de Varenbon somewhere on the road,
and that, as he had now abandoned all thoughts of the Church,
he would renew his proposal of marriage, and take her from her
mother.

I have before mentioned that the Marquis de Varenbon and the
younger Balençon joined us at Namur. Young Balençon, who was
far from being so agreeable as his brother, addressed himself
to the young lady, but the Marquis, during the whole time we
stayed at Namur, paid not the least attention to her, and seemed
as if he had never been acquainted with her.

The resentment, grief, and disappointment occasioned by a behaviour
so slighting and unnatural was necessarily stifled in her breast,
as decorum and her sex's pride obliged her to appear as if she
disregarded it; but when, after taking leave, all of them left the
boat, the anguish of her mind, which she had hitherto suppressed,
could no longer be restrained, and, labouring for vent, it stopped
her respiration, and forced from her those lamentable outcries
which I have already spoken of. Her youth combated for eight days
with this uncommon disorder, but at the expiration of that time
she died, to the great grief of her mother, as well as myself.
I say of her mother, for, though she was so rigidly severe over
this daughter, she tenderly loved her.

The funeral of this unfortunate young lady was solemnized with
all proper ceremonies, and conducted in the most honourable manner,
as she was descended from a great family, allied to the Queen my
mother. When the day of interment arrived, four of my gentlemen
were appointed bearers, one of whom was named La Boëssière. This
man had entertained a secret passion for her, which he never durst
declare on account of the inferiority of his family and station.
He was now destined to bear the remains of her, dead, for whom
he had long been dying, and was now as near dying for her loss
as he had before been for her love. The melancholy procession
was marching slowly along, when it was met by the Marquis de
Varenbon, who had been the sole occasion of it. We had not left
Namur long when the Marquis reflected upon his cruel behaviour
towards this unhappy young lady; and his passion (wonderful to
relate) being revived by the absence of her who inspired it,
though scarcely alive while she was present, he had resolved to
come and ask her of her mother in marriage. He made no doubt,
perhaps, of success, as he seldom failed in enterprises of love;
witness the great lady he has since obtained for a wife, in
opposition to the will of her family. He might, besides, have
flattered himself that he should easily have gained a pardon from
her by whom he was beloved, according to the Italian proverb,
"Che la forza d'amore non riguarda al delitto" (Lovers are not
criminal in the estimation of one another). Accordingly, the
Marquis solicited Don John to be despatched to me on some errand,
and arrived, as I said before, at the very instant the corpse
of this ill-fated young lady was being borne to the grave. He
was stopped by the crowd occasioned by this solemn procession.
He contemplates it for some time. He observes a long train of
persons in mourning, and remarks the coffin to be covered with a
white pall, and that there are chaplets of flowers laid upon the
coffin. He inquires whose funeral it is. The answer he receives
is, that it is the funeral of a young lady. Unfortunately for
him, this reply fails to satisfy his curiosity. He makes up to
one who led the procession, and eagerly asks the name of the
young lady they are proceeding to bury. When, oh, fatal answer!
Love, willing to avenge the victim of his ingratitude and neglect,
suggests a reply which had nearly deprived him of life. He no
sooner hears the name of Mademoiselle de Tournon pronounced than
he falls from his horse in a swoon. He is taken up for dead,
and conveyed to the nearest house, where he lies for a time
insensible; his soul, no doubt, leaving his body to obtain pardon
from her whom he had hastened to a premature grave, to return
to taste the bitterness of death a second time.

Having performed the last offices to the remains of this poor
young lady, I was unwilling to discompose the gaiety of the society
assembled here on my account by any show of grief. Accordingly, I
joined the Bishop, or, as he is called, his Grace, and his canons,
in their entertainments at different houses, and in gardens,
of which the city and its neighbourhood afforded a variety. I
was every morning attended by a numerous company to the garden,
in which I drank the waters, the exercise of walking being
recommended to be used with them. As the physician who advised
me to take them was my own brother, they did not fail of their
effect with me; and for these six or seven years which are gone
over my head since I drank them, I have been free from any complaint
of erysipelas on my arm. From this garden we usually proceeded
to the place where we were invited to dinner. After dinner we
were amused with a ball; from the ball we went to some convent,
where we heard vespers; from vespers to supper, and that over,
we had another ball, or music on the river.




LETTER XVI

In this manner we passed the six weeks, which is the usual time
for taking these waters, at the expiration of which the Princesse
de Roche-sur-Yon was desirous to return to France; but Madame
d'Aurec, who just then returned to us from Namur, on her way to
rejoin her husband in Lorraine, brought us news of an extraordinary
change of affairs in that town and province since we had passed
through it.

It appeared from this lady's account that, on the very day we
left Namur, Don John, after quitting the boat, mounted his horse
under pretence of taking the diversion of hunting, and, as he
passed the gate of the castle of Namur, expressed a desire of
seeing it; that, having entered, he took possession of it,
notwithstanding he held it for the States, agreeably to a convention.
Don John, moreover, arrested the persons of the Duc d'Arscot
and M. d'Aurec, and also made Madame d'Aurec a prisoner. After
some remonstrances and entreaties, he had set her husband and
brother-in-law at liberty, but detained her as a hostage for
them. In consequence of these measures, the whole country was
in arms. The province of Namur was divided into three parties:
the first whereof was that of the States, or the Catholic party
of Flanders; the second that of the Prince of Orange and the
Huguenots; the third, the Spanish party, of which Don John was
the head.

By letters which I received just at this time from my brother,
through the hands of a gentleman named Lescar, I found I was in
great danger of falling into the hands of one or other of these
parties.

These letters informed me that, since my departure from Court,
God had dealt favourably with my brother, and enabled him to
acquit himself of the command of the army confided to him, greatly
to the benefit of the King's service; so that he had taken all the
towns and driven the Huguenots out of the provinces, agreeably
to the design for which the army was raised; that he had returned
to the Court at Poitiers, where the King stayed during the siege
of Brouage, to be near to M. de Mayenne, in order to afford him
whatever succours he stood in need of; that, as the Court is a
Proteus, forever putting on a new face, he had found it entirely
changed, so that he had been no more considered than if he had
done the King no service whatever; and that Bussi, who had been
so graciously looked upon before and during this last war, had
done great personal service, and had lost a brother at the storming
of Issoire, was very coolly received, and even as maliciously
persecuted as in the time of Le Guast; in consequence of which
either he or Bussi experienced some indignity or other. He further
mentioned that the King's favourites had been practising with
his most faithful servants, Maugiron, La Valette, Mauléon, and
Hivarrot, and several other good and trusty men, to desert him,
and enter into the King's service; and, lastly, that the King
had repented of giving me leave to go to Flanders, and that,
to counteract my brother, a plan was laid to intercept me on
my return, either by the Spaniards, for which purpose they had
been told that I had treated for delivering up the country to
him, or by the Huguenots, in revenge of the war my brother had
carried on against them, after having formerly assisted them.

This intelligence required to be well considered, as there seemed
to be an utter impossibility of avoiding both parties. I had,
however, the pleasure to think that two of the principal persons
of my company stood well with either one or another party. The
Cardinal de Lenoncourt had been thought to favour the Huguenot
party, and M. Descartes, brother to the Bishop of Lisieux, was
supposed to have the Spanish interest at heart. I communicated
our difficult situation to the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon and
Madame de Tournon, who, considering that we could not reach La
Fère in less than five or six days, answered me, with tears in
their eyes, that God only had it in his power to preserve us,
that I should recommend myself to his protection, and then follow
such measures as should seem advisable. They observed that, as
one of them was in a weak state of health, and the other advanced
in years, I might affect to make short journeys on their account,
and they would put up with every inconvenience to extricate me
from the danger I was in.

I next consulted with the Bishop of Liège, who most certainly
acted towards me like a father, and gave directions to the grand
master of his household to attend me with his horses as far as
I should think proper. As it was necessary that we should have
a passport from the Prince of Orange, I sent Mondoucet to him to
obtain one, as he was acquainted with the Prince and was known
to favour his religion. Mondoucet did not return, and I believe
I might have waited for him until this time to no purpose. I
was advised by the Cardinal de Lenoncourt and my first esquire,
the Chevalier Salviati, who were of the same party, not to stir
without a passport; but, as I suspected a plan was laid to entrap
me, I resolved to set out the next morning.

They now saw that this pretence was insufficient to detain me;
accordingly, the Chevalier Salviati prevailed with my treasurer,
who was secretly a Huguenot, to declare he had not money enough
in his hands to discharge the expenses we had incurred at Liège,
and that, in consequence, my horses were detained. I afterwards
discovered that this was false, for, on my arrival at La Fère,
I called for his accounts, and found he had then a balance in
his hands which would have enabled him to pay the expenses of my
family for six or seven weeks. The Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon,
incensed at the affront put upon me, and seeing the danger I
incurred by staying, advanced the money that was required, to
their great confusion; and I took my leave of his Grace the Bishop,
presenting him with a diamond worth three thousand crowns, and
giving his domestics gold chains and rings. Having thus taken
our leave, we proceeded to Huy, without any other passport than
God's good providence.

This town, as I observed before, belongs to the Bishop of Liège,
but was now in a state of tumult and confusion, on account of
the general revolt of the Low Countries, the townsmen taking
part with the Netherlanders, notwithstanding the bishopric was
a neutral State. On this account they paid no respect to the
grand master of the Bishop's household, who accompanied us, but,
knowing Don John had taken the castle of Namur in order, as they
supposed, to intercept me on my return, these brutal people, as
soon as I had got into my quarters, rang the alarm-bell, drew
up their artillery, placed chains across the streets, and kept
us thus confined and separated the whole night, giving us no
opportunity to expostulate with them on such conduct. In the
morning we were suffered to leave the town without further
molestation, and the streets we passed through were lined with
armed men.

From there we proceeded to Dinant, where we intended to sleep;
but, unfortunately for us, the townspeople had on that day chosen
their burghermasters, a kind of officers like the consuls in
Gascony and France. In consequence of this election, it was a
day of tumult, riot, and debauchery; every one in the town was
drunk, no magistrate was acknowledged. In a word, all was in
confusion. To render our situation still worse, the grand master
of the Bishop's household had formerly done the town some ill
office, and was considered as its enemy. The people of the town,
when in their sober senses, were inclined to favour the party
of the States, but under the influence of Bacchus they paid no
regard to any party, not even to themselves.

As soon as I had reached the suburbs, they were alarmed at the
number of my company, quitted the bottle and glass to take up
their arms, and immediately shut the gates against me. I had
sent a gentleman before me, with my harbinger and quartermasters,
to beg the magistrates to admit me to stay one night in the town,
but I found my officers had been put under an arrest. They bawled
out to us from within, to tell us their situation, but could not
make themselves heard. At length I raised myself up in my litter,
and, taking off my mask, made a sign to a townsman nearest me,
of the best appearance, that I was desirous to speak with him.
As soon as he drew near me, I begged him to call out for silence,
which being with some difficulty obtained, I represented to him
who I was, and the occasion of my journey; that it was far from
my intention to do them harm; but, to prevent any suspicions of
the kind, I only begged to be admitted to go into their city
with my women, and as few others of my attendants as they thought
proper, and that we might be permitted to stay there for one
night, whilst the rest of my company remained within the suburbs.

They agreed to this proposal, and opened their gates for my
admission. I then entered the city with the principal persons
of my company, and the grand master of the Bishop's household.
This reverend personage, who was eighty years of age, and wore a
beard as white as snow, which reached down to his girdle,--this
venerable old man, I say, was no sooner recognized by the drunken
and armed rabble than he was accosted with the grossest abuse, and
it was with difficulty they were restrained from laying violent
hands upon him. At length I got him into my lodgings, but the
mob fired at the house, the walls of which were only of plaster.
Upon being thus attacked, I inquired for the master of the house,
who, fortunately, was within. I entreated him to speak from the
window, to some one without, to obtain permission for my being
heard. I had some difficulty to get him to venture doing so. At
length, after much bawling from the window, the burghermasters
came to speak to me, but were so drunk that they scarcely knew
what they said. I explained to them that I was entirely ignorant
that the grand master of the Bishop's household was a person
to whom they had a dislike, and I begged them to consider the
consequences of giving offence to a person like me, who was a
friend of the principal lords of the States, and I assured them
that the Comte de Lalain, in particular, would be greatly displeased
when he should hear how I had been received there.

The name of the Comte de Lalain produced an instant effect, much
more than if I had mentioned all the sovereign princes I was
related to. The principal person amongst them asked me, with
some hesitation and stammering, if I was really a particular
friend of the Count's. Perceiving that to claim kindred with
the Count would do me more service than being related to all
the Powers in Christendom, I answered that I was both a friend
and a relation. They then made me many apologies and _congés_,
stretching forth their hands in token of friendship; in short,
they now behaved with as much civility as before with rudeness.
They begged my pardon for what had happened, and promised that
the good old man, the grand master of the Bishop's household,
should be no more insulted, but be suffered to leave the city
quietly, the next morning, with me.

As soon as morning came, and while I was preparing to go to hear
mass, there arrived the King's agent to Don John, named Du Bois,
a man much attached to the Spanish interest. He informed me that
he had received orders from the King my brother to conduct me
in safety on my return. He said that he had prevailed on Don
John to permit Barlemont to escort me to Namur with a troop of
cavalry, and begged me to obtain leave of the citizens to admit
Barlemont and his troop to enter the town, that they might receive
my orders.

Thus had they concerted a double plot; the one to get possession
of the town, the other of my person. I saw through the whole design,
and consulted with the Cardinal de Lenoncourt, communicating to
him my suspicions. The Cardinal was as unwilling to fall into
the hands of the Spaniards as I could be; he therefore thought it
advisable to acquaint the townspeople with the plot, and make our
escape from the city by another road, in order to avoid meeting
Barlemont's troop. It was agreed betwixt us that the Cardinal
should keep Du Bois in discourse, whilst I consulted the principal
citizens in another apartment. Accordingly, I assembled as many
as I could, to whom I represented that if they admitted Barlemont
and his troop within the town, he would most certainly take
possession of it for Don John. I gave it as my advice to make a
show of defence, to declare they would not be taken by surprise,
and to offer to admit Barlemont, and no one else, within their
gates. They resolved to act according to my counsel, and offered
to serve me at the hazard of their lives. They promised to procure
me a guide, who should conduct me by a road by following which I
should put the river betwixt me and Don John's forces, whereby
I should be out of his reach, and could be lodged in houses and
towns which were in the interest of the States only.

This point being settled, I despatched them to give admission
to M. de Barlemont, who, as soon as he entered within the gates,
begged hard that his troop might come in likewise. Hereupon,
the citizens flew into a violent rage, and were near putting
him to death. They told him that if he did not order his men
out of sight of the town, they would fire upon them with their
great guns. This was done with design to give me time to leave the
town before they could follow in pursuit of me. M. de Barlemont
and the agent, Du Bois, used every argument they could devise
to persuade me to go to Namur, where they said Don John waited
to receive me.

I appeared to give way to their persuasions, and, after hearing
mass and taking a hasty dinner, I left my lodgings, escorted
by two or three hundred armed citizens, some of them engaging
Barlemont and Du Bois in conversation. We all took the way to
the gate which opens to the river, and directly opposite to that
leading to Namur. Du Bois and his colleague told me I was not
going the right way, but I continued talking, and as if I did
not hear them. But when we reached the gate I hastened into the
boat, and my people after me. M. de Barlemont and the agent Du
Bois, calling out to me from the bank, told me I was doing very
wrong and acting directly contrary to the King's intention, who
had directed that I should return by way of Namur.

In spite of all their remonstrances we crossed the river with
all possible expedition, and, during the two or three crossings
which were necessary to convey over the litters and horses, the
citizens, to give me the more time to escape, were debating with
Barlemont and Du Bois concerning a number of grievances and
complaints, telling them, in their coarse language, that Don
John had broken the peace and falsified his engagements with
the States; and they even rehearsed the old quarrel of the death
of Egmont, and, lastly, declared that if the troop made its
appearance before their walls again, they would fire upon it with
their artillery.

I had by this means sufficient time to reach a secure distance,
and was, by the help of God and the assistance of my guide, out
of all apprehensions of danger from Batlemont and his troop.

I intended to lodge that night in a strong castle, called Fleurines,
which belonged to a gentleman of the Party of the States, whom
I had seen with the Comte de Lalain. Unfortunately for me, the
gentleman was absent, and his lady only was in the castle. The
courtyard being open, we entered it, which put the lady into
such a fright that she ordered the bridge to be drawn up, and
fled to the strong tower. Nothing we could say would induce her
to give us entrance. In the meantime, three hundred gentlemen,
whom Don John had sent off to intercept our passage, and take
possession of the castle of Fleurines, judging that I should take
up my quarters there, made their appearance upon an eminence, at
the distance of about a thousand yards. They, seeing our carriages
in the courtyard, and supposing that we ourselves had taken to
the strong tower, resolved to stay where they were that night,
hoping to intercept me the next morning.

In this cruel situation were we placed, in a courtyard surrounded
by a wall by no means strong, and shut up by a gate equally as
weak and as capable of being forced, remonstrating from time
to time with the lady, who was deaf to all our prayers and
entreaties.

Through God's mercy, her husband, M. de Fleurines, himself appeared
just as night approached. We then gained instant admission, and the
lady was greatly reprimanded by her husband for her incivility and
indiscreet behaviour. This gentleman had been sent by the Comte de
Lalain, with directions to conduct me through the several towns
belonging to the States, the Count himself not being able to
leave the army of the States, of which he had the chief command,
to accompany me.

This was as favourable a circumstance for me as I could wish;
for, M. de Fleurines offering to accompany me into France, the
towns we had to pass through being of the party of the States,
we were everywhere quietly and honourably received. I had only
the mortification of not being able to visit Mons, agreeably to
my promise made to the Comtesse de Lalain, not passing nearer
to it than Nivelle, seven long leagues distant from it. The Count
being at Antwerp, and the war being hottest in the neighbourhood
of Mons, I thus was prevented seeing either of them on my return.
I could only write to the Countess by a servant of the gentleman
who was now my conductor. As soon as she learned I was at Nivelle,
she sent some gentlemen, natives of the part of Flanders I was
in, with a strong injunction to see me safe on the frontier of
France.

I had to pass through the Cambrésis, partly in favour of Spain
and partly of the States. Accordingly, I set out with these
gentlemen, to lodge at Cateau-Cambrésis. There they took leave of
me, in order to return to Mons, and by them I sent the Countess
a gown of mine, which had been greatly admired by her when I
wore it at Mons; it was of black satin, curiously embroidered,
and cost nine hundred crowns.

When I arrived at Cateau-Cambrésis, I had intelligence sent me
that a party of the Huguenot troops had a design to attack me
on the frontiers of Flanders and France. This intelligence I
communicated to a few only of my company, and prepared to set off
an hour before daybreak. When I sent for my litters and horses,
I found much such a kind of delay from the Chevalier Salviati as
I had before experienced at Liège, and suspecting it was done
designedly, I left my litter behind, and mounted on horseback,
with such of my attendants as were ready to follow me. By this
means, with God's assistance, I escaped being waylaid by my enemies,
and reached Catelet at ten in the morning. From there I went to
my house at La Fère, where I intended to reside until I learned
that peace was concluded upon.

At La Fère I found a messenger in waiting from my brother, who
had orders to return with all expedition, as soon as I arrived,
and inform him of it. My brother wrote me word, by that messenger,
that peace was concluded, and the King returned to Paris; that,
as to himself, his situation was rather worse than better; that
he and his people were daily receiving some affront or other,
and continual quarrels were excited betwixt the King's favourites
and Bussi and my brother's principal attendants. This, he added,
had made him impatient for my return, that he might come and
visit me.

I sent his messenger back, and immediately after, my brother
sent Bussi and all his household to Angers, and, taking with
him fifteen or twenty attendants, he rode post to me at La Fère.
It was a great satisfaction to me to see one whom I so tenderly
loved and greatly honoured, once more. I considered it amongst
the greatest felicities I ever enjoyed, and, accordingly, it
became my chief study to make his residence here agreeable to
him. He himself seemed delighted with this change of situation,
and would willingly have continued in it longer had not the noble
generosity of his mind called him forth to great achievements.
The quiet of our Court, when compared with that he had just left,
affected him so powerfully that he could not but express the
satisfaction he felt by frequently exclaiming, "Oh, Queen! how
happy I am with you. My God! your society is a paradise wherein
I enjoy every delight, and I seem to have lately escaped from
hell, with all its furies and tortures!"




LETTER XVII

We passed nearly two months together, which appeared to us only
as so many days. I gave him an account of what I had done for him
in Flanders, and the state in which I had left the business. He
approved of the interview with the Comte de Lalain's brother in
order to settle the plan of operations and exchange assurances.
Accordingly, the Comte de Montigny arrived, with four or five
other leading men of the county of Hainault. One of these was
charged with a letter from M. d'Ainsi, offering his services
to my brother, and assuring him of the citadel of Cambray. M.
de Montigny delivered his brother's declaration and engagement
to give up the counties of Hainault and Artois, which included a
number of fine cities. These offers made and accepted, my brother
dismissed them with presents of gold medals, bearing his and my
effigies, and every assurance of his future favour; and they
returned to prepare everything for his coming. In the meanwhile
my brother considered on the necessary measures to be used for
raising a sufficient force, for which purpose he returned to
the King, to prevail with him to assist him in this enterprise.

As I was anxious to go to Gascony, I made ready for the journey,
and set off for Paris, my brother meeting me at the distance
of one day's journey.

At St. Denis I was met by the King, the Queen my mother, Queen
Louise, and the whole Court. It was at St. Denis that I was to
stop and dine, and there it was that I had the honour of the
meeting I have just mentioned.

I was received very graciously, and most sumptuously entertained.
I was made to recount the particulars of my triumphant journey
to Liège, and perilous return. The magnificent entertainments
I had received excited their admiration, and they rejoiced at
my narrow escapes. With such conversation I amused the Queen
my mother and the rest of the company in her coach, on our way
to Paris, where, supper and the ball being ended, I took an
opportunity, when I saw the King and the Queen my mother together,
to address them.

I expressed my hopes that they would not now oppose my going to
the King my husband; that now, by the peace, the chief objection
to it was removed, and if I delayed going, in the present situation
of affairs, it might be prejudicial and discreditable to me. Both

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