The Life of Marie de Medicis Volume III Part 2

De Luynes had considered it expedient to offer his congratulations to the Queen-mother and M. d'Epernon upon the reconciliation which had taken place, and in order to evince his respect for Marie had caused M.

de Brantes his brother to accompany the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld to Angouleme for this purpose, where both were received with a splendour, and feasted with a pomp and elegance, to which they had been long unaccustomed at the Court of Paris.

All these entertainments were, however, surpa.s.sed by those given by the Duke on the occasion of a visit paid to her Majesty by Victor Amedee de Piedmont, her new son-in-law, and his brother Prince Thomas of Savoy, who had obtained the sanction of the King to proceed to Angouleme to offer their respects to their ill.u.s.trious relative. The two Princes were met beyond the gates of the city by M. d'Epernon at the head of a party of mounted n.o.bles attired in their state dresses, and apartments furnished in the most costly manner were prepared for them in the episcopal palace, to which they were conducted amid the firing of cannon, the sounds of martial music, and the acclamations of the citizens; rushes and green boughs were strewn along their path, the balconies of the houses were draped with tapestry and coloured cloths, and a banquet had been prepared which was presided over by the Queen-mother. The town of Angouleme was meanwhile alive with excitement and delight until nightfall, when the streets were brilliantly illuminated, and the joyous mult.i.tude were entertained by the munificence of the Duc d'Epernon with a brilliant display of fireworks which continued until midnight. Nothing, in short, evinced to the august visitors any symptom of a reverse of fortune, such as they had been led to expect, in the position and circ.u.mstances of Marie de Medicis. They had merely exchanged one scene of royal display for another; and when, upon the morrow, they were invited to attend a hunt which had been organized in their honour, their surprise and gratification were too evident for concealment.[34]

That the Queen-mother deeply felt the extent of the sacrifice made by M.

d'Epernon in her cause can admit of no doubt, for she was aware that he was rapidly exhausting his resources in order to uphold her dignity; and it is equally certain that she, on her side, was unwearied in her efforts to ensure to him the grat.i.tude and respect of her royal guests; an attempt in which she so fully succeeded that on the return of the two young Princes to the capital, the admiration which they expressed both of the Queen and her deliverer excited the displeasure of De Luynes, who could ill brook the rivalry of a man whom he at once feared and hated.

It was rumoured that this visit of the royal brothers to Angouleme had been authorized by Louis at the suggestion of the favourite, who had laboured to convince them of his anxiety for the return of Marie to the Court, and had solicited their a.s.sistance in impressing upon her the sincerity of his professions. Be this as it may, however, it is at least certain that if the Princes lent themselves to his views, they failed in producing the desired effect upon her mind; as, despite the invitation of the King that she should approach nearer to Tours in order to facilitate their projected interview, she constantly excused herself upon the most frivolous pretexts, and continued to reside at Angouleme without making the slightest preparation to obey his summons.[35]

This reluctance on her part to conclude a reconciliation, of which she had hitherto expressed herself so desirous, excited the surprise and apprehension of the Court, who sought a solution of the mystery from the Bishop of Lucon; but the wily Richelieu was careful not to betray that they were his own counsels which regulated the conduct of the Queen-mother. He had well weighed his position, and he felt that it was not yet sufficiently a.s.sured to enable him to oppose his influence to that of De Luynes. He aspired to a seat in the Council, and in order to attain it he must render himself more necessary to the favourite than he had hitherto been enabled to do; a fact to which he was keenly alive.

Should the mother and the son meet at that moment, he was aware that the excitable temperament of Marie could not fail to betray her into the power of De Luynes, and with her would fall his own fortunes; whereas time must necessarily calm her first exultation and render her more tenacious of her power. Thus, then, Richelieu jealously watched every change in her mood, excited her distrust, aggravated her animosities, and, finally, convinced her that her strength existed only in opposition to the King's will. Marie, naturally suspicious, lent herself readily to this specious reasoning; she had sufficient knowledge of the character of her son to feel that his eager desire to obliterate the past was produced by no feeling of affection towards herself, but might simply be attributed to his anxiety to weaken a faction which had become formidable, and by depriving her adherents of a pretext for opposing his authority, to rid himself of a danger which augmented from day to day.

Too readily the prey of her pa.s.sions, Marie de Medicis exulted in this conviction; and had Louis and his ministers been wise enough to accept her reluctance as a refusal to return to Court, and abandoned all attempts to change her determination, it is probable that this simulated indifference, and the powerlessness to which it must ere long have reduced both herself and her followers, would have caused her immediate compliance; but, bent upon compelling her obedience, they, by successive endeavours to overcome her disinclination to resign the comparative independence to which she had attained, only played into the hands of the astute Bishop, by strengthening her resolution to resist.

Shortly after the departure of the Princes of Savoy, the Capuchin Father Joseph du Tremblay,[36] the confidential friend of Richelieu, was ordered to proceed in his turn to Angouleme, and to endeavour to induce Marie de Medicis, with whom the courtly monk was known to be a favourite, to resume the position to which she was ent.i.tled as the widow of one sovereign and the mother of another; and as a preliminary step, to meet the King according to his expressed wish, before his return to the capital. This was, however, only another false step on the part of De Luynes, as the reverend father felt by no means disposed to thwart the measures of the man to whom he looked for his own future advancement; and his mission, in consequence, so signally failed that the suspicions of the Court party were once more aroused against Richelieu, although they were unable wholly to fathom the depth of his subtle policy. These suspicions were, moreover, strengthened by the fact that a new letter, addressed by the King to his mother, full of the most pressing entreaties that she would divest herself of her distrust, and confide in his affection (which letter was delivered to her by the Duc de Montbazon, the father-in-law of De Luynes), produced no better result. In vain did the Duke represent the earnest desire of Louis to terminate a state of things so subversive of order, and so opposed to all natural feeling, and a.s.sure her of the sincerity with which his Majesty invited her to share his power; Marie, prompted by the astute prelate, refused to yield.

"I am not invited to return to Court," she said bitterly; "I am to be constrained to do so; but I will consent only upon one condition. Let the Duc de Mayenne be my surety that I shall be treated as becomes my dignity, both by the King and his favourite, and I will again enter the capital. Without this safeguard I will not place myself in the power of an adventurer."

Mayenne refused, however, to offer any such pledge, declaring that it would not become him to interfere in any misunderstanding between the sovereign and his mother; and Marie de Medicis thus saw herself under the necessity of seeking some other method of evading compliance. A pretext was soon found, however; and when next urged upon the subject, she declared that her disinclination to involve the Court in new difficulties must prevent her reappearance in the royal circle until the question of precedence was clearly established between herself and the Queen-consort.

Anne of Austria had not failed, from her first arrival in France, girl as she was, to express great contempt for the House of Medicis, and to a.s.sert the superiority of her own descent over that of her mother-in-law; an a.s.sumption which had aroused all the indignation of Marie, who had revenged herself by constantly speaking of Anne as "the little Queen"; an insult which was immediately retorted by her daughter-in-law in a manner that was keenly felt by the haughty Italian, puerile and insignificant as it was. On every occasion Louis terminated the letters that he addressed to her by subscribing himself "your very humble and obedient son," and Marie insisted that his wife should follow his example; but Anne refused to make such a concession, declaring that as the Queen-mother merely signed herself "your very affectionate mother," she would, on her side, do no more than subscribe herself "your very affectionate daughter." Nor was this the only subject of dispute, for Anne of Austria also insisted that as reigning Queen she had a right to precedence over a Princess, who, although she had formerly occupied the throne, had, by the death of her husband, degenerated into a subject; nor could she be convinced to the contrary even by past examples. In vain did Louis insist that his young wife should yield, and rebuke her when she was wanting in respect to the widowed Queen; the Spanish pride of Anne was proof against his displeasure, and it was found impossible to reconcile their conflicting claims.[37]

In the month of August the King conferred the promised _baton_ of Marechal de France upon Charles de Choiseul, Marquis de Praslin, and Jean Francois de la Guiche, Sieur de Saint-Geran.

The contention between Anne of Austria and her royal mother-in-law remained undecided; and the position which the latter was to occupy at the Court was consequently not clearly defined. She had obtained no single advantage for which she had striven; no guarantee upon which she had insisted; and, nevertheless, on the 19th of August, she left Angouleme for the capital with a suite of ten coaches, each drawn by six horses, and an escort of five hundred hors.e.m.e.n. The Duc d'Epernon bore her company to the extreme frontier of his government, where they parted with mutual manifestations of affection and goodwill. As the Duke, who had alighted from the carriage where he had hitherto occupied a place beside her Majesty, stood near the door expressing his last wishes for her prosperity, and was about to raise her hand to his lips, Marie, who was drowned in tears, drew a costly diamond from her finger, which she entreated him to wear as a mark of her grat.i.tude for the signal services that he had rendered to her in her need; and then throwing herself back upon her cushions she wept bitterly.

Well might she weep! She left behind her those who had rallied about her in her misfortunes; and she was going forth into an uncertain future, of which no human eye could penetrate the mysteries. The die was, however, cast; and as a last demonstration of his respect and regard for her person M. d'Epernon had instructed his son the Archbishop of Toulouse to follow his royal mistress to Court; while he himself saw the brilliant train depart, impoverished it is true by his uncalculating devotion to her cause, but proud and happy in the conviction that without his aid she would still have been a captive.

The retinue of the Queen-mother comprised the ladies of honour, the Duc de Montbazon, the Bishop of Lucon, and several other individuals of note; and thus attended she reached Poitiers, where the carriages of the King were awaiting her arrival, and relays of horses were provided to expedite her journey to Tours. From Poitiers she despatched Richelieu in advance to announce her approach to Louis; and on his return to report the completion of his mission, he was eloquent on the subject of the graciousness of his reception both by the King and the favourite.

As she drew near the city Marie was met by the Cardinal de Retz[38] and the Pere Arnoux, accompanied by a numerous train of gentlemen, by whom she was conducted to the Chateau de Montbazon, where she was to pa.s.s the night; and on the following morning the newly-made Duc de Luynes arrived to pay his respects to the mother of his sovereign. The Queen devoured her mortification, and received her unwelcome guest with great affability; but he had not been long in her presence ere he renewed all her suspicions of his duplicity.

The Prince de Conde, who feared that a reconciliation between Louis and the Queen-mother would militate against his release, had exerted himself to the utmost to procure his liberty before they should have time to meet; and aware that it was only through the influence of De Luynes that he could accomplish his object, he did not hesitate to bribe the favourite by an offer of the hand of his sister Eleonore de Bourbon, the widow of Philip, Prince of Orange, for his brother Cadenet. De Luynes was dazzled: an alliance with the first Prince of the Blood exceeded all his hopes; while the liberation of M. de Conde, was, moreover, essential to his own interests; as should he secure the friendship of so powerful a n.o.ble, he would be better able to oppose not only the Duc d'Epernon, but also all the leaders of the Queen-mother's faction. It was, however, no part of his policy to betray his consciousness of this necessity to the ill.u.s.trious captive; whose imprisonment he nevertheless rendered less irksome by according to him sundry relaxations from which he had hitherto been debarred. A serious indisposition by which M. de Conde was at this period attacked, moreover, greatly a.s.sisted his projects; and the medical attendants of the Prince having declared that they entertained but slight hopes of his recovery, De Luynes hastened to entreat of the King that he would hold out to the invalid a prospect of deliverance, which could not fail to produce a beneficial effect upon his health. Nor did he experience any difficulty in inducing Louis to comply with his request, as personally the King bore no animosity to the Prince, whose arrest had not been caused by himself. The royal physicians were forthwith despatched to Vincennes, with orders to exert all their skill in alleviating his sufferings; and a few days subsequently the Marquis de Cadenet followed with the sword of the Prince, which he was commissioned to restore to its owner, accompanied by the a.s.surance that so soon as his Majesty should have restored order in the kingdom, he would hasten to set him at liberty; but that, meanwhile, he begged him to take courage, and to be careful of his health.[39]

Cadenet was welcomed as his brother had antic.i.p.ated; and was profuse in his expressions of his own respect and regard for the ill.u.s.trious prisoner, and in his protestations of the untiring perseverance with which the favourite was labouring to effect his release; while Conde was equally energetic in his acknowledgments, declaring that should he owe his liberty to De Luynes, he would prove not only to the latter, but to every member of his family, his deep sense of so important a service.

Relying on this a.s.surance, the favourite, whose greatest anxiety was to prevent a good understanding between the King and his mother, had no sooner concluded the compliments and promises to which Marie had compelled herself to listen with apparent gratification, than he hastened to inform her of the pledge given by Louis to terminate the captivity of M. de Conde; craftily adding that his Majesty had hitherto failed to fulfil it, as he desired to accord this signal grace to the Prince conjointly with herself. Marie de Medicis, however, instantly comprehended the motive of her visitor; and was at no loss to understand that the liberation of a man whom she had herself committed to the Bastille, and whom she had thus converted into an enemy, was intended as a counterpoise to her own power. This conviction immediately destroyed all her trust in the sincerity of her son and his ministers; and, unable to control her emotion, she shortly afterwards dismissed De Luynes, and retired to her closet, where she summoned her confidential friends, and declared to them that she was resolved to return with all speed to Angouleme without seeing the King.

From this dangerous determination she was, however, with some difficulty dissuaded. They, one and all, represented that she had now gone too far to recede; and reminded her that she was surrounded on every side by the royal troops, while she was herself accompanied only by the members of her household, who would be unable to offer any resistance should an attempt be made to impede her retreat; and that, consequently, her only safe plan of action was pa.s.sively to incur the danger which she dreaded, to dissimulate her apprehensions, and to watch carefully the progress of events.

Marie could not, in fact, adopt a wiser course. The Duc de Mayenne, who had espoused the royal cause against Epernon, was indignant at the ingrat.i.tude and coldness with which his services had been requited, and did not seek to disguise his discontent; while the n.o.bles of Guienne, by whom he had been followed, were in an equal state of irritation. This circ.u.mstance was favourable to the Queen-mother, who lost no time in persuading the Duke to make common cause with her against the favourite; a proposition to which, excited by his annoyance, he at once acceded; convinced that the projected reconciliation could not, under existing circ.u.mstances, be of long duration.[40] On the 5th of September Marie de Medicis accordingly left Montbazon for Consieres, where she was to have her first interview with the King; and having ascertained upon her arrival that he was walking in the park of the chateau, she hastily alighted and went to seek him there, followed by the Ducs de Guise, de Montbazon, and de Luynes, the Cardinal de Retz, and the Archbishop of Toulouse, by whom she had been received, as well as by a dense crowd of spectators who had a.s.sembled to witness the meeting. The crowd was so great that it became necessary to clear a pa.s.sage before the King could approach his mother, to whom he extended his arms, and for a few moments both parties wept without uttering a syllable. This silence was, however, ultimately broken by Louis, who exclaimed in a voice of deep emotion: "You are welcome, Madame. I thank G.o.d with all my heart that He has fulfilled my most ardent wish."

"And I have henceforth nothing more to desire," replied Marie; "I shall now die happy since I have had the consolation of once more seeing you, Sire, and of embracing my other children. I have always loved you tenderly; and I entreat of you to do me the justice to believe that I have the most sincere attachment to your person, and every anxiety to promote the welfare of your kingdom." [41]

It is painful to reflect that these expressions, so natural from the lips of two individuals thus closely allied, who had been long at variance, and had at length met in amity, should have been the mere outpourings of policy; and yet, it is equally impossible not to be struck by their hollowness and falsehood; Louis being, at that very moment, endeavouring to undermine the influence of his mother by estranging from her cause all those who still clung to her waning fortunes; while Marie was labouring with equal zeal to strengthen her position, by attracting to her faction all the discontented n.o.bles whose individual vengeance could be gratified by opposing in her name, and apparently in her interests, the projects of those who had blighted their own prospects, or wounded their own pride.

When both parties had become more calm, Louis gave his hand to his mother and conducted her to the chateau, where they remained together for the s.p.a.ce of three hours awaiting the arrival of the young Queen, the Princess of Piedmont, and Madame Henriette, who ultimately reached Consieres, accompanied by all the Princesses, and great ladies of the Court, occupying a train of upwards of fifty coaches; and the ceremonial of reception had no sooner terminated than the king proceeded on horseback to Tours, followed by the whole of this splendid retinue. The two Queens occupied the same carriage, and were lavish in their expressions of mutual regard and goodwill; but the comedy was imperfectly acted on both sides, although neither affected to doubt the sincerity of the other. It was necessary that the piece should be played out, and the performers were skilful enough to bring it to a close without openly betraying the distastefulness of their task.

At the supper which followed the arrival of the Court at Tours every mark of respect was shown to the Queen-mother. She was seated at the right hand of Louis, while Anne of Austria occupied a place upon his left. The Prince of Piedmont presented the _serviette_, and persisted in remaining standing, and bareheaded, although Marie desired a stool to be placed near her, and entreated him to seat himself. It is consequently needless to add that she was overwhelmed with adulation; and that the courtiers vied with each other in demonstrations of delight.

The twelve succeeding days were pa.s.sed in a series of _fetes_, of which Marie de Medicis was the heroine; but it nevertheless became evident ere the close of that period that all parties were fatigued by the efforts which they were making to conceal their real sentiments; and a return to the capital was no sooner mooted than the Queen-mother openly declared that she would not be carried to Paris in triumph, but would defer her entrance into that city until after her visit to Angers. This resolution deeply offended the King, who, on taking leave of her, at once proceeded to Compiegne, while the Prince and Princess of Piedmont departed for Turin, and Marie removed to Chinon, where she remained for a few days in order to give the magistrates of Angers time to complete the preparations for her reception. At the Ponts de Ce she was met by the Marechal de Bois-Dauphin at the head of fifteen hundred hors.e.m.e.n; and thus escorted she reached the gates of the city, where she was magnificently received, and welcomed with acclamations.[42]

De Luynes, alarmed by the protracted sojourn of the Queen-mother at Angers, and her resolute refusal to return to the capital, became more than ever anxious to effect the liberation of M. de Conde; an anxiety that was moreover heightened by intelligence which reached the Court that a deputation from the Protestants, who were then holding their a.s.sembly at Loudun, had waited upon her Majesty, for the purpose of expressing their joy at her arrival and sojourn in Anjou, and of communicating to her the demands which they were about to make to the King.

It is true that Marie, although she did not disguise her gratification at this mark of respect, was prudent enough not to advance any opinion upon the claims which they set forth, and restricted herself to offering her acknowledgments for their courtesy, coupled with the a.s.surance that they should find her a good neighbour; but even this reply, guarded as it was, did not satisfy the Court, who pretended to discover a hidden meaning in her words, and decided that she should have referred the deputation to the King, in order to place herself beyond suspicion. Nor were they less disconcerted on learning that all the n.o.bility of the province were constant visitors at her Court; and that she had established herself in her government so thoroughly that she evidently entertained no intention of abandoning her post.

As each succeeding day rendered the position of the Queen-mother more threatening towards himself, the favourite resolved towards the middle of October to effect the instant release of the Prince de Conde; and he accordingly obtained the authority of the King to proceed to Vincennes, with full power to open the gates of the fortress, and to liberate the prisoner; while Louis himself proceeded to Chantilly, the chateau of the Duc de Montmorency, who had married the sister of the Prince, to which residence De Luynes was instructed to conduct the emanc.i.p.ated n.o.ble.

It is sickening to be compelled to recapitulate the constant result of such events in that age of servility and moral degradation. The favourite, who by a word could have liberated the first Prince of the Blood from the Bastille before he was transferred to the fortress of Vincennes, bowed his haughty head to the dust before him, and entreated his protection; while Conde, in his turn, on being introduced into the presence of the King, demanded pardon upon his knees for an offence of which he did not even know the nature; and which he could only estimate by the extent of the chastis.e.m.e.nt that had been inflicted on him. This idle ceremony accomplished, M. de Conde immediately found himself a member of the Privy Council; all the honours of his rank as first Prince of the Blood were accorded to him; and the King issued a declaration by which it was a.s.serted that his recent captivity had been the act of "certain ill-advised persons who abused the name and authority of the sovereign." [43]

This declaration excited the indignation of the Queen-mother and Richelieu, by whose advice the arrest of Conde had been determined; but while Marie loudly expressed her displeasure, the more cautious prelate endeavoured to disguise his annoyance. He looked farther into the future than his impetuous mistress, and he saw that his hour of revenge had not yet come. De Luynes, anxious to appease the Queen, declared that the obnoxious declaration had not been submitted to him before its publication, and threw the whole blame upon Du Vair, by whom it was drawn up; conjuring her at the same time to return to the capital, where alone she could convince herself of his earnest desire to serve her.

The close alliance formed between Conde and the favourite sufficed, however, to deter Marie from making this concession; while many of those about her did not hesitate to insinuate that the respect with which the Prince affected to regard her person, and the desire that he expressed to see her once more at Court, was a mere subterfuge; and that his real anxiety, as well as that of De Luynes, was to separate her from the n.o.bles of Anjou, and the friends whom she possessed in her own government, in order that she might be placed more thoroughly in their power. The Queen-mother was the more inclined to adopt this belief from the circ.u.mstance that, even while urging her return, Louis had given her to understand the inexpediency of maintaining so numerous a bodyguard, when she should be established in the capital, as that by which she had surrounded herself since her arrival at Angers; and this evident desire on the part of the King to diminish at once her dignity and her security, coupled with her suspicions of Conde and De Luynes, rendered her more than ever averse to abandon the safe position which she then occupied, and to enter into a new struggle of which she might once more become the victim.[44]

On his return to Paris, after his interview with the Queen-mother, Louis bestowed the government of Picardy upon De Luynes, who resigned that of the Isle of France, which he had previously held, to the Due de Montbazon his father-in-law. The two brothers of the favourite were created Marshals of France; Brantes by the t.i.tle of Duc de Piney-Luxembourg--the heiress of that princely house having, by command of the King, bestowed her hand upon him, to the disgust of all the great n.o.bles, who considered this ill-a.s.sorted alliance an insult to themselves and to their order--while Cadenet, in order that he might in his turn be enabled to aspire to the promised union with the widowed Princess of Orange, was created Duc de Chaulnes. The latter marriage was not, however, destined to be accomplished, Eleonore de Bourbon rejecting with disdain a proposition by which she felt herself dishonoured; nor can any doubt exist that her resistance was tacitly encouraged by Conde: who, once more free, could have little inclination to ally himself so closely with a family of adventurers, whose antecedents were at once obscure and equivocal. This mortification was, however, lessened to the discomfited favourite by the servility of the Archduke Albert, the sovereign of the Low Countries; who, being anxious to secure the support of the French king, offered to De Luynes the heiress of the ancient family of Piquigny in Picardy, who had been brought up at the Court of Brussels, as a bride for his younger brother.

Despairing, despite all his arrogance, of effecting the alliance of Cadenet with a Princess of the Blood, the favourite gladly accepted the proffered alliance; and M. de Chaulnes was appointed Lieutenant-General in Picardy, of which province De Luynes was the governor, and where he possessed numerous fine estates.

FOOTNOTES:

[24] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 449, 450. Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 172.

Matthieu, _Hist, des Derniers Troubles_, book iii. p. 626.

[25] Le Va.s.sor, vol. ii. pp. 71, 72. Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 172, 173.

[26] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 451, 452. Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 174.

Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. p. 129. Matthieu, _Hist. des Derniers Troubles_, book iii. p. 621.

[27] Pierre de Berulle, the descendant of an ancient and n.o.ble family of Champagne, was born on the 14th of February 1575, and soon became remarkable for his virtue and science. He was the friend of St. Francois de Sales, the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory in France, and was promoted to the conclave by Urban VIII in 1627. He did not, however, long enjoy his new dignity, having died at the altar while saying ma.s.s on the 2nd of October 1629, before he had attained his fifty-sixth year.

He was the author of several theological works. An ably-written life of the Cardinal de Berulle is due to the pen of M. Hubert de Cerisy.

[28] Rohan, _Mem_. book i. pp. 116, 117. Richelieu, _Hist, de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. ii. pp. 353, 354. Le Va.s.sor, vol. ii. p. 77. _Mercure Francais_, 1619.

[29] _Vie de Du Plessis-Mornay_, book iv.

[30] Matthieu, _Hist, des Derniers Troubles_, book iii. p. 636.

[31] Le Va.s.sor, vol. ii. p. 102. Deageant, _Mem_. pp. 203, 204. _Vie du Due d'Epernon_, book viii.

[32] Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 179-181. Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 452, 453.

Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. p. 129. Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. ii. p. 356. Siri, _Mem. Rec_. vol. iv. pp. 626, 627.

[33] Siri, _Mem. Rec_. vol. iv. pp. 631, 632.

[34] _Vie du Duc d'Epernon_, book viii.

[35] Siri, _Mem. Rec_. vol. iv. pp. 632, 633. Le Va.s.sor, vol. ii. p.

115. Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 454. Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. p. 129.

Fontenay-Mareuil, _Mem_. pp. 436-450. Richelieu, _Hist, de la Mere et du Fits_, vol. ii. p. 372.