The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henri IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII — Volume 3

"I shall immediately return, Sir," coldly replied Marie, "when I can do so with honour; but this can only be when the King shall have issued a declaration which may repair the injury done to my administration by that which he conceded to the Prince de Condé."

The Duke attempted to remonstrate, but he was haughtily silenced; and thus saw himself compelled to retire from the presence of the irritated Princess with the conviction that he had utterly failed to produce the effect anticipated from his mission.[49]

As a last resource the Duc de Montbazon was once more despatched to the Queen-mother, with full authority to satisfy all her demands, whatever might be their nature; and also with instructions to warn her that, should she still refuse to obey the commands of the King, she would be compelled to do so; while, at the same time, he was commissioned to announce that Louis was ready to receive her at Tours as he had formerly done, in order to convince her of his anxiety to terminate their misunderstanding. This portion of his mission was, however, strongly combated alike by M. de Condé and the ministers, who saw in it a proof of weakness unworthy of a great sovereign; but the apprehensions of the favourite so far outweighed his sense of what was due to the dignity of his royal master, that he refused to listen to their representations, and Louis accordingly left the capital, and advanced slowly towards the province of Angoumois, awaiting the result of this new negotiation.

Marie remained inflexible; Richelieu had not yet accomplished his object; and the King, who had already reached Orleans, returned to Paris, to the great triumph of the Queen-mother's faction. Months were wasted in this puerile struggle, which contrasted strangely with the important interests which at that period occupied the attention of all other European sovereigns; and meanwhile the faction of Marie de Medicis became more formidable from day to day; until, finally, the Prince de Condé declared his conviction that stringent measures could alone secure to the monarch any hope of averting the serious consequences with which he was threatened by the disaffection of his most powerful nobles. De Luynes was quite ready to adopt this reasoning in order to ensure his own safety; but it met with earnest opposition from the Cardinal de Retz, Arnoux, and many others of the favourite's confidential friends, who dreaded that by the fall of Marie de Medicis, Condé, whose ambitious views were evident to all, would attain to a degree of authority and power against which they could not hope successfully to contend; and they accordingly counselled their patron rather to effect his own reconciliation with the exiled Queen, and by rendering himself necessary alike to the mother and the son, at once strengthen his own influence and weaken that of the first Prince of the Blood.

In accordance with this advice De Luynes entered into a negotiation with Marie, during the course of which the Marquis de Blainville was despatched several times to Angers, authorized to hold out the most brilliant promises should she consent to resume her position at the French Court. Unfortunately, however, the zealous envoy overacted his part by assuring her that De Luynes was strongly attached to her person, and anxious only to secure her interests; a declaration which instantly startled her suspicious temper into additional caution; but his next step proved even more fatal to the cause he had been deputed to advocate.

"I can assure you, Madame," he went on to say, encouraged by the attentive attitude of his royal auditor, "that M. le Duc has ever entertained the most perfect respect towards your Majesty. More than once, indeed, it has been suggested to him to secure your person, and either to commit you to Vincennes, or to compel your return to Florence; nay, more; a few of your most inveterate enemies, Madame, have not hesitated to advise still more violent measures, and have endeavoured to convince him that his own safety could only be secured by your destruction; but M. de Luynes has universally rejected these counsels with indignation and horror; and this fact must suffice to prove to your Majesty that you can have nothing to apprehend from a man so devoted to your cause that he has undeviatingly made his own interests subservient to yours."

This argument, which, while it revolted her good sense, revealed to the Queen-mother the whole extent of the risk that she must inevitably incur by placing herself in the power of an individual who had suffered such measures to be mooted in his presence, produced the very opposite effect to that which it had been intended to elicit; and it was consequently with a more fixed determination than ever that Marie clung to the comparatively independent position she had secured, and thus rendered the negotiation useless.[50]

The alarm of De Luynes increased after this failure, and having become convinced of the impolicy of provoking a second civil war, he continued his attempts at a reconciliation through other channels; but as each in turn proved abortive, he began to tremble lest by affording more time for the consolidation of the Queen's faction, he might ultimately work his own overthrow; and it was consequently determined that the advice of the Prince de Condé should be adopted. The delay which had already taken place had, however, sufficed to permit of a coalition among the Princes which rendered the party of the malcontents more formidable than any which had yet been opposed to the royal authority; and it was not without considerable misgivings that, early in July, De Luynes accompanied the King to the frontier of Normandy, where it had been decided that he should place himself at the head of his army.[51]

Before leaving the capital it was considered expedient that Louis should attend a meeting of the Parliament, in order to justify the extreme step which he was about to take; and he accordingly presented himself before that body, to whom he declared the excessive repugnance with which he found himself under the imperative necessity of taking up arms against the Queen his mother, and excused himself upon the plea of her having headed the malcontents, by whom the safety of the throne and kingdom was endangered; and, this empty formality accomplished, little attention was conceded to the recommendation of the President and Advocate-General, who implored of his Majesty to adopt less offensive measures, and to avoid so long as it might be in his power an open war with his august parent.[52] Louis had complied with the ceremony required of him; and while De Luynes was trembling for his tenure of power, the young sovereign was equally anxious to commence a campaign which promised some relief from the tedium of his everyday existence, and some prospect of his definitive release from the thraldom of the adverse faction.

The success of the royal army exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the young sovereign, and awakened in him that passion for war by which he was subsequently distinguished throughout the whole of his reign. The Ducs de Longueville and de Vendôme, alarmed by a manifestation of energy for which they were not prepared, and fearing the effects of further resistance, scarcely made an effort to oppose him; and thus, in an incredibly short space of time, he possessed himself of Rouen, Caen, Alençon, and Vendôme; and advanced upon the Loire at the head of his whole army.

This unlooked-for celerity caused the greatest consternation in the party of Marie, who had anticipated that the conquest of Normandy would have occupied the royal forces during a considerable period, and relying on this contingency, had not yet completed the defences of Angers. The Queen herself, however, continued to refuse all overtures of reconciliation, and after having vainly demanded a month's truce, she turned her whole attention to the formation of such an army as might enable her to compete with that by which she saw herself assailed. Her forces already amounted to fifteen hundred horse and eight thousand infantry, and she was anticipating a strong reinforcement, which was to be supplied by the Duc de Rohan and the Comte de Saint-Aignan. Her first care was to garrison the town and citadel of Angers, in order to secure her personal safety; but this precaution did not satisfy the Duc de Mayenne, who urged her to retire to Guienne, where he had collected a force of ten thousand men, and thus to place herself beyond all possibility of capture. The Duc d'Epernon, on the other hand, who was jealous of the influence which such a step must necessarily give to his rival, strongly dissuaded the Queen from condescending to retreat before the royal army; and suggested that M. de Mayenne would more effectually serve her cause and uphold her honour by marching his troops to Angers, and thus strengthening her position. This suggestion, by whatever motive it were prompted, was one of sound policy; nor can there be any doubt that it would have been readily adopted by Marie de Medicis, had there not been a traitor in the camp, whose covert schemes must have been foiled by such an addition to the faction of his royal mistress.

That traitor was Richelieu, by whom every movement in the rebel army, and every decision of the Queen-mother's Council, was immediately revealed to De Luynes. The wily Bishop, faithful to his own interests, and lured onward by the vision of a cardinal's hat, no sooner saw the impression produced upon the mind of Marie by the proposal of Epernon than he hastened to oppose a measure which threatened all his hopes, and succeeded with some difficulty in persuading her that both these great nobles could more effectually serve her in their own governments than by adding a useless burthen to her dower-city, which was already gorged with troops, and which, in the event of a siege, might suffer more from internal scarcity than external violence.

Bewildered by the uncertainty of the struggle which was about to supervene, Marie de Medicis was readily induced to believe in the wisdom of securing two havens of refuge in case of defeat, and to renounce the peril of hazarding all at one blow. The arguments of Richelieu were specious; she had the most perfect faith in his attachment and fidelity; and thus, despite the most earnest remonstrances of her other counsellors, she decided upon following the suggestions of the man who was seeking to build up his own fortunes upon the ruin of her hopes.[53]

Neither Richelieu nor De Luynes were deceived as to the feeling which thus induced them to make common cause. There was no affectation of regard or confidence on either side; their mutual hatred was matter of notoriety, but they were essential to each other. Without the aid of the favourite, the Bishop of Luçon could never hope to attain the seat in the Conclave which was the paramount object of his ambition; while De Luynes, on his side, was apprehensive that should the army of the King be defeated, his own overthrow must necessarily result, or that, in the event of success, the Prince de Condé would become all-powerful: an alternative which presented the same danger to his own prospects. Thus both the one and the other, convinced that by stratagem alone they could carry out their personal views, eagerly entered into a secret negotiation, which terminated in a pledge that Richelieu should succeed to a cardinalate provided he delivered up his too confiding mistress to the royal troops when they marched upon the Fonts de Cé.

This fortress, which protected the passage to Anjou, was only a league distant from Angers, where the Queen-mother had taken up her residence; and Richelieu, to whom its safety had been confided, no sooner effected a final understanding with De Luynes than he removed all the ammunition from the fortress, and placed his own relatives and friends in command of the garrison, with full instructions as to the part which they were to enact when confronted with the troops of the sovereign.

Although wholly unsuspicious of the treachery of which she was thus destined to become the victim, the alarm of the Queen-mother was excited by the rapid approach of her son, and she at length resolved to attempt a tardy reconciliation; for which purpose she despatched the Duc de Bellegarde, the Archbishop of Sens, and the Jesuit Bérulle to the King with an offer to that effect. Louis received her envoys with great courtesy, and declared himself ready to make every concession as regarded Marie personally, and even to extend his pardon to the Comte and Comtesse de Soissons; but he peremptorily refused to include the other disaffected nobles in the amnesty; when the Queen, on her side, declined every arrangement which involved the abandonment of her followers; and thus the negotiation failed in its object, while the royal army continued to advance.[54]

On reaching La Flèche the King convened a council, at which it was proposed to besiege the city of Angers; but Louis, who was aware of the plot that had been formed between De Luynes and Richelieu, declared that his respect for his mother would not permit him to attack a town in which she had taken up her abode; while he even instructed the Duc de Bellegarde to propose to her fresh conditions of peace, and to assure her that his intention in approaching so near to her stronghold was simply to secure an interview, and to induce her to return with him to the capital.

This assurance produced the desired effect upon Marie de Medicis, who was becoming alike wearied and disgusted by the perilous position in which she had been placed by the unexpected energy of her son; and she consequently hastened to sign the treaty. But the concession came too late. On the previous day, Bassompierre, Créquy, and several other officers of rank marched to Sorges, within a league of the Fonts de Cé, at the head of their men, for the mere purpose of skirmishing; they, however, met with no opposition, and they finally reached the bridge, where five thousand troops of the Queen-mother were entrenched. These they attacked; and at the third charge the whole body fled in such confusion that the royal forces entered with them pell-mell into the city. The command of the fort had been given to the Duc de Retz, who, apprised by the Cardinal his uncle that the Queen-mother had been betrayed, hastily effected his escape, and the castle was surrendered at the first summons. In vain did the Duc de Bellegarde represent that the town had been taken after the Queen had signed the treaty of reconciliation, and complain that this outrage had been committed subsequently to the conclusion of a peace proposed by the sovereign; the Prince de Condé, desirous of mortifying Marie de Medicis, only replied that the messenger should have made greater haste to deliver so important a document, as the King's officers were not called upon to divine the nature of the Queen's decision.[55]

On the following day Louis himself entered Ponts de Cé, where he was surprised to find the shops open, and the inhabitants as quietly pursuing their avocations as though no rumour of war had reached their ears. The shouts of "Vive le Roi!" were as energetic as those of "Vive la Reine!" had been only a few weeks previously; and thus, through the selfish treason of two ambitious and unprincipled individuals, Marie de Medicis, who at once felt that all further opposition must be fruitless, saw the powerful faction which it had cost her so much difficulty and so hard a struggle to combine, totally overthrown, and herself reduced, even while she still possessed an army of thirty thousand men in Poitou, Angoumois, and Guienne, to accept such conditions as it might please the King to accord to her.

Bewildered by the defeat of her troops and the loss of Ponts de Cé, the unhappy Queen resolved to effect her escape, and to throw herself on the protection of the Ducs de Mayenne and d'Epernon; but this project was defeated by Richelieu, who lost no time in communicating her intentions to the favourite; and parties of cavalry were in consequence thrown out in every direction to oppose her passage. Apprised of this precaution, although unconscious of its origin, Marie perceived that she had no alternative save submission; and she accordingly declared herself ready to obey the will of the King, whatever might be its nature; an assurance to which Louis replied that he was ready to receive her with open arms, and to grant her requests in so far as they regarded herself personally, although he was resolved to prove to the leaders of her faction that he was the master of his own kingdom.[56]

On the conclusion of the treaty a meeting was appointed between the King and his mother at the castle of Brissac, whither he repaired to await her arrival; and she was no sooner made acquainted with this arrangement than she hastened to the place of rendezvous, escorted by five hundred horsemen of the royal army. She was met midway by the Maréchal de Praslin, and a short time afterwards by the Duc de Luxembourg, at the head of a strong party of nobles, by whom she was warmly welcomed; and finally, when she was within a few hundred yards of the castle, Louis himself appeared, who, as her litter approached, alighted in his turn, an example which she immediately followed, and in the next instant they were clasped in each other's arms.

"I have you now, Madame," exclaimed the King with a somewhat equivocal smile; "and you shall not escape me again."

"Sire," replied the Queen, "you will have little trouble in retaining me, for I meet you with the firm determination never more to leave you, and in perfect confidence that I shall be treated with all the kindness and consideration which I can hope from so good a son."

These hollow compliments exchanged, Louis retired a pace or two in order to enable the Prince de Condé and the Duc de Luynes to pay their respects to the Queen-mother, by whom they were most graciously received; while Richelieu was no less warmly greeted by the young King and his favourite. No one, in fine, who had witnessed the scene, could have imagined that heart-burning and hatred were concealed beneath the smiles and blandishments which were to be encountered on all sides; or that among those who then and there bandied honeyed words and gracious greetings, were to be found individuals who had staked their whole future fortunes upon a perilous venture, and many of whom had lost.

After a few days spent at Brissac the King departed for Poitou, while Marie repaired to Chinon, whence she was to follow him in a few days; and thus terminated the second exile of the widow of Henry the Great, even as the first had done, in mortification and defeat.[57]

As a matter of course, the Ducs de Mayenne and d'Epernon no sooner saw that the cause of the Queen-mother had become hopeless than they hastened to make their submission to the King; although the former, fearing that his known hostility to the favourite might militate against his future interests, first endeavoured to induce M. d'Epernon to join him in forming a new faction for their personal protection; but this attempt met with no encouragement, Epernon declaring that as his royal mistress had seen fit to trust to the clemency of the sovereign, he felt bound to follow her example, and that he advised M. de Mayenne to adopt the same course. Such a reply naturally sufficed to convince his colleague that he had no other alternative; and after the professions usual on such occasions both nobles prepared to lay down their arms.[58]

Louis having learnt at Poitiers that the Queen was on her way to join him, immediately proceeded to Tours to await her arrival, and to conduct her to the former city, whither she accompanied him with all the great ladies of the Court; and four days subsequently Marie de Medicis followed with her slender retinue. She was welcomed by Anne of Austria with haughty courtesy; and during the ensuing week all was revelry and dissipation. The young Queen gave a splendid ball in honour of her august mother-in-law; and on the morrow the Jesuits performed a comedy at which all the Court were present.

It is probable, however, that Marie de Medicis did not enter with much zest into these diversions, as she could not fail to perceive that the courtesy evinced towards her was reluctant and constrained; and when, on the arrival of the Duc de Mayenne, she witnessed the coldness of his reception, her fears for her own future welfare must have been considerably augmented. At his first audience Mayenne threw himself at the feet of the King, protesting his sorrow for the past, and imploring the royal pardon with all the humility of a criminal, but Louis alike feared and hated the veteran leaguer, and he replied harshly: "Enough, M. le Duc; I will forget the past should the future give me cause to do so." And as he ceased speaking he turned away, leaving the mortified noble to rise at his leisure from the lowly attitude which he had assumed.[59]

Two days subsequently the King resumed his journey to Guienne, Marie de Medicis proceeded to Fontainebleau, and Anne of Austria returned to Paris. As Louis reached Chizé he was met by the Duc d'Epernon, who, in his turn, sued for forgiveness, which was accorded without difficulty; and thus the Queen-mother found herself deprived of her two most efficient protectors,[60] and clung more tenaciously than ever to the support of the treacherous Richelieu.

The next care of Louis was to compel the resumption of the Roman Catholic religion in Béarn; after which he followed the Court to the capital, whither he had already been preceded by the Queen-mother.

FOOTNOTES:

[45] Mercure Français, 1620. Pièces Curieuses faites durant le Règne du Connétable de Luynes, pp. 1-3.

[46] Siri, Mém. Rec. vol. v. pp. 70-72. Vie du Duc d'Epernon, book viii. Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 458. Fontenay-Mareuil, Mém. p. 458. Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 183, 184. Richelieu, Hist. de la Mère et du Fils, vol. ii. pp. 397, 398.

[47] Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 183, 184. Fontenay-Mareuil, Mém. pp. 461-467.

[48] Siri, Mém. Rec. vol. v. pp. 106-108. Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 186, 187.

[49] Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 186, 187. Siri, Mém. Rec. vol. v. pp. 106-110.

[50] Siri, Mém. Rec. 1620, pp. 110-122.

[51] Le Vassor, vol. ii. p. 206. Pontchartrain, Mém. p. 313. Fontenay-Mareuil, Mém. p. 462. Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 462, 463. Matthieu, Hist, des Derniers Troubles, book iii. p. 650.

[52] Mézeray, vol. xi. p. 202. Mercure Français, 1620-1621.

[53] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 206, 207. Lumières pour l'Hist. de France. Bernard, book iii.

[54] Mercure Français, 1620. Siri, Mém. Rec, vol. v. pp. 135-137. Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213.

[55] Le Vassor, vol. ii. p. 213. Mézeray, vol. xi. p. 210.

[56] Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 213, 214. Mercure Français, 1620. Siri, Mém. Rec. vol. v. pp. 139, 140. Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 210, 211.

[57] Mercure Français, 1620. Siri, Mém. Rec. vol. v. pp. 140, 141. Brienne, Mém. vol. i. pp. 342, 343. Bassompierre, Mém. édit. Petitot, vol. ii. pp. 193-199.

[58] Vie du Duc d'Epernon, book iii. Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 216, 217.

[59] Mercure François, 1620.

[60] Le Vassor, vol. ii. p. 217. Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 212, 213.

CHAPTER IV

During the absence of the King from Paris, the Maréchal d'Estrées, who was at that period Ambassador at Rome, was engaged in soliciting two seats in the Conclave, the first for the Archbishop of Toulouse, and the second for the Bishop of Luçon; while Marie de Medicis lost no opportunity of entreating Bentivoglio, the Papal Nuncio, to further the interests of the latter, impressing upon him that no period could be more favourable than the present, when Louis XIII had enforced upon a whole refractory province the performance of the rites which it had so long rejected. To this argument the Cardinal had nothing to object, and he accordingly listened with complacency to her representations; but they were rendered abortive by De Luynes, who privately informed him that neither the sovereign nor himself sincerely desired the promotion of Richelieu, and that their apparent anxiety for his advancement had been merely assumed to gratify the Queen-mother; while, far from being disposed to consider the dissent of the Pontiff to this application as a slight, his Majesty would be gratified should he reject it, as he had reason to feel dissatisfied with the Bishop of Luçon, whom he was consequently not disposed to support in an ambition which he considered to be at once inordinate and premature. Paul V needed no further hint; he had been unwilling to countenance the elevation of two French prelates, and accordingly he replied to all the urgent solicitations of M. d'Estrées with evasive replies, until at length, wearied by his pertinacity, he laid before him a letter from Louis himself wherein he revoked all his former orders. The indignation of the Ambassador was only exceeded by that of Richelieu when they severally discovered that they had been duped; but the death of the Pope, and the election of Gregory XV, which occurred in the following month (February), once more renewed their hopes.

The demise of Paul V was followed by that of Philip III of Spain, and negotiations were immediately commenced with his successor for the restoration of the Valteline to the Grisons, which were happily concluded for the moment; but, whatever satisfaction this event might have elicited at the Court of France, it was counterbalanced by another, in which the great nobles felt a more personal and intimate interest. On the 2nd of April Charles Albert, Duc de Luynes, was invested with the sword of Connétable de France; and thus in the short space of four years, without having distinguished himself either as a warrior or a statesman, had risen from the obscure position of a Gentleman of the Household, and of a petty provincial noble, to the highest dignity which could be conferred upon a subject.

The ceremony of his investiture was conducted with extraordinary pomp; and when he had taken the oath, De Luynes received from the hands of the King a sword richly ornamented with diamonds, which was buckled on by Gaston, Duc d'Anjou.[61] The murmurs elicited by this extraordinary promotion were universal, and the rather as it had long been promised to the Duc de Lesdiguières, who was compelled to content himself with a brevet of Marshal of France, and the title of colonel-general of the royal army, which constituted the veteran soldier the lieutenant of De Luynes, who had never been upon a field of battle.[62]

The remainder of the year was occupied in a campaign against the Protestants, who, on the departure of the King from Béarn, had rallied in the defence of their religion, and revolted against the outrages to which they had been subjected by a lawless rabble. Their churches had been desecrated and burnt down at Tours, Poitiers, and other cities, themselves publicly insulted, and they began to apprehend that they were about to be despoiled of all the privileges accorded to them by the Edict of Nantes. Under these circumstances they had convoked a general assembly at La Rochelle, in order to decide upon the measures necessary for their preservation; and although warned immediately to dissolve the meeting, they had refused compliance with the royal edict, even while aware that they were not strong enough to contend with any prospect of ultimate success.[63]

The new Connétable eagerly seized this opportunity of exerting his authority, and an army of forty thousand infantry and eight thousand horse was marched towards the Loire, at the head of which were the King himself, De Luynes, and the Maréchal de Lesdiguières; while, as though the projected expedition had been a mere party of pleasure, not only did a crowd of the great nobles volunteer to swell the ranks of the already enormous host, but the two Queens, the Duchesse de Luynes, and a numerous suite of ladies also accompanied the troops to share in the campaign. The result of this fearful contest is known. The unhappy Protestants were driven from their strongholds, and with the exception of Montauban, which was so gallantly defended that the King was ultimately compelled to raise the siege, they found themselves utterly despoiled, and exposed to every species of insult.

No event could have been more unfortunate for the ambitious Connétable than the successful defence of Montauban. Louis loved war for its own sake, but he was also jealous of success; and he felt with great bitterness this first mortification. He had, moreover, become conscious that he was a mere puppet in the hands of his ambitious favourite; and he was already becoming weary of a moral vassalage of which he had been unable to calculate the extent. As the brilliant Connétable flashed past him, glittering with gold, the plumes of his helmet dancing in the wind, and the housings of his charger sparkling with gems, he looked after him with a contemptuous scowl, and bade the nobles among whom he stood admire the regal bearing of le Roi Luynes; nor was he the less bitter because he could not suppress a consciousness of his own disability to dispense with the services of the man whom he thus criticized.

Upon one point Louis XIII greatly resembled his mother; with all his arrogance and love of power, he possessed no innate strength of purpose, and constantly required extraneous support; but it was already easy for those about him to perceive that fear alone continued to link him with the once all-powerful favourite. Rumour said, moreover, that superadded to the jealousy which the King entertained of the daily increasing assumption of the Connétable there existed another cause of discontent. The Duchesse de Luynes was, as we have said, both beautiful and fascinating, and Louis had not been proof against her attractions, although his ideas of gallantry never overstepped the bounds of the most scrupulous propriety. The lady had on her part welcomed his homage with more warmth than discretion, and the favourite had not failed to reproach her for a levity by which he considered himself dishonoured. Madame de Luynes had retorted in no measured terms, and the young sovereign, who detested finding himself involved in affairs of this nature, and who had, moreover, reason to believe that he was not the only individual favoured by the smiles of the coquettish beauty, soon evinced an aversion towards both husband and wife, which encouraged the enemies of De Luynes to hint that the reverse which his Majesty had lately suffered at Montauban might be entirely attributed to the incapacity and selfishness of the Connétable. This opinion soothed the wounded vanity of the King, and he talked vehemently of his regret for the brave men who had fallen, among whom was the Duc de Mayenne, and bitterly complained of the dishonour to which he had been subjected; while in order to revenge himself at once upon De Luynes and the Duchess, he condescended to the meanness of informing the former that the Prince de Joinville was enamoured of his wife, and subsequently boasted to Bassompierre that he had done so. The Marquis listened in astonishment to this extraordinary communication, and in reply ventured to assure his Majesty that he had committed a serious error in seeking to cause a misunderstanding between a married couple.

"God will forgive me for it should He see fit to do so," was the sullen retort of Louis. "At all events it gave me great pleasure to be revenged on him, and to cause him this annoyance; and before six months have elapsed I will make him disgorge all his gains." [64]

The rumour of his projected disgrace soon reached the ears of the bewildered favourite, who instantly resolved to redeem himself by some more successful achievement. He accordingly ordered the troops to march upon and besiege Monheur, an insignificant town on the Garonne, which was feebly garrisoned by two hundred and sixty men, and which was in consequence sure to fall into his hands. As he had foreseen, the place soon capitulated, but the late reverse had rendered Louis less accessible than ever to the claims of mercy; and although by the terms of the treaty he found himself compelled to spare the lives of the troops, numbers of the inhabitants were put to death, and the town was sacked and burned.[65] This paltry triumph did not, however, suffice to reinstate the Connétable in the good graces of his royal master, who continued to indulge in the most puerile complaints against his former favourite; and the latter's mortification at so sudden and unexpected a reverse of fortune so seriously affected his health that, while the ruins of the ill-fated town were still smouldering, he expired in an adjacent village of a fever which had already caused considerable ravages in the royal army.

When intelligence of the decease of De Luynes was communicated to the King he did not even affect the slightest regret, and the courtiers at once perceived that the demise of the man upon whom he had lavished so many and such unmerited distinctions was regarded by Louis as a well-timed release. So careless indeed did the resentful monarch show himself of the common observances of decency that he gave no directions for his burial; and, profiting by this omission, the enemies of the unfortunate Connétable pillaged his residence, and carried off every article of value, not leaving him even a sheet to supply his grave-clothes. The Maréchal de Chaulnes and the Duc de Luxembourg, his brothers, with whom at his first entrance into life he had shared his slender income, and whom in his after days of prosperity he had alike ennobled and enriched, looked on in silence at this desecration of his remains, lest by resenting the outrage they should incur the displeasure of the King; and it is on record that the Abbé Rucellaï and one of his friends alone had the courage and generosity to furnish the necessary funds for embalming the body and effecting its transport to its last resting-place.[66]

The resolute position still maintained by the Protestants chafed the arrogant temper of Louis XIII, who, although personally incapable of sustaining the royal authority, was yet jealous of its privileges. Political and civil liberty was in his eyes a heresy to be exterminated at whatever cost; and while he was as infirm in purpose as a child, he grasped at absolute monarchy, and panted to acquire it. This, as he at once felt, could never be achieved while there existed within his kingdom a party which claimed to limit his prerogative, and to maintain the rights which it had acquired under his predecessors, and thus he eagerly resolved to rid himself of so dangerous an enemy; but although his determination was formed, he found himself unequal to the self-imposed task; he had no reliance on his own strength, and until he had selected a new favourite upon whom he could lean for support, he dared not venture upon so serious an undertaking.

There were, however, many candidates for the vacant honour, and De Luynes was scarcely in his grave ere two separate parties began to strive for pre-eminence. That of the ministers was headed by Henri de Gondy, Cardinal de Retz, President of the Council, Schomberg, Grand Master of the Artillery and Superintendent of Finance, and De Vic, Keeper of the Seals, who exerted all their efforts to dissuade the King from again placing himself in the power of a favourite; believing that should he consent to retain the government in his own hands, they need only flatter his foibles to secure to themselves the actual administration of the kingdom; a policy which they commenced by urging him to follow up his intention of pursuing the war against the Protestants.

On the other hand, the courtiers who were anxious for peace, and who desired to see Louis once more quietly established in his capital, were earnest that he should advance Bassompierre to the coveted dignity; nor were they without sanguine hope of success, as even before the death of De Luynes, the wit, courage, and magnificence of the courtly soldier had captivated the admiration of the King, who had evinced towards him a greater portion of regard than he vouchsafed to any other noble of his suite; while so conscious were the ministers of this preference, that in order to rid themselves of so dangerous an adversary, and to effect his removal from the Court, they offered to Bassompierre the lieutenancy of Guienne and the bâton of a marshal. These honours were, however, declined--not from ambition, for Bassompierre, although brave in the field, was an ardent votary of pleasure, and the Court was his world; but he was wise enough to feel that he did not possess the necessary talent for so perilous a post as that which his friends would fain have assigned to him; and he was the first to declare that the intrigues of both parties would fail, since the King must ere long fall, as a natural consequence, under the dominion of his mother, or that of the Prince de Condé.[67]

On the 28th of January Louis re-entered Paris, where he was received with enthusiasm; and the meeting between the mother and son was highly satisfactory to both parties. In compliance with the advice of Richelieu, Marie de Medicis exhibited towards the young sovereign a deferential tenderness and a modest exultation, which flattered his vanity, and disarmed his apprehensions. No allusion was made to the past, save such as afforded opportunity for adulation and triumph; Louis began to look upon himself as a conqueror, and the Queen-mother already entertained visions of renewed power and authority.

So soon as the death of De Luynes had been made known to M. de Condé, he had hastened to meet the King, in order to forestall the influence of Marie. Aware that she anxiously desired a termination of the war, he threw himself into the cabal of the ministers, and urged Louis to complete the work which he had so ably commenced, by compelling the Protestants to evacuate La Rochelle, Montauban, and Royan, the only fortified towns of which they still remained in possession; conscious that should he succeed in once more involving the country in civil war, his royal kinsman would not be able to dispense with his own support.

Louis had, however, recalled Jeannin and Sillery to his councils, both of whom were jealous of the Prince, and wounded by his arrogance, and who did not, consequently, hesitate to advise the King to offer conditions to the reformed party, and to endeavour to conclude a peace; while Marie de Medicis earnestly seconded their views, expressing at the same time her desire to become once more associated in the government.

To her extreme mortification Louis hesitated; he had resolved to share his authority only with his favourites, and he was aware that Marie would not enter into their views; while he was equally averse to permit the interference of Richelieu, whose power over the mind of the Queen-mother was matter of notoriety. In this dilemma he appealed to the two ministers, who, eager to counteract the influence of Condé, urged him to accede to her wishes, representing at the same time the danger which he must incur by exciting her displeasure, and thus inducing her to oppose his measures. When he urged the powerlessness to which she was reduced by her late reverses, they respectfully reminded him that her faction, although dispersed for the moment, was by no means annihilated; nor did they fail to impress upon him that her adhesion would be necessary in order to enable him to counteract the pretensions of the Prince de Condé, who had already given evidence of his anxiety to place himself at the head of affairs, and to govern the nation in his name. This argument prevailed. The Queen-mother was admitted to the Council on the understanding that the Bishop of Luçon should be excluded, and she accepted the condition without comment, feeling convinced that when she had succeeded in establishing her own position, she should find little difficulty in accomplishing all minor measures.[68]

Madame de Luynes had no sooner ascertained that she had irretrievably lost the favour of the King than she devoted herself to Anne of Austria, who was soon induced to forget her previous jealousy, and to whom her society ere long became indispensable. In many respects the tastes of the girl-Queen and the brilliant widow of the Connétable were singularly similar, although Anne was a mere tyro in gallantry beside her more experienced friend. Both were young, handsome, and giddy; greedy of admiration, and regardless of the comments of those about them; and never perhaps did any Princess of Spain more thoroughly divest herself of the morgue peculiar to her nation than the wife of Louis XIII, whose Court set at defiance all etiquette which interfered with the amusement of the hour. In vain did the King and his mother expostulate; Anne of Austria merely pouted and persisted; and even her panegyrist, Madame de Motteville, has recorded that she did not hesitate in after-years to admit that she had numbered among her adorers the Duc de Montmorency, who previously to the passion with which she inspired him had been the devoted slave of the beautiful Marquise de Sablé;[69] the Duc de Bellegarde, of whose antiquated worship she made for a while the jest of her circle, and her own pastime; and finally, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who, mistaking her levity for a more tender feeling, was presumptuous and reckless enough to endanger her reputation;[70] while her imprudent encouragement of the attentions of Richelieu, which subsequently caused her so much and such bitter suffering, has also become matter of history. In addition to Madame de Luynes, Anne of Austria had adopted as her especial favourites the intriguing Princesse de Conti and Mademoiselle de Verneuil, the natural sister of the King; and while Louis was absorbed by visions of absolute empire, and meditating the destruction of his Protestant subjects, the private circle of the Queen was loud with revelry, and indulging in amusement to the very verge of impropriety.

At the period of the sovereign's return to Paris hopes were entertained that Anne would shortly give an heir to the French throne; and while Marie de Medicis, whose policy it had been to maintain the coldness and indifference of the royal couple, was trembling at the increase of influence which could not fail to accrue to the young Queen should she become the mother of a Dauphin, Louis was impatiently anticipating the moment which would enable him to present to his good citizens of Paris a successor to his regal honours. Great therefore was his consternation when he was apprised that the Queen, while running across the great hall of the Louvre with Madame de Luynes and Mademoiselle de Verneuil, had fallen and injured herself so severely that all hopes of a Dauphin were for the moment at an end.

In the first paroxysm of his anger he ordered the two ladies, whom he, perhaps justly, regarded as the cause of the accident, to quit the palace within three days on pain of his most serious displeasure; but the Duchess, to whom exile from the Court was equivalent to a death-warrant, lost no time in despatching a messenger to the Prince de Joinville (who had recently assumed the title of Duc de Joyeuse), entreating him to exert all his influence to save her from this disgrace; nor did she make the appeal in vain. The Prince, who was devotedly attached to her, at once declared himself her champion, and despite the advice of his friends, not only induced Louis to rescind his order, but offered his hand to the lady, who subsequently became celebrated as Duchesse de Chevreuse; and together with her own pardon also obtained that of Mademoiselle de Verneuil, with permission to both parties to retain their position in the Queen's household.[71]

Meanwhile the Prince de Condé continued to urge upon the King the expediency of following up his project of aggression against the Protestants, and proposed to him that he should join the army with Monsieur his brother, leaving Marie de Medicis in the capital; for which advice many designing and unworthy motives were attributed to him by his enemies. As an immediate consequence such an arrangement must naturally have tended to increase the dependence of the young sovereign upon himself, while the late accident of the Queen having removed all prospect of a new heir to the throne, should the chances of war prove fatal to the King and the Duc d'Anjou, the crown of France became the legitimate right of Condé himself. What tended to strengthen the belief that the Prince actually contemplated such a result, was the fact that it had been predicted to him by an astrologer that at the age of four and thirty he would be King of France; and the superstition so common at the time caused considerable faith to be placed in the prophecy, not only by himself but by many of his friends. Condé had now attained to within a year of the stated period; and as a few months previously Louis had been seriously indisposed, while the Duc d'Anjou had barely escaped with life from an illness which he had not yet thoroughly conquered, not a doubt was entertained by the party opposed to him that his great anxiety to see himself at the head of an army arose from his conviction that in such a position he should be the more readily enabled to enforce his pretensions.[72]

Be his motives what they might, however, the ministers, who were anxious that Louis should absent himself from the capital before he fell under the dominion of a new favourite who might thwart their own views, zealously seconded the advice of M. de Condé; and although Marie de Medicis strenuously opposed the renewal of civil warfare, and the Duc de Lesdiguières represented to the King the ardent desire of the Protestants to conclude a peace, all their efforts were impotent to counteract the pernicious counsels of the Prince, which were destined to darken and desecrate all the after-reign of Louis XIII. Marie then endeavoured to dissuade the King from heading his troops in person; or, should he persist in this design, at least to forego that of leaving her in the capital, and of exposing Monsieur to the dangers of the campaign. All that she could obtain was a promise that the Duc d'Anjou should remain in Paris, while as Louis had named no precise period for his own departure it was believed that he would not leave the city before the termination of the Easter festival, and that meanwhile circumstances might occur to induce him to change his resolution. But while Marie de Medicis indulged in this hope, the same anticipation had produced a different effect upon the minds of Condé and his party, who secretly urged upon the King that longer delay could only tend to afford facilities to the Protestants for strengthening their faction, and consequently their means of resistance, an argument which determined Louis at once to carry out his project; and so alarmed was the Prince lest some circumstance might supervene to impede the departure of the monarch, that he finally induced him to have recourse to the undignified expedient of quitting the Louvre by a back entrance at dusk on Palm Sunday, and of proceeding to Orleans, where he remained until the close of Easter, awaiting the arrival of the great officers of his household, who had no sooner joined him than he embarked with the troops who had been stationed there, and hastened with all possible speed to Nantes, where he appointed the Prince de Condé lieutenant-general of his army.[73]

The indignation of the Queen-mother was unbounded when she became apprised of the departure of the King, which she at once attributed to the anxiety of M. de Condé to remove him beyond her own influence, and she consequently made immediate preparations for following the royal fugitive; but although she exerted all her energy to accomplish this object, her mental agitation overcame her physical strength; and when she reached the town of Nantes, which Louis had already quitted, she was unable to proceed farther, and was compelled by indisposition to remain inactive, and to leave her adversaries in possession of the field.

The war which supervened was one of great triumph to the royal army, if indeed the massacre of his own subjects can reflect glory upon a sovereign; but the laurels gained by Louis and his troops were sullied by a series of atrocious and bootless cruelties, which made them matter of reproach rather than of praise. In vain did the Maréchal de Lesdiguières, the Duc de Bouillon, and even Sully, who had once controlled the destinies of France, make repeated offers of submission; the Prince de Condé had sufficient influence over the infatuated King to render every appeal useless, and to induce him to persist in the wholesale slaughter of the unhappy Protestants.

In the affair of La Rochelle alone Bassompierre informs us that "there died upon the field, killed in cold blood, and without resistance, more than fifteen hundred men, while more than as many prisoners were taken who were sent to the galleys: the rest were put to death by the followers of M. de la Rochefoucauld and by the peasantry. So that M. de Soubise re-entered La Rochelle with thirty horsemen out of the seven hundred whom he had with him, and not four hundred infantry of the seven thousand who comprised his army on the preceding day." [74]

The leaders of the Protestants, some alarmed for their personal safety, and others gained over by the offers of the Court, began to desert the cause for which they had so long contended, and to make terms with the sovereign. The Duc de la Force sold himself for two hundred thousand crowns and the bâton of a marshal; the Duc de Sully, after repeated delays, surrendered his fortress of Cadenac; the veteran De Lesdiguières abandoned not only his friends, but also his faith, for the sword of Connétable de France; and finally the Marquis de Châtillon, the grandson of the brave and murdered Coligni, delivered himself up together with the stronghold of Aigues Mortes; thus leaving no men of mark among the reformers, save the two brothers MM. de Soubise and de Rohan; the former of whom was then in England soliciting the assistance of James I., while the latter was endeavouring to raise troops in the Cévennes for the protection of Montpellier and Nîmes, both which cities were threatened with siege.[75]

The favours accorded to the renegade Protestant leaders having caused great dissatisfaction among the Catholic nobles of Louis XIII, the King found himself compelled to gratify these also by honours and emolument. The Duc d'Epernon was made Governor of Guienne, a province which had never hitherto been bestowed save on a Prince of the Blood; while Bassompierre succeeded to the marshal's bâton vacated by Lesdiguières on his promotion; and M. de Schomberg was invested with the governments of Angoumois and Limousin.

Towards the close of August the troops marched upon Montpellier, but the arrival of the new Connétable excited the jealousy of Condé, who refused to submit to his authority. Lesdiguières, who, although he had abandoned his faith, had not yet ceased to feel a lively interest in the cause of his co-religionists, was eager to effect a peace, and for this purpose had conferred with the Duc de Rohan, who was equally anxious to obtain the same result; but for a considerable time the threatened cities refused to listen to any compromise. At length, however, the representations of Rohan prevailed, and the negotiation was nearly completed when M. de Condé haughtily declared that whatever might be the conditions conceded by the King and the Connétable, he would deliver over the city to pillage so soon as he had entered the gates. The citizens of Montpellier, who were aware that, despite the capitulations made with other places, the most enormous atrocities had been committed in the towns which had surrendered, persisted in their turn that they would only admit Lesdiguières within their walls provided he were accompanied neither by Louis nor the Prince de Condé; a resolution which excited the indignation of the King, and the negotiation consequently failed. The Connétable returned to Guienne, and once more M. de Condé found himself in undisputed command of the royal army.

The incapacity of the Prince, the casualties of war, and the sickness which manifested itself among the troops, had, however, greatly tended to weaken the military resources of the sovereign; the Cardinal de Retz and De Vic, the Keeper of the Seals, had both fallen victims to disease; while numbers of the nobility had been killed; and De Rohan, with his usual perspicacity, decided that the moment had now arrived in which, could he ever hope to do so, he might be enabled to effect the desired treaty. Louis, who had become weary of the overweening pretensions and haughty dictation of Condé, secretly encouraged him to persist in his attempt; and the Duke immediately exerted himself to prevail upon the inhabitants of Montpellier to receive his Majesty into their city.

While he was thus engaged, the Prince, who soon discovered from the altered demeanour of the King that he should be unable to prevent the conclusion of a peace, resolved to absent himself from the army. He had been apprised by his emissaries of the recall of Lesdiguières, and he at once comprehended that the presence of the Connétable could be required for no other purpose than that of weakening his own authority, and of thwarting his own views; and acting upon this conviction, he did not hesitate to inform Louis that he was aware of the projected return of the veteran noble; adding that, as he could not bring himself to obey the orders of an individual so greatly his inferior in birth, he preferred retiring for a time to Italy, should his Majesty graciously accord him permission to absent himself. Louis required no entreaties to concede this favour to his arrogant kinsman; and, accordingly, to the undisguised satisfaction of the harassed army, the Prince departed for Rome; the Duc de Lesdiguières replaced him in his command; and, finally, the King having acceded to the conditions demanded by the citizens of the beleaguered town, they consented to receive him within their walls, provided that at his departure he withdrew the whole of his troops.

All the terms of the treaty were observed save this last demand. An edict of pacification was duly signed and registered; and Louis, in the month of November, quitted Montpellier with the bulk of his army, but left two regiments in garrison within the very heart of the city. The Protestants were, however, too weary of warfare, and too much exhausted by suffering, to resent this infraction of their rights; and they consequently saw the King set forth for Lyons without expostulation or remonstrance.[76] Had they been enabled to make a final effort, it is probable that they might have imposed still more favourable conditions, as after the departure of Condé Louis relapsed into his usual helplessness; for although perfectly competent to direct the manoeuvres of a body of troops on a review-ground, he was totally unequal to the command of an army; and with the littleness of a narrow mind, he was at the same time jealous of his generals; neither was he able to comprehend either the precise political position of his own kingdom, or that of Europe; and thus, although he assumed an appearance of authority, so soon as the controlling influence of the paramount favourite was withdrawn, his powers were paralyzed, and he no longer possessed any defined principle of action.

The entry of the King at Lyons was celebrated with the utmost magnificence. Had he achieved the conquest of half Europe he could not have been greeted with more enthusiasm than awaited him on this occasion, when his hand still reeked with the blood of hundreds of his own subjects, and the shrieks of injured women and slaughtered children were still appealing to Heaven for vengeance. Triumphal arches, ecclesiastical and municipal processions, salvos of artillery, flourishes of trumpets, all the pomp and circumstance of war blent with the splendour of triumph, awaited him on his arrival in that city. The two Queens with their separate Courts, and the Duke and Duchess of Savoy with a brilliant retinue, were assembled to give him welcome; and while the houseless inhabitants of Montpellier and of the smouldering villages of Guienne were wandering about the ruins of their once happy and prosperous homes, the streets of Lyons swarmed with velvet-clad courtiers and jewelled dames, hurrying from ball to banquet, and wholly absorbed in frivolity and pleasure. Theatrical performances took place every evening; and on the 12th of November the three Courts assisted at the marriage of Mademoiselle de Verneuil and the Marquis de la Valette, the second son of the Duc d'Epernon, which was celebrated with great pomp. The King presented to his sister a dowry of two hundred thousand crowns, to which the Marquise, her mother, added one hundred thousand more. This union was followed by that of Madame de Luynes with the Prince de Joinville; and the two marriages were followed by Italian comedies, fireworks, and public illuminations.[77]

The most important event, however, which occurred during the sojourn of the King at Lyons, was the admission of the Bishop of Luçon to the Conclave. The long-coveted hat was forwarded to the French sovereign by Gregory XV, from whose hands it was received by Richelieu. The Queen-mother triumphed; but neither Louis nor his ministers felt the same exultation as Marie and her favourite; for guardedly as the new Cardinal had borne himself while awaiting this honour, his spirit of intrigue had already become notorious, and his extraordinary talents excited alarm rather than confidence. The death of the Cardinal de Retz, which had occurred while the King was with the army in Languedoc, had created two important vacancies; one in the Holy College, and the other in the royal Council, to both of which the astute Richelieu aspired; but Louis, urged by his ministers, decidedly refused to admit him to the Privy Council, and he was fain to content himself for the moment with the honours of the scarlet hat, while M. de la Rochefoucauld was appointed to the vacant seat in the Council.

The President Jeannin had died in the month of October, at the ripe age of eighty-two; a demise which was followed by those of De Vic, the Keeper of the Seals, and the Duc de Bouillon; and thus three stumbling-blocks had been removed from the path of Richelieu, whose professions of attachment to Marie de Medicis became more fervent than ever; while he was meanwhile carefully measuring the strength of those to whom he was opposed, studying the foibles of the King, and gradually forming a party at Court which might enable him to secure his own ultimate elevation, and to render himself independent of Marie's protection.

The ceremony of his admission to the Conclave had no sooner been concluded in the chapel of the Archbishop's palace, than Richelieu hastened to place the symbol of his new dignity at the feet of his benefactress.

"Madame," he said, at the close of a harangue full of the most exaggerated declarations of devotion to her person, "this honour, for which I am indebted to the benevolence of your Majesty, will ever cause me to bear in mind the solemn vow I have made to shed my blood in your service."

Marie listened and believed; and in addition to the scarlet hat, and the dignity of Minister of State which it involved, the deceived Princess in the short space of a few months bestowed upon her future enemy the enormous sum of nine hundred thousand crowns, besides sacerdotal plate to an almost incredible amount. No timely presentiment warned her how the "solemn vow" was to be observed; and the influence of the selfish and unprincipled churchman became greater than ever.[78]

The King did not return to Paris until the 10th of January (1623), and shortly after his arrival another change took place in the ministry. Schomberg had excited the animosity of the Chancellor Sillery, his son the Marquis de Puisieux (who, since the death of De Luynes, had risen greatly in the favour of Louis), and the Marquis de Caumartin,[79] who, on the demise of M. de Vic, had been appointed Keeper of the Seals. He was also avowedly obnoxious to M. de la Vieuville,[80] the adjutant-general of the royal army; and these nobles combined to effect his ruin. As, however, M. de Schomberg was protected by the Prince de Condé, the conspirators were for a time compelled to forego their purpose, but the Prince had no sooner taken his departure for Italy than they hastened to poison the mind of the King against his finance minister; an attempt in which they so easily succeeded, that although Schomberg undertook to prove the fallacy of every charge which was brought against him, Louis refused to admit his justification, and he was dismissed from his charge, which was conferred upon De la Vieuville; while by the death of De Caumartin, which shortly afterwards occurred, Sillery once more found himself in possession of the seals. His triumph was, however, of short duration, the King having conceived an extraordinary aversion to the Chancellor, although he was aware that he could not safely dispense with his services; and accordingly, a short time subsequently, the seals were again reclaimed, and bestowed upon M. d'Aligre.[81]

On the return of Louis XIII to the capital Anne of Austria organized two magnificent ballets, one of which was danced in the apartments of the King, and the other in her own. It was hinted that these splendid entertainments were given in order to impress Lord Holland with a high idea of the splendour of the French Court, that nobleman having been instructed by James I. to endeavour to effect a marriage between the Prince of Wales and Madame Elisabeth; and great was the astonishment of the royal party when they ascertained that the Prince himself, attended by the Duke of Buckingham, had been present incognito, both personages being disguised with false beards and enormously bushy wigs; and that, after only remaining one day in Paris, they had pursued their journey to Spain, where Charles was about to demand the hand of the Infanta. It was, moreover, afterwards ascertained that having arrived in the French capital on the evening before that of the royal ballet, the Prince and his companions had gone disguised to the Louvre to see the Queen-mother at table, and had introduced themselves as travelling nobles into a gallery in which Louis was walking surrounded by his courtiers; after which they had induced the Duc de Montbazon to allow them to enter the hall in which the festival was to take place. There Charles saw for the first time the young Queen of Louis XIII, with the portrait of whose sister he had become enamoured, and also Madame Henriette, who was subsequently destined to become his wife. But it would appear that the French Princess whom he so tenderly loved in after-years made, on this occasion, no impression upon his mind; as, still eager to convince himself that the Spanish Infanta was as beautiful as the miniature in his possession, he set forth on the following day for Madrid, as he had originally intended.[82]