[190] Library of the Arsenal, manuscripts of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. xi., p. 855.—Devices were then in fashion; at a later period Mademoiselle placed portraits in them, and Madame Sablé maxims and thoughts. These devices had nothing official in them, and in that they resembled what are now called fancy seals, which must not be confounded with family arms. Individuals made devices for themselves and others; they had them printed, and they are regarded as true works of art. There is in the Arsenal, Belles-Lettres Françaises, No. 348, a collection, in-folio, upon vellum, of great beauty. It had been made for the Duchess de La Trémouille, whose portrait is found among those of Mademoiselle. Each device occupies an entire leaf. We find here those of Anne of Austria, of Madame the Princess, of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and of many other illustrious females of the seventeenth century. We limit ourselves to giving the device of Madame de Longueville. It is very different from that of Mademoiselle de Bourbon. It is a bunch of lilies upon a nest of serpents, with these words: Meo moriuntur odore.

[191] Fol., 332, verso.

[192] Mémoires, vol. iii., p. 893. See also vol. iv., p. 89.

[193] Deposition in the affair of the beatification of the Mother Madeleine de Saint-Joseph: “I, Sister Marthe Poussar du Vigean, called de Jésus, aged 28 years.... November 17, 1650.”

[194] Mémoires de Lenet, edit. Michaud, p. 550.

[195] Lenet, edit. Michaud, p. 550.

[196] Lenet, ibid.

[197] Ibid.

[198] Supplément Français, No. 925. The author seems to be called Maupassant. “It is the custom,” says he, in commencing, “of all those who write history, to wish to appear faithful, disinterested, and exempt from all passion. For my part, I do not pretend to persuade any one of my sincerity, but I dare to declare that I have seen most of the things which I undertake to write about.”

[199] Mémoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 295: “The Duke d’Enghien had so strong a passion for Mademoiselle Du Vigean, that I have heard Madame Du Vigean, her mother, say that he had often wished to break his marriage, having been forced to espouse the Duchess d’Enghien, in order that he might marry her daughter, and that he had even labored to this end. I have heard Madame de Montausier, who knew these intrigues, say that this prince had pretended to love Mademoiselle de Boutteville, by the express order of Mademoiselle Du Vigean, in order to conceal in public the friendship which he had for her, but that the beauty of Mademoiselle de Boutteville having frightened Mademoiselle Du Vigean, she had forbidden him, a little after, to see her and to speak to her, and that he had obeyed her so promptly, that all at once he ceased all intercourse with her, and that, to show that he had no affection for her, he caused her to marry Dandelot.”

[200] Mémoires de Madame de Motteville, p. 294.

[201] Ibid.

[202] Mémoires de Mademoiselle, vol. 1st, p. 84.

[203] Mémoires, vol. i., p. 302.

[204] The Marquis d’Huxelles died in 1658, of his wounds, and of his chagrin on account of not receiving the appointment of Marshal. The office was conferred upon his son in 1703. Mademoiselle d’Huxelles was amiable and sprightly. She died at an advanced age in 1712.

[205] Mémoires de Lenet, part i., p. 207.

[206] Mémoires de Mademoiselle, vol. i., p. 84.

[207] As every thing then was the subject of songs, the two following couplets, which we find among the Chansons Notées of the Arsenal, were written upon this occasion:

[208] Ibid. The remembrance which Condé preserved for Mademoiselle Du Vigean was such, that Mademoiselle asserts, vol. i., p. 88, that if Condé favored Chabot in his designs upon Mademoiselle de Rohan, it was because Chabot had been his confidant with Mademoiselle Du Vigean. “So,” says she, “after having been served during one of the most important periods of his life, it is not wonderful that he took care to promote the marriage so desired by Chabot.”

[209] It was customary to take in religion one’s baptismal name, as Louise de La Vallière was called Louise de La Miséricorde, and Anne Marie d’Epernon, Anne Marie de Jésus, etc.

[210] Vol. v.

[211] Lettres originales, vol. iv.

[212] Villefore, pp. 37, 38.

[213] Mémoires, edition of Amsterdam, 1735; vol. i., p. 45.

[214] A fine portrait of M. de Longueville, painted by Champagne, and engraved by Nanteuil, forms the frontispiece of The Pucelle of Chapelain, in-fol., 1656.

[215] The hôtel of the Dukes de Longueville is not at all the one which, after the death of her husband, Madame de Longueville bought of the Epernons, on the Rue Saint Thomas-du-Louvre, near the hôtel de Rambouillet, where she resided with her children, and which bore her name from 1664 till the close of the seventeenth century. The dwelling of the Longuevilles was the old hôtel d’Alençon. (See Sauval, vol. i., pp. 65 and 70, especially p. 119.) It was situated on the Rue des Poulies, among the rich hôtels which line the right side of that street from the Rue Saint Honoré to the Seine, and which, with their dependencies and their gardens, extend to the Louvre. It was almost opposite to the Rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. Upon its right, towards the Seine, was the Petit-Bourbon, which, having served as a residence and a stronghold in Paris to the eldest of the house of Bourbon, became a royal building, a sort of appendage to the Louvre, where the young king, Louis XIV., gave several great balls, and the theatre of which was lent to Molière, for the performance of his comedies, upon his arrival in Paris. Upon the left, on the same line, after the hôtel de Longueville, came the hôtels de Villequier and d’Aumont; and a little nearer to the church and house of l’Oratoire, the hôtels de La Force and de Créqui. When, in 1663, Louis XIV., having entered into full possession of royal authority, and wishing to signalize his reign by great monuments, undertook to finish the Louvre and to give it a façade worthy of the rest of the edifice, it was necessary for him to pull down, with the Petit-Bourbon, a part of the hôtels of the Rue des Poulies, and among others that of Longueville. This was the most ancient and most considerable. It was composed of a large front building, of a vast court, of the hôtel proper, with immense gardens. Those of our readers who desire to be sure of the correctness of these details, have only to cast their eyes upon the excellent plan of Gomboust, which gives an admirable view of Paris in the seventeenth century, in 1652.

[216] It is truly inconceivable that a woman of so much mind as Madame de Sablé, could have carried her fear of sickness and contagion so far as all contemporary writers, Voiture, Tallemant, Mademoiselle, etc., testify. Her weakness upon this occasion, and the fidelity of Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, are attested to us by several unpublished letters of those ladies, which we find in the Library of the Arsenal, among the papers of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. xiv.

[217] It is in vain that Mademoiselle says, vol. 1st, p. 47, that Madame de Longueville remained marked with the small-pox. Retz affirms the contrary. Edit. of Amsterdam, 1731, vol. i., p. 185: “The small-pox had taken away the first flower of her beauty, but left her all its brilliancy.”

[218] Letters de Monseigneur Godeau sur divers sujets, Paris, 1713, letter 76, p. 243: “Degrasse, December 13, 1642.... As to your face, another will rejoice, with much more propriety, that it will not be spoiled. Mademoiselle Paulet tells me so. I have so good an opinion of your sense, that I believe you would have been easily consoled if your disease had left its marks. Scars are often given by Divine Mercy to make persons, who have loved too well their complexions, see that it is a flower liable to fade even as it begins to bloom.”

[219] Edit. Michaud, p. 450.

[220] Mémoires de La Rochefoucauld, collection Petitot, vol. li., pp. 370 and 386.

[221] Bibliothèque Nationale, Supplément Français, No. 925.

[222] There can be no doubt in this case as to courage; a Coligny, a friend of Condé, having never been suspected of wanting it.

[223] The Polexandre of Gomberville appeared in 1637. This romance had great success, and in a short time went through several editions; the best and the most complete is that of 1645, in five parts, forming eight volumes.

[224] I rely upon the report given by Lenet, which is almost the same as that sent at the time, by order of the Duke d’Enghien, to his father, the Prince de Condé. Lenet, edit. Michaud, p. 479, etc. See commencement of chap. iv.

[225] Claude de Letouf de Pradines, Baron de Sirot, a Burgundian gentleman, born near 1600, mortally wounded in 1652, at the bridge de Gergeau, in the wars of the Fronde.

[226] Bossuet, in his admirable narrative of the battle of Rocroy, has perfectly painted its close—the destruction of the Spanish infantry; but he has not even indicated the manœuvre which decided the day. It is to be regretted that Napoleon did not pay the same attention to the campaigns of Condé as he did to those of Turenne and of Frederic, and that after having incidentally judged, with the superiority of a master, and worthily relieved the judicious boldness which achieved the battle of Nortlingen, in which Condé did not fear to engage his only remaining wing for re-establishing the combat, instead of employing it to make a very difficult retreat before the cavalry of Jean de Vert, he did not devote a chapter to the examination of the battle of Rocroy, which opens a new military school.

[227] There is not, we believe, or at least we do not know that there is, any portrait painted or engraved of Mazarin in his youth. He was but forty-one years of age in 1643, and a portrait by M. Lasne represents him then with a face still handsome, in which delicacy is united with grandeur.

[228] See, upon this delicate point, M. Walckenær, Mémoires sur Madame de Sévigné, vol. i., p. 213, especially the somewhat decided letter of Anne to Mazarin, vol. iii., Supplément, p. 471.

[229] Vol. ii., p. 108.

[230] Mémoires, vol. i., p. 231.

[231] Madame de Motteville has thus painted her, vol. i., p. 47: “Her eyes were blue, large, and full of fire; her teeth white and even, and her complexion had the white and incarnation necessary to a light beauty.” Her Nom de Précieuse was Hermione, Grand Dictionnaire des Pretieuses, vol. i., p. 218. Scarron has greatly celebrated her. Married in 1646 to the Marshal Charles de Schomberg, she followed him into his government of Trois Evechés, encountered Metz, the young Bossuet, and encouraged his first efforts. After the death of the marshal she lived in retirement, and died in 1691.

[232] To judge of her beauty, she should not be seen as Retz saw her at fifty years of age, nor as most of her portraits show her at the approach of age, with the widow’s cap which she wore after the death of her second husband; she should be seen when young and brilliant, if not during the life of the High Constable De Luynes, at least at the period of her second marriage. Born in 1604, married in 1617, a widow in 1619, remarried in 1622, at the age of eighteen, she had from fifteen to twenty years of the greatest splendor. Her form was charming. She had blue eyes, light chestnut hair, and a most beautiful bosom. Thus she is represented by several of the portraits of the times possessed by the Duke de Luynes, also by a charming portrait engraved by Daret.

[233] Tallemant, vol. iii., p. 407.

[234] Mémoires, vol. i., p. 46.

[235] Vol. i., p. 221. He cites, as well as Tallemant and even Madame de Motteville, incredible things. The collections of songs of the times abound in outrageous epigrams against her. See the Collection of Maurepas, in the National Library, and the collections of Chanson’s historiques, of the Library of the Arsenal.

[236] Vol. v., p. 246.

[237] See Introduction.

[238] Vol. iii., p. 410.

[239] In regard to the beauty of Madame de Montbazon, we have united what is said by Tallemant, vol. iii., p. 411, and by Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 146. The reader may judge of the truth of our description by going to see, at Versailles, in the curious gallery of the northern attic, under No. 2030, a small picture, representing Madame de Montbazon, at the age of thirty-five to forty years, with a collar of pearls, a beautiful forehead, fine black eyes, a magnificent throat; but all somewhat strong and without much distinction. This picture seems the original of the portrait engraved by Le Blond.

[240] Villefore, p. 82.

[241] Mémoires of La Châtre in the collection Petitot, vol. li., p. 230.

[242] Mademoiselle, vol. 1st, pp. 62 and 68.

[243] It seems to me that it would be better to say: “I suffer for loving too much, and you for not loving enough.”

[244] See Mademoiselle, Madame de Motteville, and La Rochefoucauld.

[245] Mémoires de La Rochefoucauld, Collection Petitot, vol. li, p. 387.

[246] Vol. i., p. 65.

[247] See the Mémoires of the times, and especially those of Campion.

[248] Second daughter of Duke François. This marriage, contracted in 1632, is a romance, which may be read in all the memoirs of the times.

[249] Royal Library, Supplément Français, No. 925, fol. 11.

[250] Mémoires, p. 391.

[251] Mémoires, p. 391.

[252] The Place-Royale and its environs were then the quarters of the upper classes. Begun in 1604 (Antiquities and most remarkable things of Paris, 1608, by Bonfons and by Du Breuil, p. 430), on the ruins of the Palais des Tournelles, by Henri IV., it was finished in 1612. (Theatre of the Antiquities of Paris, by Father Du Breuil, in-4ᵒ, 1613, p. 1050.) It is, as is known, a great square, or rather a rectangle, bordered on all sides by thirty-seven pavilions, supported by pillars forming a gallery, which extends entirely around the place. In the midst was a vast yard, divided into six beautiful grass-plots. In the centre was the equestrian statue of Louis XIII. The statue was by Biard, and the horse by Daniel de Volterre. On one of the faces of the pedestal of white marble, was the following inscription: “To the glorious and immortal memory of the great and invincible Louis the Just, thirteenth of the name, King of France and of Navarre, Armand, Cardinal de Richelieu, his principal minister, has raised this statue as an eternal mark of his zeal, of his fidelity, and of his gratitude, in 1639.” Under Louis XIV. this beautiful square was surrounded with a railing of excellent workmanship. Lemaire, said in 1685, vol. iii., p. 307: “They are now making a balustrade of iron, which will extend entirely around it and inclose a very agreeable garden, in which there will be four great reservoirs of water in the four corners. Private persons having their residences here, will contribute to the expense of this, each the sum of one thousand livres. The city will furnish the rest.” Germain Brice, in the first edition of his curious work, which appeared in 1685, as did that of Lemaire, says the same thing, adding that the inhabitants alone of the place will have the right of enjoying the garden which is to be laid out. “No one will enter except those belonging to the houses which have been furnished with keys.” In the second edition of Brice, of 1687, the beautiful railing was not erected; it is in the edition which follows, of 1701; it is seen in La Caille, in 1714; and in the engraving of Defer, in 1716. As to the garden and the four reservoirs, they are not even yet in the plan of Turgot, in 1740. It was the Restoration which accomplished the designs of the administration of Louis XIV. How many public and domestic events has this place witnessed during the seventeenth century, how many noble tourneys, how many atrocious duels, how many amiable rendezvous! What conversations, worthy of those of Décaméron, it has heard,—conversations which Corneille has collected in one of his first comedies, and in several acts of the Menteur! What graceful creatures have inhabited these pavilions! What sumptuous furniture, what treasures of taste have been assembled here! How many illustrious personages, of every kind, have mounted these beautiful staircases! Richelieu and Condé, Corneille and Molière, have trod them a thousand times. It was while walking under this gallery that Descartes, conversing with Pascal, suggested to him the idea of his beautiful experiments upon the weight of the air. It was there also that, while going one evening from the house of Madame de Guimenée, the melancholy De Thou received from Cinq-Mars the involuntary confidence of the conspiracy which was to lead them both to the scaffold. It was there, in short, that Madame de Sévigné was born, and close by it she lived. On reaching the Place-Royale by its true entrance, the Rue-Royale, beside the Rue Saint-Antoine, we find at the right angle the hôtel de Rohan, long occupied by the old Duchess Dowager, widow of that great Duke de Rohan, one of the first generals, and the greatest military writers of his age. In the left angle was the hôtel de Chaulnes, whose magnificent apartments have been celebrated by Bois-Robert, and which, at a later period, passed to Nicolaï. At the other two corners of the place were, to the right, on the side of the Rue des Tournelles and of the Boulevard, the vast and sumptuous hôtel of Saint-Géran; and to the left, on the side of the street Saint-Louis, the hôtel which was occupied by Richelieu before he had built and finished Palais-Cardinal. The four galleries were filled with hôtels not unworthy of those already mentioned. There was the hôtel of the Marshal de Lavardin, that of M. de Nouveau, that of Villequier, captain of the guards, who sold it to M. de Hameaux, by whom it was resold, in 1680, to the Rohan-Chabots, and from them this hôtel, even in passing through other hands, retained the name of hôtel Chabot. M. Walckenær, in his La Bruyère, p. 743, says that the Count de Montgomery and the unfortunate Marquis de Langlade, so celebrated in the history of unjust condemnations, lived together at the Place-Royale. Brice, in 1685, indicates the hôtel of the Marquis de Dangeau, and in 1713, on the right, in entering by the Rue Saint-Antoine, the hôtel of the Baron de Breteuil, and on the other side the house of the President Carrel. We know certainly that Madame de Sablé resided at the Place-Royale, as well as the Countess de Maure, with Mademoiselle de Vaudy; but the difficulty would be to discover the inhabitants of all the other pavilions, and thus to make an exact and complete history of the Place-Royale until the close of the seventeenth century. We suggest this subject of study to some pupil of the Ecole des Chartes, or to some young artist; they would find in it matter of the most interesting investigation, as well as descriptions the most charming, and a modest glory would not fail to follow after a few years of the most attractive labor. We take the liberty of pointing out to them, besides Felibien, vol. ii., Sauval, vol. ii., p. 624, the plan of Gomboust, from 1652, and the after plans, the following works: 1st, The Paris Guide, etc., by the Sieur de Schayes, 1647; 2d, The Convenient Book, containing the addresses of the city of Paris, by Abraham Pradel, philosopher and mathematician, Paris, small in-8ᵒ; 3d, The Royal Almanac, of 1699; 4th, the sequel to the different editions of G. Brice, from 1685 to 1725; 5th, the verses by Scarron, Adieu au Marais et à la Place-Royale, edit. of Amsterdam, of 1752, vol. vii., pp. 29-35; 6th, a Manuscript of the National Library, No. 7905, wherein is a Supplement of the Antiquities of Paris, with all the most remarkable transactions from 1610 until the present time, by D. H. J. lawyer. “Until the present time,” is up to 1640. Let us conclude with this remark: there is but one hôtel of the Place-Royale which has remained in the same family from 1612 till our own day, namely, the hôtel which bears the No. 25, and which, from father to son, has come down to its present proprietor, M. the Count de l’Escalopier.

[253] It is d’Ormesson who gives this date.

[254] D’Ormesson, manuscript on the Regency, whose author seems to be one Maupassant.

[255] La Rochefoucauld.

[256] Fol. 28, verso.

[257] D’Ormesson.

[258] D’Ormesson, Maupassant, and La Rochefoucauld.

[259] D’Ormesson.

[260] D’Ormesson; Maupassant says in the right side.

[261] D’Ormesson, Maupassant, La Rochefoucauld, Motteville.

[262] Maupassant says that the Duke de Guise and Coligny appeared before the court and justified themselves, the Duke de Guise with the greatest success and Coligny with very bad grace; but D’Ormesson, so well informed in regard to all that was going on in the Council of State and in the Parliament, says not a word of the matter—and nothing is more improbable, Coligny having immediately fallen into a desperate condition.

[263] La Rochefoucauld says that Coligny died four or five months after: it should be four or five days. In fact, we find in the journal of Olivier d’Ormesson, fol. 29, as follows: “Tuesday, December 29, the Marquis de Pardaillan came to see me, and told me that M. de Coligny was at Saint-Maur, and was likely to die of gangrene of his arm.” ... “Wednesday, December 30 (D’Ormesson has, through mistake, made it January), M. de Coligny was beyond hope, his wound making neither flesh nor matter, on account of his naturally bad constitution. M. the Duke d’Enghien had resolved to have his arm taken off.”

[264] Mademoiselle, Mémoires, vol. i., p. 74.

[265] Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 201.

[266] It is also in Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 201.

[267] Library of the Arsenal, small in-4ᵒ, lettered on the back, Fr. Jurisprudence, 19 (B). “It contains: 1st, Proposals for the reform of Abbeys and Priories; 2d, Fable of the Lion and of the Fox; 3d, Story of M. de Coligny and of Madame de Longueville.”—National Library, Mélanges, vol. cclxi., in-12ᵒ, comprising a collection of songs, letters of Madame de Courcelles, pretended letters of different ladies to Fouquet, and in the midst the history of Agésilan and Isménie. In comparing the two manuscripts, we find but little difference between them.

[268] The word now shows that the novel was composed before the death of Gassion, who was slain before Lens in 1647.

[269] Madame de Motteville, vol. iv., p. 42.

[270] Madame de Motteville, vol. i., pp. 174-197.

[271] Mémoires de La Rochefoucauld, Coll. Petitot, vol. li., p. 393.

[272] Napoleon was twenty-six years of age at the time of his first battle, that of Montenotte, and thirty, at the time of that of Marengo. Condé was not quite twenty-two years of age at Rocroy, and he was twenty-seven at Lens.

[273] General Bonaparte entered Italy in 1796, with 30,000 men under arms. He had at most from 15,000 to 20,000 at Montenotte; 20,000 at Castiglione; 13,000 only at Arcola; 16,000, at most, at Rivoli. It is true that at Marengo he had 28,000; but, for conception and execution, who would compare Marengo with Arcola and Rivoli? These were the most scientific and boldest campaigns of Italy, the most resembling those of Rocroy and of Fribourg.

[274] General Bonaparte had no adversaries like Mercy. Beaulieu, apparently thinking himself too strong, had so scattered his troops, that at Montenotte he fought with but half of his army. Wurmser, at Castiglione, committed the same error. D’Alvinzy was superior to them, and at Arcola and at Rivoli he yielded only to the unexpected grandeur of the manœuvres of the French general. Melas fought well at Marengo, as did also General Bonaparte, but neither of them performed any remarkable manœuvre; and this battle would have been lost but for the arrival of Desaix, as Waterloo was lost because Grouchy was not Desaix.

[275] I know nothing more noble than the dispatches of Condé, announcing his different victories. He says very little in them of himself, and much of others. During his retirement at Chantilly, his friends urged him to write his military memoirs; he refused, saying that he would be obliged to blame sometimes estimable generals, and to speak well of himself. Never was any one less a charlatan. In this respect, Turenne resembled Condé. What injures somewhat in my estimation the memoirs of Napoleon, is that ardent and continual self-preoccupation, which sees himself only everywhere, refers every thing to himself, confesses no fault, enlarges the least actions, praises none but mediocre men, depreciates eminent merit, treats Moreau and Kleber as he would have done some of his marshals, and prepares for himself everywhere a pedestal. But we must not forget that Napoleon was writing in exile and in misfortune, and that he was reduced to defend his own glory. See in Lenet, edit. Michaud, several letters of Condé to Mazarin, after Fribourg, after Lerida, after the taking of Ipres and the retaking of Furnes, especially after the battle of Lens. In giving an account of this affair, the secretary of the prince had written: our victory. Condé effaced the last word, and substituted combat. (Unpublished part of Memoirs of Lenet, pp. 499-515.)

[276] See chapter iii.

[277] It was at the attack of the lines of Fribourg that he threw into the enemy’s intrenchments his baton of command, indicating thereby his resolution to conquer or perish.

[278] Napoleon’s manœuvre of quitting Verona, in order to go around Caldiero, whom he could not attack in front, and to surprise Alvinzy in the marshes, where valor could make up for numbers, has been, and cannot be too much praised. There was prudence and audacity in it. General Bonaparte, knowing that he would be lost if he did not pass the bridge of Arcola, allowed the destruction of his best lieutenants, and barely escaped death himself. On this occasion, he showed himself great by the genius which conceives and by the heroism which executes; and he showed himself the equal of the Alexanders and Condés.

[279] Mémoires, vol. v., p. 20.

[280] This is the same Arnauld from whom we have so many pretty verses in the style of Voiture, and on account of whose absence Madame de Rambouillet regrets that she cannot reply to Godeau. See chap. ii.

[281] Allow me to repeat here that Mercy, whom the Spaniards created Count de Fuentes, and Fontaine, were two French gentlemen, one of Lorraine, the other of Burgundy.

[282] See close of chap. ii.

[283] In Italy, Napoleon never undertook a siege properly so called.

[284] The Prince de Condé has left a name in the science of fortification. He studied while at Bourges under the engineer Sarrazin, who rendered Montrond a very difficult place to be taken. When he went to Burgundy, he paid great attention to this part of the military art. There is preserved in the depot of fortifications an atlas of the strongholds of Burgundy, drawn by the hand of Condé: Plan of the capital cities and frontiers of the Duchy of Burgundy, Bresse, and Gex, made at Dijon, January 7, 1640, with this dedication:

To my Father.

Sir—This work which I present belongs to you, since all that is mine is yours. I have never been able to see you in the command of armies without thinking of war myself; and I could not believe that my study of fortifications would be agreeable to you, unless continued. If you deign to think well of these efforts of my mind and hand, I desire no other approbation of my labor, as I shall never have any other wish than to live and die in the obedience and respect due to you from him who is, sir,

Your very humble and very obedient son and servant,

LOUIS DE BOURBON.

Following this are eleven plans upon vellum of the strongholds of Burgundy, with remarks.

The great sieges which Condé undertook so successfully, particularly those of Thionville and of Dunkirk, are the admiration of military men. After his return to France in 1660, he was continually consulted upon all projects of fortification, and his name, as well as his opinions, appear in the official correspondence of the department of war, especially during 1664, 1670, and 1673, until 1675, when he retired from the service, and left Vauban to act alone. Fontenelle, in his eulogy of Sauveur, says, that it was in his frequent visits to Chantilly and in his conversations with Condé, that Sauveur conceived the idea of his treatise upon fortification.

[285] History of the Wars and of the Negotiations which preceded the Treaty of Westphalia, vol. iii., in-4ᵒ. To this work we must add the Secret Negotiations touching the Peace of Munster and of Osnaburg, or General Collection of Preliminaries, Instructions, Letters, Memoirs, concerning these negotiations, from their commencement until their conclusion, in 1648, 2 vol., in-fol., Hague, 1725. In vol. xxx. of the Mélanges de Clérambault, in the National Library, may be found a summary of all the correspondence of the French cabinet and of the embassy. We give a few extracts:

Year 1645.—June 3, Mazarin to M. de Longueville, complimenting him upon the interesting condition of his wife, and urging him to hasten his departure for Munster. Scarcely arrived, M. de Longueville writes to Mazarin, July 2, telling him that he has reconciled d’Avaux and Servien.

Year 1646.—June 22, Mazarin announces to M. de Longueville the departure of Madame de Longueville. July 24, M. de Longueville notifies Mazarin that he is going to meet Madame de Longueville. October 23, M. de Longueville thanks Mazarin for promising him the office of General of the Swiss.

Year 1647.—January 16, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: The king sends to him a gentleman, as well as to Madame de Longueville, announcing the death of M. the Prince. March 15, Mazarin to M. de Longueville, informing him that he cannot have the office of General of the Swiss, and offering him in lieu thereof the Château de Caen. March 25, M. de Longueville to the queen, in regard to the office of General of the Swiss. Idem, to Mazarin on the same subject. Dissatisfaction of M. de Longueville; he asks for his discharge; it is granted to him. May 17, M. de Longueville thanks Mazarin for the discharge which he has procured for him; he will not leave until the proper time. June 22, Mazarin complains to M. de Longueville of his last letter, in which he is charged with not desiring peace; he claims the contrary, and shows his resentment of the manner in which the Spaniards have acted. “France wishes peace, and will make it glorious.” July 1, M. de Longueville assures his Eminence that his letter is far from bearing the interpretation which he has placed upon it; that he does not know him, which compels him to desire leave to return to France. Same day, d’Avaux writes to Mazarin that he had no part in the letter of M. de Longueville. July 13, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: he is very glad that the intention of his letter is such as he claims; he desires nothing in the world more ardently than peace, and wishes that Pegnaranda (the Spanish ambassador) would leave Munster, that he might have an opportunity to take a trip to Paris. Same day, Mazarin testifies to d’Avaux the pleasure which he experiences in having an understanding with his friends. Same day, important dispatch from Mazarin to Servien, in which he discovers all his thoughts: Treaty with Germany, or, at least, a grant of a truce in the Low Countries. “If nothing was to be done in Flanders and in Germany, war could be easily carried on in Spain and in Italy.” July 22, M. de Longueville to Mazarin: The Swedes cannot be satisfied without giving them positive assurances of the establishment of Lutheranism. The Protestants propose to conclude without France. The departure of the Count de Trautmansdorf (imperial ambassador) with liberty to retire, of which he will avail himself as soon as possible. July 29, Mazarin begs M. de Longueville to defer his departure. August 9, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: How to treat with the Swedes. A gentleman of M. de Vandosme, carrying letters to the archduke, was arrested and conducted to Nancy. The Spaniards are far from peace. The King of Spain changes his manner of acting with the emperor. Trautmansdorf might have concluded something advantageous for Sweden at the expense of France. August 19, M. de Longueville to Mazarin: The Neapolitans have driven off the Spaniards. Pegnaranda will do nothing until the close of the campaign. He will take this time to visit his Eminence. August 30, Mazarin expresses to M. de Longueville some apprehensions as to the design of his journey. August 30, confidential letter from Lyonne to Servien: he begs him to discover the cabals that M. d’Avaux has made against his Eminence. Orders are given to M. de Turenne to abolish the name of Weimarians. The conclusion of peace must not be deferred on account of the absence of M. de Longueville. M. d’Avaux seeks the protection of M. the Prince and of M. the Duke d’Orleans. September 6, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: Good effects apparently produced by the delay of his journey. September 16, M. de Longueville complains of the delay of business; he recommends to Mazarin the Marshal de La Mothe (who has just been arrested). October 7, renewed solicitations of M. de Longueville in behalf of the Marshal de La Mothe. October 15, M. de Longueville to Mazarin: He fears that the Hollanders may conclude their treaty without France. The enemies have received, with singular joy, the news of the death of M. de Gassion (killed at Lens). October 18, Mazarin informs M. de Longueville of the promotion of seven cardinals, among whom is his brother, the Cardinal de Sainte-Cecile. October 29, M. de Longueville recommends the Prince de Conti for the siege of Trèves or of Liége. November 1, Mazarin informs M. de Longueville that all their dispatches have fallen into the hands of the Spaniards. November 8, Mazarin imparts to M. de Longueville a proposition of marriage from the emperor with Mademoiselle. (See the Memoirs of Mademoiselle; also chapter i. of this work.) December 22, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: The Spaniards do not desire peace. Try to have it proclaimed that if peace is not established, it is Spain that has prevented it.

Year 1648.—January 6, M. de Longueville to Mazarin: It was the fault of the Imperialists and the Spaniards alone that peace was not concluded; all the others desired it. January 16, M. de Longueville is not of the opinion that Nancy should be given up without demolishing it. January 17, Mazarin imparts to M. de Longueville a proposition of marriage between his daughter, Mademoiselle de Longueville, and the Duke de Mantua. January 28, Confidential letter from Lyonne to Servien: There is much dissatisfaction with M. d’Avaux; he would have been recalled if he had not engaged M. de Longueville in his opinion. February 3, M. de Longueville announces his departure. February 23, having arrived at Trie, he writes to Mazarin a letter of compliments. March 23, d’Avaux, being found too favorable to M. de Lorraine, and too eager to make peace at any price, prepares to depart. April 27, Mazarin informs Servien that he is named minister, and charged with completing the negotiations. In the correspondence of July, frequent mention is made of the troubles of the parliament. Mazarin begs Servien to manage something in Alsace for M. de Turenne, in order to secure him. August 14, Servien gives to Mazarin the reasons for not pressing the treaty with Spain. August 21, dispatch of Mazarin: M. the Prince has just gained a battle against the archduke. France nevertheless wishes peace. If the Spaniards wish it, they will conclude it upon the proposed conditions; if not, it will be of no service to relax. September 17, he invites Servien to urge the peace with Germany, on account of the troubles.