the safety and conservation of the said Province in my Obedience Wherein being assur'd you will acquit your self with your accustomed vigilancy and care and resting secure in the absolute confidence I have ever repos'd in your Fidelity and good Affection I shall say no more but only assure you of my Affection Praying God c. From Saint Germain en Laye this first of October 1634. With this there were other Dispatches sent directed both to the first President d' Agnesseau that he might acquaint the Assembly with his Majesties intention and also to the Jurats of the City which the Duke having sent away some days before his departure from Plassac he himself followed soon after and return'd into his Government more honour'd and esteem'd for having so handsomely disingag'd himself from this troublesome Affair than if it had never been Men as it usually happens soon forgot all the Disgraces he had undergone to consider how great his Credit must necessarily be who of all the Great Persons of the Kingdom whose Fortunes had been so rudely assaulted alone kept himself upright and entire in spight of all his Enemies or all they could contrive against him All those who had been unkind to him sued to be reconcil'd to his Favour and the Duke de la Valette who would by no means leave him till all things were absolutely settled to his own desire became their Mediator by that means re-establishing matters in so good a posture that for the future there was more repose to be expected for the Duke his Father than he had ever yet enjoy'd since he had first taken possession of the Government of Guienne The End of the Tenth Book THE HISTORY Of the LIFE of the Duke of Espernon The Eleventh Book IT was not fortunate to the Duke alone but as much at least to the Province and the whole Kingdom that he was at this time restor'd to his Command the first whereof without his Valour and Wisdom had been in manifest danger and the other embroyl'd in no contemptible disorders but by his Prudence and generous Conduct he brought them both so brave and so reasonable a relief that what we are now about to deliver makes up no small part of the principal Actions of his Life He was no sooner arriv'd in Guienne but that several Complaints were presented to him of the Insolence some Officers who Farm'd the Crown Revenues of that Province exercis'd over the King's Subjects The people were no longer able to support their Exactions and their Poverty which is ordinarily accompanied with despair had so stirr'd them up that they were ready to rush into Arms and to shuffle all things into confusion The Duke could have been glad the Court would have order'd some moderation in these Impositions to have prevented those mischiefs which are usually the issue of general Discontent and the certain effects of popular fury and to that end had made so many several Remonstrances to the Council and urg'd them so home that what he did for a good that as much respected the King's Service as the Publick Interest was in the end so misinterpreted as to turn to his own disgrace Seeing therefore he could by his Prayers and Importunities prevail nothing with the Court he was necessitated to make use of the Authority he had in the Province to prevent a total Revolt to which the generality of men were too visibly inclin'd Wherein his conduct was guided by so admirable discretion that what by convincing such by Reason as were capable of it by feeding such by Hopes as would be satisfied with them and threatning Punishment to those who would be satisfied with neither he for a long time continued all things in a pretty quiet condition He practis'd these gentle and easie Remedies during the course of a very troublesome Disease he had fall'n into presently after his return from Plassac His abode and solitude in his House together with the hard measure he had receiv'd had not lighted upon a heart insensible of wrong nor had committed no ordinary violence upon his generous spirit and although by a wonderful Victory over his own Passions he had suppress'd his discontent from breaking out to the discovery of those about him it is notwithstanding to be believ'd that the more he smothered his fire the more it must of necessity burn him within and discompose his natural Constitution He suffer'd therefore by the heat of Urine so intolerable and so unintermitted pains as scarce gave him any truce of repose in which Distemper that which was most remarkable was the Remedies they made use of for his Recovery â—or of eighteen days together that his Infirmity continued he drank nothing but cold water and of that so prodigious a quantity that I do not think any stomach in the world but his could have digested so much crudity He was moreover very often put into cold Baths so that all the art and industry of his Physicians was wholly employ'd to qualifie the ebullient Blood of a young man of fourscore and four years old He was scarcely deliver'd of his pain when he was forc'd to attend the Affairs of his Government with greater diligence and care than at any time before The King from the beginning of the year having taken a resolution to fall out with Spain would not however engage in that War before he had well and particularly examin'd the condition and strength of his Kingdom to be therefore well inform'd of the State of Guienne the greatest and best of all his other Provinces he writ to the Duke in March to send him a true account of what number of men he could for time of need draw out of his Government and how many men of Command he might relye upon to bear Office in his Armies to which the Duke return'd Answer that although within eight months time above eighteen thousand men had been sent out of the Province as by the Muster Rolls annex'd to his Dispatch his Majesty might perceive there might yet be a very great number rais'd provided the Affections of the People were discreetly manag'd by some good usage that his Majesty would also find a great many Gentlemen of Quality and capable of Command of which he sent a List of above sixscore but that the greatest part of them were so necessitous that to his great grief he durst not promise to himself from their inability all that his Majesty might expect from their good will by which Abstract let any one judg of the Forces of the Kingdom and what a King of France may propose to himself having the Love and Affection of his Subjects The Duke who knew by a long experience what strange effects the good will of the people was able to produce never ceas'd importuning the King to husband it by granting some redress to their Oppressions which though he always did after the most humble and respective manner could be imagin'd it notwithstanding wrought
in the whole world a Kingdom to be found more glorious more flourishing or more happy than that of France during the Reign of this mighty Prince Yet could not all this reputation abroad secure him from afflictions at home neither could his greatness and bounty exempt him from the power of Death who first exercising his cruelty upon some of his Family discharg'd in the end his whole rage and fury upon his own person The precedent year had ravish'd from him one of the Princes his Children and this depriv'd him of the Duke of Montpâ—nsier his Cousin a Prince for whom his Majesty had as great a kindness as for any whatsoever of his Blood as he made it appear by the true sorrow he manifested for his death but the Duke of Espernon was afflicted beyond all expression I have already given an accompt of the Alliance betwixt these two and of the particular Friendship that Alliance begot I shall now further say they were inseparable in their conversation their Interests went ever hand in hand with one another and it will be hard to find a Friendship so pure and constant betwixt two private persons as they ever preserved entire in the corruptions and revolutions of the Court Neither could the friendship of a Prince of his extraction and vertue be otherwise than of great importance to the Duke whose prosperity and advancement had procur'd him so much envy and consequently so many enemies yet was he constrain'd to submit to the inevitable necessity of death and to bear with patience a loss for which there was no other remedy This accident was yet follow'd by another the ensuing year at which the Duke was almost equally afflicted Pere Ange de Ioyeuse Father-in-law to the Duke of Montpensier had been return'd into the Order of Fathers Capuchins from the year 1599. from which time he had continued in the austerity of his Canon with so great zeal and sanctity that he was become a president of Vertue and Holy Living to all the Religious Men of his Order Yet did he not when returning to the observation of his Vow he threw off all worldly vanities and desires banish from his breast those true affections which Nature and Reason had planted in his heart but on the contrary had ever in his greatest retirement cherish'd the Duke's friendship as if he had been his true Brother in Blood as he was in Alliance and Affection Neither was the Duke on his part less sedulous to improve so vertuous an Interest ever honouring and loving him even in his penitential Sack-cloath at as high a rate as when he liv'd in the greatest Lustre in the most honourable employments and applying himself with greater diligence to the Interests of his House and to the advancement of his Daughter than when he himself liv'd upon the great Theatre of the busie world so that in different capacities of living their friendship continued still one and the same till death came to cut the knot which along had power to dissolve it This Holy man died at Rivoly in Piedmont in his return from Rome in great reputation of Sanctity and Vertue which has since by time been made more manifest to all The following year affords so little considerable to be said of the Duke of Espernon in particular the Court being at this time wrap'd in so great a calm and security that there is nothing of moment to be reported of any save the King himself that it might well enough be pass'd over in silence But having hitherto found out something or other to record in the foregoing years I had rather travel not out of my subject only but also out of the affairs of the Kingdom than to omit the most glorious proof his Majesty could possibly give of his Authority with all the Princes and States of Christendom in the conclusion of the Truce betwixt the Crown of Spain and the States of the United Provinces This great affair had been fruitlesly propos'd almost from the very first bustle of Arms in that Country neither had endeavours been wanting even in the heat of the most bloody executions that the fury of War has perhaps produc'd in any part of Europe for the effecting of so good a work Treaties of Accommodation having every year during those troubles been constantly by some or other set on foot but the animosity of Factions the difference of Religions and the variety of Events that had ever kept Affairs on both sides as it were in-equal balance had so exasperated the minds of men that scarce any proposition of Peace would be endur'd A work it seems reserv'd to be an additional Ray to the King's Glory whose reputation only could cut the knot of all those difficulties Spain had great need of Peace which having often without interessing the King in the Affair sought in vain he was in fine constrain'd to apply himself to him to procure it and wholly to submit all things to his Arbitration A task the King very well satisfied with so high and publick an acknowledgment of his power as readily undertook and to that purpose dispatch'd away President Ianin and the Sieur de Râ—issy to manage the Work by whose prudent conduct fortified by their Masters Reputation they effected that by the weight of Authority which perhaps their dexterity how great soever without great labour and expence of much time could not otherwise have brought to pass So that things were reduc'd to the point the parties concern'd could themselves desire from whence followed an universal Peace amongst all Christian Princes It was into this tranquille condition that the Affairs of Europe were first to be wrought before the King could begin to form it into the new mould he had long design'd for this great Prince born to reconcile Monarchy and Justice being unable to endure the proud Authority with which the Crown of Spain lorded it over all her Neighbours and more impatient that by the expansion of his Empire the Spaniard should reap advantages which he conceiv'd were more justly due to his Birth and Valour he resolv'd to clip the wings of this soaring greatness to make him give back those Territories he usurp'd from his Neighbours to restore the Republicks their ancient liberty and finally to reduce his power to the limits of his primitive possession This in short is all that can be said of the King's designs and all that such as conceiv'd they penetrated deepest into his most private thoughts could possibly divine it being most certain that he discover'd the bottom of his design to none which had it been communicated to any the Duke of Espernon would doubtless in this conjuncture have participated of the trust but as this great Prince would execute all things in his own person so did he here reserve to himself the secret of his resolutions insomuch that though his Army was all ready drawn into the Field that he himself was immediately to
Guienne dated from the Camp of la Verune the 27. of August 1622. the news whereof was no sooner spread abroad but that all Guienne was as much over-joyed at their good Fortune to be govern'd by a Lord of their own Countrey and one that had already laid so many obligations upon it there being few Families of the Gentry that had not been enrich'd by his bounty as the Provinces that saw themselves depriv'd of him were afflicted and disconsolate at his loss A privation the miseries they afterwards endur'd made them very sensible of a long time after though they have at last found a remedy in the person of the Marquis de Montauzier the present Governour there who by his generous and prudent administration after having procur'd them all the ease and comfort the condition of the time will permit has either so confirm'd them in or so reduc'd them to their obedience to the King as has secur'd them from many inconveniences into which by the ill example of their Neighbours they would otherwise have been seduc'd The Duke de l' Esdiguieres was at the same time promoted to the Office of Constable of France and since Fortune seems to have made choice of these two Lords the most eminent of their time to manifest what she can do when dispos'd to favour men of extraordinary merit it will not perhaps be altogether impertinent to consider the several ways by which she rais'd them to that infinite pitch of Honour They were indeed very different both in the one and the others promotion In the advancement of the Duke de l' Esdiguieres she was observ'd to proceed with order leading him through all the degrees of his profession and from the quality of a private Souldier raising him step by step in revolution of time to the Dignity of Constable of France He had never been preferr'd from a less command to a greater without having first been concluded worthy of it wherein Envy which has seldom been known to be reconcil'd to Vertue never appear'd his adversary insomuch that he ever possess'd all the advantages of the one without once proving the malignity of the other and by a favour particular to him alone was so constantly fortunate that his happiness was never travers'd with the least disturbance He never undertook any thing how dangerous soever where Fortune did not still smooth his way and level all difficulties before him to favour his success even beyond his own expectation and no less solicitous of his person than partial to his Affairs was ever so ready to defend him from the least mischance that whatever he acquir'd of Greatness Wealth or Honour scarce cost him so much as one drop of blood It is in truth very much to rise by so honourable and so easie a gradation to such a place of greatness but yet methinks it must appear more strange as it is more rarely found to see a young man at twenty years old rais'd to the highest pitch to which Fortune and Favour when combin'd could possibly advance him That a man envy'd of every one justled by all parties abandon'd by his own Benefactor and persecuted by a mighty King his Successor should keep himself still upright against all those violent assaults We have seen him wounded in several Engagements blown up by Mines and swallow'd in Precipices notwithstanding all which he overcame all difficulties by a vigorous resistance triumphing at last over Envy it self so that if the one obtain'd from the world a favourable opinion by his Conduct the other forc'd it by his Vigour constraining all France to confess that those Offices and Honours which at first had prevented his desert fell at last very much short of his Vertue Insomuch that if we find the one worthy of Esteem the other is no less worthy of Admiration if the one was promoted by ordinary means the other rose to all his Advancements by extraordinary ways if the one leisurely and by degrees arriv'd at greatness there was a kind of impetuosity in the promotion of the other and yet his foot never slipt back and if the one supported his Fortune erected upon sure Foundations the other which is very strange even without any foundation at all has rais'd his to that prodigious height as to carry it almost out of sight The Duke of Espernon though he had merited well enough from the Crown to expect an acknowledgement like this wherewith the King thought fit to gratifie his desert did yet receive it rather as a new obligation for new and greater Services than as a recompense for what he had already done and conceiving that those he should perform in his Majesties own view would best manifest his Gratitude he deferr'd till a fitter season the taking possession of his new Government that he might not loss such opportunities as the War was likely to offer him whilst he should continue about the person of the King He therefore attended his Majesty to Narbonne where some overtures being set on foot by the Constable de l' Esdiguieres and the Duke de Rohan in order to an Accommodation he thought he might conveniently make use of the interval of this Treaty for the accomplishment of a vow he he had formerly made to our Lady of Monserrat The Duke's design was to go this Journey Incognito to avoid the trouble of many complements he was sure would be put upon him if he should travel in his ordinary State in all places through which he was to pass and to that end had reduc'd his Train to a very small number setting forwards almost so soon as he had taken leave of the King that he might prevent any rumor of his motion but he soon found it was far easier for him to reduce his attendance than to obscure his reputation which had already so far got the start of his preparation and had so fill'd the neighbouring Kingdoms with the reverence of his name that he was no sooner enter'd into the King of Spain's Dominions but he was receiv'd in all places with infinite respect and extraordinary honours He was in this Voyage accompanied by the Marquis de Varennes made Governour of Aiguemortes at his return the Vicount de Fontrailles the Count de Maillé the Sieur de la Iliere Governour of Loches six Gentlemen of his houshold as many of his Guards and a necessary number of Officers yet could he not with all his care to contract his Equipage order it so that he had not above fifty persons in his Train so troublesome a thing is Greatness He lay the first night at la Palme a private house belonging to one of the Gentlemen who went along with him and the next day pass'd close by the Castles of Laucate and de Salses two little Fortresses which at that time divided the Kingdoms of France and Spain by the distance of which from our Frontiers as they now stand it may be seen how far our Conquests have
himself to look into the state of those Provinces newly committed to his charge where by establishing such order as he thought convenient by the dispatch of his Levies and by disposing his men into the most important places he prepar'd himself betimes to encounter such Accidents as the severity of the time was likely to produce Soon after the Duke's departure the King went his Journey into Normandy where the greatest Obstacle being now remov'd the Treaty of Peace went on without any further impediment and was presently after concluded the King who had already determin'd how to dispose of the Duke of Guise making no great difficulty to grant him what he was resolv'd he should not long enjoy The Peace concluded the Edict of Union was publish'd first at Rouen and then in all parts of the Kingdom after which they immediately fell to the raising of Arms for the utter suppression of the King of Navarre and his Party But above all things the King was careful to hasten the necessary Dispatches for the Convocation of the States General at Blois in the beginning of October next ensuing an Assembly equally desir'd by the King and the Duke of Guise but to different ends The Duke hoping there by the joynt suffrages of the several Orders of the Kingdom to see himself plac'd in that degree of height to which his great Spirit and vast Ambition had so long aspir'd and the King resolving there and at that time to quench his restless and inordinate Ambition in a torrent of his own Blood Thus do we often see the purposes of the greatest Politicians deluded who when they think they have brought their Designs by the most infallible Rules and Maxims of Humane Prudence to an almost certain Issue find themselves deceiv'd and usually meet with effects quite contrary to their expectation giving us to understand that we ought not to commit our actions to the blind conduct of our own frail and erroneous foresight but into the hands of Providence that governs all and that brings all things to their determinate end The Edict of Union being sworn the Duke of Eâ—pernon remov'd from Court and the King â—atisfied at least in apparence with the Duke of Guise's and the Parisians excuses the Duke confident in the Queen Mother who was of late become absolutely powerful with the KIng had nothing now to hinder his coming to Court so that upon his Majesties return out of Normandy he immediately repair'd to him and having found him at Chartres he there in person deliver'd the same Apologies he had not long before presented by the Mediation of others All which his Majesty received with a Dissimulation that was not only natural to him but that by a long Practice and by the continual traverses and difficulties of his Reign was grown to such a habit in him that it was no hard matter for him to put on any kind of Language or Behaviour on any occasion wherein he was most likely to be surpriz'd So that in outward shew the King was so well pleas'd with no Company as indeed it was almost all he had as with the Duke's his Relations and Confederates Amongst which the Cardinal of Bourbon who was now also come to Court was entertain'd with extraordinary marks of Favour and Respect neither was there any Commands or Offices Military or Civil granted to any but by their recommendation insomuch that some have thought the Duke of Guise by winning and submissive carriage had made some real impression upon the Kings Inclinations and that his Majesty was dispos'd really to love him as he had formerly done if he could have moderated his Ambition and would have laid aside those designs which rendred him suspected to him In a conjuncture so favourable to their Designs neither the Duke of Guise nor those of his Faction slept in their Business but with all possible industry still more and more labour'd the Duke of Espernon's total Ruine as a thing that imported most of all to the confirmation of that Authority and Trust to which they saw themselves by his removal already advanc'd So that the King being daily afflicted with a thousand Accusations against him and wearied by their importunities was at last so far overcome as to consent that many of his Offices should be taken away being not yet to be prevail'd upon for his absolute Ruine Whilst the Duke was present he continually by his good Services fortified his Masters mind against all impressions of calumny his Enemies could invent to the prejudice of his Fidelity and Honour and had ever triumph'd in his Majesties good Opinion over the Envy and Malice of his Detractors but he was no sooner remov'd out of his Eye than that Confidence began to stagger his detractors representing him for an Enemy to the Crown a Friend to the King of Navarre and one that seducing daily all the Garrisons in his Government to a Revolt was upon the point to Proclaim open War against the King himself In the mean time the Duke had very good Intelligence of all that pass'd at Court he very well knew that his Enemies made use of all imaginable ways to destroy him that the King was by them perpetually socilited against him and that consequently it concern'd him in common discretion to frustrate their Designs and to provide for his own safety in the strength of those places he possess'd Neither was he much surpriz'd at the unexpected news of what the King had consented to against him he was very well acquainted with the constitution of the Court and had very well foreseen what would certainly be attempted against him but he could hardly perswade himself that his Majesty could ever forget his Fidelity and good Services yet did he not for all that neglect his own preservation that he might live to do him one day more and better Service the only revenge this faithful honest Servant meditated for the ingratitude of his Master He fell therefore presently into Consultation with his Friends what course he were best to take a Debate wherein Opinions were very different some there were who advis'd him to return to Court representing that his presence would infallibly disperse all those shadows of mistrust which by his absence his Adversaries had had opportunity to possess the King's mind withal that his tried Fidelity would soon recover its former place in his Majesties Opinion and that then he would soon be in a condition to return the mischiefs had been intended against him upon the heads of the first contrivers Others there were who gave him counsel to put himself into Metz others to make immediately for Provence and some of those there to joyn with the King of Navarre That to that purpose he should first go into Angoumois whither he might suddenly and with great facility convey himself where he had a strong City to retire unto and where he would be in a Country very convenient to favour his Passage into Provence by the way of
themselves renew'd the interrupted Treaty of Peace in order whereunto the Deputies of both Crowns being met at Vervins it was there to their common satisfaction happily concluded That which I observe to be most remarkable in this Peace is that the King what necessity soever there was upon him of regulating the disorders of his own Kingdom which were many a thing neuer to be well done in the confusions of War would notwithstanding never consent his Deputies should meet to Treat till first the King of Spain had given him assurance that all the places had been taken from him in this last War should be restor'd His Majesty choosing rather to expose his Person and Kingdom to the uncertain event of another War than that his Crown should suffer the lâ—ast prejudice by a Treaty of Peace 〈◊〉 although he had hitherto been the loser yet did â—is courage 〈◊〉 him hope so well of his Fortune as to believe he should in the end bring her over to his own side So brisk an Article as this at first dash and before the King would proceed to any further Treaty it is to be suppos'd would startle the Spanish Gravity and must reasonably meet with great difficulty as it did in the Councils of War and Privy Council of Spain it being evident that in this demand the King would impose upon them who were the Conquerors the same conditions he should have done had they been already overcome which made it suffer a long Debate though at last it was condescended to and that being granted no other difficulties were likely to arise so that this happy Peace was Concluded and Sign'd by the Commissioners on both sides the second of May 1598. By the Articles of this Treaty the King was to restore the County of Charolois to the King of Spain to be by him held of the Crown of France who in exchange restor'd the Towns of Calice Ardres Monthulin Dourlens la Capelle and le Catelet in Picardy and Blavet in Britanny which Articles were Ratifi'd and Sign'd by his Majesty the eleventh of Iune who in gayety of humour at so happy a conclusion told the Duke of Espernon That with one dash of his Pen he had done greater things than he could of a long time have perform'd with the best Swords of his Kingdom This Peace was no sooner concluded but that the Court put on a Face far different from that wherewith it had appearâ—d when shaded and overcast with the tumult and trouble of War and Business nothing now was to be seen but State and Lustre nor was any thing now thought on but Feasting and Mirth which also was much added to by the celebration of several Marriages which were at this time consummate betwixt some persons of the greatest quality of the Kingdom For Katharine the King 's only Sister was Married to the Duke of Bar Son to the Duke of Lorain and Henry of Bourbon Duke of Montpensier Married Katharine de â—oyeuse with many other Marriages betwixt Persons of great Quality that were also solemniz'd at the same time but it not being my design to meddle with those wherein the Duke of Espernon was not immediately concern'd I shall only insist upon that of the Duke of Montpensier who contracting himself to so near a Relation of the Duke's that he in a manner supply'd the place of a Father to her it will be necessary I should say something of the reasons and conclusion of this particular Match The King since the Duke's return from Provence had never exceeded to him the favour of meer justice he had it is true left him free in the enjoyment of his Offices his Estate and Degree without doing him any the least injury in any thing that was his just and immediate right But as to the rest his Majesty not being able to forget his formention'd discontents against him he thought he did him a signal favour in that he forbore to do him any publick disgrace In this condition the Duke who saw himself seated at Court in a station far inferiour to that wherein he had formerly been suffer'd not a little in his own bosom from the King's coldness and indifferency to him yet concealing his discontent with the true respect he ought to pay his Prince and Master he avoided at least all occasions the only refuge of a suspected Minister that might any way bring him into a greater disgrace Yet even in this condition his fortune would not forsake him who when all other means seem'd to be lost that could probably restore him to any degree of his former prosperity sprung him a new tide to his stranded greatness and such an one as not only lifted him off those sands wherein he was like to sink and perish but rais'd him again to such a reputation as was no little support to his declining name and power Katâ—arine de Ioyeuse whom I have already nam'd was only Daughter and Heir to the Count de Bouchage and Katharine de Nogaret and de la Valette the Duke of Espernon's Sister a young Lady that besides the advantages of her Birth and Beauty was also Miâ—trâ—â—â— of very great possessions having to her paternal Estate added that of the great Favourite the Duke of Ioyeuse as she also was in expectation of that of the Cardinal de Ioyeuse her Uncle which reckon'd altogether must needs make up so vast an estate as must without dispute entitle her the greatest Fortune of France The Duke of Montpensier likewise as born a Prince of the Blood was also in high consideration wherein the advantage of his Fortune concurr'd with the eminency of his Birth he having alone a greater Revenue than all the other Princes of the Blood to which his Valour Liberality and Courtesie with other good qualities he was Master of had rais'd him to a very great esteem with the King and made him no less a Favourite to the People so that he was not only the Aim and Ambition of the best Matches of France but stood also in the prospect of some Forein Princes Amongst these the Duke of Lorain proceeded so far as to offer him his Daughter who was afterwards Married to the Duke of Cleve's with eight hundred thousand Crowns to her Dowry a proposition that being debated in the Duke of Montpensier's Council was very much lik'd of by some of his Servants who advis'd him to prefer this Match to the other Inheretrix of the House of Ioyeuse the fortune of the last being part of it yet depending whereas the offers of the Duke of Lorain being present and effectual would very much advance his Affairs and establish his greatness at great liberty and ease I have been inform'd and that by a person of Quality who was consulted about this business that one main reason which induc'd this Prince to prefer Madamâ—iselle de Ioyeuse before the other was the consideration of the Duke of Espernoâ— because in marrying her he conceiv'd he should at the
same time espouse her Uncles Interests from whose Authority he promis'd to himself greater assistance and support than from any other Peer of the Kingdom A consideration that prevailing above all other with the Duke of Montpensier dispos'd him determinately to resolve upon this Match to which by a particular liâ—ing he was before enclin'd Wherefore having without further deliberation caus'd it by some Friends of his to be propos'd to the Duke of Espernon the motion was by him who took it for a great honour receiv'd with all imaginable respect and as readily consented to by which the Duke being encourag'd proceeded further to move it to the King himself not without some apprehension nevertheless that the aversion his Majesty daily discover'd to the Duke might raise some difficulties at the first overture of his design though his fear prov'd vain for his Majesty seeing it would be a Match of considerable advantage to his Kinsman and in his heart acknowledging the Duke of Espernon to be a Subject of great merit though for some private discontents not very acceptable to himself was not unwilling to oblige both the one and the other by giving his free consent By this Marriage the Duke of Espernon's Affairs were not a little improv'd and if on the one side he by the consideration of his desert had preferr'd his Niece before the Daughter of a Sovereign Prince she on the other side by a very good return was acquit of that obligation by introducing her Uncle into the relation and support of a great Prince of the Blood by whose means he was soon after honour'd with a very near alliance to the Royal Family The Feasting and other entertainments of the Court did not so wholly take up the King that his Majesty was not nevertheless very intent upon his Affairs he had a mind to see an end of the Treaty with Savoy which was not yet dispatch'd though it had been compriz'd in the Peace concluded betwixt the two Crowns at Vervins The Duke of Savoy had desir'd some respite to consider before he would Seal which having been granted to him and he not being able to perswade himself to the restitution of those places he had contrary to the publick Faith surpriz'd during the disorders of the State as by the Articles of the Treaty he had been oblig'd to do he had no mind to put a thing to Arbitration he was certain that way never to obtain and that he was likewise resolv'd never to part withal The Pope whom himself had nam'd Arbiter of all differences betwixt the King and him was so far disoblig'd by the diffidence he had manifested of his equal judgment which the Duke had cunningly published to that end that his Holiness had excus'd himself from intermedling any more betwixt them a thing that having fall'n out according to the Duke of Savoy's hearts desire he resolv'd now upon a Journey into France to try if by his submissions to the King his dexterity with his Ministers or his liberalities in his Court he could not procure or purchase that to which he could with no shew of equity otherwise pretend but all his policy prov'd vain and his hopes were deluded as they were like to be in a Court where the King himself was alone the greatest and wisest part of the Council he must first corrupt him or at least very much deceive him before he could perswade him to consent to any thing prejudicial to his Crown and Honour The Duke of Savoy then being able to effect nothing by artifice resolv'd at last upon returning into his own Dukedom yet that his Journey might not be altogether without fruit he first caus'd the Mareschal de Biron to be dealt withal a man whom he conceiv'd his many discontents had laid open to his temptation and him he first tasted by Lafin the same who had made himself a Mediator betwixt the Duke of Espernon and l'Esdiguieres in Provence and who therein had abus'd them both This fellow of a turbulent unquiet Spirit and one of those who had rather be doing mischief than not to be doing at all was of late wrigled into the Duke of Savoy's Favour and had tasted of his bounty by which he was qualified to offer from the Duke one of his Daughters to the Mareschal de Biron in Marriage and with her several Seigniories to be held in Sovereignty with the assistance of the Forces both of Spain and Savoy to maintain him in Burgundy A Province contiguous to their own Territories Allurements so fitted to Birons ambitious and mutinous nature that he lent a willing ear to those dangerous propositions and as some have believ'd engag'd himself without much Ceremony in the Treason which prov'd at last his dishonour and ruine This practice with Biron was the only thing the Duke of Savoy with all his policy effected in France which nevertheless he thought to be of such moment as made him afterwards refuse to give the King that satisfaction he had promis'd and so to build upon the confidence of Biron's revolt that having before his departure from Paris engag'd either to surrender to his Majesty the Marquisate of Saluzzo or la Bresse with other Dominions at his own choice in lieu thereof and within three months time to perform it he had now no more regard to his word neither would do the one nor the other which oblig'd the King to seek that satisfaction by force of Arms he could by no other means obtain as he evidently saw by the delays and equivocations of this subtle Prince His Majesty had before he resolv'd upon this expedition been sufficiently enform'd of what means had been us'd to corrupt the Mareschal de Biron but whether it were that he really believ'd the Mareschal had been deaf to all such propositions or that by the testimony of an entire confidence in his Loyalty this generous Prince would oblige a Subject to continue firm in his duty who by his brave Service had deserv'd so well of the Crown and to look back into his error before he was gone too far he gave him the Command of an Army against the Duke of Savoy himself with orders to enter by the way of his own Government of Burgundy into Bress in which employment Biron so well conceal'd his practice and so smartly pursu'd the War that no action of his confess'd the least intelligence with the Enemy L'Esdiguieres also who at the same time enter'd by the way of Dauphiné into Savoy by his Valour and conduct made so considerable advances into that Dutchy that betwixt them in few days all the Territories the Savoyard possess'd on this side the Alpes were over-run by the Royal Arms except Montmelian which was not but by Siege to be reduc'd It was in this occasion of Montmelian that the Duke of Esperpernon did the King a very signal service A place reputed so strong and that had been so fortified and furnish'd with all provisions of War by the Duke
and practices that might discompose the calm of Peace his Kingdom was now settled in but so it was that for one or both these reasons he engag'd the greatest part of his Nobility whom he knew to be monied men in vast designs of this kind amongst whom his Majesty conceiving the Duke of Espernon to be one the most at his ease he was so importunate with him as to cause a plot for Cadillac to be design'd in his own Presence order'd the charge of the whole to be cast up and made one of his own Architects to undertake for an hundred thousand Crowns to begin and perfect the work upon which assurance the Duke as has been said in the year 1598 began the foundation conceiving that such a summe as that he might without inconvenience spare to gratifie his Masters humour though time afterwards gave him to understand how hard a thing it is to contain a man's self within a determinate charge after he has once set his hand to so tempting a work as Building this Pile before it was finish'd having cost him above two millions of Livres 'T is very true and which seldom happens to undertakers of such vast designs that with this infinite expense he brought the greatest and most stately pile of Building the Royal Houses excepted in France very near to perfection the whole body of the Building being perfected before his death and nothing save some few Ornaments left to finish neither had he left those to his Successors had not the disgrace of being withdrawn from his Government which still afflicted him diverted his thoughts from the sole care of that design The Duke as has been said being come into Guienne to take a view of his Building arriv'd at the City of Bourdeaux in the beginning of August where he found the Mareschal d' Ornano but newly there establish'd Lieutenant for the King by the decease of the Mareschal de Matignon who died of an Apoplexy and where their old Animosities though great were nevertheless on both sides so well dissembled as not to hinder a mutual Civility betwixt them no more than these civilities could hinder past jealousies from breaking out upon the first occasion into a new and open rupture This Mareschal though an Alien born had yet by his Valour and Fidelity acquir'd so great a reputation in France as in the Reign of Henry the III. to be a great confident to that Prince to whom the Duke of Espernon having been a principal Favourite it is nothing strange that a man of inferiour credit should envy another in a higher degree of Favour neither if the Mareschal were prepossess'd with this antiquated jealousie was the Duke on his part insensible of the recent traverses he had in Provence receiv'd from him the greatest part of the disgraces he had met with in that Country having been laid in his way by the opposition of l' Esdiguieres and him all which put together it may easily be imagin'd were likely to beget no very good blood between them To this the Mareschal a man of an imperious and haughty temper and who only under a forc'd smoothness conceal'd a natural arrogance could with no patience endure a Superiour an humour that made him with great anxiety look upon the Honours which at the Duke's arrival at Burdeaux he receiv'd from the Parliament with the other Orders of the City and which were also continued to him by the Nobility at Cadillac who from all parts came in to do him Honour But if his impatience were great before it was rais'd up to the height when he knew the Duke who well enform'd of his dissatisfaction to make it yet more had invited all the Nobility and Gentry of the Country to Bordeaux to a publick running at the Ring a solemnity that being there to be kept where he was in Supreme Command the Duke knew would much more nettle and afflict him It is very true that the Duke might have forborn this Bravado to a man whom he knew to be so tender of his Honour as the Mareschal d' Ornano was and perhaps it was not well done to offer that to another he himself would never have endur'd from any man living in a place where he had commanded in Chief but having once engag'd in the business his great spirit whatever might succeed would by no means give him leave to desist especially when he knew the Mareschal was resolv'd by open force to oppose him This was that which made what was before only a private discontent to break out into open quarrel which grew so high that the Mareschal address'd himself to the Parliament where in the presence of them all he complain'd what a commotion the Duke went about to stir up amongst the people to the prejudice as he pretended of his Majesties Affairs acquainting them at the same time with his resolution to make his Garrison stand to their Arms to play his Cannon and in fine to do what in him lay with all the power and authority he had to break that appointment and to drive the Duke from the City This declaration from a man of his furious spirit as it very much troubled the whole Assembly so it gave the first President D' Affis one of the greatest men that Society ever had since its first institution and a particular friend of the Duke's having by him in his times of favour been rais'd to that dignity occasion to make use of his Eloquence in the best Arguments he could contrive to disswade the Mareschal from that determination but all in vain he had already given out his orders and summon'd the Gentry to come in to his assistance though not a man save only one call'd Ruat would appear a thing which though perfectly true appears almost incredible that a Governour of so great Authority and Repute should be able to procure no more than one single man to serve him against the Duke of Espernon in his own Government Neither were the people better dispos'd than the Nobility and Gentry to take Arms against the Duke all men on the contrary of any note both within and without the City so manifestly appearing for him that the Governour was forc'd to arm his Garrison of Corses and to call his Company of Gens-d ' Armes out of their Country Quarters into the Town which were yet apparently too weak to execute the Mareschal's design And this was in effect the main cause that hindred things from proceeding into a greater disorder the Duke satisfied with the advantage every one plainly saw he had over his Enemy being the more easily enclin'd to the Parliaments solicitations who had sent their second President Nesmond to him to entreat he would not persist in his first resolution at whose instance and being loath to disturb the Peace of his Country as also to expose the great number of Gentlemen of Quality who were about him against a Garrison in his own particular quarrel and having a greater
remain'd was content to expect some happy opportunity that might re-establish him in the possession of a place so important to his fortune and whereof he saw himself at present absolutely depriv'd During his Majesties abode at Metz the Provincial of the Fathers Jesuits was by the Duke of Espernon presented to him where the proposition preferr'd by the Provincial for the re-establishment of his fraternity in France was so promoted by the Duke's mediation that it was concluded on to his great satisfaction Neither was this the first good office the Duke had done them nor the sole testimony he had given of his affection and respect to that Society he having ever been one of their most constant and most powerful Protectors in the time of their persecution as he was one of their principal benefactors after their re-establishment Metz that ever till then had made many and almost invincible difficulties of ever admitting them into their Corporation receiv'd them upon the Duke 's single accompt as he also procur'd their admission into Angoulesme before he left that Government Their Colledge of Xaints has no other foundation than what he bestow'd upon it of four thousand Livers a year in two fair Benefices which put all together have rendred him one of the principal Benefactors of that Society by the acknowledgment and testimony of the most ancient and most eminent men of the Order The variety of accidents and business that had befallen the King in these last years were yet too few to take him wholly up he still found leisure enough for his delights and although he himself took a particular accompt of all Affairs and was ever the main director in all things yet his abilities which nothing was too big for rendred him so excellent at dispatch that he still made way for his vacation and pleasure The Peace concluded with all his Neighbours and his domestick troubles extinguish'd either by the punishment of the offenders or by the excess of his own clemency gave him now sufficient leisure to look after the reformation of such abuses as were crept into the state during the licence of War an employment which how becoming soever his Royal care and how profitable soever to the Kingdom took up but a very inconsiderable part of his time the rest being dedicated to the Chace to play and to the diversions of Love entertainments that as the passions and humours of Princes who are the great examples of their people do easily insinuate themselveâ—â—nto their Subjects Affections or at least their imitation were grown so much in fashion at Court that there was scarce any talk of any other thing and if they had during this Voyage to Metz suffer'd a little intermission they were at the return of the Court to Paris more than ever set on foot It has been believ'd that though the King in his hunting and his Mistrisses altogether follow'd the proâ—â—ivity of his own nature yet that for what concern'd play he had in that as much design at least as inclination I have already told you that his Majesty having set down the bringing low the great men of his Kingdom by imperceptible ways to render them more obedient for a Maxime of State had put them upon the humour of Building to drain their purses and doubtless his engaging them in play was in order to the same design amongst whom the Duke of Espernon who already felt the smart of the first and that very well understood his Majesties meaning in the latter refus'd not nevertheless to make one for his Master's satisfaction but if he did it at first meerly out of compliance his ill fortune at last made it become his revenge and enclin'd him so passionately to it that he found himself in the end engag'd in so extraordinary losses as were no little inconvenience to him His Majesty would often do him the honour to play at his house ever inviting him to all his Matches And whether he retir'd to Zamet or to any other place to evade the tumult of Majesty and Greatness the Duke of Espernon was always the first invited so that although he was not in favour he was nevertheless in great esteem of which one of the most signal testimonies he could receive was the honour the King did him in permitting him to enter the Louvre in his Coach a favour till this time reserv'd only for the Princes of the Blood exclusively to all other persons of the Kingdom the Duke being the first that unlock'd this Priviledge for the Dukes and Peers though he enjoy'd it alone during the King's life his Majesty though oâ—ten importun'd by others of the same quality for the same honour never consenting to have it drawn into example 'T is true that after the King's death the Queen Regent to accommodate her self to the time was content to abate much of the Royal State and allow'd the Dukes and Peers and Officers of the Crown the same Priviledge but the respect to the Duke's person was that which first procur'd them that indulgence A famous Gamester call'd Pimentel an Italian came at this time into France whose dexterity in gulling the Court was such that I cannot forbear to mention him in this place 'T is said and it is perfectly true that this Cavalier hearing what an humour of play reign'd at the French Court caus'd great number of false Dice to be made of which he himselâ— only knew the high and the low runners hiring men to carry them into France where after they had bought up and convey'd away all that were in Paris he supply'd all the Shops with his own By which means having subjected the spirit of Play and ty'd the hands of Fortune he arriv'd at last in France where insinuating himself into the Court he was by some of his own Nation who had great interest there soon brought acquainted with the King Some have believ'd his Majesty understood the man well enough and was content to admit him for a Gamester the better to bring about his own design of impoverishing the Lords of his Court whose Riches grew suspected to him The Duke of Espernon was one from whom he drew the most considerable summes who after having got all his ready mony and many of his Jewels he moreover won of him a piece of Ambergris to the value of 20000. Crowns the greatest that ever was seen in Europe and which the Republick of Venice to whom it was after sold preserve to this day in their Treasure for a great rarity The Duke had not long been Master of it a Country fellow that had found it upon the Coast of Medoc having but a little before brought it to him as a thing due to the House of Candale of which the Duke was now the head This Ancient and illustrious Family are possessors of many goodly Mannors in Guienne and principally in the Country of Medoc with as ample priviledges as belong to any of the greatest Territories of the Kingdom
posture after which he told them that his Sword was yet in the Scabbard his own words but that if before he went thence there was not order taken for the security of the City and Kingdom by declaring the Queen Regent he foresaw to his great grief he must be compell'd to draw it against the Enemies of the Crown and to fill the City with Blâ—od and Confusion That he knew there were some amongst them who would ask respite to deliberate upon the things propos'd but that he must tell them beforehand nothing was so dangerous as delay That in many great occurrences it was wisdom not to be too precipitous and to proceed slowly and by degrees to a final determination but that here it was quite otherwise it being necessary in this Crisis of Affairs to cut off all difficulties and immediately to resolve upon the thing propounded That what might to day be concluded without danger could not be done to morrow without Blood and Slaughter and indeed what pretense could any man have to ask respiâ—e in this case what was requir'd of them out of the rule of Equity and nature To whom was the King's Fortune more properly to be intrusted than to her who brought him into the world or to whose care the safety of the Kingdom than to her who for the space of ten years had with the late King been a Coadjutrix in raising it to that degree of height and reputation wherein it now stood He told them that the Queen was a Princess for whom his Majesty from the hour of his Marriage had never had any reservation in his most weighty and most â—ecret Affairs That he had made her his Companion in all his Expeditions That he had already deputed the Regency of the Kingdom during his absence into her hands a preordination after which he could not believe any one would dare to contradict the Judgment of a Prince so great in himself and so solicitous of the good and welfare of his Kingdom That therefore the most effectual means to preserve the Peace and Tranquillity wherein France had been happy many years was to concur in the King's Judgment and to justifie his Election That the discontents which govern'd in the minds of many men of very eminent condition were very well known to all That those persons it might easily be believ'd wanted no adherents That the impatient humour of the French in hopes to make their advantage of any disorder in the State would be apt to create more Mutineers if things were not settled in due season That there was no time so fruitful in Sedition nor so proper for mischief as when mutinous spirits were in suspense whom to obey That if ever this evil disposition was to be fear'd it was chiefly now when all the Forces of the Kingdom were on foot That they would doubtless soon be practis'd on all hands so that if by the prudence of that Assembly such temptations were not prevented those noble Troops design'd for the enlargement of the Borders of France and for the glory of the French name would by an unhappy and a sad revolution be seen to employ their Arms to the ruine of their own Country That they were therefore to take time whilst things remain'd yet inviolate and capable of the best impressions to mould them into the best form which depended upon their immediate Election That he had put the Regiment of Guards all the King's Servants and his own particular Friends into Arms that they might at convenient liberty and security deliberate of what he then propos'd that he knew very well what he now advis'd them to was without President but that he hop'd an Act of so great utility and importance to the publick good would one day obtain the Authority of Example and add to the Dignity and Reputation of that Honourable Body a priviledge by so much the more their due by how much they had never till then possess'd it That they did not need to apprehend herein their Authority should be prostituted to Arbitration or be disputed by any but that how high and generous soever their results might be they should infallibly be executed and that he and all his Friends were ready to lose their lives or to cause them to be inviolably obey'd The Duke's Oration being ended the whole Assembly remain'd in a profound silence and being equally astonish'd at the Accident had hapned and surpriz'd at the Proposition was made not a man on the sudden durst either by word or action express his thoughts only President Harlay in few words Gave the Duke thanks for the affection he had manifested to the Service of the Kingdom and to the Honour of that Assembly exhorting him to persevere in a passion so worthy of his Vertue and so becoming the place and honour he possess'd amongst them Whereupon the Duke perceiving their silence still to continue and unwilling to give them occasion to complain that by his presence he had extorted from them a resolution contrary to their sense and opinion he retir'd himself But at his departure that they might understand there was something of necessity in the case he told them aloud That what he had propounded was the best course they could take and that they were therefore absolutely and suddenly to resolve upon it Upon which last words the Sieur de la Guesle the Attorny General taking hold began in a short Speech to break the Ice by representing to the Assembly That though what had been propounded by the Duke of Espernon seem'd by the respect wherewith it had been deliver'd to be a thing wherein they were free to determine yet that what he had last said imply'd a kind of necessity but a necessity by so much the more just and honourable by how much the Peace of the Kingdom would not only be secur'd thereby but also a great advantage to their Body would certainly accrue That it was therefore in his opinion better immediately and voluntarily to declare the Regency to be in the Queen than to stay till their consent should be wrested from them upon compulsion and perhaps in a season when they should have no thanks for their labour Which being said the whole Assembly forthwith concluded upon the business by that Act not only securing the Peace of the Kingdom but also introducing a great example to pitch upon the same and an equally salutiferous resolution in our days when out great Queen Anne of Austria was settled in the Regency by virtue of the same Election I have often heard the Duke discourse of this Transaction wherein though he acknowledg'd his proceeding to be by an unusual and something an irregular way Yet that the Queens Regency being as yet not authorized by the Suffrages of any of the Princes of the Blood whose arrival also should it have been expected would probably have put all things into Confusion he thought it necessary to have it ratified by the consent of the people
That to procure their consents there was no way so plausible and consonant to Law as therein to interest all the Parliaments of France by prevailing with that of Paris whose whose Act would be a kind of Warranty to the rest That should they have staid the coming of the Count de Soissons he would by his presence infallibly have sway'd all things according to his inclination That the Prince of Condé coming after would have been impatient at his younger Brother's getting the start of him in an Affair where the priority of Vote in the Election was in him by which means the variety of their interests not permitting them to concur in an Act wherein each of them would be ambitious to precede a fraction betwixt them must of necessity ensue That for that reason he had us'd all diligence in pressing the Parliament to a speedy resolution in favour of the Queen In the carrying on of which Affair it is in my opinion something hard to determine whether the Stars of France or the Duke's Prudence did most prevail It is not to be denied but that both the one and the other contributed very much to the happy performance of this great work But it is likewise most certain that the business had never been so fortunately effected if the Duke had less prudently foreseen what was likely to ensue or had proceeded with less diligence and vigour to the establishment of this Election to the general benefit of the Kingdom wherein if he perform'd a signal Service to the State he did no less for the Prince who would have met with no little impediments to his rising greatness had he at his return found the Count de Soissons settled as it were a Co-partner in the Government by being possess'd of some of the most important Employments of the Kingdom Thus was this business carried on France being from the highest step of her Glory precipitated into the greatest extream of her Misfortune and the King's Triumphs being in a moment overcast with the Funeral Black of his Obsequies but the re-establishment of the State overthrown by so great and so tragick a Revolution and the publick happiness in an instant secur'd without one drop of Blood was it not an afternoons work of the Duke of Espernon and can so great a success without injustice be attributed to any thing but to his prudent Conduct In the Narrative whereof I have not added one syllable more than the truth and doubtless there are many yet alive that can justifie all I have said I know very well that the Historians of that time have not mention'd all the particularities I have as material to my purpose insisted upon and that those who have been most exact have recorded but very few in their Relations which is in part the reason why I have more willingly enlarg'd my self in this discourse that I might impartially render what is so justly due to Truth and Virtue The sad accident of the King's Death was so suddenly spread all over Europe that it seem'd as if his person rais'd to the highest pitch of Honour to which man can arrive had fall'n in the sight of all the world The Prince of Condé who as has been said resided then at Milan receiv'd the first news of it from the Condé de Fuentes which was immediately after confirm'd by a Courrier dispatch'd purposely to him from the Queen Regent to invite him back into France The Count de Soissons who was but two little days journey from Paris was much sooner inform'd and at the same instant in all diligence repair'd thither to see what this accident might produce where he arriv'd the sixteenth of May two days only after the King's Death but late enough notwithstanding to find all things dispatch'd to his hand So that matters being already concluded the Queens Authority establish'd the Parliament People Souldiery and whole City settled in their Duty and nothing lest for him to do but to approve what was already done and which he could no ways hope to overthrow had he dislik'd it he was fain whether sincerely or otherwise to concur in the Election and thereupon went to present himself to the Queen where he assur'd her Majesty of his Faith and absolute Obedience The Count at his arrival at Court observing the Duke of Espernon to be seated in that degree of Favour and Reputation to which by his signal and recent Services to the Queen he might justly pretend he forthwith resolv'd to contract a strict connexion with him as accordingly by making him a tender of his Friendship and assistance against all whomsoever he endeavour'd to do neither did he do it but upon very good consideration for foreseeing that the Prince of Condé returning to Court as he soon after did would infallibly take upon him the preeminence and degree due to his Quality and Birth he would by that means labour so to establish himself before his arrival that it should not be in the Princes Power to shake him To which end he could pitch upon none so proper to support his Interest as the Duke of Espernon who was at that time the most considerable person in the Kingdom The Queen had appointed him Lodgings in the Louvre not conceiving her self secure as she was pleas'd to say but under his Vigilancy and Valour all dispatches were communicated to him his Orders and Advice were in all things follow'd and observ'd so that would he have stretch'd his Authority to the utmost or had he been ambitious of favour he might doubtless with great facility have made himself sole Master of Affairs but so far was he from desiring to appear necessary though effectually so to the excluding those who had right to the Council that on the contrary he entreated the Queen to call and admit into it all such as either by the priviledge of their Birth or by the repute of their capacities might reasonably pretend to that Honour coveting no greater advantage than to have a concurrence with worthy men for the publick Safety and seeing he could not without drawing great envy upon himself possess alone that preeminence in the Administration to which the King had design'd him he was content with the rest to share that part which could not equitably be denied to his approv'd Fidelity and Wisdom Though the Count de Soissons had the foremention'd reasons to seek the Duke of Espernon's friendship he had yet therein a further and a more important design and that was by the Duke's assistance to procure a Match betwixt Madamoiselle â—de Montpenâ—ier the Duke's Niece and his own Son Lewis of Bourbon since Count de Soissons neither was the Duke so ill read in this Princes intention that he did not very well perceive at what part he took his aim which made him though he receiv'd the offer of his friendship with the respect due to a Prince of the Blood nevertheless accept it with such a gravity and reservation as
of this Princes Protection had prevented others in the possession of his Favour and conceiving he should make himself more acceptable by rendring the affection of other Grandees suspected to him he had amongst others pointed out the Duke of Espernon for one of those of whom he had most reason to complain An ill Office that having at first preferr'd in general terms he afterwards pursu'd by particular circumstance telling the Prince that the Duke had doubled the Guards of the Louvre at his arrival and put all the King's Family into Arms as they had been to defend it against a common Enemy Which impression the Prince was more apt to receive by how much he believ'd that the Duke being already in a great degree of Favour with the Queen and very intimate with the Count de Soissons must needs be jealous of his return which he could not consider but as a great power directly opposite to all his concerns which made him at the first interview receive him not only with apparent coldness but also not able to dissemble his dissatisfaction reproach him for having endeavour'd to possess the Queen with some suspicions to his prejudice The Duke surpriz'd at so unexpected an entertainment and so groundless a reproach he having alter'd nothing in the usual Guards that had been kept in the Louvre since the King's Death and nettled with the sense of so injurious an Office gave aloud the Lye to all those who had branded him with so false a Calumny Yet would not this publick and generous profession of the truth so satisfie and appease the Prince that there was not still some remains of discontent in his mind against the Duke He did not think him so affectionate to him as to the Count de Soissons and seeing him advanc'd to that height of Reputation with the Queen could not expect he should be favourable to him in the design he had to assume that place in Court and to share that Authority in the management of Affairs which were due to his Birth and Greatness So that here the Court was divided the Prince of Condé having his Faction and the Count of Soissons his amongst whom the Duke of Espernon was the chief and most considerable member Yet did not this diversity of Interests produce any sudden ill effect the Princes paying a due respect to the Queen and being by her admitted into the debate of Affairs though the most important were carried on by other hands The Cabinet Council at this time consisted of the Duke of Espernon the Chancellour de Sillery President Ianin and Mounsieur de Villeroy wherein the Duke's Vote had the greatest sway and his Opinions did usually prevail by whom it being conceiv'd necessary for the honour of the Nation and the memory of the late King to pursue the Enterprize of Iuliers which had been the pretense of his Majesties Arms he propounded and got it to be concluded that the Mareschal de la Chasire with an Army of 10000 Foot and 1200. Horse should be sent to assist the interested Princes in the restitution of this Place The issue of which expedition was as succesful as could be wish'd the places possess'd by the Arch-Duke Leopold were restor'd into the hands of the Marquis of Brandebourg and the Duke of Newbourg so that Affairs on that side remain'd in as good a forwardness as could be desir'd to be shortly compos'd as they were to the satisfaction of the German Princes As in the occasion we spoke of last things were carried on for the honour so was it no less necessary for the safety of the Kingdom to give some satisfaction and assurance to those of the Reform'd Religion in the beginning of this new Reign it being very much to be fear'd this Faction which at this time was very powerful pretending a violation of the Edicts formerly publish'd in their toleration might run into insurrection to the ruine of the publick peace Wherein the Duke was of opinion to prevent either the real jealousie or else the evil intentions of those who were likely to breed any Commotion by Declarations to confirm the ancient Edicts granted in their favour It is very true that he had no kindness for their Religion but he thought it nevertheless unfit to violate the publick Faith where what he did then for reason of State he has ever since observ'd in his own particular administration so that though an enemy to new opinions he was notwithstanding ever very solicitous to maintain the professors of them within his Governments in peace and safety and it has been observ'd that although at Metz the best Families of the City were of that perswasion that they abounded in Xaintongue and Angoumois and that Guienne was not free it could never be perceiv'd that he made any distinction betwixt them and other the Kings Subjects except where he found them refractory and disobedient to his Commands These precautions so seasonably apply'd in this turn of State secur'd the Peace of the Kingdom both within and without to so fortunate a degree that a more happy Government could not possibly have been wish'd Which certainly if we consider the great number of discontents within before the King's death the distastes many persons of great Quality had taken who breath'd nothing but revenge with the Ambition that reigns in all Courts able to overthrow the surest foundations is infinitely to be wondred at To which may be added the envy of neighbouring Princes who could not without anxiety and apprehension suffer the height of prosperity to which France was already advanc'd together with the Artifices of such as usually in the troubles of a State seek to repair the ruines of their own desperate Fortunes all which evil dispositions could not according to humane imagination have found a more favourable juncture than during a Regency to have produc'd their fatal effects and yet never was France at greater peace within it self nor more respected of her Neighbours than in all the whole time of the Queens administration Wherein though I dare not I confess attribute the whole reputation of the good Government to the Duke of Espernon alone who having call'd the most prudent and experienc'd Ministers of the latter Reign into his Councils they ought also to share in the praise yet can I not in equity deny him the first place of Honour he having without dispute the greatest Authority and consequently having ever carried the greatest sway in the results of the most important Affairs This Power and Reputation being the ordinary objects of envy even amongst men of equal condition it is no wonder if the Princes of the Blood were jealous of the Duke of Espernon's greatness who as they said unknown to them dispos'd the greatest Affairs of the Kingdom wherein they particulary complain'd that he had perswaded the Queen to resolve upon a match betwixt the King and the Infanta of Spain a thing which in his Minority was not to
soon as a more mature age and experience should render him capable of that Employment he conceiv'd that a high Spirit as his was ought to rest very well satisfied with so fair a Fortune To the Marquis de la Valette his second Son he assign'd his Office of Colonel and the Government of Metz in reversion with the rest of his Estate whether hereditary or purchas'd which made up a Revenue equal to the first together with his share of the Rents and personal Estate For his third Son also he provided to the value of fifty thousand Crowns a year at least in Church preferments of which he was not content only to put him into present possession but gave him moreover a years Revenue advance that he might have wherewithal to maintain a port suitable to his condition to which he further added the survivancy of the Government of Boulogne and Loches with the Office of chief Almoner to the King which was a leading step to that of great Almoner of France In this distribution of his Fortune the Duke 's paternal care and liberality might a man would have thought have amply satisfied the most aspiring Ambitions and the most avaritious Natures neither could the two youngest enough magnifie the bounty of so good a Father who by his Industry and his Blood had rais'd them to such a height of Riches and Honour but some malevolent Spirits enemies to the peace and happiness of the eldest by a violence upon his nature perswaded him he had not been kindly us'd in this partition that therein his younger Brother had the best and most solid Employments assign'd to him whereof one was a Command of it self sufficient to oblige all the Gentlemen of France together with a Frontier much more considerable than the best Province of the Kingdom whereas what was consign'd to him was only an Office of little value and no great repute at Court with the expectation of a Mareschal's Staff considerable 't was true but a great way off and that for his Governments they lay so in the heart of the Kingdom that his Authority would be very little or nothing at all by which means making him at first undervalue the benefits he had receiv'd they so debauch'd his gratitude at last as to make him publickly complain of his Fathers proceeding and to despise all he had seeing he had not all he desir'd The Duke advertis'd of his Sons discontent labour'd all he could to reclaim him and make him see his error which he afterwards did neither could any thing be more grateful and obedient than he ever carried himself so oft as he suffer'd himself to be govern'd by his own natural inclination Even before the King's death the Fortune and Greatness of the Father with the merit and Riches of the Sons had rendred their Alliances so considerable that there were few persons of great Quality at Court who had not been offer'd to the Duke in Marriage with them but amongst the several Matches propos'd for the Count de Candale his eldest Son the Duke preferr'd that with the Dutchess of Haluin Grand-child to the Duke of Haluin and Daughter to the Marquis de Megnelay the inheritrix of a rich and illustrious Family before all the rest Whereupon a Marriage betwixt them shortly ensu'd though discontents soon after arising grew at last to that height that in a few years they came to an absolute separation Those who had the power to sow division in the Marriage-Bed had the same to perswade the Count de Candale into an open breach with the Duke his Father the grief whereof the most sensible of any he had ever met with in the whole course of his life as it was the cause of infinite others which befel him afterwards had like to have brought him to his Grave Yet did the Duke as if he had already foreseen what did after fall out all an indulgent Father could possibly do to reconcile himself to his Son and his Son to his Duty wherein though Le Plessis the usual mediator of all differences in that Family did as much as could be expected from an extraordinary prudence and a sincere affection it proved all to no effect the Count either unable to support the injury he believ'd had been done him in the partition of the Offices or not well enduring the presence of a Father he was conscious to himself he had not kindly us'd being resolv'd by a voluntary Exile to seek some repose for his troubled mind He determin'd therefore to forsake France but the end of his Travel was not simply for diversion neither could he satisfie himself with the meer exercise of some Vertues only to be practis'd in the obscurity of retirement and in the privacy of a Closet it was by painful and perillous actions and by exposing his life to the uncertain event of great Enterprizes that he would qualifie and sweeten his discontents Spurr'd on therefore by this generous resolution he took the second time the way of Italy where arriving at the Court of the great Duke of Tuscany at a time when he was equipping some Gallies for the Levant he entreated that Prince to permit him with his friends to put himself aboard those Vessels There had not any person of his condition for many years gone out of the Kingdom with so honourable a Train of Gentlemen and those in so handsome an Equipage as the Count did having above fifty Gentlemen of good quality in his company whom either their respect to the Father or the esteem of his own person had prevail'd upon to run the same fortune with him Loziere de Themines Monberaut Calonges Magnas the two Brothers de la Tour Villandry Cipierre Vernegue Monplaisir de Vic la Boissiere with many other Gentlemen of note were of this number when the Duke his Father how afflicted soever at his resolution yet unwilling he should be expos'd to so infinite and almost inevitable dangers without some prudent and faithful person to stand by him in all hazards permitted Le Plessis likewise who had been very useful to him in his former Travels to attend him in this sally also not doubting but he would by his conduct be as serviceable to him in his military undertakings as he had formerly been by his dexterity in other Affairs The Duke of Florence having consented that the Count de Candale with his Companions should embarque in his Gallies they cours'd up and down the Coasts of the Levant performing some exploits by Sea and making some attempts by Land and always with good success but the particular design of this expedition being upon the Fortress of Aglimant the most important of all Caramania they were to steer their course that way and to prepare themselves to assault it This Fortress favour'd by a good Harbour was man'd with six hundred Turks and moreover furnish'd with Artillery Ammunition and all things necessary for its defense which as it lay expos'd to the
without the least opposition an action that nevertheless he undertook with great reluctancy so great an affection and esteem he had for the Governour but his Duty ever carried it with him above all considerations The Chevalier de Valette was therefore establish'd in this Isle and very opportunely for had not the Duke taken this course and that the Rochellers who had a design to seize it had once got footing there great force and vast expense must have been employ'd to remove them but the Duke by this foresight sav'd the King that charge and labour Certainly never was War carried on at greater convenience for the Souldier than in this Countrey which by its situation and vicinity to the Provinces of Poictou Xaintonge and Angoumois lay so exceeding conveniently for the bringing in of all sorts of Provision and other necessaries that they were scarce to be had in greater abundance or at cheaper rates in the best Cities of the Kingdom than they were in the Camp continually to be sold as also the people came in with their commodities with as great confidence and security as to the publick and ordinary Markets and they might do so the least violence to any Higler Sutler or other Provisionary Person being a crime so capital as never escap'd unpunish'd By which we may judge how much the continuation of our civil dissentions has impair'd the flourishing condition the Kingdom was then in and how much the constitution of War by being grown older is alter'd from what it us'd to be in those better times Whilst the Duke thus bravely acquitted himself of his Command before Rochelle his Majesty had also with extraordinary vigour prosecuted his designs in Guienne where he had compell'd most of the places possess'd by those of the Religion in that Province to submit to his Authority and Power Of which he had reduc'd Bergerac Saint Foy Puimirol Tournon Monflanquin with several others besieg'd and taken Clerac and at last laid Siege to Montauban though herein he had not been so successful as in his other enterprizes so that the year ending with this variety of Events his Majesty was constrain'd to return to Paris to let the stormy quarter blow over that he might in a more favourable season recommence the interrupted progress of his Arms. In his Majesties return to Paris a little paltry place situated upon the banks of the River Garonne call'd Monhurt had the impudence to stand out against the Royal Army an insolence which though it receiv'd its due reward prov'd notwithstanding fatal to the Duke de Luines who by a burning Feaver there ended his days by whose decease both the place he possess'd in the King's favour as also the Office of Constable of France became void The Duke of Mayenne had likewise a few days before left a vacancy in the principal Government of the Kingdom which was that of Guienne by a Musquet-shot he receiv'd in his head before Montauban by the fall of which two great Ministers the King as we shall hereafter see had means to recompense the Services of the Duke of Espernon and the Mareschal de l' Esdiguieres two of the eldest and best deserving Servants of his Crown The Winter was no sooner a little abated of its fury but that those of the Religion more elevated with the raising of the Siege of Montaubon than they had been dejected with the loss of so many other places as the King had taken from them took the field to give his Majesty a new and greater provocation than before Of these Soubize was the first that fell in his Majesties way who having fortified himself in the Isle of Reé and some other Islands of Poictou thought the difficulty of their access would protect him from the Royal Power but he soon found that all places are firm Land to Kings when his Majesty overcoming all difficulties that oppos'd his way pass'd over the Marshes and his own Fortifications within them to fall upon him where he gave him so notable a defeat that he could not of a long time after recover that blow nor put himself again into any tolerable posture of War So soon as the Duke of Espernon had intelligence of the King's motion towards those Provinces where he had the honour to command he design'd a Journey to his Majesty to give him an accompt of those discoveries he had made whilst he lay before Rochelle that were of greatest importance to his design a desire he had no sooner acquainted his Majesty withal but that he gave him leave to come to him to Poictiers where he accordingly arriv'd in the beginning of the year 1622. He could not possibly desire a more favourable reception than his Majesty was here pleas'd to give him who openly declar'd himself infinitely satisfied with his Service neither indeed could it by any one have been perform'd with greater fidelity or to better effect so that the King being resolutely bent to punish the Rochellers disobedience had a great desire that the Duke should still pursue the Siege as he had begun But the Count de Soissons a young Prince of great courage and expectation having been prompted by his friends to ask some employment he was not handsomly to be denied any thing almost he could demand every thing he would pretend to seeming justly due to his Birth and merit Amongst all the Commands of the Kingdom that the Duke had before Rochelle was without all dispute the most honourable and the Duke had notice given him a few days after his return to his Camp of the importunate suit the Count de Soissons made to have the Command of the Army under his charge conferr'd upon him an intelligence that perhaps the informer presum'd would have been very unwelcome to him but if the Duke knew how to stand upon his punctilio and to hold his own amongst his equals he also better understood than any man of the Kingdom what deference was due to the Princes of the Blood He was therefore no sooner advertis'd of the Count's desire but that he was himself the first man to second it representing to his Majesty in his dispatches how much it stood him upon to favour the inclinations of this young Prince that he might the sooner be made capable of performing those Services his Majesty was one day to expect from his Valour and Conduct He also renew'd the same instances by word of mouth when his Majesty came a few days after out of Poictou into Xaintonge though when all was done he himself would never be prevail'd upon to serve any more in this Army under this new General Monsieur d' Herbaut Secretary of State his old and particular friend was commanded by the King to speak to him about it who represented to him That his Majesties intention herein was not in the least to diminish his Authority in the Army nor to cut him off in the least from the exercise of his Command That if they took
defeating all the rules of Art pass'd for miraculous One of the Souldiers of the Duke's Guards call'd Faure receiv'd a Cannon-shot in his Belly which pass'd quite through leaving an orifice bigger than a Hat Crown so that the Chirurgeons could not imagine though it were possible the Bowels should remain unoffended that nature could have supply'd so wide a breach which notwithstanding she did and to that perfection that the party found himself as well as before Another of the same condition call'd Rameé and of the same place they being both Natives of St. Iean de Angely receiv'd a Musquet-shot which entring at his mouth came out of the nape of his neck who was also perfectly cur'd which two extravagant wounds being reported to the King his Majesty took them both into his own particular dependence saying those were men that could not die though they afterwards both ended their dayes in his Service This place being reduc'd to the King's obedience there remain'd nothing more in Xaintonge worthy his Majesties Arms so that he was at liberty to advance with all his Forces into Guienne The Prince of Condé had been sent thither before with the Vant-guard of the Army where at his Majesties arrival he found Monravet taken by the Duke d' Elboeuf and Themeins after a long and obstinate resistance surrendred to the same Duke Saint Foy also Clerac le Mont de Marsan with several other considerable places were reduc'd to his obedience by the Marquis de la Force de Lusignan and de Castelnau de Chalosse who had taken them in so that his Majesty finding little to do in Guienne pass'd speedily thence into Languedoc Negrepolisse a little paltry â—own upon his way was so impudent as to stand a Siege but it was soon taken by assault and St. Antonin having after a Siege surrendred to mercy their temerity having put the King upon making some examples the neighbouring places thought it convenient to fly to his Majesties Clemency to evade the trial of his victorious Arms. Whilst the King was taken up with these little exploits the Duke of Espernon had taken opportunity to look into his own Domestick Affairs the better to fit himself to follow and serve his Majesty in his main expedition which he had so dispatch'd as to come before the King to Tholouze who arriving there a few days after the Army mov'd towards the higher Languedoc by the way of Caâ—cassonne Beziers Narbonne and other good Cities and the seven and twentieth of August the whole Court arriv'd at la Verune a little Town in Languedoc where the Duke receiv'd the honour of a Patent for Governour and his Majesties Lieutenant General in Guienne and for the particular Governments of Chasteau Trompette as also of the City and Cittadel of Bergerac with the City and Castle of Nerac in lieu of his Governments of Angoumois Xaintonge Aulins and Limousin From the time of their being together at Tholouze the Prince of Condé having converted the animosities he had conceiv'd against the Duke during the Regency of the Queen Mother into a particular esteem he was the first man that thought of this Command in the Duke's favour and though he had himself been Governour of that Province yet thinking it no prejudice to his Birth and Dignity to be succeeded by a man of his Merit he first propos'd him to the King His Majesty understood as well as any the importance of this Command and having a little before experimented in the person of the Duke of Mayenne what a Governour of Guienne could do when debauch'd from his Duty had been at great debate with himself upon whom to confer the honour of this great Employment At the first mention notwithstanding of the Duke of Espernon he very favourably gave his consent and the constant testimonies he had always receiv'd of the Duke's fidelity seeming to be security for him for the time to come he gave the Prince order to speak to him about it and to let him know he had thoughts of conferring upon him the honour of that command But all we who were of the Duke's Family can witness there was not the same facility in the Duke to receive this favour there had been in his Majesty to confer it Not that he wanted ambition â—or that his spirit did not prompt him with great confidence in himself to aspire to the highest employments but this ambition also was not blind and if on the one side he consider'd how great an honour it would be to succeed the late King Henry the great of happy memory who had maintain'd himself in this Government till he came to the Crown with other first Princes of the Blood and to have his Authority rais'd to that height in his own native Countrey he wisely weigh'd on the other side that amongst so many advantages he should meet with much trouble and many difficulties to balance the lustre of that Dignity with many occurrences that he foresaw would be very cross and untoward His present condition 't was true was not so shining but it was also more calm and his Authority was so establish'd in his own Governments that there was none who was not acquainted with his Justice and who from the Infancy of his Administration had not paid so inviolate a respect to his person that the reverence those Countreys had for him seem'd to be a natural quality in the people committed to his charge The Gentry and Populacy were equally obedient to him and he liv'd amongst them as free from trouble as envy whereas in Guienne where his Government would be shut up betwixt two Parliaments he conceiv'd that in the administration of his charge it would be almost impossible to avoid many disputes with the members of the one or the other Body Whilst he had only had to do with them in the quality of a friend he had found them exceedingly obliging and all the Gentry of the Province had ever paid him a very great respect but he very much doubted whether in such a degree of Authority he could preserve the friendship and affection of so many persons of quality as would be subjected to him These reasons made him long deliberate upon this Affair and he was often tempted to refuse it but he was so importun'd by his friends and particularly by the Duke of Guise who came to wait upon the King in Languedoc that he at last resolv'd to embrace his Majesties gracious offer though I heard him say then and he has often confirm'd it since that he would never have been perswaded to do it had he not been before divested of the Cittadel of Xaintes assuring us that could he have kept that in the condition he had once put it he would not have exchang'd those Governments he was already seiz'd of for any the best in France Having therefore long deliberated before he could resolve he at last went to receive from the King 's own hand his Patent for Governour of
as true in his predictions as unhappy in prevailing with these good counsels his long experience suggested to him had advis'd that a sufficient Guard of Horse should be planted near to the Fort to beat back any that should dare to sally out of the Town to drive our men from their post He knew very well that the enemy had few or no Horse and that therefore they durst not without infinite danger hazard their Foot to come to us the space between being large enough to give our Cavalry room to come to charge and to cut them in pieces before they could come to the Fort that we kept and Calonge has since confess'd to me that had his counsel been follow'd he should never have dar'd to sally out it being not to be done without manifest ruine and that consequently within ten dayes he must have been necessitated to a surrender but this second advice was rejected as well as the first through the opposition of some who car'd not to overthrow the King's Affairs provided they could thereby discredit the Duke's conduct or traverse his designs All these over-sights of ours being taken notice of by Calonges he would no longer defer to re-possess himself of what had been taken from him especially considering that he could not otherwise preserve the place to render therefore his action more illustrious by the light and to put a greater infamy upon our confusion he sallied out at high noon at the head of five hundred Foot seven and twenty Cuirassiers fourteen Carabins and two Trumpets with which small party he fell so vigorously upon the Fort that it was abandoned to him with little or no resistance The noise of this sally at so unexpected an hour and the place where the action was performâ—d by its height expos'd to the view of the whole Army soon call'd all the King's Forces to the relief of their Friends insomuch that many Lords of very great quality and a great number of Gentlemen who hapned to be at that time in the King's Lodgings mounted upon little pad Nags most of them without Boots or other Arms than their Swords to signalize their Valour in the sight of their Prince who was himself spectator of the Action Of these the Duke of Fronsac a young Prince of great expectation was one the Duke of Montmorency another the Marquis de Beuuron Hocqueâ—ot Lieutenant of the Gendarmes to the Prince Cambalet Fabregues with many other Gentlemen of note of all which not one escap'd excepting the Duke of Montmorency and he with two thrusts of a Pike in his Breast so that this unfortunate succour serving only to augment our loss and to condemn those who had contradicted the Duke's opinion he receiv'd to his great grief a publick reparation which he could have been heartily glad to have fail'd of rather than it should have been purchas'd at the price of so much noble Blood and so notable a disadvantage to the Royal Armes Le Plessis Baussonniere Mareschal de Battaâ—le of the King's Armes bravely fighting escap'd in this first occasion though he was therein desperately engag'd but he was not so fortunate in another that â—ollow'd soon after at the storming a Half-moon where after having given his orders for the assault and put himself as his custom was in the head of the Assailants encouraging as well by his example as his voice those he led on to fight he lost an eye by a Musquet-shot which soon after occasion'd the loss of his life After so much blood spilt the difficulties of the Siege daily encreasing the Duke de Rohan was glad to make use of a juncture wherein his party had some little advantage to procure a more favourable Peace which was accordingly sign'd before Montpellier the 22 of October 1622. and Calonges surrendred up the place into his Majesties hands who if he had by his Courage won himself a great reputation in the Siege he obtain'd no less by his ingenuity in the handsome manner of his submission to the King The day after the Peace was concluded the King made his entry into the City when after his Majesty had taken order for the defense of the Town he took the way to Paris by Provâ—â—câ— Avignon Dauphiné and Lionnois so that the Duke of Espâ—â—â—on who never parted from him in all this Journey attended his Majesty into his old Government of Provence There had formerly been as you may have observ'd various dispositions towards the Duke in that Countrey as well friends as enemies but time which is the sovereign cure of all untoward passions had reconcil'd them all by this time to one sense All Animosities were now converted into a general esteem of his Vertue insomuch that I have not observ'd him to have a greater reputation in any Province of the Kingdom nor to be any where receiv'd with greater respect and applause All mischiefs whether publick or particular occasion'd by the former War were buried in oblivion and the people after having seen the King enquir'd aloud for the Duke of Espernon which his Majesty taking notice of fail'd not so often as he met a crowd upon the way to shew them the Duke they were so inquisitive after and when asking them some pleasant questions about their past disorders even their former miseries were at this time turn'd into delight The King at his departure out of Provence pass'd by Avignon where his Majesty was visited by the Duke of Savoy This Prince seeing almost none of the old Court save the Duke of Espernon for whom he had ever had a very great esteem though he had been notably disappointed by him in all his designs upon France as has been said before was particularly and infinitely civil to him He came very frequently to his Lodgings ever carrying himself with great familiarity and very obliging fashion living in the King of France his Court with as much liberty and freedom as he had been all the while in his own His aspect which was gracious open and full of Majesty giving evidences though under a very moderate stature of the great and generous soul he was really master of From Auignon his Majesty pass'd through Dauphiné where arriving about the end of the year he there found the Queens who by his order were thither come to attend him And here it was that the Duke of Espernon receiv'd a new honour in the person of the Marquis de la Valette his Son and which he preferr'd with good reason before all the rest he had hitherto receiv'd from his Majesties bounty The King had a little before as you have heard honour'd him with the Government of Guienne had by his Grace and bounty establish'd and confirm'd him in all the Offices and Dignities he had been invested withal as the rewards of his Service but now for the Crown of all his Favours the King would yet honour him with his Alliance and make him Father-in-law to Gabrielle a legitimated Daughter of
difficulty having been started in the Parliament about the manner of his reception they had determin'd to moderate the excessive honours had formerly been paid to the Sons of France or the first Princes of the Blood who had been Governours of the Province in going to receive them in their Scarlet Robes a punctilio that though it was true it had been wav'd in deference to the Duke of Mayenne it had nevertheless been done meerly out of respect to the high favour wherein he was when advanc'd to the Government of Guienne but that at this time they were resolv'd to be more reserv'd I never in my life saw the Duke more surpriz'd than at this news who jealous of his Honour and Dignity to the highest degree would rather never have enter'd Bordeaux than to suffer the least diminution of what had been granted to the Duke of Mayenne He therefore return'd an answer to this Letter dated the 27. of Ianuary 1623. wherein after having briefly answer'd what concern'd the general Affairs he insisted with great vehemency upon the denial of those honours had been paid to his Predecessor telling him amongst other things That if they had never appear'd in their Scarlet Robes but in honour of the Sons of France or the Princes of the Blood he so well understood the respect due to them as they were in a capacity of succeeding to the Crown as not to desire a new example in his favour but that he had not the same consideration for others The whole Letter being writ with his own hand he commanded me to take a Copy of it from whence I have taken the very words I present you here The Duke not yet satisfied with delivering his sense of this Affair in writing would moreover dispatch away Constantin the Comptroller of his House to Bordeaux to communicate his resolution to several Members of that Parliament who were his particular friends wherein he succeeded according to his own desire and his reception was concluded in the same form his Predecessors had been receiv'd some of the Company totally disowning all the first President had writ concerning this business by which the Duke having just reason to believe him the Author of this scruple he conceiv'd he had a mind to oblige the Society at the price of his Friends Honour so that being offended to the last degree that he should so much as bring a thing into dispute thas was his apparent due he from thenceforward entertain'd very sinister impressions of his friendship neither was it long before he made him sensible of it Whilst these things were in agitation the Duke was still advancing towards Cadillac where he intended at leisure from the Parliaments proceedings to take his measures what he was to do about his entry into Bordeaux He was here visited by all the Nobility of the Province by several of the Parliament men in particular and by an infinite conflux of Gentry who came to attend him at his entry which was concluded to be upon the last of February 1623. Whilst he here waited in expectation of the appointed day he dispos'd of the Governments of those places committed to his charge whereof that of Chasteau-Trompette was given to Plessis Nerac to the Count de Maillé but Bergerac which was a command of the greatest profit and the most important place was put into the hands of the Chevalier de la Valette the Duke 's natural Son who by his bravery had infinitely gain'd upon his love and opinion The King had besides these places moreover assign'd him two Regiments in constant pay viz. That of the said Chevalier de la Valette and that of Castelbayart together with his Company of Gens-d ' Armes so that his Authority supported by these Forces was much more considerable than any of his Predecessors had ever been The Duke having thus settled the Governments of these places would now no longer defer his entry but came to Frans a house belonging to a private Gentleman about half a League only distant from the City and upon the Banks of the River Garonne where the Iurates of Bordeaux came to receive him in a Boat they had prepar'd for that purpose He was by them convey'd by water to a place call'd Port du Caillau where he was met without the Gate by all the Companies of the Town excepting the Parliament who in their Scarlet Robes receiv'd him at the entry of the City I shall not here undertake to describe every circumstance of this Ceremony nor the Magnificence respect or applause observable in the solemnity of this reception it being sufficient to say that therein nothing was omitted or diminished of what had formerly been paid to his illustrious Predecessors and that the old affection both the City and Province had for his Person and Name produc'd a greater and more general joy at his arrival than had amongst that great people been observ'd of many years before There was only the Mareschal de Themines the King's Lieutenant in the Province who neither paid him honour nor civility either by Letter or Visit a man who although he had ever till this time had the Duke's person and friendship in very high esteem yet having been constituted the King's Lieutenant in that Province sometime before the Duke was promoted to the Government he could not without infinite impatience see himself absolutely depriv'd of all the functions of his Command He knew very well the Duke would be so active on his part that very little would be left for him to do whereas he pretended this Lieutenancy had been conferr'd upon him with a promise that if a Governour should happen to be set over him it should be no other than a Prince of the Blood who should never continue upon the place and that consequently by his absence would leave him the absolute command of the Province and in truth the Mareschals de Matignon and d' Ornano had formerly enjoy'd it after that manner so that the seeing himself by this usage defeated of that expectation was as he himself declar'd the subject of his discontent The Duke was very much surpriz'd at this proceeding he had as there was just cause ever had the Mareschal in very high esteem and could have been glad he would by gentle means have been reconcil'd to his duty that he might not have been oblig'd to make use of those remedies the authority of his Command put into his hands which that he might not do he consented that some who were friends to them both should treat with him about a better understanding betwixt them he being unwilling what provocation soever he had to have recourse to violence wherein perhaps he was more temperate than ever in his life before but in the end seeing his patience serv'd only to make the Mareschal more obstinate in his unkindness laying aside all those considerations that had hitherto withheld him he would no longer defer to make him sensible of the
acquainted with the humour of this people and knew them to be as timorous and dejected when any danger was near at hand as they were stout and haughty when it was remote and out of the prospect of their fear Not daring therefore to rely upon the valour and Fidelity of such a people in an Affair of so high importance and moreover importun'd by the intelligence he receiv'd from all parts that the Enemy was ready to enter the Country he departed from Bordeaux the 6 th of October arriv'd the tenth at Nerac and the sixteenth aâ— Bayonne with a diligence so much above the strength of a man of his Age that at his arrival there he was surpriz'd with a sharp and a dolorous distemper so violent a Fever accompanying his pain that for some days his Friends and Servants knew not what to hope would be the issue of his Disease Though the Duke had with him no other Forces save only his Company of Gens d' Armes his Guards and an hundred or sixscore Gentlemen Volunteers he notwithstanding stuck not boldly to expose his Person for the security of that Frontier in the preservation whereof consisted the safety of the whole Country He was scarcely there arriv'd when the people came running in crowds with news that the Enemy was upon the point to enter who also on their part follow'd the intelligence so close that there was scarce any interval betwixt the report of their coming and their being come The Duke though exceedingly ill would by no means that in an Affair of this Consequence they should conceal any thing from his knowledge neither did he upon the first intimation fail to take order for all things with as much diligence and care as if he had been in the greatest vigour of health wherein his instructions were also such as had they been duly executed and observ'd the Enemy would have met with greater difficulties than they did and their Entry into this little Country though open on all sides would have cost them both more time and more blood then they laid out upon this occasion But what he had order'd with so much prudence and foresight was very ill obey'd and the people of the Country no sooner saw the Enemy appear than they fled before them none of their Leaders being able to prevail with them to stand or so much as once to face about in any place of what advantage soever The Duke sometime before he advanc'd towards this Frontier foreseeing what work and trouble the invasion of a Forein Army was likely to create him had intreated the King to send the Duke de la Valette his Son who also had the Government of Guienne settled upon him in reversion to his assistance who accordingly came to him to Bayonne the same day the Enemy entred the Country and who having as he pass'd by Bordeaux heard of the Sickness of the Duke his Father was by that ill news oblig'd to take Post and was but newly alighted when intelligence was brought that the Enemy was entring and that thereupon had followed a great confusion amongst our own people The Duke at this news was not a little distracted betwixt two contrary Passions by which he was at one and the same time assaulted either of paying the assistance to which he was in Nature and Duty bound to a good and languishing Father or of pursuing what his Honour and Bravery exacted from him for the Service of his Prince and Master But that debate betwixt his Piety and Honour was soon determin'd by the Father himself and the mutual tenderness they had for one another was soon overcome by the Affection they both had to their common duty It was in the close of the Evening when the Duke de la Valette arriv'd at Bayonne and the night was no sooner pass'd when mounting on Horseback with some persons of on Condition who had there waited in expectation of his coming he went out to discover the Countenance of the Enemy but neither his Presence Exhortations nor Example could work any effect upon the common people whose Spirits had by the first days fright been so strangely subdu'd that it was impossible to raise them the next to any tolerable degree of resolution so that in this general Consternation all he could possibly do was to retreat without disorder which also was not to be done without a very great deal of danger The Duke de la Valette engag'd his Person so far to make good this Retreat and to preserve the little Honour he had to manage in this Encounter that he very often ran a very great hazard of his life and certainly expos'd himself more than he was any way oblig'd to do when being in the end retir'd himself always the last man he commanded la Roche Captain of the Duke his Fathers Guards and also of his own to make good the Bridge which separates the Bourg of Siboure from that of Saint Iean de Luz against the Enemy that follow'd very close in his Rear This Order was not to be executed without infinite danger but the Duke de la Valette well enough knew that he to whom it was given would not bely his former Actions neither did la Roche deceive his expectation who with forty Musketeers only which he had under his Command stop'd the torrent of a Victorious Army and after having kill'd two hundred of their men upon the place amongst whom were eight or ten of their best Officers and having by that means given our Foot time to put themselves into a place of safety after he had sufficiently manifested his own Conduct with the Valour and Dexterity of his Souldiers he drew up the Draw-Bridge that lay over the middle of the River and with very little loss retir'd to the Duke de la Valette's Troop who staid to make good his Retreat After this manner the Spanish Forces possess'd themselves of the Country of Labourt and our men were no sooner retir'd on this side Saint Iean de Luz but that the Enemy seiz'd it and the same day presented themselves before Socoa This Socoa was a little point of Land jetting out into the Sea convenient and proper enough for Fortification but those of the Country would never consent to have it fortified Which notwithstanding the place of it self was of so advantageous a situation that they had ventur'd to put into it two hundred Souldiers who having had leisure to cast up some Works made a countenance before the arrival of the Spanish Army there bravely to defend themselves but their Resolution was of no long continuance the fear of the people soon infected the Souldier and some Gentlemen who upon other occasions had given testimony of their Valour having been appointed to command them were so unhappy as not to preserve the same Reputation here So that to be short contrary to the opinion of the two Dukes the Father and the Son and of all the men of Command
was very perfect in yet did not that knowledge make him alter his resolution choosing rather to live with him in a less degree of Favour than to beg Offices and Employments at the price of his own Honour Many secret discontents arising from this first cause it must of necessity follow that these two Spirits having been so long dissatisfied with one another and so equally dispos'd to a final Rupture would at one time or another produce their ordinary effect An occasion presented it self at the Enemies entring into Picardy and about the taking of la Capelle The Baron du Bec was Governour of this place which this Gentleman very well known to and entirely belov'd by the Duke de la Valette had surrendred sooner than the Cardinal could have wish'd for want as he pretended of Provision The Cardinal who by an example of high severity would oblige the Governours of other places to hold out to the last extremities or perhaps by that means to justifie himself to the King from any censure he might undergo as Prime Minister of State in not having sufficiently provided for the necessities of so important a place caus'd an Honourable Council immediately to be Assembled This Council consisted of all the Officers of the Crown who were then to be found in Paris together with some Counsellors of State whose business it must be to condemn the Baron du Bec as convict of Cowardise and Treachery to a privation of his Life and Honour The Duke de la Valette was amongst the rest summon'd to this Assembly wherein as he saw he was not call'd to it to deliver his free Opinion that the Gentleman was beforehand mark'd out for Ruine and that Sentence of Death must consequently ensue so did he endeavour with all the art he had to decline having any thing to do in that business but it was altogether in vain The Cardinal would admit of no excuses but after having sent three times to his House to seek him Chavigni Secretary of State went the fourth time to tell him plainly he must either satisfie or absolutely break with the Cardinal This express and positive Declaration prevail'd in the end with the Duke de la Valette to go to the Council but it was not nevertheless to comply in the least with the animosities of others The Baron du Bec's Affair was laid open in the Presence of the King and the Cardinal and the greater part of the Judges concluded the Crimes laid to his charge sufficient to condemn the party accus'd but the Duke de la Valette did not think himself oblig'd to be of that opinion and consequently could not consent to his Condemnation If the Cardinal had manifested something of vehemency in importuning the Duke to come to the Council he express'd yet a far greater indignation to find him of a judgment so far dissenting from his own insomuch that at his coming out of the Council taking the Duke de la Valette aside he could not contain himself from breaking into very unhandsome Language proceeding to so bitter and so injurious expressions that the Duke was not able to forbear giving a very smart Reply the Reverence due to the place where they then were permitting him at that time to do no more though such as were acquainted with his temper will easily judg that he would omit no occasion of manifesting a higher resentment In the heat of this Discontent he receiv'd the Command of which I have already spoken to go joyn himself with the Count dc Soissons in Picardy and then the Cardinal could find some expressions of Civility and Complement to smooth him withal at his departure but an Offence being much harder to be repair'd than committed the Wound the Duke carried along with him in his Bosom was not to be clos'd by so slender a Remedy It was presently after this that the Cardinal was inform'd the Duke de la Valette had hearkened to the Propositions had been made to him by the Count dâ— Soissons for the Revenge of their common Injuries and that the Monsieur was also consenting with them At the time the Cardinal receiv'd this intimation the Duke de la Valette to his good Fortune was as far off as Bayonne but the Monsieur and the Count de Soissons being both at Paris escap'd but a very few hours of being both Arrested having nevertheless time enough to withdraw themselves they departed suddenly from Paris when though they scarce knew which way to fly for refuge from the power of their Enemy yet hoping that either the danger the Duke de la Valette ran equally with them or that the Generosity of the Duke of Espernon who on the other side was himself not very well satisfied with the Court might induce him to receive them into Guienne they dispatch'd away thither first the Count de Bourdeille and after him the Count de Montresor his Brother of which both the one and the other had instructions to address themselves to the Duke de la Valette that by his perswasions the Father might be rendred more favourable to their desires But this Duke who had much rather be alone expos'd to the Cardinal 's whole stock of hatred than to disquiet the old Age of the Duke his Father by interessing him in his Quarrels freely told them That the Monsieur and the Count were to expect nothing from his Mediation in this Affair That he was indeed resolv'd to follow his Fathers Resolutions but that he would never prompt him to any thing that might trouble his repose Montresor who came last and who would not depart without a positive resolution finding no hopes of concurrence in the Duke de la Valette desir'd to talk in private with the Duke of Espernon He was accordingly admitted into his Chamber at ten of the Clock at night after all his Servants were retir'd where he represented to him The immediate danger wherein two great Princes of the Blood were at this time engag'd by the violence of Cardinal Richelieu their and his particular Enemy That in securing their lives he might also establish his own Fortune and that of his Family That he knew very well how great was the number of discontented persons how violent the despair of the people and how intolerable the oppression of all the several Orders of the Kingdom That all these favourable dispositions wanted only some considerable heads to work their common safety by the ruine of the Cardinals Affairs That there was not a person in the Kingdom who would not be ready speedily to joyn with these Princes seeing their good intention for the Redress of the Publick should their cause be supported by his prudent Conduct That this Act would crown all the other actions of his life for ever establish the Fortune of his own Family and render oblig'd to him for their Lives and Honour two Princes the one the Son and Brother of the King his Master's his own
himself to his House Plassac of which Request though the pretence was to enter into a course of Physick for the recovery of his Health yet the true reason was that he might be out of the way of having any Disputes with the Prince about the Affairs of his Government which he could not without great grief have seen afflicted with those miseries wherewith it was threatned nor perhaps without expressing such a dislike of that harsh way of proceeding as might have given him Offence A thing which all the Friends and Servants he had at Court having foreseen they had advis'd him to this course his Sons who were best acquainted with his tickle and impatient humour were of this advice but there is great apparence that the first thoughts of retiring were inspir'd by the Prince himself who having in other Employments where the Duke and he had serv'd together had tryal enough of his difficult humour would no more be subject to those contrarieties he had formerly endur'd and had therefore doubtless prompted him with that resolution The Duke's Request therefore being so conformable to the Princes desires and to the sence of the Court it was no hard matter for him to obtain that in the quality of a favour which had doubtless been enjoyn'd him as a punishment had he not by speaking first prevented a Command from the King to the same effect for it had been from that time forward as it has been evident since been resolv'd upon to withdraw him from his Government and to suspend him from all the Functions of his Command Nevertheless having lighted so pat upon the humour of the great Ministers by the advice of his Friends he was very civilly treated in his Majesties Answer which was couch'd in these terms Cousin Having found by your Letter of the eigteenth instant and moreover understood by the mouth of the Sieur de Lavrilliere the Secretary of my Dispatches that in order to your Health by the change of Air and the use of some Remedies have been prescrib'd you by your Physicians you desire for some time to retire your self to your House of Plassac I send you this to let you know that any thing which may either concern your health or satisfaction being very pleasing to me I do willingly grant you the liberty you desire to go to your said House assuring my self that even from thence you will have a vigilant eye to whatsoever may concern the good of my Service within the precincts of your Government In the mean time I shall pray to God Cousin to have you in his Holy Protection From St. Germains en Laye the 28 th day of March 1638. The Duke very well satisfied with this answer began to make himself ready to begin his Journey so soon as the Prince should be arriv'd in Guienne where whilst he waited in expectation of his coming he pass'd away the time with the Duke de Candalé his eldest Son entertaining him with greater familiarity and freedom than till that time he had ever done whose complacency and fine Behaviour made at this time so great an impression upon the Duke his Father that certainly this Son had never been so dear to him as when he was upon the point to lose him in somuch that his present joy was no little disposition to augment the approaching grief soon after occasion'd by his unexpected Death The Duke de la Valette had in the interim of these Dispatches from the King and the Prince of Condé been oblig'd to make a Journey to Court to which he had been engag'd contrary both to his Majesties express Order and also his own resolution He knew very well the ill Offices had been done him to the Cardinal since the business of Corbie glanc'd at in the preceding Discourse he was moreover very well acquainted with the implacable nature of the person who conceiv'd himself so highly offended by him to which his power was no less known to him than his malice considerations that altogether had made him positively determine not to put himself into his hands that he might not add to the number of those who had already tasted the utmost effects of his Indignation choosing rather to live in his Government in safety though in disgrace than to expose himself to the almost inevitable dangers he was to wade through to a faint and dissembled Reconciliation But how determinate soever he had been in that resolution it was impossible for him to keep it for those who had imprudently engag'd his Majesty in a War with Spain as maliciously made the Cardinal some overtures of Accommodation as a thing solicited by the Duke de la Valette himself who desir'd nothing less exposing him by that means to the greatest hazard he perhaps ever ran in the whole time of his Life The Treaty however being thus set on Foot the Duke seeing himself reduc'd to a necessity either of breaking openly with the Cardinal or of going immediately to him chose in truth the most dangerous course but withal that by which he could at that time alone secure the Fortune of his Family and the repose of the Duke his Father which he ever preferr'd before his own particular safety This last consideration therefore prevail'd with him to undertake this Journey so that he went to Court and had some Conference with the Cardinal who because he would make all the use of him he could before he would destroy him thinking fit to spare him at that time with a dissimulation peculiar to himself receiv'd him at the greatest rate of kindness and feeedom could possibly be put on protesting an absolute Oblivion of all former discontents and making the King to give him the same assurance which being done he dismiss'd him much more satisfied that he had escap'd the present danger than any ways secure of his good intention for the time to come At his return from this Voyage he found the Prince of Condé already arriv'd in Guienne The Duke his Father had receiv'd him at Bordeaux with all imaginable Honours wherein though doubtless there was a great deal due to his Quality as being a Prince of the Blood yet it is most certain that in this unusual complacency the Duke had an equal regard to his Person His respect proceeded so far that not content to pay him all the deference and submission he was capable of in his own person he would moreover extend his civility further by employing his Authority and interest with the Parliament of that City for his full satisfaction The Prince would that at their coming to visit him they should Complement him by the title of Monseigneur and the Company insisted upon the contrary as a term at that time not in use but the Duke interposing thereupon the Interest he had in the Deputies of that Assembly prevail'd with them so far that the Ceremony pass'd in the end according to the Princes desire All these Civilities paid by way
that it never after left him but with his Life Within a few hours after he had been laid in Bed Fabert whom he had a passionate desire to see and had a long time expected came to see him He was by him presented with a great many Letters from several of his Friends But the Duke without opening any one of them contented himself with embracing him only and entreating to be excus'd that he was not in a condition that day to entertain him referr'd it till the next morning in hopes by that time to be in a better posture of Health At another time his active and curious Spirit that was never tir'd out with business would not have referr'd the discoursing with a Friend he so dearly lov'd till the morrow but now as if he had foreseen what a small share remain'd to him of Worldly things he had not so much as the Curiosity to inform himself of any His Fever which the first day was judg'd to be Quotidian a sort of Ague he us'd frequently to have and which also did not a little contribute to the better support of his Health continued from the first to the second and from the second to the third Fit with so excessive violence that Motivier his Physician a man very excellent in his profession and who had for many years been very diligent about his Person judg'd him from that time forwards to be in very great danger as well by reason of his wonderful great Age and the evil dispositions that had preceded his Disease as from the Disease it self He was therefore of opinion that a Father Capuchin should be sent for to the end he might in due time prepare him for Confession the Fathers of that Order having a particular priviledge to administer that Sacrament to him They were the more hasty to make this provision for his Conscience by how much they perceiv'd him sometimes to fall into Fits of Raving which gave them an apprehension that his distemper encreasing his judgment might be totally taken from him which notwithstanding did not so fall out This good Father being come to the Duke under pretence of a meer Visit only put him insensibly upon the contempt of worldly things and the necessity of Death and came at last by degrees to touch a little at Confession The Duke though by this discourse he presently guess'd at the ill opinion they had of him and that they began to despair of his Life yet did he nevertheless make no shew of astonishment or surprize but on the contrary submitting with great serenity and calmness to the good Pleasure of Almighty God he told the Holy Father That he had highly oblig'd him in putting him in mind of his Conscience That he was Old and Sick That in a better estate of Health his end could not be far distant from him and that being by the Grace of God a Christian he intended to dye after a Christian manner After which few words intreating he would give him some time to prepare himself for this Sacrament he caus'd him to retire into another Room He commanded his Servants also to leave him alone and to depart out of his Chamber which being accordingly done after he had two hours recollected himself he caus'd the Father to be again call'd in who could never enough commend the Zeal and Repentance he observ'd in this illustrious Penitent It was about noon that he made his Confession and about four of the Clock the same day he desir'd the Holy Eucharist which he receiv'd with so great Piety and Reverence as was not a little edifying to all the Assistants He at the same time gave charge to his Almoner to acquaint him when it was time to receive the Extreme Unction taking order for all these last Ceremonies with so manly an indifferency and so great a tranquillity of mind as if he had rather been taking care for some other in a dying condition than busie about any thing that immediately concern'd himself He was never heard at any time either to wish for Life or to repine at Death but performing without trouble and disorder what was to be done so well to receive the one and to part fairly with the other he in my opinion at this time gave the greatest proof and example of his Courage and Constancy that he had ever done His Disease growing every day more violent than other he was the fourth day of his Sickness observ'd to fall into more and more extravagant Ravings than at any time before to which his Chest also began to be so obstructed that there was a visible difficulty of Breathing All which dangerous Accidents and mortal Symptomes in an Age like that of his making every one conclude his dissolution to be very near they talk'd to him no more of any thing but God a Discourse that he also on his part hearkened to with great willingness and aâ—â—ention He had at all times had a Crucifix fastned to his Beds-feet upon which he now perpetually fixt his eyes and having caus'd his Chaplet to be put about his Arm because he wanted strength to hold it in his hand he was continually lifting it to his mouth to kiss it The fifth day of his Sickness was very much worse than those that had gone before and if upon his other days he had had some intervals of repose the continuation of his Disease having infected all that remain'd in him of found and uncorrupt he was totally oppress'd without any release or intermission at all The extremities of his Disease therefore causing it to be judg'd convenient to make use of the extremest Remedies both for Soul and Body his Physician resolv'd upon a Bleeding and the Ecclesiasticks upon the Extreme Unction of which the last nam'd preceded the other About two hours after midnight the Dutchess de la Valette the Marquis and Marquise de la Valette her Children got up to be assisting at this Holy Ceremony to whom the Servants also being come in he in the presence of all his Family with exceeding Meekness and profound Reverence receiv'd that Sacrament So soon as he saw the Priest enter the Chamber he rais'd himself up in his Bed and having pull'd off his Cap remain'd uncovered all the time of the Administration making his Responces aloud to all the Prayers of the Church and to all the Psalms especially the Miserere which he repeated by heart with a great many Penitent Tears This Ceremony being over they left him some time to his repose and about ten in the morning the sixth day of his Sickness and also that of his Death his Physician caus'd him to be let Blood He found himself yet capable of this Remedy and moreover found by it some kind of present Relief his Chest was much less obstructed and his Deliriums had far longer intervals than before insomuch that he began to have a better opinion of himself telling us as it was very true that two years before a Bleeding
be done without the consent of the Princes of the Blood by reason of the interest which by virtue of their proximity they had in his Majesties Person But the Duke was so well read in their Priviledges that it is not to be suppos'd he could commit so great an error and he had divers times propos'd this Marriage to them for the most honourable and most advantageous match could be found out for the King in all Europe although the Princes who began to suffer themselves to be led away by the perswasions of those who could no longer contain themselves within those bounds which the virtue of Peace prescrib'd to their Ambition had ever oppos'd that proposition and would never consent unto it The Duke nevertheless as if he had foreseen the happiness would accrue to the State by this Alliance ceas'd not continually to fortifie the Queen Mother in the resolution she had taken to pursue that Treaty and to bring it to a conclusion which because it was carried on without their consents they pretended it to be without their knowledge and this was all the ground of their complaint In this point the Count de Soissons concurr'd with the Prince of Condé he was already broken off with the Duke of Espernon and that to such a degree that he appear'd now more implacable in his hatred than he had before seem'd violent in his love I have already said that amongst the reasons which induc'd him to seek the Duke's friendship the chiefest was the Marriage of Madamoiselle de Montpensier with the Prince his Son A Princess who had been so far honour'd by the late King that he had cast his eye upon her for a Match betwixt her and the Duke of Orleans his second Son and had spoke to the Duke of Espernon to that purpose so that it cannot appear strange in him if after being prepossess'd with the hope of so glorious a fortune for his Niece and so great an honour to his whole Family he could not easily condescend to the Count's motion wherein nevertheless he excus'd himself with all imaginable Civility and Respect But this Prince of a hot and violent nature taking for injury the least contradiction to his will was so highly transported with fury at this refusal that there was no extreme to which he would not hurry his revenge publickly threatning to assault the Duke in the Streets in the Louvre nay in his own House Thus do we see the Duke at once oppress'd with the open hatred of two of the Princes of the Blood upon which occasion although he very well understood the deference due to their persons and upon that accompt declar'd he would ever give them way and retire before them yet did he not conceive it convenient to have the same respect and consideration for such as under their countenance and protection should make any attempts upon him And it was in this occurrence that the Reputation and interest he had at Court did most evidently appear so many persons who by his bounty he had oblig'd principally in the dispensation of those offices depended upon his own of Colonel so many others who expected their advancement from him so many Lords of great Quality who either by Relation or Friendship were united to him and so many others out of the sole regard of his Virtue flocking about his Person that he has often been seen in the streets of Paris with seven or eight hundred Gentlemen waiting upon him And I have heard many of very good quality who in those times declar'd themselves his Friends and Servants affirm that when he has gone on foot to the Louvre as he would sometimes purposely do his attendance marching in order have taken up all the space betwixt the Hostel d' Espernon and the Court which is at least 2000 paces insomuch that the Van of his Train has reach'd the Barriers of the Louvre before almost the Rear was out of his own Gates Which how strange soever it may appear is nothing more than truth as an infinite number of persons yet living can witness Neither was the Queen who had great interest in the preservation of a man had merited so highly from her sorry to see him in so good a posture conceiving it of no little moment to her service to have a person at Court able to make a Power that might otherwise have been turn'd against her and her Authority and indeed it was upon him she principally rely'd as the chief of all her Servants and the most considerable person of her Party The Queen made this most manifestly appear in a very remarkable occasion that hapned at this time of which take here the true story The Baron de la Chastagneraye after the Service he had so fortunately done the Queen in recovering her out of the River Seine at the passage of the Port de Neully relations of which you will find at large in many of our French Histories had been gratified for that action with the command of Captain of her Majesties Guard and was moreover very graciously receiv'd by the Queen advantages that creating him much envy either her Majesties Favour or his own Spirit or both engag'd him in many Disputes with several persons of the most eminent condition at Court amongst which he had principally one with Mounsieur le Grand Escuyer since Duke de Bellegarde wherein his passion one day transporting him so far as to speak unhandsomly of him in the Queens presence and before the Duke of Espernon who was his Cousin German the Duke conceiv'd himself oblig'd to say something in the behalf of so near a Relation and thereupon gave la Chastagneraye some smart reply which he unable to endure as briskly return'd upon the Duke himself who with-held by the reverence of the place said to him only this That her Majesties presence which had encourag'd him to that offensive language ty'd his hands and oblig'd him from taking any further notice of it resolving within himself to let the Quarrel alone at that time and to call him to an accompt at fitter leisure but the Queen both to satisfie the Duke of Espernon and to do her self right la Chastagneraye having violated the respect due to her Person and Presence committed him immediately to the Bastile from whence though he was the next day enlarg'd yet the sense of his disgrace having wounded him to the quick the common bruit went that he would revenge himself upon the Duke's person and that he was countenanc'd in that resolution by the protection of the Princes A thing which above all other men he was the most fit to undertake both for his courage which was very well known and also having the command of the Queens Guards he had better opportunity than any to execute his design and to practice upon the Duke in the very Louvre it self than in any other place who never went accompanied in her Majesties presence as he did in all other