that was necessary for them that he did not believe he would refuse it him having already received from that Prelate in other rencounters several marks of a particular affection After these words he left her and run to Pretextat's house to whom he communicated his Designs praying him to bring no obstacle to them The Prelate strangely surprized with such a piece of News remonstrated to the young Prince that he better ought to command his passion and moderate his desires that what he demanded of him could not be done that it would cause too great a scandal in the world and that it would likewise expose them both to the Kings resentment This cruel refusal reduced this poor Lover to despair he begged and threatned by turns but his prayers and his threatnings were equally in vain and Pretextat to avoid the ill effects they might produce left him angrily and run to shut himself up in the most secret place of the House Meroveus went away in such furious transports that he was not himself He went to Gailan his Confident whom he asked what he should do in that sad case and that if he judged it not convenient to go seize the Pretextat cunningly for to frighten him and constrain him to consent to his Marriage with Brunchaut Gailan was a man of a ripe and setled judgment who rather deplored the blindness of his Master than inclined to flatter his passion He told him that he ought not to act with so much precipitation in an Affair of that importance that he ought to foresee the ills he would bring upon himself that Fredegonda had already but too much imbittered the King against him without giving him still so just a subject of complaint Meroveus whose anger was inflamed at so free a discourse silenced his Confident with furious threatnings He told him that if he opened his heart to him it was to learn what way he should take to arrive at the possession of what he loved and not to know what consequences his Love might have that he had foreseen them as well as himself but that they allarmed him but little that he should esteem himself too happy let what would happen if he once saw himself Brunchauts Husband that in fine he forbid him upon pain of Life never to make him the like remonstrances The passion of this unfortunate Prince proceeded to such an excess that his great Soul which had ever been capable of embracing so many things at once was then wholly possessed with it it remained in a kind of insensibility for all other objects and it was not known if it was still susceptible of reason but in entertaining Brunchaut Gailan perceiving that this Lover was not in a condition to relish any moderate counsel fancied that the most useful service that he could do him was to facilitate to him the possession of his Mistress since if he came to miss of her it was to be feared his despair might carry him to attempt something against himself After having asked him pardon for the boldness his zeal had made him take he told him that the surest means to move Pretextat was not to use rigour and threatnings that he ought on the contrary renew more and more to him his prayers and submissions and make known to him that if he shewed himself inexorable it would infallibly cost the Princes Life that he only saw two objects capable of giving him repose his Marriage with Brunchaut or Death What weaknesses is not Love capable of making a heart guilty of And what low sentiments does it not inspire it with Meroveus whom the fear of the greatest dangers nor even death before his Eyes had ever been able to make him stoop to his Enemies embraces Gailan and does himself beg his excuse for his passion He returned immediately to Pretextat's house to whom he sent up word that he beseeched him to hear him yet once more and that he needed not to apprehend any thing from him The Prelate loving this young Prince was not insensible to his misfortune He was willing to give him the satisfaction he demanded and expose himself once more to his sight He came to him and observing in his Face a a little more tranquility than before he asked him if he begun to be cured of his passion Meroveus viewing him with languishing Eyes replyed that Brunchaut reigned too soveraignly in his heart to believe he could ever renounce her possession that this serenity which appeared in his Face was rather a mark of his despair than of the tranquility of his Soul that before he abandoned himself entirely to it he returned to implore his goodness that Pretextat had his Life and his Fate in his hands that as soon as he should have assured him that he ought not to pretend to the marriage of the Princess he would run to Death This discourse uttered with an action wholly passionate so moved Pretextat that he could hardly forbear shedding tears He begged the Prince to believe that he shared in his grief and that it was not without regret that he found himself unable to grant what he desired At these fatal words Meroveus seized-with a blind fury drew his Sword and would have run himself through in that Prelate's sight if he had not been hindred Pretextat who really found by this action that it concerned the Princes Life to marry him to Brunchaut told him to re-assure him that since he saw this Marriage was so important to him he would not resist it any longer that however as he would not do any thing against his conscience and which might displease the Holy See he was willing to consult first the most understanding Divines of Roan and that within three days at the farthest he would give him a positive answer But Meroveus who besides the impatience of his Love feared with reason some obstacle on Chilperick's and Fredegonda's part was not satisfied with these promises He would not go from Pretextat's house till he had assured him he would go that moment to consult such persons as were fit to clear his doubt In effect this Prelate lost not any time He caused several Doctors to assemble in all haste they all told him it was their opinion he might celebrate the Princes Marriage without wounding his conscience Pretextat after having settled all on Gods side was likewise willing to keep peace with the King as well as he could or at least to procure himself Defenders against his resentment Wherefore he proposed this Alliance to the most considerable of the City and told them that he would do nothing without their advice Fredegonda's Crimes reflecting upon Chilperick begun to render him as well as she an object of hatred and contempt to all his Subjects There was not one but looked with Eyes of pity upon Brunchaut's Captivity Insomuch that Pretextat agreeably surprized all those he spoke to of this Affair Very far from opposing it they encouraged him to procure as soon as
tell her he desired to speak with her and she immediately went to the Cabinet where he waited for her Fredegonda knowing better how to dive into the hearts of others than they into hers easily perceived that Chilperick was too much a slave to his Love to be able ever to master it Wherefore as it was Ambition that made her act she did not amuse her self to flatter his passion with frivoulous hopes but had the boldness to tell him that if he desired she should answer it he must marry her that her birth was not inferiour to Andouera's that nothing was so common with all Princes as divorce that neither reasons nor pretext would be wanting for the furthering the design that this procedure towards Andouera was not unjust that it was enough for her to have held so glorious a rank near twenty years that for her part when she should as long have shared his Crown with him she would endeavour to comfort her self if an other took her place that in fine he might assure himself that nothing but his Faith could obtain from her what he pretended After these words she went out of the Cabinet and left the Prince in a mortal trouble Though it be easie for Love to become all on a sudden Master of a Heart and that one moment alone is sufficient for it to chase away all that opposes its designs yet it does not reign there soveraignly until after several strifes for the rendring its Victory the more illustrious and the more powerfully engage reason to support its interests Chilperick found his mind a long time wavering between his Devoir and his new passion if the pleasures he hoped to injoy in the possession of Fredegonda inclined him towards her on the other side the Image of his Glory stained by so shameful a Divorce and the innocence of Andouera were powerful curbs to stop the rapidity of his Vows The great marks of Love that he had received from that good Princess her passionate tenderness her ardent sighs her transports ever new her application cares and complaisance knocked every Moment at the Door of his Heart to put him in mind of recovering a lawful Empire But as it is much more easie to stray from our Devoir than to return to it when we have been once out of the way all these objects after having for some time shaked Chilperick's mind disappeared at length to let Love triumph All that virtue could obtain from him was that he should do what he could to persuade Fredogonda before that he resolved to be divorced from Andouera Whereupon he besieged that imperious Mistress with all manner of Arms. He joyned to the lustre of his person all the discourses of the most submissive Lovers and without doubt a woman less ambitious than Fredegonda would not have been able to have held out against so many importunities but that haughty passion had too deep roots in her heart to suffer her to be seduced by other impressions She was ever deaf to the Prayers of Chilperick and after having a long time denyed him and even refused the Presents he would have made her She once told him very sharply that he was very scrupulous and very fearful not to dare to take that liberty to become happy which the example of so many Princes authorized and which Cherebert his Brother had himself practised There is no injury which so sensibly touches Kings as the reproach of fear as boldness is the first mark of courage they imagine for the better making appear the greatness of their Souls they ought to give their power its full scope insomuch that what moves them to unlawful actions is oftentimes only a vain glory of making known that they are capable of undertaking all things Fredegonda's words had so much force upon Chilperick's heart that they partly determined him intirely to marry her His pride represented to him that to make the impression in the mind of that Maid and of all his People of a strong Idea of his independence he ought not to defer his Divorce from Andouera and Love applauding the sentiments of his pride persuaded him that he ought no longer to ballance the establishing his happiness since it would only cost him one crime which the most natural of all passions had ever rendered excusable He told his Mistresâ— that he very well foresaw that he must consent to what she desired and that he would quickly make her see that it was not a motion of fear that had made him resist so long This discourse so puft up Fredegonda's vanity that she began from that moment to fancy her self Crowned and to act like a Soveraign with all people The Queen who was not long without perceiving it was the most of all concerned at this Change As she had never found any thing but submission and respect in Fredegonda the imperious Air with which she spake to her could not enough surprize her She several times made her gentle remonstrances and seeing it was to no purpose she one day proceeded to threatnings Fredegonda being no longer detained by any confideration answered her sharply and left the Chamber telling her that she had no longer right to use those terms that her time was passed and that others was going to begin These words were clear enough to explain to the Queen Chilperick's new engagement but being still blinded by her easiness they only plunged her into a great disquiet As she was in these agitations Meroveus her Son came to her Apartment to make known to her the first news of her Disgrace Meroveus having a penetrating Wit had a long time perceived Fredegonda's Designs but being he had ever believed that the King would have no less power than he to resist her artifices he had not thought fit to alarm the Queen with the recital of a thing of little consequence and wherein he did not foresee that the Glory and Love of that Princess were to be one day equally interressed An Officer of the Kings Bed-Chamber deploring the approaching misfortune of Andouera having given notice to the Prince of what passed Meroveus believed it necessary to acquaint the Queen suddenly with it that she might joyn with him to avoid the storm that was going to powder upon her The poor Princess having learn'd Meroveus fatal discourse fell into a swoon in his arms and it was to little purpose that the Prince remained pious in this Rencounter and that he left her not in that oppression being when she came to her self she was the more sensible of her misfortune and delivered her mind up to the most cruel attacks of Grief They resolved to go find the King out immediately and to remonstrate to him the disorders this unhappy passion would produce if he resolved to satisfie it at the expence of his Glory Approaching the Kings Apartment they perceived at a distance through the Glass Windows Fredegonda holding a Table-Book in her hands After having stole softly to the Window
she had satisfied him for all the ills she had made him suffer She so well knew how to gain by her promises two Inhabitants of the City that they offered themselves to undertake blindly what she exacted from them Whereupon they found the means of going into the Besiegers Camp where they asked to see Sigebert for the communicating to him a Design of great importance The Guards by an imprudence which is pretty usual in such encounters introduced them into his Tent. As soon as the Murderers perceived that unfortunate Prince they fell furiously upon him and each of them gave him two stabs with their Daggers of which he dyed immediately This Parricide was hardly executed than that all the Besiegers being taken with a mortal fear fell into an unexpressible consternation They thought of nothing more than the imploring the Mercy of the Besieged and this Camp wherein joy was so generally spread appeared only then a fatal Stage of despair Chilperick and Fredegonda seeing their Fate changed in an instant by so favourable a reverse went out of the City in Triumph They returned with all speed towards Paris where upon the report of Sigebert's Death Brunchaut had been secured to be delivered to them Fredegonda would have had her lost her Life but Chilperick once wanted that complaisance and contented himself with banishing that unfortunate Princess to Roan After having caused Meroveus to come to him he sent him to take possession of Poitou which made part of Sigebert's Kingdom This young Prince had learn'd the death of the King of Austrasia with all the grief and all the regrets that can be expected from a person who hates injustice This new Empire of which he was Heir had not Charms enough to flatter his trouble he never had a thought unbecoming his Virtue and his Glory That which most sharpned his grief was the Commission that the King gave him which would in some manner render him an Accomplice of Fredegonda's Crimes Wherefore he could never resolve to execute it He had however so much command over himself as to dissemble before Chilperick He took leave of him to go into Poitou but after having travelled some dayes he left that Road to go to Mans. He was willing once more to speak to his Mother and injoy before her Death the embraces of that good Princess The sight of Meroveus caused in her incredible transports and extasies She made them appear by her Tears and her Sighs that were the first discourses that she held with him After having entertained themselves with their misfortunes and of what they had to do they were to part As Fredegonda had the Title of Queen Andouera thought it unbecoming her Virtue to dispatch her by cunning and base means She did not believe that all the Crimes of that wicked Woman could authorise an action that should have any resemblance with hers Wherefore she proposed to the Prince to go see Brunchaut for to confer with her and to engage by her means the greatest Men of Austrasia to demand Fredegonda of Chilperick to sacrifice her to their King and upon his refusal should make War upon him whose success would be perhaps more happy than it had been Meroveus consented with joy to this proposition and took leave of the Princess It seem'd at their parting that Andouera had a secret presage of her Son's misfortune a great shivering went through all her Body her fancy was filled with fatal objects and her tears were dryed up as too weak to express the violence of her grief she embraced the Prince several times and felt her self fixed to him by something more strong and more extraordinary than the tendernesses of Blood In fine Meroveus having forced himself from her Arms as against her Will he immediately left Mans to go in all speed to Roan It was there that Love and Fortune expected this young Prince to make him sensible of all that they have most cruel and to perfect his ruine which they had conspired together In all the way he felt himself agitated with an unknown trouble and which he could not attribute to any of the passions he had felt After having been received in Roan with all the illustrious marks of honour that were due to his quality and his merit he would go make a visit to Brunchaut The nearer he approached the place where she was the more his trouble and his agitations encreased By a very capricious effect two contrary motions led him on and stopped him at the same time In fine that secret timidity suffering him to do his Devoir he entred the Princesses Chamber whom he found plunged into a deep melancholy Of all the Darts of Love there are none whose stroaks we receive with less resistance than those which issue from the misfortunes of the person we are to love The affection of a fair one is so touching a Charm to a generous heart that it is almost impossible for it to interess it self in her Fate by the sole sentiments of pity The Soul softned by so sad an object easily forgets it self to consider it only its desires are stirred up its powers are in motion and in the midst of this disorder I know not what kind of languishing mingled with grief and displeasure together penetrates all its foldings If it was a happiness for Brunchaut to be beloved by Meroveus it may be said the state she was then reduced to was the greatest favour she had received from Fortune Her Eyes through Rivers of Tears which run incessantly sent fearful and languishing looks to the Prince which immediately found an easie passage to his very heart The paleness and alteration of her Face did not hinder the admiring still those secret Graces which procured her as many Adorers as there were persons who approached her It even seemed that Love for the better securing his Conquest had raised the lustre of them Meroveus was a long time mute before her and only answered her Tears with his Sighs Brunchaut took his sadness and silence for an ill augure She fancyed that he came to execute some fatal sentence that Chilperick or rather Fredegonda had pronounced against her that the sight and Idea of her miseries touched the young Prince but that his generosity and compassion would not be cap 〈…〉 of over-coming the obedience he owed the King his Father insomuch that she thought of nothing else than of preparing her self for Death After having strove to stop for some moments the course of her Tears she told the Prince sighing that amongst all the ills she had foreseen she had never expected from the utmost rigour of Fortune what it was going to act against her that she perceived her fatal hour was come that she had courage enough not to murmur at it and to go without regret to find out her Husband in the Grave But that she could not suffer without complaining that a Prince whom she had ever esteemed for his Virtue should have charged himself
with the care of her Death that she was but too well assured of it by those marks even of pity that he gave her and that he made it enough known by his silence that it was all that he could grant her This reproach quite oppress'd Meroveus it put him entirely out of a condition of explaining his sentiments to Brunchaut Nothing but his Eyes had been able to have discovered something to her if she had well consulted them The new trouble she observed in his Face confirmed her in the errour she was in She persuaded her self that the perplexity she saw this Prince in was a tacite confession of all she had said to him when she made a strong reflection upon her misfortunes the excess of her grief made her fall into a swoon Her Maids who retired out of respect run all in at the noise they heard and brought her to her self again Meroveus received the first glances of her Eyes half open His sighs then permitting him to break a silence that had been so injurious to her he told the Princess that she was very cruel and unjust to have such low thoughts of him that no design was formed against her that the desire only of seeing her had brought him to Roan But though that Chilperick and Fredegonda should have conspired her ruine he would not ballance to embrace her defence against them that he was not only animated to it by his Glory and his Virtue that he found himself tyed to her by Bonds much more powerful than those of Nature that she ought not to attribute to his pity alone the fatal estate her sight had reduced him to that nothing but so strong a passion as Love was capable of producing so strange effects that he was resolved to procure her her liberty even at the peril of his Life that he would not force her heart to any acknowledgment for his Services but that if without doing violence to her inclinations she could suffer his Vows he prayed her to favour them and consent to the happiness of a Prince who might one day make her reign upon the chiefest Throne of France Brunchaut was so surprized with so unexpected a discourse that the excess of joy made almost in her the same effect that grief had done After having remained a long time mute she answered the Prince that she should be very credulous to add faith to his words the present juncture of affairs little permitting them to think of such a design but that if he would give her real marks of his Love he ought to endeavour her liberty as he had newly promised her that they might afterwards advise more at leisure of what would be convenient for them to do for both their repose Meroveus too much respected the Princesses will to contradict it he even stole away from the pleasures that he should have relished in a longer conversation to run and give her marks of his obedience and his zeal He sent for the Governour of the Castle the Princess was in and told him that he desired she should go out and be at liberty that he would be responsible the King should not take it ill and that he would charge himself with his Conduct This Officer too much respected his Kings eldest Son not to consent to what he demanded he presented him with the Keys of the Castle and told him that he might use them as he should think fit A reflexion which came into Meus's mind hindered him from returning then to the Princess Never had any fair passion in a great heart been so violent in so little a time as this was It seemed as if Love had only spared him till then for the making him feel at once all the transports that can agitate a Lover during several years The possession of Brunchaut appeared to him so perfect a happiness that it is not to be wondred if he thought more of securing that than any thing else By a motion of distrust very usual to Lovers he apprehended that the Princess once released out of Prison would immediately vanish out of his sight wherefore he fancyed that he ought before all things employ all his efforts to get her consent to their Marriage Whereupon he went to see her the next day The sight of her did not cause in him any new encrease of Love his passion being uncapable of receiving any He told her he had found the Captain of the Guards inflexible to his Prayers â—hat that Officer durst not dispose of any thing without express Orders from Court but upon his having assured him that he would publickly marry the Princess as soon as ever she was set free he had made known to him he would favour his Design that she could not then recover her liberty but at that rate that since time pressed she ought to declare her self with the soonest and to examine her self if it was not more advantageous for her to enter into Sacred Bonds with a Prince who would make it eternally all his happiness to please her than to languish sadly in an obscure Prison Though Meroveus should have dived into all the most secret thoughts of Brunchaut he could not more agreeably have flattered her desires She had made several reflexions upon the first visit of this Prince As she had apprehended his Love was only a passing flame which would be the more easily extinguished in that it had appeared at first with too much violence she was displeased with her self that she had not made better use of the occasion for the deeper engaging him and that she had too exactly observed scrupulous decencies out of season She had considered that she could not find a firmer support against the hatred of Fredegonda her mortal Enemy that even Chilperick could not dispence himself from protecting her when he saw her his Sons Wife that her glory was interessed in this Alliance since it was the highest Rank she could then aspire to Neither was this young Prince so indifferent to her but that Love made her give him the tenderest of her Vows Wherefore she told him that since she saw her self forced to open to him all her heart liberty was not the greatest good she desired that she should even consider it as the worst of ills if it only served to absent her from a person who could alone make her good or ill Fortune that she had been no less troubled at the sight of the Prince than he had been at hers that in fine the sighs of two hearts were never so well met Meroveus whom this discourse put into an extasie interrupted it to make known to the Princess the transports of his joy by all the terms that Love can put into the mouth of the most passionate Lovers After which he told her she must hasten so longed for moments and endeavour without ceasing the establishment of their mutual happiness that he was going to the Archbishop Pretextat his God-father to obtain from him the Dispensation
MEROVEUS A PRINCE OF THE Blood-Royal of FRANCE A NOVEL LONDON Printed for R. Bentley and M. Magnes in Russel-Street in Covent-Garden 1682. TO THE Right Honourable THE COUNTESSE OF OXFORD THE Universal Admiration Your Ladyship has obtained in the World having inspired a young Prince with a Curiosity to see so many Wonders as Fame does Your Ladyship the Justice to relate He is come from beyond Sea with hopes not only of having leave to satisfie the Ambition He has of paying Homage to so many Excellencies but likewise if you can think fit Madam to allow Him a favourable Audience He does not question but to make appear that his Misfortunes are of such a Nature as both to merit and engage Your Ladyships Pity and Protection Both His Commission and Passport to Your Ladyship have something in them so extraordinary that as One has wherewith to raise Compassion so the Other has to create Veneration in all People For He is addressed Madam to a Lady whose Family has ever and is still at this day fruitful in Hero's and who has likewise the advantage of being united to One that has filled the Chronicles of all Ages with its Extraordinary Performances and miraculous Instances of a Constant Loyalty wherein they have been so zealously followed by the present Earl that the Best of Subjects and Greatest of Men may be proud of imitating his Conduct and Actions Yet notwithstanding all these Invitations this Prince does acknowledge that he was incited to this Address more by Your Ladyships own Merit and Lustre than all these Advantages of Extraction and Alliance It was a Beauty Madam above description a Wit beyond all imagination and these attended by a benign Disposition an Affability a Goodness and all and none but those Qualities which procure Respect and Acclamation that made him ambitious of laying himself at Your Ladyships Feet and to beg leave to declare the Devotion with which I am Madam Your Ladyships Most humble and most obedient Servant F. S. MEROVEUS A PRINCE OF THE Blood-Royal OF FRANCE THE Posterity of Clovis the Great begun to possess the Throne Clotarius the youngest of his Children remaining alone of all his Brothers to settle the rising Monarchy of the French left for his Successours four Sons who shared the Crown between them Cherebert being the eldest had for his part the Kingdom of Paris and its depencies Gontran that of Orleans Chilperic that of Soissons and Sigebert that of Metz. Though that Union is something rare between persons of their Rank those four Princes lived a long time in a perfect intelligence in the Government of their States and the tendernesses of Blood were ever more powerful in their hearts than any sentiment of ambition and jealousie They did not think the alliance of any neighbouring Prince was necessary to them for the support of their Thrones wherefore when they resolved to leave Heirs they sought not for Women elsewhere than amongst their Subjects and as merit was the only thing that they considered they applyed themselves indifferently to Persons in whom they found most Charms Beauty and Wit Cherebert whom Clotarius his Father had caused to marry Ingoberga against his will divorced himself from her to take in her place Merofleda a Merchants Daughter Gontrand made the like choice in his States Sigebert lived a long time without any engagement and as for Chilperick he marryed Andeuera the truth is a Maid of mean Birth but whom Heaven had only deprived of the advantages of Blood that the quickness of her Wit the greatness of her Soul and the Charms of her Beauty might be the more admired Chilperick had by her several Children and amongst others a Prince called Meroveus Cherebert after having reigned six years dyed in the Castle of Blaye in Xaintonge he left no male Children Insomuch that the three Princes his Brothers shared his Kingdom between them but as not one of them would consent to yield Paris to an other it was resolved that City should remain neutral that it should be equally to all three and that not one might enter it without the consent of the others upon pain of losing the part he had in the succession of Cherebert This Affair thus regulated those Princes passed still several years in an agreeable Society and only made use of their Arms to repulse the attempts of Strangers their common Enemies But Fortune that usually takes delight in destroying all that is not its Work let them only so long injoy this sweet tranquility that their Division might be the more sensible to them Prince Meroveus was seventeen years old when one Fredegonda came into the service of Queen Andouera Meroveus and Fredegonda having the greatest part in this History it will not be out of the way to give a light Idea of them that they may be the better known It may be said that Fredegonda was one of the most capricious Works that Nature was capable of producing there was in her a confused heap of good and ill Qualities all of them extraordinary but as her Virtues possessed but the least part in her Soul they ever served only to set off her Vices That which rendered the world sometimes prepossessed in her favour was that what she had best discovered it self at first Those who had once seen her and heard her discourse could hardly persuade themselves afterwards that Heaven would mingle so rare Perfections amongst so great Defects And it must be avowed that she knew admirable well how to set off the Talents she was Mistress of Never was Beauty in all its lustre better managed and more ingeniously imployed to its Designs Never did Wit with more artifice use all the graces of eloquence to persuade and never any heart so cunningly disposed the language of its sighs for the gaining the tenderness of a Prince She thought it indifferent to follow the course of Virtue or to stray from it and she only sought it when she judged it might favour her enterprizes Ambition Revenge and Jealousie disposed by turns of her Soul Love was not unknown to her but he had never so great an Empire over her as to betray any of these passions The greatest crimes raised no horrour in her she resolved of them without pain for the satisfying her desires Fear had little place in her heart because that her Policy was to prevent all those whom she believed might do her hurt and a light suspition was sufficient for the sacrificing them to her safety Her resentments could not be softned by time Her hatred was only extinguished in the blood of the person from whom she imagined to have received any outrage Deceit dissimulation perfidiousness and lying were also many Veils which concealed from the most penetrating Eyes all the foldings of her heart In fine to give her Picture with one stroke it is sufficient to say that self-self-love was the only rule she thought worthy of being imbraced in the world Meroveus on the contrary was
one of the most accomplished Princes that France had yet seâ—h It was to have been wished that Heaven had brought him into the world in a less elevated degree that not being invironed with that dazling pomp all his perfections might have been more nearly contemplated and his merit judged of by it self It was not necessary to proceed to his Soul to find something in him worthy of admiration From all the Features that Nature had printed in his Face there resulted I know not what kind of Air which inspired love and respect in all those who approached him Never any Prince gave so fair hopes and in whose Eyes were read greater things At so tender an age he had already signalized himself in Arms and the Lawrels he had gathered in several important occasions made all the world doubt if the easiness of fighting was not rather born with him than formed by a long habit It seemed that so many fair qualities ought to have subdued Fortune to the happiness of this Prince Yet that cruel Enemy of Virtue made it on the contrary appear that it is in vain that Nature strives to maintain its Works when Fortune undertakes to attack them It was its will that the unfortunate Meroveus should search Posterity for a famous example of its power as well as injustice Fredegonda had not seen him twice when she became infinitely in love with him and as she saw that this passion was but too conformable to her ambition she wholly abandoned her self to it with all manner of joy She fancied that he being of an age that has little force to resist passions and wherein a heart is easily surprized by Love when it meets with a proper object he would hardly escape her artifices but all her cunning and all her address was in vain Meroveus after having a long time avoided her snares at length seeing that she one day spake to him openly of her love rallied her publickly for it and told her that to acknowledge the affection she had for him he would marry her to one of his Officers These words produced in Fredegonda's Soul a furious vexation and an immortal hatred which was the source of all the disgraces of Meroveus and which led him to his Grave But as the force of this wicked Woman lay in artifices she knew so well how to dissemble in that occasion that she smiled at the Princes answer and even thanked him very civily As she knew that on the first impressions good or bad that others have received from us depend oftentimes all the judgments that are made in the sequel she at first affected a conduct with Andouera which procured her the esteem and confidence of her Mistress and the jealousie of her Companions All her actions were governed by a complaisance full of sweetness a respectful submission to all that was exacted from her and an earnestness ever new to acquit her self of the least things her devoir engaged her to It is an usual defect in all good Souls to judg of others by themselves as they are incapable of any disguise they fancy they see in the actions of others as much fincerity as in their own and this imprudent goodness makes them oftentimes take for an effusion of heart what proceeds only from an address of Wit The false and deceitful appearances of Fredegonda so surprized all the affections of Andouera that this good Princess fancyed that she could not do enough to make known to her the sense she had of her services She proposed her for a model to all her other Maids of Honour she filled the Court with her praises and the King was especially dayly importuned with them so true it is that we often run precipitately to our own ruine and we become our selves the contrivers of our own unhappiness Though the Princess Andouera had already spent more than eightteen years in marriage she was still capable of charming and neither that long space of time nor her Lyings In which are usually the destroyers of Beauty had worn out any thing of that surprizing lustre which conquers hearts But as desires and hopes are the only things which maintain Love and that nothing is more capable of making us disrelish an object than a long and peaceable possession Chilperick's passion for the Queen did nothing now but languish and those devouring flames which the first fight of that Princess had kindled in his Heart were as extinguished in the injoyment of her pleasures The reputation of Fredegonda's Wit and Beauty gave him one day the curiosity of considering and discoursing her attentively It was in that occasion that this cunning Maid neglected nothing of all she judged proper for engaging the King She fought for Darts in her Eyes fit to discover the way to his Heart and drain'd all the lights of her Wit to charm the Princes It was not necessary to imploy so much address upon a man who ran to meet his Chains and who longed that a new passion might renew his desires Chilperick told Fredegonda upon his leaving her that he was very much satisfied with her discourse and that he would do her some kindness in a very short time In effect he sent for her some days after by his trustiest Officer and after having repeated to her the same thing he added for the declaring to her his passion that he had found in her more Beauty and Wit than he ought to have desired for his repose that it was to Love she was going to owe all the favours he should heap upon her but as his happiness depended on her she ought to contribute to it in giving him sensible and convincing marks of a mutual tenderness and above all that she should carefully conceal this Gallantry from the Queen who would not fail to be enraged at it As Fredegonda changed as she pleased the motions of her Face she seemed at that moment so modest that it helped to inflame the Kings desires She made him know that she desired nothing so ardently as to make appear to him the joy she felt to see her self beloved by so great a Prince but that he was not to exact any thing from her that her virtue might disallow The King was not yet so blinded with his passion but that he considered that it ever becomes a Woman to make some resistance and not to yield so soon He was not willing to press her more that day he contented himself with telling her that they would talk of it more than once and that he would give her time to think of it Having spoken these words he took out a Table-Book with Gold-Covers set with Diamonds which he made her a Present of He had hardly left her than that his imagination representing her to him yet more fair than she was made him sensible of new returns of Love and was extream impatient to see her again so that the next morning while the Queen rested he sent his Confident to
Andouera perceived it was the Kings Table-Book in which he ever set down his most secret Designs At this sight the Queen was seized with a lively resentment she commanded Fredegonda to open to her the Door which she refused to do threatning she would complain to the King if any violence was done her These insolent words increased the Queens vexation and Meroveus being transported with anger having broken the Windows leap'd furiouslly into the Cabinet snatch'd the Table-Book out of Fredegonda's hands and went to the Queen who returned with him to her Chamber to examine it After having turned over several Leaves without finding any thing she read in one place these Verses written by Chilperick's one hand and which he had composed in the beginning of his passion for Fredegonda Love only pleases for a time At length we 're weary of its Chain Virtue the most severe sublime From a new choice can't oft restrain And below these Verses Andouera found these of Fredegonda's hand writing When we have charm'd a great and mighty King Must we have nothing but his pantting Heart His Empire ought to be our Offering E're we do ease his fiery raging smart Yes yes ambition is the brightest Flame What Woman wants it is I 'me sure to blame What became of her after having read these stabbing words It was then that this deplorable Princess took a full view of her misfortunes and that she no longer doubted that Chilperick was charmed with Fredegonda but even that this wicked Maid had already much shaken his Virtue to engage him to marry her She run as distracted accompanied by Meroveus to the Kings Apartment When they came to his Chamber Door the Guards refused to let them in and told them they had Orders not to let any one soever enter without acquainting the King After having learn'd that they were there he came to them contrary to his custom Andouera at the sight of Chilperick let fall a torrent of Tears all the Graces painted at that time in her Face an eloquent Grief capable of moving the most barbarous heart and without doubt Chilperick's would not have been insensible if he had not been full of Fredegonda's Charms whom he had newly quitted The Queen with a languishing Voice and which was every moment interrupted by her sighs told the King that the love she bore him rather than her own interests engaged her to make known to him how shamefully he was going to stain his Glory by the irregularity of his Passion She pray'd him to consider what could be the nature of the affection that Fredegonda had for his Person and to judg of it by the Verses she had made upon that subject Having spoken these words she presented the Table-Book to the King That Object filled his Soul with spite and confusion and made him fall into furious motions of choler against the Queen He did not permit her to speak any more but interrupting her he told her angrily that he could never have believed she would have been so bold as to have done violence to persons whom he honoured with his affection even to force from them the Testimonies he had been willing to give them thereof that she as well as Meroveus should pay dear for this affront That as for his passion for Fredegonda if she found it was so great a crime it was for her herself to expiate it since she had been the principal cause that he should never have conceived the least desire of speaking to that Maid if she had not dayly stun'd him with her praises that it was her great importunity alone that had stirred up her curiosity that her dayly discourses repeated in favour of her Rival had made him insensibly love her before he had considered her in fine that she had no body to blame but her self for her misfortune since she had woven with her own hands the Bonds which were going to break theirs This outraging reproach pierced the very Soul of poor Andouera all the words it contained were so much the more sensible to her for that they were true and that she acknowledged she had been the fatal instrument of her own ruine The excess of grief did not leave her force enough to speak but her eyes and sighs declared all the just indignation with which she was seized Meroveus was not so moderate as she or rather his resentment was not capable to deprive him of the use of his voice he told the King that since he was resolved to push things to that extremity he saw himself constrained to be once wanting in the respect that he owed him as his Son and his Subject for the preventing a disorder that was going to fall upon all the Royal Family This menace inflamed Chilperick's anger he caused the Queen and Meroveus to be seized commanded they should be shut up apart and caused Guards to be set at their Chamber doors with express order to let no body enter After which he returned to the Cabinet where Fredegonda expected him She at first affected a false pity for Andouera and told Chilperick that it was against her will that she caused so much disorder in the Court but since it was for the better setling the happiness of her King she did not repent it but that it was convenient and even necessary suddenly to make an end of the Work and to remove the Queen while that people's minds were already prepared for that rupture The too easie Chilperick besotted with his passion consented to all Fredegonda's propositions and would not follow any other rule than her will He agreed with her to send the Queen to the City of Mans. After having hastily made her a small Equipage he caused her to depart at two days end without suffering her to bid him farewel nor even to speak with Meroveus That innocent and deplorable Princess went thus from Soissons and appeared as a wretched Victim that her love for an unfaithful Man was going to consume by little and little So long as she could perceive the Walls of that City she eyed it sent it continually her sighs But as soon as she was out of sight she passed over in her thoughts all that had passed at Court she re-called into her memory all the Graces and Favours she had so often so prodigally bestowed upon her Rival and for which she had not expected so fatal a recompence but that which increased her pain was that she was not allowed at her departure to embrace the Prince her Son whom she cherished with a tenderness worthy of her When she arrived at Mans though that Fame had already carryed thither the news of her Disgrace all the City was in Arms to receive her and did her all the honours that they owed not only to their true Queen but as to a Person who had ever reigned more soveraignly over all their minds by her Virtues than by the Title she had born Meroveus having learn'd his Mothers removal
eagernesses which usually follow the first days of Marriage and which appear with so much the more violence in that they are often as the Tombs of Kindness those passionate transports those impatient desires those troubles ever new those charming disquiets in fine all that a heart ought to be sensible of in the first moments of the possession of what it loves all this was unknown to Chilperick's and if he sighed near the Princess it was for regret of not being able to keep his word with Fredegonda The domineering Charms of that Maid came every moment into his imagination they were as a Vail which hid from him Galsuinta's Perfections and if it happened by chance that he discovered some of them they only helped to set off those of Fredegonda and to put that unhappy Prince in mind that she possessed them with much more advantage In the midst of his Court he seemed to be in a vast solitude and his vexations and his mortal fears were the only Objects which took up his Soul The more he approached Soissons his toruble and his disquiets were the more encreased but how horrible soever the torment was he suffered in this cruel agitation he could have wished to have remained eternally in it He already represented to himself Fredegonda who with those imperious words which she was used to make use of in her resentments came to assassinate him with reproaches accused him of weakness and swore to him an irreconcileable hatred And it must likewise be avowed that nothing has ever equalled the vexation of that ambitious Woman and that as soon as she had received the news of this Marriage she abandoned her self to all the sentiments of rage and despair that a woman can be capable of Some days before Chilperick's arrival she pretended to be sick that she might not be obliged to go render respects and submissions to a person whom she could hardly support the sight of without dying for grief In fine that great day being come that the King entred Soissons after having received there with the new Queen all the honours that Subjects use to do their Princes in such occasions he retired into his Palace where having immediately asked for Fredegonda he was told she was very sick This news gave him the more boldness to see her but on the other side it strangely alarm'd him He stole from Galsuinta while that flocks of people invironed her and ran all transported to Fredegonda's As soon as she perceived the King and that she had observed in his Eves and his Face the Empire she had still over his heart she prevented him and told him that she foresaw that the Disease she laboured under would carry her to her Grave but that she should enter it with joy since she was precipitated into it by the excess of her love that however she should have dyed more contented if her virtue had permitted her to have given him more sensible marks of her passion Nothing is more surprizing to a Lover than to hear kind things and flatteries from his Mistresses mouth when he expected nothing but reproaches and threatnings neither is there any thing more capable of making him detest his infidelity and inspire him with more love This flattering and artificious discourse of Fredegonda so moved Chilperick that all the powers of his Soul remained a long time in disorder He had so little force left that he had recourse to his sighs and even to some tears for the explaining to his Mistress the despair her illness reduced him to Striving at length to speak to her he begged of her not to renounce life and swore to her that if she would promise him to take care of it he would put her notwithstanding the present conjuncture in a state in a short time of reconciling her glory with her Love He was not willing to stay any longer with her that day lest all his Court should know he was still in love Fredegonda then recovered firm hopes of mounting upon the Throne and as the reputation of Galsuinta's Beauty and Merit made her apprehend the King might become insensibly charmed she resolved to dispatch that Princess as soon as possibly she could But because she would be present her self at that fatal execution for the making it the more sure she was obliged to wait sometime for fear her sickness should be discovered to have been feigned if she quitted her Bed all of a sudden In the Visits that the King dayly made her she assured him that she grew better and better and that the obliging words he had said to her had been more healing than all the remedies of the world In fine the certainty of her recovery being spread through all the Palace after having prepared her self for that horrible Sacrifice she went one day to make the Queen a Visit and chose the time that she was only attended by two of her Maids of Honour The two Guards that were placed at her Chamber Door were Fredegonda's Creatures Some moâ—ents after her being there a young Man to whom she had promised great Favours came likewise thither and coming briskly up to the Queen he on a sudden plunged his Dagger into her Breast and caused that unfortunâ—te Princess to fall at his Fâ—et Fredegonda thereupon feigning a great surprize cryed out like mad that they should seize the Murderer the two Guards running into the Chamber seized him and cut him to pieces according to the order she had given them for fear that the Rack and remorse might make that Wretch tell what moved him to so detestable a Parricide so true it is that great Ones who make use of other men to execute their pernicious Designs often resolve at the same time to sacrifice them also to themselves that the death of these blind Ministers may serve for a Vail and Cloud to their Designs The noise of this Tragical Death being spread through all the Palace the King run to see this pitiful Spectacle Though he did not love Galsuinta and that by the irregularity of his passion there arose in his Soul I know not what malign Joy in that he saw a person so conveniently dispatched who traversed his happiness however the innocence of that fair Queen her Blood all smoaking which came in great Floods from her Wound her Bosom which seemed still to heave in fine her Eyes which seemed to recollect their greatest lustre before they closed for ever objects so tender and so touching excited in his heart a strong pity and a just resentment against the Assassinate Fredegonda would make him know that she was no less sensible than he for this misfortune she even shed Tears but it was rather for joy than grief Yet as there is nothing more natural than to let our selves be persuaded by those we love Chilperick fancyed she was innocent and that she had not had any part in the murder A Tomb was erected for the Princess and Fredegonda to take away all
So that to preserve a Life that was much more dear to him than his own he obliged the Princess to fly immediately away with him These two poor Lovers run to take refuge in the same Church and at the Feet of the same Altars where they had newly entred into so holy Bonds Chilperick notwithstanding all that Fredegonda could say to him durst not draw them out by force he was still so much the Master of his resentment as not to violate the Sacred Asile of all the unhappy He sent word to those Lovers that they might come out with all safety that being far from doing them any violence he would ratifie this Marriage provided the Church consented to it How credulous is Love and how easily does it fall into the Snares that are laid for it Brunchaut having still prudence enough to foresee what would happen remonstrated to Meroveus that they ought not to relye on so suspected and deceitful promises and that Fredegonda's strength lay ordinarily in Treacheries and Artifices But this Lover whom his passion rendred no longer capable of any reflexion told the Princess that this distrust would only help to irritate the King whose sight they could not long avoid that he hoped Nature would be still so strong in his Heart as to overcome his resentment The too easie Princess yielded to the Prayers and Persuasions of Meroveus They both went to deliver themselves as unhappy Victims into the hands of their Enemies When they appeared before Chilperick it was to no purpose their Tears spoke and raised the pity of all the People This barbarous King inspired by his Wife caused them instantly to be shut up in the Castle but each in a Chamber apart Insomuch that the unfortunate Brunchaut seemed to have breathed only some moments of liberty to be afterwards the more lively sensible of the rigours of her Prison These Lovers were treated with so much indignity as that they were even refused the persons whose service was necessary to them They were deprived of the consolation they might have had in communicating their thoughts and in learning what was resolved of against them In fine such as were obliged to come into their Chambers to carry them the necessaries of Life were forbidden to speak to them and they had no other entertainment than their Complaints In the mean time Chilperick caused Pretextat to be seized whom he accused of High Treason For trying him he caused an Assembly of several other Prelates to be held of whom the most part were the blind Ministers of Fredegonda's passions Pretextat defended himself so couragiously and by such strong reasons that his Judges acknowledging themselves his innocence had recourse to Artifice to condemn him They remonstrated to him in secret that this obstinacy to defend himself would but th◠more irritate the King who would have him owe his safety to hi◠Clemency and that as soon as h◠should see in him the marks of 〈◊〉 submissive Subject he would ceas◠to trouble him Pretextat suffered himself to b◠seduced by these captious Remonstrances When that he returne◠to the Assembly he confessed before Chilperick the Crimes with which he was charged and made himself by this imprudent avowal the Sentence of his Condemnation For these words were hardly escaped from him than that the King demanded High Justice of the Prelates and said that the accused ought to be judged upon his Deposition Whereupon this innocent Wretch was immediately degraded and banished to a little Desart Island near the City of Coutance from whence after a long Bondage he was at length re-called and re-established in his Dignity But Fredegonda not knowing what it was to forget an injury caused him to be at last assassinated even as he was celebrating Divine Service That wicked Woman made use of all her Addresses and Power with the King to oblige him to put Brunchaut and Meroveus to death As she saw that Nature was not yet wholly extinguished in Chilperick's heart and that it did not permit him to shed so unjustly his own Blood she only demanded that of Brunchaut But her hatred was deceived and her Victime escaped from her when she least mistrusted it The Lords of Austrasia who yet knew nothing of what had passed sent Deputies to Chilperick to redemand of him their Queen and remonstrate to him that they could not suffer she should be detained longer from them without any reason and that they were ready to implore Succours of all the neighbouring Princes to procure satisfaction in this point The Affair being seriously treated of in the Kings Council this Demand was found so just and reasonable that notwithstanding all that Fredegonda could say it was resolved that Brunchaut should return unto her Territories and should depart with the Ambassadours Whereupon she was released out of Prison and Meroveus likewise out of his at the same time Fredegonda in whom this departure caused transports of rage and despair did all that she could to moderate them by an imperfect vengeance since that she could not entirely exercise it As it was impossible for her to find any comfort but in the unhappiness of these Lovers she ordered they should be released together out of the Castle and that they should see one another once more this cruel pleasure she only granted them that they might be the more lively sensible of their fatal separation and that they might have the Idea of it the more present Meroveus fixing his looks upon the Princess met with hers which for the last time sought the Princes heart to explain to it her Love and her Grief Never was a farewel so tender and so mourning Several confused sighs were almost the language that these Lovers held Brunchaut at length disappearing from the Eyes of Meroveus he was shut up in a Cloyster where by a Capricio as fantastical as unjust the King caused him to be shaved and engaged him in the Orders against his Will believing thereby to deprive him of all means of ever intriguing in the World A strange and pernicious Policy of Men who abuse Religion even for the execution of their Crimes and make use of the most Sacred Mysteries as easie Instruments for their bringing to pass their unjust enterprizes Chilperick after having sent Brunchaut away returned to Paris with Fredegonda and left his Son to digest at leisure his vexations in his solitude It was then that the heart of this Prince was wracked by allarms much more cruel than all those with which he had been yet seized and that he found himself agitated with all the other passions that are the usual effects of an unhappy Love When he thought how treacherously Fortune had dealt with him that he considered that it had only brought him near his happiness to make his loss of it the more sensible he fell under his Grief That charming Image of the Princesses Beauty that was so deeply impressed in his heart and which incessantly offered it self to his