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SECRET HISTORY
OF THlE
F RENCHt C OURT
UNDER
RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN;
OR,
1i]  and   imenes i1  ladmate de   hct'reuse.
BY
VICTOR COUSIN,
AUTHOR OF "THE TRUE, THE BEAUTIFUL, AND THE GOOD," "COURSE OF
PHILOSOPHY," YOUTH OF MADAME DE LONGUEVILLE, ETC., ETC.
TRANSLATED BY
MARY L. BOOTH.
NEW YORK:
DELISSER & PROCTER, 508 BROADWAY,
(SUCCESSORS TO STANFORD &- SWORDS.)
1859.








PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
AMONG the most admired of Victor Cousin's works
are his " Studies of the Illustrious Women and the
Society of the Seventeenth Century;" and of these
none has excited so much attention as his "Life of
Madame de Chevreuse."  In this charming biography,
which certainly reads very much like a romance, the
author claims the merit of a scrupulous and exact
adherence to the truth of history.  He controverts
many received opinions and forces the reader to abandon many established hypotheses, but he does it upon
the incontestable evidence of cotemporary writers and
of documents that were supposed to be lost or not
known to exist. Among these are a hitherto unknown
memoir of Richelieu concerning the secret affairs of
1633, which produced the imprisonment of Chateauneuf, keeper of the seals; the unpublished examinations of La Porte and the Abbess of Val-de-Grace in
1637; the autograph Garnets of Mazarin, explained
and developed by the evidence of his secret police, and




vi           PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
several inedited letters of Queen Anne to the cardinal
which solve the question of their relations.
Madame Chevreuse coped with Richelieu in the
adroit political intrigues which marked the close of
the reign of Louis XIII. and excited the admiration
of all Europe; and in Cardinal Mazarin's memorable
struggle at the beginning of his ministry and of the
regency against the "Importants" (those predecessors of the   Frondeurs"), he encountered no more
powerful adversary or none who gave him more anxiety
than she.  The author in his romantic memoir only
rapidly sketches the early and the later life of his subject, dwelling most upon her career as an actress in
the great drama of 1643; and his work was intended
to be not so much the story of one of the most brilliant
female politicians that France has ever produced, as a
revelation of the secret history of the French Court
under Richelieu and Mazarin.




CONTENTS.
FIRST PART.
MADAME   DE   CHEVREUSE   AND   RICHELIEU.
CHAPTER 1.
Character and personal appearance of Madame de Chevreuse.-Her birth and her
first and second marriages.-Intimate friendship with Anne of Austria.-Count
Holland.-Prince de Chalais-First Exile.-Charles IV. Duke of Lorraine.-eeturn to France.-Richelieu and Chateauneuf.-Madame de Chevreuse banished
again to Touraine.-Affairs of 1637.-Second Exile; flight to Spain,..
CHAPTER II.
Madame de Chevreuse in Spain, and in England.-Long negotiation with Richelieu to return to France.-Failure of the negotiation.-Marie de Medicis and
the Duke d'ipernon.-Madame de Chevreuse in Flanders.-Conspiracy and
rebellion of Count de Soissons.-Affair of Cinq-Mars.-Death of Richelieu and
of Louis XIII.-Eoyal declaration of the 20th of April, 1643, condemning
Madame de Chevreuse to a perpetual exile.-Her recall by the new regent,   46
SECOND PART.
MADAME   DE   CHEYREUSE   AND   MAZARIN.
CHAPTER  III.
Madame de Chevreuse returns to the Court and to Paris.-New Arrangements of
the Queen.-Anne of Austria'and Mazarin.-Efforts of Madame de Chevreuse
in favor of the former Party of the Queen and against the Policy and the Partisans of Pichelieu. —Ier Solicitations in behalf of Chateauneuf, the Vend6mes,
and La Rochefoucaulld.-H er HIome and Foreign Policy.-Madame de Chev



Viii                             CONTENTS.
reuse the true Chief of the Party of the Importants.-Defeated in her efforts
to gain the Queen, she resolves to have recourse to other means.-A Crisis
becomes inevitable; it occurs on the occasion of the Quarrel between Madame
de Montbazon and Madame de Longueville,..... 84
CHAPTER IV.
Conspiracy of Madame de Chevreuse and Beaufort against MazariIi.-La Rochefoucauld and Retz deny this Conspiracy.-Plan and Details of the whole Affair,
as gathered from the Carnets and Letters of the Cardinal and the Memoirs
of Henri de Campion,... 125




MADAME DE CHEVREUSE;
OR,
SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT UNDER
RTCHELIEU AND MAZARIN.
CHAPTER I.
1600-1637.
Character and personal appearance of Madame de Chevreuse —Her birth and her first
and second marriages-Intimate friendship with Anne of Austria-Count IIolland-Prince de Chalais-First Exile-Charles IV. Duke of Lorraine-Return to
France —Richelieu and Chateauneuf-Madame de Chevreuse banished again to
Touraine-Affairs of 1637-Second Exile; flight to Spain.
IF our readers are not wearied with our portraits of the
women of the seventeenth century, we should  be glad to
present to them  two new figures equally, though differently
remarkable-two persons whom the caprice of Fate cast in the
same age, the same party, amidst the same events, but who
far from  resembling each other, expressed, as we may say,
the two opposite sides of the character, and the destiny of
woman-both  endowed with resplendent beauty, marvellous
talent, and indomitable courage; yet the one as pure as beautiful, uniting in herself grace and dignity, everywhere inspiring
love and commanding respect, at one time the idol and the
favorite of a king without even the shadow  of an injurious
suspicion daring to raise itself against her, proud, even to
haughtiness, towards the prosperous and powerful, gentle and




2         SECRET HISTORY OF TIlE FRENCH COURT
compassionate to the oppressed and miserable, loving greatness, placing naught but virtue above position, mingling together the sparkling wit of a precieuse, the fastidiousness of
a fashionable beauty, the intrepidity of a heroine, the dignity of a high-born lady, above all a Christian without bigotry,
yet devout, and even austere, leaving behind her an odor of
sanctity; 1 the other, perhaps more fascinating, of an irresistible grace and vivacity, full of talent, yet very ignorant, sharing in all the perils of the Catholic party, but scarcely thinking of religion, too proud to condescend to prudence, and
curbed only by honor, devoted to gallantry, and counting all
else as nothing, despising for the one whom she loved, danger,
opinion and fortune, more restless than ambitious, and willingly staking her own life, as well as that of others; and after having passed her youth in intrigues of every sort, thwarting more
than one plot, leaving on her path more than one victim, travelling over Europe as an exile, yet a conqueror, turning the
heads of kings,-after having seen Chalais mount the scaffold,
Chateauneuf expelled from the ministry, the Duke of Lorraine
almost despoiled of his estates, Buckingham assassinated, the
King of Spain engaged in an unsuccessful war, Queen Anne
humiliated and vanquished, and Richelieu triumphant; sustaining the struggle to the end, always ready in this game of
politics which had become her necessity and her passion, to
descend to the darkest intrigues, and to make the rashest resolves; of an incomparable eye for recognizing the true position of affairs, and the enemy of the moment, and of a mind
strong enough, and a heart bold enough to undertake to destroy him at any cost; a devoted friend, an implacable enemy
almost without knowing hatred, in short, the most redoubtable
The author alludes here to his life of Madame de Hautefort, which
followed that of Madame de Chevreuse. Each biography, however, is
complete in itself; this being the only allusion in the present volume to
the subsequent memoir of Madame de Hautefort.-Translator's Note.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                     3
enemy encountered in turn  by Richelieu and by Mazarin.
The reader will easily divine that we speak of Madame de
Hautefort and of Madame de Chevreuse.
Need we add that we do not intend to trace here fancy
portraits, and that if we sometimes seem to recount romantic
adventures, it is in conformity with all the rigor of the laws
of history. These sketches, though fanciful in appearance, are
worthy of the fullest confidence, and will soon be acknowledged
as resting upon the testimony of approved cotemporary witnesses, or upon authentic documents as reliable as new, which
will bear the scrutiny of the most exacting critic.
We commence with  Madame de Chevreuse.   She dates
further back in the seventeenth century than does Madame
de Hautefort-she at least precedes if she does not excel her.
It must also be said that she filled a more lofty station, and
played a more conspicuous part, and that her name belongs as
much to the history of the politics as of the society of her age.
Madame de Chevreuse in truth' possessed almost all the
qualities of a great politician, a single one was wanting, and
it was the one precisely without which all the others ran to
waste-she did not know how to propose to herself a just aim,
or rather she never chose one for herself; it was another that
chose for her. Madame de Chevreuse was a woman in the fullest
sense-in this was her strength, and also her weakness.  Her
first impulse was love, or rather gallantry, and the interests of
the one whom she loved became her chief aim.  Here lies the
solution of the prodigies of sagacity, adroitness and energy
which she displayed in vain in the pursuit of a chimera, which
1 Madame de Motteville, vol. i., Amsterdam edition of 1750, page
198:-" I heard her say to herself one day when I was complimenting
her on having taken part in all the great events of Europe, that ambition
had never touched her heart, but that affection had guided it, that is,
that she had interested herself in the affairs of the world solely through
sympathy with those whom she had loved." The passages of Retz, which
we shall quote presently, may be reduced to the same interpretation.




4         SECRET HISTORY OF T-HE FRENCH COURT
constantly receded from her grasp, while it seemed to lure her
on by the very prestige of difficulty and danger.  Rochefoucauld accuses her of having brought misfortune on all whom
she loved;' it is also just to say that all who loved her precipitated her in turn into their own mad enterprises.  It was not
she, apparently, who made of Buckingham  a sort of Paladin:without genius, of Charles  IV. a brilliant adventurer, of
Chalais a madman insane enough to pledge himself against
Richelieu on the faith of the Duke of Orleans, and of Chateauneuf a restless second-rate aspirant, without being capable of
attaining to be first. One must not believe that he knows
Madame de Chevreuse when he has read the celebrated portrait which Retz has drawn of her, for this is exaggerated and
overdrawn like all those of Retz, and was designed solely to
gratify the malignant curiosity of Madame de Caumartinwithout being really false, it is severe almost to injustice. Did
it belong, indeed, to the restless and intemperate accomplice to
become the pitiless censor of a woman in whose errors he had
shared?  Was he not also as much deceived as she, and for
a much longer time?  Did he show  in the combat more address and courage, and in the defeat, more intrepidity and
constancy?  But Madame de Chevreuse has written us no
memoirs in the easy and piquant style in which she retrieved
her fortunes at the expense of the world.  For our own part,
we recognize two judges of her whose testimony cannot be
regarded with suspicion-Richelieu and Mazarin.   Richelieu
did his best to gain her, and failing to succeed, treated her as
an enemy worthy of himself; he exiled her repeatedly, and
even after his death, when the gates of France were opened to
all the outlaws, his implacable resentment-surviving him in
the mind of the dying Louis XIII., closed them still upon her
Read the carnets (note-books) and the confidential letters of
1 Memoirs of Madame de Motteville, Coll. Petitot, second series,
vol. ii., p. 339.




UNDERt RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    5
Mazarin attentively, and you will detect there the deep and
continual anxiety which she caused him in 1643. Later, during
the Fronde, he is found to be reconciled to her, and following
her counsels, as judicious as they are bold.  Finally, in 1660,
when Mazarin, victorious everywhere, adds the treaty of the
Pyrenees to that of Westphalia, and when Don Luis de Haro
congratulates him on the repose which he is about to taste
after so many storms, the cardinal replies, that one never can
promise himself repose in France, and that even the women
there are greatly to be feared.  "You Spaniards may well
speak of your ease, " said he; " your women trouble themselves
about nothing but love; but it is not so in France; we have
three there now who would be quite capable of governing or of
overthrowing three great kingdoms-the Duchess de Longueville, the Princess Palatine and Madame de Chevreuse. "' 
But first a word of the beauty of Madame de Chevreuse,
for this beauty had a great share in her destiny. All her
cotemporaries unite in celebrating it.  A  portrait nearly of
life-size, which is in the possession of the Duke de Luynes,
and which he has courteously shown to us,' gives her an enchanting figure, a charming face, large blue eyes, fine and
luxuriant chestnut-hair, a beautiful bust, and a piquant mingling of refinement and vivacity, grace and passion in her whole
person.   This indeed was the character of the beauty of
Madame de Chevreuse; we find it again in the excellent engraving of Daret,' which Harding has republished in England,
1 Vie de Mladame de Longueville, by Villefore, edition of 1739, second part, p. 33. Madame de Motteville, vol. i., bid: —"I have heard
him say to those who were well acquainted with him, that no one had
ever understood the interests of princes so well, or talked so well about
them, and I have even heard him praise her capacity."
2 This portrait is not an original, but a very ancient copy.
3 See the collection in quarto of Daret, dedicated to Madame de
Chevreuse herself. There is another engraved portrait of ladame de
Chevrense, which is very rare, in the collection of Leblond, in folio.




6         SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
and also in the picture of Ferdinand Elle,' which represents
her as a widow and aged.  We feel in this last portrait that
her dazzling beauty has passed  away, but that acuteness,
dignity, vivacity and grace are still surviving.
Marie de Rohan belonged to that ancient and illustrious
family, the issue of the first sovereigns of Brittany, which,
with its different branches, without counting its alliances,
spread itself over, and long possessed, a considerable part of
Brittany, dividing itself almost equally between the Catholic
and the Protestant party in the sixteenth, and the commencement of the seventeenth centuries, zealously obeying royalty,
and holding it in check by turns, and whose hereditary traits,
strongly marked in both sexes, were loftiness of soul, bravery,
and constancy.  At the siege of Rochelle, two women, after
enduring all the rigors of famine with the  meanest of the
soldiers, and subsisting like them upon horseflesh, chose rather
to remain as prisoners in the hands of the enemy than to sign
the articles of capitulation.  These were the mother and the
sister of the celebrated Duke de Rohan, one of our greatest
warriors before Conde, and unquestionably our greatest military writer before Napoleon.  The wife of this same Henri de
Rohan defended Castres against the  Marshal de Themines.
During the lapse of centuries, this noble house has not ceased
to produce heroines of a resolute spirit, as well as beauties
more brilliant than severe. In this respect, she whose history
we are about to trace, showed no degeneracy from  her race,
she was truly of the blood of the Rohans.
She was daughter of Hercules de Rohan, Duke de MontShe is younger than in that of Daret, with an oval countenance, large
eyes, a fine bust, and with hair curled and craped in the style of the
beginning of the reign of Louis XIII. As to the ugly little portraits of
Moncornet, they have no resemblance to Madame de Chevreuse at any
age.
I The original of Ferdinand Elle is at the house of the Duke de
Luynes. Balechou has engraved it for L'utrope Illustre.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                       7
bazon, a zealous servant of Henri IV., Peer and Master of
the Hounds, and Governor of Paris and of the Isle of France,
and of his first wife, Madeleine de Lenoncourt, sister of Urbain
de Laval, Marshal de Bois-Dauphin.  Born almost with the
seventeenth century, in December, 1600, she lost her mother at
a very early age, and in 1617 espoused that audacious favorite
of Louis XIII., who, on the faith of the fickle friendship of a
king, dared attempt to overthrow the authority of the queenmother, Marie de Medicis, destroyed the Marshal d'Ancre,
combated the Princes and the Protestants at the same time,
and attempted against Richelieu himself the system of Richelieu. Let us ask in passing, Is it not unworthy of history to
attribute the elevation of Luynes to the caprice of a king, who
takes one of his pages, a petty gentleman, for his prime minister, solely because he finds him skilful in the art of training
falcons? Such, perhaps, was the beginning of the fortunes of
Luynes,-such was not the cause of it.  This petty gentleman,
son of Captain de Luynes, as he was called, one of the bravest
and most intelligent of the officers of Henri IV., was himself a man of talent and courage, who, under the direct inspiration of Louis XIII., honorably restored and sustained while he
lived the work of the great king which Richelieu had at first
opposed in his character of the favorite of Marie de Medicis,
and which he afterwards undertook with great zeal, gradually
turning against his old friends and his first protectress, so far
as to exile her precisely as De Luynes had done.' The young
The reader should not be duped by the memoirs of Richelieu, which
are designed, like all memoirs, to deceive posterity in favor of the author.
Richelieu did not begin his career as he finished it. He commenced as
a partisan of the Spanish Alliance to please the queen-mother. There is
a production of Richelieu, now very rare, entitled, Harangue prononcee
en la salle du Petit Bourbon, le 23 fevrier, 1615, a la cl6ture des Rtats
tenus a Pdris, par reverend pere en Dieu, messire Armand Jean du Plessis
de Richelieu, eves9ue de Lucon.  In this, Richelieu congratulates the
king,, who was of age, on having "restored the reins of this great em



8         SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
and ambitious constable was well fitted to please the bold heart
of the beautiful Marie, and she loved him faithfully.  She had
one daughter, a devotee, who died unmarried, and a son who
played a role in the seventeenth century by his liaisons at
Port Royal, translated into French the Meditations of Descartes, wrote estimable works of piety, under the name of M.
de Laval, and continued the illustrious house.
The Duchess and Constabless de Luynes, left a widow in
1621, in 1622 espoused in a second marriage Claude de Lorraine, Duke de Chevreuse, one of the sons of Henri de Guise,
Grand Chamberlain of France.  His greatest merit lay in his
name, and the good looks and valor which could never be
wanting in a prince of the house of Lorraine; but he was disorderly  in his business, and disagreeable  in his manners,
which may explain and extenuate the faults of his wife. Three
daughters were born of this new marriage, two of whom died
pire to the hands of the queen, his mother, so that she might have for
some time the guidance of his estates."  Spain and France "being
united, have nothing to fear; while separated, they can only receive injury
from each other." Let us add that Luynes, struck with the talents of
Richelieu, ended by extricating him from disgrace; that he proposed to
restore him to public life, and, to attach him to himself, caused the niece
of Richelieu, Mademoiselle du Pont de Courlay, afterwards Duchess de
Aiguillon, to espouse his own nephew, Combalet. Richelieu therefore was
at that time regarded as serving Luynes in an underhand way, and it is
principally to efface and contradict this well-founded rumor, that, uniting
all the foibles and weaknesses of vanity to the aspirations and ambition of
pride, he attempts in his memoirs to decry the constable, reproaching him
with that of which he himself was afterwards guilty. Luynes resolutely
attacked and promptly subdued the rebellious princes, and by means of
the treaty of Angouleme secured the queen-mother in a necessary exile
without useless rigor. When Rohan and Soubise dared to draw the
sword, the new Duke de Luynes gained the title of constable by opposing
the Protestants, and he undertook the siege of Montauban, the precursor
of that of La Rochelle. In 1620, Bearn was definitively incorporated
with the crown. This is an abstract of the whole of Richelieu's career.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                       9
in convents,' the third was the beautiful and celebrated Mademoiselle de Chevreuse, who was weak enough to listen to Retz,
if we may believe his assertions, for which he repaid her by caricaturing her for the diversion of the one for whom he wrote.2
The new Duchess de Chevreuse had been appointed superintendent of the queen's household during the life-time of her
first husband, and had soon become the favorite of Anne of
Austria as the constable was the favorite of Louis XIII.  The
court at that time was very brilliant, and gallantry the order
of the day.  Marie de Rohan was naturally gay and spirited.
She yielded to the allurements of youth and pleasure.  She
had lovers, and these lovers forced her into politics.  Retz
himself admits this in the following passage, too famous to be
omitted here, though we must first remark that even if it have
a groundwork of truth, the coloring is greatly exaggerated: 3
" I never saw any one else," he says, " in whom intuition could
supply the place of judgment. She often suggested expedients
so brilliant that they seemed like flashes of lightning, and so
wise that they would not have been disowned by the greatest
men of any age.  Yet these were only called forth by the occa.
sion. If she had lived in an age in which there were no politics,
she never would have invented any.  If the prior of the Carthusians had pleased her, she would have become a recluse in
good faith. M. de Lorraine first forced her into public affairs,
One, Anne Marie de Lorraine, died in 1652, aged eighteen, the
Abbess of the Port aux Dames; the other, Henriette de Lorraine, was
Abbess de Jouarre. The latter must not be confounded with her niece,
Madame Albert de Luynes, who, with one of her sisters, was also a devotee at Jouarre, and to whom Bossuet wrote so many touching letters.
lHenriette de Lorraine had some disputes with her bishop respecting the
extent of the power of abbesses, and, after yielding, she retired to Port
Royal, where she died in 1694.-Gallia Christiana, vol. viii., p. 1715;
Vie de Bossuet, by M. de Beausset, vol. ii. Book vii.
2 Vol. i. of the Amsterdam edition, 1731, p. 221.
9 Ibid., p. 219.




10        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
the Duke of Buckingham and Count Holland sustained her in
them, Chateauneuf interested her in them.  She abandoned
herself to them as she would unhesitatingly have abandoned
herself to any thing that pleased the one whom she loved, without choice, and simply because it was necessary to her nature
that she should love some one. She was easily persuaded to
accept of any lover,l but when she had once taken him, she
loved him truly and faithfully, and she has confessed to Madame
de Rhodes and myself that, by a strange caprice, those whom
she had most esteemed she had never loved, with the exception
of the unhappy Buckingham.  Her devotion to a passion
which may be called eternal, however often she may have
changed its object, did not prevent a patch upon her face from
abstracting her attention,2 but she always returned to her subject with a fascinating grace that made this little break absolutely
enchanting.  Never did person care less for perils, and never
had woman more contempt for scruples and for duties,-she
knew no duty but that of pleasing her lover."  Of this sketch,
which might have moved Tallemant to envy, retain at least
these striking and faithful traits-the prompt and sure penetration of Madame de Chevreuse, her indomitable courage, and
her loyalty and devotion in love. Besides, Retz is entirely
mistaken as to the order of her adventures, he forgets some,
and he invents others; he seems to regard the events in which
the passions of Madame de Chevreuse caused her to take part
as trifles, while in fact there were none greater or more tragical. Let us throw aside this trifling and frivolous style, and
seek in its stead to establish the truth.
The young queen, Anne of Austria, and her youthful superA ridiculous calumny, the sole pretext of which is he last liaison of
Madame de Chevreuse during the Fronde. See our last chapter.
2 This accusation simply means that "Madame de Chevreuse was
subject to fits of abstraction during her conversation," as Madame de
Motteville informs us. Vol. i., p. 198.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 11
intendent, who were nearly of the same age, only occupied
themselves at first with frivolous pastimes. Anne, neglected
by her husband, consoled herself with the society and the
lively and happy humor of Madame de Chevreuse.  They
passed their time together, making of every thing " food for
their wit and pleasantry: a giovine cuor tutto e giuoco." Lord
Rich, afterwards the celebrated Count Holland, of the house
of Warwick, came to the French court at the close of 1624, or
the commencement of 1625, to demand the hand of the beautiful Henriette, sister of Louis XIII., for the Prince of Wales,
who soon after became Charles I.  During this negotiation,
the Count became enamored with Madame de Chevreuse.  He
was young and singularly handsome; he pleased her, and won
her over to the interests of England. This was, I believe, the
true debut of Madame de Chevreuse, both in love and in politics. Holland, who was volatile, and a lover of pleasure and
intrigue,' persuaded her to entangle her royal friend in some
love affair like their own.  Anne of Austria was vain and
coquettish, she loved to please, and with her country's taste for
gallantry, aided by the freedom in which she was left by Louis
XIII., she did not interdict herself from  accepting homage;
but here the game was not without danger, and the handsome
and elegant Buckingham succeeded in seriously troubling the
heart of the queen.  It was not the fault of Madame de Chevreuse if Anne of Austria did not wholly yield.  Buckingham
was rash and the superintendent complaisant; and the queen
only escaped at a perilous risk.
Whatever Retz may say of it, we doubt very much whether
Buckingham was ever any thing more to Madame de Chevreuse
than the intimate friend of her lover, and the chief of the party
into which Holland had drawn her.  She saw him for the first
La Rochefoucauld, ibid., p. 340; La Porte, iMemoires, Coll. Petitot,
2d series, vol. lix., p. 295: "One of the handsomest men in the world,
but of an effeminate beauty."




12        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
time in May, 1625, when he came to France to espouse Madame in behalf of Charles I., and, at that time, Buckiingham
was in the height of his infatuation for Queen Anne, while
Madame de Chevreuse was in love with Count Holland, whom
she soon rejoined in England, having had the art to cause herself to be appointed to escort the new Princess of Wales to her
husband.  Now, when Madame de Chevreuse loved, as Retz
himself affirms, she loved faithfully and exclusively.  At the
age of twenty-four, one does not trifle with a first attachment
to the extent of giving one's own lover to another, and the r61e
which the poor woman already plays in this affair is not so
honorable as to make us delight to vilify her still more. Madame de Chevreuse fell ill, it is true, on hearing the news of
the assassination of Buckingham.  Nothing was more natural; she lost in him a tried friend, the confidant of her first
love, and the chief and the hope of the enemies of Richelieu.
To the obscure insinuations of Retz, should be opposed the
clear and connected account of La Rochefoucauld, and above
all, the silence of Tallemant, who would not have failed to
add this item to his scandalous chronicles, had he ever heard
the story.  Thus, without pretending  to scan such things
clearly, especially after the lapse of two centuries, but following our rule of admitting nothing except from sure testimony,
we incline to the belief that the Duke of Buckingham should
be struck from the list, still very numerous, of the lovers of
Madame de Chevreuse, and that the handsome Chalais was the
immediate successor of the elegant Count Holland in the heart
of the beautiful duchess.
Without making of the conspiracy of Chalais, as Richelieu
would have it, " the most frightful conspiracy of which history
has ever made mention," 2 we cannot refuse to admit that it was
not so trifling an affair as Chalais asserted, trembling for his
Vol. i., p. 241.
2 Mileolires of Richelieu in the Coil. Petitot, vol. iii., p. 64.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                      13
head.   The court of Monsieur was already a focus of intrigues against Richelieu.  Monsieur did not like his proposed
marriage with  Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and Anne  of
Austria, on her side, who had as yet no children, feared a marriage which might some day take the crown from her head, and
transfer it to the house of Orleans.  Henri de Talleyrand,
Prince de Chalais, of the house of Perigord, came to the aid of
Monsieur and the queen; he planned some dark intrigue' which
Richelieu, perhaps, exaggerated, but which he succeeded in
so firmly establishing in the mind of the king, that Louis XIII.
not only abandoned Chalais as afterwards he abandoned CinqMars, but remained  persuaded during  his whole life that
the queen had been implicated in the affair, and that, he being
dead or dethroned, she and Monsieur had entertained  the
thought of a union.  Chalais mounted the first scaffold erected
by Richelieu, despite the tears of his aged mother.  Monsieur
La Rochefoucauld, ibid., p. 339: " Chalais was master of the wardrobe; his person and mind were attractive, and he was devotedly attached to Madame de Chevreuse. He was accused of having formed a
design against the life of the king, and of having proposed to Monsieur to
break off his marriage with a view ot espousing the queen on his accession to the throne.  Although this crime was not fully proved, Chalais
was beheaded, and the cardinal had but little difficulty in persuading the
king that the queen and Madame de Chevreuse had not been ignorant of
the design of Chalais."  Foritenay-Mareuil, Memoires, Coll. Petitot, vol.
li., p. 23: "M. de Chalais was young, well formed, expert in all kinds
of exercise, and above all, agreeable in society; which rendered him a
great favorite among the women, who finally caused his ruin. Fontenay
says that in the midst of the affair, and despite all his pledges, he became
reconciled to Richelieu, but that Madame de Chevreuse reproached him
so bitterly and urged him on so strongly, that, nothing being impossible
to a woman of so much beauty and wit, he was unable to resist her, and
chose rather to be unfaithful to the cardinal and himself than to her, so
that he had no sooner caused Monsieur to change his opinion, than he
rendered him again more rebellious than ever. Had he merely counselled Monsieur to leave the court to go to La Rochelle, no one could have
saved him; but it is said, and many believed it, that he went much farther.




14      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
extricated himself from the affair by espousing Mademoiselle
de Montpensier, the queen fell more deeply than ever into disgrace, and Madame de Chevreuse, perfidiously denounced by
the Duke of Orleans, and also by Chalais himself, who, with
his dying breath, vainly denied his first confessions, was condemned to depart from France. What part had she had in this
conspiracy? That which both love and friendship had forced
upon her.  Chalais was her lover, and she was devoted to
Anne of Austria.  She was no more the originator of this plot
than of any of the others which the Duke of Orleans so often
commenced but never finished; but, on entering it, she brought
into it all her ardor and her energy. Richelieu says, and
we believe him, that " she did more harm than any one else." 
She dearly learned the cost of loving a queen too well. Anne
of Austria escaped with a slight humiliation, but her courageous confidant saw the man whom  she loved perish by the
hand of the executioner, and herself torn from all the refinements of life, from the fetes of the Louvre and from her beautiful chateau of Dampierre, and forced to seek an asylum in a
foreign land.  " Then," says Richelieu, " she was transported
with rage."  She even went so far as to say that they did not
know her; that they thought that she only had mind enough
for coquetry, but she would show them in time that she was
capable of something else; that there was nothing that she
would not do to avenge herself; and that she would abandon
herself to a soldier of the guards rather than not obtain satisfaction from her enemies. She wished to go to England, where
she was sure of the support of Holland, of Buckingham, and
of Charles I. himself.  This favor was not accorded her; her
imprisonment was even talked of, and it was with difficulty
that her husband obtained permission for her to retire into
Lorraine.
It is well known that, instead of a refuge, she found there'Aemoires, vol. iii., p. 105.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAiIN.                  15
a most brilliant triumph. She dazzled, seduced and urged
on the impetuous and adventurous Charles IV.'  She was
not, as La Rochefoucauld has said, and as others have so
often repeated, the primary cause of the misfortunes of this
prince;-no, the true cause of the misfortunes of Charles IV.
lay  in his own  character-in his presumptuous ambition,
open to every wild fancy, which had to encounter such a
politician as Richelieu. Let us not forget that these two
personages were embroiled long before Madame de Chevreuse set foot in Nancy.  Richelieu  claimed several portions of the estates of the duke, who, being placed between
Austria and France, began the warfare by declaring in favor
of the former against the latter. He was the man the best
fitted of all others to share the sentiments of Madame de
Chevreuse, as she was admirably suited to second his designs.
She found Charles IV. already pledged to Austria, she attached  him  to England, then ruled by Buckingham; she
also established intelligence with Savoy, and thus formed a
European league by which she secured to the interior the support of the Protestant party, controlled by her relatives, Rohan
and Soubise. The plan was well laid; an English fleet, commanded by Buckingham himself, would disembark at the Isle
of R6 and join the Protestants of La Rochelle; the Duke of
Savoy would make a descent at the same time upon Dauphiny
and Provence; and the Duke de Rohan, at the head of the
Reformers, would stir up Languedoc, while the Duke of Lorraine should march towards Paris by the way of Champagne.
The principal agent of this plan, charged with bearing mesH1 ere, as well as in respect to the early part of the life of Madame
de Chevreuse, we refer our readers to the work of Count d'laussonville,
Hlistoire de la reunion de la Lorraine a la France, with inedited notes,
proofs and historical documents, of which excellent treatise we would
give a more extended eulogy if competent critics had not anticipated us
by diffusing the knowledge, wit and elegance which illuminate its pages.




16         SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
sages to all the interested parties, was Lord Montagu, an intimate friend of Holland and of Buckingham, who, it is said,
also suffered himself to be captivated by the charms of Madame
de -Chevreuse.
Ilichelieu, forewarned  by his own sagacity, and by his
police, watched  all the  movements of Montagu, dared to
cause his arrest on the Lorraine territory,' seized his papers,
discovered the whole conspiracy, and faced it with his accustomed vigor.   The principal attack upon the Isle of R6
was foiled, and Buckingham  forced  to  an ignominious retreat.  La Rochelle soon after yielded  to the perseverance
Queen Anne was so deeply involved in this intrigue, that sho
trembled for her own safety when news of the arrest of Montagu reached
her, and she could not rest until she was well assured that she was not
named in the papers of the prisoner, and would not be mentioned in his
examination. La Porte, fiemoires, p. 304: " The news of the arrest of
Lord Montagu threw the queen into the greatest anxiety. She feared that
she was named in his papers, and that when this came to the ears of the
king, with whom she did not live on very good terms, he would treat her
harshly and send her to Spain, as he assuredly would have done. So great
was her disquietude, that she neither ate nor slept. In this embarrassment she recollected that I was in a company of gendarmes which belonged to the troops appointed to attend Lord Montagu. She therefore
inquired for me of Lavau, who found me and conducted me after midnight to the chamber of the queen, whence all had withdrawn. She told
me of her anxiety, and that, having no person in whom she could confide,
she had sought me, believing that I would serve her from affection and
with fidelity, and that her safety or destruction depended on the news
which I should bring to her. She told me the whole affair, and said that
I must endeavor in my attendance on Lord Montagu, to speak to him
and to learn whether she was named in the papers which had been taken, and whether, in the event of his being examined while in the Bastille,
and urged to reveal the confederates of this league, he would refrain from
naming her.... I related the trouble of the queen to Lord Montagu, who replied that she was neither directly nor indirectly named in
the papers, and assured me that, if he were questioned, he would die rather
than say aught that might injure her. La Porte says that when he
brought back this answer to the queen, she danced for joy.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                1 
and skill of the cardinal, the vanquished coalition was dissolved, and England sued for peace, placing, among its most
urgent conditions, the return of the beautiful exile, now become a political power for whom  peace or war was made.
" She was a princess who was much loved in England, and one
for whom  the king entertained an especial regard, and he
would assuredly have insisted on including her in the treaty
of peace if he had not been ashamed of making mention of a
woman in it; but he would be greatly obliged if his majesty
would not displease him in this. She had a fine mind, a potent
beauty which she knew how to use to advantage, was never
disheartened by any misfortune, and always retained her evenness of temper;" 1 a less brilliant, but far more just and faithful
portrait than that of Retz, and which may have been drawn by
Richelieu's own hand, as it is probable that the cardinal, according to his custom, has here recapitulated the propositions
of Montagu in his own style, instead of copying them verbatim.
Be this as it may, Richelieu, who ardently desired to disengage
himself from the Rohans, the Protestants, and England, in
order to direct all his forces against Spain, accepted the desired
condition, and Madame de Chevreuse returned to Dampierre.
A few years of tranquillity followed this turbulent life.
Marie de Rohan reappeared at court in all her beauty.  She
was not yet thirty years of age, and one could scarcely look at
her with impunity. Richelieu himself was not insensible to
her charms; 2 he endeavored to please her, but his homage
was not accepted.  To the all-powerful cardinal, Madame de
Chevreuse preferred one of his ministers; and the one upon
whom he had the best reason to count; she conquered him with
a glance, and won him over to the party of the queen and the
malcontents.
1 fMeoires of Richelieu, Vol. iv., p. 14.
2 Madame de Motteville, Vol. i., p. 62: "This minister, despite the
rigor with which he had treated her, had never disliked her; her beauty
had charmed him etc."




18         SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
Charles de l'Aubepine, Marquis de Chateauneuf, of an ancient family of counsellors and secretaries of state, had succeeded Michael Marillac in the office of Keeper of the Seals
in 1630; this he owed to the favor of Richelieu, and to the
attachment which he had shown him.  He had carried this
devotion very far, for he had presided at Toulouse  over the
commission which had sentenced the imprudent and unfortunate  Montmorenci, and had thus drawn  upon  himself the
eternal enmity of the Montmorencis  and the Condes.   Chateauneuf had  therefore  given bloody pledges of fidelity to
Richelieu, and they seemed inseparable.  The cardinal had
loaded him with favors, as was his custom towards his friends.
Chbteauneuf had been appointed chancellor of the royal orders,
and Governor of Touraine.  He was a consummate man of
business, laborious and active, and endowed with that quality
which best pleased the cardinal, resolution; but he had an inordinate ambition which he retained through life, and which
when joined with love, rendered him blind to all but his purpose.'  We cannot but smile when we recall the assertion of
Richelieu, Testament Politique, Chap. i.: " The important post to
which your majesty had appointed him, the hundred thousand crowns
which he received each year from your liberality, the government of one
of your provinces, all extraordinary marks of favor to a man in his position, were not considerations weighty enough to deter him from becoming the author of his own ruin."  lfemoires, Vol. vii., p. 326: " M. de
Chateauneuf was made Keeper of the Seals in the belief that he would
be guided solely by the commandments of the king, and the interests of
his service, as he had hitherto seemed to have no other design, and had
been for many years attached to the cardinal, serving him with many
tokens of affection and fidelity; but no sooner was he emancipated by
the authority of his office and placed in an independent position, than
the designs which before had been concealed by respect and fear, began
to disclose themselves. He attached himself to the cabals of the court, particularly to that of factious womenheaded by the Duchess de Chevreuse,
whose conduct had often displeased the king, inasmuch as she had not
only belonged to all the troublesome factions that had been raised against
him, but had formerly been herself the very dangerous leader of a party."




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    19
Retz, that Chateauneuf amused Madame Chevreuse with public affairs.  This amusement must have been of a very peculiar
nature indeed, since she staked in it her fortune, and sometimes
her head, and the intrigue in which they both were engaged was
so rash, that here, at least, it must be admitted that it was not
Chateauneuf who forced Madame de Chevreuse into it, but
rather she who urged on the keeper of the seals.
Chateauneuf was then fifty years of age,' and the sentiment that he had conceived for Madame de Chevreuse must
have been one of those fatal passions which precede and mark
the final departure of youth.  As to Madame de Chevreuse,
she shared to the fullest extent in the dangers and misfortunes
of Chateauneuf, and never afterwards consented to separate
his fortunes  from  her own.  In all her aberrations, she at
least preserved this remnant of honor, that when she loved,
she loved with unbounded fidelity, and after the passion had
passed away, she still maintained for its object an inviolable
friendship.  For some time, Richelieu had perceived that his
keeper of the seals was no longer the same.  His suspicious
nature, seconded by his penetration and his incomparable police, had put him on the track of the most secret manoeuvres
of Chateauneuf, and he afterwards amused himself by collecting all the proofs of the treason of his former friend in papers
which have hitherto remained unpublished, and which seem to
us to be a stray chapter of his iMemoires.'  It is said that,
during an illness which threatened the life of the cardinal,
Anne of Austria gave a ball, at which Chateauneuf appeared
1 le was born in 1580. An excellent crayon portrait of D. Demonstier, engraved by Ragot, represents him as keeper of the seals, with a
firm and lofty bearing.
2 We found this curious fragment in the archives of foreign affairs,
FRANCE, vol. ci., being the last article of the volume, under the title:
Memoire de M. le Cardical de Richelieu, contre if. de ihdteauneuf, consisting of twelve pages in the well-known handwriting of Charpentier,
one of the secretaries of the cardinal.




20        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
and danced;' a signal act of folly which opened the eyes of
Richelieu, and incensed him greatly.  On the twenty-fifth of
December, 1633, the keeper of the seals was arrested, and all
his papers seized. Fifty-two letters in the handwriting of
Madame de Chevreuse were found, in which, under an easilyread cypher and through a transparent disguise, the designs
of Chateauneuf and the duchess were discovered. There were
also many letters from the Chevalier de Jars, Count Holland,
Montagu, Puylaurens, Count de Brion, the Duke de Vend6me,
and  even from  the Queen of England.  These papers were
carried to the cardinal, who preserved them; after his death,
they were found in his casket, and thus fell into the hands
of the  Marshal de Richelieu,  who  transmitted  them  to
Pere Griffet for his Histoire du  regne du Louis XII.2l
An ancient copy is now in the possession of the Duke de
Luynes, whose spirit is too noble to seek to screen from history
the well-known faults of his illustrious ancestress, especially
since these faults bear the stamp of a noble heart and lofty
character.  We have carefully examined these curious manuscripts, particularly the  letters of Madame  de  Chevreuse.
They show that Richelieu was assiduously attentive to her,
that he was jealous of M. de Chatteauneuf, and that the latter
was alarmed  by the  circumspection  which  she  preserved
towards the prime minister, the better to conceal from him
their intercourse and plans.  We cannot read without interest
different passages of these letters, in which we perceive the
sprightly yet audacious wit of the duchess, her power over the
J lemnoires de tichelieu, vol. vii., p. 148; Editor's Note.
2 See this excellent but unappreciated work, vol. ii., p. 392.
The jealousy of Richelieu towards Chateauneuf appears in the fol
lowing extract from the iemnoires of La Porte, ibid., p. 322: " The
cardinal questioned me closely about the queen, whether M. de Chateauneuf went often to her palace, if he was late there, and whether he did
not generally go to the chateau of  e.~.damie de Chevreuse."




UgNDER RICHELIEU AND MIAZARIN.                21
keeper of the seals, and her fearless enmity to the cardinal,
despite the deference with which she treated him:" Madame de Chevreuse complains to M. de Chateauneuf
of her servant, who has so little faith in the generosity and
friendship of his master,' and who does very wrong when he
asks whether Madame de Chevreuse neglects him  to pledge
herself to the cardinal. You do wrong to have this thought;
the mind of Madame de Chevreuse is too noble for treacherous
sentiments ever to enter it.  This is why I regard the favor
of the cardinal no more than his power, and I shall never do
any thing unworthy of myself, either for the good which I may
gain from the one, or the evil which I may suffer from  the
other.  Believe this if you would do me justice.  I shall devote my whole life to you; and remember that you have the
advantage here, for I shall take great pleasure in pleasing you,
and shall suffer much in displeasing you.  These, conscientiously, are my sentiments, and you have no share in them if
ever you displease your master.
" Madame de Chevreuse has seen the cardinal, who remained two hours at the palace of the queen.  He paid her
extravagant compliments, and uttered the most extraordinary
flatteries in the presence of Madame de Chevreuse, to whom
he spoke very coldly, affecting great negligence and indifference, while she treated him in her usual manner, without seeming to notice his mood.  Upon his attempting to taunt her,
Madame de Chevreuse jested at him  in open defiance of his
power.  This surprised rather than irritated him, for he then
changed his tone, and attempted courtesies and the greatest
humility.  I do not know whether he acted thus to conceal
his ill-humor in the presence of the queen, or whether he did
The reader will note that these letters are translated almost verbatim from the original, and that the frequent changes which occur in
person and tense are designed to throw a veil-transparent enough, it is
true-over the correspondence.-NTOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.




22        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
not wish to embroil himself with Madame de Chevreuse.  I
shall see him to-morrow at two o'clock. I will send you word
of all that passes.  Rest assured that Madame de Chevreuse
will only live for the world while she lives for you."
" I believe that I am destined to be the object of the folly
of madmen.  The cardinal is a good proof of this; but whatever trouble his ill-humor may give me, it does not afflict me so
much as does that of 37,' (probably Brion, or perhaps de Thou,)
who, without listening to my entreaties, or to the reasons which
I have given him, insists on visiting Madame de Chevreuse, and
says that nothing shall prevent him, even though Madame de
Chevreuse tells him that she does not wish it, for fear of offending the cardinal.  Should he discover it, I confess to you that
the language of 37 troubles me greatly, for I cannot suffer it.
I am sorry that u7 should have given me so many causes of annoyance after having given me so many reasons to be pleased
with him.  I am resolved not to see him if he come against my
wishes, and not to receive his letters if he does not repent of
the manner in which he has addressed Madame de Chevreuse,
who can suffer this language from none other than you."
"Madame de Chevreuse has had no news from the cardinal.
If he is as satisfied with not hearing from me as I am with
hearing no more from him, he is well pleased, and I am freed
fromn that persecution from  which may time and our good
angel deliver us!
" The tyranny of the cardinal increases every moment.
He storms and rages because Madame de Chevreuse does not
go to see him.  I have written to him twice with compliments
of which he is unworthy, and which I should never have offered
to him, had it not been for the persecution of M. de Chevreuse,
who said that these would purchase my repose.  I believe that
In the original, Madame de Chevreuse is designated by number 28;
Chateauneuf by 38; the cardinal by 22; Louis XIII. by 23; Queen
Anne by 24; M. de Chevreuse by 57, etc.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND M AZARIN.              23
the favors of the king have carried his presumption to its
highest point.  He fancies that he can terrify Madame de
Chevreuse by his anger, and persuades himself, in my opinion,
that she will leave nothing untried to appease it; but she
is resolved to perish rather than to submit to the cardinal.
His glory is odious to me.  He has said to my husband that
my caprices were insupportable to a man of his temper, and
that he was resolved no longer to pay me any special attention,
since I was incapable of giving my friendship and confidence to
him alone.  I tell you this in confidence.  Feign not to know
it to M. de Chevreuse.  He has had a little quarrel with me,
for he has been so intimidated by the insolence of the cardinal
that he wishes to persecute me into a base endurance of him.
I esteem your courage and affection so highly that I wish you
to know all the interests of Madame de Chevreuse.  She confides so entirely in you that she believes them to be as safe in
your hands as in her own.  Love your master faithfully, and
however persecuted he may be, believe that in all his actions
he will prove himself worthy of love.
" I shall make no excuses to-day for not having written to
you, but I wish you to believe that I have not ceased to think
of you, although my letters have not expressed it to you. I
can only describe the interview between the cardinal and
Madame de Chevreuse by saying that he showed as much passion for your master as Madame de Chevreuse formerly thought
existed in the heart of 33;  but that Madame de Chevreuse
always regarded as a true passion, whereas she believes this of
the cardinal to be a feigned one.  He told her that he had
now no secrets from her, and that he would positively do all
that she commanded him, provided that she would live in such
a manner with him as to assure him that he stood higher in
her esteem and confidence than any other on earth.... The
one who promised to bring me news was here yesterday, but'The Duke of Lorraine, or Count Holland.




24       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
was very much cast down; two or three times he seemed to
wish to tell me something, and I gave him sufficient opportunity, but he remained silent, and I know nothing of his sentiments except what I surmise.  As soon as I know the truth,
you shallbe informed of it, and I will avail myself of it with
him and with all the rest as I have promised you; be sure of
this, and also that the promises of the cardinal will not shake
me.  Need I assure you of this?  Can it be possible that you
would even suspect it? I should be in despair if I believed
so, but I have too good an opinion of you not to live in the
certainty that you have not a bad one of me.
"I am driven to despair by what the cardinal has demanded of Mladame de Chevreuse this evening.  He has
despatched a messenger to her to entreat of her two things:
first, that she would not speak to Brion, (Francois Christophe
de Levis, Count de Brion, one of the favorites of the Duke of
Orleans, the future Duke de Damville,) and second, that she
would not see M. de Chateauneuf.  It is only the last that
troubles me.  However, my resolution of testifying my affection to M. de Chateauneuf is stronger than all considerations
of the cardinal. I have therefore sent word to the cardinal
that I cannot refuse the entreaties of M. de Chevreuse that I
should see M. de Chateauneuf respecting several of his business affairs.  My own chief business is to acquit myself of the.
obligations which I owe to M. de Chateauneuf, to whom I am
more indebted than to any other person,
" There is no pleasure or fatigue which can prevent me
from  thinking of you, and from  giving you tokens of it.
These three lines are a proof of this truth, and I wish them to
serve as the assurance of another, namely, that if  d. de
Chateauneuf is as devoted a servant in deeds as in words,
Madame de Chevreuse will be a more grateful master in actions
than in language.
" I do not doubt the trouble which you are in, and you
protest that Madame de Chevreuse shares it, believing her the




UNDER RICHELIEU AND BfAZARIN.               25
cause.  Send me word how I can see you without the knowledge of the cardinal; for I will do any thing you may deem
proper for this, wishing ardently to converse with you, and
having many things to say to you which cannot well be explained in writing, especially concerning 37' and the cardinal,
but the latter more particularly, having seen him this evening,
and found him  more than ever resolved to persecute Madame
de Chevrcuse.  He parted on good terms with her, but she
never found him in such a mood as to-day; so restless and so
variable in his manner, now carried away by anger, then pacified in a moment into extreme humility.  He cannot endure
that Madame de Chevreuse should esteem M. de Chateauneuf,
but he cannot prevent her; this I promise you, my faithful
servant, whom  I so call, because I believe him to be such.
Adieu, I must see you at any cost.  Send me an answer, and
beware of the cardinal, who watches Madame de Chevreuse and
M. de Chateauneuf, in whom Madame de Chevreuse confides as
in herself.
" I would truly have given my life to have seen you yesterday.  I went out in the evening, and was near going for
this purpose to your sister's house, (Elisabeth de L'Aubespine,
who had married Andre de Cochefilet, Count de Vaucellas.)
If the cardinal speaks to you of the visit of Madame de Chevreuse, tell him that it was respecting the affair of the Princess
de Guymene, (sister-in-law of Madame de Chevreuse;) but I
wish you to seem to be displeased with your master, and to
despise him. I know that this will be painful to you, nevertheless you must obey me, because it is absolutely necessary.
It is for this reason that I recommend it to you.  Choose a
favorable occasion for this.  Do not send to my house.  You
shall often have news from  me, and during my whole life,
proofs of my affection. I shall be to-day where you are going.
" Although I am ill, I will not refrain from telling you the
1 See a preceding reference to 37.
2




26        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
result of the visit of Madame de Chevreuse to the cardinal.
He spoke of his passion, which, he said, was so great as to have
caused his illness by reason of his displeasure at Madame de
Chevreuse's conduct towards him.  He expatiated in a long
and querulous harangue upon the actions of Madame de Chevreuse, particularly respecting M. de Chateauneuf, and concluded by saying that he could no longer entertain his present
sentiments for Madame de Chevreuse if she did not express
her friendship for him differently from her past manner; to
which Madame de Chevreuse replied that she had always endeavored to give the cardinal reason to be satisfied with her,
and that she was now more anxious to please him than ever.
The cardinal pressed Madame de Chevreuse in the strongest
manner to discover how M. de Chateauneuf stood with her,
saying that every one believed them to be extremely intimate,
which I positively denied. I will say no more to you now,
but believe that I esteem you as much as I despise him, and
that I shall never have any secrets from M. de Chateauneuf,
nor any confidence for the cardinal.
" I sacredly confirm  the promise that I made you.   If
I have seemed to hesitate, it was not because I had since
changed my mind, but merely to see if you were firm in yours.
It is true that on this occasion you ask of me that which I
desire to grant in order to make you more culpable if you fail
in it, and me more excusable in what I shall have done.
" Should your affection be as perfect as is the ring you
have sent me, you will never have cause to blush for having
made an unworthy gift to your master, nor he for having received one from you.
" I share in the regret of departing without seeing you.
My hatred of the cardinal's tyranny exceeds your own, but I
wish to surmount rather than complain of it, since that would
be the result of courage, and this of weakness.  Never have
I wished to converse with you so much as at this moment.
The cardinal declares that Madame de Chevreuse will soon be




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               27
on ill terms with you, and that M. de Chateauneuf does not love
Madame de Chevreuse, and ridicules her with 47, (some unknown lady, perhaps Madame de Puisieux, whom  Chateauneuf had long loved.)  About her, I am in no concern; I
believe M. de Chateauneuf faithful and affectionate to me,
and shall be so to him through my whole life, provided that,
as he has merited the good opinion which I have formed of him,
he does not hereafter give me cause to lose it.  I am in despair at not being able to send you to-day the picture of
Madame de Chevreuse which I promised you.
" You have pledged yourself to many things, but it is necessary that you should know that the slightest failure will
displease me exceedingly.  Beware, therefore, of what you
promise. It would be dishonorable to you if your actions did
not conform to your words, and shameful to me if I suffered
it. I say to you once more that you should not pledge yourself
to so much if you are not well assured that you will never fail
in it. I require but little where I do not expect all; but
when you have promised this to me, and I have accepted the
promise, I shall not be satisfied if there is the least reserve.
" I counsel you, being as yet unable to command and wishing no longer to advise you, to wear the diamond which I send
you, so that on seeing the stone which has two peculiarities, one,
of being firm, the other, so brilliant that it shows the slightest
defects from afar, you may remember that you must be unshaken in your promises in order to please me, and must be
guilty of no faults that I may not remark any.
" The cardinal is in a better humor towards Madame de
Chevreuse than he has been since his return.  He wrote to me
this evening that he was extremely troubled about my illness,
that all the favors of the king failed to give him pleasure while
I remained in my present condition, and that the gayety of
M. de Chateauneuf had convinced him that he bore no love to
Madame de Chevreuse; that he had heard of her illness without concern; and that if Madame de Chevreuse had seen his




28       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
air, she would have thought him the most dissembling, or the
most unfeeling man in the world, and could never have loved
him, or believed in him again.  As to this, Madame de Chevreuse promises M. de Chateaunenf that, instead of being governed by the cardinal's advice, she will both love him and
believe in him forever.
"I believe  that M. de Chateauneuf fully belongs to
Madame de Chevreuse, and I promise you that Madame
de Chevreuse will ever regard M. de Chateauneuf as her own.
Though all the world should neglect M. de Chateauneuf,
Madame de Chevreuse will continue to esteem him so highly
through her whole life that, if he loves her as truly as he has
said, he will have reason to be content with his fortune, for all
the powers of earth could not make me change my resolution.
I swear this to you, and command you to believe it, and to
love me faithfully.
" Last evening the cardinal sent to inquire after the health
of Madame de Chevreuse, and wrote to her that he was dying
to see her, and that he had many things to say to her, being
more than ever devoted to Madame de Chevreuse, who sets
little value on this protestation, but much on that which M.
de Chateauneuf has made of being wholly hers.  To-morrow I
will tell you more. Love your master always; he is ill, and
has only gone out when obliged for the last two days, but in
whatever state he may be, and whatever may happen to him,
he will die rather than fail in any thing he has promised you.
"At six o'clock last evening, the Cardinal de La Valette
came to see Madame de Chevreuse on the part of the Cardinal
de Richelieu.  He addressed her sadly and submissively in
behalf of his master. After this, he paid a forced admiration
to Madame de Chevreuse, and offered a thousand gallantries
which seemed insults to me. I answered him civilly and coldly.
37 is in despair; he says that he will destroy himself since
Madame de Chevreuse will not see him; that the life which he
has only cherished in the belief that it would one day be ac



UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               29
ceptable and useful to Madame de Chevreuse will henceforth
be a burden to him; that having lost all hope he has lost the
wish to live, and that this will be the last importunity that I
shall receive from him.  I hope that your affection is proof
against every thing.  I ask this favor of you, that it may be
so, and promise you that as long as Madame de Chevreuse
shall live, you shall receive the same love from her. This letter was commenced yesterday. The Cardinal de La Valette
has since sent me a thousand compliments in behalf of the
Cardinal de Richelieu.
"There is no means of saying any thing more about the
diamond; but though the cardinal suspects Madame de
Chevreuse, she will either remove his suspicions, or replace
them by the conviction that all his prosperity cannot influence
Madame de Chevreuse so far as to make her submit to the caprices of his whimsical humor.  Do not disquiet yourself
about this affair, but rather think of the health of your master
who is ill and confined to his bed, for if you lose him, you
will never find his like in fidelity and affection.
" I wish to see you as much as you do to converse with
me, but I am troubled to find the means of doing so, because
the cardinal must not know that we have met if we would
not completely unhinge him. Send me word then how I must
manage to see you without the knowledge of the cardinal.
"I shall always command you except this once, when
I ask a favor of you, which is the greatest that you can
grant me; it is that M. de Chateauneuf shall never suspect
Madame de Chevreuse, but shall rest assured that he will
never lose the good graces of his master until Madame de
Chevreuse shall lose her life, which she hopes will not happen
until she has first proved to M. de Chateauneuf how much he
is esteemed by Madame de Chevreuse, though this may be
more than she has promised him.  But a good master never
fears to err in obliging his servant, when he has proved himself full of fidelity and affection.  The cardinal wishes to




30       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
persuade Madame de Chevreuse that his heart is filled with
both for her who will not believe his words. I would give
my life to talk with you, but I know not how to manage this,
for the cardinal must not know it. Consult with the bearer
respecting the means for it, and believe that nothing but death
can take away the sentiments that I feel for you.
" Never has there been any thing like the extravagance of
the cardinal. He has written and sent the strangest complaints
to Madame de Chevreuse. He says that she has constantly ridiculed him to Germain, (Lord Jermyn, the agent and particular
friend of the Queen of England,) that he might tell in his
own country of the contempt in which she holds him; that
he knows for a certainty that Madame de Chevreuse and M.
de Chateauneuf are in correspondence, and that your servants
are constantly in my house; that I receive Brion because he
is his enemy, in order to displease him; that everybody says
that he is in love with me, and that he will no longer endure
such conduct. Such is the state of the cardinal's mind. Send
me word what you think of all this, but feign to know nothing
of it. I shall see the cardinal here, and will inform you of
all that passes. Believe that whatever may happen to your
master, he will do nothing that is unworthy of himself, or
which shall cause you to blush for belonging to him. I am a
little better in health, and more than ever resolved to esteem
M. de Chateauneuf till death, as I have promised you."
What was not the rage of the proud and imperious cardinal when he acquired certain proof that he had thus been deceived by a woman and betrayed by a friend! His vengeance
fell heavily upon the two guilty ones. The only one of their
accomplices whom he could reach, the Chevalier de Jars, was
thrown into the Bastille and condemned to lose his head; he
ascended the scaffold and there received his pardon.' The
Marquis de Hauterive, brother of the keeper of the seals, esMadame de Motteville, vol. i., pp. 62-69.




UNDER IGICELIEU AND AMAZARIN.                  31
caped with difficulty under cover of the night and took refuge
in Holland.  His nephew, the Marquis de Leuville, was arrested and confined for a long time in prison, and he himself was conducted to the  citadel of Angoulome, where he
remained ten  years, while Madame de Chevreuse, treated
more gently by the cardinal, who had still a remnant of hope,
received for her sole punishment an order to retire to Dampierre.  But the queen could not dispense with her society,
and the two friends often wished to meet to console each
other by talking about their troubles, and probably, also, to
devise the means of ending them. Often, under cover of the
evening twilight, Madame de Chevreuse came in disguise to
Paris, was secretly introduced into the Louvre or the Val-deGrace, saw the queen, and returned at midnight to Dampierre.
But these clandestine visits were soon discovered, or at least
suspected, and the faithful and daring confidant of Anne of Austria was banished to Touraine to an estate of her first husband.
One can easily imagine the mortal ennui which  overwhelmed the beautiful duchess, thus buried at thirty-three in
the heart of a province, far from the noise and the splendor of
Paris, far from all the emotions which were so dear to her, far
from all intrigues both of politics and of love. It was but a
dull amusement to her to turn the head of the old Archbishop
of Tours, and to sustain herself she had great need of the
visits of the young and amiable La Rochefoucauld,' who lived
La Rochefoucauld, Meemoires, p. 355. He was called Bertrand de
Chaux, or D'Eschaux. He must have been then more than eighty years
old, for we read in the Gazette of the year 1641, No. 619, p. 315, "Sieur
D'Eschaux, Archbishop of Tours, Commander of the Order of Saint
Esprit, and first Almoner to the King, died on the 1st of May at his
Archiepiscopal palace of Tours, aged eighty-six."
2 La Rochefoucauld, ibid., p. 355: " Madamne de Chevreuse was at
that time an exile in Tours. The queen had spoken well of me to her;
she wished to see me, and we soon formed a strong league of friendship.
I was often charged by both with dangerous commissions when going or
returning."




32        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
in her neighborhood, and of the letters of Queen Anne.  She
remained at Tours four long years, from 1633 to the middle of
1637, employing her leisure and activity in concocting a mys
terious correspondence between the queen, Charles IV., the
Queen of England, and the King of Spain.
What was the real nature of this correspondence?  Hith
erto, all that we have known with certainty has been that it
furnished food for the gravest accusations against the queen
and Madame de Chevreuse.  In this correspondence, the
queen availed herself of the services of one of her valets de
chambre, named La Porte.  Sometimes, too, she retired to
the Val-de-Grace under the pretence of offering prayers, and
there wrote letters which the superior, Louise de Milley,
Mother de Saint Etienne, doubly devoted to Anne of Austria
both as a Catholic and a Spaniard,' undertook to forward to
their address.  The queen and her friends believed themselves
acting under an impenetrable disguise; but the police of the
suspicious cardinal were on the alert.  A  note of Anne to
Madame de Chevreuse, which had been confided by La Porte
to a man of whom he believed himself sure, but who betrayed
him, was intercepted; and La Porte was arrested, thrown into
a dungeon of the Bastille, and examined in turn by the nmost
skilful agents of the cardinal, Laffemas and La Poterie, by
the chancellor, Pierre Seguier, and by Richelieu himself.  At
the same time, the chancellor, accompanied by the Archbishop
of Paris, ordered the gates of the Val-de-Grace to be opened,
searched the cell of the queen, seized all her papers, and examined the superior, the Mother de Saint Etienne, after
Gallia Christiana, vol. viii., p. 584.  The Mother de Saint
Etienne was abbess from 1626 until the 13th of August, 1637, when she
was forced to resign, and was succeeded by Marie de Burges, Mother de
Saint Benoit. She was born in Franche-Compte, and her whole family
were in the service of Spain; her brother was even governor of Besan9on.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                33
having commanded her through the archbishop to speak the
truth in the name of the obedience which she owed to him,
and under penalty of excommunication.  The queen  also
had much to endure, and was in great danger.  Let us
hear La Rochefoucauld, who ought to be correctly informed,
since he was at that time, with Madame de Hautefort and
Madame de Chevreuse, the most intimate confidant of Anne
of Austria: "The queen was accused of having had a correspondence with the Marquis de Mirabel, Minister of Spain.
This was construed into an offence against the state.  Several
of her domestics were arrested, and her caskets were seized.
The chancellor examined her as a criminal; it was proposed
to imprison her at Havre, to dissolve her marriage, and to repudiate her. In this extremity, abandoned by every one, destitute of all aid, and daring to confide in no one but Madame
de Hautefort and me, she proposed to me to fly with them to
Brussels.  Whatever were the difficulties and dangers involved
in. such a project, I can truly say that it gave me the greatest
joy of my life.  I was then at the age in which one has a passion for brilliant and adventurous deeds, and I could conceive
of none more daring than to carry away the queen from her
husband and from the Cardinal de Richelieu, who was jealous of
her, and at the same time to take away Madame de Hautefort
from the king, who was enamored with her.  Happily, affairs
changed, the queen was found not guilty, the examination of
the chancellor justified her, and Madame D'Aiguillon pacified
the Cardinal de Richelieu."
All this story seems to us very suspicious.  We do not for
a moment believe that the queen ever entertained the insane
idea which La Rochefoucauld attributes to her; he mistook a
pleasantry of Madame de Hautefort for a serious proposition,
and relates it here according to his custom to give himself an
air of importance.  Besides, whatever he may say, he was not
daring enough to undertake so rash an enterprise; and we shall
see that he was exceedingly circumspect on much less perilous




34       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
occasions.  The chancellor never required the queen to submit
to an examination; the royal dignity positively forbade this;
besides, the queen was not then in Paris, neither was she at
the Val de Grace when the chancellor visited it; she was with
the king at Chantilly, and every thing was arranged by confidential explanations between the king, the queen, and Richelieu, without the intervention  of the chief justice.  The
examination of the chancellor did not, therefore, justify the
queen, nor was she acquitted; far from that, she was proved,
and even acknowledged herself to be guilty, and it was to this
confession that she owed the pardon which was granted her.
Madame de Motteville explicitly declares this, when vindicating the innocence of her mistress, according to her usual custom.  " The queen,"' says she, " could only obtain her pardon by signing with her own hand an acknowledgment that
she had been guilty of all the things of which she had been accused, and she asked it of the king in the most humble and
submissive terms... Every one believed her to be innocent. She was so, in truth, as far as the king was concerned;
but she was guilty if it were a crime to have written to her
brother and to Madame de Chevreuse.  La Porte, the servant
of the queen, has himself related to me the particulars of this
story.  He recounted it to me at a time when he was in disgrace, and therefore dissatisfied with this princess, and what he
told me is worthy of credence.  He was arrested on the charge
of being the bearer of letters of the queen, both to Spain and to
Madame de Chevreuse.  He was examined three times in the
Bastille by La Poterie. The Cardinal de Richelieu wished to
question him himself in the presence of the chancellor. He ordered him to be brought to his house into his own chamber,where
he was questioned and cross-questioned upon all the points upon
which they desired to confound the queen. IHe remained firm
and avowed nothing..refusing the gifts and rewards
1 Memoires, vol. i., p. 80.




UNDER RICHIELIEU AND MAZARIN.              35
which they proffered him, and choosing rather to die than to
accuse the queen of crimes of which he said she was innocent,
The Cardinal de Richelieu admiring his fidelity, yet persuaded
that he did not speak truly, wished that he might be happy
enough to have as faithful a servant as this man. A letter of
the queen, written in cypher, was also discovered, and was
shown her.  She could not but acknowledge it; and, in order
to prevent any discrepancy, it was necessary to report to La
Porte this avowal of the queen that he might confirm it. It
was on this occasion that Madame de Hautefort, who was still
in the court, generously resolving to sacrifice herself to save
the queen, disguised herself as a waiting maid, and went to
the Bastille to convey a letter to La Porte, which she succeeded in doing at much risk and danger to herself, through
the adroitness of the Commander de Jars, then a prisoner
there.  He was an adherent of the queen, and had gained over
many of the people of the place, who conveyed the letter to
the hands of La Porte. It apprised him of what the queen
had confessed, so that being again examined by Laffemas and
menaced with the question ordinary and extraordinary, he
feigned to be terrified, and said that if they would send him
some officer of the queen, who was a trustworthy man, he
would confess all that he knew.  Laffemas, believing that he
had gained him, told him that he might name any one whom
he chose, who would, doubtless, be sent to him. La Porte
asked for one named Lariviere, an officer of the queen, whom
he knew to be a friend of Laffemas, and whom  he really
distrusted; this offer Laffemas accepted with joy.  The king
and the cardinal immediately sent for Lariviere, and coinmanded him to go to La Porte without seeing the queen, and
persuaded by their promises, he agreed to do all that they
wished. He was taken to the Bastille, where he commanded
La Porte, in the name of the queen, to reveal all that he knew
concerning her affairs. La Porte feigned to believe that the
queen had sent him, and told him with much hesitation all that




36        SIECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
the queen had before confessed, protesting that this was all
he knew.  The Cardinal de Richelieu was confounded and the
king satisfied. La Porte, who is a worthy and honest man,
has assured me that, having seen the letters in question, and
knowing their contents, he was astonished that accusations
could be formed from them  against the queen, as they simply
consisted of sarcasms against the Cardinal de Richelieu, and
certainly said nothing against the king or the state."   La
Porte, in his MIemoires,' confirms this recital of Madame de
Motteville; he declares that there was no "finesse" in the
correspondence of the queen and Madame de Chevreuse, and
that the whole affair was concerted, in order " to entangle Madame de Chevreuse in it, and to make the public believe it
was a dangerous cabal against the state; for it was the custom of his eminence to make trifling matters pass for great
conspiracies."
It remains to be discovered whether these were, in truth,
but' trifling matters," as La Porte asserts.  We have listened
to the testimony of friends of the queen and of Madame de
Chevreuse, but we must also hear Richelieu;2 above all, we
must hear those witnesses which are more reliable than all the
"Memoirs;" namely, the original and authentic documents
of which Richelieu has written, and which have escaped all
the historians except Pere Griffet, who, in this affair as in
that of Chateauneuf, gathered every thing, sifted every thing,
and then, with the documents in his hand, justified the cardinal, Thanks to these documents, which we too have studied,3
Memoires, p. 358, etc.
2 iemoires, vol. x., p. 195, etc.
These precious documents passed from the casket of the Cardinal
de Richelieu into the library of the marshal of the same name, who
transmitted them to P6re Griffet, as he had formerly done the papers of
Chateauneuf. The National Library has recently acquired them, Supplement Franfais, No. 4068, with the following title: Pieces relatives a
l'cafaire du Val de Grdce, 1637.




UN)DEIR RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.             37
every disguise is removed; we read clearly the conduct of Anne
of Austria; we see, with all deference to La Rochefoucauld,
Madame de Motteville, and La Porte, that she was certainly
guilty, and that Madame de Chevreuse was probably her principal accomplice, since she had continued to be as firmly
leagued with her during her exile in Touraine as at the time
that she was superintendent of her household.
Against Madame de Chevreuse, neither whose person nor
papers were seized, there were merely presumptions-but these
were very strong presumptions.  La Porte, the valet de
chambre of the queen, and the avowed bearer of the most of
her letters, belonged to Madame de Chevreuse as much as to
the queen herself; and even had a room at the Hotel de Chevreuse, which served him as a retreat.  The duchess, before
her departure to Tours in 1633, went twice, privately, from
Dampierre to the Val de Grace, where she had an interview
with Anne of Austria.  Lord Montagu, the well-known agent
of the Queen of England and the intimate friend of Madame
de Chevreuse, had also seen the queen once at the Val de
Grace.  The courageous exile had proposed to her royal friend
to break her ban and to come in disguise to meet her in Paris.
She constantly corresponded with the Duke of Lorraine, and
had but lately received an envoy from him.  It is difficult to
believe that so many intrigues had no other end in view than
to learn news of the health of the queen. Upon this point the
proofs are direct; we have her own avowals, signed by her
own hand. It is very probable that she has not told all, but
what she has told proves that she had written several times to
Spain and to Flanders, that is to say, to hostile countries, not
only to complain of her situation, but also to impart and reveal
the most important secrets of the French government.  1st.
She had informed the court at Madrid of the journey of a
monk who had been sent to Spain on a secret mission.  2d.
She had given notice that France was endeavoring to make
terms with the Duke of Lorraine, in order that the cabinet at




38       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
Madrid might take measures to hinder this adjustment.  3d.
She had also informed them that there was reason to fear that
England, instead of remaining allied to Spain, would break
the league and enter into a treaty with France.
It seems to us either that crimes of state have ceased to
exist in the world, or else that they are manifest in this affair.
We see that it was with infinite pains that Anne of Austria
had been brought to make these avowals.  At first she denied
every thing, and said that if she had written several times to
Madame de Chevreuse, it had always been on indifferent
matters.  On Assumption day, after receiving the sacrament,
she sent for her secretary, Le Gras, and swore to him by the
Holy Communion, which she had just received, that it was
false that she had had a correspondence with a foreign country,
and commanded him to go tell the cardinal the oath she had
just made.  She also sent for Father Caussin, a Jesuit and
confessor to the king, and renewed the same oath to him.
Two days afterwards, finding that it was impossible to maintain so absolute a denial, she commenced by confessing to
Richelieu that she had really written to Flanders to her
brother, the Infant Cardinal, but merely to inquire after his
health, and to ask about other matters of little importance.
Richelieu having convinced her that he knew more than this,
she ordered her maid of honor, Madame de Senece, Chavigny,
and de Noyers, who were present, to withdraw, and, being left
alone with the cardinal, upon the assurance that he would
obtain a full and unconditional pardon from the king if she
confessed the truth, she acknowledged all, exhibiting extreme
confusion in respect to her false oaths. During this humiliating confession, calling to her aid the graces and arts of her
sex, and concealing her real feelings beneath feigned demonstrations, she repeatedly exclaimed, " What goodness you must
possess, M. le Cardinal! "  Then, protesting an eternal gratitude, she said to him, " Give me your hand," at the same time
presenting her own as a pledge of her sincerity; but the car



UNDER RICHELIEU ANDI MAZARIN.                39
dinal respectfully refused it, drawing back instead of approaching her.'  The Abbess of Val de Grace followed the example of the queen; after having denied all, she confessed
every thing.  The king and Richelieu pardoned them, but
forced the queen to sign a sort of schedule of conduct to which
she should scrupulously conform.  They provisionally interdicted her entrance to the Val de Grace, as well as to every
other convent, until the king should again give her permission
to visit them; they forbade her to write except in the presence of her first maid of honor and first waiting maid, who
should render an account of it to the king; or to address a
single letter to a foreign country, by any direct or indirect
means, under penalty of the forfeiture of the pardon which
they had accorded her.  Both the first and the last of these
prohibitions related to the duchess. The king ordered his
wife never to write to Madame de Chevreuse, " because this
pretext," said he, " has been the cover of all the letters which
the queen has written beside."  He  also  commanded  her
neither to see Craft, an English gentleman and a friend of
Montagu and the duchess, who was strongly suspected of being
mixed up in all their intrigues, nor " any of the other agents
of Madame de Chevreuse."  We see, then, that it is always
Madame de Chevreuse whom  Louis XIII. and Richelieu regard as the root of all evil, and that they do not believe themselves sure of the queen until after having first separated her
from her dangerous friend.
But how must this be done?  Should they leave her at
Tours? or arrest her? or banish her from  France?  It is
curious to see what were the deliberations of the cardinal on
this question, both with himself and with the king. He involuntarily renders striking homage to the power of Madame
de Chevrense by proving by a series of reasons, somewhat
scholastically deducted after his usual manner, that the worst
1 Memoires of Richelieu, vol. x., p. 201.




40       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
course of all would be to suffer her to quit France.  " This
spirit is so dangerous, that, being abroad, she may bring affairs
into new disorder which it is impossible to foresee.  It is
she, who, having absolute disposal of the Duke of Lorraine, has
persuaded him to give an asylum in his territory to Monsieur,
the Duke of Orleans; and it is also she who has urged on
England to war; if she is thrust from  the kingdom, she will
hinder the Duke of Lorraine from coming to terms; she will
incite the English towards the point to which she wishes to
carry them; she will agitate new  schemes in favor of the
Chevalier de Jars and Chateauneuf; she will stir up a thousand troubles within and without;"' and the cardinal concluded to retain her in France.
For this there were two courses open, violence and gentleness.  The cardinal showed many  objections to violence,
which would certainly be followed by importunate solicitations
on the part of all the family of Madame de Chevreuse, together with all the powers of Europe, which it would be difficult long to resist.  He proposed, therefore, to win her over
by kindness, and to treat her as they had treated the queen,
but on condition that she should be as frank as Anne had
been, and should answer all the questions that might be addressed to her; but, knowing Madame de Chevreuse, he
must have foreseen that she would make no confession, and he
forgets to tell us what he should then have done. They had
pardoned the humbled and repentant queen, but what course
would they have pursued with the proud and artful duchess,
persisting  in an absolute denial?   Satisfied  with  having
separated her from  Anne of Austria, would Richelieu have
left her free and tranquil in Touraine? Is he really sincere
when he affirms it, or is the old charm still acting, and is this
iron heart, this inexorable soul, which beauty, however, more
than once found impressible, unable to shield itself from a reMemnoires, p. 224, etc.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 41
luctant tenderness for a woman who joined in her person in
the highest degree, those two gifts so rarely found unitedbeauty and courage?
He spoke to her as if he were still her friend; he reminded her of the leniency which he had shown her in the affair
of Ghateauneuf; and, knowing her to be at that time almost
destitute, he sent her money.   The duchess made much
ceremony about receiving it; she would not take it as a gift,
but as a loan; and the only favor which she asked of the cardinal was that of assistance in the just suit which she was prosecuting in order to separate her property from that of her
husband-a suit which she gained some time afterward.  The
questions which were addressed to her, she answered without
embarrassment and with her usual firmness.  Unable to deny
that she had proposed to the queen to return in disguise to
Paris, since they had seized the letter in which the queen had
declined the proposition, she declared that she had had no
other desire in this than to have the honor of saluting her
sovereign; that the urgency of her affairs had also called her
to Paris; and that, far from thinking to animate the queen
against the cardinal, her intention had been to employ all the
influence which she might have possessed over her in disposing
her favorably  towards  the  prime  minister; and, paying
Richelieu in his own coin, she gave him  back his professions
of friendship with interest; but, in her heart, she distrusted
him.  It was in vain that the envoys of Richelieu, the Marshal La Meilleraie, the Bishop of Auxerre, and above all the
Abbe du Dorat, treasurer of Sainte-Chapelle, with whom she
was on friendly terms, said every thing that they could imagine to persuade her of the sincerity of the cardinal; she only
saw in this assiduous friendliness a skilful plan designed to
lull her vigilance, and to inspire her with a false security. She
thought of her friends, the Chevalier de Jars and Chateauneuf, both languishing in the dungeons of Richelieu, and resolved to brave all dangers rather than share their fate.




42        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
In the mean time, Anne of Austria had early felt the need,
for her own safety, of acquainting Madame de Chevreuse with
all that had passed; and, having promised to hold no intercourse with her, she charged La Rochefoucauld, who was going
to Poitou, to tell her what she dared not write to her herself.
La Rochefoucauld had just made the same promise to his
father and Chavigny, a confidant of the cardinal, and he who
pretends that he would gladly have carried off the queen and
Madame de Hautefort, paused with admirable scrupulousness
before the pledge he had just given, and begged Craft, the
English gentleman who was so much suspected by the king
and by Richelieu, to execute the queen's commission.  On
her part, Madame de Hautefort had despatched one of her relatives, M. de Montalais, to Tours, when affairs were at their
crisis, to inform Madame de Chevreuse of the real state of
things, and to tell her that she would send her a prayer-book
bound in green if affairs took a favorable turn, while a prayerbook bound in red should be a token that she must hasten to
provide for her safety.  A  fatal contempt of the sign agreed
on, together with a profound distrust of the designs of Richelieu and the king, hurried Madame de Chevreuse into a desperate resolve.  She chose rather to condemn herself to a new
exile than to run the risk of falling into the hands of her enemies, and fled from Touraine, determining to reach Spain by
journeying through the whole of the South of France.
Her sole confidant was her old admirer, the Archbishop of
Tours.  As he was from  Beam  and had relatives on the
frontier, he gave her letters of introduction with all necessary
information respecting the different roads which she should
take.  But in her haste to fly, she forgot them all, and set out
on the 6th of September, 1637,' in a carriage, as if to take an
1 Extract from the Information faite par le president Vignier de
la sortie faite par  acladame de Chevreuse hors de France, with various corroborative papers. BIBLIOTH-IEQUE NATIONALE, Coll. Du Puy, Nos. 499
5u0, and 501, collected in a single volume.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 43
airing; then, at nine in the evening, she mounted on horseback disguised as a man, and, when five or six leagues from
home, found herself without letters, without itinerary, without
waiting-maid, and followed only by two servants. She was unable to change her horse during the night, and she arrived the
next morning at Ruffec, one league from Verteuil, where La
Rochefoucauld resided, without having taken a single hour of
repose. Instead of claiming his hospitality, she wrote him the
following note: " Sir, I am a French gentleman who asks your
aid to preserve his liberty, and perhaps his life. I have fought
an unhappy duel, and have killed a nobleman of distinction.
This forces me to leave France in haste, as I am pursued. I
believe you to be generous enough to serve me without knowing me.  I need a carriage and a valet to attend me."  La
Rochefoucauld sent her what she wished.  The carriage was
a great relief to her, for she was worn out with fatigue. Her
new guide conducted her to another house of Rochefoucauld,
where she arrived at midnight; there she left the carriage and
the two domestics who had hitherto accompanied her, and again
set out on horseback towards the frontier of Spain. The saddle of her horse was covered with blood; this she said was
from a sword thrust she had received in the thigh.  She slept
in a barn on the hay, and scarcely tasted food.  But as beautiful and as fascinating in the black costume of a cavalier as in
the brilliant attire of a court lady, her gallant mien won the
admiration of all the women, and during this adventurous
journey, she made, despite herself, as many conquests as when
in the halls of the Louvre, and, according to La Rochefoucauld,
" she showed more modesty and more cruelty than men like her
usually possess."'  At one time she met ten or twelve cavaLa Rochefoucauld, p. 356.  Tallemant, Vol. i., p. 250, relates the
strangest imaginable anecdotes, but we shall only cite certain and authentic facts. Extrait de l'information, etc.: A citizen's wife passed by
chance, and seeing her lying on the hay, exclaimed: "This is the hand



44        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
liers commanded by the Marquis D'Antin, and was obliged to
turn aside from her route to avoid being recognized by them.
Another time, in a valley of the Pyrenees, a gentleman who
had seen her in Paris, told her that he should take her for
Madame de Chevreuse if she were dressed in a different manner, but the fair unknown extricated herself from this difficulty
by replying that, being a relative of that lady, she might
well resemble her.  Her courage and gayety did not abandon
her for a moment, and, to portray the valiant Amazon, a song
was made in which she says to her squire:
La Boissiere, dis-moi
Vais-je pas bien en homme?
Vous chevauchez, ma foi,
Mieux que tant que nous sommes, etc.'
Her attendant urging her to acquaint him with her name, she
told him in a mysterious manner that she was the Duke D'Enghien, who was forced by especial business in the service of the
king to quit France in this manner; which may give us an idea
of her appearance on horseback, as well as of her resolute and
decided air.  Afterwards, gaining confidence in her guide, and
disliking long to wear a mask, she confessed to him that she
was the Duchess de Chevreuse.   She only reached  Spain
after enduring unheard-of fatigue, and passing through a thousand perils.2  Just before crossing the frontier, she wrote to
the gentleman who had fancied that he recognized her in the
Pyrenees, and who had shown her every attention and civility,
that he had not been mistaken, but that she was really the
lady whom he had believed her to be, and that, " having found
somest youth I ever saw! Sir, come rest in my house, you excite my
pity," etc.
Tallemant, ibid..Extrait cle l'information: Malbasty told her that she would lose
her way, that she would meet a host of robbers, that she had but a single man with her, and that he feared some one would harm her. She
offered a large rouleau of pistoles to the said Malbasty.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    45
him unusually courteous, she took the liberty of entreating
him to procure her stuffs to clothe herself conformably to her
sex and condition.'  Having at last reached Spain, with her
accustomed resolution she threw herself for a second time into
the hardships of exile, tairing nothing with her but her beauty,
her talent, and her courage. She had sent one of her servants
to La Rochefoucauld with all her jewels-valued at 200,000
crowns-entreating him  to accept them  as a legacy if she
should die, or else to restore them to her at some future day.
At the news of the flight of Madame de Chevreuse, Richelieu was greatly disturbed, and he used every effort to hinder
her departure from France. The strictest orders were instantly
issued, not to. arrest, but to detain her.  M. de Chevreuse sent
his steward, M. de Boispille in search of his wife with the assurance that she had nothing to fear.  The cardinal also despatched President Vignier, one of his trusty friends, with a full
permission to reside in perfect liberty at Tours, together with
the hope of a speedy return to Dampierre.  At the same time,
Vignier was ordered to question the old archbishop as well
as La Rochefoucauld and his people, and to extract from them
all the information that could be of use to the minister.2 But
neither Boispille nor Vignier could overtake the beautiful fugitive, and she had just touched the soil of Spain when the president reached the frontier.  He wished, however, to execute his
commission as fully as he could, and sent a herald on the
Spanish territory to convey to Madame de Chevreuse a pardon
for the past and an invitation to return to France.  She did not
learn of all these proceedings until she was already in Madrid.
La Rochefoucauld, 21iemoirgs, ibid.
2 These are the documents which Du Puy has collected or rather
abridged, and of which we have availed ourselves to verify our narrative,
using also the account of Richelieu and that of La Rochefoucauld. It
was on this occasion that La Rochefoucauld was thrown for eight days into
the Bastille. See his Xllemoires, together with La Jeunesse de Jigme. de
Longueville, third edition, chap. iv., p. 279, etc.




46         SECRET HISTORY  OF THE FRENCH  COURT
CHAPTER II
1637-1643.
Madame de Chevreuse in Spain, and in England.-Long negotiation with Richelieu to
return to France.-Failure of the negotiation.-Marie de Medicis and the Duke
d'tpernon.-Madame de Chevreuse in Flanders.-Conspiracy and rebellion of
Count de Soissons.-Affair of Cinq-Mars.-Death of Richelieu and of Louis XIII.Royal declaration of the 20th of April, 1643, condemning Madame de Chevreuso
to a perpetual exile.-Her recall by the new regent.
WE  can easily  imagine  the  reception  which  the King of
Spain gave the intrepid friend of his royal sister. He sent
several carriages-and-six to meet her, and at Madrid he overwhelmed her with every mark of honor.  Madame de Chevreuse was then  thirty-seven  years  of age.   To her many
attractions she added the prestige of the romantic adventures
which she had just passed through, and it is said that Philip IV.
swelled the list of her conquests.' She was already thoroughly
English, and thoroughly Lorraine; she soon became Spanish
also.  She leagued herself with the Count-Duke Olivares, and
gained a powerful ascendency over the councils of the cabinet
at Madrid.  This she doubtless owed to her talent and brilliancy, and still more to the noble pride which she displayed
in refusing the pensions and money that were offered her, and
in always speaking of France in a manner befitting the former
Constabless de Luynes.2
X Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 93.
2 BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, Manuscrits de Colbert, affaires de France,
in folio.  Vol. ii., fol. 9.  Afemoire de ce que Madame   de Chevreuse a
donne charge au sieur de Boispille de dire a monseigneur le cardinal.
" She incurred no obligations in Spain, and would not accept a tester




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 47
Notwithstanding, whatever pleasure the declared favor of
the king, the queen, and the prime minister may have given
her in Spain, she did not remain long there. The war between
the two countries rendered her position very delicate, her letters penetrated with difficulty into France, and her friends
dared not write to her, so much did they dread the police of
Richelieu, and so much did they fear being accused of corresponding with the enemy, and with Madame de Chevreuse. Even
Boispille, her steward, on receiving a letter from her, said to
the messenger, who asked for an answer: " We make no answers
to Spain."  To tave more liberty, and to be nearer France,
she resolved to go to a neutral and even friendly country, and
in the commencement of the year 1638, she arrived in England.
Madame de Chevreuse was received and treated in London
as she had been before in Madrid. She found there her earliest admirer, Count Holland, Lord Montagu, who was still
enamoured with her, Craft,' and many other noblemen, both
English and French, who hastened to swell her train. She
especially charmed the king and queen.  She had always
been a favorite with Charles I., and Henriette, on again beholding the chaperon who had escorted her to her royal
husband, embraced her, and invited her to be seated in her
presence, an unusual mark of distinction in the court of England.
The king and queen wrote in her behalf to Louis XIII., to
Queen Anne, and to Cardinal de Richelieu.  Madame de
Chevreuse demanded the full and entire enjoyment of her
property, which had once been granted her, and then withdrawn after her flight to Spain.  In the spring of 1688, the
with the exception of good cheer and treatment..... She spoke as
befitted her in Spain, and believed that this was one thing that made the
count-duke esteem her."
1 Miemoirs of Richelieu, vol. x., p. 488.




48        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
pregnancy of Queen Anne becoming public, filled the French
court with joy, and inspired every heart with hope. Madame
de Chevreuse profited by this event to address the following
letter to the queen, which she could show without hesitation to
Louis XIII., but which, notwithstanding its reserve and diplomatic circumspection, discloses the warm and reciprocal affection of the queen and the exile:
To the queen, my sovereign lady:
" Madame, I should be unworthy of pardon if I had been
able to render an account to your Majesty of the journey which
my misfortunes obliged me to undertake, and had failed to do
so. But necessity having constrained me to enter Spain, where
respect for your Majesty caused me to be received and treated
better than I merited, the duty which I owed you compelled
me to keep silent until I should be in a kingdom whose alliance with France would not give me cause to apprehend that
you would be displeased at receiving letters from it.  This one
will speak first of all of the great joy which I feel at the pregnancy of your Majesty.  May God console and reward all who
belong to her2 by this happiness, which I entreat him with all
my heart to complete by the happy accouchement of a dauphin.
Although my unhappy fortune hinders me from being among
the first to witness it, believe that my devotion to the service
of your Majesty will not let me be among the last to rejoice at
it.  The memory which your Majesty doubtless retains of
what I owe to her, and my own remembrance of what I wish
to render to her, is sufficient to convince her of the grief
it has been to me to see myself obliged to quit her, in order to
escape the troubles into which I feared that unjust suspicions
1 lanuscrits de Colbert, ibid.
2 It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that, in all French letters
addressed to sovereigns, the feminine pronoun her is used instead of the
pronoun you, of course referring to your ilfajesty."-TR.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                  49
might plunge me.  It has been necessary for me to deprive
myself of the consolation of assuaging my sorrows by telling
them to your Majesty, until the present hour, when I can complain to her of my unhappy fortune, hoping that her protection
will shelter me from the anger of the king and the dislike of
the cardinal.  I dare not say this to his Majesty myself, and
do not tell it to N. the cardinal, being assured that your generosity will do so, and thus make that agreeable which in me
would be importunate.  The knowledge of the kindness of
your Majesty assures me that she will willingly exercise it on
this occasion, and that she will employ her charity to prove to
me what I already know, that she is still herself.  Your lMajesty will learn from the letters of the King and Queen of Great
Britain the honor they do me.  I do not know how better to
express myself than by telling your Majesty that it merits her
acknowledgment.  I trust that she will approve of my residence in tlleir court, that this will not render me deserving of
any harsh treatment, and that I shall not be refused the property which the authority of your Majesty and the care of M.
the cardinal had procured me before my departure, and which
I demand of my husband.  In which I supplicate your Majesty
to protect me, so that I may soon be in possession of the just
rights for which I am hoping."
At the same time that she claimed her property, Madame
de Chevreuse thought of acquitting a debt which weighed
heavily on her pride.  At Tours she had really been forced
to accept the money sent her by Ilichelieu, but, as we have
already said,' she accepted it simply as a loan; and under
cover of the official letter to Queen Anne, which we have just
given, she enclosed a little confidential note, designed for the
queen alone, from which we see that the Queen of France had
herself formerly borrowed money from  her ex-superintendeut.
1 fanusc its de Colbert, ibid.
S




50        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
The note, in fact, besought her to pay the cardinal what was
due to him, and, if she could, " to settle the balance of the debt."
These last words, with many others in subsequent letters,
show us that since her departure from  France, Madame de
Chevreuse, being unwilling to receive any thing from a foreign
power, had exhausted all her resources, and that, not having
the disposal of her property, she had been compelled to contract debts in London, which were constantly increasing, and
which she knew not how to satisfy.  Meanwhile, M. de Chevreuse, who had reduced his affairs to the most deplorable state,
and whose sole hope of retrieving them lay in his wife's good
sense and influence, had been continually interceding with the
king and prime minister to permit her to return to France. The
cardinal renewed his offer of pardon and abolition, which, he
said, President Vignier had already taken the trouble to carry
to her to the frontiers of Spain. Besides the general-reasons
for wishing her return which he himself has adduced, he had
a very particular one just at this moment: he was negotiating
with the Duke of Lorraine, whose military talents and small
but excellent army disquieted him not a little, and he was
more than ever anxious to draw him into a peace which would
leave him free to unite all the forces of France against Spain
and Austria.  He had the greatest interest, therefore, in gaining the friendship of Madame de Chevreuse, whose influence
was all-powerful over the mind of the duke, and who, as he
was firmly persuaded, had already foiled the desired arrangement in 1637, and had it in her power to prevent it again.
On her part, Madame de Chevreuse was weary of exile; she
sighed for her chateau of Dampierre,' and for her children,
One can well imagine it, on seeing this beautiful residence, still
decorated by a cultivated and refined taste. The descendant of Marie
de Rohan, the Constabless de Luynes, has converted the ancient Chateau
de Guise into a tasteful and splendid residence, which rivals the most
celebrated palaces of the English aristocracy. W\here else can we find




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                      51
especially her daughter, the amiable Charlotte, who was growing up far from  her mother.  She shuddered at the thought
of the painful alternative which each day pressed her more
strongly: either of being forced to have recourse to England
and Spain, or to pledge the jewels that she had reclaimed from
La Rochefoucauld.1   She clung to this rich parure, which is
said to have come from  Florence, from  Marshal D'Ancre, as
the brilliant souvenir of happier days; for Madame de Chevreuse was a woman with the weaknesses as well as the charms
of her sex, and when passion and honor did not thrust her in
the midst of perils, she delighted in all the elegancies of life.2
It was this mixture of womanly gentleness with masculine
energy that formed the most striking trait of her character,
and that rendered her fit for every position, as well for the
endearments and confidence of love as for the excitement of
such grandeur and simplicity, such exquisite appreciation of Nature and
of Art, as is shown in these beautiful fountains, these magnificent promenades, and this vast library, these admirable family portraits, these
paintings, or, rather, splendid sketches of M. Ingres, and this statue in
massive silver of Louis XII., the token of a generous gratitude? And
when we reflect that he who has collected all these beautiful things, has
devoted his fortune to the public good in every way, that he has given
us the steel of Damascus, the ruins of Selinonte, the history of the house
of Anjou a Naples, and the Minerva of the Parthenon; that, during thirty
years, he has planted asylums, schools, and hospitals everywhere about him,
and encouraged and sustained scholars and artists, being himself one of
the first connoisseurs and archaeologists of Europe, the friend of a judicious liberty, and favorable to every good, popular cause, we may
exclaim, There is one great nobleman, then, still in France!
1 See, in respect to this, La Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville, third
edition, chap. iv., p. 280.
2 Madame de Chevreuse, like her grandson, loved the arts and encouraged them. She was the patroness of the excellent engraver, Pierre
Daret, who dedicated to her his collection of the " ll]ustres Frangais et
estrangers de l"-un et de l'autre sexe," in quarto, 1654. This dedication
acquaints us with facts that are not to be found in any of the biographies
of this artist.




52        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
intrigue and adventure.  It was under the influence of these
varied feelings that she decided to resume a negotiation with
Richelieu that had never wholly been broken off, and the successful termination of which appeared easy enough, since both
parties equally wished for it.
This negotiation lasted for more than a year.  The cardinal authorized Boispille, the steward of the family de Chevreuse, and Abbe du Dorat, to repair to England, the better
to conduct this delicate affair.  They bestowed much time
and pains on it; more than once were they obliged to go from
London to Paris, and from Paris to London, to smooth cown
the difficulties that were constantly arising.  The oft-broken
thread was knotted anew, but only to be again broken.  The
cardinal and the duchess sincerely desired to effect a reconciliation, but knowing each other well, each wished to exact
from  the other almost impossible pledges of fidelity.  On
studying  the various documents to which  this long negotiation  gave  rise,' we  recognize  therein  the  genius and
characteristics of Richelieu and of Madame de Chevreuse;
the habitual artifice of the cardinal with his ill-dissembled
firmness; and the suppleness of the beautiful duchess, her apparent submission, and her inflexible precautions. Richelieu
gradually relaxed his habitual rigor, but his claims-always
visible through the most studied courtesy-warned Madame
de Chevreuse to be on her guard, and to make no mistakes
with a man who forgot nothing, and who was powerful enough
for every thing.  It is a curious spectacle to see them employing all the manoeuvres of the most refined diplomacy, and
In the Bibliotheque Nationale are two manuscripts which contain
it entire: one, which the Pere Griffet knew and profited by, is volume ii.
of the iManuscrits de Colbert, affcires de France; these are but copies,
and are often defective. The other, Supplement Froaneais, No. 4067,
contains fewer documents, but original ones, among which are several
autograph letters of Richelieu and of Madame de Chevreuse.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND IMAZARIN.                 53
exhausting the resources of a consummate ability for more
than a year, in order to persuade and attract each other
towards the common end which both desired, without succeeding in it, and without being able to cure themselves of their
mutual and incurable suspicions.  Let us look at the principal
features-the beginning, the progress, the details, and the
inevitable end of this singular correspondence.
It is opened on the 1st of June, 1638, by a letter from
Madame de Chevreuse.  The duchess thanks the cardinal for
the friendly assurances which have been given her in his behalf;
she confesses to him that, when, in the preceding year, she resolved to quit France, it was from  apprehension of the suspicions which he seemed to entertain of her, and that she
wished to leave to time the task of dissipating them.  " I
hope," she says, " that the evil fortune which constrained me
to flee from France is weary of pursuing me... I should be
very glad to be entirely cured of my fears by the discovery
that my enemies are not more powerful than my innocence."
This letter, while feigning frankness and confidence, is exceedingly artful and reserved.  Madame de Chevreuse carefully
guards against engaging in any discussion upon the past,
though she slightly refers to it in order to sound Richelieu,
not wishing to expose herself to an investigation concerning
her previous conduct on her return to France; she is therefore careful to use the word innocence adroitly, yet without
protestation.  The part Madame de Chevreuse meant to play
may be understood from this first letter-it consisted in quietly procuring a pledge of her safety.  To cease from declaring her innocence would have been to deliver herself into the
hands of Richelieu, who, at the first feigned or real symptom
of discontent, could arm himself with her confessions and crush
her.  The answer of the cardinal also discloses, and, as we
think, a little too clearly, his secret thought; like his usual' Manuscripts of Colbert, ibid.




54        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
policy, it is both captious and imperious. In the midst of
somewhat affected demonstrations of politeness, he says to her,
" That which you send me is couched in such terms that, being unable to consent to it without acting against your interests, I will make no reply to it for fear of displeasing you
while wishing to serve you. In a word, madame, if you are
innocent, your safety depends upon yourself, and if the frailty
of human nature, to say nothing of that of your sex, has made
you remiss in any thing of which his majesty may have reason
to complain, you will find in his goodness all that you can expect from it."  Madame de Chevreuse readily comprehended
the artifice of the cardinal; but that she might leave no room
for any equivocation, she addressed him a memorial in which
she gave an account of all her actions, and of the reasons
which had determined her to quit France.  She had fled because, while lavishing fair words on her, they had endeavored
to make her confess that she had written to the Duke of Lorraine in order to prevent him from breaking with Spain and
entering into an arrangement with France, and being unable
to confess a fault which she had never committed, and seeing
that they were persuaded of it and that they even alleged intercepted letters, she had chosen to quit her country rather
than remain suspected and in perpetual danger.  Richelieu
hastened to reassure her, but on the contrary he alarmed her,
by seeming to be convinced of that which she was fully determined never to avow.  Was it a judicious method of inspiring her with confidence to remind her of the affair of
Chateauneuf, and plainly to intimate that he had proofs of it
in his hands which would dispense with any avowal on her
part?  "When M. de Boispille went to seek you, I told hi.m
wherein I thought your interest and your safety lay: namely,
in keeping nothing secret. I think you should the more readily assent to this, as experience has shown you by what passed
in the affair of M. de Chateauneuf that, in whatever interests
you, your friends are the most secret wlhei  h1ey have the




UNDER RICHIELIEU AND MAZARIN.                55
proofs in their hands.  It is so difficult to induce you to confess these, where one is not sure, that when he is sure, he would
almost prefer to be in ignorance, that he may not be obliged to
insist upon confession."
Can we wonder after this that Madame de Chevreuse drew
back, or that she was at least much embarrassed? She wrote
to the cardinal on the 8th of September to express to him her
gratitude for the kindness he had shown her and, at the same
time, the trouble which she felt at his settled conviction that
she was really guilty.  Her letter admirably depicts her perplexities.
" Consider the state in which I am; well-satisfied on one
hand with the assurances which you give me of the continuation of your friendship, and deeply grieved on the other by
your suspicion, or rather by your alleged certainty, of a fault
which I never committed, and which, I confess, would be attended with another if, having committed it, I should deny it
after the pardon of the king, which you would procure me upon
confession.  I confess that this so embarrasses me that I see
no rest for myself in this position. If you were not so certainly persuaded of knowing my fault, or if I could possibly
confess it, there would be means of accommodation; but as
you suffer yourself to be carried away by so strong a belief
against me as to admit of no justification, and as I am unable
to make myself guilty without being so, I have recourse to
yourself, supplicating you in the character of friend which
your generosity promises me, to propose an expedient whereby
to satisfy his majesty and secure my safe return to France,
being unable myself to conceive of any, and finding myself in
the greatest perplexity."
Now see the expedient which Richelieu devised to free
Madame de Chevreuse from  the anxiety that tormented her.
He sent her a royal declaration by which she was authorized' Manuscrits de Colbert, letter of July 24, 1638.




56        SECRET HISTORY OF THIE FRENCH COURT
to return to France with a full pardon for her past conduct,
especially for her negotiations with'the Duke of Lorraine
against the interests of the king.  On receiving this unhopedfor favor, Madame de Chevreuse protested against the pardon
of a crime which she would not acknowledge at any price;
only confessing herself culpable in respect to her precipitate
flight from the kingdom.  The means taken to dissipate her
suspicions only increased them; she set about examining all
the terms of this declaration with a zealous care, and she soon
found ambiguity enough in that which related to her return to
Danpierre.  It was not said explicitly that she might remain
there at full liberty. The only prohibitions to which she would
consent were those of never seeing the queen, and of holding
no foreign correspondence. Aside from these, she demanded
a full liberty;-above all, she demanded that under a pretence
of pardon she should not be charged with a fault which she
pretended never to have committed.
On the 23d. of February, 1639, she refused therefore the
indemnity which had been sent her, and demanded an explanation of the manner in which she would be permitted to reside
in France.  The cardinal, irritated at seeing all his schemes
discovered and eluded, flew into a passion, and disclosed the
drift of his designs in a letter to the Abbe du Dorat, dated
March 14th, in which he complained that MIadame de Chevreuse
would not acknowledge her negotiations with foreign powers,
" as if, " said he, " any one ever saw a sick man cured of a
disease which he would not allow  that he had. "  He did not
intend to permit Madame de Chevreuse to remain longer than
eight or ten days at Dampierre, after which she must retire to
some one of her estates at a distance from Paris.  He consented, however, to modify the royal indemnity which had so
much displeased 2Madame de Cihevreuse, and sent her another
which was a little more lenient as a proof of his condescension
and of the goodness of the king.
This new declaration was still very  far from  being what




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 57
Madame de Chevreuse desired; she was not only absolved in
it from her flight from France, but " from the other faults and
crimes which she might have committed against the fidelity
which she owed to the king; " and Richelieu thus evasively
returned to his original purpose of imposing upon the unhappy
exile, indirectly at least, a confession of crimes which she
maintained that she had never committed-a confession at
once humiliating and dangerous, and placing her wholly at his
mercy.  Yet such was the desire of the poor woman to behold
her country and her family that, after having a second time
vainly protested against it, she resigned herself to this doubtful grace.  She did more; Richelieu having hastened to remit
to the Abb6 du Dorat and to Boispille the money necessary
to acquit the debts which she had contracted in England, and
to enable her to quit that court in a style befitting her rank
and dignity, she consented to permit two intermediate agents
to sign in her name a writing designed to satisfy Richelieu
without too deeply compromising herself, in which she humbly
spoke of her past misconduct in very general terms,l and
pledged herself never to come in secret to Paris, provided she
were allowed to live in perfect freedom at Dampierre.  The
entreaties of the Abbe du Dorat and of Boispille, and the
solemn promise which Richelieu renewed to her in a final letter of April 13th, 1639, might well have conquered her scruples, stifled her suspicions, and caused her to yield her secret
instincts to the solicitations of her family.
Affairs stood in this wise; the proud duchess had bowed
her head beneath the weight of exile and misfortune; she was
about to depart; her adieus were already made to the Queen
of England, and a vessel was ready to conduct her to Dieppe
where a carriage awaited her; when suddenly, at the end of
the month of April, she received the following letter, without
date or signature, which we faithfully transcribe:
l Ibid.
3*




58       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
" I should not be the friend to you that I am, if I failed
to tell you that if you love Madame de Chevreuse, you
will prevent her ruin, which is inevitable in France, where
they only wish her for her destruction.  This is not merely
an opinion; there is no other remedy than that of following
this advice whereby to save Madame de Chevreuse, of whose
connections with Spain and M. de Lorraine, the cardinal has
already spoken too ill to permit him to be silent in the future. In short, at this moment, there is nothing but patience
for Madame de Chevrcuse, or sure destruction to her and
eternal regret to the writer. "
From whatever source this note may have come, we can
readily imagine that it troubled Madame de Chevreuse.  It
responded to all the secret instincts of her heart, and to the
knowledge which she had had of old of the implacable resentment of the cardinal.  She suspended or prolonged her preparations for departure; and acting as frankly as prudently,
she showed the letter which she had received to Boispille, and
authorized him to transmit it to the cardinal.  A month had
scarcely passed, ere she received another letter of the same
stamp, no longer anonymous, but signed by the man of all
others the most devoted to her.
"I am  certain that it is the design of the cardinal to
offer you every possible inducement to persuade you to
return to France,-then immediately to destroy you.  The
Marquis de Ville, who has talked with him and with M. de
Chavigny, can give you further explanations, having heard it
himself.  I expect him every moment, but if I thought that
I had influence enough over your mind to persuade you
from taking this resolution, I would hasten to throw myself
at your feet to convince you of the certainty of your utter
ruin, and to conjure you by all that is most dear to you to
shun this calamity, too cruel to the whole world, but most
of all insupportable to me; protesting that if my destruction could procure your repose, I should esteem  the occa



UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               59
sion  happy which enabled me to do so; and  my only
motive in serving you is regard for your interest, being for
ever, Madame, your most devoted servant,
" CIARLES DE LORRAINE.
"CIRK, May 26, 1639."
This new counsel heightened the anxiety of Madame de
Chevreuse.  She transmitted this second letter to Richelieu
as she had done the first, to show him  that she was not
detained by trivial causes, and to explain to him her uncertainty. She also declared that she would not depart till
she had seen and heard the Marquis de Ville whom the Duke of
Lorraine had announced to her.
Henri de Livron, Marquis de Ville, was a Lorraine nobleman, full of wit and courage, and devoted to his country
and his prince, who having been made prisoner, thrown
into the Bastille, and afterwards released by Richelieu, had
rejoined the Duke Charles in the Netherlands.  He came
to London in the first part of the month of August, 1639,
and used every effort to persuade Madame de Chevreuse to
break with the cardinal.  The duchess wished that he should
explain himself in the presence of Boispille, and that the latter
should render an account of the interview to Richelieu.  The
Marquis de Ville continued inflexible in his assertions, and
asked nothing better than to draw up and sign the following deposition:-" A person named Lange, having accompanied me
last winter from Paris as far as Charenton, said to me that
his knowledge of the interest which I had for the service of
Madame de Chevreuse forced him to tell me that she was
lost if she returned to France at present.  Pressing him
to tell me what he knew positively on the subject, after
having first extracted a promise from me that I would not
speak of it to any one but his Highness of Lorraine or
Madame de Chevreuse, he said that it was but two days since
the cardinal, in speaking of Madame de Chevreuse to M. de
Chavigny, showed much dissatisfaction because  she  per



60        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
sisted in denying that she had counselled M. de Lorraine
not to make terms with France.  At this, M. de Chavigny also
seemed very greatly surprised, and both said that the matter
now was very clear, and that Madame de Chevreuse being
once in France, they could make her speak plain French
with  the letters they possessed; that she did not believe
it, but if she thought to deceive them  she deceived herself.
This the  deponent affirms, having heard it himself.  At
London, this eighth day of August.
" HE3NRI DE LIVRON, Marquis de Ville."
This writing, as well as the preceding ones, was punctually
sent to Richelieu.
We ask whether all this should not naturally have made
the strongest impression on the mind of Madame de Chevreuse? Could she recall without terror the obstinate endeavors of the cardinal to draw from her by direct and indirect
means a confession which could be of little importance to him,
if he had no intention of using it against her?  Did she not
know  his imperious temper, and his passion for holding the
whole world at his feet, and for always having wherewith to
crush his enemies?  Whoever has felt the bitterness and miseries of exile will not be surprised that the unhappy duchess
should have descended so far as to submit to hard and insecure conditions in her ardent desire of regaining her country
and her home.  But who can blame her upon such counsels as
those which we have just quoted, for hesitating to take a step,
which, should it prove a false one, would leave her nothing
but eternal regret and useless despair.
Ere long another counsel, which was to her an order, enchained her to a foreign land.  She for whom she had suffered
every thing and braved every thing for the last ten years, her
royal accomplice, Anne of Austria, warned her not to trust to
appearances.  The queen, meeting M. de Chevreuse one day
at St. Gernain, inquired after the duchess.  He replied that




UNDEIR EICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                61
he had reason to complain of her majesty, who alone hindered
his wife from returning.  The queen told him that he was very
wrong in reproaching her; that she loved Madame de Chevreuse and wished much to see her, but that she should never
counsel her to return to France.  It seemed to Madame de
Chevreuse that Anne of Austria ought to be well informed; and
she resolved to follow advice that came from so high a quarter.
She would not accept the money of llichelieu, and wrote to
him for the last time on the 16th of September, representing
to him her uncertainty and embarrassment, and asking time to
calm her fears.  On the same day she announced her definitive
resolution to her husband, to Dorat, and to Boispille: " I
ardently desire," said she to her husband, " to see myself again
in France in a position to retrieve our fortunes, and to live
tranquilly with you and my children, but I see so much danger in going there, as I understand affairs, that I cannot now
risk it, knowing that I can neither work to your advantage
nor theirs, if I am  in trouble.  I must therefore patiently
seek some safe road which will finally carry me there with that
repose of mind which I cannot now find...  I have h}'jard
of very important charges against me, of which I am positively innocent,-as perhaps they know at this moment,;..and
of which appearances indicate that they wish to accuse m're.  I
cannot explain myself more clearly on this point."  T'o the
Abbe du Dorat, she said: " I am astonished that any rae can
accuse me of feigning imaginary apprehensions as a; excuse
for staying from the enjoyment of my lawful property/ instead
of pitying me for the perplexity to which my unhappjy fortune
reduces me."  To Boispille, she said: " Since y,'ur departure, I have had so many new proofs of the continuance of my
misfortunes in the suspicions which he entertains of lm, that
it is impossible for me to resolve to return and expose myself
Letter of the Abb6 du Dorat to Richelieu, Mcanuscrits de Colbexi
fol. 47.




62       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
to the consequences which may result from  them....  Believe that I desire so ardently to return, that I would overlook many things to do so; but there are some that stop me
with so much reason, that it is absolutely necessary that I
should still remain where I am. I feel the inconveniences of
this exile too deeply to refrain from ending them as soon as I
can see light.  Meanwhile, it is better to suffer than to
perish."'
Thus vanished the last hopes of a sincere reconciliation between two persons who were at the same time attracted towards and repelled from  each other by insurmountable instincts; who knew  each other too well not to fear each
other, or to confide in the promises of which neither was
sparing without exacting binding pledges which neither could
nor would be given. At Tours, two years before, Madame de
Chevreuse had chosen rather to take for the second time the
road to exile than to risk her liberty; at London, too, she
preferred to endure the miseries of exile, and to consume the
last days of her beauty in privation and fatigue if she might
but remain free, with the hope of wearying fortune by the
force of courage, and of making the author of her sufferings
pay dearly for them.
In the middle of the year 1639, Marie de Medicis, weary
of the wandering life that she was leading in the Netherlands at the mercy of the Spanish government, which had
lavished promises on her in the hope of gaining her over to
their party, and, on seeing her impotence, had then forsaken
her, resolved to go to ask an asylum  of her daughter, the
Queen of England.  Could the latter have refused this to her
mother, aged, sick, and reduced to the last extremity? The
pitiless Richelieu accuses Madame de Chevreuse  of having
supported and seconded the resolution of Queen Henriette.'Manuscrits de Colbert, fol. 63, etc.
2 Memoires, vol. x., p. 484.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               63
We should blame her if she had not done so, or if, herself
exiled and unhappy, she had not mingled her respectful
homage with that paid by the English Court to the widow of
Henri IV., the mother of Louis XIII. and of three great
queens, who had just braved a seven days' tempest on the
ocean, and had arrived at last, destitute, despairing, and dying
-a sad object for universal pity.  Richelieu, who can see
nothing but politics everywhere, pretends to find intrigues
and plots in this homage as well as in the visits of Madame de
Chevreuse to Marie de Medicis.  These are probably the accusations of which Madame de Chevreuse complains in ambiguous language in her last letters. She repels them, and
with reason-she remained tranquil, and was even very circumspect as long as she preserved the hope of a sincere reconciliation with Richelieu; but when sure that he sought to deceive her, to lure her to France to have her in his power,
and, in case of need, to imprison her, having broken with him,
she considered herself bound by no scruple, and only thought
of giving him back war for war.
A little while after the arrival of Marie de Medicis, another
victim of the cardinal, another exile, interesting at least for
the incredible iniquity of the judgment rendered against him,
came to London to seek a refuge. This was the Duke de La
Valette, eldest son of the aged Duke d'Epernon  and own
brother of the Cardinal de La Valette, a general and confidant
of. Richelieu, whose daily counsels had often saved him from
impostors, and whose sword had done good service for him in
the Netherlands and in Italy.   The Duke de La Valette
had doubtless been guilty of a great fault.  When placed under the command of M. le Prince at the siege of Fontarabie,
he had caused the failure of this important enterprise by not
seconding his general as he ought. He had not betrayed him,
neither had he any understanding with the enemy, but a fatal
jealousy of the Prince de Cond6 had made him  fail in his
duty.  A just punishment would have satisfied the army;




64        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
the injustice of the trial and the excessive severity of the sentence aroused the indignation of all honorable men.  Instead
of being arraigned before the parliament in his quality of duke
and peer, according to the laws of the time, Bernard de La
Valette was delivered over to a commission as the Marshal de
Marillac had formerly been.  The duke fled, perceiving that
they only sought his life, and they adjudged him guilty of
contumacy in an unheard-of manner.l  The king assembled in
his chamber a certain number of the members of parliament,
the chief justice, the presidents d mortier, a few counsellors of
State, and several picked dukes and peers; of these he formed a sort of tribunal, placed himself at its head, presided
himself, and, despite the generous resistance of the most of
the members of parliament, who demanded that the affair
should be referred to them  in conformity with every ordinance, he forced  these spurious judges to  deliberate upon
and to adopt the harsh conclusions of the attorney-general;
and the Duke de La Valette was declared criminal of lezemajesty, and guilty of perfidy, treason, cowardice, and disobedience.  He was condemned to be decapitated, his property confiscated, and his lands transferred  from  the united
crown to the demesne of the king.   The attorney-general,
Mathieu  Mol6, extricated himself with difficulty from  the
duty of carrying this odious sentence into execution, and the
illustrious criminal was beheaded in effigy upon the Place
de CGrve on the 8th  of June, 1639.   Such a method of
procedure in a criminal case was a subversion of all the
laws of the kingdom.  If it dismayed magistrates attached to
the  king, and certainly  not factious, like the presidents'For this unheard-of scene, one should not only see the detailed
and suspicious relation published by the friends of La Valette, which is
found among the articles printed in the sequel of the li~emoires of Montresor, but also the fMemoires of Omer Talon, collection Petitot, ii.
series, vol. lx., pp. 186-197.




UNDER RICHELIEU  AND MAZARIN.                     65
Lejay, Novion, Bailleul, De  Mesmes, and  Bellievre, is it
surprising that it should have been revolting to the soul of
a woman, and that Madame de Chevreuse should  have entreated Charles I. to receive the noble fugitive into his kingdom?   Mark  well that the Duke de La Valette  did  not
arrive in England until the end of October, 1639, when Madame de Chevreuse had no  reason longer to preserve  circumspection towards Richelieu.  She interceded so earnestly
with  Charles I., that, despite the contrary  opinion of the
council of ministers, and thanks to the intervention  of the
queen, she obtained permission for the duke to reside in London, and  even  to  be presented  to  the king, but secretly
and private, so as not to offend France too greatly' —a vain
precaution which did not save King Charles from  the vindictive rancor of Richelieu.  The cardinal, seeing that Madame de Chevreuse's influence with the King of England prevailed over his own, and that she urged  him  on to aid his
enemies, more  than  ever  endeavored  to  excite  domestic
troubles about the unhappy king which would put it out of
his power to injure France, and covertly carried on his artful
intrigues with the Parliamentarians, and most especially with
the Scotch Puritans.2   On her side, Madame de Chevreuse did
not slumber.  The ancient duel with Richelieu being once reMlemoires of Richelieu, vol. ii., pp. 498 and 499.
2 See the letter of Richelieu to the Count d'Estrade of the 2d December, 1637; see also letters of Boispille to the cardinal of 1639, in
which he gives the news of the slow progress of the army in Scotland
with an ill-disguised satisfaction that betrays the sentiments of the
writer.  Richelieu caused the manifesto to England, which the Scotch
published in 1641, to be printed in the Gazette of that year, No. 34, p. 161.
"We cannot doubt," says the exact and learned Pere Griffet, "that
Richelieu was one of the prime movers of the revolution which finally
led Charles I. to the scaffold and Oliver Cromwell to the throne. M. de
Brienne seems to assent to this, but he takes care to remark that things
were carried much farther than the cardinal had foreseen or wished."




66        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
newed, she formed at London, with the Duke de Vend6me, La
Vieuville, and La Valette, a faction of active and able
exiles, who, supported by Count Holland, then one of the
chiefs of the royalist party and of the army of Charles I., by
Lord Montagu, a zealous Catholic and the confidential counsellor of Queen Henriette, by the Chevalier Digby and by
other powerful lords of the English Court, and also maintaining  direct correspondence  with  the  Court of Rome
through. its English envoy, Rosetti,' as well as with the
Cabinet of Madrid, encouraged and inflamed the hopes of the
exiles and the malcontents, planted obstacles in the path of
Richelieu, and gathered dangers everywhere about him.
In 1641, we find Madame de Chevreuse at Brussels serving as a bond between England, Spain, and Lorraine.  The
fact is not generally known, but we can demonstrate that she
took an active part in the affair of the Count de Soissons; that
is to say, in the most formidable conspiracy that had ever been
plotted against Richelieu.
The Count de Soissons, prince of the blood-royal, was, however, of far more consequence than Henri de Montmorenci had
been: he possessed his bravery and his military talents; his plan
was better conceived, and the occasion more favorable in every
respect. The prime minister, by straining all the springs of
government, by perpetuating the war, by increasing the public
taxes, and by oppressing both public and private individuals,
had excited much hatred, and governed only by the force of
terror.  His genius was imposing, and the grandeur of his de-' When afterwards, in 1643, the pope appointed the Cardinal Rosetti to represent him in the Congress at Munster, the successor of
Richelieu unhesitatingly excluded him, founding this especially on the
ground that, during his mission in England, Rosetti had been very intimate with Madame de Chevreuse, and that she had wholly gained him.
Letter of the queen to M. de Fontenay, September 25, 1643. BIBLIOTHaQUE NATIONALE, fonds Gaignieres, vol. 510, in fol., under the title:
Ddpesches importantes sur la paix d'ltalie, des annmes 1643 et 1644.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    67
signs excited the admiration of a few choice spirits; but this
continued harshness, joined with the sacrifices that were springing up unceasingly, wearied the greater number, and the king
first of all. The favorite of the day, the Grand-Equerry CinqMars, aspersed and undermined the cardinal as much as possible in the mind of Louis XIII. He knew of the conspiracy of
the Count de Soissons, and favored, without taking part in it.
They could count on him for the next day. Queen Anne, still
in disgrace, despite the two sons which she had just given to
France, would at least offer prayers for the end of a power
which oppressed her.  Monsieur had pledged his word-not
very reliable, it is true; but the Duke de Bouillon, a warrior
and an eminent politician, had openly declared himself; and his
fortified town of Sedan, situated on the frontiers of France and
Belgium, was an asylum in which they could brave for a long
time all the forces of the cardinal. They had carefully arranged an extensive correspondence with every part of the
kingdom, as well as with the clergy and the parliament. They
even conspired in the Bastille, where the Marshal de Vitry
and the Count de Cramail, prisoners as they were, had prepared a surprise with admirably guarded secrecy. The Abbe
de Retz, then twenty-five years of age, preluded his adventurous career by this essay at civil war.'  The Duke de Guise,
who had escaped from the Archbishop of Rheims and taken
shelter in the Netherlands, had promised to come to Sedan to
share in the perils of the conspirators. But the greatest, the
See the whole account of this affair in the first volume of the ACemoires, p. 28-41. The author of the Conjuration de Fiesque attributes to
himself on this occasion, some political discourses imitated from Sallust, in
which maxims of state abound, according to that masculine style of the
times of which Richelieu was the author and Corneille the interpreter.
The discourses might have been added afterwards to give the reader an
exalted idea of the precocious genius of Retz, but they are truthful, always excepting the usual charge, and accord perfectly with the most
authentic documents.




68        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
most solid hope of the Count de Soissons, rested on Spain; she
alone could enable him to depart from Sedan, to march against
Paris, and to break the power of Richelieu; he therefore despatched one of the bravest and most intelligent of his followers
to Brussels,' to negotiate with the Spanish ministers, and to
obtain from  them  money and troops.   This gentleman was
named Alexandre de Campion.  He met Madame de Chevreuse
at Brussels, and confided to herthe mission with which he was
charged.  She eagerly hastened to second it with all her influence. As we shall see this personage reappear more than once
in the midst of the most tragic adventures in the life of Madame
de Chevreuse, we must pause for a few moments to introduce
him to our readers.
Indeed, he has taken care to draw his own portrait in a
work entitled Recueil de Lettres qzu  peuvent servir d l'histoire, et divers Poesies, dc Rouen, aux depens de o'auteur, 1657.
This work, designed but for a few persons and very little noticed at the time, and as little known since as though it had
never existed, is, nevertheless, as the title asserts, very valuable
to history.  It is dedicated to the celebrated Gillonne d'Harcourt, Countess de Fiesque, one of the aides-de-camp of Mademoiselle during the war of the Fronde, a witty, intriguing, and
brilliant woman.  The book is pleasing.  Alexandre de Campion there shows himself full of pretensions to wit and gallantry; he carefully collects all the little verses which he
addressed in his youth to the belles of the time, and gives,
without ceremony, the letters which he had formerly written
under the most delicate circumstances, to the Count de Soissons,
l We read in the Gazette of Renaudot, for the year 1641, No. 61, p.
314: "The twentieth of this month of May, the Duke de Guise arrived
at Brussels from Sedan, where he supped with the Duchess de Chevreuse
and lodged at the house of Don Antonio Sarmiento."  And in No. 64, p.
327, under the date of May 28: " The Secretary of the Duke de Bouillon
has left here (Brussels) for Sedan, where the Duke de Guise has also
returned."




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                69
the Duke de Vend6me, the Duke de Beaufort, the Count de
Beaupuis, De Thou, the  Duke de Bouillon, the Duke de
Guise, Madame de Montbazon, and Madame de Chevreuse.
We see in these letters that Alexandre de Campion, born in
1610, of a noble family of Normandy, in 1634 entered, at the
age of twenty-four, into the service of the young Count de
Soissons in the quality of gentleman, followed him in his different campaigns, distinguished himself therein, and gradually
shared his confidence with Beauregard, Saint Ibar, and Varicarville-brave  officers and men of honor, but restless and
somewhat turbulent, who flattered the ambition of their master
and urged him  on in concert to play a conspicuous role in
France by overthrowing the Cardinal de Richelieu.  Campion
informs us that, in the year 1636, the Count de Soissons began to meditate on what he afterwards executed, that he had
a perfect understanding with the Duke de Bouillon, and that
both exerted themselves to draw the Duke d'Orleans to Sedan,
in order to raise there the standard of revolt, and constrain
the king to sacrifice his minister.  Campion went to Bl1is in
order to secure the Duke d'Orleans and to point out to him
the surest means of repairing to Sedan.  At the same time, he
was negotiating with Richelieu through Father Joseph. The
close of the year 1636 and the whole of the year 1637
passed in these intrigues, which failed at last through the fear
of trusting the conspirators to embark in the enterprise at the
moment of action.  The Count de Soissons ended by becoming
reconciled with Richelieu through the medium of his brotherin-law, the Duke de Longueville, all the while preserving the
intention of separating from the cardinal and of destroying
him as soon as he should find a good opportunity. During this
peace of short duration, the confidant of the Count de Soissons
labored to procure himself partisans by every means.  He
connected himself with Cinq-Mars, and though the count was
secretly engaged to a person whom he loved, and who is not
named in the letters, Alexandre de Campion did not scruple




70         SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
to give several princesses and their families reason to hope for
his hand. In 1640, the plot, which had never been entirely
abandoned, was revived  by the Duke de Bouillon and the
Count de Soissons.  The Grand-Equerry, without directly joining in it, promised his support.' Emanuel de Gondi, formerly
general of the galleys, and now priest of the Oratory, father
of the Duke de Retz and the future cardinal, and the Presidents  de  Mesmes  and  Bailleul were  consulted, not  as
accomplices, but  as  friends.   The  penetrating. Richelieu
"August 20, 1640. M. le Grand is much pleased that I have added
the compliments of M. de Bouillon to your own. He has charged me to
offer you many in return, and especially to assure you that, at the proper
time and place, you will see evidence that he was sincere in protesting to
you, through me, that he was your most humble servant. He is certain
that the cardinal designs to destroy him; from this you can judge of his
intentions. He is on good terms with the queen, Monsieur, and yourself,
and acts adroitly.  No one knows that I see him, and if prosperity
does not blind him, he is capable of undertaking something of importance.
In any case, should you be pressed, and forced to take up arms to shield
yourself from oppression, it is well to have for a protector near the king,
an injured man, who, for his own interest, will not lose the occasion of destroying the one who wishes to ruin him. I know well that those who do
not like him will chide his ingratitude because the Cardinal is his benefactor, but this does not concern you." Let us also transcribe this letter
to De Thou of March 3, 1641, one year before the affair which led him
to the scaffold: "I protest that neither the reasons which you alleged
to me ten days since, in the Carmes-Dechausses, nor those which you write
me, persuade me in any manner, and that I have nothing to add to the
answer I made you. A scheme like that in which you and your friend
wish to embark me, which will at once be suspected by  *  *  *  who
has no love for me, exposes me to his vengeance, and will end in nothing.
I know the men, and their design of ruining him through the cabinet is
a chimera which will destroy them and, perhaps, you also." There is
another letter in the Recueil to De Thou, in which Alexandre de Campion
informs him that he sends back a portrait, letters, and jewels, which his
friend had confided to him, in order that he may return them "to that
illustrious person for whom you are accused of sighing." Madame de
Guymen6 is probably the person alluded to.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    71
divined their purpose and removed them from the court and
from Paris.' After remaining for some time on this perilous
stage, where he often encountered the Abbe de Retz,2 Campion
was himself compelled to fly to Sedan. Hle was sent to Brussels to negotiate with Spain, and it was then that he became
acquainted with Madame de Chevreuse.  Did politics alone
contribute to this liaison? We know not, but when Alexandre
de Campion recounts to the Count de Soissons all that he owes
to Madame de Chevreuse, the gay young count rallies his young
and chivalrous follower a little on his success with the beautiful duchess; to which the latter replies with apparent modesty,
mingled with considerable self-conceit:' June 3, 1641.  M.
de Chatillon (who commanded the army sent by Richelieu
against the rebels) causes you but little fear, since you think
of rallying me in your letter; and this is thanking me but
little for the services which I render you in gaining an illustrious adherent to your party, and in procuring you a friend
who otherwise would never have been such. She is persuaded
of your friendship by the compliments which you offer her in
your letters; but if she had seen what you have written to me,
perhaps she would not act with so much zeal; your railleries
not being over agreeable.  She has written to the count-duke,
so that you will have his assistance; and as she has entire
power over Don Antonio Sarmiento, she has written to him
also in the same strain; indeed, she is very zealous for you.
I do not know that you would pay the debt as cheaply as you
"December 24, 1640. According to your order, I shall show your
letters to your mother, to the Pere de Gondi, and to the Presidents de
Mesmes andde Bailleul... But I shall take the liberty of telling you
that I should be very glad to see them in private, lest the cardinal should
know that they are your friends; it may ruin them if he discovers it."
" January 1641. I do not doubt the displeasure which you have felt
at the removal of the Pere de Gondi and of the two presidents. I strongly
suspect that their visits to the Hotel de Soissons were known."
2 Memoires, vol. i., p. 26.




72        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
imagine if the state of your affairs should oblige you to make
a tour hither, or if her own should compel her to take the
road to Sedan; but if you will believe me, you will: not have
so flattering an opinion of me, since I constantly regard these
superior deities with respect and veneration; and as they take
care never to descend to ne, I am careful never to raise my
pretensions to them.  Having spoken to you frankly, I venture
to hope that you will both spare me for the future, and her
who charges herself with advancing your affairs as if they were
her own."  But without ascribing to her more private reasons, Madame de Chevreuse was ready to serve with zeal in an
enterprise directed against the common enemy.  She wrote to
the Count-Duke Olivares, and strongly enforced on him the
demands of the Count de Soissons, and the Duke de Bouillon.
At Brussels, she won over Don Antonio Sarmiento, and she
gave to Campion, as well as to the Abbe de Merci, the intriguing
agent in the service of Spain, letters to the Duke of Lorraine,
in which she urged him  not to lose this excellent occasion
for repairing his past misfortunes, and for striking Richelieu
a mortal blow.  Charles IV., urged on at once by Madame
de Chevreuse, by his relative, the Duke de Guise, by the
Spanish minister, and, most of all, by his own restless and
adventurous ambition, broke the solemn alliance which he had
but recently contracted with France, entered into a treaty with
Spain and with the Count de Soissons, and made haste to go
to the aid of Sedan.  General Lamboy and Colonel Metternich hastened fiom  Flanders with six thousand imperialists,
while, at the same time, Madame de Chevreuse and the exiles
imoved all the springs which were in their hands.  France and
Europe were in anxious expectation.  Never had Richelieu
been in greater danger; and the loss of the battle of the Marfee would have been fatal to him, had not the Count de Soissons met death in his triumph.
Did Madame de Chevreuse remain a stranger in 1642 to
the new conspiracy of Monsieur, Cinq-Mars, and the Duke de




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                  73
Bouillon? If so, it was the only one in which she was not
concerned.  It is very doubtful whether she was not in the
secret, as well as Queen Anne, whose correspondence with
Cinq-Mars and Monsieur cannot be contested.  While conducting herself guardedly towards Louis XIII. and his minister, Anne of Austria had not abandoned her former sentiments nor even her designs, and she may even have been compromised in the affair of the Count de Soissons, if we may
believe these notable words from Alexandre de Campion to
Madame de Chevreuse, dated the 15th of August, 1641:
" Have no fear of the letters which speak of that person for
whom  of all others you have the greatest devotion; M. de
Bouillon and I have burned all which were in the count's casket."  The queen certainly knew  of the plot of Cinq-Mars
and consented to it. Perhaps she was ignorant of the treaty
with Spain, but in all else she acted in concert with the conspirators against the cardinal. La Rochefoucauld affirms this
several times as a thing in which he had been concerned.;' The eclat of the influence of M. le Grand," says he, " awakened the hopes of the malcontents: the queen and Monsieur
joined themselves  to him, and the Duke de Bouillon and
several persons of rank followed their example. M. de Thou
came to me on behalf of the queen to inform  me of her alliance with M. le Grand, and to tell me that she had promised
him that I would be among her friends."' The Duke de Bouillon 2 declares that the queen was firmly leagued with Monsieur
and with the Grand-Equerry, and that she herself demanded
his aid: " The queen, who had been persecuted by the cardinal
in so many ways, doubted not that if the king should die, he
would seek to take her children from her in order to procure
for himself the regency?  3  She sought the Duke de Bouillon
M1 emoires, ibid., pp. 362 and 363.
2 Mlemoires of the Life of Fred. Maurice de la Tour d'Auvergne, Duke
de Bouillon (by his secretary, Langlade), Paris, 1692, in 12mo.
This fear was not without foundation, for Richelieu endeavored to
4




74        SECRET HISTORY  OF THE FRENCH  COURT
secretly through  De Thou, and  asked  him  whether, if the
king should die, he would promise to receive her in Sedan,
with  her two  children, believing  that there  would  be no
place of safety for them  in  all France, so  much  was she
persuaded of the evil intentions of the cardinal and fearful
of his power.  De Thou  said further to the Duke de Bouillon that, since the illness of the king, the queen and MIonsieur, the Duke d'Orleans, were  closely  leagued  together,
and that it was through Cinq-Mars that this alliance had been
made.  Two days after, De Thou wished the queen to express
to the Duke de Bouillon  the satisfaction which she felt at the
manner in which he had replied to what had been said to him
in her behalf; this she could only do in a few words in passing, when going to the mass, committing the rest to De Thou
as having  entire confidence in him.  Turenne, writing later
to his sister, Mademoiselle de Bouillon, says to her: " You can
judge how much it must affect my brother to see the queen and
Monsieur still in power, while he has lost Sedan for the love of
her."'   Now, where Queen  Anne  was so deeply engaged,
Madalme de Chevreuse would  scarcely have remained idle.
induce the king to grant him the guardianship of his children.  IIe almost succeeded, as we see in this precious document, which we extract
from the archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol ci., letter of Chavigny
to Richelieu of the 28th of July, 1642: " The-king told me that several
days since, at the time of his dangerous illness at the camp of Perpignan, M. le Grand endeavored in conversation to persuade him to
give the guardianship of his children after his death to himself, without
however saying it openly.  Upon this, I took occasion to exaggerate
the effrontery and horrible ambition of this profligate, and to show to
his majesty that a person must have all the qualities which he had not
in order to be capable of such guardianship, when he said to me,' If God
leaves me reason to direct what shall happen after my death, I can only
leave them  to Monseigneur the cardinal. To which I only replied by
protestations on the part of his Eminence of affection and tenderness for
so good a master.' "'Lettres et l3em)oires, etc., published by General Grimoard in folio, vol.
i., p. 40.




UNDER RICIHELIEU AND  IAZARIN.                     7'5
Let us add that she had long been very intimate with De Thou,
who had been compromised on her account in some affair, the
particulars of which it is impossible for us now to discover, but
for which we know  that he had great difficulty in obtaining
his pardon from the cardinal, as he himself acknowledged in
the fatal trial that brought him to the scaffold.'  A friend  of
Richelieu, who does not reveal his name, but who seems to
be well informed concerning the matter, does not hesitate to
place Madame de Chevreuse as well as the queen among those
who at that time sought to overthrow him.  " M. le Grand,"
writes he to the cardinal, " has been urged on to  his evil design by the queen-mother, her daughter, the queen of France,
Madame de Chevreuse, and Lord Montagu, with other of the
English papists." Lastly, the cardinal himself, who doubtless
for his health, but also for his safety, had withdrawn to Tarascon in the beginning of June, 1642,' with his two confidants,
Mazarin and Chavigny, and his faithful regiments of guards,
feeling himself surrounded by perils, on representing to Louis
XIII. the danger of his position, quotes what has been written
him  concerning Madame  de Chevreuse as among its most
striking indications.'  Indeed, what party was it that was conNouvencux iiemoi're. cl'histoire, de critique et de litteratere, by the
Abbe d'Artigny, vol. iv. Pieces originales concernant le procis de lMJIl.
de Botuillon, Cinq-lfars et de T7oThe. Examination of July 6, 1642, and
more particularly the second examination of July 24.  i Being questioned in respect to the affair of Madame de Chevreuse, he said that, having
the word of the cardinal, he felt himself secure, well knowing that he
would not grant pardon by halves."
2 Archives of foreign affairs, FRANcE, vol. ci., letter of July 4.
Archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. cii., inedited memoir of
Richelieu. "It is necessary that MM. de Chavigny and De Noyers speak
to the king and tell him that the cardinal, wishing to depart for Narbonne
as he had advised for change of air, and not knowing what effect this
might produce on his disease, wishes to express the entire confidence
which he has in his majesty by informing him of the indications on
every side.. The letters of the Prince of Orange, the Gazette of Brus



76        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
spiring against Richelieu?  Was it not the party of former
times, the party of the League of Austria and of Spain? And
was not Madame de Chevreuse by her engagements with the
Duke of Lorraine, the Queen of England, the Chevalier de
Jars at Rome, and the Count-Duke Olivares at Madrid, made
one of the chief powers of this party?  When, therefore, it
was seen to be in motion, it was very natural to suspect the
hand of Madame de Chevreuse in all its movements.
But the eye of Richelieu soon pierced the darkness which
enveloped  it;  he saw  clearly  into  the  intrigues  of the
Grand-Ecuerry whom  he had long suspected, and a treason,
the secret of which has remained impenetrable to all investigation for two centuries, threw  into his hands the treaty
that had been concluded with Spain, through  the medium
of Fontrailles, in the name of Monsieur, of Cinq-Mars, and of
the Duke de Bouillon. Thenceforth the cardinal felt assured
of victory.  He understood Louis XIII.; he knew that he
might, in  a burst of his fitful and capricious temper, have
complained to his favorite of his minister, and even have wished
to be delivered from  him, and thus have paved the way to
dangerous conversation; ] but he also knew to what degree he
was a king and a Frenchman, and devoted to their common
system of policy.  He hastened, therefore, to send Chavigny
to Narbonne with the authentic proofs of the Spanish treaty.
sels, and that of Cologne, the preparations of the queen-mother for leaving England, the litters and mules that have been purchased, all that has
been written in genuine letters of Madame de Chevreuse, all that we hear
from the courts of France, the rumors which are in the armies, the advices which come from the courts of Italy, the hopes of the Spaniards
both on the side of Spain and Flanders, the resolution which Monsieur
has taken of not coming as he had promised,-waiting, perhaps, for the
result of the storm,-all these things oblige him to warn the king, in
order that he may take such measures as he may please in respect to
these rumors which disturb the public peace."
I See the Mermoires of Monglat, Coil. Petitot, vol. i., p. 375.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                      77
At the sight of these proofs, Louis was troubled;  he could
scarcely believe his own eyes, and he fell into a deep melancholy, from  which he recovered  with  bursts of indignation
against him who could thus abuse his confidence and conspire
The details of this affair are not even given by the Pere Griffet; they
are only to be found in the archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. cii.
During the first days of June, the domestic troubles of the king, the intrigues of Cinq-Mars, who was still at Narbonne, near him, and the dangers of the cardinal, were the subjects of Richelieu's inquiry, but not a
word of the treaty of Spain. On the 12th of June all was made clear by
the following billet of De Chavigny and De Noyers to Richelieu: "Narbonne, this 12th of June, at 10 A. M. —:. de Chavigny arrived this
morning an hour before the king awakened. M. de Noyers and he, after
having conferred together, sought his majesty, to whom they recounted
in detail all the affairs of which he had been notified. All the measures
have been taken in conformity with the views of his Eminence, and
the despatches will be made this day without fail. The king approves of
the journey of M. Castelan in Piedmont.-CIHAvIGNY, DE NOYERS."  Here
all is clear.  On the 11th of June Richelieu received the decisive news.
He instantly sent Chavigny to the king with the proofs, and also with the
measures he proposed to take.  Chavigny travelled all night, and at
twelve in the morning, in company with De Noyers, he saw the king,
who read the despatches sent him by Richelieu, listened to the explanations of the ministers, and immediately approved and adopted the
necessary measures, among which was the sending of Castelan to the
Italian army to arrest the Duke de Bouillon. On the 12th Louis did not
hesitate; but afterwards he fell a prey to gloomy reflections. Letter of
De Noyers to Chavigny, who had returned to Tarascon, dated the 15th
of June, says: " I think that it will be necessary to find means to enable
M. de M. (azarin) to speak to the king, for strange thoughts trouble his
mind. He said to me yesterday that he doubted whether one name had
not been substituted for another. I thereupon said all that you can
imagine to divert him from this idea, but he is still in a profound reverie.
He was taken ill in the night, and at two took medicine, after which he
slept for two hours. I saw him this morning, and gave him news of his
Eminence, of whose improvement he was glad to hear. At the same
time I showed him the extract from the letter of M. de Courbonne, and
through this the arrangement of his Eminence with Savoy, and the advice concerning the islands. Upon this he made no comment, but said to




78         SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
with a foreign power.  There was no need of inflaming him;
he was the first to demand an exemplary punishment; not a
day, not an hour would he be moved by the youth of a culprit
who had been so dear to him; he thought only of his crime,
and signed his death-warrant without hesitation.  If he spared
the Duke de Bouillon, it was but in  order to gain  Sedan.
He pardoned his brother, the Duke d'Orleans, but dishonored
him and deprived him of all power in the State.  Owing to a
rumor proceeding from  a servant of Fontrailles, and which
the memoirs of Fontrailles fully confirm,' his suspicions rested
on the queen,2 and he could  never be persuaded from  the
opinion that in this, as in the affair of Chalais, Anne of Austria
was allied with Monsieur.  What would he have said if he
me, "What a leap M. le Grand has made,' which he repeated two or
three times."  Another letter of the same date says: "I think that the
sooner the Cardinal Mazarin comes here, the better it will be, for I perceive in truth that his majesty has need of consolation, and that his heart
is very full."  Letter of July l7th, De Noyers to Richelieu, concerning the
arrangements of the king: " The king has said to us privately that Sedan
is well worth an indemnity, but that he will never pardon M. le Grand,
and that he will abandon him to the judges to act towards him according
to their conscience."  Letter of July 19th: "The king has entertained
the thought of saving the life of M. de Bouillon in order to gain Sedan,
but of leaving M. le Grand to his fate."
1 Relation de Fontrailles, Coll. Petitot, vol. liv., p. 438: "When
I was alone with M. de Thou (at Carcassonne, after the Spanish voyage)
he suddenly spoke to me of the journey which I had just made, which
surprised me greatly, as I thought it had been concealed from him.
When I asked him how he had learned it, he frankly told me in confidence that he knew it from the queen, who had it from Monsieur. I
admit that I did not think her so well informed, although I was not ignorant that her majesty had earnestly wished that a cabal might be formed
in the court, and that she had contributed all in her power to it, as she
could not but profit byit."
2 Archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. cii. Chavigny to Richelieu, October 24: " The king gave the queen a bad reception yesterday.
He is still greatly incensed against her, and constantly talks about it."




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                     79
had read the relation of Fontrailles, the memoirs of the Duke
de Bouillon, the note of Turenne, and the declaration of La
Rochefoucauld?  To our eyes, the accordance of these witnesses is decisive.  The assertions of the Duke de Bouillon and
of La Rochefoucauld are such that their authority can only be
revoked by imputing to both, not an error merely, but a falsehood-and a falsehood at once gratuitous and odious.  The
queen used every effort to calm  this new storm, and to persuade the king and Richelieu of her innocence.  We have seen
that in 1637 she did not hesitate to use the most solemn
protestations and the most sacred oaths in the denial of that
which she had afterwards been forced to confess.  In 1642
she had  recourse to  the  same  means.  She descended  to
humiliations as incompatible with a clear conscience as with
her dignity and her rank.  She lavished marks of attachment
and interest on Richelieu; she affected a great horror of the
ingratitude of the Grand-Equerry; she declared that she committed herself without reserve into the hands of the cardinal;
that she only wished in future to be governed by his counsels,
and that she would henceforth seek all her happiness in her
children, whose education she abandoned to Richelieu.  She
wrote to him herself to inquire anxiously concerning his health,
as she had formerly asked his hand and offered her own in
token of eternal friendship, adding very humbly that he need
not give himself the trouble of replying to her.L
I Archives of foreign affairs, ibid., vol. ci., letter of Le Gras,
secretary of the queen's orders, to Chavigny.  Saint Germain, July 2,
1642: "This extreme ingratitude is so shocking to her that she expresses
her sentiments regarding it to the king in this letter, which she prays
you to transmit to him."  Ibid., vol. cii., letter of the Count de Brassac,
superintendent of the queen's household, to Chavigny, dated July 20:
"The queen cannot refrain from expressing the satisfaction which has
driven away her indisposition, and which makes her seem so gay that
every one sees plainly all that is in her heart." Ibid., vol. ci., another
letter to Chavigny from Le Gras, in which he reminds him of his first




80         SECRET HISTORY  OF THE FRENCH COURT
Anne went still further; she set no limits to her dissimulation and falsehood; in this extreme peril, she went so far as
to turn against the courageous friend who had devoted herself
for her.  She would have embraced her as a liberator, had
fortune declared itself in her favor; vanquished and disarmed,
she abandoned her.  As she had protested her horror of the
conspiracy which had failed, and of her two imprudent and
unfortunate accomplices, who mounted the scaffold without
naming her, so, seeing the king and Richelieu incensed against
Madame de Chevreuse, and determined  to repulse the new
attempts made by her family to obtain her recall, the queen,
far from interceding for her former favorite, zealously joined
with her enemies; and in order to mask her real sentiments,
and to seem to applaud what she could not prevent, she asked
as a special favor that the duchess should be kept far from
herself and even from France.  " The queen," writes Chavigny,
the minister of foreign affairs, to Richelieu,' " the queen asked
me if it were true that Madame de Chevreuse would return;
then, without waiting for an answer, she said that she would
be sorry to see her again in France, for she now understood
her true character; and she commanded me to  entreat his
Eminence in her behalf, that, if he wished to do any thing for
Madame de Chevreuse, it should be done without permitting
letter and that of M. de Brassac, etc. Ibid., Chavigny to Richelieu,
July 28:' The queen is so grateful for the obligations that she owes to
Monseigneur, that it would be difficult to change the resolutions which
she has formed of acting in future only by the counsels of his Eminence,
and of placing herself wholly in his hands. She commands me to give him
this assurance on her part."  Ibid., from the sameto the same, Aug. 12:
"I am persuaded that the friendship which the queen expresses for Monseigneur is without dissimulation, and that she will certainly continue it,
asking no other favor than to be near her children, yet without pretending
to govern them or to meddle with their education, which she earnestly desires Monseigneur to superintend.  She has commanded me to assure his
Eminence of this, and that she is extremely impatient to see him."
Archives of foreign affairs, ibid. Letter of the 28th of July.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 81
her return to France.  I assured her Majesty that she should
be satisfied on this point. —" I have never seen a truer or
more sincere satisfaction than that which the queen felt on
hearing what I said to her from  Monseigneur.  She protests
that she not only does not wish Mtadame de Chevreuse to
approach her, but that she is resolved, for her own safety, to
suffer no person to advise her to the neglect of the most trifling
part of her duty." 1
Behold Madame de Chevreuse, then, fallen, as it seems, to
the lowest depth of misfortune.  Her situation was deplorable; she suffered in every chord of her heart; no hope remained to her of again seeing  her country, her beautiful
chateau, her children, her daughter Charlotte.   Drawing
almost nothing from France, she was at the end of resources,
of loans, and of debts.  She learned how hard it is to mount
and to descend the staircase of the stranger; to endure, by
turns, the vanity of his promises and the haughtiness of his
disdain.  And that no bitterness might be spared her, the one
who at least owed to her a silent fidelity, had openly ranged
herself on the side of fortune and of Richelieu.  She thus
passed several most unhappy months, with no other support
than her courage.  Suddenly, on the 4th of December, 1642,
the redoubted cardinal, victorious over all his enemies without
and within, and absolute master of the king and the queen,
succumbed while at the zenith of power.  Louis XIII. was
not long in following him; but, forced in spite of himself to
confide the regency to the queen, and to appoint his brother
lieutenant-general of the kingdom, he imposed on them  a
council, without whose consent they could do nothing, and in
which should rule, in the capacity of prime minister, the man
of all others the most devoted to the system of Richelieu, his
particular friend, his confidant and his creature, the Cardinal
Jules Mazarin.  Even this capricious measure, which, through
1Ibid. Letter of August 12.              Dante.
4^~~~~~~~2Dne




82        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
distrust of the future regent, placed royalty in some sort in
commission, was not sufficient.  Louis XIII. believed that he
could only insure the tranquillity of his kingdom, after his
death, by confirming and perpetuating, as far as was in his
power, the exile of Madame de Chevreuse.  In his pious
aversion toward the active and enterprising duchess, he was
accustomed to call her le Diable.  He scarcely loved more,
and he feared almost as much, the former keeper of the seals,
Chateauneuf, who was imprisoned in the citadel of Angouleme.
As if the shade of the cardinal still governed him on his deathbed, before expiring, he inscribed in his last will and testament,
in the royal declaration of April 21, this extraordinary clause
concerning Chateauneuf and Madame de Chevreuse: " Inasmuch, says the king, as for grave reasons, important to the
good of our service, we have been obliged to deprive the Sieur
de Chateauneuf of the office of Keeper of the Seals of France,
and to cause him to be conducted to the citadel of Angouleme,
where he has since remained by our orders, we will and require that the said Sieur de Chateauneuf shall remain in the
same state in which he is at the present time in the said
citadel of Angouleme, until after the peace shall be concluded
and executed; with the proviso, however, that he shall not
then be liberated except by the order of the Dame-Regent,
together with the advice of the council, which shall prescribe
a plan for his retreat either in the kingdom or out of the kingdom, as it shall deem best. And, as it is our design to provide against all the subjects who may in any manner disturb
the judicious arrangement which we have made in order to
preserve the repose and tranquillity of our state, the knowledge
which we possess of the rebellious conduct of Madame de
Chevreuse, of the artifices which she has used to excite dissension in our kingdom, and of the factions and the correspondence which she maintains abroad with our enemies, causes
us to deem it proper to forbid her, as we do forbid her, the
entrance to our kingdom  during the war; willing, also, that




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                83
after the peace shall be concluded and executed, she shall not
return to our kingdom, except by the orders of the said Dame
Queen Regent, together with the advice of the said council;
with the additional proviso that she shall neither reside nor
remain in any place near the court and the same Dame-Queen."
These solemn words designated M5adame de Chevreuse and
Chateauneuf not only as the two most illustrious victims of
the closing reign, but also as the chiefs of the new policy which
seemed about to replace that of Richelieu.  Louis XIII.
breathed his last on the 14th of May, 1643.  A  few days
after, the same parliament which had registered his testament
amended it; the new regent was freed from all fetters and put
in possession of the absolute sovereignty; Chateauneuf left
his prison, and Madame de Chevreuse quitted Brussels in
triumph to return to the court and to France.




84          SECRET HISTORY  OF THE FRENCH  COURT
SECOND PART.
labamme he $$e$XtS~t anl  Wa^                   a lr
CHAPTER III.
MAY, JUNE, AND JULY, 1643.
Madame de Chevreuse returns to the Court and to Paris.-New Arrangements of the
Queen.-Anne of Austria and Mazarin.-Efforts of Madame de Chevreuse in favor
of the former Party of the Queen and against the Policy and the Partisans of Richelieu.-Her Solicitations in behalf of Chateauneuf, the Vend6mes, and La Rochefoucauld.-IHer Home and Foreign Policy.-Madame de Chevreuse the true Chief
of the Party of the Importants.-Defeated in her efforts to gain the Queen, she
resolves to have recourse to other means.-A Crisis becomes inevitable; it occurs on the occasion of the Quarrel between Madame de Montbazon and Madame
de Longueville.
ON  the 20th of June, 1643, the following  article  appeared
in Renaudot's Gazette, the Moniteur of the times:'
Their Majesties having despatched the Sieur de Boispille,
steward of the household of the Duke de Chevreuse, to Brussels, to hasten the return of his wife, the duchess, she set out
from there on the 6th of this month, accompanied by twenty
carriages filled with the noblest lords and ladies of that court,
who escorted her as far as Notre Dame de Hau.  The next
day she reached Mons in Hainault, passing through the Spanish army that lies encamped in the valley, where she lodged,
and thence by Conde arrived  on  the  9th at Cambrai, being
everywhere honorably received by the governors and the noNo. 77, p. 519.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MIAZARIN.                   8 
bles of the country, and escorted by them a league beyond the
said Cambrai, where the Sieur d'Hocquincourt' received her on
the French frontier, and, conducting her to Peronne, of which
he was governor, gave her there a magnificent reception.  She
was visited there by the Duchess de Chaulne, and on the 12th
was conducted thence by the Duke de Chaulne. to his house,
where she was splendidly entertained. Leaving Chaulne the
same day, she reached Roye, where she lodged, and on the 13th
arrived at Versine, the house of the Sieur de Saint Simon,
brother of the duke of the same name, where the Duke de
Chevreuse was awaiting her, and where she was received and
treated in the same manner.  Finally, on the 14th of this
month, she reached Paris, ten years after having quitted it; in
which absence this princess has shown what a brave spirit like
her own can do, despite the strokes of adverse fortune which
her constancy has surmounted.  She went instantly to salute
their majesties, in which visit she received so many tokens of
the queen's affection, and gave to her so many proofs of zeal
in every thing that related to her interests, and also of entire
resignation to her will, that it seems most evident that neither
absence, nor distance, nor the cares of business, can effect any
change in any but vulgar souls.  But the great retinue of
court nobles who visit her continually, and fill her spacious
palace to overflowing,3 does not inspire one with so much adThe future Marshal d'Hocquincourt, a warrior and pleasure-lover,
and a fickle politician, who, in the Fronde, strayed from  AMazarin to
Conde, and wrote to Madame de Montbazon, Peronne est ct la belle des
belles.
2 The Duke and Marshal de Chaulne was the second brother of the
Constable de Luynes.
3 Not the iHtel de Luynes, the residence of the son of the constable,
on the Quai des Grands-Augustins, at the corner of the Rue Git-le-cccur,
of which Perelle has executed a charming little engraving, and in which
the Chancellor S6guier took refuge during the Fronde, when the populace attacked him on the Pont-Neuf when going to the parliament, but




86         SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
miration as does the fact that neither the fatigues of her long
journeys, nor the ills of her rigorous fortune, have wrought
any change in her natural magnanimity, nor, which is still
more extraordinary, in her beauty.
Behold the seeming!-see now the reality.  Madame de
Ghevreuse was then forty-three years of age.  Her beauty,
which had been tried by so many fatigues, was still surviving,
but was beginning to decline.  Her love for admiration still
existed, but in a weaker degree, while her taste for politics
took the lead.  She had seen the most celebrated statesmen in
Europe; she knew almost all the courts, with the strength
and the weakness of the different governments, and she had
gained in her journeyings a vast experience.  She hoped to
find Queen Anne such as she had left her, disliking business
and very willing to let herself be guided by those for whom
she had a particular affection; and as Madame de Chevreuse
believed herself the first affection of the queen, she thought to
exercise over her the two-fold ascendency of friendship and
of talent.  More ambitious for her friends than for herself,
she saw them  already recompensed for their long sacrifices,
everywhere replacing the creatures of Richelieu, and at their
head as prime minister, him for whom she had separated herself from the triumphant cardinal and had endured an imprisonment of ten years. She did not attach much importance to
Mazarin, whom she did not know, whom  she had never seen,
the H6tel de Chevreuse, Rue Saint-Thomas du Louvre, next the H6tel
Rambouillet, a magnificent palace, built by the Marquis de Vieuville
while he was superintendent of finances, and purchased in 1620 by the
Constable de Luynes, and which, after his death and the new marriage
of his widow, was called the Hotel de Chevreuse, becoming afterwards
the Hotel d'Epernon, and still later, in 1663, the I-Hotel de Longueville.
Madame de Chevreuse then caused the beautiful palace of the Rue
Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain to be built by the celebrated artist Lemuet. This has also been represented by Perelle, and is now occupied
by the Duke de Luynes.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               87
and who seemed to her without support at the court and in
France, while on the contrary she felt herself sustained by all
its rank, its power, and its credit. She believed herself sure
of Monsieur, who could easily rule his wife, the beautiful
Marguerite, sister of Charles IV.  Having just returned from
Flanders, she could dispose of nearly all of the house of Rohan and of the house of Lorraine, particularly of the Duke de
Guise and the Duke d'Elbeuf.  She could count on the Vendomes, on the Duke d'Epernon, and on La Vieuville, her
former companions of exile in England; on the Bouillons, if
maltreated; on La Rochefoucauld, whose spirit and pretensions were known to her; on Lord Montagu, who had been
her admirer, and who then possessed the entire confidence of
Anne of Austria; on La Chaltre, the friend of the Vendomes
and colonel-general of the Swiss, on Treville, on Beringhen,
on Jars, on La Porte, and on many others who had lately
quitted prison, exile, and disgrace.  Among the women, her
mother and sister-in-law, Madame de Montbazon and Madame
de Guymene6, the two great beauties of the day, who drew after
them a numerous train of old and new admirers, seemed to her
already gained.  She knew, too, that one of the first acts of
the new regent had been to recall near her person two noble
victims of Richelieu, Madame de Senece and Madame de
Hautefort, whose piety and virtue would usefully conspire
with other influences to give them a valuable support in the
conscience of Anne of Austria.  All these calculations seemed
certain, all these hopes well founded, and Madame de Chevreuse quitted Brussels in the firm  persuasion that she was
about to enter the Louvre in triumph.  She was mistaken;
the queen was changed, or very nearly so.
If the time has come for restoring Louis XIII. to the
place in history that belongs to him, it is also time to do justice to Anne of Austria. She was no ordinary person. Beautiful and needing to be loved, and at the same time vain and
haughty, she had been deeply wounded by the coldness and




88       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
neglect of her husband, and, in a spirit of vengeance as well
as of coquetry, she had amused herself by exciting more than
one passion in those about her, but without ever overstepping
the limits of Spanish gallantry.  She had submitted with irmpatience to be treated contemptuously, deprived of all power,
and held in a sort of permanent disgrace by the king and
Richelieu; but this aroused in her heart a subdued yet bitter
opposition to the government of the cardinal. She had even
been engaged in various enterprises which, as we have seen,
had been unsuccessful and had involved her in great danger.
She then called to her aid another of her womanly and Spanish
talents, dissimulation.  Misfortune speedily taught her this
"ugly, but necessary virtue," as Madame de Motteville calls
it, and we have seen that she made rapid progress in it. Naturally indolent, she had no love for business; yet she was sensible and even courageous, and capable of understanding and
of following counsel.  Hitherto she had played a double
game; striving to make to herself partisans in secret, to encourage and urge forward the malcontents, to endeavor to
escape from the yoke of the cardinal, and notwithstanding, to
look pleasantly on him, to lull him by false demonstrations, to
humiliate herself when necessary, to gain time-and to wait.
After the death of Richelieu, feeling herself stronger both by
her two children and by the incurable malady of Louis XIII.,
she had but a single aim to which she sacrificed every thingthat of being regent-and she succeeded in this, thanks to a
rare patience, to infinite caution, and to an adroit and wellsustained course of conduct; thanks also to the unhoped-for
service rendered her by Mazarin, the principal minister of the
king.  Anne neglected nothing in order to subdue the king's
resentment; she unceasingly lavished on him  the tenderest
cares, passing both days and nights by his side; she protested
with tears that she had never failed in her duty to him, that
Vol. i., p. 186.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 89
she was a stranger to the plot of Chalais, and that all the accusations which had been heaped upon her were without foundation.  All this had but little effect on the mind of the king,
who contented himself with saying:' "In my present state, it
is my duty to forgive her, but I am  not obliged to believe
her."  He had always suspected her of being in correspondence with Spain and under the sway of Madame de Chevreuse, and he wished to exclude her from the regency, aswell
as his brother, the Duke d'Orleans, whom  he neither loved
nor respected.  Mazarin had great difficulty in making him
comprehend that it was impossible to deprive the queen of the
title of regent, and that all that could be done was to take
from her all power, by the appointment of a carefully arranged
council whose advice she would be obliged to follow by acting
in conformity with the voice of the majority. Anne submitted to these hard and humiliating conditions without a murmur; she acknowledged the royal declaration of the 21st of
April, which restricted her authority within the narrowest
limits, and perpetuated the exile of Chateauneuf and of Madame de Chevreuse; and signed it, pledging herself to maintain
it. After all, she was in possession of the regency; and as
she owed this to the same scheme which limited her power, far
from  being displeased with its author, she regarded it as a
first service which merited some acknowledgment.  Observe
a fact which most historians have overlooked, but which has
not escaped the penetration of La Rochefoucauld, who mingled
in all the intrigues of the day: " The Cardinal Mazarin," says
he, "justified in some sort this harsh declaration; he represented it as an important service rendered to the queen, it
being the only means which could persuade the king to consent to the regency.  He showed her that it mattered little to
her on what conditions she had received it, provided it was
with the consent of the king, and that means would not be
1 La Rochefoucauld, MJemoires, p. 369.




90        SECRET HISTORY Of THE FRENCH COURT
wanting eventually for strengthening her power and enabling
her to govern alone.  These reasons, which were supported
somewhat by appearances and urged with all the art of the
cardinal, were the more readily accepted by the queen, that
he who advanced them  was beginning to be not altogether
disagreeable to her."
Mazarin, in truth, had had no share in the annoyances
which the queen had endured; she had therefore no reason
for disliking him except that he had been one of the intimate
friends of Richelieu; but he had none of the disagreeable airs
of the cardinal, he had taken part in the recall of tie exiles,
and had shielded the queen's regency from  the suspicions
of the king. His ability was proved, and Anne with her indolence and inexperience, in the beginning of a reign beset on
every side from without and within with the greatest difficulties, had need of some one who would leave to her the honor
of supreme authority while he took upon himself the weight
of affairs; and she saw no one among her friends whose capacity
was sufficiently tried to inspire her with confidence;  She appreciated the talents and address of La Rochefoucauld, but she
could not think of so young a minister.  The two men nearest
her, the Dulke de Beaufort, youngest son of the Duke de Vendome, and her grand almoner, Potier, Bishop of Beauvais, were
devoted servants for whom she intended to do much at some
future day, but whom she dared not yet intrust with the government.  To wait a little, therefore, seemed the wisest course
to her.  Mazarin had more than one secret interview with her.
He showed himself zealous to serve her, and not unwilling to
sacrifice to her some of the former ministers of Richelieu who
had displeased her most, and to act in concert with those of
her friends to whom  she deemed herself under indispensable
obligations.  He had the art to put himself on good terms
with the Bishop of Beauvais, the spiritual director of the
queen.  He deceived him, as he deceived the Duke de Beaufort and all the rest, by affecting great disinterestedness, and




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                  91
by pretending to be on the point of going to enjoy the privileges and honors of the cardinalate at Rome, in the bosom
of his family and the home of the arts.'
Lastly, there is a delicate point which La Rochefoucauld
scarcely touches, but which history cannot leave in the shade
without ignoring the cause which first gave power to Mazarin,
and soon became the knot and the key of his position-Anne
of Austria was a woman, and Mazarin did not displease her.
To quote our own words in another work, "' After having been
so long oppressed, the royal authority delighted Anne of Austria, and her Spanish soul craved respect and homage.  Mazarin lavished them  upon her.  He threw himself at her feet in
order to reach her heart.  In her heart she was scarcely affected by the grave accusation which was already raised against
him-that he was a foreigner-for she was also a foreigner;
perhaps, indeed, this was a secret attraction to her, and she
found a peculiar charm in conversing with her prime minister
in her mother-tongue as with a fellow-countryman and a friend.
Add to all this the mind and the manners of Mazarin; he was
pliant and insinuating; always master of himself, of an imnmovable serenity in the gravest emergencies, full of confidence
in his good star, and diffusing his confidence everywhere about
him.  It must also be said that-cardinal as he was-Mazarin
was not a priest; that, nourished in the maxims of the gallantry of her country, Anne of Austria had always loved to
please; that she was forty-one years of age and was still beautiful; that her minister was of the same age, and that he was
well-made, with a pleasing face, in which refinement was joined
with dignity. He had quickly perceived that without family,
without establishment, and without support in France, surrounded by rivals and by enemies, all his power was in the
See the beginning of Mazarin, La Rochefoucauld, Madame de Motteville, La Chatre, and both the Briennes.
2 Lajeunesse de ladame de Longueville, 3d edit., ch. iii., p. 217.




92        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
queen.  He therefore endeavored first of all to reach her
heart, as Richelieu before him had attempted; but he possessed many more means of succeeding; and the handsome
and pleasing cardinal did succeed.  Once master of her heart,
he easily guided the mind of Anne of Austria, and taught her
the difficult art of always pursuing the same end under the
most varied guises, according to the diversity of circuinstances."
But how much time and pains were needed for Mazarin to
bring Anne of Austria to this point, and to triumph over all
her scruples!  The history of the progress of Mazarin in the
heart of the queen is the true history of the first three months
of the regency.  Anne commenced on the 18th of May, 1643,
by easily persuading herself to retain, for a time at least,
the minister whom  Louis XIII. had bequeathed and commended to her.  We shall see to what point she had arrived
on the 2d of September of the same year.
It was impossible for her to preserve the order of the royal
declaration which established Mazarin as prime minister and
presiding officer of the council under the Prince, since she
wished to have all this part of the testament of the late king
broken by the parliament as limiting the authority of the regent, contrary to all usages.  It was therefore agreed in preliminary cabals that Mazarin should renounce the sort of right
which the royal declaration gave him, but that at the same
time, the regent, freed from all fetters, should voluntarily offer
him a similar place, so that he would hold his power, not from
the will of the deceased king, but from the free gift of the
queen.  All this was concluded between them  with such secrecy that the surprise was great and general when, on the
18th of May, the parliament was seen to invest the regent with
the sovereign authority, while on the same day the Cardinal
Mazarin was placed at the head of the cabinet.  This was the
result of a skilfully contrived plot which the queen had concealed from  all her friends who were opposed to Mazarin.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 93
And from this day, too, the cardinal could perceive that he
had found in Queen Anne, in respect to dissimulation and diplomatic conduct, a pupil worthy of himself, and already far
advanced in her studies.
Mazarin soon established himself in the favor of Anne of
Austria by his double talent as a laborious and indefatigable
statesman and as a finished courtier.  He took all the cares
of government upon himself, while he never hesitated to yield
her all the honors of success.  He employed wonderful skill
and assiduity in instructing without ever wounding her.  His
great art was to persuade her that he only wished for power
in order to serve her better; that, a foreigner, without family
and without friends, he depended entirely on her and wished
to draw his support from  her alone.  Such language, supported by ability of the first order, could not fail to please,
and it can be said with truth that the widow of Louis XIII.
had already another Richelieu near her in the beginning of
June, 1643, when Madame de Chevreuse quitted Brussels.
The disciple and the confidant of Richelieu and Louis
XIII., Mazarin had inherited their opinions and their feelings concerning Madame de Chevreuse.  I-e understood her
although he had never seen her, and he profoundly distrusted
her as well as her friend Chateauneuf.  A  favorite of such
talents and of such a character, full of persuasion and of courage, an open advocate for peace, and secretly attached to the
Duke of Lorraine, to Austria, and to Spain, who had at her
beck an ambitious and capable man, was utterly incompatible with the favor to which he aspired, and with all his diplomatic and warlike designs.  He felt that there was not
room enough for both in the heart of Anne of Austria, and he
prepared to combat her. in his own manner, stealthily and by
degrees as occasions might offer.
Mazarin possessed a secret and powerful ally against Madame de Chevreuse in the new and growing taste of the queen
for repose and for a tranquil life. She had formerly been




94        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
solmewhat restless because  she had been  oppressed; now,
having attained the supreme power, and happy in the beginning of a new  attachment, she dreaded troubles and adventures, and feared Madame de Chevreuse almost as much as
she loved her.  The artful cardinal studied to nourish this
disquietude.   He was supported by the Princess de Conde,
then high in favor with the queen by reason of her own merit,
by that of her husband, M. le Prince, by the brilliant exploits
of her son, the Duke d'Enghien,' by the services of her son-inlaw, the Duke de Longueville, who had honorably commanded
the armies in Italy and Spain, and by the virtues of her
daughter, Madame de Longueville, but lately married and
already the delight of the salons and the court.  Madame the
Princess, Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorenci, formerly so
celebrated for her beauty, had also, at one time, loved homage
like Queen Anne; but, although still beautiful, she had now
become grave and zealously religious.  She disliked Madame
de Chevreuse, and she detested Chateauneuf, who, in 1632,
had presided at Toulouse at the judgment and condemnation
of her brother Henri.  She labored, therefore, in concert with
Mazarin, to destroy or at least to weaken Madame de Chevreuse with the queen.  They were armed with the last will of
Louis XIII., and nearly succeeded in raising a scruple in the
queen as to violating it so speedily.   They urged that days
once gone by could never return, that the amusements and the
passions of early youth were " bad accompaniments' of a riper
These are the exact words of Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 162.
This passage is so important that we must give it here entire: "Many
visits. and compliments were made to Madame de Chevreuse as to one
who had once reigned in the heart of the queen, and who, in all her disgrace, had always maintained a correspondence with her and had seenmed
to possess her entire friendship. To this might be added the obligations
of her sufferings, which had led her over all Europe; and although her
travels might have tended to her glory, and have given her the means
of triumphing over a thousand hearts, in respect to the queen they were




UNDEP  RICHIELIEU AND  sMAZARIN.                    95
age," that before all else she was a mother and a queen, that
Madame de Chevreuse, passionate and frivolous as she was, no
longer suited her, that she had never brought happiness to any
one, and that by loading her with riches and honors, she would
sufficiently acquit herself of her debt of gratitude.
To do honor to her old friend, the queen sent La Rochefoucauld to meet her, but charged him  to inform  her of the
new  arrangements which she would find on her return.  La
Rochefoucauld had an earnest conversation with Anne of Austria, in which he did every thing to win her back to Madame de
Chevreuse: " I spoke to her," says he, " perhaps, more freely
than I ought.  I placed  before her eyes the fidelity of Madame de Chevreuse, her long services, and the harshness of the
chains which should have bound her more strongly than in the past.
But the affairs of this world cannot always remain in the same state, and
this change natural to mankind caused Madame de Chevreuse, who was
distrusted and vilified by those aspiring to the ministry, to find the
queen changed in her absence, while this same change also caused the
queen to find the duchess wanting in the charms which had formerly fascinated her.  The sovereign had become more thoughtful and religious,
while the favorite still retained her former tastes for gallantry and frivolity,
which were bad accompaniments of a riper age. Her rivals had assured
the queen that she wished to rule her, and the queen was so strongly impressed with this fear that, considering the prohibition of it which the
king had made, she had some difficulty in resolving on the speedy return
of the duchess; this indeed was laudable in the queen, and should be respected. Madame the Princess, who hated Madame de Chevreuse, and
whose tastes were similar to those of the queen, had used every effort
in her power to disgust her with her former favorite.  Absence had in
some measure served to weaken the duchess' hold upon the mind of the
queen, while her presence had contributed much to her friendship with,
or rather to accustom her to, Madame the Princess.  However, when the
dlitiilguished exile arrived, the queen seemed rejoiced to see her, and
treated her with favor.  I had returned to the court a few days before.
As soon as I had the honor of approaching the queen, I saw what were
her sentiments towards Madame de Chevreuse, and I knew that the
new minister had exerted himself as much as possible to show her her
faults."




96        SECRET IISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
misfortunes which she had drawn upon herself.  I entreated
her to consider of what fickleness she would be thought capable, and what interpretation would be given to this fickleness,
should she prefer Cardinal Mazarin to Madame de Chevreuse.
This conversation was long and stormy; I saw clearly that I
had incensed her."1  However, he went to meet the duchess
on the road to Brussels, and encountered her at Roye.  Montagu had preceded him.  La Rochefoucauld came in the name
of the queen; Montagu in the name of Mazarin.  This was
no longer the brilliant Montagu, the friend of Holland and of
Buckingham and the impassioned cavalier of Madame de Chevreuse, age had changed him  also; he had turned devotee, and
he entered the church a few years after.  He still remained
attached to the object of his former adoration; but before all
else, he belonged to the queen, and consequently, to the interests of Mazarin.2
He came to place the homage of the prime minister at the
feet of Madame de Chevreuse, and to strive to ally the old and
the new favorites.  La Rochefoucauld, always eager to assume
a prominent character together with the air of a great politician, asserts that he " entreated Madame de Chevreuse not to
attempt to rule the queen at first, but simply to endeavor to
regain the place in her heart and affections of which she had
been deprived, and to place herself in a position some day to
protect or to destroy the cardinal, according to circumstances
and his future course of conduct."   Madame de Chevreuse
wished also to hear the counsels of another of her friends-less
illustrious but more devoted-that Alexandre de Campion,
whom she had known two years before at Brussels, and who,
1 Memnoires, ibid., p. 378.
2 He had been on the side of Mazarin in the cabals which preceded
the regency, and we find in the archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, civ.,
the fragment of a letter from Montagu to the queen, without date, but
written about this time, in which he pledges himself in a mystic language
to turn a deaf ear to malcontents, and to remain attached to her ministry.




UTNDER IICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.              97
after the death of the Count de Soissons, had entered the service of the Vendmles, together with his brother Henri, an
officer of tried courage. She invited Alexandre de Campion
to come to meet her at Peronne, and he seems to have given
her the same counsel as La Rochefoucauld, if we may judge
from the note which he wrote to her at the end of May, before
quitting Paris to rejoin her:' " I do not know," says he,
"what M. Montagu may negotiate with you, but I am certain
that he will offer you money on the part of Cardinal Mazarin
to pay your debts, and also that he has held out hopes to him
of forming a firm friendship between you and him. I do not
believe that he will find you strongly disposed to make this
alliance, both because your best friends in France are not on
very good terms with him, and because he seems leagued with
the friends of the late cardinal.  For my part, the counsel
which I take the liberty of giving you on this subject is, that
you do not take any decided resolution until you shall have
seen the queen, by whose sentiments you will no doubt gladly
shape your course, both on account of the zeal which you have
for her and the friendship which she entertains for you. I am
sure from my knowledge of your character that I shall have
more trouble in holding you back than in urging you on, seeing the friendship which you have done me the honor to confess to me for a certain person, (evidently Chateauneuf;) but
apart from this consideration and that of many other honorable men embarked in the same cause, I do not see the necessity of perpetuating a hatred so far as even to carry it beyond
the death of our enemies. I have no love for the cardinal, but
I wish no harm  to any of his race.  After all, Madanme, all
that I can write is not the twentieth part of what I have to
say to you; and I dare assure you that at Peronne you will
be as well informed of the prevailing feeling as if you were in
Paris."  Madame de Chevreuse listened to the counsels of her
1 iecueil, etc.
5




98        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
three friends and promised to follow them-and in fact, she
did follow them, but in conformity with her character and
with the interests of the party whom she had long served and
would not now abandon.  As the queen showed much joy at
seeing her again, she did not at once perceive the change
which had taken place in her feelings, and she persuaded herself that her constant presence would soon restore to her her
former empire.
The first thing that Madame de Chevreuse proposed was
the return of Chateauneuf.  La Rochefoucauld gives us here
a portrait of the ex-keeper of the seals, somewhat flattering
perhaps, but not at all exaggerated, in which he imperfectly
discloses the plan of the government which his friends, the
Importants, wished to give to France-the same which the
earliest Frondeurs afterwards acknowledged, and still later,
the friends of the Duke de Bourgogne, the last Importants of
the seventeenth century: " The good sense and the long political experience of M. de Chateauneuf," says La Rochefoucauld,' "were well known to the queen.  He had endured a
rigorous imprisonment for having been in her interest; he was
firm, decisive, attached to the State, and more capable than
any other in France of re-establishing the ancient system of
government which Cardinal de Richelieu had begun to destroy.
He was, besides, intimately attached to Madame de Chevreuse,
and she well knew  the surest methods of ruling him.  She
therefore urged his return with many entreaties."  Chateauneuf had already obtained permission to exchange the gloomy
prison where he had pined for ten years for a sort of exile on
one of his estates.2  Madame de Chevreuse demanded the end
Ibid., p. 380.
2 Archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. c., p. 135. Autograph letter of Chateauneuf to Chavigny, March 23, 1643, during the lifetime of
Louis XIII., in which he "thanks him for the assistance which he has lent
his sister, Madame de Vaucelas, in attempting to release him from the
rude and miserable condition in which he has been confined for ten




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                      99
of even this modified exile, and that she might again see him
who had suffered so deeply for the queen and for herself.
Mazarin perceived that it was necessary to grant this, but he
yielded slowly, without seeming of himself to repulse Chateauneuf, yet urging the necessity of managing the Condes, especially Madame the Princess, who, as we have already said,
hated him as the judge of Henri de Montmorenci.  Chateauneuf was therefore recalled, but with this reserve, professedly
accorded to the last wishes of the king, that he should not appear at court, but remain at his estate of Montrouge, near
Paris, where his friends could visit him.
The question was how to transfer him thence to the ministry.  Chateauneuf was old, it is true, but neither his energy
nor his ambition had abandoned him, and Madame de Chevreuse regarded it as a debt of honor which she owed him  to replace him  in  the office of keeper of the seals, which he had
formerly filled and had lost for her sake, and which all the
former friends of the queen saw with indignation in the hands
of one of the most servile of the creatures of Richelieu, Pierre
Seguier.  Seguier was a very capable man, laborious, well-informed, full of resources, and with no character of his own,
whose suppleness, joined with his ability, rendered him a convenient and useful tool for a prime minister.  His conduct in
the trial of De Thou had made him odious.  He had forced
Monsieur to submit to an  interrogation in this same affair;
years, at an advanced age, and full of maladies which have constantly
tormented him."  He was not released until the commencement of the
regency. Ibid., p. 404: " Angoulesme, May 25, 1643.  Sire, I rendei
most humble thanks to your Majesty for the favor which she has been
pleased to grant me after so long a detention, in permitting me to retire
to one of my estates. The few days which remain to me shall be spent
in praying to God for your Majesty that he may be pleased to grant
her many years of happiness. These most devout supplications, Sire, are
made for your Majesty by your most humble and obedient subject and
servant, Chateauneuf."




100       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
and previous to this in the affair of 1637, he had not respected
the asylum of the queen at the Val-de-Grace.  He had enriched himself, and his fortune had procured illustrious alliances
for his daughters. An outcry was raised against him, and his
dismissal was demanded from  every side.  Two things saved
him.  First, his successor could not be agreed upon.  Chateauneuf was the candidate of the Importants and of Madame
de Chevreuse, but President Bailleul, the superintendent of
the finances, coveted the place for himself, the Bishop de
Beauvais feared such a colleague in the cabinet as Chateauneuf, and the Condes opposed him.  Then Seguier had a
sister who was very dear to the queen, the Mother Jeanne,
superior of the convent of the Carmelites of Pontoise. The
virtues of the sister pleaded in favor of the brother, and
Montagu, who was wholly devoted to the Mother Jeanne,
warmly defended the keeper of the seals.
Madame de Chevreuse, perceiving that it was almost impossible to surmount so strong an opposition, took another
road whereby to arrive at the same end; she contented herself with asking the smallest place in the cabinet for her
friend, knowing that once there, Chateauneuf would know how
to accomplish the rest, and to elevate his position.  President Bailleul, superintendent of the finances, having shown an
inferior capacity for this place, it became necessary to give
him a new assistant when the Count d'Avaux, with whom he
shared the duties of the office, went to Munster.l  Madame de
Chevreuse insinuated to the queen that she could easily introduce Chateauneuf into the council by appointing him the successor of D'Avaux, a modest position which could not excite
the distrust of Mazarin; but the latter understood  the
manoeuvre and baffled it.  He easily persuaded the queen to
Carnet's Autographes de Mazarin, preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale, ii. Garnet, p. 16. Non faccia sua Maesta sopraintendente Chatonof, se non vuol, restabilirlo intieramnente.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                10]
sustain Bailleul, who was chancellor of her household, and
for whom she had a regard, by placing near him as controllergeneral the able D'Hemery, who afterwards superseded him.
At the same time that she was thus laboring to extricate from
disgrace the man on whom  all her political hopes depended,
Madame de Chevreuse, not daring to attack Mazarin openly,
insensibly mined the earth about him and prepared his ruin.
Her practised eye enabled her easily to recognize the most favorable point of attack in the assault which was to gain the
surrender of the queen, and the watchword which she gave
was to maintain and to heighten the general feeling of reprobation which all the exiles, on returning to France, had excited
and diffused against the memory of Richelieu.  This feeling
existed everywhere,-in the noble families, decimated or despoiled, in the Church, too sternly ruled not to be cruelly oppressed, in the parliaments, reduced to a mere judiciary body
above which they very much aspired-it was still living in
the heart of the queen, who could not forget the deep humiliation to which she had been subjected by Richelieu, and the
fate which he had probably held in store for her.  These
tactics succeeded; a tempest rose on every side against violence and tyranny, and consequently, against the creatures of
Richelieu, which Mazarin had much trouble in abating.'
Madame de Chevreuse then entreated the queen to repair
the long misfortunes of the Vendo6mes by giving them either
the admiralty, to which immense power was attached, or the
government of Brittany, which the head of the family, Cesar
de Vendome, had formerly possessed, and which he held by
the authority of his father, Henri IV., and by inheritance
from his step-father, the Duke de Mercoeur.  This was at
once demanding the restoration of a friendly house, and the
1 See La Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville, chap. iii., p. 216: the
letter written by Mazarin concerning this to the Duke de Breze, May
28, 1643.




102       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
ruin of the two families which had most served Richelieu, and
could best sustain Mazarin.  The Marshal de La Meilleraie,
grand master of the artillery, and recently invested with the
government of Brittany, was a warrior of authority, and in
possession of several regiments.  The Duke Maille de Brze6,
step-brother of Richelieu, was also a marshal, and governor of
the important province of Anjou; and his son, Armand de
Breze, then at the head of the admiralty, passed already,
despite his youth, for the first sailor of his time.  Mazarin
warded off the blow aimed at him by the duchess by force of
address and patience; never refusing, always eluding, and
calling to his aid his great ally, as he styled it, Time. Before
the return of Madame de Chevreuse, he had himself endeavored to gain the Vendomes, and to attach them to his interest.
At the death of Richelieu, he had contributed much to their
recall, and had since made them every kind of advances, but
he soon perceived that he could not satisfy them except by
ruining himself.  The Duke Cesar de Vend6me, son of Henri
IV. and the Duchess de Beaufort, had early made the most
lofty pretensions, and had shown himself as turbulent and
factious as a legitimate prince.  His life had been passed in
rebellions and conspiracies, and in 1641 he had been forced to
fly to England on the charge of an attempt to assassinate
Richelieu.  He did not return to France until after the
death of the cardinal, and, as may well be imagined, he
breathed nothing but vengeance against his memory.  " He
had much spirit," says Madame de Motteville, " and that was
all the good that could be said of him."' To the ambition of
the Vendomes, Mazarin skilfully opposed that of the Condes,
who did not wish the aggrandizement of a house too near their
own.  They also owed it to themselves to sustain the Brezes,
who had become their relatives by the marriage of Claire
Clemence Maille de Breze, daughter of the duke and sister of
l Vol. i., p. 126.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                103
the young and valiant admiral, with the Duke d'Enghien; so
that Mazarin had little trouble in retaining the command of
the fleet and of the principal maritime towns of France in
faithful hands.  But it was very difficult to preserve Brittany
to the Meilleraies against the claims of a son of Henri IV.,
who had formerly possessed it, and who claimed it as a sort
of family property.  Mazarin therefore resigned himself to
the sacrifice of La Meilleraie, but first he made it of the least
possible value.  He persuaded the queen to assume to herself
the government of Brittany, and to appoint a lieutenant-general, evidently commissioned over the Vendomes, who should
reside with La Meilleraie.  The latter could not be offended
at being second to the queen; and to arrange every thing so
as to fally satisfy a personage of such consequence, Mazarin
asked for him the title of duke which the late king had promised him, together with the reversion of the grand mastership
of the artillery for his son-the same son to whom he afterwards gave with his name, his own niece, the beautiful Hortense.
Mazarin was much less inclined to favor the Duke de Vendcme, as he then had a dangerous rival with the queen in his
younger son, the Duke de Beaufort, who was youthful, brave,
possessing every appearance of loyalty and chivalry, and affecting a passionate devotion for Anne of Austria which was
not at all displeasing to her. A few days before the death of
the king, she had placed her children in his care.  This mark
of confidence inflated his vanity; he conceived hopes which
he disclosed too plainly and which finally offended the queen,
while at the same time to heighten his inconsistency, he assumed the chains of the beautiful but notorious Duchess de
Montbazon.  Besides, Beaufort did not even possess the semblance of a statesman; he had little talent, no secrecy, was
incapable of application or of business, and only fit for some
daring and violent deed.  La Rochefoucauld portrays him




104       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
thus:   "The one who had conceived the greatest hopes was
the Duke de Beaufort; he had long been warmly attached to
the queen.  She had just given him a public token of her esteem by confiding the Dauphin and the Duke d'Anjou to his
care on the day that the king received the extreme unction.
The Duke de Beaufort, on his part, availed himself of this distinction and of his other advantages to bring himself into favor
by affecting to believe that she was already firmly established
in the government.  He was large, well-made, enduring, and
skilled in all kinds of exercises; he was haughty and audacious, but artificial in every thing and very unreliable; his wit
was heavy and unpolished, though he often attained his ends
through the artifice of his blunt manners; he was envious and
malicious, and his valor, though great, was unequal."  Retz
does not, like La Rochefoucauld, accuse Beaufort of artifice,
but he represents him as a presumptuous egotist of marked
incapacity:' " M. de Beaufort had not even comprehended the
idea of great designs, he had only aspired to them; he had
heard them discussed among the Importants and had retained
some of their jargon, and this, mixed with the expressions
which he had borrowed verbatim from  Madame de Vendome,
formed a language which would have disfigured even the good
sense of a Cato.  His own was dull and scanty, and was also
rendered more obscure by his conceit.  He fancied himself
able, and this it was that made him seem  artful, for it is well
known that he had not mind enough for intrigue.  He possessed much personal courage, more, in fact, than often belongs
to a blusterer." This portrait, exaggerated as it is after the
manner of Retz, is nevertheless tolerably faithful; but at the
beginning of the regency in 1643, the faults of the Duke de
Ibid., p. 372.
2 Vol. i., p. 216.'3 Madame de Vendome was a person of exalted piety, and who always spoke in the language of devotion.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               105
Beaufort were not thus openly known, and they seemed to be
eclipsed by his virtues.  The queen only lost her liking for
him by degrees.  In the beginning of her friendship for him,
she had offered him the place of grand-equerry, which had
been vacant since the death of Cinq-Mars, and which would
bring him in daily contact with her.' Beaufort had the folly
to refuse this position, hoping for a better one; then, too late
repenting his refusal, he asked it again, but in vain.  The
more his favor diminished, the more his irritation increased;
and it was not long before he placed himself at the head of the
enemies of the cardinal.
Madame de Chevreuse hoped to be more successful in
asking the government of Havre for quite a different personage, of tried fidelity and the finest and rarest talents, La
Rochefoucauld.  She would thus have recompensed him for
his services to the queen and to herself, have strengthened
and enriched one of the chiefs of the party of the Importants,
and have weakened Mazarin by taking an important command
from a person of whom he was sure, the Duchess d'Aiguillon,
niece of Richelieu.  The cardinal succeeded in saving her
without seeming to interfere in the matter.  " This lady,'
says Madame de Motteville, " who, through her fine qualities,
in many things surpassed ordinary women, knew so well how
to defend her cause that she persuaded the queen that it was
necessary for her own interests that she should leave her in
command of this important place, saying that, having now none
but enemies in France, her only safety and refuge was in the
protection of her Majesty, who would always be the mistress
of it; that, on the contrary, he to whom they wished her to
give this government had too much talent, that he was capable
of ambitious designs, and on the least discontent might join
himself to some factious party, and that it was important for
Mazarin himself gives us this fact, which has been hitherto ignored.
ii. Carnet, pp. 72, 73.




106      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
the good of the State that she should keep this place under
her own control for the king.  The tears of a woman who had
once been so proud moved the queen, who, after having
reflected on her reasons, deemed it proper to leave things as
they were." 1 It was Mazarin doubtless who suggested to the
Duchess d'Aiguillon the sound and politic reasons which
persuaded the queen, so well do they accord with the language which he continually holds towards her in his Carnets.
Madame de Motteville says that he " confirmed her in her
inclination to preserve Havre to the Duchess d'Aiguillon."
Here, as in many other things, the art of Mazarin consisted in
seeming simply to confirm the queen in the resolutions which
he himself had suggested.
Observe that it is not we who attribute these various
designs, this judicious and logical course of policy, to Madame
de Chevreuse, but La Rochefoucauld, who ought to be correctly informed on the matter-indeed, he attributes it to
her both in her own affairs and in that of the Vendomes.2
Mazarin was not deceived by her; and more than once we
read in his private notes these words: " My greatest enemies
are the Vendomes, and Madame de Chevreuse who animates
them."' He also informs us that she had formed the design
of marrying her daughter, the beautiful Charlotte, then
sixteen years of age,' to the Duke de Mercoeur, the eldest
son of the Duke de Vendome, while his brother Beaufort
was to have espoused the noble and amiable Mademoiselle
d'Epernon, who, baffling  these  and  many more brilliant
schemes, buried herself at twenty-four in a convent of the
Carmelites.4   These marriages, which would  have allied,
strengthened, and united so many noble houses already but
1 Vol. i., p. 136.
2 Ibid., pp. 380-384.
Charlotte Marie de Lorraine was born in 1627.
4 La Jeuzesse de Madame de Longueville, chap. i., pp. 99-105.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               107
indifferently attached to the queen and  to  her minister,
alarmed the successor of Richelieu, and he persuaded the
queen to break them  off secretly, finding trouble enough
already from  the marriage of the beautiful Mademoiselle
de Vendome with the brilliant and restless Duke de Nemours.'
When we follow attentively the details of the opposing
intrigues of Madame de.Chevreuse and of Mazarin, we know
not to which to award the prize for skill, for sagacity, and for
address.  Mazarin knew  how  to make sacrifices enough to
avoid making too many of them, treating everybody with
circumspection, suffering no one to despair, promising a great
deal, performing as little as possible, and lavishing homage
and attentions upon Madame de Chevreuse herself, without
ever deceiving himself as to her real sentiments. She, on her
part, paid him  back in the same coin.  La Rochefoucauld
says, that at this early period Madame de Chevreuse and
Mazarin coquetted with each other. Madame de Chevreuse,
who had always mingled coquetry with politics, seems to have
essayed the power of her charms on the cardinal.  The latter
did not fail to lavish gallant words on her, and " even sometimes endeavored to make her believe that she inspired him
with love."  These are the precise words of La Rochefoucauld.  There were some other women, too, who would not
have been sorry to have won a little admiration from  the
prime minister.  Among these was the Princess de Guymene,
one of the most celebrated beauties of the French court, and
not of a savage humor.  She and her husband were friendly
to Mazarin, despite all the efforts of Madame de Montbazon
and Madame de Chevreuse, her mother and sister-in-law.  It
was evident, indeed, that Mazarin was very attentive to
Madame de Guymen6, and that he did not scruple to offer
her, as well as Madame de Chevreuse, a thousand compliments; but he went no further, and the two beautiful women
1st Carnet, p. 112.




108        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
knew  not what to think of so many flatteries and so much
reserve.  They sometimes jestingly asked each other which
of the two he wanted; and as he made no advances, though
all the while continuing his gallant protestations, " these
ladies," says Mazarin, "conclude thence  that I am  impotent." 
This play lasted some time, but ended naturally on being
carried into politics. Madame de Chevreuse grew impatient
at obtaining nothing but words instead of any thing tangible
and decisive.   She had received a little money for. herself,
either in reimbursement of that which she had formerly loaned
the queen, as we have seen in the preceding chapter,2 or for
the acquittal of the debts contracted during her exile and in
the interest of Anne of Austria.   At an early period, she
had taken her friend  and proteg6, Alexandre de Campion,
from the service of the Vendobmes to place him in a suitable
position in the household of the queen.3   Chateauneuf had
been reinstated in his office of chancellor of the royal orders,
and his former government of Touraine was afterwards restored
to him, after the death of the Marquis de Gevres, who was
slain  in the  month of August, before  Thionville.4   But
l III. Carnet, p. 39, "Si esamina la mia vita e si conclude che io sia
impotente."
2 See Chapter II.
3 Recueil, etc., letter of dune 12, 1643: "I am now with the queen,
who honors me by treating me with favor. I have all the entrees, and
she has also bestowed a gift on me from which I have hopes of receiving
nearly a hundred thousand crowns.  Madame de Chevreuse, who is
friendly with her, continues the confidence which she has always shown
me."
4 II. Carnet, p. 22: Journal of Olivier d'Ormesson, under the date of
Aug. 30, 1643; and among the Lettresfrianacises of Mazarin, preserved
at the Bibliotheque ]azarine, that of the 13th of August, in which the
cardinal announces to Chateauneuf that the queen restores to him the
government of Touraine. Another letter of January 2, 1644, terms him
M. the Count de Chateauneuf, chancellor of the royal orders and governor of Touraine.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               109
Madame de Chevreuse considered that this was doing but little
for a man of the talent of Chateauneuf, who had staked his
fortune and his life, and had suffered an imprisonment of ten
years in the service of the queen. She perceived clearly that
the perpetual postponement of the favors constantly promised
to the Vendonmes and to La Rochefoucauld, and as constantly
deferred, were but so many artifices of the cardinal, and that
she was his dupe; she complained loudly of this treatment,
and began to indulge in bitter and sarcastic expressions
against him.  This was furnishing Mazarin with weapons
against herself.  He impressed the queen with the idea that
Madame de Chevreuse wished to rule her, that she had but
changed her mask and not her character, and that she was
still the passionate and restless person who, with all her wit
and her devotion, had never brought any thing but evil to the
queen, and was only capable of ruining others and of destroying herself.  By degrees, secret and hidden as it was, war
was declared between them  more openly.  Rochefoucauld
has admirably depicted the commencement and progress of this
curious contest.  The Garnets of Mazarin throw a new light
on the subject, and infinitely exalt the talents of Madame
de Chevreuse by showing to what degree Mazarin dreaded
her.
Everywhere he regards her as the real chief of the party
of the Importants.  "It is Madame de Chevreuse," says he,
unceasingly, "who animates them  all."-" She  studies to
strengthen the Vendomes, she endeavors to gain all the house
of Lorraine, she has already gained the Duke de Guise, and
through him, she is attempting to win from  me the Duke
d'Elbeuf."-" She has a clear perception of every thing; she
readily divines that it is I who am acting in secret on the
queen to hinder her from restoring the government of Brittany
to the Duke de Vendome.  She has said so to her father, the
Duke de Montbazon, and also to Montagu."-" She quarrels
with Montagu himself because he opposes Chateauneuf by sus



110      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
taminig Seguier, the present keeper of the seals."-" Madame
de Chevreuse is not discouraged.  She says that the affairs
of Chateauneuf are not yet desperate, and that she asks but
three months to show what she can do. She entreats the
Vendomes to have patience, and sustains them by promising
them a speedy change of scene."-" Madame de Chevreuse
still hopes to cause my dismissal.  The reason which she
assigns for this is that when the queen refused to place Chateauneuf at the head of the government, she told her that she
could not do it at present on my account, whence Madame de
Chevreuse has concluded that the queen has much esteem and
affection for Chateauneuf, and that when I am no longer there,
the place is assured to her friend. From this arise the hopes
and illusions which they cherish."-" The art of Madame de
Chevreuse and the rest of the Importants consists in hindering
the queen from hearing any conversation but that which is favorable to their party and directed against me, and in rendering
every one suspicious to her who does not belong to them and
who expresses any regard for me." —" Madame de Chevreuse
and her friends openly assert that the queen will soon recall
Chtateauneuf, and by this they deceive everybody and induce
those who are thinking of their future to go to him and to
seek his friendship.  They excuse the queen for the delay
which she makes in giving him my place by saying that she
still has need of me for some time longer."c" It is told me
that Madame de Chevreuse secretly guides Madame de Vendome,
(a devotee who had much influence with the bishops and the
convents,) and gives her instructions so that she may act
rightly, and that all the machines employed against me may
work well towards accomplishing their end." 1
This last passage proves that Madame de Chevreuse, without being religious herself in the slightest degree, knew well
how to avail herself of the party of devotees, which powerfully
1  II. Carnet, pp. 65, 68, 75; III. Ibid., pp. 11, 19, 26, 29, 44.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.              111
influenced the mind of Anne of Austria and gave Mazarin
much anxiety.
The chief difficulty of the prime minister lay in making
Queen Anne-the sister of the king of Spain and herself possessing true Spanish piety-comprehend that it was absolutely
necessary that, despite the engagements she had so often contracted, despite the urgent entreaties of the Court of Rome,
and despite the solicitations of the chiefs of the episcopate,
she should continue the alliance with Holland and the German
Protestants, and persist in insisting on a general peace to be
shared by our allies as well as ourselves, while the devotees
were constantly repeating to her that she could make a partial
peace and treat separately with Spain on most favorable terms,
and that the scandal of an impious war between His Most
Christian Majesty and the Catholic king would thus cease,
and a much-needed relief be obtained for France. This was
the policy of the former party of the queen. It was specious
at least, and reckoned numerous partisans among the most enlightened and patriotic men.  Mazarin, the disciple and heir
of Richelieu, entertained higher thoughts which he was not
yet willing to confide to Anne of Austria.  He realized them
by degrees, thanks to efforts unceasingly renewed and managed
with infinite art; thanks most of all, to the victories of the
Duke d'Enghien-for in every thing there is no more eloquent
and persuasive advocate than success. However, the queen
remained long undecided, and we see in the Carnets of Mazarin
about the end of May, and through the months of June and
July, that the great aim of the cardinal was to induce the regent not to abandon her allies, but to continue the war.
Madame de Chevreuse, with Chateauneuf, defended the former
policy of the party, and labored to win Anne of Austria back
to it.  " Madame de Chevreuse," says Mazarin, " causes it to
be reported to the queen from every side that I do not wish for
peace, that I have the same maxims as the Cardinal de Richelieu, and that to make a separate peace is both necessary and




112       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
easy." He remonstrated often and earnestly against the dangers
of such an arrangement, which would render useless the sacrifices of France during so many years.  " Madame de Chevreuse
wishes to ruin France! " he exclaims.  He knew that, intimately allied with Monsieur, her former accomplice in every
conspiracy plotted against Richelieu, she had persuaded him
to the idea of a separate peace by holding out hopes to him
of the marriage of his daughter, Mademoiselle de Montpensier,
with the archduke, which would have obtained him the government of the Netherlands.  He knew that she still retained all
her influence over the Duke of Lorraine; and the Marshal de
L'Hopital, who commanded on that frontier, sent him word to
distrust all the protestations of the Duke Charles, as he belonged wholly to Madame de Chevreuse.  He knew  lastly
that she boasted of being able to effect a speedy peace through
the Queen of Spain, whom she had at her disposal. He therefore entreated Queen Anne to repulse every proposal of
Madame de Chevreuse, and to tell her plainly that she would
not listen to any private arrangement, that she was determined not to separate herself from her allies, that she should
insist on a general peace, that it was for this that she had
sent ministers to Munster who were negotiating this important affair, and that it was useless to say any thing further on
the subject.'
Repulsed at all these different points, Madame de Chevreuse would not yet own herself beaten. Seeing that she had
employed insinuation, flattery, artifice, and every ordinary
court intrigue in vain, her daring spirit did not recoil from
the idea of resorting to other means of success.  She continued to use the devotees and the bishops, and carried on her
political plots with the chiefs of the Importants, while at the
same time she attracted  together that little cabal which
formed in some sort the vanguard of the party, composed of
III. Carnet, pp. 27, 43, 55.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MIAZARIN.                 113
men nurtured  in the old intrigues, and accustomed to and
always ready for surprises, who in former times had been engaged in more than one desperate enterprise against Richelieu,
and who, in an extreme case, could be incited against Mazarin
also.  The memoirs of the time, particularly those of Retz
and of La Rochefoucauld, describe them  well.  There were
the Count de 3Iontresor, the Count de Fontrailles, the Count
de Brion, the Count de Fiesque, the Count d'Aubijoux, the
Count de Beaupuis, the Count de Saint-Ybar, Barriere, Varicarville, and many others beside,-impracticable spirits, intrepid hearts, of an unbounded fidelity to their cause and to
their friends, professing the most ultra maxims, with a sort of
worship for the unfortunate De Thou, continually invoking
ancient Rome and Brutus, mingling amorous intrigues with
all these, and urging themselves on in all their chimeras by
the desire of pleasing the ladies. They gained the name of
the Importants by their consequential airs, their affectation
of ability and profundity, and their mysterious language.'
Their chief favorite was the Duke de Beaufort, whom  we
already know, a personage of nearly the same stamp with
themselves, made up at once of extravagance and of artifice,
but professing great loyalty and devotion, and giving himself
out as a man of action, and who, moreover, was wholly ruled by
Madame de Montbazon, the youthful mother-in-law of Madame
de Chevreuse. The former mistress of Chalais had no difficulty in gaining this little faction.   She flattered it adroitly,
while, with the art of a practised conspirator, she fomented
1 To the well-known portraits of the Importants left us by Retz and
La Rochefoucauld, may be added the following lines of Alexandre de
Campion:-Recueil. " I have some friends who have not all the prudence
that might be desired; they affect a passion for honor, and give to virtue so strange a garb, that it seems to me disguised; so that, though
they may possess all its essential qualities, they use them so badly that
the applause which they gain thereby, leads, perhaps, only to their destruction."




114       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
its spirit of false honor, of transcendental devotion, and of extravagant courage.   Mazarin, who, like Richelieu, had an
admirable police, warned by it of the movements of Madame
de Chevreuse, understood the danger to which he was exposed.
He well knew that she had not joined herself without design
to men like these.  He was perfectly informed of every thing
that was said and done in their cabals.  " They talk only among
themselves of generosity and devotion," says he, in the notes
which he wrote for the queen and himself; " they repeat without ceasing that one must know how to sacrifice himself for
his cause; and it is iMadame de Chevreuse who sustains and
strengthens them  in maxims so dangerous to the State."" Saint-Ybar (one of those who, with Montresor and Varicarville, had proposed to Monsieur and to Count de Soissons to
rid them of Richelieu) is extolled by Madame de Chevreuse
as a hero."-" Visit of Campion, a devoted servant of the
lady."-" Madame de Chevreuse wishes to purchase one of
the isles of the Loire in order to establish Campion on it, and
to go there from time to time to have a secret interview with
the Spanish  agent, Sarmiento."-" Madame de Chevreuse
animates them  all.  She says that, if they do not resolve to
rid themselves of me, affairs will never be any better, that
the nobles will be quite as much enthralled as formerly, that
my power with the queen will continually increase, and that
it is necessary to hasten to bring matters to a crisis before the
Duke d'Enghien returns from the army."'
One could not be better informed, and the plan of Madame
IT. ctrnet, p. 70:'.... Si predica siempre que es menester perdie se."-Ibid., p. 83: " Saint-Ibar portato dalla dama come un eroe."III. Ibid., pp. 5, 24, 25: "Que los majores enemigos que yo tenia
eran los Vandomos et la dama que li anima todos, diciendo que se no si
teneria luogo la resolucion de deshacerse de my, los negotios (no) irian
bien, los grandes serian tan sujetos come antes, y yo siempre mas poderia con la reyna, y que era menester darse prima antes que Anghien
concluviesse."




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                115
de Chevreuse and the chiefs of the Importants was clearly laid
open to the eyes of Mazarin; either by their incessant and
skilfully concerted intrigues about the queen to cause her to
abandon a minister for whom she had not yet openly declared
herself, or to treat this minister as Luynes had treated the
Marshal d'Ancre, and as Montresor, Barriere, and Saint-Ybar
had wished to treat Richelieu.  The first part of the plan
being unsuccessful, they began to think seriously of the second, and Madame de Chevreuse, the true head of the party,
judiciously proposed to act before the return of the Duke d'Enghien, as the duke would protect Mazarin if at Paris; it was
necessary, therefore, to profit by his absence to strike the decisive blow.  Success seemed certain and even easy.  They were
sure of the people, who, wasted by a long war, and groaning
beneath the weight of taxes, would joyfully welcome the hope
of peace.  They could count on the open support of the parliament, burning to regain that importance in the state which
Richelieu had wrested from  them, and which Mazarin disputed with them.  They had the entire secret, and even public, sympathies of the episcopate, which, with Rome, detested  the  Protestant and  demanded the Spanish  alliance.
They could  not doubt the eager concurrence of the aristocracy, which still regretted its ancient and turbulent independence, and whose most illustrious descendants, the Vendomes, the Guises, the Bouillons, the Rochefoucaulds, were
avowedly opposed to the rule of a foreign favorite, without fortune, without family, and as yet without glory.  Even the
princes of the blood resigned themselves to rather than loved
Mazarin; Monsieur did not pride himself on an extreme fidelity to his friends, and the politic Prince de Cond6 would think
twice on the subject before embroiling himself with the victors.
He flattered all the parties by turns, but was only attached to
his own interests.  His son would act with his father, and
they could gain him  by loading him with honors.  The next
day there would be no resistance, and the day itself, scarce any




116       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
opposition.  The Italian regiments of MVIazarin were with the
army; there were scarcely any troops in Paris, except the regiments of the guards, of which nearly all the commanders,
Chandenier, Tr6ville, and La Chatre, were devoted to the
party.  The queen herself had not yet renounced her former
friendship.  Even her prudence was misinterpreted.  As she
wished to be politic towards all and to satisfy all, she gave good
words to everybody, and these good words were taken as tacit
encouragements.   She  had not hitherto shown any great
strength of character; though they believed indeed that she
had some liking for the cardinal, and did not doubt the increasing force of an attachment of some months' standing.
On his side, Mazarin did not deceive himself.  He could
not yet have been master of the heart of Anne of Austria,
since at this time, that is, during the month of July, 1643, he
shows extreme disquietude in his most confidential notes. The
dissimulation with which every one accused the queen alarmed
him, and we see him  pass through all the alternations of hope
and of fear. It is curious to seize and follow the varying emotions of his soul.  In his official letters to the generals and ambassadors,' he affects a security which he does not feel; with
his intimate friends, he lets escape something of his perplexities, and they appear in his Carnets without disguise. In these
we read the troubles of his mind in his passionate entreaties
that the queen should declare herself.  He feigns the most entire disinterestedness towards her, and only asks to give place
to Chateauneuf if she has for him any secret preference. The
ambiguous conduct of Anne of Austria drives him to despair,
and he conjures her either to permit him to retire, or openly to
declare herself in his favor.
"Every one says that Her Majesty has formed engageSee the valuable collection of French and Italian letters of Mazarin
before cited, 5 vols. in fol., proceeding from Colbert, which are now in
the Bibliotheqtue.azarine, Letters of 1642-1645, 1719, C.




UNDER RICHELEU AND MAZARIN.                      117
ments with Chateauneuf.  If this be true, let her Majesty tell
me so.  If she prefers to intrust her affairs to him, I will retire
whenever she wishes." 1 —    They say that her Majesty is the
greatest dissembler living, that no one can  confide in her,
that, if she seems to set any value on me, it is from  sheer necessity, and that all her real confidence is in them."'-" If her
Majesty wishes to retain me and to be benefited by me, she
must throw off the mask, and give manifest tokens of the value
that she sets on me."'-"I seek only the pleasure and the satisfaction of her majesty, but truth forces me to say that I cannot serve her as I ought with this perpetual anxiety, though I
labor night and day to fulfil my duties."' —  It is certain that the
Importants continue to assemble in the garden of the Tuileries, that those who style themselves the most devoted servants of the queen cry out against her government, that they
are more than ever opposed to me, and always conclude by
saying that, if they cannot destroy me by intrigue, they will
attempt other means." 6-" I receive a thousand warnings to take
care of myself.",-" They inveigh against the queen more than
ever.   They  are furious against Beringhen  and  Montagu.
They say that the first practises a vile trade, and that they
will give the second a beating; and that it is absolutely necessary to destroy all who are my friends."'-" I am told that
II. Carnet, pp. 21, 22
2 Ibid., p. 42.
3 Ibid., p. 65:  " Sy S. M. quiere conservar me de manera que puede
ser de provechio a su servitio, es menester quitarse la maschera, y azer
obras que declarase la protection que quiere tener de mi persona."
4 Ibid., p. 77: "Es imposibile servire con estos sobresaltos, mientras
trovajo di dia y de noche per complir a mis obligationes."
5 Ibid., p. 76: "Es sierto que continuan juntarse al jardin de Tullieri
que ablan contra el gobierno de la reyna los que se dicen sus majores
serbidores, y que son contra my mas que nunca, hasta concluir siempre
que sy per cabalas no podrano destruirme, intentaran otros modos."
6 Ibid. p. 93: " Ricevo mille avvisi di guardarmi."
III. Ibid., p. 18: "Los Importantes ablan contra la reyna mas que




118        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
there are so many incensed against me that it is impossible for
me to avoid some great misfortune."'
He declares that he would retire willingly, if, by-so doing,
he believed that he could cause the storm  to cease.  " Ah! "
exclaims he, " if the sea could be appeased by my sacrifice, I
would cast myself into it as Jonah cast himself into the mouth
of the whale."     He philosophizes sadly on the extreme difficulty of governing men, and especially Frenchmen, by reason
and by the love of the public good.  He consoles himself with
the thought that he has not served France badly. In the beginning of his ministry, on the twenty-third of May, he had said
to the queen: " Let her Majesty trust me during three months,
and then let her do as she chooses."    Three months had not
yet passed by, and France, victorious at Rocroy, was on the point
of wresting from Austria the town which guarded the passage
of the Rhine.  Beyond the Alps, she was the arbiter of the
differences of the Italian princes; the Pope himself recognized
her mediation, despite the opposition of Spain; and in England, the king and parliament alike addressed themselves to
her, to obtain her support.'  Yet the chief author of this
prosperity was calumniated, outraged, and menaced; and he
knew not whether some officer of the guards or some one of
nunca. Estan desperados contra Belingan y Montagu; dicen que el
primero es un alcahuete (maquereau), y que all' otro daron mil palos;que es menester perder todos los que fueran de mi parte."
1 Carnet, p. 24: "Que muchas personas eran de manera animadas
contra my que era imposibile que no me succediesse algun gran mal."
2 II. Ibid., p. 76: "Sy la mar puede sosegarse con echarmi como
Jonas en la bocca de la balena."
I. Ibid., p. 108.
4 III. Ibid., p. 65:' La riputazione della Francia non  in cattivo stato, poiche, oltre li progressi che d2 per tutto fanno le armi sue, 6 arbitra
S. M. delle differenze dei principi d'Italia, e di quelle del re d'Inghiltera
con il parlamento, non obstante che li Spagnuoli faccino il possibile e
combattino per ogni verso questa qualit2, sino a minacciare il papa se adherisce alli sentimenti et alli mediazione di Francia."




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                119
the enthusiasts whom Madame de Chevreuse held at her disposal, was not reserving for him the fate of the Marshal d'Ancre.  At the end of the month of June, he speaks in a letter
to his friend, the Cardinal Bichy, just as he soliloquizes in the
Carnets. " Every one sees," says he, " that I spare no fatigue,
and that the crown has no more zealous, faithful, and disinterested subject than myself; yet I still think of returning to my
own country when I can do so without being untrue to myself,
to my duties, or to France; for although all my designs are
good, although I protest that there is not one which has not
for its object the glory of her Majesty, yet I unceasingly encounter a thousand obstacles and foresee greater ones yet in
the future, the French having no real attachment to the good
of the state, and holding all those in abhorrence who place it
above their private  nterests.  Thus, I confess it to your eminence, I pass a most unhappy life, and were it not for the
goodness of the queen, who gives me a thousand proofs of affection, I would endure it no longer." 
Nothing was changed at the end of July and in the beginning of the month. of August, 1643, or rather, every thing was
aggravated; the violence of the Importants increased daily;
and though  the queen defended her minister, yet she also
treated with his enemies, and hesitated to take the decided attitude which Mazarin demanded of her, not only for his private interest, but also for that of the government.  All at once
an incident, seemingly insignificant at first, but gradually growing in importance, hastened the inevitable crisis, and forced
the queen openly to declare herself, and Madame de Chevreuse
to plunge still deeper into the fatal enterprise which had already entered her mind-we speak of the quarrel of Madame
de Montbazon and Madame de Longueville.2
Bibliotheque Mazarine. Italian letters of Mazarin, fol. 181: "30
giugno 1643."
2 See La Jeunesse de Madame d Longueville, chap. iii., p. 225.




120      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
We have recounted this quarrel in detail elsewhere, and
both ladies are known to the reader. Let us only observe that
the Duchess de Montbazon, by her marriage with the father of
Madame de Chevreuse, found herself the mother-in-law of Marie de Rohan, although younger than she, that the Duke de
Beaufort was publicly a sort of attending cavalier to her, that
the Duke de Guise paid her a very welcome court, and that
she was thus allied on all sides to the Importants.  Among
her numerous lovers, she had counted the Duke de Longueville,
whom she would gladly have retained, but who had just escaped her by espousing Mademoiselle de Bourbon.  This marriage had greatly irritated the vain and selfish duchess; she
detested Madame de Longueville, and blindly seized the first
occasion which presented itself of carrying trouble into this
new household.  One evening, in her salon of the Rue de B6thizy or the Rue Barbette; she picked up one or two letters
in a woman's hand which some imprudent person had just let
fall.  With these she amused the whole company.  The meaning of these letters was but too clear, and efforts were made to
discover the author.  The Duchess de Montbazon dared to attribute them to Madame de Longueville.  This scandalous rumor spread rapidly, and the indignation of the h6tel de Coudcl
may be imagined.  Madame the Princess loudly demanded
justice of the queen; and a reparation was exacted and agreed
upon.  The Duchess de Montbazon, forced to consent, apologized, but with a bad grace.  A few days after, the queen
having gone with Madame the Princess to the garden of Renard to a collation given her by Madame de Chevreuse, she
found Madam e de Montbazon there, and, when she entreated
her to find some pretext for retiring in order to avoid a rencontre with Madame the Princess, the insolent duchess refused
to obey.  This offence, offered to the queen herself, could not
remain unpunished, and the next day Madame de Montbazon
For the hotel de Montbazon, see Sauval, vol. ii., p. 124.




UNDER RICGHELIEU AND 3MAZARIN.                     121
received an order to quit the court and repair to one of her
estates near Rochefort.  The friends and admirers of the lady
uttered loud complaints; the whole party of Importants were
roused, and the affair changed its aspect; from  a private  it
became a general quarrel, as often in war a private engagement or a precipitate manoeuvre involves a whole army and
determines a battle.
It was difficult to be placed on worse ground.  In the first
place, the Duchess de Montbazon was as much despised for her
manners and her character as celebrated for her beauty; and
the object of her attack was a young woman who had but just
appeared in society, and who was already the object of universal admiration; of a beauty so dazzling and ethereal that every
one on seeing her compared her with an angel; of brilliant
talents and a noble heart; the person, indeed, of all others,
whom  the Importants should have endeavored the most to gain,
especially as her natural generosity did not lead her toward the
side of the court, and had even given some umbrage to the
prime minister.  Madame de Longueville was then only occupied with wit, innocent coquetry, alnd, above all, the glory of her
brother, the Duke d'Enghien.  It must be confessed, however,
that there were then in her heart some germs of an Important,
which La Rochefoucauld afterwards knew  but too well how to
develop.'  The injury which had been done her, the shameful
About this time, or at least in the year 1644, Mazarin draws a severe portrait of Madame de Longueville, in which, if he does not calumniate her, he omits no blemish, pointing out all her defects without noticing her virtues, as though he already saw in her his most redoubtable
enemy.  V. Carnet, p. 23: " La detta Dama ha tutto il potere sopri ilfratello. Fa vanita di disprezzare la corte, di odiare il favore, e disprezzar
tutto quello che non vede a suoi piedi. Vorrebbe veder il fratello dominare e disporre di tutte grazie.  E donna simulatissima; riceve tutte le
deferenze e grazie come dovuteli. Vive d'ordinario con gran fredezza
con tutti; ama la galanteria piu per acquistar servitori et amici al fratello che per alcun male; insinua nel fratello concetti alti alli quali per tanto egli e naturalmente portato; non fi. conto della madre perche la crede
6




122        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
motives of which were apparent to every one, was revolting to
all honorable hearts. The impetuosity of Beaufort on this occasion was also very blamable.  He had formerly paid his addresses to Mademoiselle de Bourbon, who had repulsed them,
so that his conduct bore an air of odious revenge.  Besides, it
was the policy of Madame de Chevreuse to deprive Mazarin
of his supporters; it was for this that she had excited the
devotees against him  and made them  act on the queen; now
Madame de Longueville was not less the idol of the Carmelites and the devout party, than of the hotel de Rambouillet.
Lastly, the Duke d'Enghien, already covered with the laurels
of Rocroy and on the point of adding  to  them  those  of
Thionville, was so evidently the arbiter of the question, that Madame de Chevreuse earnestly insisted that they should rid themselves of Mazarin while the young duke was employed at a
distance and before his return from the army.  To wound him
through a sister whom he adored, to incense him unnecessarily
and hasten his return, was an extravagant folly; therefore all
who were sensible among the Importants, La Rochefoucauld,
La Chatre, and Alexandre de Campion, were anxious to pacify
and hush up this unhappy quarrel; and Madame de Chevreuse,
careful to make her court to the queen at the same time that
she plotted a dark intrigue against her minister, had prepared
a little festival at Renard, designed to dissipate the effects of
what had just passed.  But all her policy was foiled by the
foolish pride of a woman as destitute of talent as she was of
heart.'
troppo attaccata alla corte; crede con il fratello che tutte le grazie che
si accordano alla sua persona, casa, parenti et amiici li sieno dovute, e
che si vorrebbe bene poter le negare, mi che non vi e corraggio di farlo
per timore di disgustarli.  Grande intelligenze con la marchesa di Sable
e duchessa di Lesdiguieres. In casa di Sab16 vi e un commercia continuo
d'Andilly, la principessa di Ghimene, Anghien, sua sorella, Nemur, e molti
altri, e vi si parla di tutti liberamente. Bisogna haver qualcheduno 1A
che possi avvertire di quello vi passerB."
Alexandre de Campion, in the Recueil before cited, letter to Madame




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 123
Notwithstanding, Mazarin had profited by the blunders of
his adversaries. At an early period he had joyfully seen, and
had artfully increased, the enmity of the houses of Conde and
Vend6me.  In proportion as the Vendomes declared themselves more openly against him, he grew on better terms with
the Condes.  He had put to himself the question: "What
must be done if the Vendomes and the Condes come to a rupture, presuming that the interest of the state be not involved
in the quarrel? "'-a problem which he had evidently no difficulty in resolving, for the interest of the State and that of the
cardinal were now united on the side of the Condes. At the
same time that Madame de Montbazon and Beaufort offered
this insult to Madame de Longueville, news came to Paris that
the conqueror of Rocroy had just terminated  the difficult
siege of Thionville, and opened to France one of the gates of
Germany.  The sword of the young duke seemed everywhere
to carry victory with it.  The Marquis de Gevres, who promised so fair, was slain; Gassion was grievously wounded; Turenne and Praslin were occupied in Italy; and Gu6briant,
closely pressed by Mercy, had just recrossed the Rhine. The
Duke d'Enghien, with his boldness and his constantly increasing popularity, alone could exercise sufficient ascendency over
the army to bring it back to Germany, and to dissipate the
terror inspired by the memory of the defeat of Nortlingen.
In the council, M. the Prince lent to Mazarin a selfish and wavering, yet essential and useful support. Madame the Princess
was the best friend of the queen; she had openly declared herself in favor of the cardinal and against his rival Chateaude Montbazon: "If my advice had been followed at Renard, you would
have departed in obedience to the queen; in which case you would not
now be residing at Rochefort, and we should not be exposed to the danger that threatens us."
III. Carnet, p. 100: " Come dovrei governarmi se nascesse querela
trA il duca d'Enghien e la casa di Vendomo, senza che vi fosse intrigato
il servitio della regina? "




124      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
neuf.  To serve the Condes, therefore, was to serve the State,
and also to serve himself.  The choice of Mazarin could not
be doubtful, and it is said that, far from soothing the queen, he
incensed her the more.'
In this critical position, what course was left for Madame
de Chevreuse to pursue?  She endeavored to restrain Madame
de Montbazon, but she could neither forsake her nor surrender
herself. She therefore resolved to prosecute with energy the
tragical scheme which had become the last hope, the final resource of the party. She had already broached the proposition
of ridding themselves of Mazarin; and, through Madame de
Montbazon, she had drawn Beaufort into it.  The latter had
gathered around him the men of action of whom we have spoken, and who were wholly devoted to him. A conspiracy had
been formed, and all the measures concerted to surprise and
kill the cardinal.
1 Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 83.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND IAZARIN.                   125
CHAPTER  IV.
AUGUST, 1643.
Conspiracy of Madame de Chevreuse and Beaufort against Mazarin.-La Rochefoucauld and Retz deny this Conspiracy.-Plan and Details of the whole Affair, as
gathered from the Carnets and Letters of the Cardinal and the Memoirs of Henri
de Campion.
WE need not be very much surprised at such an enterprise on
the part of these two women and of a grandson of Henri IV.
At this great epoch of our history, between the League and
the Fronde, strength and energy were the distinctive traits of
the French aristocracy. Court life and an effeminate opulence
had not yet enervated them. Every thing there was extreme,
vice as well as virtue.  They attacked their enemies and defended  themselves with  the  same  weapons.  The Marshal
d'Ancre had been murdered, and the assassination of Richelieu had been more than once attempted, while he never hesitated to erect scaffolds in his turn.  Was the trial of the Marshal de Marillac at Ruel under the cardinal's own eyes, his
condemnation without conclusive proof, and his cruel execution on the Place de Greve, any thing else than a judicial
assassination? Corneille faithfully portrays the society of the
times.  His Emilie also enters into an assassination, yet she
is represented as none the less perfect a heroine for it.  Madame de Chevreuse had long been accustomed to conspiracies;
she was fearless and unscrupulous, and she had not leagued herself with Beaupuis, Saint-Ybar, Varicarville, and Campion
merely to pass her time in idle conversation.  She had not
remained a stranger to the designs which they had formerly




126       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
plotted against Richelieu; in 1643, she fomented, as we have
seen, their enthusiasm  and devotion; and it is not without
reason, we think, that Mazarin attributes to her the first idea
of the project which was to have been accomplished by Beaufort.
As a matter of course, the Importants, and their successors,
the Frondeurs, disavow this project, and give it out as an invention of the cardinal. This point is of the most vital importance, and merits a careful investigation.  As it was this
conspiracy, whether real or feigned, that decided the struggle
between Madame de Chevreuse and Mazarin, history, under
penalty of stopping at the surface of events and consenting to
ignore their true causes, is bound to inquire whether Mazarin
really owed the success of his whole career and the brilliant
future which opened thenceforth before him  to an ingenious
and boldly maintained falsehood; or whether it was due to
Madame de Chevreuse and the Importants, who, after having vainly essayed all other means against him, in an attempt
to destroy him by the hand of the assassin, destroyed themselves and became unwittingly the instruments of his triumph.
For ourselves, we are convinced, and we believe ourselves able
to prove, that the conspiracy attributed to the Importants, far
from being a chimera, was the almost inevitable denouement of
the critical position which we have described.
La Rochefoucauld, without having shared in the insane
hopes of his friends or lent his aid to their rash enterprise,
makes it a point of honor to defend them' after their overthrow, and to cover their retreat.  He affects to doubt whether
the conspiracy that caused so much noise was real or imaginary.  In his eyes, the Duke de Beaufort, by an injudicious
stroke of policy, attempted  to make the cardinal take the
alarm, believing that it would only be necessary to terrify him
to induce him to quit France; and that it was with this view' Memoires, ibid., p. 388.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAAZARIN.               127
that he formed these assemblies and endeavored to give them
an air of conspiracy.  La Rochefoucauld especially constitutes
himself the champion of Madame de Chevreuse, and professes
himself fully persuaded that she was ignorant of the designs
of the Duke de Beaufort.  After the historian of the Importants, the memoirist of the Frondeurs holds nearly the same
language.  Like La Rochefoucauld, iRetz has but one aim in
his memoirs-that of giving himself a statesmanlike air, and of
making a conspicuous figure in every thing, both good and evil.
He is often more veracious, because he exercises less circum-.
spection for others, and is more disposed to sacrifice everybody,
himself excepted. We cannot comprehend his reserve or his incredulity in this instance.  He knew very well that the most
of those accused of having taken part in this plot had already
been implicated in more than one similar affair.  He has himself
informed us that he had conspired with the Count de Soissons,
that he had blamed him for not having struck Richelieu at
Amiens, and that with La Rochepot, he, the Abbe de Retz, had
formed the design of assassinating him at the Tuileries during
the ceremony of the baptism of Mademoiselle. The coadjutorship
of the archbishopric of Paris, which the regent had just granted him in consideration of the virtues and the services of his
father, had pacified him, it is true, but his ancient accomplices,
who had not been so well treated as he, had remained faithful
to their cause, their designs, and their habits.  Is Retz sincere
when he refuses to believe that they attempted against Mazarin what he had seen them undertake and what he himself had
undertaken against Richelieu?  In his blind hatred, he throws
all the blame on Mazarin, and pretends that he was or that he
feigned to be afraid. According to him, it was the invention of
Abbe de La Riviere, who, to deliver himself from the rivalry of
the Count de Montresor with the Duke d'Orleans, wished to
persuade Mazarin that there was a conspiracy plotted against
him in which Montresor was concerned.  It was also seconded
by M. le Prince, who wished to destroy Beaufort in the fear




128       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
that his son, the Duke d'Enghien, would engage in a duel with
him, as he wished to do to avenge his sister, during the brief
stay which he made in Paris after the capture of Thionville.
Finally, Retz says: " The reason why I have never believed in
this plot is that neither proof nor deposition indicative of it
has ever been seen, although the greater part of the domestics
of the household of the Vendomres have long been in prison.
Vaumorin and Ganseville, to whom I have spoken of it a hundred times in the Fronde, have sworn to me that nothing
could be more false: one of these was a captain of the guards,
and the other, the equerry of M. de Beaufort.'
We shall presently see these last reasons-the only ones
which merit any attention-dissipate of themselves; but let us
commence by opposing to the two suspicious opinions of Retz
and  La Rochefoucauld some most disinterested  witnesses,
above all, the silence of Montresor,2 who, while protesting that
neither he nor his friend, the Count de Bethune, had been implicated in the conspiracy imputed to the Duke de Beaufort,
says not a single word against the reality of this conspiracy,
which he would not have failed to ridicule had he believed it
imaginary.  Mad-amle de Mlotteville, who is not in the habit of
denouncing the unfortunate, after having related the different
rumors of the court with impartiality, recounts some facts
which seem authentic and decisive.'  One of the best informed and most veracious of the contemporary  historians does
not express here the least doubt: " The Importants," says
Monglat, " seeing that they could not expel the cardinal, resolved to rid themselves of him by the sword, and held several
councils for this purpose at the hotel de Vendome."     This
Mlfemoires, vol. i,, p. 65. See also the edition of MI. Aime Chamnpollion, p. 41.
2 ifemoires, coil. Petitot, vol. lix.
s lMemoires, vol. i., p. 184.
4 1Memoires, coil. Petitot, vol. lxix., p. 419.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MIAZARIN.               129
opinion is confirmed by the new  and numerous accounts
furnished us by the Carnets of Mazarin and his confidential letters.
Let us disprove the supposition of Retz, that Mazarin may
have been somewhat afraid, or that he feigned to be terrified
by the shadow of a conspiracy.  As to the courage of Mazarin, we appeal to La Rochefoucauld himself: " Unlike the
Cardinal de Richelieu, who had a fearless mind and a timid
heart, the Cardinal Mazarin," says he,, "has more fearlessness
of heart than of mind."  Mazarin had commenced as a soldier; he had given more than one proof of intrepidity, particularly at Casal, where he threw himself between two armies on
the point of coming to blows.  He doubtless studied to conjure
down perils, but when he could not prevent them, he knew how
to face them  with firmness.  Mazarin was not, therefore, a
man to take alarm  at false appearances; and, on the other
hand, he had no need to feign imaginary fears, for the danger
was certain; and, once more, in the constantly increasing
progress of his credit with the queen, what resource remained
to the Importants, except the enterprise which they had formerly attempted against Richelieu, and which they could
easily renew against his successor?  Mazarin had not as yet
any guards, and he knew Madame de Chevreuse well enough
to take in earnest the proposition which she had made in the
cabals of the hbtel de Vendbme.  Weigh well this consideration: in his Carnets, Mazarin is not on a stage; he is not writing for the public; he reveals his real feelings; and he is seen
there, not intimidated, but aroused to a sense of his danger.
He feels himself surrounded by assassins, and he is convinced
that they are directed by Madame de Chevreuse.  He follows
all their movements, he gathers all their conversation, he collects the slightest proofs of their conspiracy, and he counts
and names the chiefs and the soldiers.
lM emoires, ibid., p. 374.
6*




130      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
"Madame de Chevreuse has brought in  the brothers
Campion."
" A host of men are brought in daily."
"Some enterprise is certainly on foot.  They talk of surprising me in the Faubourg Saint Germain.  They pretend to
sell their horses in public and buy them in again in private.
" Plessis Besanton (a distinguished officer, commissary of
stores and counsellor of state, and attached to Mazarin) says
that more than forty armed men have been seen about the
hotel de Vendome."' M. de Bellegarde assures me that if I had not been in
the carriage of his royal highness on my return from Maisons,
Beaufort would have had me assassinated. The domestics of
the Count d'Orval have seen twelve or fifteen men, armed with
pistols, placed on three or four consecutive evenings between
the h6tel de Crequi and their own in such a manner as easily
to surprise and surround me."
" They have proposed to the Duke de Guise and his sons
to assassinate me, but they would not listen to the proposal."
" L'Argentin met Beaufort and Beaupuis (the Count de
Beaupuis, only son of the Count de Maille) as they were returning from the Louvre, which the first had quitted when the
queen retired to her oratory.' My masters, there must certainly be some quarrel brewing,' said L'Argentin to them,' for
I just now met fifteen or twenty gentlemen on horseback, well
mounted and armed with pistols.'' Well, what have I to do
with it?' answered Beaufort, shrugging his shoulders.-I
have been warned that they mean to surprise me as I am going
in my carriage to the palace of the Duke d'Orleans in the
Faubourg Saint Germain, (the Duke d'Orleans had resided at
the Luxembourg since the death of his mother, Marie de Medicis.)-On Wednesday, the Duke de Vendome exclaimed
twice while talking with the Marshal d'Estrees,' I wish that
my son Beaufort were dead.' "
1 III. Carnet, pp. 28, 34, 10, 82, 84, 85, and 91. IV. Carnrt, p. 5.




UNDER BICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                131
These quotation, which we might easily multiply, prove
incontestably that the conspiracy was a real one in the eyes
of Mazarin.  It was for this that he used every effort to throw
light upon this dark intrigue.  After some time, he submitted
the affair to the ordinary course of justice in the court of
all others the most independent and at the same time the
least disposed in his favor, the Parliament of Paris. It was
investigated in conformity with every formality of law, and in
the most careful manner.  Indications abounded, whatever
Retz may say, and it was not the fault of Mazarin if conclusive proofs were wanting.  But, promptly warned by the trusty
friends which they possessed in the court, as well as about the
queen and Mazarin himself, the Importants had no difficulty
in favoring the escape of those conspirators most compromised
in the affair.
a I am not very well satisfied with the Chevalier du Guet,"
says  Mazarin,' " Brillet, Fouqueret, Lie, and twenty-four
others have fled.  It is supposed that they have embarked for
England in a vessel which has been awaiting them for three
weeks." 2  Far from  letting them  escape at their ease, Mazarin long pursued them with an obstinate eagerness, even into
Holland.  The 16th of April, 1644, he writes to Beringhen,
who was then on a mission to the Prince of Orange, " Advices
have been given me that Brillet and Fouqueret, who are the
two persons deepest in the confidence of M. de Beaufort, and
to whom  he has most freely opened his heart concerning the
conspiracy against my person, have gone to serve with the
troops in Holland, having changed their names, and let their
beards grow, so that they may not be known.  Brillet is called La Ferriere.  I entreat you to use all possible diligence to
prove whether this is true, and when you return, to give an
order to some person to watch over their actions, because we
intend to devise some means of taking them." 
III. Garnet, p. 88.           2 IV. Carnet, p. 8.
Letfres de Jlfazarin; lettres franqcai.es, vol. i., fol. 274, recto.




132       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
The Count de Beaupuis, son of the Count de Maille, he
whom Mazarin designates in his Carnets and letters as the intimate confidant of Beaufort, and, after him, the  principal
person accused, found means of concealing himself during the
first search; he succeeded  in  escaping  from  France, and
sought an asylum  at Rome under the avowed protection of
Spain.  Mazarin left no efforts untried to induce the court of
iRome to send Beaupuis back to France, so that he might be
legally adjudged. Not only did he make the demand officially
through M. de Gremonville, then accredited to the holy see,
but he wrote privately to all his sure friends, to the Cardinal
Grimaldi, to his brother-in-law, Vincent Martinozzi, to Paul
Macarani, and to Zongo Ondedei,] urging them to do all in their
power to obtain the extradition of Beaupuis; and suggesting
to them  the strongest reasons which he charges them to plead
to the holy father; namely, that Beaupuis was the principal
confidant of Beaufort, that he was the link between Beaufort
and the rest of the accused; that, this link being suppressed,
justice could no longer take its course; that a crime was in
question which ought particularly to affect the sacred college
and the holy fathers-an assassination attempted on the person
of a cardinal; that it was the queen herself who reclaimed
Beaupuis; that it was a demand for one of her servants,
Beaupuis being ensign in a company of horse-guards, a confidential post which demanded especial fidelity; and that Beaupuis would not be delivered to his enemies as was pretended,
but to  the parliament, whose impartiality was well known.
Let/res italiennes de Mazacrin, vol. i., letter to Ondedei, of March
25, 1645, fol. 226, verso; ibid., letter of May 8, to Vincenzo Martinozzi,
fol. 240, verso; ibid., letter of May 26, to Paolo Macarani, fol. 246; ibid.,
letter of June 2, to Cardinal Grimaldi, fol. 248; ibid., letter to Ondedei,
of the same date; ibid., letter to the Cardinal Grimaldi, of July 15, and
to Ondedei of September 5; to the Cardinal Grimaldi, June 2, 1645, fol.
248; to Ondedei, June 2, 1645; to the Cardinal Grimaldi, July 15, 164:5;
to Ondedei, September 5, 1645.




'UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               133
The Pope could not at first forbear, for form's sake at least,
from  placing Beaupuis in the Chateau Saint-Ange.  But he
was soon liberated, and a private lodging given him where he
could receive almost every one he chose. Mazarin loudly complained of such an indulgence.  " All is arranged," says he,
" so that if necessary he may be able to escape, or if not for
this, to furnish the Duke de Vendome with every facility for
causing him to be poisoned, so that with Beaupuis may be destroyed the principal proof of the treason of his son.  If all this
happened in Barbary, how indignant we should be! Yet this
passes at Rome, in the capital of Christendom, under the eyes
and by the order of a pope! "  Mazarin had sent a devoted
agent named Gueffier to Rome, to receive Beaupuis from the
hands of the holy father, with orders to take every imaginable
means for preventing the escape of his prisoner on the way
from Rome to Civita-Vecchia, to put him on board a French
vessel, and to bring him  to France.  He even went so far as
to menace the protectors of Beaupuis with the vengeance of
the young king, " who, though but seven years of age, has
nevertheless very long  arms."  Mazarin did not cease his
pursuit until the close of the year 1645, when he was clearly
convinced that the new pope, Innocent X., who had succeeded
to Urban VIII., as well as Pamphile, the cardinal-nephew,
and Pancirolle, the secretary of state, belonged wholly to the
Spanish party, and that France could expect neither favor nor
justice from the pontifical court.
In default of Beaupuis, Mazarin would have been very glad
to lay hands on one of the brothers Campion, who were intimately connected with Beaufort and with Madame de Chevreuse, and who stood too high in the confidence of both not to
possess all their secrets. But he complains, as we have seen,
of being very badly seconded.  And then he had to deal with
skilful conspirators, practiced in the art of sheltering themselves and hiding their tracks; with the active and indefatigable Duchess de Chevreuse, and with the Duke de Vend6me,




134      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
who, to save his son, studied to favor the escape of all those
whose depositions might have served to convict him, or guarded them in some sort himself, by concealing and even imprisoning them at Anet.' Mazarin was only able to seize obscure
men, who were ignorant of the details of the plot and incapable of throwing any light on it. Notwithstanding, among
these there were two noblemen, who, without having known
this enterprise thoroughly, had at least been present at several
assemblies which had been held under the plausible pretext of
taking up the cause of the Duchess de Montbazon.  Mazarin
names them; they were MM. d'Avancourt and de Brassy,
noblemen of Picardy, of tried courage, and intimate friends of
Lie, captain of the guards of Beaufort, and one of the conspirators. Ganseville and Vaumorin, upon whose testimony
Retz insists in order to prove that there never was any conspiracy, were of no importance.  Vaumorin may have become
captain of the guards of the Duke de Beaufort in 1649, but
he was not so in 1643, it was Lie; and Ganseville was one of
those subordinates who had never been admitted to his confidence.  They knew nothing; they may, therefore, have very
truly said to Retz during the Fronde, what he makes them
say.  But D'Avancourt and De Brassy did know something,
and it was for this reason that the Duke de Vendome entreated them to come to Anet.  Arrested and thrown into the
Bastille, and intimidated or gained over, whatever Retz may
say of it, they made grave depositions and furnished conclusive
evidence; but these stopped at Henri de Campion and Lie,
the only conspirators whom they had known. Mazarin neglected nothing to draw out and make use of the only important
capture which he had made. " Hasten the examination of the
two prisoners," says he. " Summon the proprietor of the Maison du Sauvage, situated next the h6tel de Vendome, where
D'Avancourt and De Brassy lodged, as well as the innkeeper
IV. Garnet, p. 8.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    135
near the river, at whose house there were eleven persons on
Monday evening.  Question the lackeys of the aforesaid D'Avancourt and Brassy, etc."  " The brother of Brassy says that
the Duke de Vend6me is displeased with them  because they
suffered themselves to be taken without resistance."' The
Importants were much disquieted for fear of some revelations
which the two prisoners might make.  Mazarin spread the report that Avancourt and Brassy had said nothing of importance, and that the affair would end in nothing, in order to lull
the vigilance and the fears of the fugitives, and embolden them
to leave their retreat, and come to be captured at Paris.' Tremblay " 2 (the governor of the Bastille) " has told me that
Limoges (Lafayette, the Bishop de Limoges, one of the chiefs
of the  Importants in the Church) bears me much malice, and
that he has begged to know what the two prisoners have said,
ending by saying that the Cardinal Mazarin would be finely
hoaxed, and that he had only caused them  be arrested  and
thrown into the Bastille in order to seem to justify the injury
done to the Duke de Beaufort. I have ordered Tremblay to
tell Limoges that the two prisoners made no confession, but
defended themselves very plausibly, in order to confirm him in
the opinion which he holds, so that, on giving this information
At Paris, no one doubted but the affair of these two gentlemen was
seriously prosecuted. A very curious private correspondence, preserved
in the archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. c., contains a letter from
a person called Gaudin to Servien, the skilful diplomatist, under date of
October 31, 1643, in which the following passage is found, which repeats
almost verbatim the words of the Carnets.: " Search has been made in
the inns of the Faubourg Saint Germain, where the two gentlemen now
imprisoned in the Bastille lodged. On seeing that nothing could be discovered from their examination nor that of their lackeys, the hosts and
hostesses of the said inns, namely, of the Sauvage and of some other, were
also imprisoned, in the hope to intimidate them and draw from them
some confession of the deed of which they are accused; this availed nothing, and they have been released."' IV. Carnet, p. 9.




136       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
to the'laike de Vendome, as he will not fail to do, those who
have fled will be reassured and return, and thus enable me to
lay hands on some one of them."
But why exhaust ourselves in demonstrating that Mazarin
enacted no farce in the suit instituted against the conspirators,
that he pursued them  in good faith and with vigor, and th at
he was fully convinced that a project of assassination had been
formed against him, when the truth of the existence of such a
project is elsewhere evinced, and when, in default of a sentence
of parliament which must, necessarily, have come to a stand
from want of sufficient proofs, neither Beaupuis, nor any of the
Campions, nor Lie, nor Brillet having been taken, we have
what is still better, namely, the full and entire avowal of one
of the principal conspirators, with the plan and details of the
whole affair, disclosed in memoirs too recently known, but
whose authenticity cannot be contested.'  We speak of the valuable memoirs of Henri de Campion, brother of the friend of
Madame de Chevreuse, whom  the latter had induced to enter
with him into the service of the Duke de Vendome, and more
particularly, of the Duke de Beaufort.  Henri had accompanied the duke in his flight to England after the conspiracy
of Cinq-Mars, and had returned with him; he possessed his
entire confidence, and he recounts nothing in which he himself
has not taken a considerable part.  Henri was of a very different character from  his brother Alexandre.  He was well-informed, honorable, and courageous, no braggart, averse to all intrigues, and born to make his way in the career of arms by the
most direct paths.  He wrote his memoirs in the solitude in
which, after the loss of his wife and daughter, he awaited death
in the midst of exercises of the most fervent piety.  It is not
in this mood that one is apt to invent fables, and there is no
Memoires de Henri de Campion, etc., 1807, a Paris, chez Treuttel et
Wertz, in 8vo. Petitot has only given an extract from them in the sequel of the Memoires de la Chatre, vol. ii. of his collection.




UJNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               137
medium-his assertions are such that' they must be implicitly
believed, or, if their truth is doubted, he must be considered as
the basest of villains.  No interest could have guided his pen;
for he composed, or at all events completed his memoirs shortly
after the death of Mazarin, without thinking therefore of making court to him by tardy revelations, and scarcely two years
before his own death, which took place in 1663.  Truly, he
may be said to have written in the fear of God and under the
sole inspiration of his own conscience.
Now open his memoirs and you will see there all the details which fill the Carnets of Mazarin confirmed point by point.
Nothing is wanting; every thing is in accordance with them;
they correspond marvellously.  It seems in truth as if Mazarin, in writing his notes, must have had before his eyes the memoirs of Henri de Campion, or as if Henri de Campion had
copied verbatim fronmthe Carnets of Mazarin-so well does he
both complete and recapitulate them.
His brother Alexandre, in his letters, written during the
month of August,' lets fall more than one mysterious sentence.
He writes thus to the Duchess de Montbazon, " You must
not despair, madame; there are half a dozen honest men who
have not yet yielded. Your illustrious friend will not forsake
you.  If it be necessary to renounce your friendship to be
considered sane, there are some who will choose rather to pass
for madmen all their lives."  Like Montresor, he does not
once say that no plot had been formed against Mazarin, which
is a sort of tacit avowal of it; and when the storm bursts, he
resolves to conceal himself, counsels Beaupuis to do the same,
and concludes with  these  significant words, " We cannot
engage in the affairs of the court and be masters of their results, and as we profit by the good, we must also resolve to
endure the evil."  Henri de Campion lifts this already transparent veil.
Recueil before cited.




138      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
He explicitly declares that there was a project for ridding
themselves of Mazarin, and that this project was originated,
not by Beaufort, but by Madame de Chevreuse, in concert
with Madam      e de Montbazon.  "I believe," says he, "that
the duke's design was not prompted by his own private feelings,
but by the persuasions of the Duchesses de Chevreuse and De
Montbazon, who had entire power over him, and who bore an
irreconcilable hatred towards the cardinal. The reason why I
say this is that all the while that he was pursuing it, I detected in him a secret repugnance to it, which, if I mistake not,
was overruled by the promise that he had probably made
these ladies." There had therefore really been a plot, and its
true author, as Mazarin asserts and as Camnpion repeats, was
none other than Madame de Chevreuse, for Madame de Montbazon was but a tool for her.
Beaufort, being gained over, persuaded his intimate friend,
Count de Beaupuis, son of the Count de Maille, and ensign in
the horse-guards of the queen. Madame de Chevreuse added to
them  Alexandre de Campion, the eldest brother of Henri,
with whom we are already acquainted. " She had much love
for him," says Henri de Campion, in a manner which, added
to the ambiguous words of Alexandre which we have quoted
before,' strengthens the suspicion whether he was not at that
time really one of the numerous successors of Chalais.  He
was then thirty-three years of age, and his brother admits
that he had contracted the tastes and habits of the faction
from  the Count de Soissons.  Beaupuis and Alexandre de
Campion approved the plot which was communicated to them,
"the first," says Henri de Campion, " believing it to be a means
of attaining higher offices, and my brother seeing therein the
a vantage of Madame de Chevreuse, and consequently, his
own."
Such were the two first accomplices of Beaufort. Soon
See Chapter II.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.              139
after, he disclosed his plans to Henri de Campion, one of his
principal gentlemen, to Lie, captain of his guards, and to
Brillet, his equerry.  There the secret rested.  Many other
gentlemen and servants of the house of Vendome were to have
participated in the action, but they were not made confidants;
whence we understand the ignorance of Vaumorin and Ganseville, and the assertion which they may have made to Retz
during the Fronde.  The affair was well planned and worthy
of Madame de Chevreuse.  There were but five or six conspirators admitted to full confidence, all well capable of keeping the secret, and they kept it faithfully.  Under them were
the men of deeds, who were ready for action but knew not
what they were to do; and beyond these were the men of
the morrow, upon whom they counted to applaud the blow,
when it had been struck, without deeming it proper to take
them  into the conspiracy.  At all events, Henri de Campion does not even name Montresor, B6thune, Fontraille, Vao
ricarville, and Saint-Ybar, which explains why Mazarin, although having had an eye on them all, did not cause their arrest. Neither does Henri de Campion speak of Chandenier,
La Chhtre, Treville, the Duke de Guise, the Duke de Retz,
the Duke de Bouillon, and La Rochefoucauld, whose sentiments were not doubtful, but who were not ripe for imbruing
their hands in an assassination; this also explains the silence of
Mazarin in respect to them in all that concerned the conspiracy of Beaufort, although he did not deceive himself in the
slightest degree as to their disposition and the part which they
would have taken if the conspiracy had succeeded, or even if
a serious struggle had been commenced.
The plot rested for some time with Madame de Chevreuse,
Madame de Montbazon, Beaufort, Beaupuis, and Alexandre
de Campion.  The final resolution was not taken until the end
of July or in the beginning of August; that is, precisely at
the height of the quarrel between Madame de Montbazon
and Madame de Longueville, which urged on the crisis and




140       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
opened the door to all the following events.  It was then that
Beaufort spoke of it to Henri de Campion in the presence of
iBeaupuis.  The crime of Mazarin was that of continuing the
policy of Richelieu.  " The Duke de Beaufort said to me
that he presumed I had remarked that Cardinal Mazarin was
re-establishing the tyranny of the Cardinal de Richelieu, both
in the court and throughout the whole kingdom, with even
more authority and violence than had been seen under the
government of the latter; that, having entirely gained the
mind of the queen and won all the ministers to his disposal, it
was impossible to check his evil designs without taking his
life; and that, regard for the public good having made him resolve to take this course, he therefore acquainted me with it,
praying me to assist him  by my counsels and my personal
aid in its execution. Beaupuis then took up the discourse,
warmly representing the evils which the too great authority of
the Cardinal de Richelieu had brought upon France, and concluding by saying that similar ills must be prevented before
his successor should have had time to render them incurable."
In conclusion, these are the views and the words of the Importants and the Frondeurs, of La Rochefoucauld and of
lRetz.  Henri de Campion asserts that at first he opposed the
project of the duke with so much earnestness that he wavered
more than once, but that the two duchesses soon incensed him
again, while Beaupuis and Alexandre de Campion urged him
on instead of restraining him.  Some time after, Beaufort
having declared that he was fully resolved in the matter, Henri de Campion yielded on two conditions.  " One was," says
he, " that I should not be required to lay hands on the cardinal, as I would kill myself rather than do an act of this sort;
and the other, that if the execution should be attempted in
Beaufort's absence, I should not be there, while if he himself'were present, I should not scruple to remain near his person,
to defend him in any accidents that might happen; my employ
near him and my affection for him alike obliging me to this.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               141
He granted me these two things, professing to esteem  me the
more for them, and adding that he should certainly be at the
execution -in order to authorize it by his presence."
The plan was to attack the cardinal in the street while he
was making calls in his carriage, at which time he usually had
with him  but a few ecclesiastics, together with five or six
lackeys.  They were to appear suddenly with an armed force,
surround the carriage and strike Mazarin.  For this, it was
necessary that a certain number of adherents of the house of
Vendome should be found every day in the cabarets around
the residence of the cardinal, which was then in the hotel de
Cleves, near the Louvre.  Henri de Campion names Ganseville positively as among the followers who had not been admitted into the secret.  To these he adds " MM. d'Avancourt
and de Brassy, the Picardians, both determined men and intimate friends of Li6."  They gave as a pretext that the Condes
intending to offer an affront to Madame de Montbazon, the
Duke de Beaufort wished to have a troop of armed and mounted gentlemen at his command to defend her.  The characters
were distributed in advance.  Some were to stop the coachman of the cardinal; others were to open the doors and strike
the fatal blow; while the duke was to be there on horseback
with Beaupuis, Henri de Campion and others, to oppose and
disperse all who attempted to resist them.  Alexandre de Campion was to remain  near the Duchess de Chevreuse and
subject to her orders, while she was to be more than usually
assiduous about the queen, to pave the way for her friends, and
in case of success, to win her over to the side of the victors.
Several favorable occasions for executing this plan presented
themselves.  At one time, Henri de Campion being with his
retinue in the little Rue du Champ-Fleury, one end of which
issues into the Rue Saint-Honore, and the other, near the
Louvre, he saw the cardinal leave the hotel de Cleves in a carriage with the Abbe de Bentivoglio, nephew of the celebrated
cardinal of that name. together with some monks and a few




142       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
valets.  Campion asked one of them where the cardinal was
going; he answered, to the h6tel of the Marquis d'Estrees.
" I saw," says Campion, " that if I chose to give this intel
ligence, his death was certain. But I believed that in so doing
I should be so culpable both before God and man that the occasion did not tempt me."
The next day it was known that the cardinal was to go to
partake of a collation with Madame du Vigean, at her charming villa of La Barre, at the entrance of the valley of Montmoreney, at which the queen, who had already departed, together with Madame de Longueville, would be present.'  The
cardinal proceeded thither, having no one in the carriage with
him but the Count d'Harcourt.  Beaufort commanded Campion to summon his troop and pursue him, but Campion represented to him that if they attacked the cardinal in the company of the Count d'Harcourt, they must decide to kill both,
D'Harcourt being too generous to see Mazarin struck down before his eyes without defending him, and that the murder of
D'Harcourt would excite all the house of Lorraine against
them.
A few days after, they received information that the cardinal and the Duke d'Orleans were going to dine at Maisons
with the Marshal d'Estr6es.  " I persuaded the duke to consent,"' says Campion, "that if the minister should be in the
carriage of his royal highness, the design should not be executed; but he said that, if he were alone, he must die.  In the
morning, he caused horses to be prepared, and remained in the
Capucins with Beaupuis, near the h6tel de Vendome, posting
a footman in the street to inform him when the cardinal should
pass, and enjoining on me to stay with the conspirators assembled daily by my orders at the Angel, (the name of a cabaret,)
See La Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville, chap. ii., p. 178, and
chap. iii., p. 233. This, probably, is the same party of pleasure which
Scarron describes, vol. vii., p. 178, Voyage de la Reine a La Barre.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               14'
in the Rue Saint-EHonore, near the h6tel de Vend6me, and, if
the cardinal should go without the Duke d'Orleans, to mount
together with all these gentlemen, and attack him when passing the Capucins.  " I was in the utmost anxiety," adds Campion, " until, on seeing the carriage of the Duke d'Orleans
pass, I perceived the cardinal in the back with him."
Finally, the irritation of Beaufort having been carried to
its height by the banishment of iMadame de Montbazon, which
without question took place on the 22d of August; 1 and spurred on moreover by Madame de Chevreuse, by passion, and
by a false sense of honor, the duke himself became impatient for
action.  Seeing that in the daytime he constantly encountered
difficulties the cause of which he was very far from divining,
he resolved to strike the blow during the night, and arranged
an ambuscade which Campion has described to us. The cardinal went every evening to the palace of the queen, and returned quite late.  They resolved to attack him on his return
between the Louvre and the hotel de C1eves. Horses were to
be in readiness at some neighboring inn, and the duke himself
was to stay there with Beaupuis and Campion while the minister
was with the queen.  As soon as he departed, the three were
to advance and summon the others, who, meanwhile, were to remain mounted on the quay, by the side of the river, near the
Louvre.  All this could easily be done under cover of the
night, without awakening any suspicion.
Reflect that he who furnishes these precise details was one
of the principal conspirators, that he writes at a sufficient distance from the event, in safety, and, let us say once more,
disinterestedly, fearing nothing more from Mazarin who has
just died, and expecting nothing from him; reflect that in
speaking as he does, he accuses his own brother; that, though
he doubtless attributes to himself laudable intentions and even' See in La Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville, chap. iii., p. 226, the
lettre de cachet addressed to Madame de Montbazon.




144       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
some good deeds, he nevertheless confesses that he had entered
into the plot, and that, if the execution had taken place, he
would have shared in it, by fighting at the side of Beaufort.
The suit instituted before parliament having been. broken off
for want of proofs, Campion did not suppose that Mazarin had
ever known " the circumstances of the plot, nor who they were
that knew it to the bottom and were concerned in it.'"  He
says also that, "now that the cardinal is dead, there is no longer
any fear of injuring any one by telling things as they are."
He does not, therefore, defend himself; he believes himself
sheltered from  all pursuit, and he only writes to relieve his
conscience.  Now what he says is precisely the same that Mazarin, on his side, had drawn from his various informants.
We have seen what importance Mazarin attached to the
arrest of )D'Avancourt and De Brassy, and what art he used in
spreading the report that they had disclosed nothing in their
examination, in order to remove all anxiety from  those whom
they might have compromised, and thus to draw them to Paris,
where they would not fail to be taken.  Henri de Campion
assures us that he was especially in question, and really seems
to be translating into French one of the Italian passages of the
Carnets. " Avancourt and Brassy were taken to the Bastille,"
says he, "where they deposed that I had summoned them
several times in behalf of the Duke de Beaufort for the interests of Madame de Montbazon as I had told them.  This
furnished no pretext for examining the duke, as they confessed
that he had not spoken to them; he did not fail, therefore, to
deny having given the orders which I had carried to them  in
his behalf; it was evident from this, that his trial could not
be proceeded with until I had been taken, and matter found
from my own depositions whereon to question him and to embarrass us both, and thus to discover some trace of the affair.
The proofs of this conspiracy were of essential importance to
the cardinal, who, wishing only to establish himself in the
government, and affecting to do so by gentleness, was very




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               149
that they should profit by the victory of Rocroy, and bring
France to the banks of the Rhine.  The first proposition,
without doubt, came from the young conqueror, but to Mazarin
belongs the credit of comprehending it, sustaining it, and
securing its ultimate triumph. If never had prime minister
been served by such a general, never either had general been
served by such a prime minister; and thanks to both, on the
11th of August, while messieurs, the Importants, were employing their talents in offering a base affront to the noble
sister of the hero who had just saved France and was now on
the point of extending its territories-while they were displaying their eloquence in the salons or whetting their daggers in
dark cabals, Thionville, then one of the chief strongholds of
the Empire, surrendered after an obstinate defence, thus enabling our armies to march to the assistance of Guebriant,
cover Alsatia, cross the Rhine, and go to cope with Mercy.
The regency of Anne of Austria was opening under the most
brilliant auspices.  Yet, notwithstanding all this, the minister
to whom  the queen owed so much, instead of obtruding himself on her and pretending to a right to rule her, was at her
feet, lavishing attentions, respect. and affection on her such as
she never before had known.  Far from  perceiving any resemblance to the imperious and moody Richelieu, she could
recall with pleasure the words of Louis XIII. when he presented Mazarin to her for the first time in 1639 or 1640, " He
will please you, Madame, because he resembles Buckingham."
But he was a Buckingham of a very different stamp.  She
could not but have shuddered when Mazarin placed before her
eyes all the proofs of the odious conspiracy that had been
formed against him.  There must have been full explanations
between them.  More than ever he must have urged her to
throw off the mask,' to sacrifice the circumspection which she
had studied to preserve to what was now become a manifest
1 II. Carnet, p. 65:  Quitarse la nlaschera."




150       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
necessity, to brave the censures of a few devotees, and in short
to give him permission to defend his life. Hitherto, Anne of
Austria had hesitated for reasons which are self-evident. The
insolence of Madame de Montbazon had already irritated her
greatly; the conviction which she now acquired of the numerous attempts at assassination which had failed by chance, and
which at any time might be renewed, at length decided her,
and it is at the close of the month of August that we must fix
the positive date of the declared, public, and unrivalled ascendency of Mazarin over Anne of Austria.  He had never been
displeasing to her; her partiality for him commenced in the
month preceding the death of Louis XIII.; in the month of
May she appointed him prime minister, partly from  regard
and more from policy; this regard increased by degrees until
it grew strong enough to resist all attacks on it; these attacks,
by proceeding to the utmost violence, and making her fear for
his life, precipitated the victory of the happy cardinal, and on
the day after the nocturnal ambuscade in which he was to
perish, Mazarin became the absolute master of the heart of the
queen, and more powerful than ever Richelieu had been after
the day of Dupes.
We have sought in vain in the Carnets of Mazarin for some
traces of the explanations which Mazarin must have had with
the queen at this critical juncture.  These explanations probably were not such as to be so easily forgotten as to require one
to keep notes of them.  However, we find an obscure passage
written in Spanish, from which we glean the following words:
" I ought no longer to have any doubts, since the queen, in an
excess of goodness, has told me that nothing can deprive me of
the post near her person which she has done me the favor to give
me; notwithstanding, as fear is the inseparable companion of
affection,"' etc.  About this time, Mazarin being somewhat
III. Carnet, p. 45: "-  mas contodo esto siendo el temor un compagnero inseparabile dell' affection," etc.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND 3MAZARIN.                151
indisposed by reason of his labors and cares, and suffering from
the jaundice, wrote this line which is very short, but which furnishes food enough for thought: " The jaundice, fruit of extreme love." 1
Madame de Motteville was on duty near Queen Anne,
when, at the report of the abortive attempt at assassination,
the courtiers hastened to the Louvre to protest their devotion.
The queen, greatly excited, said to her, " You shall see before
twice twenty-four hours have passed, how I will avenge myself
for the tricks which these false friends have played on me."
"Never," says Madame de Motteville,' will the memory of
these few words be effaced from my mind; I saw at that moment from the fire which burned in the eyes of the queen, and
from the things which happened in truth on the same evening
and the next day, what a sovereign is when she is in anger,
and how capable she is of doing all that she wills."  If the
faithful maid of honor had been less discreet, she might have
added: especially when the sovereign is a woman, and in love.
Mazarin had said: 3 "The plots against me will never
cease so long as my enemies see near her Majesty a powerful
party declared against me, and capable of gaining the mind of
the queen if any defeat should happen to me."  The overthrow of this party was demanded by Mazarin and granted by
Anne of Austria, and the most energetic measures were immediately resolved on.
That which was of all others the most pressing, and which
could not be deferred for a single day, was to screen himself
-from all new assassins, and to profit by the first burst of popuIV. Carnet, p. 3: " La giallezza cagionata dA soverchio amore."
2 Memoires, vol. i., p. 185.
III. Carnet, p. 93 and last: "Ogniuno mi dice che li disegni contra
me non cesseranno, finche si vedra che appresso di S. M. vi 6 un potente
partito contro di me, e capace d'acquistar lo spirito di S. M. quando mi
succeda una disgrazia."




152      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
lar indignation against the author of this plot and those who
had shared in it.  Now the apparent author of the plot was
the Duke de Beaufort, aided by his principal officers together
with some gentlemen in the service of the Vendomes.  It
was necessary, therefore, to arrest Beaufort and to bring him
to trial.  One may judge from  this of the authority which
Mazarin had gained, and how far Anne of Austria might one
day be induced to go to defend a minister who was so dear to
her. Before the death of Louis XIII., the Duke de Beaufort
had been the man in whom the queen had most confided, and
for some time he had been thought destined to fill the role of
favorite. Since then, he had greatly injured his cause by his
presumption and his evident want of ability, and, most of all,
by his public intrigue with Madame de Montbazon; but the
queen still retained a great weakness for him, and to sign an
order for his arrest at the end of three months, was a great
step, necessary, it is true, but still extreme, and giving a manifest proof of an entire change in her heart and her intimate
relations. Even the dissimulation which she uses in this affair,
marks the deliberate firmness of her resolution.
The second day of September is truly memorable in the
history of Mazarin, and we may also say in that of France,
for it witnessed the consolidation of royalty, shaken by the
death of Richelieu and of Louis XIII., and the defeat of the
party of the Importants. They did not rise again until the
period of the Fronde, five years after, when they reappeared
still the same, with the same designs and the same policy, and,
after raising fierce and withering storms, were broken anew
against the genius of Mazarin and the invincible fidelity of
Anne of Austria.
On the morning of the 2d of Sep ember, Paris and the
court were filled with commotion at the report of the ambuscade which had been lying in wait for Mazarin the night before between the Louvre and the hotel de Cleves.  The five
conspirators who had shared in it with Beaufort, namely, the




UNDER RICHELIEI AND MAZARIN,              145
sorry to be obliged, in the beginning, to do violence to one of
the greatest men of the kingdom for his private interest, without showing a reason which compelled him to treat the duke
with such rigor. In despair at being unable to convince the
others of that of which he himself was fully certain, he wished
much to have me in his hands.  He judged, however, that it
was necessary to give me time to reassure myself in order to
seize me with greater facility."
We can add to all this that Henri de Campion, after being
pursued and closely pressed in his retreat at Anet, the house
of the Duke de Vend6me, having fled from France to Rome
to find his friend, the Count de Beaupuis, recounts the persevering efforts which Mazarin made to obtain the extradition
of the latter, the resistance of Pope Innocent X., and the
regard which he had for Beaupuis when he was forced to
place him  in the Chateau Saint-Ange; facts which, being
found both in the Carnets and letters of Mazarin and in the
memoirs of Henri de Campion, place the sincerity of the
movements of the cardinal and the exactness of his information beyond a doubt.
Is not this sufficient to reduce to nothing the interested
doubts of La Rochefoucauld and the impassioned denials of
the chief of the Fronde, the very spiritual but very unveracious Cardinal de Retz, the most bitter and the most obstinate
of all the enemies of Mazarin?  As to ourselves, it seems to
us either that there is no longer any reliance to be placed
upon history, or that we must henceforth regard it as a point
fully demonstrated that there was a plot for the assassination
of Mazarin which was foiled, that this plot was originated by
Madame de Chevreuse and in some sort forced upon Beaufort
by her and Madame de Montbazon, that Beaufort's principal
accomplices were the Count de Beaupuis and Alexandre de
Campion, that Henri de Campion afterwards entered into the
affair at the urgent solicitation of the duke, as well as two
other officers of a subordinate rank, that during the month
1




146      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
of August there were several attempts at its execution, the
final one of which was made after the exile of Madame de
Montbazon on the last of August or rather the first of September, and that this last attempt only failed through circumstances wholly independent of the will of the conspirators.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    147
CHAPTER V.
SEPTEMBER, 1643-1679.
Failure of the Conspiracy.-Arrest of Beaufort and exile of Madame de Chevreuse
to Anjou.-TNew intrigues.-Madame de Chevreuse fears imprisonment, and quits
France for the third time in 164T.-Her capture and subsequent release by the
English Puritans.-She takes refuge at Liege.-Returns to Paris in 1649.-Her role
in the Fronde.-Her reconciliation with the queen and with Mazarin.-She contributes to the downfall of Fouquet and the rise of Colbert.-Her death in 1679.
WHAT of the last plan of assassination formed against Mazarin
-the  nocturnal ambuscade, so  well arranged  for the  1st
of September, 1643, did  it also fail?  In  answer, without
stopping to discuss the conjectures of HIenri de Campion, we
will confine ourselves to saying that Mazarin, who was on his
guard, avoided the destined blow  by staying away from  the
queen's palace on the evening when he was to have been stabbed
on his return from the Louvre. The next morning, the scene was
changed.  The rumor was spread that the prime minister had
narrowly escaped being slain by Beaufort and his friends on
the night before, but that fortune had declared itself in his
favor.  A project of assassination, especially when it has failed,
always excites extreme indignation, and he who has escaped a
great danger and seems destined to come off victorious, has no
difficulty in finding supporters.  A  host of men who would,
perhaps, have seconded Beaufort had he been successful, came
now to offer their services and their swords to the cardinal,
and in the morning he repaired to the Louvre escorted by
three hundred noblemen.
For some days past, Mazarin had felt that it was necessary at




148      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
all risks to clear up his position and to force the queen to declare herself openly. The moment was a decisive one. If the
danger which he had just shunned and which was even now
suspended over his head was not sufficient to draw the queen
from her indecision, it was because she had no love for him;
and Mazarin well knew that in the midst of the dangers that
surrounded him, his whole power lay in the affections of the
queen, and that on her depended both his present and his
future safety. Thus, either through policy or through sincere
passion, he always addressed himself to the heart of Anne of
Austria, and he soliloquized thus at the outset of the contest:
" If I thought the queen only made use of me through necessity, without having any personal regard for me, I would not
stay here three days."' But, as we have sufficiently proved,
Anne of Austria loved Mazarin.  Every day, on comparing
him with his rivals, she appreciated him the more. She admired the precision and clearness of his intellect, his subtlety
and his penetration, the capacity for labor which enabled him
to bear the weight of the government with almost superhuman
ease, his keen perception, his consummate prudence, and, at the
same time, the judicious energy of his resolutions. She saw
the affairs of France everywhere prospering in his firm and
able hands.  The cardinal had had no share, it is true, in
the great battle which had just inaugurated the new reign with
so much eclat; but he had had much to do with the success
which followed it and which proved to astonished Europe that
the day of Rocroy was not merely a happy accident.  When
every one in the council was opposed to the siege of Thionville,
when M. the Prince himself was averse to it, when Turenne,
being consulted, dared not declare himself in its favor, it was
Mazarin who had insisted with more than usual vehemence
1 III. Garnet, p. 10, in Spanish, "Sy yo creyera lo que dicen que S.
M. se sierve di mi per necessidad, sin tener alguna inclination, no pararia
aqui tres dias."




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZAtIN.              153
Count de Beaupuis, Alexandre and Henri de Campion, Brillet
and Lie, had fled and were in safety.  Beaufort and Madame
de Chevreuse could not follow their example; to fly for them
would have been to denounce themselves. The intrepid duchess did not hesitate, therefore, to appear at court as usual;
and at the soiree of the 2d of September, she was found at
the side of the queen with another person, a very different
enemy of Mazarin, a stranger to these dark intrigues and even
incapable in her innocence of giving credence to them, the
pious and noble Madame de Hautefort.  As for the duke,
with his usual unconcern and bravery, he went in the morning to the chase, and in the evening, as was his custom, to pay
his homage to the queen.  When entering the Louvre, he met
his mother and his sister, Madame de Vendome and the Duchess de Nemours, who had been with the queen the whole day
and had perceived her agitation.'They did all that they could
to prevent him from entering, and begged him to conceal himself, at least for a time. Without discomposure, he replied to
them as formerly to the Duke de Guise, " They dare not touch
me," and entered the presence of the queen, who received
him with the best possible grace, and asked him all sorts of
questions concerning the chase, "as if," says Madame de
Motteville,' "she had nothing else on her mind."  On the arrival of the cardinal, she rose and told him to follow her. It
seemed as if she wished to hold a private council in her chamber.  She proceeded thither, followed only by the cardinal.
At the same time, the Duke de Beaufort, on attempting to depart, encountered Guitaut, the captain of the guards, who arrested him, and commanded him to follow him in the name of
the king and queen. The prince, without seeming at all astonished, gazed at him fixedly, and said, " Yes, I will do so; but
this, I confess, is somewhat curious." Then, turning to Mladame de Chevreuse and Madame de Hautefort, who were there
Vol. i., p. 185.




154      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
conversing together, he said to them, " Ladies, you see that the
queen arrests me." " The next morning," continues Madame
de Motteville, "while the queen was at her toilette, she did
two of her maids and myself the honor to say to us that two
or three days before, being at Vincennes, where M. de Chavigny had given her a magnificent collation, she had seen the
Duke de Beaufort in a very merry mood, and that a thought
of pity had suddenly crossed her mind, and she had said to
herself involuntarily,' Alas! in three days, perhaps, this poor
boy will be here again, a prisoner, when he will not laugh.'
And Filandre, the first waiting-maid, has assured me that the
queen wept that evening on retiring."  The good maid of
honor, always careful to conceal or to deny all that might injure her mistress, and to point out every thing that may place
her in a favorable light, delights here in displaying her gentleness and her humanity.  We see above all a profound dissimulation in the conduct of Anne of Austria which even Madame de Motteville cannot fail to remark.  It is evident that
every thing was concerted in advance between the queen and
Mazarin; and if the tears which she shed on this occasion
showed how much it cost her to imprison an old friend, they
also proved how dear the new friend must have been to have
obtained such a sacrifice.
The next morning, the Duke de Beaufort was conducted a
prisoner to that same chateau of Vincennes where he had been
but a few days before to promenade and to partake of a collation with the queen. The people of Paris, always friends to
bold enterprises when successful, were in nowise excited by
the disgrace of him whom they would one day adore; and on
seeing the future king of the faubourgs and the market places
pass on the road to Vincennes, they applauded, much to Mazarin's satisfaction, and cried with exultation, " Here is the
man who tried to disturb our peace." 1 The most dangerous
III. Carnet, p. 88: " Tutto il popolo gode e diceva: eccol quello
che voleva turbar il nostro riposo! "




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.               155
of the Importants received orders to withdraw from Paris.
Montresor, Bethune, Saint-Ybar, Varicarville, and  some
others, were confined in the country under strict surveillance,
or even forced to quit France.  The Vendomes were commanded to retire to Anet; 1 and the chateau d'Anet soon becoming what the h6tel de Vendome had been in Paris,-the
asylum of the conspirators,-Mazarin demanded them  of the
Duke Cesar, who took good care not to deliver them.  The
cardinal was compelled almost regularly to besiege the chateau.
He threatened to enter it by force, to seize the accomplices
of Beaufort, and no longer to endure the scandal of a prince
who braved justice and the laws with impunity; he believed
himself in the right, and was about to take energetic measures
when the Duke de Vendome decided to quit France himself,
and repaired to Italy to await the fall of Mazarin, as he had
formerly awaited that of Richelieu in England.
The arrest of Beaufort, the dispersion of his accomplices,
his friends, and his family, was the first, the indispensable
measure which Mazarin needed to take to face the most pressing danger.  But what would it avail him to strike the arm
if the head were permitted to remain,-if Madame de Chevreuse still remained assiduous in her attendance at court, lavishing attentions and homage on the queen, and thus retaining
and making the most of the remains of her former favor to
sustain and secretly encourage the malcontents, to inspire
them with her confidence, and to raise up new conspiracies?
She still held in her hand the scarce-broken thread of the plot,
and by her side was a man too experienced to suffer himself to
be compromised in such intrigues, but quite ready to turn
them  to his profit, and whom  Madame de Chevreuse was
A Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 190: " Orders were sent to M. and
Madame de Vend6me and to M. de Mercoeur to leave Paris instantly. The
Duke de Vendome at first excused himself on the plea of illness, but to
hasten his departure and make his journey more convenient, the queen
sent him a litter."




156       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
studying to show to the queen, to France, and to Europe, as in
every way capable of conducting the affairs of State.  Mazarin,
therefore, did not hesitate; and on the third of September,
the same day of the arrest of Beaufort, Chateauneuf was invited to make his adieux to the queen, and then to retire to his
government of Touraine.' The ex-keeper of the seals of Richelieu found that it was at least something to have been honorably extricated from  disgrace and to have regained the high
rank which he had formerly occupied in the service of the
king, together with the government of a large province.  His
ambition, it is true, soared much higher, but he postponed its
accomplishment, obeyed the orders of the queen, adroitly remained friends with her, and kept on very good terms with
her minister while waiting an occasion to supplant him.  He
waited a long time, but he did not die without having seen
again, for a moment at least, the power which an insane love
had caused him  to lose, and which a faithful and unwearied
friendship again restored to him.2
Madame de Chevreuse had not the wisdom of Chateauneuf.  She did not know how to put a good face on a bad
play, or else she was too far pledged to quit the party so soon.
La Chatre, who was one of her most intimate friends and who
saw  her every day, relates 3 that the same evening on which
Beaufort was arrested at the Louvre, " her Majesty said to her
that she believed her innocent of the designs of the prisoner,' III. Garnet, p. 40, "Permissione a Chatonof di veder la regina et
ordine di andar in Turena." Olivier d'Ormesson, in his Journal, gives
this order under date of September 3, 1643.
2 Chateauneuf had the seals from March, 1650, when Mazarin exiled
himself until April, 1651. He died in 1653, aged sixty-three years. His
tomb and that of his family might formerly have been seen in the cathedral of Bruges; nothing now remains but his statue in marble, with
that of his father, Claude de l'Aubespine, and his mother, Marie de La
Chatre, executed by Philippe de Buister.
3 Memoires, vol. LI. of the Coil. Petitot, p. 244.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    157
but that notwithstanding she deemed it proper that she should
quietly retire to Dampierre, and after a brief stay there, should
withdraw  to Touraine."  Madame de Chevreuse was really
forced to go to Dampierre, but instead of remaining tranquil
there, she moved heaven and earth to save those who were
compromised  in  her behalf.   She  received  Alexandre  de
Campion at her house,' and furnished him  with money and
every thing necessary to conceal him safely from the pursuit of
the cardinal.  Fearless for herself and accustomed to dangers,
she troubled herself chiefly concerning the fate of her friends,
and knowing that several of them were at Anet, she continually
communicated  with  them.   She even  commenced to knot
new intrigues,' and found means of forwarding a letter to the
queen.3  Message upon message was addressed to her to hasten
her departure.4  Both Montagu and La Porte were sent to
her.5  She received them haughtily, and delayed under various
pretexts.  We have seen that on going to meet her, on her
return from Brussels, Montagu had offered, in behalf of the
queen and of Mazarin, to pay the debts which she had contracted during so many years of exile; she had already received large sums for this purpose, and she would not depart
until after the queen had performed  all her promises.6   She
1 Recueil, etc., p. 133: " I could not desire a greater consolation in
my misfortunes than the permission which you give me to go to Dampierre; the fear which you express lest I should have been surprised on
the road is very flattering, but I shall take such good care of myself that
this will not happen to me. I shall not travel by day, and the nights are
so dark that I shall not be seen by any one."
2 IV. Carnet, p. 1: " Hebert, mestre d'hotel di AMma. di Cheverosa, tre
volte in tre giorni a Aneto dh M. di Vendomo."
3 IV. Carnet, p. 3: "Lettera per altra stada di Cheverosa alla
regina."
4 III. Carnet, pp. 81 and 82: "Allontanar Cheverosa che fb mill caballe."
5 La Chatre, ibid. See also an inedited letter to La Porte, BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, II., portfolios of Doctor Valant, p. 107.
6 III. Carnet, p. 86: "Mma. di Cheverosasortita havendo somme con



158       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
quitted the court and Paris trembling, and with grief in her
soul, like Hannibal quitting Italy. She felt that the court,
Paris, and the heart of the queen, were the true battle-fields,
and that to withdraw was to yield the victory to the enemy.
Her retreat was a signal of mourning to all the Catholic party,
to the friends of peace and of the Spanish alliance, and, on the
contrary, of public rejoicing to the friends of the Protestant
union.  The Count d'Estrade even came to the Louvre in
behalf of the Prince of Orange, by whom he was accredited, to
thank the regent officially.'
Madame de Chevreuse repaired to  her estate of Verger,
between Tours and Angers.  The deep solitude around her
rendered the feeling of her defeat still more bitter. She met
Montr6sor who had also retired to Touraine, and had several
interviews with him.2   She wrote to Paris to the Duke de
siderabili di denari contanti. S. M. sa ben li suoi disegni, e che se li da
200 mil lire, come pretende, vi havrh havute 400 mil lire."  Journal of
Olivier d' Ormesson:. "September 19, I heard Monsieur ask at the council if the two hundred thousand livres which had been promised Madame
de Chevreuse had been paid her."La Chatre, ibid.: " She persisted in not
departing until she had received some money that had been promised her."
1 Archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. cv., letter of Gaudin to
Servien, October 31, 1643: " M. d'Estrade congratulated her Majesty in
behalf of the Prince of Orange on the banishment of Madame de Chevreuse, saying that she had shown the good intention which she had
towards the interest of her allies by this action, as since her arrival
the said lady had been scheming an advantageous peace, well knowing
that the Spaniards would willingly yield all which the French had taken,
provided that one thing might be accorded them, namely, the abandonment of the Swedes and the Dutch."
2 Montresor, Memoires, ibid., p. 355: "The residence of Madame
de Chevreuse, at Tours, gave me opportunity to see her at times, and although this was but rarely, I gained more knowledge of her disposition
and the temperament of her mind than I had ever possessed in the time
when she was more happy and of greater consideration. Her general desertion by all those whom she had obliged and who were bound in friendship and united in interests with her, caused me to feel how little faith




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    159
Guise to know if it were true that he disapproved of her conduct, and to try his chivalry.1    She corresponded with her
mother-in-law, Madame de Montbazon, who was banished to
Rochefort, and the two exiles incited each other to attempt
every means in their power to overthrow their common enemy.'  Vanquished from within, Madame de Chevreuse placed
all her hopes on the side of the foreign powers. She revived
the correspondence which she had never ceased to maintain
with England, Spain, and the Netherlands.   Her principal
support, the centre and medium of her intrigues, was Lord
Goring, the English ambassador to the Court of France, who,
like his master, and especially like his mistress, belonged to
the Spanish party.'  Craft, the English gentleman whom we
can be placed in the men of the present century, as is shown by the state
in which a person of this rank is found, thus universally forsaken in her
disgrace; this increased my desire of rendering my services with greater
assiduity and tenderness whenever opportunities might offer. I was not
ignorant that the consequences which might follow the visits I had the
honor to pay her might injure me and disturb my tranquillity, but the
esteem and respect which I had for her person and her interests induced
me to run the risk, always observing the precaution that they should
not be too frequent, and that there should not be any dissimulation,
either on her part, or on mine. The reverses with which her whole
life had been agitated were not yet ended."
IV. Carnet, p. 14.
2 Ibid., pp. 48 and 49: "Piu animate che mai et in speranza di far
qualche cosa contra me con il tempo."
3 Ibid., pp. 95 and 96: "26 febraio, 1643 (read 1644), l'imbasciator
Gorino, lega strellissima con Cheverosa e Vandomo et altri della corte e
fuori. Risolutione di unir questa caballa a Spagnuoli, e disfarsi del cardinale. II suddetto spedisce di continuo a Cheverosa, Vandomo et altri.
t stato sempre spagnolissimo, et hora piu che mai. Dice che il cardinale una volta h basso, il detto partito trionfarA. Giar (Jars), confidentissimo di Gorino, e sempre in speranza del ritorno di Chatonof, Craft,
piu bruglione, piu spagnolo, et piu del partito del suddetto... Ha detto
mille improperii della regina... S. M. facci/ scriver una buona lettera
al Re e Regina d'Inghiltera dolendosi del procedere de'suoi ministri e di
quello scrisse Gorino, etc."




160       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
have almost always met in the suite of Madame de Chevreuse,
agitated noisily for her, while the Chevalier de Jars intrigued
secretly for Chateauneuf.  Under the cloak of the English
embassy, an extensive correspondence was established between
Madame de Chevreuse, Vendome, Bouillon, and the other
malcontents.'
When, in the summer of 1644, the Queen of England came
to seek an asylum in France, and went to take the waters of
Bourbon, Madame de Chevreuse passionately desired to behold again the one who had formerly received her so kindly;
and the Queen Henrietta, who, like her mother, Marie de
Medicis, and Madame de Chevreuse, was of the Catholic and
Spanish party, would have been rejoiced to have poured out
her heart into that of so old and so faithful a friend.  But
she did not think herself justified in yielding to her inclination without the permission of the queen who had accorded
her so noble a hospitality. Anne of Austria replied courteously
that her sister the queen was free in all her movements, but
afterwards caused her to be privately informed through the
Chevalier Jars that it was not proper for her to receive the
visits of a person at variance with her Majesty.'  This fresh
disgrace, added to so many others, urged the irritation of the
duchess to its height. She redoubled her efforts to throw off
the yoke that was oppressing her.  Mazarin knew and watched all her manceuvres.  lie caused the arrest of the controller
of her household at Paris, and also, a short time after, of her
physician while in the same carriage with her daughter.' The
duchess complains loudly of this proceeding in a letter which
Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 233, etc.
2 Garnet, p. 105: " S. Maesth puol dire al commendatore di Giar e a
madamigella di Fruges che, sebbenne S. M. per civilth ha detto che per
veder o no Mma. di Cheverosa non se ne curava, ad ogni modo la
regina della gran Bretagna non dovrebbe admetter la visita d'una persona
che per sua mala condotta ha perdute le grazie di S. M."
3 Archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. cvii., letter of Gaudin to
Servien, May 31; and Montr6sor, ibid., p. 356.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                     161
she found  means to  forward  to  the  queen.   She  asserts
that Mademoiselle de Chevreuse was forced from her carriage,
" two archers holding a pistol to her throat, and crying unceasingly,'kill her, kill her, and the women who are with
her'"  She did not fail to protest and to appeal from the
"Tours, November 20, 1644. MADAME: Although the only happiness which I had hoped in the exile from your presence was that of
meriting your remembrance by the continuance of my duties, I have deprived myself of both, since I have known that this forbearance would be
to you the more pleasing token of that obedience which I have always
endeavored to express to your Majesty, rather in that way which I believed most in conformity with her wishes than in that which would best
have satisfied myself. But as your Majesty has assured me that the
length of this absence would not diminish the goodness which she
has manifested to the whole world in every thing relating to me, I trust,
Madame, that, as you have been able to judge of my respect by the time
during which I have denied myself the satisfaction of these duties, I
may hope that your Majesty will permit me to have recourse to them
on occasions important to my repose. I had self-control enough to restrain myself on the first which presented itself in the arrest of my controller, although you cannot doubt, Madame, in the conviction which I
have of his innocence, how much I have been pained at feeling that his
being my domestic has been the sole presumption of his crime. But I
confess to you that what happened four or five days since in the imprisonment of an Italian physician who has been at my house for some time
past, affects me so closely that I cannot believe myself so unhappy as to
be refused by your Majesty this vent to my just resentment. This was
accomplished with violence unheard of in such cases. Having taken an
occasion when he was in the carriage with my daughter, she was forced
to alight, two archers holding a pistol to her throat and crying unceasingly,' Kill her, kill her, and the women who are with her!' This proceeding is so extraordinary that as I expect your justice to render me
satisfaction in the person of my daughter, I dare promise myself that
your goodness will secure me in future from such rencounters; and
although I have sufficient reason to rely on my innocence for safety, I
have had such sad experiences of misfortune that your Majesty will
not think it strange if I ask it of her with more earnestness, as having
ordered me to remain in this place where I am deprived of the sole happiness which I desire in this world, the only consolation which remains
to me is to possess security for myself and my household, and to be able




162       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
enmity of Mazarin to the justice of Anne of Austria.  But
the physician who had been arrested and thrown into the Bastille made confessions which gave a clue to some very serious
matters; and an officer of the king's guards was despatched to
Madame de Chevreuse with an order for her retirement to
Angouleme, together with the charge to conduct her there.  In
Angouleme was a strong chateau which served as a prison of
state, in which her friend Chateauneuf had been confined ten
years for her sake.  This memory, which was always present
to the mind of Madame de Chevreuse, filled her with alarm;
she feared that this was the retreat to which they wished to
convey her,' and, preferring any extremity to a prison, she
decided to re-engage in the adventures which she had confronted in 1637, and to take again, for the third time, the
road to exile.
But how changed were all the circumstances about her,
and how she herself was changed!  Her first exile from France
in 1626, had been one continuous triumph.  Young, beautiful,
and everywhere adored, she had quitted Nancy and the Duke
of Lorraine, forever submissive to the sway of her charms,
to return to Paris to trouble the heart of Richelieu. Her
flight to Spain in 1637 had been a severer trial; she had been
forced to travel through France in disguise, to brave more than
one peril, and to endure many hardships, to find at the end of
all this but five long years of impotent agitation.  But she
to pray to God in peace that he may crown you with as much prosperity
as is desired for your Majesty, Madame, by your most humble and most
obedient subject, MARIE DE ROHAN."
1 Montr6sor, ibid. This affair (of the imprisonment of her physician) suffered by a man who was her servant, preceded but a few days
that which happened to herself. Riquetti, officer of the king's body
guard, was sent to Tours to carry her the order to retire to Angouleme,
where he was to conduct her. The fear of being detained there and
placed in the citadel under a sure guard, made such an impression on
her mind that she resolved to expose herself to all other perils which
might happen to her, to avoid that of imprisonment, which she believed
inevitable if it were not promltl provimded against.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                 163
was still sustained by youth and by the consciousness of that
irresistible beauty which won her servants everywhere, even on
thrones.  She had confidence too in the friendship of the
queen, and she trusted that this friendship would one day reward her for all her devotion.  Now age was beginning to
make itself felt, and her declining beauty promised her but
rare conquests.  She knew that, in losing the heart of the
queen, she had lost the greatest part of her prestige in France
and in Europe.  The flight of the Duke de Vendome, soon followed by that of the Duke de Bouillon, had left the Importants
without any considerable chief. She had learned to her cost
that Mazarin was quite as adroit and quite as formidable as
Richelieu.  Victory seemed everywhere in league with him.
Turenne, Bouillon's own brother, solicited the honor of serving
him, and the Duke d'Enghien gained him  battle after battle.
She knew that the cardinal held proofs within his hands which
could condemn and imprison her during her whole life. But
when all abandoned her, this extraordinary woman did not
abandon herself.  As soon as the officer Riquetti had signified to her the order of which he was the bearer, she took her
resolution with her accustomed promptness, and accompanied
by her daughter Charlotte, who had come to join her, and who
would not quit her, she gained the thickets of the Vendee and
the solitudes of Brittany by cross-roads, and asked an asylum
of the Marquis de Coetquen, a few leagues from  Saint-Malo.
Th'e noble and generous Breton accorded the hospitality which
he owed to a woman and an unfortunate.  She did not abuse
it, and after having deposited her jewels in his hands, as formerly in those of La Rochefoucauld,' she embarked with her
She afterwards begged the Marquis de Coetquen to remit her jewels
to Montresor, who restored them to a messenger whom she had cormmissioned to receive them. But Mazarin was informed of every thing; he
knew of the correspondence of the duchess; and he attempted to lay
hands on the famous jewels, arrested Montresor, and held him more than
a year in prison. See the Memoirs of Montresor, ibid. Mazarin, so severe towards Montre&sor, whom he knew as a dangerous conspirator,




164        SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
daughter in the depths of winter, at Saint-Malo, in a small
vessel which  would  take  her to  Dartmouth, in  England,
whence she intended to  pass to Dunkirk and to Flanders.
But the ships of war of the Parliament were cruising in those
2arts; they met and captured the miserable craft, and carried
her to the Isle of Wight.  There Madame de Chevreuse was
recognized; and as she was known as the friend of the queen
of England, the Parliamentarians were disposed to treat her
harshly and to deliver her to Mazarin.  Happily, she found
that the governor of the Isle of Wight was the same Count
Pembroke whom  she had  formerly known.  She addressed
herself to his courtesy,' and, thanks to his intervention, though
showed indulgence to the Marquis de Coetquen, whose designs had been
honorable. In his Lettres Francaises preserved in the BIBLIOTHEQUE MAZARINE, is the following passage, which does him honor, and which
Richelieu would not have written. Fol. 376; to M. the Marquis de
Coetquen, May 7, 1645:  " From what you have taken the trouble to
write to me, I acknowledge the information which you give me concerning the entrance of Mme. the Duchess de Chevreuse into one of your
houses. Having conversed upon this with the gentleman whom I send
back to you, I esteem it superfluous to write here the particulars which I
have told him. Relying, therefore, on his parole, I shall content myself
with assuring you that I have received with favor the proofs which you
give me of your affection for the service of the king in this adventure. I
have not failed to represent all that I ought to the queen, excusing that
which has passed by the reasons which you send me, and by those which
the said gentleman has narrated, etc."
Archives of foreign affairs, FRANCE, vol. cvi., p. 162. Letter of
Madame de Chevreuse to Count Pembroke, governor of the Isle of
Wight, April 29, 1645: " MONSIER, The continuation of my misfortunes
obliging me to quit France in haste to preserve in a neutral country the
liberty which the power of my enemies wished to take from me in my
own, the only way by which I found it possible to avoid this disgrace was
to embark at Saint-Malo to pass into England and thence into Flanders,
in order to reach the country of Liege, where I might justify my innocence in safety if I could obtain a hearing, or at least shelter myself from
the persecution to which the hatred and the artifice of the Cardinal Mlazarin has subjected me for a year and a half past. Having taken pas.
sage with this design in a bark which I found ready to sail for Dartlmouth,




UNDER RICHELIEU  AND MAZARIN.                   165
with great difficulty, she obtained passports which permitted
her to reach Dunkirk, and thence to gain the Spanish Netherlands.'
She resided some time at Liege, studying to maintain, and
to rivet more closely between Lorraine, Austria, and Spain, an
alliance which was the last resource of the Importants and the
only foundation of her own credit.  But Mazarin had resumed
where I purposed, on arriving, to send for the passports which I should
need to go to Dover and thence to embark for Dunkirk, it was captured
by two captains of the ships of war which are under the authority of the
Parliament, and brought to this Isle of Wight, of which I have learned
with much joy that you are governor, assuring myself from your nobleness and your courtesy that you will not refuse the entreaty which I make
you that you will demand of the gentlemen of the Parliament a passport to go hence to Dover and thence to embark for Dunkirk, where the
unhappy state of my affairs urges me to repair without delay. I hope
the favor from the justice of the gentlemen of the Parliament that they
will have the goodness not to detain me, as the confidence which I have
in their generosity, and the resolution which I have taken of never rendering myself unworthy of receiving its benefits, may justly cause me to
hope for the boon which I shall impatiently expect on the return of
the bearer, whom I send expressly for this purpose to London with the
servant of your lieutenant in this island, from whom you will receive
a more particular account of the accidents of my voyage. I abridge
them as much as possible, so as not to weary you by too long a letter;
and it suffices to show you my need of your aid in my present position
in order promptly to receive the passport which I ask of the gentlemen of
the Parliament, and to entreat you to believe that I shall never be fully
satisfied until I shall have expressed to you by my services that you have
obliged a person who will be through her whole life, monsieur, your very
humble and very affectionate servant, MARIE DE ROHAN, Duchess de
Chevreuse."' Archives of foreign affairs, vol. cix., Gaudin to Servien, May 20,
1645: " Advices from England say that Madame de Chevreuse is still at
the Isle of Wight, and that the Parliament will neither give her vessel
nor passport to go to Dunkirk, etc."  BIBLIOTHkQUE MAZARINE. French
Letters of Jleazarin, folio 415, July 22, 1645: " One may judge," says
Mazarin, "whether we have a great hatred towards Madame de Chevreuse, since, when she was in the power of the English Parliamentarians,
they offered to surrender her into our hands, which we did not care for."




166       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
all the designs of Richelieu, and, like him, he strove to detach
the Duke of Lorraine from his two allies.  The duke was then
madly enamored with the beautiful Beatrix de Cusance, Princess de Cantecroix.  Mazarin endeavored to gain the lady,
and he proposed to the ambitious and enterprising Charles IV.,
to break with Spain, and to enter into Franche-Comt6 with
the aid of France, promising to leave to him all that he should
acquire.'  He succeeded in bringing into his interest the
Princess de Phalzbourg, the sister of Charles and the former
mistress of Puylaurens, but then very much fallen in favor,
who rendered him  a secret and faithful account of all that
passed about her brother.  Mazarin especially demanded to
be kept informed of the slightest movements of Madame de
Chevreuse; he knew that she corresponded with the Duke de
Bouillon, that she held the Imperial General Piccolomini at
her disposal through her friend, Madame de Strozzi, and that
she still preserved all her influence over the Duke of Lorraine,
despite the charms of the beautiful Beatrix. With the aid
of the Princess de Phalzbourg, he followed all her movements
and disputed step by step the possession of the fickle Charles
IV.,-sometimes victorious, but oftener vanquished in this
uncertain struggle.2
The victory remained with Madame de Chevreuse.  Her
ascendency over Charles IV., born of love but surviving it,
and stronger than  all the new  amours of this inconstant
prince, retained him in the service of Spain, and foiled all the
projects of Mazarin.  By degrees, she again became the soul
of every intrigue plotted against the French Government.
She not only combated it from without, but she continually
excited new  difficulties within.  Surrounded by a few ardent
and persevering refugees, among whom was the Count de SaintIV. Carnet, pp. 81 and 82; Carnet, v. pp. 18, 68, and 115.
BIBLIOTHEQUE MAZARINE,. French Letters of Mazarin to the Princess de Phalzbourg; especially those of July 22, 1645; of September 30,
of the same year; of November 11, of December 2, and 23, etc.




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    167
Ybar, one of the most resolute men of the party, she encouraged the remnant of the Importants in France, and stirred up
everywhere the fire of sedition.   Passionate, yet always mistress of herself, she preserved a smooth brow in the midst of
tempests, at the same time displaying an indefatigable activity
in surprising the weak sides of the enemy. Availing herself
equally of the Catholic and the Protestant parties, sometimes
she meditated a revolt in Languedoc or an invasion in Brittany; sometimes, at the least symptom of discontent manifested by any important personage, she labored to detach him from
Mazarin and to win him to her cause. In 1647, her piercing
eye discerned in the heart of the Congress of Munster some
signs of a misunderstanding between the French ambassador,
the Duke de Longueville, and the prime minister, which in fact
was with difficulty arranged, and to her belongs the mournful
honor of having from that time founded too just hopes on the
ill-regulated ambition and the variable temper of the Duke
d'Enghien, quite recently become Prince de Conde.'
Time advanced, the Fronde broke forth; and the ardent
duchess rushed again from Brussels in 1649, and brought to her
friends the support of Spain and of her experience. She was
then nearly fifty years of age. Years and sorrows had triBIBLIOTHEQUE MAZARINE, French Letters of Mazarin, letter of September 28, 1645, to the Abb6 de La Riviere, folio 453. But the most
important paper of all, which throws much light on all the intrigues of
Madame de Chevreuse in 1646 and 1649, and also on the state of public
sentiment in France on the eve of the Fronde, is a memoir of a Spanish
agent, whom we have already met in the affair of the Count de Soissons,
the Abbe de Mercy,-a memoir addressed to the Government of the Netherlands, in which he shows all that Saint-Ybar, and more especially
Madame de Chevreuse, might do against Mazarin if they were better sustained. This piece is entitled: " AMemoire sur ce qui s'est negocii et traite
au voyage de I abbe de Mercy.en Hollande entre lui, le comte de Saint- Ybar
et iMadame la Duchesse de Chevreuse."  The memoir is dated September
27, 1647, and is signed P. Ernest de Mercy. It forms a portion of the
official papers of the Spanish Secretary of State which are to be found at
Brussels, in the general archives of the kingdom of Belgium.




168       SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT
umphed over her beauty, but she was still graceful, and her
keen penetration, her decision, her boldness, and her genius,
remained entire.'  She had found a last friend in the Marquis de Laigues,2 captain of the guards of the Duke d'Orleans,
a man of spirit and of resolution, whom she loved till the end,
and with whom  after the death of M. de Chevreuse in 1657,
she probably united her destiny by one of those mariages d6
conscience then very much in fashion.' We cannot be expected
to follow her step by step, and to entangle ourselves in the
mazes of the Fronde.  It suffices to say that she enacted one
of the principal roles in it. Attached to the heart of the
party and to its essential interests, she guided it through every
danger with incomparable address and energy.  After relying
so long upon Spain, she knew how to separate from it at the
right time.   She preserved  a powerful influence over the
Duke of Lorraine, and it is not difficult to recognize her hand
concealed behind the ambiguous and often hostile movements
1 Retz, who ends by detesting Madame de Chevreuse because she refused to follow him in his last extravagant project, pretends that, in 1649,
she no longer possessed even a vestige of beauty. However, she still retained it in 1657, as may be seen from the portrait of Ferdinand Elle, engraved by Balechou, in the series of Odieuvre; in which she is represented as a widow, with a fine, expressive, and aristocratic face.
2 The Marquis de Laigues, having gone to Brussels in 1649, to treat
with Spain in the name of the Frondeurs, found Madame de Chevreuse
there and formed an intimacy with her, as Alexandre de Campion had
done in 1641. Retz pretends that when Laigues quitted Paris, Montresor induced him to endeavor to please Madame de Chevreuse, who
could do much with the Spanish Government, and to reach her head
through her heart. Laigues was young and pleasing in his person; he
succeeded, and both became so strongly attached that they never separated. Note the only fact, very uncertain however, since it rests on a
single witness, whence Retz draws his admirable conclusion, which does
as much honor to his logic as to his delicacy, "that it was not difficult
to persuade Madame de Chevreuse to accept a handsome lover."
3 Memoirs of the younger Brienne, published by M. Barri6re, vol ii.,
chap. xix., p. 178:  "The Marquis de Laigues, who was certainly the
mari de conscience of the duchess."




UNDER RICHELIEU AND  IAZARIN.                  169B
of Charles IV. She took the principal part in the three great
resolutions which express and recapitulate the whole history
of the Fronde from the battle of Paris and the peace of Ruel;
in 1650, she was of the opinion that they should prefer Mazarin to Conde, and dared to advise them  to lay hands on the
victor of Rocroy and of Lens; in 1651, a moment of wavering
on the part of Mazarin, who nearly lost sight of her in his own
intrigues and in a too complicated policy, together with the
pressure of a strong personal interest, the well-founded hope
of marrying her daughter Charlotte to the Prince de Conti,
brought her back to Conde and procured the deliverance of
the princes; and in 1652, the manifold errors of Conde restored her forever to the queen and to Mazarin. She did not
participate in the folly of Retz-that of thinking a third party
possible in the midst of revolution, and dreaming of a government shared between Mazarin and Conde and supported by
a worn-out parliament and the fickle Duke d'Orleans.   Her
political instinct taught her that, after so much agitation, a
firm and steady rule was the greatest need of France.  Mazarin, who, like Richelieu, had never combated her but with regret, sought and often gladly followed her counsels.' She
took her place loftily by the side of royalty; she served it,
and it served her in its turn. After Mazarin, she spied out
Colbert who was not yet in the ministry, and labored for his
elevation and the downfall of Fouquet,2 and the proud but
See in the BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, fonds Gaigniere, No. 2,799,
an inedited collection of the autograph and cypher letters of Mazarin
to the Abbe Fouquet, brother of the future superintendent, in which
he unceasingly entreats the advice and good offices of Madame de
Chevreuse.
2 Memoirs of the younger Brienne, vol. i., chap. vii., p. 218:  " She
formed an alliance with the Colberts, and married her grandson to the
daughter of a man who would never have thought, ten years before, of
making his daughters duchesses. For this, it was necessary to crush
poor M. Fouquet, and she sacrificed him without scruple to the ambition
of his competitor. I shall presently relate this intrigue with new details.
8




170        SECRET HISTORY  OF THE FRENCH  COURT
judicious Marie de Rohan gave her grandson, the Duke de
Chevreuse, the friend of Beauvilliers and of Fenelon, to the
daughter of a plebeian of genius, the greatest administrator
that France ever possessed.  She easily obtained all that she
Madame de Chevreuse conducted it with ardor; it was the last of her
life."  Vol. ii, chap. iv., p. 178:  "The Duchess de Chevreuse was
at Fontainebleu with the Marquis de Laigues concerning this affair, (that
of Fouquet.) She had forced the latter to ally himself with M. Colbert,
the minister, who was then only controller of the finances. Having preserved sufficient ascendency over the mind of the queen-mother, she
caused her to consent to the overthrow of M. Fouquet, although her
Majesty had a friendship for him, because he had always willingly paid
her dowry, together with some considerable pensions which the king, her
son, had bestowed on her after his majority." To support these facts,
we find among the papers of Fouquet which were in the famous casket,
and which are now preserved in the armory of Baluze at the Bibliotheque
ANationale, various letters of a secret agent of the superintendent, warning him that Madame de Chevreuse is working against him, and is endeavoring to deprive him of the protection of the queen-mother. This
agent, who must have been a nobleman of the court, had indirectly
gained the confessor of Anne of Austria, and learned through him of the
manceuvres of Madame de Chevreuse.  Letter of June 28, 1661: " Madame de Chevreuse continues closely to question this good man, (the confessor,) but this will avail nothing, and you shall be precisely informed
of every thing that she shall say to him."  Letter of July 21: "I have
not been able to learn any thing more particular of Madame de Chevreuse,
but the good confessor came here a short time since to see the person
of whom I have had the honor to speak to you already.  He related
to him all that he knew, and told him, among other things, that some
time ago Madame de Chevreuse questioned him closely, that she sent
Laigues to him several times, and that she talked in a very devout strain
to him in order to gain him, but above all, Monseigneur, that she talked
against you. I did not hear in what manner, for this good man said
that he had related it to M. Pelisson. It will suffice, therefore, for me
to warn you that this good cordelier complains a little because you
cited him on making an explanation with the queen-mother, saying that
you told her that she went to Dampierre among your enemies, who said
things against you to her, and when she denied that she had ever been
spoken to in this manner, you told her to ask the father-confessor; and
that the queen said to him the next day that she could not comprehend




UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.                    171
desired both for herself and her family; she attained the
height of credit and of consideration, and, like her two illustrious competitors, Madame de Longueville and the Princess Palatine, she ended in profound tranquillity one of the most restless
careers of the seventeenth century.
It is said that, towards the close of her days, she too felt
the influence of grace, and turned her eyes, wearied with the
mobility of earthly things, towards Heaven. She had seen all
those whom she loved or hated fall successively around herRichelieu and Mazarin, Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria, the
Queen of England and her daughter, the amiable Henriette,
Chateauneuf and the Duke of Lorraine.  Her much loved
daughter had expired in her arms in the midst of the Fronde.
He who had first turned her aside from  the path of duty, the
handsome and frivolous Holland, had mounted the scaffold of
Charles I., and her last lover, the Marquis de Laigues, though
much younger than she, had preceded her to the tomb.  She
perceived that she had given her soul to vanity; and wishing
to mortify the feeling that had proved her ruin, the haughty
duchess became the humblest of women.  She renounced all
grandeur; she quitted her magnificent hotel in the Faubourg
Saint-Germain, built by Muet, and retired to the country, not
how you knew every thing, and that you had spies everywhere." Letter of August 2: "Madame de Chevreuse has been here, and I have
been promised information in respect to things which are of the greatest
importance to you concerning this affair, the journey to Brittany, (the
journey to Brittany and the arrest of Fouquet took place in the beginning of September,) certain secret resolutions of the king, and the measures taken against you." Letter of August 4: " Madame de Chevreuse
saw the confessor of the queen-mother twice while she was here. Yet
this simpleton conceals this from  M. Pelisson, who, on visiting him,
asked him if he had seen her, which he denied as he has since said. He
has also told things under the seal of strict secrecy which are of the utmost importance. The person who knows them objects to telling them
to me because Madame de Chevreuse is concerned in them, and being so
closely related to her, she is reluctant to disclose them to me."




172      SECRET HISTORY OF THE FRENCH COURT.
to Dampierre, which would have recalled too vividly the brilliant days of the past, but to a modest villa at Gagny near
Chelles.  There, far from the gaze of the world, she awaited
her last hour, and died in obscurity at the age of seventy-nine,
in the same year with the Cardinal de Retz and Madame de
Longueville.  She would have neither funeral solemnities nor
funeral oration; she forbade that they should give her any of
those titles which she had learned to despise; she wished
to be interred obscurely in the little old parish church of
Gagny.  There, in the southern aisle near the chapel of the
Virgin, some faithful but unknown hand has inscribed on a
slab of black marble, the following epitaph:' " Here lies
Marie de Rohan, Duchess de Chevreuse, daughter of Hercule
de Rohan, Duke de Montbazon.  She espoused, in her first
marriage, Charles d'Albert, Duke do Luynes, peer and constable of France; and in her second marriage, Claude de Lorraine, Duke de Chevreuse.  Humility having deadened in her
heart all the grandeur of the age, she forbade the revival at
her death of the least mark of this grandeur, which she wished
to end by burying beneath the simplicity of this tomb, having
ordered that they should inter her in the parish church of
Gagny, where she died at the age of seventy-nine, on the 12th
of August, 1679."
Abbe Le Beuf, Histoire du diocese de Paris, vol. vi., p. 133, etc.
He cites an author of the times, who says: "In this epitaph, she is
neither styled Princess nor even Most High and Mighty Lady; nor is her
husband styled Most High and Mighty Prince. She died in this parish,
at the priory of Saint Fiacre de la Maison Rouge."
THE END.