Volume I Part 23 (1/2)

[374] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. p. 51.

[375] Marie de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who, after the decease of the Duc d'Orleans, married (in 1626) Gaston Jean Baptiste de France.

[376] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. p. 51.

[377] Sully, _Mem_. vol. vii. p. 8.

[378] Sully, _Mem_. vol. vii. pp. 8, 9.

[379] _Mercure Francais_, 1608, p. 231. L'Etoile, vol. iii. pp. 444, 445.

[380] Sully, _Mem_. vol. vii. pp. 25-28.

[381] Perefixe, vol. ii. pp. 463, 464.

[382] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. pp. 50, 51.

[383] Gaston Jean Baptiste de France, originally named Duc d'Anjou, and subsequently Duc d'Orleans, died in 1660. Before his birth, Henri IV declared his intention of making him a churchman, and causing him to be ent.i.tled Cardinal de France.

[384] _Mercure Francais,_ 1608, p. 231. Sully, _Mem_. vol. vii. p. 37.

L'Etoile, vol. iii. p. 471.

[385] Mademoiselle de Mercocur was the only daughter and heiress of Philippe Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duc de Mercocur, the brother of Louise de Lorraine, Queen of Henri III. By that monarch he was appointed Governor of Brittany, but in 1589 he revolted against him, and persisted in his rebellion until 1598, when he entered into a treaty with Henri IV, by which he bound himself to bestow the hand of his daughter, and the reversion of his government, upon Cesar de Vendome, a condescension by which he subsequently felt himself so much disgraced that he withdrew from the Court and engaged in the war of Hungary. Pining, however, to see once more his wife and daughter, he was on his way to France for that purpose, when he was attacked by fever at Nuremberg, where he expired in March 1602, at the age of forty-three years.

[386] Don Pedro de Toledo, Constable of Castile, and general of the galleys of Naples, was a relative of Marie de Medicis, whose grandfather, the Comte de Medicis, had married Eleonora de Toledo, the daughter of the Viceroy of Naples. He was, moreover, a grandee of Spain, and one of the most confidential friends of Philip III.

[387] Bonnechose, vol. i. p. 445. Perefixe, vol. ii. p. 564.

[388] L'Etoile, vol. iii. pp. 474-477. _Mercure Francais,_ 1608, p. 232.

Daniel, vol. vii. p. 488.

[389] _Memoires,_ vol. vii. pp. 72-74.

[390] Dreux du Radier, vol. vi, p. 104.

CHAPTER VIII

1609

Death of the Grand Duke of Tuscany--The Queen's ballet--Mademoiselle de Montmorency--Description of her person--She is betrothed to Ba.s.sompierre--Indignation of the Duc de Bouillon--Contrast between the rivals--The Duc de Bellegarde excites the curiosity of the King--The nymph of Diana--The rehearsal--Pa.s.sion of the King for Mademoiselle de Montmorency--The royal gout--Interposition of the Duc de Roquelaure--Firmness of the Connetable--The ducal gout--Postponement of the marriage--Diplomacy of Henry--The sick-room--An obedient daughter--Henry resolves to prevent the marriage--The King and the courtier--Lip-deep loyalty--Henry offers the hand of Mademoiselle de Montmorency to the Prince de Conde--The regal pledge--The Prince de Conde consents to espouse Mademoiselle de Montmorency--Invites Ba.s.sompierre to his betrothal--Royal tyranny--A cruel pleasantry--The betrothal--Court festivities--Happiness of the Queen--Royal presents to the bride--The ex-Queen's ball--Jealousy of the Prince de Conde--Indignation of the Queen--Henry revenges himself upon M. de Conde--Madame de Conde retires from the Court--The King insists on her return--The Prince de Conde feigns compliance--The Prince and Princess escape to the Low Countries--The news of their evasion reaches Fontainebleau--Birth of a Princess--Unpleasant surprise--Henry betrays his annoyance to the Queen--He a.s.sembles his ministers--He resolves to compel the return of the Princess to France--Conflicting counsels--M. de Praslin is despatched to Brussels--Embarra.s.sment of the Archduke Albert--He refuses an asylum to M. de Conde, who proceeds to Milan--The Princess remains at Brussels--She is honourably entertained--Interference of the Queen--Philip of Spain promises his protection to the Prince de Conde--He is invited to return to Brussels--The Marquis de Coeuvres endeavours to effect the return of the Prince to France--His negotiation fails--Madame de Conde is placed under surveillance--Her weariness of the Court of Brussels--The Duc de Montmorency desires her return to Paris--M. de Coeuvres is authorized to effect her escape from Brussels--The plot prospers--Indiscretion of the King--The Queen informs the Spanish minister of the conspiracy--Madame de Conde is removed to the Archducal palace--Mortification of the King--The French envoys expostulate with the Archduke, who remains firm--Henry resolves to declare war against Spain and Flanders--Fresh negotiations--The King determines to head the army in person--Marie de Medicis becomes Regent of France--She is counselled by Concini to urge her coronation--Reluctance of the King to accede to her request--He finally consents--”The best husband in the world”--Fatal prognostics--Signs in the heavens--The Cure of Montargis--The Papal warning--The Cardinal Barberino--The Sultan's message--Suspicious circ.u.mstances--Supineness of the Austrian Cabinet--Prophecy of Anne de Comans--Her miserable fate--The astrologer Thoma.s.sin--The Bearnais n.o.ble--The Queen's dream--Royal presentiments--The hawthorn of the Louvre--Distress of Ba.s.sompierre--Expostulation of the King--Melancholy forebodings.

In the year upon which we are now about to enter the subject of our biography occupies, unfortunately, but a small s.p.a.ce, destined as it was to give birth to the most violent and the most dangerous pa.s.sion of the whole life of Henri IV, and that which left the most indelible stain upon his memory, both as a man and as a monarch.

On the 7th of February the Court went into mourning for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the uncle of the Queen, to whom she was ardently attached, and all the Carnival amus.e.m.e.nts were consequently suspended, but not before the Queen had resolved upon the performance of the ballet which she had previously refused to sanction, when her royal consort had proposed as one of its performers the Comtesse de Moret, his late favourite. The rehearsal of this entertainment took place on the 16th of January, and the nymphs of Diana were represented by the twelve reigning beauties of the Court, among whom the most lovely was Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency[391]. So extraordinary, indeed, were her personal attractions, combined with a modesty of demeanour more than unusual at the Court in that age, that even the most experienced of the great n.o.bles were compelled to confess that they had never heretofore seen any person who could compete with her. ”The purity of her complexion,” says Dreux du Radier, quoting from one of the old chroniclers, ”was admirable; her eyes, lively and full of tenderness, inspired pa.s.sion in the most careless hearts; she had not a feature in her face which was not gracefully moulded. The tones of her voice, her bearing, her slightest movements, had a charm which compelled admiration, and it was yielded the more willingly that it was elicited by no artifice on her part, but was a tribute to her natural merits.

Nature had, indeed, done everything for her, and she had no occasion to resort to any advent.i.tious aid however innocent.” [392]

This lady, thus richly gifted with youth, beauty, and high birth, had been, even before her appearance at Court, promised in marriage by her father to the Marechal de Ba.s.sompierre, to whom indeed he had himself offered her hand,[393] but she was no sooner seen by Henry in the circle of the Queen than he became violently enamoured of her person, and resolved to prevent the alliance; a determination in which he found himself strengthened by the remonstrances of the Duc de Bouillon, the nephew of the Connetable, and consequently the cousin of the young beauty, whose favour Ba.s.sompierre had, in the excess of his happiness, neglected to conciliate, and who represented to the King that he could not conceal his astonishment on ascertaining that his Majesty was about to permit the union of Mademoiselle de Montmorency with a mere n.o.ble, however deserving of such distinction, when the Prince de Conde had attained to a marriageable age, and that it would be imprudent to countenance his alliance with a foreign princess; while as regards himself, he could not discover another eligible match save his cousin or Mademoiselle du Maine; and he was inclined to believe that none of the advisers of his Majesty would counsel him to authorize his own marriage with the latter, while the remnant of the League continued so formidable as to threaten a still more forcible and dangerous demonstration should they once find themselves under a leader with the power which he possessed to further their cause. He then represented that his alliance with Mademoiselle de Montmorency would involve no such results, as the allies and interests of the Connetable were his own, and concluded by entreating that his Majesty, before he sanctioned the marriage of Ba.s.sompierre with his cousin, would give the matter ample reflection.[394]

This contention, there can be no doubt, piqued the curiosity of the King, who in the course of the day mentioned the circ.u.mstance to the Duc de Bellegarde. The chance of the rivals in the favour of the lady herself could scarcely be doubtful, as the Duc de Bouillon, Prince of the Blood though he was, possessed few personal attractions, while the gay, the gallant, the magnificent Ba.s.sompierre was the cynosure of all eyes; superb in person, he was moreover of high birth, great wealth (although his profusion occasionally fettered his means), in high favour with the monarch, and celebrated alike for his wit and his attainments.