Volume II Part 16 (1/2)

His hatred of Concini is as easily explained; it being merely the jealousy of a rival favourite. The Italian was to the mother of the King precisely what De Luynes was to the King himself; and as Marie possessed more power than her son, so also was her follower more richly recompensed. Still, however, the game was an unequal one, of which the chances were all in his own favour; for the Marechal was playing away the present, while his adversary was staking upon the future. The President Jeannin was also, as we have stated, especially distasteful to De Luynes, as he made no secret of his dissatisfaction at the frivolous existence of the young sovereign, and his desire that he should exchange the boyish diversions to which he was addicted for pursuits more worthy of his high station; while at the same time he exhibited towards the favourite an undisguised disdain which excited all the worst pa.s.sions of its object.

Thus, insignificant as he appeared to those who were basking in favour, and who esteemed themselves too highly to waste one thought upon the obsequious dependent of a youthful and wayward sovereign, who suffered himself to be guided by those about him as though reckless of the result of their conflicting ambitions, it will be readily understood that De Luynes was laying up a store of antipathies which required only time and opportunity to develop themselves, and to bear the most bitter fruits; and already did the active favourite begin to enjoy a foretaste of the coming harvest. Ever earnest for right, Louis XIII never exhibited any personal energy to secure it, and consequently could effect nothing of himself; readily prejudiced, alike by his own caprices and by the representations of others, his very anxiety to act as became a monarch rendered him vulnerable to the intrigues of those whose interests tended to mislead his judgment; and as De Luynes, while sharing in his superst.i.tious acts of overstrained devotion, or amusing his idleness by the futilities of falconry and other even less dignified sports, did not fail occasionally and cautiously to allude to more serious subjects, the boy-King listened eagerly to the recitals and opinions of his chosen friend, and finished by adopting all his views.

This fact soon became so obvious to Concini, that the wily Italian, who dreaded lest the day might not be far distant when the son of Marie de Medicis would shake off the yoke of her quasi-regency and a.s.sert his own prerogative, resolved to secure the good offices of De Luynes, and for this purpose he induced M. de Conde to restore to the King the government of Amboise; representing to the Prince the slight importance of such a possession to a person of his rank, and the conviction which its voluntary surrender must impress upon the ministers of his desire to strengthen the royal cause. Let it not be supposed, however, that, at the period of which we write, such a surrender could for a moment be effected gratuitously; and thus, when the first Prince of the Blood was at length induced to yield to the representations of his insidious adviser, the terms of the bargain were fully understood on both sides; but even when he had succeeded in obtaining the consent of M. de Conde himself to the arrangement, Concini had still to overcome the scruples of the Queen-mother, to whom he hastened to suggest that the vacant government should be bestowed upon Charles de Luynes.

As he had antic.i.p.ated, Marie de Medicis was startled by so extraordinary a proposition. De Luynes was a mere hanger-on of the Court; the companion of the boyish pleasures of her son; and without one claim to honour or advancement. But these very arguments strengthened the position of the Marechal. The poverty of the King's favourite secured, as he averred, his fidelity to those who might lay the foundations of his fortune; and if, as the astute Italian moreover cleverly remarked, De Luynes were in truth merely the playmate of the monarch, he possessed at least the merit of engrossing his thoughts, and of thus rendering him less desirous to control or to criticize the measures of others. Marie yielded to this argument; she had begun to love power for its own sake; and she could not disguise from herself that her future tenure of authority must depend solely upon the will of the young sovereign. In order, therefore, to secure to herself the good offices of one so influential with his royal master as De Luynes, she consented to follow the advice of Concini, who forthwith, in her name, remunerated M. de Conde for his secession by upwards of a hundred thousand crowns, and the grandson of Guillaume Segur became governor of the city and fortress of Amboise.[195]

FOOTNOTES:

[170] Emmanuel de Gondy, Due de Retz, and General of the Galleys, was the grandson of the celebrated Marechal Gilles de Laval, Baron de Retz, who, under Charles VII, greatly contributed to the expulsion of the English from France, but who subsequently suffered strangulation by a decree of the ecclesiastical tribunal of Nantes for his frightful debaucheries. He was the father of the well-known Cardinal de Retz, the enemy of Mazarin, and one of the heroes of the Fronde.

[171] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 247-254.

Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 53-55.

[172] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. pp. 94, 95.

[173] Henri de Chatiegnier de la Rocheposay.

[174] In 1598 Henri IV had marched against the Duc de Mercoeur, who still held part of Brittany; and as the Duke found himself, immediately on the appearance of the King, deserted by the n.o.bility of the duchy, he gave himself up for lost. Opposition was of course useless; and he was about to surrender to the royal troops upon the best terms which he could obtain, when he saved himself by a lucky expedient. He was aware of the violent pa.s.sion still felt by Henry for Gabrielle d'Estrees, and in order to escape the penalty of his rebellion he offered the hand of his only daughter, with the duchies of Estampes, Penthievre, and Mercoeur as her dowry, to the King's natural son Cesar de Vendome; a proposal which was at once accepted, as the monarch was aware that it would gratify the ambition of his mistress. Subsequently, however, after the death of her father, the family of Mademoiselle de Mercoeur had objected to the alliance, and it had required all the authority of Henry to compel its accomplishment.--Davila, _Hist. of Modern Europe_, London, 1794, book xv. vol. iii. p. 49.

[175] Richelieu, _Hist. de la Mere et du Fils_, vol. i. pp. 260-277.

Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 55-67. Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. pp. 253-261. Brienne, _Mem_. vol. i. pp. 296, 297, edition Pet.i.tot.

[176] Louis de Ba.s.sompierre, who subsequently became Bishop of Saintes.

[177] Pet.i.tot, _Avertiss.e.m.e.nt sur M. de Ba.s.sompierre_.

[178] Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. p. 263.

[179] Nicolas de Verdun, First President of the Parliament of Paris, a devoted adherent of M. de Villeroy.

[180] Louis Servin, Councillor of State, Advocate-General of the Parliament of Paris, and one of the most able magistrates of his time, served with zeal and fidelity under Henri III, Henri IV, and Louis XIII.

He died suddenly, at the feet of the latter monarch, on the 19th of March 1626, while remonstrating with him in the name of the Parliament, where he was holding his Bed of Justice, against certain financial edicts. He was the author of several legal writings, orations, and sundry other works.

[181] Henri Auguste de Lomenie, Comte de Brienne, was the son of Antoine de Lomenie and of Anne d'Aubourg, and was born in 1594. In 1609 he attracted the attention of Henri IV, who occasionally admitted him to his councils, in order to familiarize him with public affairs; and Marie de Medicis continued, after the death of that monarch, to honour him with her regard. In 1617 he became Master of the Ceremonies and Provost of the King's Orders. In 1621 he followed Louis XIII to Languedoc, where he distinguished himself at the siege of Clerac; and in the following campaign he served under the Prince de Conde with equal credit. After struggling successfully throughout the long and stormy administration of Richelieu, he incurred the displeasure of Louis XIII a short time after the death of that minister, and disposed of his office as secretary of state; but during the regency of Anne of Austria he was recalled; and until Louis XIV undertook to govern the nation in his own person, he retained great influence in the Council. Age was, however, creeping upon him; and a short time subsequent to the marriage of that monarch, having attained his sixty-seventh year, he retired from the Government. He died in 1666.

[182] Pet.i.tot, _Notice sur le Comte de Brienne_, p. 278.

[183] This privilege rendered the financial and judicial offices hereditary, on the payment of an annual tax of one-tenth of the sum at which they had been originally purchased; and the n.o.bility were jealous of this hereditary tenure of the most lucrative civil appointments under the Crown, all of which were thus, as a natural consequence, engrossed by the _tiers-etat._ The _paulette_ owed its name to Charles Paulet, who was the inventor of this extraordinary source of revenue.

[184] _Tiers-etat,_ or middle state, was the name given to that portion of the French people who belonged neither to the aristocracy nor to the Church.

[185] Pierre de Roncherolles, Baron du Pont Saint-Pierre.

[186] Robert Miron, Provost of the Merchants, an able politician, whose zeal and talents were recompensed by the confidence and favour of Louis XIII, by whom he was, in 1625, entrusted with the emba.s.sy to Switzerland.

[187] Bonnechose, vol. i. pp. 451, 452. Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 73-78. Le Va.s.sor, vol. i. pp. 298-302.

[188] Marville, _Melanges d'Histoire et de Litterature_.