Volume III Part 12 (1/2)

And as he terminated this envenomed monologue the Cardinal thrust the fatal paper into his breast, and clasped his hands convulsively together; his dim eyes flashed fire, his thin lips quivered, his pale countenance became livid, and the storm of concentrated pa.s.sion shook his frail form as with an ague-fit.

”The day is your own,” said the Capuchin calmly; ”you are now face to face with your enemies, and you know all the joints in their armour.

Every blow may be rendered a mortal one.”

Richelieu smiled. The paroxysm of fury had subsided, and he was once more cold, and stern, and self-possessed. ”We lose time,” he said, ”and I have yet to play the courtier. Are my robes ready?”

”All is prepared,” quietly replied his companion, as he withdrew from the closet, where he shortly reappeared laden with the sumptuous costume of his friend and patron. A few minutes sufficed for the necessary metamorphosis; the citizen-raiment was cast aside, the crimson drapery flung over the shoulders of its owner, the jewelled cross adjusted on his breast; and before the detected n.o.bles had recovered from their consternation, the Cardinal was solemnly traversing the crowded halls surrounded by the adulation of the a.s.sembled Court. As he advanced to pay his respects to the sovereigns, he encountered Ba.s.sompierre, whom he greeted with a smile of more than usual cordiality; and the Duc de Guise, to whom he addressed a few words of courteous recognition; but the one felt that the smile was a stab, and the other that the greeting was a menace.

History has taught us the justice of those forebodings.

And still the festival went on; the fairest women of the Court fluttered and glittered like gilded b.u.t.terflies from place to place; princes and n.o.bles, attired in all the gorgeous magnificence of the time, formed a living mosaic of splendour on the marble floors; floating perfumes escaped from jewelled _ca.s.solettes_; light laughter was blent with music and with song; the dance sped merrily; and heaps of gold rapidly exchanged owners at the play tables. Nor was the scene less dazzling without; the environs of the Louvre were brilliantly illuminated; fireworks ascended from floating rafts anch.o.r.ed in the centre of the river; and troops of comedians, conjurers, and soothsayers thronged all the approaches to the palace. It was truly a regal _fete_; and when the dawn began to gleam, pale and calm through the open cas.e.m.e.nts, a hundred voices echoed the parting salutation of the Cardinal-Minister to his royal host, as he said, bowing profoundly, ”None save yourself, Sire, could have afforded to his guests so vivid a glimpse of fairy-land as we have had to-night. Not a shade of gloom, nor a care for the future, can have intruded itself in such a scene of enchantment. I appeal to those around me. How say you, M. de Guise? and you, M. de Ba.s.sompierre? Shall we not depart hence with light hearts and tranquil spirits, grateful for so many hours of unalloyed and almost unequalled happiness?”

The silence of the two n.o.bles to whom his Eminence had thus addressed himself fortunately pa.s.sed un.o.bserved amid the chorus of a.s.senting admiration which burst forth on all sides; and with this final strain of the moral rack the Cardinal took his leave of the two foredoomed victims of his vengeance.

FOOTNOTES:

[130] Gaston d'Orleans, _Mem_. pp. 89, 90.

[131] Jean de Saint-Bonnet, Seigneur de Thoiras. He was created Marshal of France in 1630, and was killed in Italy, in 1636.

[132] Ambroise, Marquis de Spinola, one of the most famous generals of the seventeenth century, was the representative of an ill.u.s.trious house which was subsequently divided into several branches, some of whom established themselves in Italy, and others in Spain. The subject of our note placed himself at the head of nine thousand Italians, and commenced his military career in the Low Countries, where he distinguished himself by his extraordinary courage. The siege of Ostend having lasted so long as to weary the patience of the Archduke of Austria, he transferred the command of his troops to Spinola, by whom the place was carried in 1604.

He was then appointed general of the Spanish armies in the Low Countries, and maintained his ground, although opposed to Maurice of Na.s.sau, the most able general of his time. He rendered several other important services to the Emperor in the Palatinate, and took Breda in 1625. In 1630 he made himself master of the city and fortress of Casal; and shortly afterwards died from mortification at the ill requital of his services.

[133] Jules Mazarin, better known as Cardinal Mazarin, Prime Minister of France, was born at Piscina in the Abruzzi on the 14th of July 1602, and was of a n.o.ble Sicilian family. Having completed his studies in Italy and Spain, he attached himself to Cardinal Sacchetti, whom he followed to Lombardy, and was of great a.s.sistance to Cardinal Antonio Barbarini in concluding the peace of Quierasqua in 1631. The reputation which he acquired through this negotiation secured to him the friends.h.i.+p of Richelieu and the protection of Louis XIII; and in 1639 the former obtained for him the t.i.tle of Papal Vice-Legate at Avignon, and subsequently a seat in the Conclave. Nor did his good offices end even here, as he entreated Louis to appoint him Councillor of State after his own demise, a request with which the King complied; and on the death of Louis XIII the Queen-Regent Anne of Austria confided to him the government of the kingdom. Mazarin died in 1661, leaving a fortune of 200,000,000 of francs to Armand Charles de la Porte de la Meilleraye, the husband of his niece Hortense Mancini.

[134] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 142, 143.

[135] Capefigue, vol. iv. pp. 301-314. Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 152, 153.

[136] ”Maitre Gonin” was a _sobriquet_ applied by the Parisians to the Cardinal de Richelieu.

[137] Motteville, _Mem_. vol. i. pp. 372, 373. Brienne, _Mem_. vol. ii.

p. 12. Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 154, 155. Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. vol. in.

pp. 275, 276. Gaston d'Orleans, _Mem_. pp. 91, 92. Le Va.s.sor, vol. vi.

pp. 538, 539. Capefigue, vol. iv. pp. 320-323.

[138] Ba.s.sompierre, _Mem_. vol. iii. p. 12. Le Va.s.sor, vol. vi. p. 542.

Siri, _Mem. Rec_. vol. vii. p. 285.

[139] Capefigue, vol. iv. pp. 326-331. Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 156, 157.

[140] _MSS. de Bethune_, v. cot. 9319.

[141] Le Va.s.sor, vol. vi. pp. 539-541. Capefigue, vol. iv. pp. 324-332.

Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 157, 158.