first to fall into some jealousie But giving way at length to his Reason over his Chimerical Fancies he not only advised the Princess to make use of the Dukes offers but prayed her likewise not to spare her prayers if there was need of them to incline him to break up that Conference which put him into despair Catharine having had the consent of Tudor made no more scruple and was resolved to make her thoughts known to the Duke the next visit that he should be pleased to render her However that Prince was not so fully determined what to do as the Princess was and though she had given him no ground of diving into her thoughts yet he judged that glory was more the cause of the resistance she testified than any inclination she had for the King his Brother And deliberating afterward if it would be more to his advantage that she should Marry that young Prince or that he should start difficulties to obstruct the Alliance he at first resolved to suffer the matter to take its course And thought it his interest rather to see Catharine Queen to his Brother than to leave her in France and be for ever deprived of the sight of her but seeing men commonly are not apt to renounce their hopes so long as they have any ground to entertain them the Duke of Glocester took suddenly a resolution quite contrary to the intention he seemed to be in a little before He considered with himself that he was not far from the Crown and backing a great deal of Love with a little Ambition he imagined that he might hope to enjoy himself what he was about to abandon to another if he suffered the Conference to proceed too far That consideration was enough to make him play his part but though in that he had a greater respect to his own than the interests of the Princess yet he was willing to give her the honour of it and having rendred her a Visit Well Madam said he after the usual Ceremonies that pass between persons of that quality Do you still continue in the opinion you were in the other day and do you believe that one is obliged in Ceremonie to do the quite contrary of what they desire You have had time added he to think on 't and considering your natural perspicacity Give me leave to tell you that it would be a head-strong obstinacy still to continue in the same thoughts You press me too hard replied the Princess and cannot you permit Sir that people should satisfie their duty without putting of them in mind what it may cost them I was willing to follow mine without looking back if you had not stopt me in my Career and Catharine had not known what it is to declare her will if a civil and obliging Prince had not perswaded her that it is necessary for her repose once in her Life to do so Yes Madam I tell you once more answered the Duke and I thank Heaven that in so important an action as this in agitation your eyes are opened Reflect a little upon the Crosses you were about to expose your self to by affecting a false virtue and how many times you would have accused your self of being the cause of your own pains How much is a Princess of your disposition to be pitied when she is constrained to put on the Fetters that Policie hath made and how much do I blame as to that the actions of the greatest men in the world who without minding their own inclination daily sacrifice themselves to a weak reason of state How dear do they buy added he that vain glory which they are willing to purchase at the cost of their heart and how often do they blame themselves for having deprived their own satisfaction of the delights that are to be tasted in an happy Union Ah! Madam continued the Duke is there any thing more sensible than these secret rebukes that men give themselves and when Persons have a right frame of Spirit and Discretion should they not pursue that sole pleasure which is to be found in a sincere and affectionate engagement Ah! Sir replied the Princess let us not I beseech you condescend on so many particulars I am afraid for a reason that concerns my self that I shall come off with trouble though there were not a great many more that might make me condemn my conduct which probably I may be the first my self to dislike We should not too much reflect on things to which our inclination rather than duty moves us and the way to make us again embrace them is to be convinced that we have unseasonably forsaken them I distrust not Madam the Justice of my Cause replied the Duke and I can maintain it against all men living but I shall say no more For your part Madam I only beg of you to consider that in the way of procedure that I intend to follow in respect of my King I ought not to be so much blamed as I shall quickly be because the Rules of Duty and Interest of Blood are of no value when a Man is smitten with so lovely Eyes as yours Believe it Madam the Intrigue of the Conference proceeds from them and if the Duke of Glocester had never seen them he would have had no other thoughts but to facilitate a good accommodation and to hinder the streams of Blood that will flow from this Rupture Ah! Good God Sir cried the Princess let matters continue as they are rather than I should be the cause of so many Calamities The disorders that will follow Madam are not to be imputed to you said the Duke for the Duke of Glocester has the greatest hand in them It is his affection that will suddenly be the cause of that which shall be seen by all Europe and his Love is so great as that of himself he would have produced these great effects though you had never given your consent to it I recall it Sir replied the Princess and I had rather spend my dayes in Sorrow than suffer so many people to become miserable for the Love of me Would to God Madam answered the Prince you had as much compassion for the Duke of Glocester as you have for those you know not and that what I really suffer might move you to as much pity as an Evil which is no where as yet but in the Imagination How willingly should I expose my self to troubles and how well should I be rewarded for it if the Princess Catharine might be one day heard say It is for my sake that the Duke of Glocester hath sacrificed his Country and he would have alwayes considered the Interests of his Prince as his own if he had never loved me But I am in the wrong added he Madam to desire rewards seeing as yet I have deserved none and I should be inexcusable were it not that by an anticipating Idea all the Services I intend to render you are so conspicuous and present in
like thoughts that I should not much trouble my self with that Circumstance if it were not accompanied with many others which seem to me directly opposite to common sense For who will not blame you Madam for contributing alone more to your own Crosses than all others that are conconcerned in them Yet after all that you endeavour not your own ease and I percieve that you oppose the means which might give you satisfaction Yet you will not be alwayes in the same opinion and one day or other you will leave off to be cruel to your self but as it is fatal to you to do evil to that which affects you most you shall be the cause of the death of the only person whom you passionately Love and which puts me in amazement without recovery you shall not have the least trouble at it The Queen would hear him no longer she retired into her Closet and there was she forced to struggle with her humour that she might stifle a Thousand thoughts which declared in favour of Tudor All that Pavini had told her seemed to furnish her with weapons against her self but at length she conquered her own weakness and began to taste the quiet that she had acquired by her virtue when she found her troubles again renewed by a superveening accident The King her Husband made War vigorously against the Dolphin he took from him the Towns of Meaux and Compiegne and was going to the relief of Cosne which was Besieged by the Army of that Prince when he was taken sick at Melun and was forced to stop But his Disease rather encreasing than abateing he went to the Castle of Vincennes where he was hardly arrived but that his distemper fulfilled the prediction of Pavini and carried him out of this World So terrible a death occasioned certainly much grief to the Queen but it is not to be thought that she was so much afflicted as she would have been had she married that Prince for Love In the mean time Tudor was not in the least sorry for it on the contrary he thought that by that means his troubles might come to an end and trusting as much to the prediction of Pavini as to his own Innocence he flattered himself with the hopes that the Queen would reflect on his Love and that at length after so many Crosses she would perhaps reward him for all the pains that she had made him unjustly suffer He was not altogether mistaken for that Princess who had nothing now to object against the passion which she felt for him suffered her self gently to listen to every thing that spake in his favour and if she desired some little clearing it was only because she Judged it necessary to convince that Prince that she had reason to treat him as she had done Matters being so well disposed on either side the Queen went to England Tudor followed her and these Lovers began then to look on one another with so passionate Eyes that it was easie for them to percieve that their reconciliation would not be difficult But though Tudor knew that the Queen was all sweetness yet he could not so far prevail upon himself as to speak his mind And he had already found many occasions to discourse to her of his Love without being so bold as to venture on it yea and he had long pined away under the pain of a bashful and constrained passion if that Princess had not afforded him the means of disburdening his Heart On a day when he was alone with her and after a long discourse concerning the State of the War I believe said that Princess to him that when all is done we shall very shortly lose the hope of preserving the Kingdom of France and the Fortune of War is so favourable for the Dolphin that there is but little appearance we can long resist his progresses I daily hear that those who Espoused the Interest of the Late King my Husband forforsake us and I see nothing but Treachery on all hands There is no Trust to be given now adays Madam answered Tudor but to such as we know perfectly well and yet we see that for most part the very same fail in their promises as well as others and there is so little sincerity in the World that they who make most Protestations are commonly the people who least mind their word You are well acquainted with some of that Character replied the Queen but though you seem to disapprove their procedure yet I am confident you are too much a friend to them to wish them any punishment You have reason answered Tudor with a sigh and for all the Crosses I have met with yet I find that my Heart is so tender as to adore those who have cruelly used me That is to say replied the Queen that you have so good an Opinion of your own Conduct as not to be willing to Condemn your self It is to say Madam answered Tudor that notwithstanding your Rigour you are in my Eyes still the same as you were when you were no more but Princess Catharine and that then I might have flattered my self that to her I was not altogether a thing indifferent Put me not in mind replied the Queen of the ground you gave me to be displeased with you and none but one of my goodness would look upon you after all that you have done to me Say rather Madam answered Tudor that none but one of so much cruelty as your self would punish people with so great severity and still conceal from them the Pretext which you take to render them miserable Pretexts are never used replied the Queen but when reasons are wanting and it is to no purpose to invent when one hath so good proofs as you have furnished me with Ah! Madam replied Tudor not to offend you I have not the gift of knowing thoughts and I ought indeed to be guilty to find out the cause that makes you accuse me I know answered the Queen that Tudor will not be convinced without evidence The must be satisfied and here it is continued she giving him the Letter that we have spoken of what can he object against this the Prince took the Letter and having read it all over Well then Madam replied he and what is this to me How Prince said the Queen should you ask me that question and is it not your part to declare to me how far your Intrigues went with Madam de Giack if you think fit that I should know any thing of it I am not at all concerned Madam said he in what you see nor can I give you any account of it And you know better than I added he giving her back the Letter that this concerns the Affair that the Duke of Burgundy had with that Lady However she wrote that Letter to you answered the Princess and I had it from the Gentleman of your Horse The Gentleman of my Horse had no Letter for me replied Tudor and when I pray
you blame me if I take it ill to see you entertain commerce with two Women at one and the same time and may not I be as nice as you are Ah! Madam answered the Prince are you afraid that the Wound you have given me is not dangerous enough unless you open it afresh I have already told you that I should never have waited on Madam de Giack but by your order and if you had not as well as I thought it convenient for our Affairs it should never have entered into my thoughts to have rendered her a Visit But since upon so weak a pretext as that you take occasion to break up with people you shall Judge by the Consequences what concerns I had with that Lady I desire not to break with you replied immediately the Princess and so far from wishing you were guilty I shall never have greater Joy than to find you innocent They told one another besides a Thousand tender and passionate things but at length came to an Accommodation and parted afterward in as good intelligence as ever they were However the Prince would not Visit any more the Lady who had been the cause of their falling out and he refused so long to do it that it seemed he foresaw the mischief which he was to meet with on her account But the Princess began quickly to regret that she had broken a commerce which was so necessary to their designs She was the first that prayed Tudor to renew it and it was only for fear of another misunderstanding that the Prince condescended to Visit Madam de Giack again Two dayes after he rendered her a Visit and needed not much time to regain the place that he had had in her esteem She reposed even greater confidence in him than she had ever done before and seeing he had concealed nothing from her of what most affected his Heart She resolved to do the like with him and imparted to him the secret Love that she had for the Duke of Burgundy Tudor was ravished to be intrusted with that secret and believed it might prove a means to oblige these two Lovers to concern themselves the more in his Affairs He did them many times great Services in some little Janglings they had together and the Duke of Burgundy to repay his friends kindness had a special care also to do him good offices with Catharine and took all occasions to perswade the Princess that he would employ all his power that nothing might be done to the prejudice of their Love They lived all with content enough when that accursed passion which had already wrought so much trouble to our Lovers compleatly ruined their hopes Madam de Giack was passionately in Love with the Duke and as it is the property of Jealousie to take Umbrage at every thing That Lady believed that this Prince had a Passion for the Countess of Foix and she interpreted the marks of Civility which he rendered her to be Testimonies of Affection She began even to think him indifferent as to her and it cannot be expressed what havock these thoughts made in her Soul She fell at length into a furious Jealousie and thinking that the Duke ought to sacrifice all things to her she carried towards him with so much haughtiness that having taken him up very briskly on several occasions the unhappy Lover was fain to leave off visiting her without being ever able to know the cause of his misfortune Tudor was no sooner acquainted with these transactions but that he laboured earnestly to reconcile them but he found all things so festered on both sides that when he spake of it to the Duke he could draw no other reason from him but that Madam de Giack was an ungrateful Lady nor had he better success with that Lady for all the answer she gave him was that he knew not his friend and that he was a very Traitor He endeavoured to mitigate her anger but without effect and was obliged to retire without other information but that he knew them to be at extream variance However he was not much surprised at all this and being acquainted with the ways of Lovers he thought that a few dayes would make them friends again and that all that was to be done was to give them time that themselves might rub up again the affection that they had mutually for each other He failed not to visit them daily but spoke not a word to them of their Quarrels believing that an interview would be more proper to reconcile them than all that he could say In the mean time matters continued as they were and Tudor beginning to be apprehensive that their differences might prove harder to be adjusted than he had imagined thought it not fit to suffer these Lovers to accustom themselves to Indifference and took the resolution the sooner because he knew that the Duke and he were that very day to depart upon a little Journey He went to Madam de Giack and accosting her with a Countenance full of heaviness And why Madam said he will you still keep your friends in so much trouble and though you had no esteem for them can you see a Prince whom your cruelty brings to despair suffer any longer The Duke of Burgundy is no more himself and it is to no purpose for him to affect a counterfit Serenity all the Sentiments of his Heart are to be seen through his constraints and it is no hard matter to Judge that he can have no content in his Life if you take not quickly other measures with him You are mistaken Sir answered Madam de Giack the Duke is not so passionate as you think Observe if after that he hath cruelly offended me he hath made the least step to appease my anger and what would you say if you were in the place of a Lover who upon the point of haughtiness should find that one stood it out with you I would say Madam replied Tudor that such a Lover were passionately in Love with me and being out of all patience that I should have wrongfully accused him he was unwilling to come to Justifications which are an usual sign of guilt You lose time Sir answered Madam de Giack and what pains soever you take to excuse your friend you shall never perswade me that he Loves me seeing after that he gave me his promise to see Madam de Foix no more he still continues his pretensions to her with greater assiduity than ever Ah! Madam replied Tudor is that all the hurt that the Duke has done you how can you think that he can deny the civilities which the quality of Madam de Foix requires and is not he also obliged to that upon the account that that Ladies Husband has alwaies stuck to his interests And does he owe nothing to me answered Madam de Giack and which of the two Houses that of Foix or mine hath done most for him Monsieur and Madam de Foix added she have adhered to the Duke
a regard to these Obligations which any else in your place would have thought himself bound in to me I will only convince you by the tenderness of my heart and that tender heart which you have now deceived will make appear to you that your carriage denotes a Cheat beyond the usual Knavery of Men. She said no more but in her Countenance there appeared so great signs of sadness that it was easie to be perceived that her grief was not in the least abated She pretended some little distemper that she might not be interrupted in her thoughts and then renewed her complaints against Unfortunate Tudor But if that Letter made so great an impression on the Heart of that tender Princess yet she alone suffered not all the cruel effects of it Madam de Giack who knew not what was become of her Letter expected daily an answer and the least Noise that was made in her Anti-chamber seemed to her to be a Messenger from the Duke of Burgundy It was long before she could think that he had forgot her but at length hearing no News from him she began to be perswaded of his Inconstancy and was so confirmed in her suspicions that she fully abandoned her self to Jealousie She broke forth in as many complaints at least against the Duke as the Princess had made against her Lover but she stopt not there and seeing she thought that she had extraordinary cause to complain of him to which she added the resentment of the slight which in this last occasion she imagined he gave her she fell into thoughts altogether contrary to the Character of a Woman that is in Love and entertaining them with more pleasure than she ought she quickly hatched strange designs to obtain the revenge which she resolved It is true that the Love which she had had for that Prince came often into her mind and it seemed that sometimes she upbraided her self for the fatal resolution that she took against him but these considerations at length wrought no great effect and the memory of these last offences carrying greater sway with her than the remains of an almost extinct passion she listened to nothing but her own Resentment In the mean time the Dolphin had notice of the misunderstanding that was between these Lovers and was willing to make advantage of their quarrels upon which design he managed some secret interviews with Madam de Giack They fell both quickly into one Opinion and seeing the Dolphin thought he had reason to be ill satisfied with the Duke and that his too great power gave him some Umbrage he frankly declared himself to Madam de Giack and made appear to her what pleasure he would have if he could ever meet with an opportunity of being revenged on him The Sympathy of humour begot a strict Union betwixt them so that they suddenly resolved the ruin of that Prince and busied their thoughts only about the means to accomplish their design with greater facility that put them for some time into a puzle but at length the Duke himself gave them the occasion He was as much in Love with Madam de Giack as he had ever been and being impatient to live any longer without seeing her he thought himself obliged to pass by all that she had done to him He wrote her a Letter wherein he expressed so much passion as might have changed the Mind of any other but Madam de Giack was still so possessed with the Opinion of that Princes Inconstancy that she had not the least regard to all that had passed between the Duke and her She read the Letter however that she had received from him two or three times over and stopping at that place where he prayed her to come to him Yes yes Traitor said she I shall come to thee as thou desirest but it shall be with a design to imitate thee and to revenge my self on thy Treachery She sent immediately to intreat the Dolphin to come to the place where they used to meet when they had any thing to Communicate to one another The Prince failed not and Madam de Giack putting into his hands the Letter which she had recieved from the Duke the occasion Sir is fair said she to catch that Traitour he must be satisfied and I 'le go to him I have cunning enough to use him as he has dealt by me Believe it Prince I shall strain my humour so that he shall suspect nothing of my designs and it is your part while this commerce lasts to find some pretext to draw him into what snare you please I shall so order matters that he himself shall run his head into the Noose and though he had a thousand suspicions of what may befall him I know how to remove them and without much trouble I shall give you an occasion to free your self from the anxiety that he may put you into That Treason at first seemed horrible to the Dolphin he had indeed a Pique against the Duke of Burgundy but he thought that way of revenge too base and it is certain he would never have embraced it had no body but that Lady perswaded him But she got those whom she knew to have greatest influence upon him to back her proposal They spake to him of the Dukes Ambition and of his design that he had always had of Supremacy Afterward they put him in Mind of the Murther of the Duke of Orleans and the carrying away of the Queen when she was at Tours and perswading him that all these Actions had no other aim but the Crown they so far prevailed upon him that he condescended to all they desired It was resolved then that whilst Madam de Giack was with the Duke the Dolphin should cause an interview be proposed to him under pretext of Affairs of State and that they should take that occasion to dispatch him As soon as the Plot was laid that Lady went to him He received her with much Affection and without any clutter of Reproaches admitted her to the same place that she had formerly held in his Heart Madam de Giack desired not to come to Justifications and unhappily for the Duke she said not a word of the Letter which she thought he had received from Tudor for there was no appearance that she would have persisted in her cruel resolution had she been convinced that he had not done her that last indignity which filled her Heart with so much rage Two days after came a Courier from the Dolphin to the Prince as it was agreed upon The Duke opened the Pacquet and finding that he desired a Conference at Montereau he found himself in some perplexity how to make him an answer For though he was sufficiently disposed to grant what he desired in prospect that it might tend to the good of the State yet some just fears made him cautious seeing he was not ignorant that he had given him cause oftner than once not to be well pleased with him He thought