afterward Caumont and Ioyeuse were to solicit but without the least dispensation notwithstanding their Favour from the due and customary forms of Law where if any difficulty or opposition chanc'd to arise his Majesty ever interpos'd his Justice to over-rule them if justly they were to be over-ruled neither did they ever receive any Grace or Largess which did not either first pass the Seal the Chamber of Accounts or an Act of Parliament In these beginnings the two young Favourites were continually call'd to all the Councils not to give their advice from which by their immaturity and inexperience they were exempt but to inform and to inure themselves to business Which the better to exercise them in the King himself was pleas'd often in private to propose weighty questions to them and to make them debate them before him without exposing their early Opinions to the Experience of his graver Council initiating them with his own Precepts and forming them with his own hand and that rather with the tenderness and indulgence of a Father to his Children than with the authority of a Master over his Servants About this time as I have already observ'd the Order of the Holy Ghost was instituted and the first Ceremony was already past where although Caumont had no share by reason of his Youth but was deferred to the next Creation which happened a few years after yet his Majesty though he judg'd him too young to be admitted into that honourable Fraternity thought him notwithstanding sufficient to treat with Philibert D. of Savoy though he were one of the most discreet and most circumspect Princes of his time This Prince had rais'd a considerable Army which he intended to imploy against the Genoveses and the King who was oblig'd to protect them dispatch'd Caumont to the Duke to disswade him from that enterprize His negotiation in this Affair met with great difficulties and infinite oppositions both from the House of Austria the League and the Pope which nevertheless he overcame with that dexterity that having untied all those knots of State he obtain'd full satisfaction for the King his Master and acquir'd so much Reputation and Esteem with the Duke as at the same time to obtain a signal Favour and a timely assistance for himself The occasion this The Mareschal de Bellegarde his Uncle having for some time possest the Kings Favour was at last through the ill Offices of some fallen into disgrace and had thereupon retir'd himself into the Marquisate of Saluzzo of which Province he had the Government and whither being come he had chas'd Charles Birague the Kings Lieutenant in that Marquisate out of all the Places and strong holds he had formerly possest which he had taken upon him to do without any order from the King and indeed Bellegarde unsatisfied with the Court rather endeavour'd to fortifie himself and to secure his own interest than to stand upon the niceties and punctillio's of his duty This disorder gave a hot alarm to all Italy who knew not to what Bellegardes designs might tend and the Queen Mother desirous in time to prevent any ill consequence had her self taken a Journey to accommodate the business and had compos'd it to the Kings satisfaction and seemingly to the Mareschal's too who had receiv'd a ratification of whatever he had done but the Mareschal was no sooner return'd into his Government than he fell immediately sick and of so violent a distemper as in few dayes carried him away not without vehement suspicion of poison Many being perswaded that his turbulent spirit having given the Court an apprehension that a discontented man of his Courage would be hard to be continued in the due limits of his Obedience they thought it better at once to dispatch him out of the way than to be at the continual trouble would be necessary to contain him in his duty His Son whom he leâ—t very young and much unsettled in his Government soon found himself in danger to be turn'd out by the Faction of the People the whole Countrey in general favouring the Biragues Gentlemen of good quality and Natives of that Countrey whom doubtless they would have restor'd to the Government had not Caumont in the time of his Embassy in Savoy obtain'd some Troops from the Duke for his Kinsman's assistance with which he brought him so opportune and so effectual a succour that he soon supprest the Faction plac'd Bellegarde secure in his charge and left him strong enough to defend himself until the King whose interest requir'd a Minister of greater Experience in that Countrey call'd him from thence to place la Valette Caumont's elder Brother in his stead giving to Bellegarde in recompense the Governments of Xaintonge Angoumois and the Countrey of Auluis It was during the interim of this Voyage that the disgrace of St. Luc one of the Favourites was concluded D' Aubigné tell us that he learn'd the cause of this disgrace from St. Luc's own mouth and thereupon tells an impudent Story but they who well consider this malevolent Author's way of writing will easily judge it his own invention to bespatter the Kings reputation against whom besides the interest of his Party he had a particular spleen having been ill us'd and slighted upon many occasions Of which he himself cannot forbear to complain in his History and which confession in it self is sufficient to discredit all the calumnies he has forg'd against the Honour of this Prince Here then take the true reason of his disgrace The King falling in love with a Lady of great Quality had made Caumont and St. Luc the confidents of his Passion shortly after which Caumont was sent upon the Embassy of Savoy spoke of before and St. Luc in this interval of his absence discovers the secret of the King's love to his Wife who was of the Family of Brissac and his Wife immediately to the Queen who could not long dissemble her discontent to the King her Husband but reproach'd him with his Love and that with so many circumstances that in effect he could not much deny it The King infinitely concern'd at the infidelity of his Confidents to whose discretion he had only intrusted that secret falls upon St. Luc Caumont being out of the reach of his anger complains how basely he was betray'd and in fine reproaches him with the discovery St. Luc excuses himself and that he might do it with the better colour charges Caumont whose absence expos'd him to that ill office with the fault but the King who had before begun to distaste St. Luc ever since his Marriage with a Wife who was very partial to the House of Guise a Family whose designs were every day more and more suspected to him was still in his own Judgement more enclin'd to condemn him than Caumont of the Treachery Yet for the better clearing of the truth which he was impatient to know he addresses himself to the Queen pressing and conjuring her to tell him freely
and practices that might discompose the calm of Peace his Kingdom was now settled in but so it was that for one or both these reasons he engag'd the greatest part of his Nobility whom he knew to be monied men in vast designs of this kind amongst whom his Majesty conceiving the Duke of Espernon to be one the most at his ease he was so importunate with him as to cause a plot for Cadillac to be design'd in his own Presence order'd the charge of the whole to be cast up and made one of his own Architects to undertake for an hundred thousand Crowns to begin and perfect the work upon which assurance the Duke as has been said in the year 1598 began the foundation conceiving that such a summe as that he might without inconvenience spare to gratifie his Masters humour though time afterwards gave him to understand how hard a thing it is to contain a man's self within a determinate charge after he has once set his hand to so tempting a work as Building this Pile before it was finish'd having cost him above two millions of Livres 'T is very true and which seldom happens to undertakers of such vast designs that with this infinite expense he brought the greatest and most stately pile of Building the Royal Houses excepted in France very near to perfection the whole body of the Building being perfected before his death and nothing save some few Ornaments left to finish neither had he left those to his Successors had not the disgrace of being withdrawn from his Government which still afflicted him diverted his thoughts from the sole care of that design The Duke as has been said being come into Guienne to take a view of his Building arriv'd at the City of Bourdeaux in the beginning of August where he found the Mareschal d' Ornano but newly there establish'd Lieutenant for the King by the decease of the Mareschal de Matignon who died of an Apoplexy and where their old Animosities though great were nevertheless on both sides so well dissembled as not to hinder a mutual Civility betwixt them no more than these civilities could hinder past jealousies from breaking out upon the first occasion into a new and open rupture This Mareschal though an Alien born had yet by his Valour and Fidelity acquir'd so great a reputation in France as in the Reign of Henry the III. to be a great confident to that Prince to whom the Duke of Espernon having been a principal Favourite it is nothing strange that a man of inferiour credit should envy another in a higher degree of Favour neither if the Mareschal were prepossess'd with this antiquated jealousie was the Duke on his part insensible of the recent traverses he had in Provence receiv'd from him the greatest part of the disgraces he had met with in that Country having been laid in his way by the opposition of l' Esdiguieres and him all which put together it may easily be imagin'd were likely to beget no very good blood between them To this the Mareschal a man of an imperious and haughty temper and who only under a forc'd smoothness conceal'd a natural arrogance could with no patience endure a Superiour an humour that made him with great anxiety look upon the Honours which at the Duke's arrival at Burdeaux he receiv'd from the Parliament with the other Orders of the City and which were also continued to him by the Nobility at Cadillac who from all parts came in to do him Honour But if his impatience were great before it was rais'd up to the height when he knew the Duke who well enform'd of his dissatisfaction to make it yet more had invited all the Nobility and Gentry of the Country to Bordeaux to a publick running at the Ring a solemnity that being there to be kept where he was in Supreme Command the Duke knew would much more nettle and afflict him It is very true that the Duke might have forborn this Bravado to a man whom he knew to be so tender of his Honour as the Mareschal d' Ornano was and perhaps it was not well done to offer that to another he himself would never have endur'd from any man living in a place where he had commanded in Chief but having once engag'd in the business his great spirit whatever might succeed would by no means give him leave to desist especially when he knew the Mareschal was resolv'd by open force to oppose him This was that which made what was before only a private discontent to break out into open quarrel which grew so high that the Mareschal address'd himself to the Parliament where in the presence of them all he complain'd what a commotion the Duke went about to stir up amongst the people to the prejudice as he pretended of his Majesties Affairs acquainting them at the same time with his resolution to make his Garrison stand to their Arms to play his Cannon and in fine to do what in him lay with all the power and authority he had to break that appointment and to drive the Duke from the City This declaration from a man of his furious spirit as it very much troubled the whole Assembly so it gave the first President D' Affis one of the greatest men that Society ever had since its first institution and a particular friend of the Duke's having by him in his times of favour been rais'd to that dignity occasion to make use of his Eloquence in the best Arguments he could contrive to disswade the Mareschal from that determination but all in vain he had already given out his orders and summon'd the Gentry to come in to his assistance though not a man save only one call'd Ruat would appear a thing which though perfectly true appears almost incredible that a Governour of so great Authority and Repute should be able to procure no more than one single man to serve him against the Duke of Espernon in his own Government Neither were the people better dispos'd than the Nobility and Gentry to take Arms against the Duke all men on the contrary of any note both within and without the City so manifestly appearing for him that the Governour was forc'd to arm his Garrison of Corses and to call his Company of Gens-d ' Armes out of their Country Quarters into the Town which were yet apparently too weak to execute the Mareschal's design And this was in effect the main cause that hindred things from proceeding into a greater disorder the Duke satisfied with the advantage every one plainly saw he had over his Enemy being the more easily enclin'd to the Parliaments solicitations who had sent their second President Nesmond to him to entreat he would not persist in his first resolution at whose instance and being loath to disturb the Peace of his Country as also to expose the great number of Gentlemen of Quality who were about him against a Garrison in his own particular quarrel and having a greater
the narrow bounds of a particular Life wherein the Duke of Espernon having also had no share I should not have waded so far as I have done into these secret Affairs of Court had they not at last proceeded to involve him further therein than he had himself intended to engage Before the King's departure from Paris the Duke especially solicitous of his Service within the Precincts of his own Government intreated his Majesty to appoint him an Intendant de la Iustice he having at his coming out of Guienne left there neither Lieutenant nor Intendant in his absence to look after his Majesties Affairs in that Province a request that the King being very willing to grant as it principally concern'd himself he gave the Duke liberty to choose whom he should think fit out of his Council The Employment being one of the greatest honour was covered by several persons of very great desert but the Duke preferring above all those who made suit for it one of the Council that perhaps least dream'd of any such thing entreated Monsieur de Verthamont Master of Requests to accept it This person of approved honesty and equal capacity had in several Employments of very great importance given very good proofs both of the one and the other but these qualities how eminent soever were yet accompanied with another that serv'd no less to recommend him to the Duke's Election and that was the great friendship betwixt him and Monsieur d' Autry at that time President Seguier and since Gard des Sceaux and Chancellor of France with whose good conduct in the same Commission the Duke had been so highly satisfied that he desir'd nothing more than one that would imitate his Vertue to succeed him and he hop'd to find in this Gentleman what he had already prov'd in his Predecessor neither was he deceiv'd in his Judgment he found his expectation answer'd to the full And for ten years together that Verthamont serv'd the King in the Duke's Government he gave the Duke so many testimonies of his integrity and vertue and in return receiv'd from the Duke so high and so just applause that I dare be bold to affirm there was never observ'd the least dissent or contrariety betwixt them The end of the Ninth Book THE HISTORY Of the LIFE of the Duke of Espernon The Tenth Book AT the same time that Verthamont departed for Guienne the Duke of Espernon was preparing to go to Metz there to expose his person for the defense of so important a place A Journey to which he was continually press'd by the constant intelligence he receiv'd from thence that the Emperours Forces every day increas'd that he was fortifying Moyenvic a very considerable place near that City and that the Duke of Lorain notwithstanding all his fair pretenses was certainly confederated with the House of Austria to the prejudice of the Kingdom of France The Duke de la Valette his Son had by his Majesties Command been sent away befoe upon the first jealousie the Court had conceiv'd of the Emperours and the Duke of Lorains designs but the Duke prudently considering that a Frontier of so great importance could not be too carefully provided for went with some of his friends to put himself into it having moreover engag'd several other persons of condition who had staid behind at Paris after the King's departure if occasion were to come and joyn themselves with him for the defense of the place So that had it ever come to a Siege the respect that several worthy men bore to the Duke's person would without all doubt have invited a great many persons of great quality and approv'd valour to serve in so honourable an occasion But there hapned to be no need of any such thing and perhaps the presence of the Duke and the prudent care he together with the Duke his Son took for the preservation of that City made the Emperour alter his design by putting him out of all hopes to effect it The Duke arriv'd at Metz the first of May where he was receiv'd with manifestations of an universal joy in the people becoming their gratitude and his own desert In his way thither he had call'd to see the Mareschal de Marillac who as he was at this time at least in outward appearance in greatest repute with the Cardinal so had he the principal charge of the Affairs of that Countrey committed to his care wherein doubtlesâ— this unfortunate Gentleman labour'd to his own ruine and to the Sentence of Death that not long after pass'd upon him for the Duke found him busie fortifying the Cittadel of Verdun preparing provisions and other necessaries for the Army of Champagne and performing several other Services which after pass'd for Crimes that were judg'd worthy of no less than Death The Duke was by him receiv'd with all sorts of honour and noble entertainment to which the Mareschal soon after added a visit at Metz where they consulted long together of what was best to be done for the King's Service upon that Frontier continuing ever after in a more strict correspondence than before The Duke was no sooner arriv'd at Metz but that he forthwith fell to work about the repair of the old Fortifications of the City and to the designing of new he sent moreover to solicit the Duke of Orleans left Regent during the King's absence for a supply of some Ammunitions of War but he had first sent a dispatch to the King to acquaint him with his motion towards the Frontier with which his Majesty in his answer of the 23. of May declar'd himself to be highly satisfied sending him word That his being in those parts would secure his fears for what concern'd the safety of the whole Frontier of Lorain exhorting him to continue his vigilancy and care for the conservation of so importanct a place assuring him withal of his good will and affection and of the esteem he had of his person justly grounded upon his merit and old Services for the Crown Which were in part the express words of that Dispatch In the mean time the rumor daily increasing that Wallestâ—in was advancing with his Army to waste the Countrey about Metz and afterwards to block it up by Forts and the Duke conceiving that the King would be so taken up in Savoy that he could not come to relieve him should he chance to be reduc'd to any great straight he saw it was necessary for him to make use of his own Credit Money and Friends therewithal to serve his Majesty upon this occasion He writ therefore to the Cardinal de la Valette his Son who was then with the King to tell his Majesty the Queen Mother and the Cardinal That foreseeing how hard a thing it would be for his Majesty in the heat of his Enterprizes to provide for the necessities of the place and Frontier where he had the honour to serve him he franckly offer'd if his Majesty would give
sudden danger neither the Town being intrusted in the hands of valiant and faithful friends had it been convenient even when he was most remote from it to provoke him lest a place of that importance should have taken part in his disgrace and follow'd the humour of his discontents It was therefore by the taking of this Town that the League would begin to labour the Duke's ruine and in that the advancement of their own Affairs The most considerable Forces the League had then on foot were those of the Duke of Lorain a Prince who having till this time contain'd himself Neuter in all the Affairs of France upon this occasion thought fit it seems to declare himself partial to his Family in hopes nevertheless to joyn Metz Toul and Verdun to his own Dukedom neither was his design unlikely to succeed for the two last having made no great difficulty of receiving the Duke of Guise he had reason considering the intelligence he had in the City to expect the same from Metz had not the Duke of Espernon by his vigilancy prevented him seasonably re-inforcing the Garrison with divers Gentlemen his particular Servants and a good number of Souldiers by whose coming it was so well secur'd that the League thought it not fit to attempt it This great storm thus blown over the Duke alarm'd by the late hazard this City had run resolv'd to establish himself in that important possession so as that for the future it might be secur'd from the like danger and to that purpose some of his friends having rendred the Governour suspected to him by some carriage of his at such time as the Army of the League were approaching towards him though the grounds of this mistrust were not in the Dukes opinion clear enough to countenance an open rupture with him yet were they sufficient to make the Duke remove him from that trust and to call him about his own person instituting Sobole who before was only Lieutenant of the Cittadel in the absolute authority both of the City Cittadel and Messin Countrey adding withal ten thousand Crowns in Gold to mend his Equipage that he might with the more honour support the honourable charge he had seated him in a bounty we shall hereafter see how Sobolâ— requited but that being the business of another time I shall refer it to another place and pursue my former Subject The Leaguers not contenting themselves with those petty successes in Lorain and being made wise and active by the example of the Kings ruinous supineness who sate still in vain expecting the arrival of his Foreign Forces almost at the same time by the several Captains they had dispos'd into divers Provinces surpriz'd a great many of the chief Cities of the Kingdom and made no light attempts upon the rest The Duke of Guise after the taking of â—oul and Verdun which I have spoke of before possest himself yet of Meziere by which he assur'd to himself the whole Countrey of Champagne The Duke of Mayenne took the City and Castle of Dijon which made him Master of the Dâ—tchy of Burgundy la Chartre seiz'd of Bourges Entragues of Orleans the Count de Brisac of Angiers and many other Cities of that Province Vaillack had hop'd to have done as much by Bordeaux by the neighbourhood of Chasteau-Trompette of which he was Governour but the Mareschal de Matignon broke his design and Marsâ—lles by the Loyalty of her good Inhabitants maintain'd it self against the Faction of some who labour'd to betray it into the power of the League but the enterprize of the Cittadel of Lions succeeded better with Mandelot who was Governour of the City and one of the Duke of Guise's firmest Adherents who having been formerly awed into his duty by the Cittadel in which le Passage had been plac'd by the Duke of Espernon to preserve a City so important to his Majesties Service he who before-hand had been made privy to the Duke of Guise's Designs as soon as ever he heard they were in Arms failed not suddenly to begirt the Cittadel and being assisted by the people who naturally hate to be bridled by a Fortress having surpriz'd le Passage who little suspected any such thing made himself Master of the place and immediately raz'd it to the ground It was upon this occasion that the ill will which had so long been conceal'd yet had continually been fostering in the Bosoms of the Duke of Espernon and Mounsieur de Villeroy broke out from which quarrel in the succession of time sprung so many and so important consequences as do not only take up a large share of the Dukes Life but also make up a considerable part in the general History of that time which obliges me in this place to discourse both what I have receiv'd from the Dukes own mouth and what I have gather'd from the Commentaries of Mounsieur de Villeroy himself Mounsieur de Villeroy had been from the Dukes infancy Secretary and Minister of State a friend to Mounsieur de la Valette the Father and a man of great Credit and Interest in the King's Council he had seen the beginning and encrease of the Dukes Favour at which he ought not in reason to repine but on the contrary had cause to believe that such a friend as he would fortifie him with the King and be no little assisting to support that Trust he already possest in the management of Affairs And in effect the Duke had a true affection and esteem for him who as he was ever very respective and constantly fix'd to all his Fathers Interests whose memory he had in the greatest veneration it is certain had a particular consideration for all his Friends of which number Mounsieur Villeroy being one the first years of the Duke's Favour were past over in a strict correspondency with him but at last Villeroy perceiving the Dukes Credit proceeded so far as wholly to possess that interest in the Kings Bosom he pretended to share he began in the end to grow jealous of a Prosperity he ought so much the more to have cherish'd by how much it was likely to be more useful to him and thenceforward began openly to thwart all his opinions in Council rais'd up a party against him to lessen his Reputation there and the Queen Mother nettled to see her Authority weakned with the King by the great power the Duke had with him desiring nothing more than to have him remov'd that she might recover her former possession could find no one so ready as Mounsieur de Villeroy to second her Passion and the animosity she had conceiv'd against him They joyntly advis'd that it was necessary to sacrifice the Duke to the malice of the League and that the King ought to abandon him for the general satisfaction a Counsel that had been voluntarily follow'd by the Duke himself and I have heard him say he would as willingly have retir'd then from Court as he did not long after could he have
Aumont had both of them already excus'd themselves from that Employment and that he only remain'd from whose Valour and Fidelity he could promise to himself so signal and so honourable a Service in so difficult an undertaking and in so dangerous a time that the defense of that City was of pressing and immediate concern but that withal he should be infinitely glad to see him and that he therefore left it to his own free choice and judgment either to come immediately to him or to defer giving him that satisfaction till the occasion which at present call'd him another way should be past and blown over The Duke had then in his Army four thousand and five hundred Foot five hundred Light Horse and three hundred Harquebusiers on Horse-back besides other Levies he had order'd should be made in the Country which accordingly soon after came to him of which he detain'd three thousand Foot with a proportion of Horse for the defense of Blois and the rest he sent away to the King under the command of Moncassin and 〈◊〉 Curé◠from which Forces his Majesty receiv'd no little assistance in the occasion that soon after hapned before Tours The Duke in the mean time according to the King's Order took his way towards Blois and interpreting the Liberty his Majesty had so freely given him either presently to repair to Court or to defer it 〈◊〉 a fitter season as he ought to do he conceiv'd 〈…〉 by his duty â— rather to deprive himself of that present Honour and Satisfaction than any ways to neglect that Service was expected from him Advancing therefore with all diligence and his way lying through Amboise where the Arch-Bishop of Lyons had been detain'd Prisoner ever since the death of the Guises he although the Bishop was his capital Enemy and a man from whom of all others he had receiv'd the most sensible injuries would nevertheless go give him a visit in the Castle The sad estate and present condition of this Prelate had so far reconcil'd the Duke unto him that in return of all former injuries after he had some time entertain'd him with some consolatory Expressions as towards his present Fortune he afterwards made him a promise as soon as ever he should see the King to labour with all his Industry and Interest for his Enlargement as after he did it being one of the first Requests he made and obtain'd after his return to Couâ—t From thence having recover'd Blois he presently fell to fortifying the place and in few days put it into so good a posture of Defense that it would be no easie matter to force it He also put into St. 〈◊〉 a little Town upon the Road betwixt that and Paris the Count de Brienne his Brother-in-law and the Sieur d' Ambleville with eight hundred Men the most part Horse which he did not so much out of design to keep that place which he knew was not to be defended as for some few days to stop the progress of the Duke of Mayenne and by that means to give the King some leisure to fortifie himself A design that succeeded accordingly for the Duke of Mayenne not being able to carry this place by assault and obstinate in the taking of it having staid to lay a formal Siege although he took it in the end and in it the Count de Brienne Ambleville and some other Gentlemen upon composition yet having lost four days time in the Action he gave so much respite to the King who had very great need of it to prepare himself This block in the Duke of Mayenâ—e's way was perhaps none of the least things that concurr'd to the preservation of the Royal Affairs but whether it were or no the Duke was however infinitely condemn'd for having so wilfully set himself upon an Enterprize of so little moment in a time when nothing could be so advantageous as diligence to the execution of his Designs The Duke of Mayenne measuring by this first Essay the opposition he was likely to meet withal from the Duke of Espernon at Blois alter'd his design of attempting that place and resolv'd without further delay to turn the torrent of his Arms upon the King himself and against the City of Tours where his Majesty then resided The King of Navarre had joyn'd himself with his Majesty but the day before and had with his men taken up his Quarter in one of the Suburbs of the City whom his Majesty being gone to visit in his Quarters and walking with him abroad the earnestness of their discourse had unawares drawn them so far out of the Suburbs that the Avant Coureurs of the Duke of Mayenne's Army mist very little of surprizing them both and consequently of making an end of the War almost as soon as begun but the two Kings notwithstanding being happily retir'd within their strength the Skirmish grew hot on both sides and then it was that the Duke of Espernon's Troops signalized themselves For Moncassin long and bravely defending himself in the very face and against the first fury of the Enemy was there wounded in the presence of the King who was himself Spectator of the Fight and who during all which with a constancy far from any shew of that effeminacy his Enemies had so often laid to his charge himself gave the whole direction and continued in the danger till the end of the Action The Duke of Mayenne being frustrated in his Design upon Blois and baffled before Tours principally through the Duke's opposition and that of his Forces seeing nothing was now to be effected resolv'd to retire without attempting any thing further at that time upon which retreat hapned the total dissolution of his Army whereas on the contrary the Duke of Espernon's Forces grew still greater in strength and reputation who having lately receiv'd a recruit of fifteen hundred foot and three hundred Dragoons the Royal Army receiv'd a greater increase from those Regiments he had brought over to the service than from any other whatsoever The King of Navarre had not yet had leisure to draw his Forces together they being dispers'd into several parts as was most convenient for the preservation of such places as were in the possession of the Hugonot Party by which it may easily be imagin'd the King could have no very considerable Army yet was it necessary to make use of the disorder the Leaguers were then in which oblig'd the King upon great probabilities and almost assurance of signal advantages to be reap'd by it to resolve upon leaving â—ours and to make directly for Paris In this March the King of Navarre commanded the Vant-Guard of the Army and his Majesty himself the main Battel reserving the command of the Rear for the Duke of Espernon and that in the very face of the Mareschals de Biron and d' Aumont and of all the other Nobility who were then about his Person It was at this time that the Duke came up
difference betwixt a Governour and a Lieutenant of Guienne He therefore began imperiously to cancel and overthrow all his Orders A Consul of Agen who had been created so at his recommendation was displac'd by the Duke's command for no other reason but because he had been preferr'd at his request such of the Gentry or the People as were known to be affectionate to the Mareschal were certain to obtain little favour with the Governour if any order was presented him sign'd by the Mareschal he would presently issue out another to supersede the first whatever carried the name of Themines was invalid and whatever he own'd as his act must signifie nothing at all And moreover to let him see he had the same Authority over him in his own particular Countrey he had in other places the Duke prepar'd himself to go to Cahors whither the Mareschal was retir'd and accordingly went The Mareschal's House stood near this City he was moreover invested with the Seneschalsy of the Countrey his chiefest Relations Friends and Acquiantance inhabited there notwithstanding all which at the Duke's arrival the Mareschal quitted him the place and retir'd to his own house where seeing himself as it were shut up without Reputation without Authority and almost without Friends he began though something with the latest to see the error he had committed He then plainly saw himself so overmatch'd that he could not contend but to his ruine nor longer stand out to other purpose than thereby to make the advantages of his Superior more manifestly appear and then it was that he rendred himself more facile to his friends perswasions who had before been fruitlesly importunate with him to reconcile himself to his Duty to acknowledge the Duke's Authority and to seek his friendship He therefore sent to the Duke to make an Apology for what had pass'd and to let him know that if he had hitherto fail'd of paying the respect due to his Quality and Command it had not proceeded from any dislike he had of his person which he had in as high reverence and esteem as any man living and that he should have look'd upon it as a very great honour to obey him had not the sweetness of some years Authority wherein he had commanded in Chief and the assurances had been given him he should do so still blinded his Judgment from seeing his duty That he did therefore beseech him he might be permitted to come tender his excuses for what had pass'd and to assure him of his obedience for the time to come The Duke was very well pleas'd to find to this Lord a man full of years and honour in so good a disposition neither had he begun to justle him till after having expected the return of his good humour with the extremest patience so that he sent him word he should be infinitely glad to see him and that he might be confident for the future of as civil usage as he had hitherto found rough and perverse dealing in the exercise of his Command A day for their interview being agreed upon by their friends the Duke would by no means suffer it to be in the Capital City of his Government being unwilling to expose the Age and Person of the Mareschal to so publick a satisfaction but appointed it to be at Saint-Foy whither he himself accordingly came accompanied with many persons of Quality of the Province thither the Mareschal also came to wait upon him when coming into the Duke's Lodgings he receiv'd him without stirring out of his Chamber for which he made his being surpriz'd at Play his excuse It had been concluded that the Mareschal at their meeting should say as he did My Lord I am yoâ—r very humble Servant and am come to give you an assurance that I am so and that I shall be proud of any opportunity â—herein I may by a better testimony manifest it to you and therein satisfie the King's Command and my own Duty To which the Duke return'd for answer in as few words which had also been set down in writing Sir you oblige me with your Friendship you and I are both of us in a capacity of advancing his Majesties Service in this Province I shall gladly concur with you in any thing that may be conducing to it and embrace any occasion wherein I may let you see that I have ever had an esteem for your Valour and Merit and that I am your Servant This first visit continued but very little longer when the Mareschal taking his leave the Duke brought him only to the top of the â—tairs without going any further by which he would let him see that he both understood his place and knew how to keep it The Mareschal having after this first complement continued two days at Saint-Foy in perfect intelligence with the Duke at last frankly told him That he had us'd him according to his desert that he had made â—im know his duty and that he took it for a greater honour to be subservient to him than to any other person of France And in truth he afterwards continued both whilst he staid in the Government and when he was made Governour of Brittany which hapned a few years after to render him so much honour and respect and to give him so many testimonies of friendship that I do not think the Duke had a truer friend in the Kingdom Yet did not all this pass in the order it is here set down there having been some years of interval betwixt their coldness and their reconciliation But I chose rather to record these passages all together than to disperse them into several pages of my History conceiving such a division would more have intangled the thred of my discourse than would have been recompens'd by the order in a more exact observation of the succession of time This Quarrel with the Mareschal de Themines was not yet compos'd when the Duke who had never enough to do resolv'd to come to an open rupture with the first President de Gourgues without dissembling any longer his resentment of the ill Offices he had receiv'd at his hands I have already given an accompt of the Injury which was the Presidents proposing a diminution of Honours at the Duke's reception a thing that bearing with it a shew of contempt pass'd in the Duke's opinion for an irreparable offense Neither could he forbear at his first visit to give him some hints of his displeasure nor from manifesting a little reservedness towards him and as heated spirits never want occasion of new offense his passion making the lightest pretenses to pass for reason and just causes there soon after fell out new accidents which animated the Duke against the first President to the last degree This man subtle and dextrous as the best very well foreseeing that without the concurrence of his Brethren he should never be able to withstand the power of the Duke he had so highly provok'd began betimes to think