would have gone farther if it had succeeded Be it how it will their conspiracy which makes so much noise in our History and passes under the name of the Conspiracy d'Ambois was discovered Renaudie a Gentleman of Perigord a great Lutheran and greater incendiary imparted it to an Advocate of his acquaintance the Advocate to a Master of Requests called Vouze and Vouze either abhorring the design or desirous to do a piece of service that might deserve to be recompensed discovered it to the Guises Nothing was ever more horrid then the passages at Ambois for a whole week together The blood ran down the Streets and the Throats were cut of all such as were suspected to have conspired Madamoiselle de S. André who had as much influence upon the King as she could wish and retained still an implacable enmity to the Prince of Condé thought this a fair opportunity to destroy him She promised pardon to two of the Conspirators if they would accuse him of being the principal Agent They accused him and with him the Admiral and Dandelot It is true one part of their impeachment was right and if that enterprise had succeeded the Prince Admiral and Dandelot would have declared but the poor people that accused him knew nothing of that and the King knowing as little of Madamoiselles design seemed notwithstanding to be of her Plot for he promised them pardon as she had ingaged if they charged him effectually But this promise gave her no little disquiet she was afraid when these false witnesses were at liberty that they would recant She thought fit to consult her Father the Mareschal de S. André in the Case told him what her hatred to the Prince had prompted her to do and withal acquainted him with her apprehension The Mareschal hated the Prince of Condé and his Daughter was too far engaged to retire the Prince must be ruined or she was undone Though the King did her the honor to love her and had promised her protection yet it would have cost him no little trouble to have justified a crime of so important a nature To leave these poor Creatures no possibility of betraying her certain persons were sent to the prison to which the Witnesses were carried back who having taken them aside slew them immediately and they deserved it for their treachery The rupture of this marriage betwixt the Prince de Joinville and Madamoiselle de S. André did no◠interrupt the amity betwixt the Guises and the Mareschal for they continued the best Friends in the World In the mean time the Guises gave orders for the arresting the Prince of Condé next morning proceeding with all possible vigor upon presumption that he was really guilty from the testimony of the two false witnesses which they had carefully examined and were not a little joyed to find their evidence so clear For as to the secret which Madamoiselle de S. André had communicated to her Father it was too tender and delicate to be intrusted to any body besides During all this confusion the Admiral was at his house at Chastillon where with impatience he expected the success of the conspiracy and Dandelot coming to Ambois where the Court was at that time having met upon the Road with some of the Conspirators who were escaped fled into Brittany where his Lady had a very strong Castle There was none of them at Court but the Prince of Condé who continued there to support the enterprise as occasion was offered in so much as none was in such manifest danger as he for he had undoubtedly lost his head if he had been arrested But about two of the clock in the morning before the Duke of Guises orders were to be put in execution one of his Valets de Chamber suddenly awaked him and delivered him a Note which he had just then received with commands to deliver it immediately without consideration whether he was awake or a sleep for the Prince had never an affair that concerned him more nearly The Prince of Condé opened it and found it from a Woman but he could not imagine the hand however that which was in it permitted him to loose no time in examining from whence it came It contained only these few words Save your self Sir or your are a dead Man I have no time to inform you any farther The Prince was too sensible of his guilt to deliberate what he had to do He got up and departed out of the Town with all possible diligence The Guards at the Gates having yet no notice of what was resolved were so far from obstructing his passage that they suffered him to pass with all the respect that was due to his quality He retired to Orleans where his reputation was great his friends considerable and ready to sacrifice themselves for his interest He had not been long gone before the Kings Guards invested his Lodgings and were not a little troubled to find him escaped His accusers were sent for but both of them were murdered and no account could be given by whose orders The suspition was stronger against the Prince of Condé then against Madamoiselle de S. André and yet it was the Mareschal not the Prince who had caused them to be slain Generally people are most jealous of the person accused and the Court was of opinion that the Prince inraged to see himself betrayed had revenged himself upon his accusers before he had fled By the Kings order Process was framed against him which if he had been taken would have certainly been finished but finding him escaped it was judged imprudent to carry things to extremity and they rather chose to pretend ignorance of that conspiracy then to give occasion for new This temper and moderation in their Politicks did not at all accommodate with the fury of Madamoiselle de S. André she complained of it to the King who acquainted her with the Reasons upon which the Council had proceeded in that manner and told her That the ruine of the Prince was but deferred for he would never pardon him or forget his insolence to her Some few days after the Court removed from Ambois to Orleans where the States General were to meet The Prince was departed from thence to the Admiral at Chastillon and from thence to his Brother the King of Navarre who was at that time in his Government in Guyenne Passing by Chastillon he shewed the Admiral the Note by which his life was preserved the Admiral knew the hand and assured him it came from the Mareschal de S. Andres Lady but the Prince found so little probability in that that he could not possibly believe it In the interim the time approached for the Convention of the Estates All the Princes of the Blood and all the great Officers of the Crown were required to be present upon pain of being degraded from their Dignities and reputed accessories in the Conspiracy The Admiral not believing himself accused appeared at the place but the King of
have extorted from me I consent upon no other condition but that for the future your presence does not reproach my weakness and it is by your obedience in this point that I must be convinced of your love These words went very near him yet as soon as the King of Navarre was gone he took his leave also This parting was not however without great trouble it cost the Prince many a sigh and Madam la Mareschalle who had forced her self much to conceal her own sorrow ceased to constrain her self as soon as he was out of sight and paid him in tears for all the sighs he had laid out Things being in this posture betwixt the Prince and Madam la Mareschalle the King of Navarre more in spight to his Brother then any religious consideration turned Catholick and went over to the Church of Rome Before this the Connestable de Montmorency had always been of the Princes party but being informed that the Prince had moved in Counsel for the resumption of some gifts and supposing himself the mark at which he principally aimed because in the Reign of Henry the Second he had received One hundred thousand Crowns of which he had given no account he joyned himself with the Duke of Guise and the Mareschal de S. André under pretence of preserving the Religion of his Ancestors But the truth is it was only fear of being obliged to refund and all that could be said by his Son the Mareschal Mortmorency repuced the Wisest Man in the Kingdom was not of power to divert him This League which the Hugonotes called The Triumvirate being augmented by the accession of the King of Navarre and the reputation that accompanied him as Lieutenant General of the Kingdom the Hugonots forsook Paris where the Catholicks were prevalent The Protestants were no sooner in the Field and the Prince of Condé at the head of them but they began to make their Enemies tremble as their Enemies had made them before The Catholicks would not propose it to the King to return to Paris because the Prince of Condés party increasing daily in their numbers it was not impossible but they might seize upon the Kings person To prevent the mischeifs of such an accident the King of Navarre the Duke of Guise and the Connestable repaired to Fountainbleau with all speed where they found the Queen hesitating and uncertain which party she should take besides that she was weary of the domination of the Guises it is said that the Prince of Condés Religion appeared more commodious to her then her own The History mentions a Letter which the Queen-Mother writ to him some few days before which he sent afterwards to all the Protestant Princes in Germany to provoke their assistance the words of it were these I Watch only for a favorable opportunity to embrace your Party and perhaps your Religion Have you a care on your side and act prudently that after so great an advance I may have no cause to desist On my part I will omit nothing that may deliver me from the oppression I am under I know what measures I am to take to lull and infatuate the Guises and when they believe me the best Friend they have in the World I shall let them see That in Italy there is no such Vertue as Sincerity Consider the great confidence I repose in you and that I do intrust you with my Sons Interest the Kingdoms and my Own It was a strange surprise to the Queen-Mother to find her self pressed by the Confederates to bring the King back again to Paris Before she could put her self under the protection of the Prince she expected till his Army should be strong enough to constrain the rest of the Kingdom to the expulsion of the Guises and because daily Gentlemen were observed to repair to him from all the Provinces in France to tender him their service she thought that time was not far off and therefore expected it with the more patience These considerations obliged her to temporise and her design was as soon as the King of Navarre and his Associates were returned to Paris to take a contrary Road and carry the King to Orleans which was the place of the Prince of Condés Rendezvous and the cheif receptable of his Party The Duke of Guise having had long experience of her cunning told her That the Person of the King was too dear to them to be trusted out of their sight in so ticklish a conjuncture and the King of Navarre who was naturally frank added That for her self she might stay if she pleased but there was a necessity that the King must go along with them and calling for his Coach they carried him with tears in his eyes to Melun that night the next day to the Bois de Vincennes and from thence to Paris where under pretence of magnificence they placed a strong guard about him The Prince was much troubled when he understood the King was in his Enemies hands and thinking at first it had been a trick of the Queens he took all ways that he could invent to revenge himself of her He published a Manifesto remonstrating That the King of Navarre was entred into intelligence with the Guises to keep their Soveraign in durance and to justifie what he said he inserted the Queens Letter to him and offered a sight of the original to any Man that suspected it There was so much probability in what he affirmed That all who were impartial and not of the Guises Party absolutely made no scruple to believe it However those who were Neutral and neither of the one party nor the other got together in troops to demand the inlargement of their King and their numbers increased so fast that they grew formidable to the Confederates insomuch that they were obliged to procure a Declaration from him which they dispersed into all the Provinces of the Kingdom importing That their Majesties were perfectly at liberty and had chosen Paris as a place more proper for their safety that to cajole the Hugonotes who had a design to have seised upon the King the Queen-Mother had thought it convenient to flatter them with frivolous hopes and to wheedle the cheif of their Party with a Letter that had succeeded as she desired This Declaration was followed with an Arrest of the Parliament permitting any Man to murder the Protestants where-ever they met them as persons guilty of Treason both against God and their King Nevertheless no hostility having been committed either on one side or the other the Chancellor de l'Hospital one of the wisest men of his time used all his interest to dissipate a storm that had been gathering and condensing so long But his endeavors were ineffectual the War brake out in so many places together that nothing but a shower of Blood could extinguish it Love which commonly is not to be found but amongst sports and recreations had the courage to behold all these dreadful preparations for a
the Queens Coach into which she was no sooner entred but he faced about and returned to the Admiral This Conference having no better success and the Forces on both sides being near acts of hostility were begun and the King reduced to an unfortunate necessity of conquering his own Kingdom Roüen having declared for the Hugonots was the first Town that was besieged It endured several assaults with a resolution that would have gained it much honor had the cause been as good as their courage but at last the Prince of Condé having in vain endeavored to relieve it the Mareschal de S. André having blocked up the Passes it was taken by storm and the King of Navarre entred in triumph thorow the Breaches This action was great and made a great noise but it was bought very dear For the King of Navarre receiving a shot in his shoulder which had not been dangerous but for the too frequent visits of Madamoiselle du Ruet it proved so ill that putting himself upon the Seyne to go back to Paris by Water a shivering took him by the way and after that a cold sweat which obliged him to stay at Andelis where the same day he died as he lived that is to say in the same uncertainty as to his Religion being neither true Protestant nor good Papist The Prince of Condé who had promised himself great honor from this expedition and knew it to be the only way to strike deep into the heart of Madam la Mareschalle de S. André was much dejected at the loss of Roüen However whilest the Kings Army was imployed in Normandy it came into his mind to advance with his Army to the very Walls of Paris hoping that the suddenness of his approach and the confusion it must needs bring upon so large and populous a City might make its conquest more easie but his success in that was no better then in his relieving of Roüen After the miscarriage of so great an enterprise he thought it inglorious to retire and therefore chose rather to advance against the Duke of Guise who was coming with his victorious Army from Roüen and to engage him if possible to a Battle that might revenge the Hugonots for the loss which they had sustained The Admiral was of the same opinion and they had doubtless defeated the Duke of Guise had their conduct been as good as their courage But their design being more talked of then was necessary the Mareschal de S. André came up with his Troops and joyned with the Royal Army which had need enough of their Succors The Prince was at the head of 12000 Men and the number of the Catholicks was no less They met near the Town of Dreux and the two Armies being drawn up in Battalia the Hugonots charged with that vigor that at first all the advantage was on their side They made themselves masters of the best part of the Catholicks Cannon and took the Connestable Montmerancy prisoner but being allured by the splendor of the Train and the hopes of Booty they put themselves out of order to plunder the Enemies Baggage which the Duke of Guise who was a great Officer observing he took the opportunity charged again and improved the advantage of their confusion so well that he turned the scales and forced the Hugonots out of the Field The Prince of Condé in the greatest heat of this charge advancing in opposition to the Duke of Guise found himself in the midst of a Party of Catholicks who demanded his Sword but instead of giving them an answer he made use of it to make his passage but finding it to no purpose he delivered it to Danville the Connestables second Son and yeilded himself his prisoner Whilest the Catholicks were in this manner engaged with the Prince of Condé a Body of the Hugonot Horse having made a charge upon the Mareschal de S. André who was too hotly in pursuit of the victory they put him to the same distress took him prisoner and were carrying him off to accompany the Connestable But a Parisian called Meziers who had been formerly disobliged by him took that opportunity to revenge himself and shot him dead upon the place The Admiral with the relicks of his Hugonot Troops recovered Orleans with all speed apprehending that if he were charged again he should be forced to quit the Connestable The Prince of Condé was presented by Danville to the Duke of Guise who treated him with a respect accompanied with many marks of esteem which were returned with so much generosity by the Prince that it was an astonishment to them both to consider that notwithstanding the great deference and civility they expressed one to the other that yet they should be so unhappy as to be Enemies Madam la Mareschalle de S. André whose vertue had hitherto been unshakable was much troubled for the death of her Husband But the news of the death of Eleonora Wife to the Prince of Condé arriving presently after gave her no small relaxation She had received a Letter from the Prince of Condé dated after the Battle of Dreux to comfort her against the loss of her Husband and she to requite it had condoled with him with the same ceremony upon the loss of his Wife But the design was only to advertise one another that those impediments being removed they were now at liberty and needed not any longer restraint In the mean time the Duke of Guise who had gained great reputation by the greatness of this exploit was unwilling to give the Hugonots breath the most of whose great Officers being prisoners he concluded the opportunity too favorable to be slipped and Orleans being the most considerable Town of their party he thought by forcing of that to reduce them to a necessity of admitting what terms and impositions he pleased to exact He began that siege the beginning of February and in spight of the extreamity of the season and opposition of the Garrison possessed himself of all the Suburbs with the loss only of eight or nine men but riding out one evening to meet his Lady who was at that time coming to the Leagure the infamous Poltrot having watched him three or four days before shot him treacherously with a Pistol of which he died six days after to the infinite regret of all that knew him and particularly of the Prince of Condé who though his Enemy could not forbear giving testimony of his sorrow at his first notice of the news All the Catholick Historians and even those whose Religion he would have destroyed have thought it an honor to do Justice to his memory and though they were not of the same sentiments in point of Religion yet in this they agreed That he had all the necessary qualifications of a Gentleman without any of the vices either of a Prince or a Courtier Least he might leave a stain upon his memory he imployed almost the last moments of his life in clearing himself of the
to see her supposing he should easily have surprised her but by ill fortune for him she had changed her appartment since he saw her last and having timely notice that the Prince was to visit her she retired into her Closset and shut the door to her resolving he should break it open rather then she would see him This severity did not make him forget the respect which accompanied his passion He conjured her only to let him have the honor to see her and to oblige her thereunto he said so many kind things that signified so much the sincerity of his sorrow as would infallibly have prevailed had she been capable of forgiving him But let him say what he could he was married to another and the very thought of that put her into a fury that rendered her deaf to all his solicitations He was a compleat hour begging most earnestly that she would but grant him the honor to see her though for as small a time as she pleased but being after all his importunity unable to obtain any answer but a few angry words which he received with the greatest submission he retired rather then be troublesome any longer and within a few days removed to Noyers in Bourgogne which was a House belonging to his new Lady to see if absence that is one of the usual remedies of love could cure him of that wherewith he was so cruelly tormented He had not been there long before two Soldiers were apprehended measuring the Wall of the Castle which they designed to have scaled They were brought in and examined and finding themselves in danger to be very ill treated unless they discovered the truth they confessed they had done it by order from the Queen and the Cardinal of Lorraine who had resolved to surprise and exterminate all the Hugonots and that they might do it with more ease it was concluded to begin with the Prince of Condé as their head It is most certain this was resolved in Council and the Admiral who was at Taulay with Dandelot his Brother to whom that House belonged had already some inkling of it The Prince not being far from them dispatched a Courrier immediately which confirmed them much in what they were but jealous of before because they had had it from a person of but ordinary quality Had they not instantly united and retired out of that Province they had been circumvented by a party of Horse which came into Bourgogne on purpose but when the said party found they were gone with a Convoy of an hundred and fifty Horse they pursued them as far as the River Loire where they had passed at a Ford not far from Sancere Scarce was the Prince clear of the River and firm on the other side before the Kings Troops appeared and might easily have got over at the same Ford. But Evening coming on the Officers thought it more convenient to defer it till the next Morning and in the Night the River swelled so violently that it was not fordable any where which putting a stop to the pursuit of the Catholicks the Hugonots looked upon their preservation as a miracle The Prince the Admiral and Dandelot being so strangely delivered retreated to Rochel where in a few days time they had a general Rendezvous of all their own Troops and Four thousand Men brought to them by the Queen of Navarre The Kings Army commanded by the Duke of Anjou remained in Campagne and Montesquiou who accompanied his Master left not Paris without renewing to Madam la Mareschalle de S. André the promises which he had made to sacrifice the life of the Prince of Condé to her resentment but his flowness had made her often repent that she had committed the care of her revenge to a Man of so little resolution She attended with great impatience to hear the news of what he had done when one Afternoon as she returned from some visits which she had been making abroad her Porter delivered her a Letter directed to her and brought by one of the ordinary Messengers of the Post-Office The character of the superscription and the Seal being unknown to her she opened it and was exceedingly surprised to find it came from the Prince of Condé Her first thoughts were to tear it without reading but her curiosity to know what he could expect after so great infidelity overpowred her indignation and prevailed with her to read it But all the choller wherewith she had fortified her self least by seeing it she should be any ways melted could not defend her against the love that he expressed in it The poor Prince who to speak properly rather endured then took comfort in his life so unhappy he thought himself to have contracted the hatred of his Mistress had written to her as his last remedy from Rochel to endeavor if possible to mollifie her And if he could not succeed his resolution was to precipitate himself into so many desperate actions as would in probability afford him some person that might revenge his infidelity This Letter was writ so much like a Gentleman his excuses so cordial his contrition so likely and something else there was so passionate and moving that altogether they cost Madam la Mareschalle no few tears before she could read them thorow Instead of that fury which had possessed her before the fear least Montesquiou should be too faithful in the execution of her commands was the thing which wholly took up her thoughts She writ to him with all speed and desired him to suspend the execution of his promise till farther order He received the Letter and found by the alteration of her stile that the detestation which Madam la Mareschalle had had for the Prince began to abate and that if ever they came together their love would certainly revive To make her believe her Letter never came to his hands he would give her no answer but accused his own laziness for not having killed the Prince sooner Madam la Mareschalle who perhaps guessed what was the design of his silence writ again to Montesquiou and forbad him in express terms to execute a command that she had laid upon him in her rage but disapproved since she had recovered the use of her Reason This Letter exasperated Montesquiou so highly that what she intended to prevent the destruction of the Prince hastned it and made her Agent the more vigorous in its execution In short finding Montesquiou would return her no answer but still continued his silence she dispatched a Messenger to him on purpose with a third Letter which she charged him to deliver into his own hand to take from him all possibility of excuse In the mean time the two Armies approached and came within sight of one another where they lay for a fortnight together skirmishing and in defiance The Kings Army was more numerous by one third but the Princes Army consisted of better and more resolute men and therefore they promised themselves the victory if they could
obliged for your care and solicitousness to reform it it would be indecent to suffer this licentiousness and leave the obscenities of Madam l'Admiral or the profanation of the place unpunished I am not the only person Madam continued the Cardinal who looks with indignation upon the insolence which she would commit in a place where Mediocrity of respect is a kind of a crime My Brother of Guise and you know Madam how dear your Majesties honor is to him and whether Heaven it self can produce a Man with greater zeal then that which he has for your interest My Brother of Guise I say and the Mareschal de S. André the next person to my Brother for his devotion to your Majesty in your whole Kingdom are infinitely scandalised at this impudence and do attend what your Majesty shall please to command them The Queen when she had given the Cardinal freedom to speak what he pleased replied That she was of his judgment that this insolence was too criminal to pass unpunished and asked him what expedient he could think of to convince the Admirals Lady of a crime which would be so easie for her to deny I beg your Majesties pardon replied the Cardinal if I sully your imagination with a figure that may perhaps intrench upon your modesty I know what you will suffer to hear me say it is impossible to convict her unless she be taken in the act But there are few terms to express any thing that is impure that do not carry something of immodesty along with them and the blush that rises already in your Majesties face gives no little lustre to your Majesties vertue At length the Queen consented absolutely to what the Cardinal desired She had an old pique to Madam l'Admiral which she was very glad to satisfie so easily And though her authority over the Kings mind was very great yet because he was naturally wavering and inconstant The Cardinal begged of her Majesty that she would preserve it as a secret from him telling her that her single advice was sufficient to warrant what they intended to do Twelve a clock came and several people were waiting upon several designs The Queen could not think of sleeping till she had had the pleasure of understanding the confusion of the Admirals Lady and who was her Gallant She had seen the Prince de Joinville after the Cardinal of Lorraine went away and he had with a great deal of readiness obliged himself to give her an account of whatever hapned in that business the Queen commanded him to be punctual and promised to sit up till he came She imployed her self in the mean time in reading and had kept only two of the Ladies of her Bed-chamber with her her Maids of Honor being gone to their Chambers as soon as the clock struck twelve as was the usual custome And Madam de la Noûe having advertised Madamoiselle de S. André of the hour which the King had appointed she bad her companions good night and for fashion-sake entring into her own Lodgings stole out again presently after to go into the Chamber of the Metamorphoses where she staid not long before the King came in The hearts of the Guises and the Mareschal de S. André were too streight to contain the joy that they conceived they staid at Supper the Duke of Montpensier and the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon and promised them such a treat as they could not expect Twelve a clock struck and they heard nothing of the treat the Princes called for it but were desired to be patient and to believe that if they waited three nights together it would be well worth their attendance when it came The Rendezvous this night was appointed precisely at twelve a clock but that which was appointed in the Note which Madam l'Admiral had lost was not till one and the Duke of Guise the Mareschal de S. André and the Prince de Joinville who thought themselves highly ingaged to their fortune which had presented them with an occasion of disgracing the most dangerous of their Enemies would have believed themselves guilty of an irrepairable fault if they had been deficient in any thing that might have hastned his ruine The Duke of Guise had placed a Spie where it was impossible any body should enter into the Room of the Metamorphoses without being perceived The Duke was assured of his fidelity and told him That a Gallant had appointed a Rendezvous to his Mistress in that place but he told him not any thing who they were He promised him great rewards and conjured him to observe very diligently and not to stir till he sent him word by a person who for a signal should demand the Diamond that he had left with him The Spie wanted no wit and understood well enough that the imployment which was given him was one of the ways by which people were advanced most easily at Court he promised the Duke to be punctual in all that he desired Things being in this posture the the clock struck one The Mareschal de S. André perswaded the Duke that men did not meet always exactly at the hour appointed that their design would infallibly miscarry if it should be their ill fortune to execute it but one moment too soon and therefore advised him to protract another half hour and they should surprise the Admirals Lady in the height of her delight About half an hour past one a person was sent to the Scout to demand the Diamond which the Duke left with him which was the signal upon which word was to be sent whether the lovers were come or not The Scout replied That they were come long since and the Messenger ran immediately with the news to the Duke of Guise COme Gentlemen the hour of your entertainment is now come said the Mareschal de S. André to the Duke de Montpensier and the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon it has been long a coming it is true but it is well worth your attendance and if ever you had occasion to laugh heartily in your whole lives I dare promise it will be presently For my own part said he with a torrent of joy that endeavored to expand it self I must tell you I would not change the pleasure of this night for the best days pleasure in my whole life And if ever I had any true delight it is that which I am now going to receive and you to be my witnesses To give them a taste of it before hand he told them in few words what it was the secret being no longer of consequence seeing the execution was so near whereupon he shewed them the Note which fell into the hands of the Prince de Joinville who by way of intimacy he called already his Son in Law because his Marriage with the said Mareschals Daughter as I have said before was to be consummate in a few days The Duke of Montpensier and the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon being young Gentlemen and lovers of
Navarre being less considerable at Court then the Guises refused to be present and the Prince of Condé who had been practising in all the Towns thorow which he passed was so far from obeying the Summons that he raised Men with the Moneys he received from the Hugonots to remove the Guises by force of Arms which was concluded to be the only way considering the difficulty of a Conjuration where so many were to be intrusted that it was hard but some of them would either be treacherous or imprudent The Caresses wherewith the Admiral was treated at Orleans did easily perswade him that he was not at all suspected and that the Note sent to the Prince of Condé was but an artifice of the Mareschal and the Guises to remove him from Court and render him suspect He writ to the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé and conjured them not to make themselves criminal He assured them they would be gratiously received and that their presence was necessary to balance and correct the power of the Guises which was like to be too potent unless restrained by the presence of the Princes of the Blood These Letters not prevailing he writ again and sent them word That it was by the Queens orders who was grown weary as well as the rest of the State of the Dominion and Tyranny of the Guises and least they should question the truth of his Letters he sent them another in which the Queen Mother explained her self under her own hand and conjured them to rescue her from the oppressions of that family This Letter was effectual and brought them to the Lure The desire which they had to wrest the Government out of the hands of the Guises made them forget that the Queen was the most dissembling Princess of her time The King of Navarre would needs go and notwithstanding his repugnancy pressed the Prince of Condé so earnestly that he was not able to deny him Madamoiselle de S. André who had sworn never to pardon the Prince of Condé for the dishonor which he had occasioned to her and his insolent expressions thereupon chose that moment wherein his Majesty was in his extasie of pleasure to beseech him if he loved her as he pretended to revenge and rid her of a person whose very presence was a secret reproach to her which she was not able to bear What can a Man refuse his Mistress at such a time or rather what will he not grant The King need not have been in love to have been blind he was of an age incapable of reflections he promised her the Prince should die and would have promised her more if she had desired it As soon as the King of Navarre came to Orleans he was allowed his Guards but the Prince of Condé was arrested and put into custody They revived his Process that had been laid aside accused him to have had a principal hand in the conspiracy d'Ambois and to have caused his accusers to be murdered to conceal the evidence of his crime The King and Madamoiselle instructed his Judges after which it was a hard matter to prove himself innocent As often as they charged him with the murder of the Witnesses he appeared strangely disturbed and that disturbance was taken by those who were to judge him as a great argument of his guilt They confronted him with one Sague Secretary to the King of Navarre whom either the fear of the Rack or the hopes of a recompence had made to tell dangerous things He was amazed to see that unhappy person who had received great obligations from him to hold intelligence with his Enemies and endeavor his destruction and this surprise was seconded by another far more incomprehensible One of his Guards and a Man who would attempt any thing for Money gave him privately a Note that he had received from an unknown person who had conjured him to deliver it into the Princes own hand The Prince opened it and found presently by the character that it came from the same person who had advised him so seasonably to preserve himself at Ambois He doubted not but now also she had something of great importance to advertise and in that opinion he read it hastily and found these words TAke my advice Sir and prepare for your death it is to no purpose to think of a defence The person that prosecutes you is a Friend to the State nothing appears more guilty then you They who out of true Zeal and Loyalty to the King have rendered you so Criminal were honest Men and incapable to be suborned I have too great an interest in the mischeifs that you have done in your life to conceal from you that the decree of your death is no longer so great a secret Those wicked fellows for so it is you are pleased to call them who have adventured to accuse you deserve a recompence as justly as you do that death which is preparing for you it is only your Vanity perswades you that your Merit has created you Enemies and that it is not your Crimes which have caused your disgrace Deny with your usual impudence and obstinacy that you ever had any hand in the wicked and detestable practices of the Conspiracy of Ambois It is not whatever you imagine to the contrary im Possible to convict you Fare as you please but prepare your self well The poor Prince perceiving every body to insult upon his misery had like to have lost all patience He could not comprehend upon what reason the same person who had advertised him so kindly before to preserve himself should trample upon him now unnecessarily in so sad a conjuncture Either he thought he had never merited from her the least concern for his life or else he believed he had deserved what she had done for him and though perhaps he had not actually expressed himself in her service so far as to oblige her to that favor yet he had never done any thing to displease her or provoke her to that insolence However this way of proceeding was so different from her former that he took the Letter which he had thrown upon the Table read it over again and could not find one word in it but of injury and reproach He folded it and unfolded it several times to see if there was no mystery for standing as he did accused of High Treason it was dangerous to deliver their advice too plainly how favorably soever they might stand He searched and examined so long that at length he found what he looked for This Letter to read it as Letters are generally read was without question highly disobliging but to read it but half that is after you have read the first line to skip the second then the fourth then the sixth and so on with the rest it will be found in these terms TAke my advice Sir and prepare for your defence the person that prosecutes you is more guilty then you They who have rendered you
nevertheless she could not but lend an ear to the passion of so great a man as the Prince of Condé She hearkned to all that the ardor of his affection could dictate to his tongue and when he had done retired without giving him any answer rather to irritate and foment then to revenge or extirpate the love which he had conceived Since her daughter in law was recluse in the Nunnery at Longchamp no body at Court was able to contend with her so as she had many Servants and among the rest Anthony of Bourbon King of Navarre and own Brother to the Prince of Condé But being resolved if she entertained any to have a lover whose excellent accomplishments might in some measure excuse her weaknesses if it should be thought so and that King being timorous and irresolute she continued firm in her inclinations to the Prince Two Rivals are never long without emulation and how strong soever the ligaments of blood may be love will easily break them when they become obstacles to their designs The King of Navarre who before was an Enemy to the Guises joyning with their party rendered it more strong for some few days before by the Edict of Pacification he was declared Lieutenant General of the Kingdom The War being not quite extinct it was no hard matter to revive it and Fortune presented them with a pretence which both parties did equally desire The first of March in the year One thousand five hundred sixty and two as the Duke of Guise was passing by the little Town of Vassi some of his retinue in curiosity entered into a House where the Hugonotes were at their devotion and perhaps treated them with derision which being disgusted by the Hugonotes a quarrel began and from words they came insensibly to blows The Duke of Guise running in amongst them to prevent any disorder his presence revived the hatred which the Hugonotes had for him and one of them had the confidence to throw a stone at him and broke his head which so animated his people against them that afterwards he was not able to restrain them And though he used the utmost of his authority to hinder them above fifty of the Hugonotes were slain and more then two hundred wounded This was the Massacre at Vassi which hath made such a noise in our History and was a praeludium to all the Wars which succeeded not only in the Reign of Charles the Nineth but afterwards under Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth Report that never presents any thing fairly and as it is carried the news of this outrage to the Prince of Condé and accompanied it with so many ill circumstances as gave him occasion to presume that the Duke of Guise was the Author He departed immediately to attend the King at Monceaux where for some days he was diverting himself with the Queen-Mother and his Brothers the Dukes of Anjon and Alencon in whose presence he complained to his Majesty of the violence which the Duke of Guise had used contrary to the Articles of the Treaty to the prejudice of the Priviledges granted to that new opinion but by the coldness of his answer he found he was not to expect reparation unless it were demanded with his Sword in his hand He dispatched Messengers privately to the cheif of his party who since the late pacification were dispersed into several Provinces and appointed them a Rendezvous at Orleans where in spight of the Arrest that was given against him in the time of the late King his name was highly considerable He was much pleased with so fair a pretence of renewing the War for his valor could not be idle But this Martial inclination was much impugned by another which at that time was more strong upon his heart and the Passion which he had for the Mareschal de S. André was incompatible with a design that would remove him so far from her The Queen Mother who for her own interest apprehended they would seise upon the King in whose person all her authority was placed conveyed him with all diligence to Paris but because the Cabal of the Guises which she feared no less then that of the Prince were as powerful she thought him not safe there but two days after removed him to Fountainbleau The King of Navarre whose character of Lieutenant General of the Kingdom obliged him to remain some time at Paris to give out such orders as were necessary for the good of the State failed not every day to multiply his visits to Madam la Mareschalle de S. André who did not reckon it among her good fortunes to receive them her heart being too full of the Prince of Condé to afford room for any body else To increase the good opinion of her Husband and give him farther assurance of her fidelity which he thought already incorruptible and yet it was tottering at that very time she discovered to him the designs of the King of Navarre who the day before had intimated his affection and told him that after so mortal an injury the very sight of him would be a trouble from which she would willingly be excused the Mareschal ravished with the vertue of his Wife granted her desire and consented that the King of Navarre should be requested to discontinue his visits For his own part though the offence which the King had committed was of an unpardonable nature yet the Mareschal suspended his resentment least it should separate him from his party and ingage him with the Prince The next day the King of Navarre renewing his visits to Madam la Mareschalle was told she was not within He asked for the Mareschal and was answered That he also was abroad This is not true replied the King of Navarre the Prince of Condé is here I see by his Liveries and Madam la Mareschelle is with him for it is not to her Husband he makes his visits And having said so he presumed so far upon the priviledge of his quality as to go up the Stairs into the Ladies appartment where he found the Prince as he said It is most certain the sight of a Rival who is suspected to be in greater favor disturbs a man exceedingly where his Passion is strong The King of Navarre could not support the affront which Madam la Mareschelle had done him in preferring his Brother whom he looked upon as much inferior to himself in respect of the inequality of his power but the Mareschals Lady regarded not that On the contrary the Princes extraordinary merit made her look upon other things as the injustice of Fortune to which if it had been in her power to have administred a remedy there is nothing but she would have enterprised to have proved her self the less blind of the two You have reason Madam said the King of Navarre as he came in to deny your self to be at home it is not grateful to be interrupted in so pleasant a privacy I see I have taken an ill time to
visit you which perhaps you will not easily pardon The Lady was much disturbed at the sight of the King of Navarre as being unwilling to have been surprised with the Prince of Condé though nothing passed betwixt them that Fame it self could reproach and assuming an air more fierce then usual she replied That in the privacy she injoyed with his Brother she feared no such affront as she had received not many days before and that to prevent a second from the same person she would take her measures so as he should never find her alone I suppose I understand you Madam replied the King of Navarre you have no desire that I should find you alone but you are not offended to be alone with another and the orders you left with your Porter assures me that I should have done you a kindness to have left you so now Since you are pleased Monsieur replied the Lady For though he was King of Navarre being born a Subject to the King of France they called him not SIRE but only Monseigneur as first Prince of the Blood but Madam la Mareschalle being in a Passion against him thought her self excusable in that point and not obliged to those punctilioes with a Prince who had treated her in that manner Since you are pleased Monsieur said she to name your self as if you had feared I should have imputed the affront which you have done me to some other person I will not rob you of the honor of so noble an action For a need I shall go farther and confess to you ingenuously that the orders given to my Porter were intended only for you This is too much Madam replied the King of Navarre and the presence of that person whom you prefer exacted not from you so blind a complaisance I have declared I love you and am ready to do it again if it be a weakness it is a weakness that may without dishonor be owned I know not however upon what reason you condemn it in me and approve it in another Madam la Mareschalle would have returned him an answer but the Prince prevented it and told the King of Navarre in some kind of heat That he considered neither his Seniority nor Majesty when the reputation of Madam la Mareschalle was at stake that he forgot there what perhaps he might ow him in another place that what she condemned in him was condemnable in all the World and that he ought to judge more favorably of her vertue seeing the temptation of his Crown was not able to stagger it You speak Sir a little too high replied the King of Navarre but I do not admire it Madam la Mareschalle inspires courage where she pleases yet she must give me leave to question whether so bold a defender of her reputation contributes much to its establishment and for what you would have me judge of her vertue the great care you take of it is a great means to keep me from a rash and temerarious construction Adieu Madam said he addressing himself towards her I do not envy my Brother the favors which you show him It is but reason he should be favored in his love who has had so little of it in his fortune and if your Ladiship will give me leave to be free I must tell you I perceive that to be younger seven or eight years is an advantage that makes a man much more considerable to you And having said so he went out resolved to revenge himself both upon the Lady and Prince Though there was nothing in the passion which the Prince had for Madam la Mareschalle at which the most nice and scrupulous Vertue could have been scandalized yet he was not a little discomposed that the King of Navarre should find them together He made large Apologies that his visit was so unseasonable and promised to show his resentment so far if report should any ways intrench upon her honor that the Lady was not only affected but forbore not to testifie it He had not had the happiness to discourse with her since their conference in the Queens Lodgings and notwithstanding all the pains which he took to create an occasion she kept her self carefully upon her guard and indeed declined him as much as she could least the esteem she had for him should be drawn into an intelligence with his affection for her The Prince in this anxiety being about to leave Paris and expose himself to the uncertainty of the Wars could not resolve to leave the Town without explaining himself once more to Madam la Mareschalle and to prevent her avoiding him he made her a visit at her own House where he had been a compleat hour before the King of Navarre interrupted them Whilest he was alone with her he had expressed himself so tenderly and with so much testimony of his love represented to her the possibility that this might be the last moment in which he might ever see her again that the fortune of the Wars was uncertain and that if she suffered him to depart without satisfying him that it was to her he ought all his obligations his life would be a burden to him of which he would endeavor to ease himself the first Battle he should be ingaged in He I say expressed himself so passionately in these terms that at length she could not hold but cryed out Live Sir live and if you have any passion for me make good use of that service which I have endeavored to render you Alas Madam replied the Prince how unprofitable is all your kindness if your Vertue will not permit my acknowledgments to exceed the degree of esteem As many times as I have presumed to declare my affections so many times have your eyes which I always carefully observed checked and reprehended my boldness and now even at this moment I see your colour change and your modesty as it were upbraiding me for setting so great a value upon your generosity and goodness It is true Madam when at first you complained to me of the importunity of the King of Navarre I thought myself admonished that I could not do the same thing without giving your Ladiship the same offence But when I considered that he had never been received but with indifferency and could not pretend to any obligation upon account of your favors I looked upon the Declaration which he had the confidence to make as an intrenchment upon your honor whereas you having been so noble as to concern your self for me even to the saving of my life I thought my self obliged to love you upon much better grounds then he and to speak truth I thought I could not conceal it without the highest ingratitude This was their discourse before the King of Navarre came in and the Prince had negotiated so well that he had prevailed with her to permit his affection But I beseech you said Madam la Mareschalle to the Prince never see me again after the consent which you
much surprised and looking upon him with scorn she told him That did she not believe she should disparage her self by publishing his confidence she would have made him presently to have repented it and then turning away she forbad him her presence for ever This Gallant whose quality was not great enough to permit him to revenge himself publickly had recourse to the cunning of inferior spirits and did what he could to deprave and blacken the reputation of the Lady The kindness which she had for the Prince of Condé and he for her was the discourse of the whole Court and it was given on the Ladies side that hers was most violent and that which made it the more credible was a present that she had made him great enough indeed to cause it to be presumed that it was the recompence of some extraordinary service After the Dukes of Anjou and Alencon the Kings Brothers there was no body but the young Prince of Bearn who was since Henry le Grand nearer the Crown then the Prince of Condé and yet this latter though a Prince of the Blood was but narrow in his fortune and could not make any expence proportionable to his quality The Mareschals Widow could not suffer so little a defect in so considerable a Man she took delight in correcting the injustice of Fortune and Valery being one of the best of her Mannors she conjured him to accept it and gave it in so good earnest that the Princes Heirs enjoy it at this day To gratifie her kindness and perhaps to oblige her to something else which I will not mention in this place and which malicious people say she never refused him the Prince promised her Marriage and had married her immediately had he believed the Peace firm enough to have lived quietly with her In the mean time people talked diversly of this Act of Bounty in the Widow For one person that commended it there were ten who reproached it and there hapned at the same time to be a Poet who exercised his vein upon it and made two Couplets to the the tune of a Courant that was then in mighty request When the mutinous Stars call him forth to the Wars Success the Prince always pursues And Love in that case thinks it fit to embrace The same side that Vict'ry does chuse To this fortunate Prince fear'd and lov'd ever since His dear an Estate did Demise Without telling its name you may guess at what game 'T was his Highness got such a Prize These Verses made more noise then they were worth Montesquiou was one of the first that had got them and to revenge himself of his Mistress he gave Copies of them to any body that asked them And when at last they were suspected to be his he denied them in such a manner as perswaded people it was true though indeed he was none of the Author There being nothing in the Song but what either was or was thought to the Princes advantage It was not long before it was sung to him but he who sung it was not so wise as he might have been The Prince desired the Copy and asked him if he knew the Author he told him it was Montesquious hand and that he had made them himself At his departure from thence going directly to Madam la Mareschalles Lodgings he found her in a greater rage then ever he had seen her and it was not long before he understood the occasion One of her intimate friends had brought her a Copy of the same Verses which she had heard sung also and inquiring of the Author it was said to be Montsequiou Madam la Mareschalle had no mind to acquaint the Prince with the affront she had already received because she would not trouble him with the knowledge that he had so inconsiderable a Rival But inraged as she was she could keep no measures but used all means possible to revenge her self of his insolence The Verses which had been given to the Prince and those which were brought to Madam la Mareschalle were written both in a hand which confirmed the suspition that Montesquiou made them This incensed the Prince so highly against him that as Montesquiou was one night returning alone from the Louvre he met with those who gave him an hundred good blows with a Weapon not altogether so honorable as a Sword and least he should be ignorant from whence that beating came they told him it was a present from the Prince of Condé This assault made a greater noise then the Verses The Queen who loved the Duke of Anjou exceedingly took it very ill that the Prince should treat one of his principal Officers at that rate But there was too much inequality betwixt them for the Prince to make any excuse and besides since the Duke of Guises misfortune there was scarce a Gentleman in France but would have sided with a Prince of the Blood Things were in this posture when the Admiral who was not at all pleased with the Princes passion for Madam la Mareschalle de S. André proposed a match to him with Madamoiselle de Orleans the Duke of Longuevilles Sister who was young and handsome and a better fortune then the other Some are of opinion and have not spared to report it that the Prince had obtained of Madam la Mareschalle that which should never be granted to any Man whom a Woman desires to make her Husband For this is a certain property of love to desire without end and when nothing is left to irritate that desire love ceases and takes no pleasure in any thing it receives However though the Princes heat began to slacken every day yet he was so far sensible of the favors which he had enjoyed from the Lady Mareschalle de S. André that he rejected the Admirals proposition at first as knowing how insufferable it would be to the person in the whole World to whom he had the greatest obligation Yet his design was to leave her by degrees and to restore her Mannor of Valery that she had given him so generously that he might discontinue insensibly he forbore his visits at first for two days then four and next a whole week Madam la Mareschalle thinking every hour lost that was not spent in his company complained of him so tenderly and reproached his cruelty in so gentle and innocent terms that privately the Prince could not but accuse his own obduracy in not answering so incomparable a kindness One day as she desired him to make no more Protestations but perform his promise he gave such poor and trifling Reasons to excuse it that after she had used the utmost of her power to conceal her sorrow and was scarce able to contain her tears which were ready to break forth before his face she could not but tell him Then Sir I see your love is at an end Consider better of your self Madam replied the Prince and do not so much injustice to your own Excellency to
THE PRINCE OF Conde Made English LONDON Printed for H. Herringman at the Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange 1675. TO THE READER Kind Reader HOw far you will be pleased with this Present of mine I cannot resolve but this I can assure you Persons of extraordinary Quality and Parts have perused it with approbation The great name that I am permitted to give it is sufficient to justifie what I expose for it is easily imaginable that no Pen could be so imprudently audacious as to place it in the Title of any Book that was defective either in duty or respect Though in this little piece there are many Historical Circumstances which may make it seem true yet my design is not so much to delude as to divert my Reader and prevent the Error into which he would fall should he give too much faith to every particular in it All the Passages of War and Occurrences thereupon are seriously true but as to Love and those Mystical Intrigues I cannot secure you To speak properly it is a new kind of Romance carried on under illustrious Names to make it the more acceptable For people have naturally more sence and compassion for a Prince of their own knowledge then for a Heroe they never heard of before THE PRINCE OF CONDE LOve makes as many People unhappy as Fortune Many great Persons have been seen to struggle and bear up couragiously against the assaults of Fortune who have not been able to withstand the attacks and impressions of Love A Prince of Condé and that very name is sufficient to pronounce him a great Man had been the happiest Prince of his time had not that Passion mingled it self with others which made him so eminent but his Ambition which he cloaked under the pretence of Religion ceased to be omnipotent from the time that Love entered into his Heart He was Brother to Anthony de Bourbon the Father of Henry the Great a Prince whose Memory is adorable in France and whose Glory immortal whilest there is the least Fidelity in the Age. This Anthony de Bourbon King of Navarre in right of his Wife Jeane d' Albert was a Prince whose Courage willingly reposed it self when there were no great Affairs on foot to give it agitation His Prudence was but indifferent and rather inclining to weakness or to use the terms of the Historian He was considerable more for his quality then qualifications But Lewis his younger Brother was valiant firm prompt daring and so possest of his own Merit that he thought it a defect in his Fortune more then in his Capacity that he also had not a Crown He was very young when he married Eleanor de Roy rather to accommodate his affairs for his Birth was not attended with every thing necessary to his living up to it then for any great inclination he had to her person Not but she was one of the handsomest about the Court but in those days their niceness began to be extravagant and the Gallants by profession of which number the Prince of Condé was one feared no scandal so much as that of being kind to their Wives vertue which they declared unfit to be practised by any person of condition The Daughter of the Mareschal de S. André being as beautiful as her Father was valiant was the Person the Prince of Condé designed for his Conquest This Mareschal was devoted intirely to the House of Lorraine which was a declared Enemy to the House of Bourbon and had promised his Daughter to the eldest Son of the Duke of Guise against whom the Prince had too great an animosity not to seek out all ways imaginable to ingratiate with so fair a Lady though but in revenge The Mareschal de S. Andre's Daughter was one of the Maids of Honor to Queen Catharine and not much loved by the rest because her beauty was more celebrated and there is nothing mortifying amongst Ladies like preference in that point But the pleasure which she took to find her self admired by all people that saw her supported her well enough against their little affronts and it was vengeance sufficient to leave them only such homages as she had refused Francis the Second who Reigned at that time reposed his State Affairs upon the Queen-Mother to whom nothing being dearer then Government she forgot nothing that might keep him in ignorance representing to him that the life of a Monarch was no longer then the life of another Man that many times their prime was passed before they understood how to imploy it to the best and that the wisdom of a young Prince consisted in tasting more pleasure then the rest of his Subjects Poysoned with these dangerous Maximes he suffered no occasion to escape in which he might indulge and the Queen upon her own private account was so unwilling that he should want that she made it her business sometimes to contrive entertainments for him her self One day after a hunting match in the Forest of Meudon which belonged to the House of Guise the Queen having sent the whole Court thither would needs regal them at a House which Monsieur Condé had at S. Cloud and at that time was one of the pleasantest places about Paris The Maids of Honor of the two Queens for Francis the Second had married Mary Daughter and Heir of the Kingdom of Scotland who delighted no more in State Matters then her Husband The Maids of Honor of these two Queens I say were drest with as much exactness as was possible and did execution according to the proportion of Beauty wherewith each of them was charged but among them all there was none but Madamoiseille de S. André universally admired for she captivated all people that presented themselves to her eye The Prince of Condé who had no thoughts of courting her but in opposition to the Prince de Joinville to whom she was promised began to acknowledge that he had done her injustice and to find that upon her own score she was sufficiently amiable without other considerations She was so great a lover of Fishing that being come to S. Cloud she desired one of the Queens Pages to procure her an Angle what ever it cost and to expect her at the side of the Canal in the Garden whither she would not fail to repair with all possible speed The great Feast that was preparing was not so much to her satisfaction as the pleasure she hoped to have after it was done Least she should be followed with a shole of admirers with which she was continually attended she went into the Chamber where the Queens were and passing thorow it went down privately by a Pair of back Stairs into the Garden to the Page who was waiting for her with her Rod and her Line The Prince of Condé had never seen her so glorious as that day and finding her much handsomer then ordinary he began to love her much better then before He was discoursing in one of the Walks
with the Admiral of Colignes to whom he discovered the Passion he had for that Lady stopping his ears to what ever the said Admiral could object against a thing that he found incompatible with their design of wresting the Government out of the hands of the House of Guise What hath our design to do with my Passion said the Prince the Religion of which you are a Professor and I the rather because the Guises are of the other This Religion I say does it forbid any Man that is a Gentleman for loving the most beautiful Person in the World Or what vengeance would be left for me to take of the Prince of Joinville whom I hate for being Son to the Duke of Guise if by a destiny transcending the good fortune of so many brave Men as are at Court he should engross so excellent a Lady No no Monsieur l'Admiral said the Prince that shall never be laid at my door The Priviledges of the Guises are not great enough to exempt their Family from a disgrace that perhaps neither you nor I am exempt from and though I were not the most amorous of my Sex it would please me to be so much their Enemy as to give them all the disquiet I might He was in this discourse when he perceived Madamoiselle de S. André marching towards the Canal where she was attended by the Page Adieu Monsieur l' Admiral said the Prince to him something suddenly it would be but civil having brought you hither to wait upon you back but the present conjuncture is in my judgment a sufficient excuse and I should deserve that fortune which I am preparing for other people if I should suffer it to pass without making my advantage Having made that short Apology he left the Admiral and followed Madamoiselle de S. André but for fear she should be angry he followed her another way and never discovered himself till she had thrown in her Line two or three times As far as I see Madamoiselle said he falulting her you are resolved to give no quarter to any thing After so happy an Hunting I thought you would have suffered the poor Fish to have been at quiet and contented your self to have either killed or wounded whatever presented it self before your eyes You are mistaken Sir said she if you think I have been so well pleased with this days Hunting I have had a misfortune that perhaps I might have repaired in this place had not you interrupted me and if you will give me leave to be free I must tell you I am under a secret disorder that renders me almost insensible of the honor I receive by your presence The intelligence that I have had of your progress this day Madam replied the Prince is perhaps better and more certain then you imagine though your Engins were unferviceable your beauty was not the shot that came from your eyes was more sure then that which came from your hand wounded more certainly and in a more dangerous place Madamoiselle de S. André having told the Page that there was no farther need of his attendance and the Page being gone I understand you Sir replied the Lady and do see afar off what is your design The time of so great a Prince is too pretious to be abused You love me Yes Madam replied the Prince I do love you and I love nothing in the World with so much passion as I love you And where are your hopes said she to him your heart is ingaged already to Madam la Princess and mine to the Prince de Joinville who is appointed to be my Husband If my heart were so wholly ingaged to Madam la Princess replied the Prince she would not suffer you to have so much dominion there And as to your heart it is not yet obliged to the Husband you are still to marry and which is more you are too wise to permit that ever it be Who is it that I reserve it for replied the Lady interrupting him with an astonishment that he seemed not to regard For me replied the Prince with a confidence that redoubled her astonishment your heart is a prize impossible to be deserved but by a love as great as mine is for your Ladiship The Husband who I will not say is promised for it is the worst promise that can be made to you This Husband I say with whom you are threatned does he know the value of the heart which your weakness reserves for him If he valued it as it ought to be valued would not be desire to ow it to your self rather then to the Authority of your Father who sacrifices you to his particular interest The Prince of Joinville neglects you since he hath thought himself sure of you and you need not doubt but he will do it more when you are in his possession Monsieur le Prince replied the young Lady who had heard him with great patience I thank you for your good counsel you speak to me like a true Enemy of the Family from whence I am descended and of that to which I am designed If you love me as you pretend and I am apt to think it possible because I am not altogether without allurements to constrain you I have advantage enough over you to revenge Monsieur de Guise and my Father for the hatred which you bare them These last words were delivered with an air that gave the Prince to understand his affairs were not in so good a posture as he fancied and the formality which she used a while after when she took her leave of him did perfectly disabuse him He had presaged much happiness to his designs from the eagerness wherewith she demanded whether he loved her He used his endeavors to have staid her but all was to no purpose she went back to the company that she had left and the Prince returned to the Admiral de Coligny who was not a little pleased that she had ill treated a Passion which he had so little approved The Evening being come the Court returned to Paris the Prince had another sight of Madamoiselle de S. André in the Louvre and endeavored to accost her but she avoided the occasion As she was getting from him a Note tell out of her Pocket which was taken up by the Prince and the Lady never perceived it He had not patience to stay till he got home before he looked what was in it he only went down out of the Louvre to read it more quietly and by the light of a Lanthorne at the bottome of the Stairs he found it contained these words DO not fail to meet me about one a clock in the morning in the Chamber of the Metamorphoses the Chamber where we passed the last night is too near the Queens appartement And the fear I had to disturb them hindred me from taking my pleasure as I would La Noûe with whose fidelity you are already acquainted will take care the door shall be open
that time alone and without defence and the Guises to whom he gave great jealousie would not have failed to have said that it was a place very proper to execute the worst designs that he had These considerations running in his mind his discretion began to appear in the releif of his Love but it was something too late He repented that he had so rashly ingaged himself in an affair that for ought he knew might have very ill consequences and whilest he was under this confusion the King and Madamoiselle were undressed and had doubtless given very good testimony of the love they had one for the other had they not been interrupted by an alarm that obliged them to put off their expressions till another time The Queen Mary was three moneths gone with child she was of a very tender Complexion and the exercise which she had used in that days hunting had disordered her much to the affliction of all those who were pleased she was breeding The noise of her pains quickly went thorow the Louvre the Valet de Chamber who was in waiting that night and had the honor to be intrusted with the Kings amors came immediately to give him notice The King was half undressed and being angry to have lost so fair an occasion was much troubled at the condition of the Queen but for fear of being surprised with Madamoiselle de S. André it was necessary against all common practice to leave the Mistress for the Wife and lay aside the transports of a Lover to show the complacency of a Husband The Queen miscarried for which some were glad and others were sorry for the Court was divided This accident that bred an universal disorder in the rest of the Louvre was a great calm to the mind of the Prince They had no sooner advertised his Majesty of the condition of the Queen but he retired with all diligence into his appartment and Madamoiselle de S. André into hers whether she was attended by the officious Matron Madam de la Noûe who took no care of locking the Door after her as a thing of little importance The Prince being left in this manner Master of the Field was not long in making his way out protesting never to run himself into the like danger again at least whilest he had the use of his Reason Passing thorow an Entry towards the Kings Antichamber he met his Majesty as he was going to the Queens appartment the King asked him what he did in the Louvre so late with so much care upon his countenance He had a ready wit and answered him presently That he came from play that he had lost a considerable sum of Money and that the news of the Queens indisposition having been used as a pretence to give off by the persons with whom he was at play he was going home to his Lodgings in the disorder his Majesty observed It was happy for him the King questioned him no farther had he staid above never so little longer he had been certainly undone Dandelot in pursuance of his promise had commanded some of his Soldiers to be upon the Guard who upon the noise which was occasioned by the Queens indisposition ran to the releif of the Prince and were already upon the Stairs when his name being much in their Mouths his presence caused them very seasonably to be silent He went immediately out of the Louvre in the company of Dandelot to whom he promised to meet about ten of the clock at the Lodgings of his Brother the Admiral of Coligny where if he met him he would impart a secret to him that he would not be at all troubled to hear His impatience to see the Admiral was too great to fail at the appointed hour Dandelot was a great lover of Secreta and had prevented him Ah! dear Cosin cryed the Prince when he came near the Admiral Behold the Man in the World under the greatest astonishment all that I have seen hitherto in my life is nothing to what I am going to tell you In a word it is a thing so incredible that when I have told you if you do not believe me I shall pardon you S. André I mean not the Mareschals Lady for I believe her much wiser but the Queens Maid of Honor is of so tryed and tractable a vertue that the Prince de Joinville if he marries her can teach her nothing that is new But this is not that said he that is so strange She is fair she is among the great People where example gives some kind of Authority she is not full sixteen years of age about which time the honor of young Ladies begin to totter Few there are that can hold out continent so long and common sence will not suffer us to be amazed at any thing that Custome has made familiar But Cosin this is it that will surprise you you will never be able to guess at the Gallant Run over the whole Court cast your eyes upon all the Gallants in the Town you shall name fifty and I will lay you a wager you miss him This circumstantial description that he gave of Madamoiselle de S. Andrés Gallant made them that they could not fix it upon any of that sort at Court but the Admiral and his Brother began to imagine it some old venerable Abbot whose love was not so pleasant as profitable For the young Lady was rich only in her Beauty and therefore they named the Cardinal of Tournon Bertrandi who had been Keeper of the Seals the Chancellor Oliver the Seigneur de Pybrac and some others of that sort No said the Prince if you consider his quality he is above all these but if you consider his gallantry he is much beneath them Madamoiselle de S. André is beloved by the King of which the last night I had like to have had an incontestable evidence Then he gave them an account of all that had hapned and shewed them the Note which had given him so strange an alarm This Note was of mighty use to their design they had thoughts of breaking the Vnion that was betwixt the Mareschal de S. André and the Duke of Guise and the most infallible way to succeed was to ruine the reputation of Madamoiselle de S. André and make the Prince de Joinville to desert her Dandelot being perswaded that Madam l'Admiral had more cunning and malice then all three of them put together was of opinion that she should be consulted She was so true a Hugenot and had so great zeal of the honor of her Religion that for the service of God there was no injustice in the World that she would have scrupled to commit they sent to her to come to them but she was at Prayers behind her Bed and could not come immediately As soon as she had done she appeared and the Prince having told her what he had told before to her Husband he would have shown her the Note but she would not by
any means It will be enough said she to him to destroy the reputation of S. André if you please but to read it to me After dinner I will take an opportunity to show it to the Queen and swear a thousand horrible oaths that I never so much as read it If I should read it my self I could not swear with that freedom for I would not wound my Conscience for a Kingdom The Admiral liked the expedient very well Dandelot not only admired the wit of his Sister in Law but applauded her probity The Prince who hated Madamoiselle de S. André as much as he had formerly loved her and desired to revenge himself of the affront as he thought which she had done him in loving the King delivered his Note to Madam l'Admiral who promised to make good use of it The Afternoon was long a coming at least in the opinion of Madam l'Admiral She was that day at the Louvre in very good time and forgot not the Billet which the Prince of Condé had given her The young Queen was not allowed to see any body by reason of what she had endured the night before and because the King contented himself with his title without doing the drudgery people did not address so solemnly to him as to the Queen-Mother Whilest the Queen was at dinner three young Virgins were presented to her the Daughters of a Primiere Presidente of the Parliament of Roûen which the said President had brought forth at a Birth They were all very fair and so exactly alike not only in the features of their face but in their shape hair gestures and voice that they were forced to put them into several habits to distinguish them The whole Court was in the Queens Chamber admiring the strange resemblance of these three Children when Madam l'Admiral came in she was so taken as the rest were with the extraordinariness of the thing that she forgot at least for sometime her designs against Madamoiselle de S. André Looking upon the young Maidens with too much intention she drew something out of her Pocket and had the same misfortune which the Lady had whom she was to destroy The Note wherewith the Prince had intrusted her fell out of her Pocket and she never perceived it The Prince de Joinville being next her and seeing it fall cast his Handkercheif upon it very neatly and without much trouble took them up together He was as impatient to be peeping as the Prince of Condé had been the night before He stole out of the Louvre read it and was infinitely surprised to find Madam l'Admiral who had formerly been very handsome but not young these nine or ten years should have a rendezvous of this nature for he did not hesitate one moment to believe that it was she to whom the Ticket was addressed The three young Virgins of Roûen having taken their leaves of the Queen Madam l'Admiral began to remember her self of the design that brought her to the Louvre and that she had a fair opportunity to put it in execution She felt for her Ticket but it was not to be found she felt and felt for it with great diligence but to no purpose She was so cruelly disturbed at the loss of it that foreseeing it would be impossible to conceal it she went home to her Lodgings where with meer vexation she fell sick all that day and had perhaps been so longer had not the same thing cured that wounded her as the consequence will discover Whilest she was complaining of the Heavens that they had not permitted her to accomplish her mischievous designs The Prince de Joinville who knew her Father the Duke of Guise suffered nothing to pass that might do the Admiral a prejudice carried him the Billet which he was sure would be very welcome The Duke asked his Son if he did not mistake and if he was fure that the Note belonged to Madam l'Admiral The Prince de Joinville having assured him that nothing was more certain they went together to the Cardinal of Lorraine who was in the company of the Mareschal de S. André drawing up the Articles of Marriage which was to be consummated in few days that they might be carried next morning to the King and the two Queens who would do them the honor to sign them This Cardinal was a very dangerous Enemy When he found opportunity to destroy any Man that he hated he never neglected it And finding himself now as he thought Master of the Reputation of Madam l'Admiral whom he called The sworn Enemy of the Church he believed he should have betrayed the Office of a Cardinal if he had deferred her ruine but one moment The Duke of Guise and the Mareschal de S. André applauded his Eminences sentiment as very Religious and altogether recommended it to the Prince de Joinville to be silent especially said the Cardinal to your Mistress and if you have not power to contain forbear rather to see her She is young and a Woman both of which are incompatible with a secret The Prince de Joinville promised what they desired and was as good as his word During the time that this unfortunate Ticket went from one Enemy to another giving as much vexation to the Colignies as it did pleasure to the Guises The King being willing to recover what he lost the night before by the Queens indisposition gave order to Madam de la Noûe who was always ready at his Majesties service to renew the bargain that was interrupted and cause his Mistress to meet him again at the old Rendezvous as soon as the clock should strike twelve The Cardinal of Lorraine who knew that Queen Catherine had a mortal hatred for Madam l'Admiral as one who had been always intimate with the Dutchess of Valentinois the Mistress of Henry the Second went to wait upon her desired that he might have the honor to speak with her in her Closet and there to shew her the Billet which the Prince de Joinville his Nephew had so dexterously taken up Ah! insatiable cried the Queen when she had read it her self whilest she was young it was no wonder she was courted by the Mareschal Strossy and I never condemned her Every one knows Madam replied the Cardinal that youth will not last always and your Majesty was always too discreet to oppose your self against any thing that is permitted for Courtship is permitted or forbidden according to the different times in which they are practised In the time of the late King the vertuous Ladies of the Court had each of them some honest Gentleman or other with whom they carried on that commerce of Gallantry and this the old Ladies did as well as the young when their beauty began to decay or they had means to supply the want of it by their bounty to their Court-Lovers who perhaps had no other Revenue but their bonne mine But under the Government of your Majesty to whom the State is so infinitely
diversion were highly transported to be ingaged in such an adventure proposed infinite satisfaction to themselves in seeing and observing the looks of Madam l'Admiral in so mortifying a conjuncture and in discovering her Gallant The Duke of Guise the Mareschal de S. André and the Prince de Joinville took each of them a Lamp in their hands and followed by the two Princes whom they had undertaken to treat they stole as softly as they could to the door of the Chamber of the Metamorphoses The Cardinal of Lorraine knew a great part of the revenge would consist in his being present when Madam l'Admiral was surprised but his Character would not permit him to bear them company They listned for some time at the door but heard nothing the Duke of Guise scratched a little and a Groom of the Chamber who was left there and supposed it to be Madam de la Noûe coming according to her custome to fetch Madamoiselle de S. André at a certain hour to her Chamber he opened the door The Duke of Guise told him That he understood very well what was in agitation and was privy to the secret The Valet apprehending the Duke might have some business of importance with his Majesty suffered him to enter and all his retinue The Mareschal de S. André being least scrupulous was the first who advanced to the Bed side and stood still as amazed and immoveable when he saw the King on one side and on the other his Daughter looking better then he had ever seen her in his life By reason of the warmth of the weather her arms were out of Bed her neck naked and her little new swelling brests so white and represented the pretty red nipples wherewith Nature had embellished them so handfomely that it was impossible to see any thing more tender and bewitching This surprise in the Mareschal caused the Duke of Guise to come forward and after him the Prince de Joinville and the two Princes of the House of Bourbon in their turns All of them were strangely astonished to see the King on one side of the Bed and Madamoiselle de S. André on the other both of them asleep with the same quiet and security as if they had been Man and Wife But though the astonishment was universal it was in a different manner The Father Father in Law and Lover were in great consternation but the Duke of Montpensier and the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon finding their entertainment much pleasanter then was promised were forced to take all imaginable pains to keep themselves from laughing right out and indeed it was well for the Mareschal that his Daughters Brests were so naked to take up their thoughts otherwise the confusion in which he was would have made any man laugh though he had been never so serious Whilest some of them were mortally troubled and the rest so well pleased that it is not easie to be expressed The light glaring upon the eyes of Madamoiselle de S. André awakened her she rubbed them a while opened them when she had done and the first thing she looked upon being her Father she fetched a skreek that wakned the King and I do not doubt but he was as much surprised as other people but his surprise being over his love inspired him with more wit and more courage then he had ever discovered before Having endeavored to encourage and comfort Madamoiselle de S. André who was weeping by promising to take her into his protection he demanded of the Duke of Guise and the rest that were with him by what authority they durst presume to enter at such an hour into a place where they knew he was taking his repose The Mareschal de S. André made answer That had they known his Majesty had been there they would not have presumed to interrupt him and that for his own part he expected nothing less then what he had found That it was he who had staid the Duke of Monpensier and the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon to give them a divertisement in which he little thought his Daughter should have born apart That could he have presaged or been assured of the honor his Majesty conferred upon his family he should have had more discretion and respect then to have brought so many witnesses and having said so he withdrew The King perceiving the presence of so many Princes and especially the Prince de Joinville was a great trouble to Madamoiselle de S. André he commanded them to retire and they obeyed his command When they were gone he applied what consolation he could and perhaps better then he could do in the presence of her Father He called for the Groom of his Chamber by whose indiscretion they were let in but the Kings anger and the Madamoiselles tears having given him to understand the fault that he had committed he was afraid of being punished and had made his escape But the Governness Madam de la Noûe coming in in the nick she lighted the King to his Chamber and when she had done came back to do as much for the Madamoiselle The Queen Mother to whom the Prince de Joinville had promised to give an account of all that he should see was naturally impatient and the clock having struck two and no news of her Prince she fent to look him by one of her Maids of Honor in the appartment of his Uncle the Cardinal he came to wait upon her with a countenance as chearful as the nature of the adventure would permit Prince de Joinville said her Majesty to him as soon as he was near her I do not ask after the greatness of her confusion or whether Madam l'Admiral is not almost distracted I do not doubt but she is highly sensible of the affront and will move Heaven and Earth to be revenged I pass all that by and only desire to know who was her Gallant What is he Is he young Is he handsome Is he of any considerable quality How did the Lady like him Tell me in short and give me a true description especially how he looked and behaved himself when he was taken What interrogatories were these for the Prince de Joinville who was most desperately in love with Madamoiselle de S. Andre He replied with a discomposure that was indeed to be excused That the Gallant her Majesty desired should be described was very young That as to his person those who delighted not in tall lusty men would think him handsome enough and for his quality he must needs say it was very considerable That the Lady was doubtlesty very well pleased and would be much envied by the rest when her good fortune was known That as to his deportment and looks when he was taken it was something more fierce then at other times and that instead of being terrified himself he made his spectators to tremble This Madam is a relation which your Majesty has commanded me to give let me beg of you to inquire
no farther To morrow your Ears will be clogged with what I forbear to tell you and if your Majesty understood with what regret and aversion I have gone thus far you would admire my patience The Queen thought he had been ill and suffered him to retire he returned into his Uncles appartment and found him storming like mad The Duke of Montpensier and the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon were got by themselves to laugh and make sport at the afflictions of the rest the only trouble they had was to think all the World was in Bed and they were forced to stay till next morning before they could publish what they knew They went late to Bed but got up very early being impatient to let the Prince of Condé know upon what account the Guises and the Mareschal de S. André had detained them at Supper and the end and Catastrophe of their design Though the Prince of Condé and they were of two contrary Religions and even of contrary parties yet they had great esteem for one another especially the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon and the Duke de Montpensier for the Prince of Condé upon whom they looked as upon the bravest man of his time The joy wherewith the Prince of Condé understood the confusion of the Guises revenged him in some measure for the troubles which the loss of the Billet had given him before Nothing could be more pleasant then to imagine the pains which they had occasioned by their own conduct and eager prosecution of that intrigue and by the detention of two persons of their quality to give them such an extraordinary regale The Prince of Conde liked the divertisement too well to ingross it to himself He would have been very unwilling the Admiral should have had it from any body but him and therefore fearing he might be too late that some other person might prevent him and that his information should not be the first he repaired to his Lodgings with all diligence The Admiral was no sooner acquainted therewith but he ran immediately into his Wives Chamber she had been ill all night of the loss of her Billet and was to be let blood that morning But the tidings which the Admiral brought her saved her Chirurgeon a labor and made a speedier cure then phlebotomy would have done Sick or not sick Madam l'Admiral got up called for her Coach told it to every body she met and they being as liberal of it as she in a very short time the news was known all over the Town The Kingdom at that time was under great agitation by reason of the differences betwixt the Catholicks and the Hugonots who under pretence of Reformation did exceedingly rend and distract it There were some persons who that morning had made a Song of the state of the Kings affairs and were singing it but very low as his Majesty was rising it was set to the tune of a Ballad that was then in mighty request and the words were these Alas fair Nymph do you not think 't a thing Of dangerous consequence t' abuse your Charms The Throne is tottering yet the peaceful King Reposes gently in your tender Arms. Ah that to calm our spirits we might see The State as quiet and as snug as he The Queen her self lies not more close then you Nor sleeps more sweetly by the Royal side You ne'er concern your thoughts nor curl your brow At Protestants or Papists Plots or Pride Ah that for th' common good our State did know But half that Peace half that repose as you What is commonly sung about the streets or once put into a Song ceases to be a Secret nor was it long before the Queen was better informed of what the Prince de Joinville gave her but an imperfect relation Madamoiselle de S. André had been always constant in her attendance before and not daring to appear that morning she confirmed what began to be publick The Queen sent for her but the Kings Physitian called Miron was with Madamoiselle de S. André and had orders to say That she was ill which at another time would have been a lawful excuse but as things then stood it was rather an argument of her guilt and her Majesty who was not easily deluded guest unhappily at the truth She was highly incensed and could not constrain her self she sent to desire the King to come to her the King came and they went together into her Closset where she began to reprove him severely and in a tone that might have made him tremble But the King being prepared by his Love and his Mistress interrupted her at the very first volley and that with an assurance and confidence beyond her expectation He told her it was true indeed he had a kindness for the person she named and he desired she would give him leave to entertain himself with her or else surrender his authority that he might imploy himself otherwise He remembred the Queen that her power was of no longer duration then he pleased that if she crossed him in his love he would not indulge her in her ambition and that without violence to the respect which he ought her as a Mother when ever he did but say he would be King she must cease to be Queen These words she had reason to believe were none of her Sons yet seeing Madamoiselle de S. André spake them by his mouth she had as much reason to be astonished as if they had been his own She durst not pursue the expostulation nor drive the business any farther least Madamoiselle de S. André should furnish him with another answer The King was mistaken to think that the Queen had a design to hinder his divertisements on the contrary her thoughts were taken up how she might entertain him perpetually and had Madamoiselle de S. André been only handsome the Queen had been the first that would have recommended her and applauded his choice But Madamoiselle de S. André had Wit as well as Beauty and a Head that was sufficient to keep the Queen-Mother upon her guard for she apprehended that when Madamoiselle came once to be Mistress of the Kings heart she would make him sensible how much he was abused Upon which consideration all was accommodated before they parted the King kept his Mistress and the Mother the Government The Duke of Guise could not forget the great favors which he had received of their Majesties and his gratitude was such that he would not suffer his Son to intrench upon the respect which he ought to the King so far as to continue his rival The Articles of Marriage which the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Mareschal de S. André had drawn up were cancelled and torn and the Government of Lions that was then vacant being conferred upon the Mareschal every one was contented or at least they pretended it Madamoiselle de S. Andre was looked upon as the Kings Mistress and respected beyond what she was formerly the Queen-Mother
so criminal were suborned I have too great an interest in your life to conceal from you so great asecret Those wicked fellows who have adventured to accuse you deserve that death which is preparing for you It is only your Merit has created you Enemies which have caused your disgrace Deny that you ever had any hand in the Conspiracy of Ambois It is not possible to convict you Fare well There was great difference betwixt these two Letters The Prince owned himself infinitely obliged to the person who had writ it for the share which she took in his misfortunes and the hints that she gave him and he was extreamly taken with her invention to signifie her kindness so neatly without exposing her self for certainly had the Letter miscarried and been brought to the King it would rather have advanced her then created her any trouble Very impatient he was to know this Lady to whom he was so prodigiously obliged that he might at least make her see how sensible he was of her favors He could not make himself believe it was Madam la Mareschal as the Admiral had assured him and the hatred that for a long time had been betwixt their two Families was indeed sufficient to disswade him Whilest he was pondering with himself and beating his brains to find out the Author of this Letter His Judges came into his Chamber to interrogate him the last time he denied very constantly that he had any part in the conspiracy of Ambois maintained that his accusers had been suborned and then murdered by his Enemies least they should have recanted and not persevered in their testimony but not one word of the Letter which he had received And though he had been sure to have cleared himself by showing it in its natural sense he would rather have chosen to die then have been ungrateful to a person who had endeavored to preserve him with so much generosity The Judges whose integrity was not to be byassed by favor could find nothing of clear evidence against the Prince but those who were delegated by the King and Madamoiselle de S. André with instruction to be sure to find him guilty as if whatever they did for their own preferment would be just alledged that they had farther proof and the number of them being greater then the other they framed an Arrest against him which the Chancellor de l'Hospital refused very wisely to sign and ordered him to be beheaded at the same hour when the States entered into their House But the King Madamoiselle de S. André nor the Judges who had been very busie in procuring this Arrest had not the pleasure to see it executed The King fell ill in the mean time upon which the Queen-Mother caused execution to be suspended not so much in consideration of the Prince as of her own particular interest She had the sole Regency of the State and doubted not but if the King died the face of affairs would alter her other Children being in their minority which minority being a great favorer of ambition she feared that if the grandeur of the Guises remained without counterpoise it would become as dangerous as the practices of the Princes of the Blood This providence of the Queen-Mother was not impertinent The King died and the authority of Madamoiselle de S. André died with him To avoid the resentments of the Prince of Condé and those of the Queen-Mother who hated her mortally for that she had wrought her self so cunningly into the affections of the King Madamoiselle de S. André retired into a Nunnery at Long Champ. Francis the Second having no Children by Queen Mary of Scotland the next of his Brothers who was Duke of Anjou succeeded him by the name of Charles the Ninth To dissipate the troubles which hindered Queen Catherine from the peaceable injoyment of her Regency she endeavored an accommodation betwixt the Princes of Bourbon and the House of Lorraine Neither party declined it and the Treaties being well received both on the one side and the other all was composed and the Prince of Condé discharged of his imprisonment by an eminent Arrest of the Parliament I am telling a very true story and yet it is almost incredible The Prince of Condé was so naturally amorous that he fell in love even at the time that Sentence of Death was pronounced against him I am of opinion there is not an example of any Man that chose so improper a season as then Whilest he was uncertain what would be the event of the Kings sickness he reflected sometimes upon the Letter which he had received and found it so full of kindness that it would have been a second death to him to have died ingrateful The desire which he had to know to whom he was so highly obliged the desire he had to testifie his acknowledgments and the delight he took in his Obligation were things which I call love and effectually they were so As soon as the Parliament had secured the honor of this Prince his love thought it time to act for his interest The Prince concealing nothing from the Admiral shewed him the Letter which was sent him in prison The Admiral assured him again that it was from Madam la Mareschal de S. André and that he knew the hand perfectly well If it be so said the Prince I love Madam la Mareschal de S. André and all that you can say to divert me shall not hinder me from loving her eternally The hatred which was betwixt me and her Husband and perhaps is still is increased thereby For the accommodation made by the Queen is in truth but a palliated Peace and besides if my Reasons of State were not my Reasons of Love are abundantly sufficient to make me hate him if for nothing but being Husband to a Lady for whom I have so great an affection But to return to Madam la Mareschalle since the animosity said he betwixt her Husband and me hindered her not from making so generous efforts to oblige me I must love her and that love without question will last It is founded on gratitude which is a vertue to which I shall pretend as long as I live This Madam la Mareschalle was not own Mother to Madamoiselle de S. André The Mareschal had married her Son three years since and she was at the most but two and twenty years of age if she was so much She was not altogether so beautiful as her Daughter in Law but she had beauty enough to captivate any Man and as nice as the Prince was had wherewithal to make her self beloved by him without the assistance of the favors which she had done him The Mareschal de S. André was grown white and the fatigues of the War how great soever they had been had contributed less to it then five and fifty years which he confessed though his greyness spoke him at least sixty but an old man married to a young Lady makes always the best
of his age and will be sure to conceal something The Prince of Condé was very young as handsome a person as belonged to the Court and was besides of excellent parts Madam la Mareschalle was not ignorant of it for she also had her share and upon the bare reputation of the Prince had conceived so great an esteem for him as gave her a concern for every thing that befel him Her Husband to comfort her for that of which his age had deprived her had a strange kindness for her which would have been altogether unuseful had not she taken advantage of it to be serviceable to the Prince he imparted to her all the transactions of State It was from him that she had understood that the Prince was to be arrested when she gave him advice at two a clock in the Morning to escape from Ambois It was he again that was so weak to trust her with a secret which his Daughter would not have committed to any body but him and certainly it had been sufficient to ruine them both had Madam la Mareschalle been as imprudent as her Husband The Prince was much disquieted with his new passion and more solicitous for his Mistress then his life though he knew not who she was for whatever the Admiral could say to assure him he still doubted whether it was Madam la Mareschalle to whom he was so strictly obliged The Prince made a visit to the Mareschal de S. André and expressed great satisfaction in the accommodation which the Queen-Mother had made but Madam la Mareschalle being abroad the Prince was so troubled that the Mareschal de S. André perceiving it in his looks imagined that he paid him that complement with regret and that he was still his Enemy at the heart His visit was but short however he excused it to the Mareschal as well as he could he told him that his resolutions were for the future to live in perfect amity with him and to visit him as oft as he had opportunity Madam la Mareschalle had been to wait upon the Queen and came in just as the Prince was taking his leave of her Husband so unexpected a sight of him put her to the blush And the Prince though not altogether so subject to blush perceived something in himself that he was not accustomed to feel which privately suggested that this was the Lady to whom he was so infinitely obliged He made her a short complement but so perplexed and mysterious that her Husband could make nothing of it though she understood it perfectly and was the more pleased with it because it was not intelligible to all the World She answered too in such a manner as gave no jealousie to the Mareschal and yet the Prince thought somethings of it very kind not that it was effectually so but he desired it should have been so and men do easily believe what they do passionately desire They parted the Prince and Madam la Mareschalle infinitely well pleased at their enterview and the Mareschal himself at the same rate neither better nor worse then before the visit was made At night they met again at Court Madam la Mareschalle was come thither to pay her devoir and the Prince was come thither to see her The Duke of Guise having something to say to the Mareschal de S. André took him aside to the great satisfaction of the Prince of Condé who was ambitious of nothing more then an opportunity of entertaining the Lady which he had not confidence to attempt whilest her Husband was present Madam la Mareschalle who cast her eyes every moment upon the Prince and was still encountred with the same glances from him thought she should not offend him if she gave him a small opportunity to accost her and that he might do it with more ease and she have occasion to quit the Ladies with whom she was in some impertinent discourse she pretended her Watch was down and went to see what a clock it was at a little clock in the Queens Antichamber This project succeeded as she desired The Prince accosted her and finding there was no body could hear him but herself I do not know Madam said he whether this be the hour that you would have it For my own part I never expect to find one so favorable as to give me opportunity to testifie the Sentiments I have of your incomparable goodness for since I am at liberty I ought to be ashamed to have made no better use of a blessing that I have received wholly from you Madam la Mareschalle replied to the Princes civility with as much modesty on her side pretending she understood nothing of what he said He explained himself she had really an esteem for him and perhaps what she thought nothing but esteem was indeed something more then she imagined However she owned it not positively as unwilling to run a risk in a thing that might reflect upon her reputation before she understood him better then at that time she did Why Madam said the Prince is it possible I should be so unhappy as to ow my life to any but your self I believe said Madam la Mareschal it is to your own innocence you ow it and to no body else and supposing that was not sufficient to absolve you a prisoner of your birth and accomlishments hath greater priviledges then ordinary These are my thoughts but if you desire I should rather come over to yours and believe it to some other person that you are obliged for your life though it were to your greatest enemy I do not see how you could call it an unhappiness It is one Madam replied the Prince and so much the greater because I proposed no happiness equal to my being obliged to you It would have perswaded me I had not been altogether indifferent to you and the duty which I had ought you would have justified a passion that I find increasing in me and cannot but take this opportunity to discover You would I say have added love to my gratitude ...... I see Madam continued the Prince something more hastily then before that word to which you are not accustomed is offensive to a vertue so tender and so delicate as yours but my error is the cause of my boldness I thought I could not have acquitted my self of the duty which I ought you but by loving you intirely And the more love I entertained the more grateful I thought my self However Madam I am most desperately in love the Letters which I received contributed to make me so and from the time I fancied them from your Ladiship I have so accustomed my self to love you that if at present it offends you you ought to excuse it as proceeding from a habit that is not easily removed Madam la Mareschalle had the good word of every body and had hitherto preserved her reputation against the attacks of Envy it self which rendered her one of the most celebrated persons of her time
Civil War The King of Navarre having made a second attempt upon the Vertue of the Mareschals Lady and with as little success resolved to loose no more time about her but to comfort himself against his repulse there by making his addresses to Madamoiselle de Rouet a Maid of Honor to the Queen and one that was not like to be so inexorable On the other side Madamoiselle de Limevil her Companion and Maid of Honor to the Queen as she was whom the Prince of Condé had formerly loved and arrived at such familiarity with her as was for some time an inconvenience to her made it her business as much as possible to convert his impatience to be fighting into another passion where she found the combat was not altogether so unpleasant She knew his inclinations and did not doubt how valiant soever he was but he was as sensible of Love as of Honor. She writ to him and desired him to consider That he was making War against a person for whom he had formerly had more kindness for her Religion had placed her among his Enemies This Letter not having the effect that she expected she writ to him a second but to no more purpose then the first At which she was so highly offended that for some time she was mortally angry with her self that it was not in her power to hate him The Queen who during the War had but an imperfect enjoyment of her Regency because all things went thorow the hands of the Lieutenant General of the Kingdom understanding by Madamoiselle de Rouet to whom the King of Navarre had discovered it that the Mareschal de S. Andrés Lady had a great influence upon the Prince of Condé she sent for her privately and conjured her to imploy her utmost authority to make him consent to the Peace promising she would never be unmindful of so great an obligation Had Madam la Mareschal durst to have trusted her with her intrigues she would have done as the Queen had desired Her passion for the Prince increased every day and though she had Vertue enough to resist she had not Vertue enough to triumph She knew that to encourage his Troops and animate them against all danger he would be sure to show them an example and expose himself first where the danger was greatest and this thought gave her such great and frequent anxieties that under pretence of being solicitous for her Husband she conjured him to dispose the Duke of Guise to an accommodation as the Queen did desire In the mean time the distance of the Prince was a torment to her yet the reputation that she had to be the person of the least scandal in the whole Court corrected her natural inclination For the conservation of her Honor she renounced her affection and would have acquired greater esteem had she been always of that mind The Queen disgusted that Madam la Mareschelle refused to write to the Prince and being desirous to know whether he had any kindness for her or not resolved to write to him her self After she had displayed the best Arguments she could think of to perswade him to consent to an accommodation and represented to him That the King to whom she had the honor to be Mother the State and her self should be indebted to him for their repose she added That thereby he would likewise do a singular favor to Madam le Mareschalle who would have writ to him her self if it might have been done with security And to clear all doubts that he might conceive in his mind she would bring her along to Mont le Hery if he thought good to meet at a day that she would appoint attended only with fifty men and she with the same number to confer about some way of preventing a War in which the happiest success that could be looked for must needs be fatal to France The Prince thought no pleasure equal to a sight of his Mistress and therefore returned answer to the Queen by the same Messenger That he would not fail to attend her Majesty at the Rendezvous where ever she thought fit to command The Admiral who was by that time come to Orleans was of another opinion He understood the Queen so well that all overtures from her were suspected by him but when Love speaks for the most part nothing else can be heard So that it is no great wonder if all the Reasons that the Admiral applied to the contrary had no effect upon the Prince The day the Queen had appointed being arrived the amorous Prince appeared in sight of Mont le Hery and the Admiral suspecting some stratagem against his person put himself into his equipage and made one of the fifty though he was not able to divert him from meeting yet he perswaded him from trusting himself in a Town that was inclined to the interest of the Guises which reason was sufficient to make him suspicious The Queen came thither the day before before she came out of Paris she commanded two of her Maids to pretend themselves sick that she might have a more plausible pretence to take along with her Madam la Mareschalle de S. André and it succeeded as she desired For the Mareschal was so far from giving any obstruction that he seemed to be much satisfied with the great honor the Queen conferred upon his Wife The Prince having sent a Gentleman to the Queen to remonstrate that her forces were not equal where she expected him and to desire he might attend her at a little Village betwixt Mont le Hery and Bretigny where their Paroles could not on either side be so easily broken the Queen departed immediately towards that place accompanied with fifty Gentlemen and the Chancellor de l'Hospitale who was in the same Coach with Madam la Mareschalle de S. André As soon as the Prince and the Admiral perceived her Majesty coming they advanced to meet her and when they were arrived at a competent distance to be seen they alighted from their Horse and forgot nothing that was incumbent upon them to the Mother of their King Though Madam la Mareschalle and the Prince were equally impatient of seeing one another yet they spake not a word Nevertheless where there is Love in the case there are other ways of signifying their minds and it is no new thing among them to discourse by the eye The Queen had appointed the Chancellor her spoksman and he made several Proposals for Peace but whether the Prince came thither only to see Madam la Mareschalle or that his mind being preoccupied was not enough settled to come to a resolution in so important a matter he did not comply with any thing that was proposed The Admiral perswaded that if Peace were concluded he should not be so considerable as the Prince and besides having secret advice that they talked of cutting off his head he made Proposals also in his turn but so unreasonable that they began to suspect
massacre at Vassi calling God to witness That it was innocently and without design if he was the occasion of the War He advised the Queen-Mother to take the Prince of Condé near to the Person of the King his quality making it injust to keep him at a distance and this he proposed as the only way to accommodate all quarrels and restore peace to the Nation The Queen who judged of other people by her self and looked upon the words of a dying man to be sincere made use of the Duke of Guises Counsels supposing that being so suddenly to give an account of them to God he had delivered himself freely without artifice or cunning She prosecuted the Peace and whilest she was before Orleans caused the two prisoners the Prince of Condé and the Connestable to be brought under good Guards to a place called l'Isle aux Baeufs The Prince who by the death of his Lady was become Master of himself and knew that Madam la Mareschalle was at as much liberty by the death of her Husband was impatient to see her and desired Peace with all the eagerness of the World But the fortune of his Arms having been unkind since he saw her last and knowing that she was sensible so much of nothing as of honor and renown he would willingly order it so as the Treaty of Peace should revenge the injuries of the War and had rather remain a prisoner eternally then sign any thing that Madam la Mareschalle should not approve After several meetings in which both Parties had proposed and contested their several interests a Model was drawn up of which the Prince desired a Copy pretending he would send it to the Admiral who at that time was about Havre de Grace in order to the receiving a sum of Money out of England wherewith Queen Elizabeth supplied the Hugonots privately But he sent his Copy secretly to the Mareschal de S. Andrés Widow with a compliment the highest imaginable That the Peace or the War depended upon her direction and which she in her great wisdom would vouchase to appoint that he would stand to and nothing else This transcendent expression of love which left her arbitrix of the happiness or unhappiness of the whole Kingdom made great impression upon her heart She was more enamored with that then she had been ever before And if she had had no love for him she could not in honor but make him some suitable return She did so and the Letter which she sent was doubtless as he would have desired for within eight days after the Peace was concluded This great work having in a short time stifled all Divisions and composed the Animosities in all parts of the Kingdom the Queen had thoughts not to return so sodainly to Paris but to carry the King thorow some of his Provinces to acquaint him with his Subjects and that he might gain upon their affections The Connestable and the Chancellor de l'Hospital attended them but the Prince of Condé had other avocations It was but a days journey betwixt Orleans and Paris and in a days time he might be gone yet it was a long time to his impatience It was about midnight before he could get to Paris but no hour is unseasonable for love The Prince being of that opinion alighted where his love had conducted him and Madam la Mareschalle being surprised with the news that he was come in and desired permission to see her was so much discomposed that it brought a colour into her face that added new lustre to her beauty After they had saluted and great compliments passed on both sides the Prince perceiving they were alone and that in civility the Ladies attendants were retired out of the Room I must have much love Madam said the Prince to her or great confidence in your goodness to appear in your presence having so ill observed your prescription Honor was the only way by which you directed me to your heart which I have been so far from acquiring since our unhappy separation that I have done nothing but contributed to the glory of the Enemy and that in so high a degree as to make him master of my Liberty to which condition no body had any title to reduce me but your self Your Fame Sir replied the Lady has prevented you and gives us an account of your carriage without any disadvantage to your honor It was not in flying from your Enemy that you was surrounded and taken and when I recommended to you the care of your reputation it was not with design to object to you the malice of your fortune The Prince understood by the obligingness of her answer that the disgrace which he had received at the Battle of Dreux had not alienated the affections of Madam la Mareschalle and that was enough for one visit Being late in the night and having found her undressed he thought it but civil to take his leave which he did and departed sooner then he could have wished and perhaps sooner then Madam la Mareschalle her self desired The next morning he was to wait upon her again He himself was in mourning and found her in the same dress wherewith both parties were well pleased For for one time when that habit is effectually sorrowful there are a hundred when people are joyful to wear it The Prince had children by his Wife but Madam la Mareschalle had none by her Husband who had left her a considerable estate of which she was not to be accountable to any body The year during which they were obliged to some kind of decorum being insensibly expired Madam la Mareschalle not having had power to forbear loving the Prince when her vertue and fidelity to her Husband impugned it loved him now without measure where she might do it without crime and he took too much pleasure in the owning it to desire it should be a secret A certain Gentleman of Gascoigne called Montsequiou whose greatest qualification was to be a Captain in the Duke of Anjous Guards with a confidence natural to his Countreymen cast his eyes upon Madam la Mareschalle and believed that having the favor of his Master he was in a condition high enough to pretend to the Widow of a Mareschal of France He was a Man of wit and to procure himself admission he obtained to be sent to the said Lady with a compliment from the Duke of Anjou upon the death of her Husband Having discharged himself well of this Embassie and possessed her that he was a person of some parts he made her several visits afterwards upon his own account and endeavored to insinuate into her affection by his respects of which the Gascoigns are no niggards especially when it conduces to their designs Madam la Mareschalle being one of the most considerable matches in the Kingdom Montesequiou was fearful least some body should get before him and therefore took his first opportunity to declare himself at which Madam la Mareschalle was
believe one can be so easily delivered from your Bonds Were not my love for you so great as you deserve the bounty that you have expressed towards me would eternally present it self to my memory and my heart is too well placed to be guilty of ingratitude Ah Sir said Madam la Mareschalle it is not acknowledgments that I ask of you it is love If I have done any thing for you that deserves to be remembred that was my design and if you do not answer it I have done nothing that I intended to have done The Prince who hated ingratitude and yet found himself too much disposed that way made use of all his wit to dispel that fear which Madam la Mareschalle had entertained but his heart had not the least share in what ever he said As some people love to see every thing in the best place and let no opportunity escape wherein they may flatter themselves so she believed whatever he would have her and even repented that she had so injustly suspected him Thus they parted she more then ever in love with the Prince and he distracted with the remorse that those persons feel who though indued with a great deal of vertue are yet at the point of falling into a crime He suffered almost a moneth to pass and never made her a visit because he could not get from her without trouble yet he writ to her every morning and made the fairest excuses he could contrive to render his absence supportable At last having pumped himself dry and no reasons left to make his apology the truth could be no longer concealed One night as Madam la Mareschalle was alone in her Closset looking over all the Letters that ever she had received from him and where she found them kind watering them with her tears word was brought that there was a Gentleman without who desired to speak with her from the Prince He was brought in and having presented her with a Packet she opened it hastily and found it in these terms IT is too much to abuse your credulity Madam and multiply my own crimes together I cannot longer forbear acquainting you that I betray you and that instead of favors and kindness you ought to oppress me with disdain Would to Heavens you had hated me six moneths ago I should at least have had some pretence for my ingratitude and if I had separated with Reason I might possibly have separated without remorse but fix my thoughts upon what object I can I foresee nothing but obloquy My memory is full of your goodness mine eyes of your beauty my heart is convinced of your love and yet I write to you now the last time and am constrained by the malevolence of my destiny to renounce the honor of seeing you any more I know you are so kind as to love me and that I do wound you in your most tender and most sensible part but it ought something to support you that I do it with less prejudice to you then to my self seeing I lament what I loose and you loose nothing that you have reason to lament In fine Madam being guilty against my will I do not desire you should have occasion to hate me for detaining a thing that I must confess I hold of your love I restore therefore your Valery which I cannot keep but unjustly and as for my life which I ow to your goodness I shall spend it so miserably and it will last but so little a while that you will not have long to upbraid my perfidiousness Farewel Madam I will not tell you with what sorrow that word came from me you will be able to judge of that by the grief that will follow and I shall let you see that it is more torture to me to commit a crime then to punish it In what condition was the poor Lady upon the reading of this Letter her heart was great and she thought complaints too mean to evaporate her sorrows that way Here Sir carry back this Paper which came in the Letter that your Master troubled himself to send me said she to the Gentleman who brought it and tell him from me that he does not restore all that he had from me and I cannot absolve him for so little The Gentleman made some difficulty to receive it but she gave him such Reasons that at last he could not handsomely refuse It was the Grant which Madam la Mareschalle had given to the Prince of Valery which he thought dishonorable to retain having quitted the Lady But though it was a present worthy of him when he accepted it yet she thought it beneath her to take it again upon those terms nor could she prevail with her self to resume that from an ingrateful person which she believed she had given to the most faithful of his Sex When she found she was alone and under no necessity of constraint she gave her self up wholly to grief which her love and indignation fomented continually It is certain the Prince was all this while in as great an agony as Madam la Mareschalle The moneth that he had suffered to pass without seeing her had been imployed in negotiating his marriage with the Duke of Longuevilles Sister and least Madam dé S. André should give any impediment to it with the promise that had been made her by the Prince the Admiral had carried it so cunningly that though it was a marriage of great importance it was to be consummated that very night without being known to above five or six who were to be present This must be said in favor of the Prince and all people must agree to it that he had many conflicts and combats within himself before he could consent to that infidelity The kindness which Madam la Mareschalle had shown him before he had given her any occasion The tenderness wherewith afterwards she had given him such tokens of her affection The desperate condition to which he foresaw she must of necessity be reduced In short whatever came into his thoughts when he remembred her caused remorse and compunction in his heart and the nearer the time approached in which he was to give himself to another the more his sorrows increased But the Admiral who hated Madam la Mareschalle himself and could not endure she should be beloved by any body else stirred not from the Prince till the marriage was consummate the influence that he had upon him being too strong for all the Princes resolutions This Wedding that was kept so secret least his promise to Madam la Mareschelle might have disturbed it ceased to be a secret when there was nothing to fear and the next day the new Princess of Condé went in that quality to pay her first homage to the Queen Madam la Mareschelle was in the Louvre at the same time and knowing nothing as yet of what had passed the night before she looked upon her only as Madamoiselle d'Orleans not imagining why the Page that carried
bring the Enemy to a Field Battle The Prince who knew nothing of what passed in the mind of Madam de S. André and was weary of his life because he thought it was become indifferent to her advised by all means to press the Enemy to a Battle which the Duke of Anjou being young and of less experience declined However after several charges and pickeerings which did but tire and harrass their Troops an opportunity was offered and they must of necessity come to a general engagement The Hugonots were quartered at large along the River de Charente and had possession of the Bridges at Jarnac and Chasteau-Neuf which was a great disadvantage to the Enemy Armand de Gontaud-Biron who commanded under the Duke of Anjou undertook to beat them from their Posts but not being able to carry Jarnac by surprise he turned toward Chasteau-Neuf which the Hugonots deserted after they had broken down the Bridge but that was repaired again so suddenly by the care of Monsieur Biron that the Kings Army was passed over before the Hugonots perceived it The Princes Army being divided and dispersed in several places the Admiral sent Orders to the Foot to draw off towards Bassac whilest the Cavalry got together from their farthest Quarters But Monsieur Biron took advantage of their disorder and disturbed their Retreat so vigorously that they had much to do to defend themselves The Admiral was making head against Biron and the Prince of Condé imployed in favoring the Retreat of his Troops when the Admiral sending him word to advance and that there was need of his presence he came in upon a gallop to his releif and fought with such resolution that in spight of the inequality of his Forces he disingaged the Admiral and drew upon himself the whole fury of the Catholicks At length not able to bear up against so great a number of his Enemies and to increase his misfortunes his Horse being wounded and falling down under him at the same time he presented his Gantlet to a Gentleman called Argence who received him with all the respect that was due to his quality The report of his being taken was carried immediately to the Duke of Anjou and the unlucky Montesquiou being by and understanding that the Prince's Leg was broke with the kick of a Horse and that in that condition it was not possible for him to defend himself he clapped Spurs to his Horse and gallopping up to him found him sitting under a Bush in which posture pulling out one of his Pistols he shot him into the head and killed him This is mentioned by our Historians as one of the most infamous Actions that was ever committed The Prince died without speaking one word and although the Messenger which was sent from Madam la Mareschalle made all possible speed yet the business was done before her Letter arrived The first news of that disaster put her into an absolute distraction but having recollected her self by degrees she fell into a settled and deliberate melancholly that lasted as long as she lived and when at his return Montesquiou came to demand his recompence she looked upon him as the greatest Monster that Nature had ever produced The Hugonots having lost so considerable a Cheif made but little progress in their affairs afterward Dandelot died a while after some say of the grief he had conceived for the death of the Prince of Condé and others say he died of a Pestilential Feaver The Admiral lived till the massacre at Paris upon S. Bartholomews day of which he being the principal cause was made the principal victime FINIS