those Legacies above mentioned the said Lord Cardinal Willeth that it shall be equally divided among the Legatees penny for penny upon the liure excepting the Legacy of Dame Mary and Mary Anne Mancini who shall be paid in full and which Legacies shall remain substituted to the Heirs of Dame Mary and Mary Anne Mancini The said Lord Cardinal having alwayes had a most particular affection for learned men continues to them during their life the Pensions he was accustomed to pay them according to a catalogue or Memoyr which shall be given in by Sr. Colbert The rest of all his said moveable Goods Debts Obligations Rents and other Effects whatsoever in Lands of Inheritance or Custome the said Lord Cardinal giveth and bequeatheth to my Lord Charles Armand now Duke Mazarini and the Lady Hortense his Spouse whom with his own mouth he appoints to be his Heires and legatees General they to defray his Funeral charges and to accomplish his present Testament declaring that he intends not to comprise within this general Legacy his Palace his other Jewels Rings moveable and immoveable Goods Painting Pictures Vessels of Silver with his Statues and Figures of Marble or Brass being within his Palace and his appartement in the Loruve and in France nor his Governments which he hath not disposed of reserving to himself the disposition by Codicil or otherwise as shall seem good unto him on charge of the said Goods with a gradual perpetual and everlasting Substitution and nevertheless all that which shall come and provene of his Legacy General shall be in the nature of propriety to the said Lady Dutchesse Mazarini the said Lord Cardinal barring in both the said Substitutions as well in France as in Rome any alterations but such as shall be permitted Forbidding likewise all distractions of quarter parts in the one and the other Substitution As to his Dispatches Letters Missives Negotiations Treaties and other Papers concerning the State and Domestique affairs in what place soever they are nothing being more dear or precious to him he humbly prayes his Majesty that they may be put into the hands of the Sieur Colbert without making any Inventory and that the said Colbert dispose them in order and if there be any difficulty he may demand the clearing of it of Monsir the Bishop of Freins for the Affairs of Rome and Mounsieur de Lyonne for the affairs of State so to communicate them to the King or to whom his Majesty shall please to order them upon occasion The said Lord Cardinal not being able to give sufficient Testimony of the fidelity of Mr. Colbert which he hath experienced for more then twelve years last past doth approve all that hath been done by him to this present and willeth that it be believed upon his bare word The said Lord Cardinal willeth and intendeth having been hindred by great Affairs from examining the Accompts of the Sieur Picon for some years as he was accustomed to do that the said Accompts which shall be given of his house be examined by the Sieur Colbert and signed and firmed by him alone The said Lord Cardinal most expresly forborbiddeth any Inventory or Description to be made of his moveable Goods or Effects or of any Titles or Papers and if the Legatees whether particular or general shall offer to demand them His Will is that they forfeit their Legacy all which shall be vested in the person of the first Substitute without that that any disposition thereof may be declare penal or comminatory Furthermore the said Lord Cardinal entreateth his Majesty in case of contravention to interpose his Authority that his Will may be followed and that the said Accompts and Papers may not be seen nor Inventory nor description made thereof it being necessary to keep them secret for the interest of the State and many Families as well within as without the Realm He prayeth also the Messieurs of the Parliament and other Judges to forbear here not doubting but that they will prefer the Interests of State to that of particular mens The said Lord Cardinal giveth and bequeatheth to Don Louis de Haro a rare piece of Titian representing Flora by reason of the friendship which they have Contracted in the Treaty of Peace He giveth and bequeatheth to my Lord the Count of Fuensaldigne a great Watch in a Gold Case And for the execution of the present Will and Testament the said Lord Cardinal nameth my Lord the first President of Parliament my Lord Fouquet Counsellour of the King in all his Counsels Procurator General of the Parliament and Intendant of the Finances My Lord le Tellier Counsellour of the King in all his Counsels Secretary of State My Lord the Bishop of Freins and Monsieur Colbert Counsellour of the King in his Counsels and Intendant of the Houses Finances of his Eminence whom he intreateth not to suffer any Inventory to be made of his moveables or papers nothing being more necessary to be kept then secrecy and to acknowledge in some manner the pains which they shall take in the Execution of his present Testament He gives and bequeathes the sum of forty thousand liures in money or in goods at their choice to be equally divided among them The said Lord Cardinal willeth and ordaineth that if death or any other considerable hinderance shall happen to any of them the Survivors shall name such others as they shall chuse to supply the places of the deceased willing that the number be compleat He giveth and bequeatheth to each of his three Secretaries a Diamant of four thousand livres beseeching his Majesty to protect them and to continue them their Assignments He giveth and bequeatheth to the building the Parish Church of St. Enstache the sum of six thousand liures He gives and bequeathes to the St. Chappel of Bois de Vincennes the sum of ten thousand liures on condition they cause to be said and celebrated every year on the day of the decease of his Eminence an Anniversarie for the Repose and weal of his Soul My Lord the Cardinal declares that whereas he had left all his goods to the King by his Will of the third of the present moneth and that his Intention was alwayes such that his Majesty should dispose of them as he pleased and that now the King was pleased to testifie to him that his Majesty desired he should dispose of his own goods He had therefore caused this present Will to be made which was so said and named one word after another to the abovesaid Notaries by his Eminence and read and repeated to him by one of them the other being present in the Chamber of his Eminence before declared one thousand six hundred sixty and one the sixth day of March and signed by his Eminence THE CODICILL ANNEXED TO day the sixth day of March one thousand six hundred and sixty one afternoon at the commandement of the most Illustrious and most Eminent the Lord Cardinal Duke Mazarini the Notaryes Inventory Keepers
greatest cheat in the World He highly merited his Preferments of the King by his taking of Rochel which caused such an obliging confident affection in the King towards him that he left the total direction of Affairs to him but that Interest in the King was very ungratefully managed against the Queen Mother who raised Him and all her Party or Dependants the Queen he forced into a dishonourable and wandring Exile and to rid himself of Her and the Intrigues against Him He cut off the Marshall Marillacis head her great Favourite and ruined all such of whom he had any jealousie He was beloved by the most zealous Protestants and hated by the most zealous Catholiques and never pardoned such as had offended against him He gained the Dutchy of â—â—â—urain by sine policy and sudden force intending to â—â—ine the Housâ— of 〈◊〉 the successors or Charâ—â—â—â—n in order to the saâ—e destructive Design unâ—â— the House of Austria designing to have seized also the Lâ—w Countries upon which bottome the War with Spain in 16â—â— was begun and continued till his death He assisted the Duke of Never in his succession to the Dutchy of Mantuua and made an alliance with the Swedes and the Protestant Princes and yet notwithstanding ruined the Hugonites in France He was an enemy likewise to the Princes of the Blood especially the Count of Soissons who deserted the Kingdome and joyned with the Spaniard His Party with him published a Manifesto against the Cardinals male administration yet he continued in the Kings favour and firm assurance thereof and for attempts and underminings thereof by the perswasions of the King to a peace he caused Monsieur le Grand and De Thou two Eminent Noblemen to be beheaded at Lions which last sanguinous Action loosned him from his former fixedness in his Masters breast whose coldness towards him raised Damps in his own which with other distempers fomented and fed by this extinguished his life on the 4th of December 1642. He was accused of having Embroyled England to the end that it might be in no condition to hinder his seizing of the Low Countries and this by most unjust and Maligne practises though varnished over with its like intermedling in the businesse of Rochel and of setting all Europe in general by the ears though he cannot be deprived of the glory and praise of having done the Kingdom of France Superlative services though it were with the huge oppression of the poore people he lived in great anxiety and sear having perpetual apprehensions of the mischiefs he had done His death was not overmuch lamented and such as had either feared him or fled his persecution returned into France and by the Kings Grace repossest themselves of their Charges and Estates He died wealthy and rich seized of severall Governments and Offices and Titulado'd with Dignities and Secular Honours leaving a Peerage and Dutchy to his Nephew Duke Richleiu now surviving and was buried with a publique sumptuous Funeral a little before the death of Lewis the 1â—â—â— which happened in the beginning of the year 1643. after he had declared the Qâ—een Regent and recommended Cardinal Mazarini to her who suffered no Eclipse or Diminution of Lustre in the clouded close setting of his Patron Richleiu And we shall now perceive this Apotype and Copy of this great Exemplar Cardinal Mazarini who was as hath been objected to and reported of him frequently a Sicilian by birth and so a Native Subject of the King of Spain but took his Priesthood at Rome as did Richleiu and by his good Fortune conducted to France into which Court he cunningly insinuated himself and gained the favour and knowledge of the Cardinal who employed him in transacting his Affairs at Rome and as his Envoy or Minister for that peculiar Negotiation while he found it convenient to dispose of him for his better service and prefer him to the Queen as her Secretary by which means he might fasten a sure Intelligencer of whatever should be contrived against Him and continue and cherish those good correspondencies between her Majesty and Himself And so true and faithful a Servant did he carry himself in that preferment and so prudently and wisely for himself that he preserved the entire favour of their Majesties and the Cardinal without any suspicion of a partial study in things of a nice and dubious adherence For as he had by his Birth the disadvantage of Alliance and Interest so had be the unobserved unbusied and serence way of beneficing and engaging the means to his Grandeur which he saw designed for him by so Potent and concerned Inductions to the secrets of the Government so that there was little odds between the Locality of their Extractions but what ambitious Envy against the one and contemptuous Hatred against the other ineffectually signified By the aforesaid direction of the King at his decease he now managed the State and in prosecution of Richleius Design Sacrated to him by the Merit of his Advancement resumed the next Summers Expedition of 1643. with more violent Effects the tediousness of the former having wearied Lewis the 14th of his life The first signal Action of his Administration was the reliefe of Rocroy which Don Francisco de Mello a Portuguese then Governour after the death of the Cardinal Infanta of the Low Countries under the Spanish obedience went to besiege with a gallant Army but having declared the Duke of Albuquerque a Portuguese likenese General of the Horse who was a very young man and raw Souldier the Officers took so much offence thereat that they quarrelled themselves into a discomfiture so that all their Foot were presently worsted and defeated by the Duke of Anguien now Prince of Conde a person that could not would not be debarred from Military employment and was suffered to run his venturous fate in this service for other guesse effects then a braving Experience which after wards threatned the Fortunes of this Great Cardinal This Victory was very great and most opportune to ingratiate His Administration with the people which voyced up likewise his favourite General or Marshall Gassion a Protestant besides who after took in Theonville Of whom further This successe was also the more officious to him for that it removed the said Francisco de Mello from the government of the low Countries the Marquess Casiel-Rodrigo being substituted thereto till the arrival of the Arch-Duke Leopold from Germany as if Fortune intimated that other Ministers of State were inferiour to his Eminence and could not consist nor stand with his insuperable Policy and felicity of Government His aims were no less upon Germany pursuing the old League with the Swedes then on Flanders though with different successe For the remainders of the Duke of Saxon Weymars Army being recruited and reinforced by the French marched towards Bavaria intending to swallow that Dutchy but here fortune faltered for the Duke of Ioram and John de Wert accompanied by the Baron of Mercy the Bavarian General so
to communicate intelligence and make a streight Allyance with the Arch Duke This was a potent Combination wherein most of the great men of the Kingdome with the generality of the people were engaged against the Cardinal and which would have ruined the greatest Minister Europe ever had were it not that his wisdom and policy were paramount and above the reach of Fortune which had little to do with his Felicities First therefore the King published a Manifest concerning the detention of the Princes to give Satisfaction to the world of the justice and necessity thereof the cheif points of which declaration were the Prince of Conde's too great power and exorbitant Ambition that had proceeded so far as to invade the royal Prerogative In answer to this the Marshal of Turenne being in Stenay and having agreed with the Arch-Duke for the manage of the war beat his drums and listed forces declaring with the said Arch Duke that neither Party would lay down their Arms till the Princes were released the Duke of Lorain restored to his Estate the Cardinal banished a firm peace concluded between both Crowns but the Cardinals Dexterity and diligence bafled all these designments and turned their Resolutions into prayers and intreaties for most of the same things at his own hands The Parliament of Bourdeaux also renewed the Order and Arrest given against the Marquess de Ancre the Favourite of the former Queen Mother whereby it was declared that no Stranger by reason of his Enormous Administration should ever have thereafter the great Ministry and Intendency of the Kingdom The Marshal Turenne with the Arch-Duke attaqued Guise and notwithstanding terms and propositions of Peace publique and private resolved to prosecute the war while the King seizeth upon the Princes Governments and places of strength in Normandy and finally by the Artifices of the Cardinal and the power of the Duke of Espernon possesseth himself of Bourdeaux which dangerously threatned his Crown where he entred with triumph and with the same returned to his City of Paris And now the second time had he quieted and laid the envious Rage of his Enemies against Him when the Duke of Orleans the Kings brother undertook the Princes Intercession and Vindication which he procured to be decreed by the Parliament of Paris who in a body came and presented their Arrest in favour of the said Princes to the Queen which Authoritative Reversement of those proceedings and severe restraint the Princes had suffered with universal outcryes against the Cardinal as the Authour and Contriver of those injuries and other mischiefs to the Publique by his continuance of the War and oppression of the people now at last forced this able Pilot to abandon the Steerage of the State and to consult for his security which the liberty of the Princes dangerously threatned The Princes were set at liberty by Marshal Gramment who was Commanded to see it done and made their entrance into Paris the sixth of February when the streets rung again with the noise of Live the King Live the Princes no Mazarine every one accusing him of Exhausting the Revenue c. and of the mischiefs which embroiled the State but he had plaid his Cards so that they ceased not with his departure Nevertheless to Honest his Retreat and take off the dishonour of it he got the King and Queen to give him their Conge or leave for this his retirement giving his Enemies full swinge to act their Exorbitancies without any Treasure to mitigate that acuteness the people must suffer under those necessities of mis-rule while he had wherewithall to loosen their combination and divide their interests into Atomes and so make his return infinitely more glorious then his Exit was disgraceful His passage out of France was by Peronne Sedan and Dinant where he staid some dayes and thence to Leige or Luyck and so to Bruel to the Elector of Colen who received him according to his quality he having refused the like offers of civility from the Spaniards Yet such was the present hatred of him in France that even those who shewed him any respect in his way to this Exile were informed against as Enemies to the King and their Country most of the Parliaments of France Decreeing against Him And now returned the Marshall of Turenne the Count of Grand Pre and the Dutchess of Longueville being welcomed with their Troops while the Cardinal secretly listed men in Luyckland for the Kings Service which now went very backward in Flanders for the Marquess Sfondrate re-took Fuerues and Wynoxberg and the Impositions and clamours of the people were as great as ever To raise these discontents to another Sedition and Rebellion the Prince of Conde gave out a Rumour of another Design to seize him and his Brother and so all things were put in the same hazard as before at the Cardinals departure for though the Queen protested there was no such Design by an Express sent after him which brought him back to Paris upon condition that Monsieur Servient and le Tellier should be discarded as being the Cardinals Creatures yet he returned to the same suspicious humour and hasted to St. Maur and thence to Burdeaux which again received and readily declared for Him The King to prevent his â—Lavies and increase there having been newly declared Major the 27th of August 1651 by the Chancellour of France in Parliament as being fourteen years of age followed after him to Poyctiers and seeing no remedy but in the prudent Counsels of the Cardinal against this ambitious dissatisfaction of the Princes sent for Him to come to them thither which he obeyed and the Prince of Conde dealt with the Archduke in like manner Mazarin being now declared Traytor his Goods to be Confiscate his fine Library sold and fifteen thousand pound Sterling offered to any body should bring him either alive or dead and at the same time the Duke of Nemours with Spanish Forces entred Picardy This Restitution of the Cardinal was then one of the wonderfullest Changes and Affairs of Christendome though it were but an ordinary Effect of his prudence which plainly foresee this glorious Event of his secess and departure France that had leaned so long upon his Shoulders could not chuse but misse her supporter and unaccustomed to new Props was in danger of an irrecoverable fall Yet when he had Sampsons opportunity of pulling the stately Frame of Government upon the Head of his Enemies who triumphed at his disgrace the kindnesse of his Revenge rather strengthened the Fabrick and raised it higher Necessity that injures and insolently crosseth other men officiously served His Fortune France could not be safe without Him the Engine of the Government was discomposed and in pieces and none but his skilful Hand could set it right and in order which he did suddenly and invisibly by securing the Kings Interest and Soveraignty dividing and perplexing the Princes particularly by moderating and in some sort neutralizing the Duke of Orleans
The main Intrigue whereof was the gayning the Marshall Turenne over to the Kings Party who had constantly followed the Fortune of Conde and appeared the Cardinals most avowed and formidable Enemy but nothing it seems was insuperable or unfeasible to Him who could reconcile Contraries and out-doe Nature with the Elixir of his Brain So that the Princes were constrained to invite the Archduke and Duke of Lorain to the other Expedition for Paris which threatned the ruine of one of the Parties but such was the favour of Fate towards this her great Instrument and Agent that she opportunely interposed the Authority and Mediation of our Soveraign the King of Great Britain then at Paris which superseded the fierce and sanguinous Resolutions of the Princes and saved the Cardinal the Emergent Hazard of his Felicity Which Courtesie how he requited is one of the most Envious Enquiry's and the blackest darkest passage of his whole Administration By the said Intercession the Duke of Lorain with other satisfaction retreated into Flanders whither not long after perforce followed the Prince of Conde and his Partisans and the King trinmphantly entred Paris with the acceptable insinuations of his Grace and Pardon solemnly thereafter published Nothing was wanting to compleat the new settlement but the Duke of Orlean's the Kings Uncles presence at Court now absenting and retiring himself thence which was one of the difficultest and nicest Punctilio of State the Cardinal ever met with Being thus again Culminant and placed in his former Crb he resumed the War with fresh vigour and with two Eminent Successes the taking of Stenay whither he carried the King in Person and the Victory at Arras 1654. re-stated and recovered the Honour of the Puissance of France It will be unnecessary to mention the Chain of Successes which followed them in Flanders as it will be rudenesse to abrupt and disjoyn It with his League with Cromwel and his Cunning destructive Design of Jamaica which he put into that Usurpers Head because they press too near upon His Memory and are every mans observation and publique Discourse But most certain it is he joyed not our late Miraculous Restitution nor did he foresee it at that Distance which timed and Governed all his other Consultations for his Politiques were like China Metal prepared and refined by years though upon the Emergent and sudden Crisis thereof at the Death of Oliver Cromwel he Complemented Her Majesty the Queen Mother with the undoubted Hopes of Her Families Restauration the Effect whereof settled such a Melancholy in his Creature Monsieur Bourdeaux Neufville the French Resident here that he endured not to survive it For a fit Conclusion Nature favouring the fair goodly Structure of his Glory and in an obsequious complyance to his Fortune and Prudence with all other things had so humbly served and obeyed prolonged his life whose Lamp in a Sanguine Constitution the great drayner of the spirits and ventilated with so much Ayre of businesse was never thought of such a Continuance and Duration till he had setled and Established that Kingdom in the greatest and potentest Condition the World ever saw it and after he had restored to it a most glorious Peace from a War of twenty seven years standing and rendred his Prince the most Signal and incomparable Services having annexed and Established on the Crown by the GENERALLL TREATY in 1659. the Counties of Roussillon Haynault and Artoys with other advantages and Dependencies Having also lived to see the glorious Effects of his Tuition and Education of the present King as if Nice and Curious Fortune scorned to exhibite and continue so rare a Masterpiece of Government to the World in vain or that a Phenix should rise but out of his Ashes He was by Fate intended and designed for the Troubles and Dangers of France to the Redresse whereof he was solely Competent and they being Composed His work was done and He dyed when there was no need of His Life If perhaps he prevented not some afterclaps of that Storm which impends at present upon one of his greatest Confidents and Privadoe's and Loures upon many other of His Dependants and Retayners Fortune was so much his Familiar that even his Pleasures and Vacancies were entertained by Her His greatest recreation being Playe or Gaming both at Dice and Cards or any other Sport at all which he was very lucky and took great delight in success but many times he did not owe it either to Chance or any Cunning but that of his Play-fellows Design who knowing his Winning and Thriving Humour would play Booty against themselves and by their Losse make great Advantage For he that had a great Suit at Court or aymed at any High Preferment had no readier way to effect his Business then by an Opportunity of playing with the Cardinal to whom a losse of a thousand Pistols was worth a Bribe of ten thousand and engaged him more easily and surely then any friends or other money whatsoever So that in Effect He lost by his Gaines his indiscreet Avarice being eluded by the tickling Vanity of Conquest and the pleasing Ambition of a good Hit But it seemed to Him a kind of a more Noble Oppression to drayn Gentlemen of all their money as it also famed his Generosity in recompensing them with Offices alike to that he exercised over the Commonalty without redress or mitigation during his whole Administration by which he heaped such vast sums of Money computed by his Testament foregoing and yet there is a report of twenty five thousand millions of Liures which is two Millions and a halfe of pounds Sterling to be yet concealed by his Heyres and Executors more then was any manner of way disposed of by Him And yet nevertheless His Death was not sung with the Dirges of revengeful Ribaldry as was his Predecessors Richlieu though he had more Potent and impotent Enemies At home he was reconciled to view with the Prince of Conde who was willing to entertain his friendship as he was ikewise respected by the King of Spain and Dou Louis de Haro onely the Pope who alwayes took him for the great disturber of Christendom and the sole Opposer of the general Peace his own great design at first the War giving him opportunity of raising and preferring his Confidents and pillaging the people did now upon the Conclusion of it very much more suspect and Malign the Cardinal first for taking the glory of that Affair to himself and then designing a worse War upon the Church of which he was sensible some long time before the present Rupture and Turkish Invasion This Nativity being shewed me by that ingenious and fam'd Artist Mr. John Gadbury and knowing what particular respect is had by great Men to those Schemes of Geniture I thought it would be acceptable to prefix this being declaratory of the main Concerns of this the Cardinals life Secundum Artem. Nasc Cardinal Mazarine anno 1602. July 14 6 b. 43 m. P. M Sub Elevatione Poli 42 deg ☽ à ☠♄ ad * ☉ THe Nativity of this great States-man was pablished by a Pretender to Astrologie in England some niâ—e years since but falsly for the Scheme thereof is no less then nine Degrees in the Medium Coeli and seven in the Ascendent distant from the Truth as by this Correction following appears 1. In the thirty fourth year of this Persons Age he began to be greatly noted and to live in Favour of the greatest Persons in the place he inhabited he had the Medium Coeli ad Trine Venus a fit Direction 〈◊〉 lay a Foundation for future Honour 2 In the year one thousand six hundred and forty he began to rise into great Favour at the French Court and this in the moneth of November The Medium Coeli had but lately passed the Sextile of Jupiter by Direction and Jupiter in that moneth upon the Ascendent at Birth and Venus upon the place of Direction both very eminent Transits 3. In the year one thousand six hundred forty and three and forty one of his Age he had the Ascendent directed ad Trine Sol Sextile Luna at which time the Nobility Gentry Clergy and Commonalty so cryed him up that he began to be and indeed was in greater request then the King for the King was then but a Childe of five years old 4. In the 49 and 50 years of his Age he was devested of his Honor and Greatness for a time and by the means of an enraged Nobility c. was banished He had then the Sun ad Conjunction Mars Luna ad Quartile Mars by Direction which should also have given him a very violent Fever but I cannot inform my self thereof Lastly In the year 1660. in the Moneth Febr. he dyed some say of a deep Melancholy others of a Fever the last is not without Reason nor yet the first in a sense therefore I believe he participated of both The Ascendent was directed ad Opposition Mars and Saturn upon the Opposition of the Moons Radical place FINIS
THE LAST WILL and TESTAMENT OF The late Renowned Cardinal MAZARINI Deceased February 27 1660. Together with some Historical REMARQVES OF HIS LIFE London Printed by Peter Lillicrap for William Gilbertson at the Bible in Gilt-spur-street 1663. Licensed October 20. 1663. ROGER L'ESTRANGE TO THE Right Honorable THOMAS LORD VVentworth One of his Majesties most Honorable Privy Council May it please your Lâ—rdship I humbly crave your leave to inscribe your noble name to this Translation of the Late Cardinal Mazarini's Will and Testament with some Remarquer of his life from just though different respects The first is your Lordships knowledge and particular acquaintance with that great and eminent personage while you follow'd our Soverains Fortune in that Court in the same quality of his privy Counsellour which afforded your Lordship in your prudent and serious converse with him an experience of his abilities improved to great advantage in your many Loyal and Noble services to this Crown To do the Cardinal so much right therefore I have presumed to put this last MEMORIAL of him into you Honorable hands 〈◊〉 the fittest and equallest Repository of his Illustrious Name which shall now pass without profanation to the world when sacrated by YOURS The other respect is to signifie and declare to the world the due sentiments the Nation hath of your Lordships Conspicuous worth together with the particular acknowledgements and obligations which I am bound to render for some Favours abroad which your Lordships singular Noblenesse was pleased to vouchsafe me And consulting herein also to my self this further favour from your Goodness as to shelter my meanness under your Lordships patronage which is sufficient to vindicate the Cardinal and to protect My Lord Your most obedient and Devoted Servant J. H. Advertisement to the Reader THe French Original of this Last Will of the Cardinal being Printed at Colen in Germany was so full of faults litterall and others that the sence in some few places could hardly be made out which will make it in some such places seem imperfect but the careful Reader will soon supply such seeming deficiency as I have not adventured on in the translation therein he is likewise desired to understand by the word Substitution 〈◊〉 is a French 〈◊〉 Termâ— a Reversion or kind of Remainder in perpetuum Other Errors and mistakes in Printing the Reader is desired candidly to correct and excuse The Last will and TESTAMENT OF CARDINAL MAZARINE TO Day being the third of March one thousand six hundred and sixty one about nine of the Clock in the morning at the comandment of the most Illustrious and most Eminent my Lord Cardinal Julius Mazarine Duke of Nivernois and Ouziois being at present at the Castle of Vincennes the Notaries Inventory keepers of our Soveraign Lord the King at Paris here under-signed transferred themselves to the said Castle to the appartiment of his Emmenceâ— where they found the said Lord Carelinal Duke a bed sick in body but sound in mind memory and understanding as it appeared to them who said declared and acknowledged that all his goods moveable immoveable of what nature or quality soever they were or where ever they were scituated or remaining and in whatsoever they consisted without exception or reserve did come and proceed from the Liberality and Magnificence of his Majesty For which reason he believed he could not do better then by remitting as he doth by these presents remit and return into his Majesties hands all his said goods moveable and immoveable and all other generally whatsoever of what ever nature or quality they may be where ever being or remaining and in whatever they may consist without any exception or reserve the which present Declaration and delivery his Eminence doth make in favour of his Majesty by Donation and Gift of death Testamentary disposition or any other way in the best form and manner it can or ought to be made willing that his Majesty be und do remain seized of all the said goods from the day of the decease of his Eminence who hopeth that his Majesty will have the goodness and bounty to dispose of the said Goods according to the intentions and designations of his Eminence which his Majesty was pleased to receive from his Mouth Leaving to his Majestie nevertheless full and frank liberty of the said disposition as it shall seem good to him as the Lord and Master of all the said Goods which to that very purpose he hath given and bequeathed by these presents to his Majesty This was done and said by his Eminence to the abovesaid Notaries and by one of them the other being present read and read again to him in the chamber of his Eminence aspecting the Tower of the dungeon the day and year abovesaid and signed by the said Lord the very minute of these Presents The same day the date of these presents at the Commandment of the most Illustrious and most Eminent my Lord Cardinal Julius Mazarini Duke of Nivernois c. The Notaries Inventory Keepers for his Majesty c. being arrived at his Eminences chamber in the Castle of Vincennes found the said Lord Cardinal Duke a bed sick in body c. as before who said unto them that the length and tediousness of his sickness the uncertainty of life and the necessity of death had obliged him to think of making and ordaining his last Will and Testament which he now made and nominated to the abovesaid Notaries as hereafter followeth First of all He thanks the Author of all good things that he gave him his Birth in the Profession of the Catholick Religion which he acknowledgeth to be the sole true and only way of salvation He thanketh the same Divine goodness for all those Favours which it hath been pleased to bestow upon him during the whole course of his life and particularly for raising him to one of the most Eminent Dignities of the Church among an infinite number of many others of greater merit beseâ—câ—ing the Divine Goodness that the said Elevation turn not to his confusion for not having profitâ—bly enough employed those Talents which it hath been pleased to give him for which he craves pardon from the bottom of his heart of the Divine Majesty to whom he acknowledgeth himself guilty but hopeth for forgiven is by the merit of the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed for our Redemption After his thanksgiving to God as the Author and Beginning of all good things he judgeth it will be no derogati n to his Glory to 〈◊〉 also with disproportion nevertheless of the Creatures to the Creatour those acknowledgements he owes to his good Masters whom God hath given him And first to the King deceased of glorious memory who after his having called him to his service and employed his instances and nomination to the promoring him to the dignity of a Cardinal conferred on him the inestimable Honor of making him Godfather to the King now raigning and in fine to judge
him worthy of the Administration of his most important afairs to substitute him in the place vacated by death of one of the greatest most glorious and most sufficient able Ministers of State Cardinal Richleiu that ever France had To the Queen Mother whose goodness was pleased to continue him in the same Administration during her Regency of which with truth he can say that the incredible firmnesse and constancy of her mind hath saved the State from one of the greatest dangers it ever underwent To the King who having approved the choice made of his person by the King his Father deceased and by the Queen his Mother hath pleased to continue to him the same Honour and to make him partaker of those blessings which Heaven hath abundantly powred down upon his Sacred person by those glorious and advantagious successes which it hath given to his endeavours since his Majesties advancement to the Crown by that calm and repose which it hath Established within his Kindoms soon after his Majority As also by the glorious peace which his Majesty hath since afforded to the Christian world no less by the respect renown and glory of his Name then by his Mediation which all the Princes and Potentates engaged in War have besought and held in estimation and Reverence so that it may be truly said that since a 1000 years Christianity hath not joyed of such a tranquillity as this at present by the endeavours and Authority of the King And as in all these great successes it hath pleased God to make use of such a feeble and weak Minister of his will and pleasure and the orders of the King by so much the more he ought to abase himself before the face of the Divine Majesty and to acknowledge his real unworthiness and how little he was capable of himself to serve as an instrument to such gâ—eat things without His particular assistance The Principall satisfactiâ—n which his Eminence hoped for after the conclusion of those great works and the return of their Majesties to Paris was in a diligent application of all his care and pains to effect incessantly the Execution of his Majesties good intentâ—ons of re-estaâ—lishing Order in the general Administration throughout the Kingdom where many abuses were encreased and raigned by the length of the War the which Prudence was obliged to Tolerate or was not suffered to repress for fear of some troublesome intestine Commotion while there was a necessity of sustaining the forrain Hostile Impressions and effects of a Power most considerable But God not being pleased after so many other to grant him this last satisfaction which he had purposed to himself and having visited him with a long and troublesome disease which took away from Him all means of applying himself as was requisite to an Affayr of that Importance for the Weal of the State and the Profit of the Kings Subjects He comforts himself in the thoughts and certain Hopes he cherisheth that His Majesty having taken such a Resolution by his weak Counsels will maintain it by his Wisdom and his Goodness altogether Royal. His Eminence finds himself further obliged to say that nothing hath given him more displeasure in the Course of his Disease them his disability of endeavouring a considerable alleviation and mitigation of those over-pressures and surcharges which the People have suffered who having testified their zeal and their obedience by those great succours and supplies which they have given the King on all occasions during a VVar of 25 years He no way doubteth but that his Majesty will take a particular care of performing those good intentions of which he hath discoursed with him by the motives of that tenderness which he hath for his people and to excite them also to be equally and mâ—tually ready to supply him in all pressing occasions For Conclusion Their Majesties having recompensed â—is mean services which he hath endeavoured to performe to them by a Magnificence worthy of theâ— mind and Royal greatness He finds himself obliged to give testimony thereof to the Publick and that the world may know that if he hath served them with all Fidelity they have recompensed his services not only beyond his hopes and desires but also beyond all he could imagine to the end that this great example of their Liberality in his person may excite all their good Subjects to serve them with the same zeal and the same Fidelity which he hath endeavoured to do The said Lord Cardinal hath appointed his Sepulture in the Chappel of the Colledge which he hath founded and in the mean while he prayeth his Majesty that His Corps may be deposited in the St. Chappel of Fincennes The said Lord Cardinal confirmeth and when it is or shall be needfull reiterates and doubles that gift made to the Râ—ligious the Theatmes of St. Anne Royal He confirmeth also the Donation made to the Colledge of the four Nations and Academy in pursuance of the contract made and passed before Notaries The said Lord Cardinal giveth to the Hospital General the sum of sixty thousand livres 6000 l. ster besides the hundred thousand Livres which he gave to it before He gives likewise and bequeaths unto the Hostel de Dieu at Paris thirty thousand Livres The said Lord Cardinal Duke giveth and bequeaths to the Hospital of the Incurable the sum of twelve thousand liures for the founding of two beds according to the Reiglement or rules of the said Hospital the nomination whereof shall belong to his successors and descendants of the name of Mazarini The said Lord Cardinal Duke giveth six years Alms which he was used to give every year to several Convents of the City of Paris He giveth likewise to the poor and beggars of the said City the sum of six thousand Livres The said Lord Cardinal Duke giveth the sum of six hundred thousand Livres which is in the Hands of the Sieur du Pont St. Pierre at I yon 's to be imployed in making War against the Turks according to the Orders of his Majesty The said Lord Cardinal Duke giveth to the Sieur de Fontenelle his first Esquire the sum of twenty thousand livres To the Sieur Bernouin the first Groom of his Chamber the sum of fiâ—teen thousand liures To the sieur Pronty his House-keeper the like sâ—m The said Lord Cardinal Duke giveth to all the rest of his Domesticks that which shall be allowed them by a certain memorial which he will cause to be made The said Lord Cardinal Duke giveth to Monsieur Cardinal Antonio all those sums which he oweth to him the said Cardinal Duke and which hath been lent him either by obligation on his promise or otherwise which he wills to be rendred back discharging the sieur Mazarine of all those sums which he may have given to the said Cardinal My Lord Cardinal having accomplished a Design of matching 18 of the largest Diamonds which could be found giveth them to the Crown desiring his Majesty to accept of them