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The Seven Richest Heiresses of France
'
!/ I la
I
/
rhe Seven Heiresses of
H t
The Couii
iii
With Fbototjravure and Tw.
London
John Lonfr |
Norris Sci -i. -, i i
MCMY]
\
L; '_ ;-JiKJi£lii/iiiti^ •-'-'-" '
U
The Seven Richest Heiresses of France
By
The Count de Soissons
With Photogravure and Twenty-five Other Portraits
London
John Long, Limited
Norris Street, Haymarket MCMXI
c
W^S^f
Preface
Up to the Eighteenth Century Germany and France were the promised lands of those Italians and Swiss, who did not like to stay in their own countries, but preferred to seek a brilliant career at the Courts of foreign kings and princes.
The fact was that there were many men, ready to give themselves up, body and soul, for material gain, who left their countries with their hearts filled with hope, and returned home with wealth, titles and orders ; or, who did not return but induced their poor relations to join them, that they might also become rich and powerful.
The purpose of this book is to narrate the extraordinary career of that famous Italian, Mazarin, who came to France poor and relatively unknown, but nevertheless became a Prince of the Church, ruled over the country omnipotently by smiles, flatteries, promises, flexibility and personal charms ; and acquired — for those times — the enor- mous wealth of a hundred millions in gold, which he was daring enough to take from the exchequer of the King of France for his own purposes.
However, the most interesting feature of this volume will be the lives, love intrigues and
9
Preface
remarkable adventures of seven beautiful women, the nieces of the said Cardinal Mazarin, who brought them from Italy to France for the purpose of helping him in his political schemes ; he suc- ceeded, by giving them enormous dowries, in marrying them into the best families in the land. Some of them went through extraordinary vicissi- tudes, were obliged to leave France, and died in foreign countries almost in want, although at the beginning of their dazzling careers they were the richest heiresses of their times.
SOISSONS
honDON, January 21st, 191 1
10
Contents
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
I
II -
III -
IV -
V -
VI -
VII - VIII
IX -
X -
XI -
XII - XIII XIV
XV -
XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX -
15 23
33 43 54 61 67
74
86
92
102
1 10
130
139 148
155 163 171
183 190
II
|
Contents |
|
|
Chapter XXI |
- |
|
Chapter XXII |
- |
|
Chapter XXIII |
- |
|
Chapter XXIV |
- |
|
Chapter XXV |
- |
|
Chapter XXVI |
- |
|
Chapter XXVII |
- |
|
Chapter XXVIII |
- |
|
Chapter XXIX |
- |
|
Chapter XXX |
- |
|
Chapter XXXI |
- |
|
Chapter XXXII |
- |
|
Chapter XXXIII |
- |
|
Index - |
. |
PAGE 196
204
219 232 241
261 270 278 283
295
3^3
List of Illustrations
Marie Therese, the Queen of France . Frontispiece
The Cardinal de Mazarin , . To face page 22
The Cardinal de Richelieu . . ,,44
Anne of Austria .... ,, 46
Laura Mancini, the Duchess de
Mercoeur „ 82
The Prince de Conti ... „ 94
Marie-Anne Martinozzi, the Prin- cess DE Conti .... „ 100
Laura Martinozzi, the Princess of
MoDENA „ 104
Marie of Modena, Consort of
James II „ 106
James II ,, 108
Thomas-Francis de Savoie-Carignan,
THE Count de Soissons . . ,, 114
SoissoNS Palace ..... ,, 116
The Prince Eugene, Son of the
Countess de Soissons. . . „ 130
Olympia Mancini, the Countess de Soissons, Mother of the Prince Eugene ..... „ 130
The Duke of Marlborough . . ,, 146
Louis XIV „ 166
Christina of France, the Dl-chess
de Savoie „ 178
13
List of Illustrations
Mary Mancini, the Princess Colonna
Charles II.
Henriette of France
HoRTENSE Mancini, the Duchess de Mazarin
Charles de Saint Denis, Seigneur DE Saint Evremond
Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vis- count Turenne, etc. .
La Fontaine .....
Marianne Mancini, the Duchess de Bouillon
The Count de Soissons
To face page 204 220
254 262
270 280
302 312
14
The Seven Richest Heiresses of France
CHAPTER I
The succession to the throne of Mantua was the cause of strife between France, Spain and Savoy. Piedmont and Lombardy were devastated both by a bloody war and a merciless pestilence.
The French were besieged in Casal, defended by the fearless Toiras. The Marshal de Caumont la Force was hastening to the help of the besieged French garrison, when suddenly in front of the army there appeared a man on horseback, holding a crux of the Pope's legate and shouting ''Pax! Pax ! " which produced such an effect that the troops shouted also, " Peace ! Peace ! " and so peace was made in the midst of the commotion.
It happened that the Pope, being afraid that Italy might become entangled in the war, sent a legate for the purpose of negotiating peace. In the suite of the Pope's ambassador was an officer by the name of Mazarin, who determined to take advantage of the favourable circumstances to
promote his interests. In the midst of the two
15
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
opposing armies and deadly pestilence, he had displayed both energy and ability ; he rushed from town to town ; talked to everybody ; represented himself to be a friend of the Spaniards, of the French and of the Savoyards ; he travelled be- tween Rome, where he had long talks with the Pope, and Saint-Jean de Maurienne, where he had seen several times the Cardinal de Richelieu ; in a word, he became by his own efforts a person of importance.
Nobody knows what was said between Mazarin, the head of the Church, and the Prime- Minister of France, but the historical fact is that a peace was concluded because of his energy and thanks to his subterfuge. The Spaniards were duped, and they avenged themselves by writing of Mazarin that he was " a cheat since he was born, cheat whilst he was a child, cheat when he became a youth, cheat in Rome and at Casal, and when he was created a cardinal, then he became a crimson cheat."
When the lucky peacemaker returned to Rome he was obliged to face some difficulties put in his way by the Spaniards, who accused him of having been bribed by Richelieu and that consequently he played them a nasty trick. Francesco Barberini, the Pope's nephew and the most influential amongst the Cardinals, was inclined to treat him severely. However, the resourceful Mazarin succeeded in
i6
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
avoiding the storm that gathered over his youthful head by winning over the Cardinal Antonio, another nephew of the Pope. One of his enemies, the vicar Brousse, said maliciously that Mazarin succeeded in finding a protector in the Cardinal Antonio by influencing him through a charming actress-singer, who was his inamorata. This might be true or not, but the fact is that the Pope was pleased with Mazarin's diplomatic negotiations, and that he placed at the Capitole a picture representing Mazarin at Casal, galloping between the two armies on a charger covered with foam and waving his hat. It is reported that the people, looking at the painting, said that the hat used so cunningly deserved to turn red. In the meanwhile the good-looking horseman of Casal was appointed a monsignor cameriere. The purple stockings and cassock were very becoming to him and he was very much admired ; according to a contemporary \vriter, "he was one of the four of the handsomest prelates who were always seen together at the papal court, being united by a sincere and respectful friendship."
Who was then that handsome monsignor and very able young diplomatist ?
The question is not easy to answer, not by
reason of any lack of documents, but because
the truth is obscured by passionately unjust
adversaries, whose jealousy prompted them to B 17.
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
avenge themselves on account of the success with which that extraordinarily capable and lucky man met during his life.
Thousands of scurrilous pamphlets, known under the name of Mazarinades, throw a certain light on Mazarin's origin ; the authors of them spared not the able statesman. Certainly such documents do not carry any weight, and must be used cum grano salts, even with much of salt, but they express quite faithfully the public opinion of those times — voxpopuli, or, speaking more exactly, vox stultorum.
Many of those virulent sheets were in- spired by the Cardinal de Retz, Mazarin's implacable foe and astute adversary. The before- mentioned priest by the name of Brousse, who was the Vicar of Saint- Roche, consequently a member of the clergy of Paris under the sway of de Retz, speaks of Mazarin thus :
" Although he uses for his coat of arms the axes and fasces, one should not think that they are the same which were carried as ensigns of authority before the Roman lictors ; they are the hatchets wielded by his ancestor for chopping the wood and switches with which his father flogged the horses. . . . The whole of Rome knows what he was and in what capacity he served the Cardinals Sachetti and Antonio. Everybody also knows that his mind was formed under the influence
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
of the planet Mercury . . . that he travelled in Venice and Naples to learn how to cheat ,at play, of which accomplishment he became such a master that they called him a sharper." . . .
The party of Cardinal de Retz, who was at the head of the Fronde, had their informers in Italy, whence they sent such edifying news ; according to them Mazarin was the son of a hatter from Palermo, and he was obliged to leave the country because he became a bankrupt.
All the writers of those vituperative pamphlets, with few exceptions, agree on this point. One of them, more allegorical than the others, said that " Fortune was delivered of this monster while she was divorced from Virtue ; " and then he added : " I know his native country ; and Sicily herself, although she acknowledges him to our shame, told me that he was born in a public-house in Palermo. I have learned that his father, who was a hatter and button-maker, became a bankrupt ; when he went to Rome, he placed his son with the Constable Colonna. From there he went as a servant to the Cardinal Antonio Barberini. . . . He distinguished himself as a debauchee and was purveyor of dishonest pleasures at Rome."
The author of this Mazarinade had apparently
taken his information from the same source as
the Vicar of Saint Roche ; and he added : " This
Sicilian, coming from the lowest inhabitants of
19
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Sicily, says that he descends from the old Anjou, this is to say, French faction. It would be better he had said that he is a citizen of the universe and a son of the earth, as are the Cyclopes, his countrymen." . . .
By this one sees that Mazarin flattered himself that he was a descendant of the Normans or the A.njous, conquerors of Sicily, consequently a Frenchman of the oldest stock.
This his enemies were not disposed to believe. The Prince de Conde called him "a Sicilian beggar," while for the frondeurs he was simply "the Sicilian," by which expression they wished to convey to the people at large that he was a Spanish subject and consequently a foe to France. This was more in harmony with the historical and mythological reminiscences. " Can one trust," said a scribbler, " any one that comes from Sicily ? That capellane did he not wish to have another Sicilian Vespers } He was born in the same country where the monsters were struck by thunderbolts. ... His origin is so low that one could say that he had no father."
According to another pamphlet Mazarin was a Jew, who had taken the name from his native town Mazarra situated in the valley of Mazare in Sicily.
Scarron, the poet, must have believed this,
for he wrote a piece called Mazarinadcs which
20
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
name was subsequently given to all pamphlets directed against the Cardinal, and he said :
" EUe fit du vol de Mazare Sortir ce ministre si rare ; De Mazare vient Mazarin. . . . Comme on dit le Manceau du Maine, Le Tourangeau de la Touraine, Basque, Champagne ou le Picard. . . . Comme en usent, en notre France, Les paquins de basse naissance."
When the war of the Fronde was over, Scarron denied being the author of those verses, but nobody believed him, for the writing possessed his burlesque verve and his cynicism.
The most comical and probably the most popular was the Jllazaiaiiade called : " Vive lay sur les vertus de Sa Faquinance " ;
" II est de Sicile natif, II est toujours prompt ^ mal faire : II est fourbe ou superlatif, li est de Sicile natif. II est lache, il est mercenaire. . . . II n'est qu'a' son bien attentif. . . . Le peuple ne cesse de braire. . . . II est de Sicile natif, II est toujours prompt a mal faire.
On ne sait quel est ce chetif
Quel est son pbre presomptif,
D'oii nous est venu ce faussaire ;
S'il est noble ou s'il est metif ; 21 ,
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
El la cour, comme le vulgaire, Chante, pour tout, point decisif : II est de Sicile natif. . 11 est toujours prompt a mal faire." '
Yes, the Sicilian origin of Mazarin was the only "decisive point" ; but everybody seemed to agree to prove in rhymes and prose that he was a son of a hatter.
' The English version is not given, for the verses are not difficult to understand ; the reader who does not understand French would not learn more by knowing only the sense of the verses, were the translator unable to render the daintiness of them.
22
CHAPTER II
The contemporary Memoirs, written mostly by the people who were not friendly disposed towards Mazarin, were not less cruel and aggressive than were the Mazarinades.
The Cardinal de Retz was at the head of those who attacked his political adversary in the following manner :
"His birth as well as his childhood were shameful. When he left the Colysee he learned how to cheat at play, for which he was soundly thrashed by a Roman goldsmith by the name of Morato. He was captain in a foot regiment at Valteline and Bagni, and his general told me that he was looked upon as a swindler. Through the Cardinal Antonio's favour he was appointed an extraordinary nuncio, which appointment could not have been obtained in those times through good means."
Such language surprises one when one thinks that it was a cardinal who wrote in this strain about another cardinal.
Mme. de Motteville is less cruel, and, with- out speaking of Mazarin's origin, she says that
23
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
his parents lived at Rome in poverty, and that his character was bad from his youth.
However, although this seems to be quite sincere, one should not forget that she had some reason to complain of Mazarin, and that therefore there might be a certain amount of rancour here.
The famous writer of Memoirs, the Duke de Saint-Simon, did not know Mazarin, but he could not help having heard much of him and, of course, he, who found fault with the genealogies of every family, not only in France but in other countries as well, except his own, was almost bound to say : '* It was impossible to go further than to the father of this famous Eminency, or to find where he was born, or anything about his youthful age ; one knows only that his parents came from Sicily ; one believes that they were low-born curs from the Mazarra Valley, and that they have taken the name of Mazarin as one sees in Paris, when some people call themselves Champagn or Bourguignon."
It is not difficult to discern that the Duke de Saint-Simon had read the Mazarinades, for he repeated almost verbatim what Scarron said about the Italian statesman in his wickedly biting verses.
The most indulgent, although not much more
precise, is Walckenaer, the author of Memoires
sur Mme. de Sevignd, who exclaims : '* Romancers
24
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
and poets, you whose fancy is fond of rapid falls and sudden rises, look at this child playing on the Sicilian shore, near Mazarra. His family has not even a name ; it is a child of a certain Peter, a fisherman, whose humble cabin you see in the distance ; however, the day will come when this infant will become Jules de Mazarin, wearing the Roman purple."
Assuredly this is the most poetical reference one could find in regard to Mazarin 's origin, but this pleasing idyll is as good as is the story about a hatter, or the pretension to a noble Norman descent. Unfortunately history could not be satisfied with an idyll, and one is obliged to ask the historian where he found any documents that might justify his tirade. From a footnote of his book one learns that Walckenaer was indebted for this communication to a certain gentleman by the name of Artand de Montor, but he said nothing as to who the man was, and he does not give the title of his book.
Of course it is not impossible that some one might have become impressed by the good looks and intelligence of handsome Giulio Mazarini while he was playing on the shore, and that the stranger had taken him to Rome. But what is not even probable is that the clever parvenu would have been able to bring
his father, a fisherman of Mazare, to Rome, to
25
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
make him occupy a palace together with his uncouth family, and then help him to take for his second wife a lady of the house of the Princes Orsini.
It is also improbable that the rustic daughters of that Pietro, that those coniadine, could marry, as they did, Roman nobles. Then one sees, by the great respect expressed by Mazarin in his letters addressed to his father, that this person was not a vulg-arian either in reg-ard to his mind or to his birth, for the correspondence shows convincingly that the addressee was a superior man in every respect.
Therefore the scholarly Count Leon de Laborde did not hesitate to say in his beautiful work, Le Palais Mazarin, that the Cardinal was a nobleman by birth, and he defends him so warmly that one could say that the Italian states- man had not a better and especially less dis- interested friend than was the Count de Laborde. His solicitude and enthusiasm were justified by this circumstance that he knew the Cardinal very intimately, he had studied him in his private life and he had given himself the trouble of reading his unpublished correspondence and his notes.
All this made him bold enough to say that
his friend was a well-born nobleman, and even he
thought that the Mazarins had a right, or, at
26
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
least, that their claim was justified, to believe that they descended from patricians of ancient Rome and that their coat of arms came to them from Julius Csesar, This is very far from the fisher- man of Mazare !
But let us listen to what the Count de Laborde says in order to prove his assertion :
" Through my researches I have learned that a certain Ravioli, a lawyer, connected with the French Embassy at Rome, where I was employed, was able to establish, by looking through corre- spondence and registers of a college at Naples, that a Sicilian nobleman, charmed with the happy disposition of a certain boy, sent him to the said college, under the name of Pietro Mazare."
It reads more or less like the story given by Walckenaer, only one is bound to notice that the name under which the boy was sent to college does not show a patrician origin. However, let us follow the Count de Laborde.
" The poor boarder had answered his patron's expectations, and, after having distinguished him- self as a student, left the college frequented by the sons of noblemen and entered the army. As this college was founded for the noblemen of Naples, no exception could have been made, and as Jules Mazarin was admitted, therefore,
one could conclude that he was of noble birth."
,27
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Such a conclusion is not convincing, for even supposing that Ravioli's researches were exact — although they bear purely a confidential character — is it possible that the regulations of the college were so inflexible as the Count de Laborde supposes ? No matter in which way this question might be answered, it is certain that, except verbal proofs, there are no other docu- ments showing that Pietro Mazare was at Naples in a noble college.
The Count de Brienne said in his Memoirs that he did not know what was Mazarin's origin, and he left it to genealogists to find. However, even the most skilful and most trustworthy amongst them differ much. The greatest French genealogist. Father Anselme, seems to have been afraid to compromise his authority and he said simply this :
" Pierre Mazarini, born at Palermo, left his native country and settled at Rome." Not a word of a noble origin !
But the two historians of Mazarin, Gualdo
Priorato and Aubery, say that he was born at
Piscina in the Abruzzi, and being more daring
than Father Anselme, they affirm that he was a
nobleman ; they say that he studied at Rome.
It seems, they did not know anything about
the college at Naples, where the Count de
Laborde found the proofs of nobility.
28
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
All this goes to demonstrate that Mazarin's cradle is wrapped in clouds, as was that of the gods of the Olympus.
Fortunately, there is a document that throws some light on that obscure point.
This is a life of Mazarin, found in MS. in the library of Turin ; it is called // Cardinale Mazarino. The name of the author is unknown ; he had written to a prince of the house of Savoy — who probably had requested him to do so — and said all he knew of the Cardinal. According to all probability this biography had been written about 1654, after the marriage of Olympia Mancini, for the author spoke of it as of a recent fact. He knew many details concerning his schoolmate, Jules. He affirmed that most of what he said of him he had seen with his own eyes. He knew all the qualities and drawbacks of Mazarin. He was familiar with his birth, his true origin, his parents, of which he gave exact portraits. Pietro, his father, was born in Mazarino Castle — il un castello detto Mazarino — and availed him- self of this circumstance for taking the surname of Mazarino — dalla cui patria prese occasione di pigliare il cognome Mazarino. Father Anselme wrote Mazarini ; the Cardinal himself signed Mazarini up to the moment when he succeeded Richelieu. Further, the author said that the
father was a well-to-do artisan — il padre fu
29
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
commodo artigiano. Pietro had some education, and came to Rome in search of fortune on the strength of the old saying that Rome is a step- mother to no one — matrigna no7i fu mai Roma ad alcuno. He became the chamberlain of the Constable Colonna ; he knew how to please his master, who entrusted him with his affairs, and helped him to marry a girl of good family, his god-daughter — una gentildonna sua figlioccia. Her name was Ortensia Ruffalini ; she was virtuous and comely, and had a dowry which was much larger than a man of lowly origin could ask. Con una dote pia che conveniente alle facolta et ai natali dello sposo, sendo inoltre molto dotata di una bellezza nan oj'dinaria et molto virtuosa. When the astonishingly good luck of his son Jules gave him more riches and influence, Pietro Mazarino did not lose his head because of greatness ; he knew how to enjoy his prosperity moderately, like the far - seeing philosopher that he was.
Those details given by Jules Mazarin's friend impress one as being true, for he often repeated that all that he wrote he had seen with his own eyes.
He affirmed that the future Cardinal-states- man was born at Rome, in the parish of the Saints Vincent and Anastase, in the part of the
city called Rione di Trevi.
30
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
This differs vastly from all that one can read in pamphlets and Memoirs.
"It is notorious," continued the biographer, "that the infant was born with long hair" — e come e publico e notorio nacque vcstito involto in una certa pellicina sottile come foglia di cipola — and that this occurrence was looked upon as an omen of a brilliant career. Jules was educated at the College of Jesuits at Rome ; he charmed every- body with his exquisite manners, his ability and his superior mind. When he was but five years old he was able to recite, in public, little sermons — i sermoncini — which he had heard in the oratory of the Fathers of Saint-Philippe of Ndri in the New Church or of that of Saint-Onuphrius. There was so much talk about this prodigy that a Venetian gentleman, living at Rome, had settled ten crowns per month towards the ex- penses of his education. His masters en- deavoured to make him join their congregation, but they were not successful in that respect.
This document shows that the youthful age of Mazarin was spent more seriously than it was represented by the Mazarinades. The bio- grapher deserves to be taken earnestly, for the details he gives are precise and convincing ; his writing bears the Italian tone and colour of the epoch ; the facts he gives are probable.
For these reasons it would be consistent to
31
■,f;»t>jffMt;i»TniiiiiaiT||(||imiiH|i|i)ni||iii i i i 1 1 |i ii i i m i im
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
commodo artigiano. Pietro had some education, and came to Rome in search of fortune on the strength of the old saying that Rome is a step- mother to no one — matrig7ta no7i fu mai Roma ad alcuno. He became the chamberlain of the Constable Colonna ; he knew how to please his master, who entrusted him with his affairs, and helped him to marry a girl of good family, his god-daughter — una gentildonna sua figlioccia. Her name was Ortensia Ruffalini ; she was virtuous and comely, and had a dowry which was much larger than a man of lowly origin could ask. Con una dote pid eke conveniente alle facolta et ai natali dello sposo, sendo inoltre inolto dot at a di una bellezza non ordinaria et molto virtuosa. When the astonishingly good luck of his son Jules gave him more riches and influence, Pietro Mazarino did not lose his head because of greatness ; he knew how to enjoy his prosperity moderately, like the far - seeing philosopher that he was.
Those details given by Jules Mazarin s friend impress one as being true, for he often repeated that all that he wrote he had seen with his own eyes.
He afBrmed that the future Cardinal-states- man was born at Rome, in the parish of the Saints Vincent and Anastase, in the part of the
city called Rione di Trevi.
30
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
This differs vastly from all that one can read in pamphlets and Memoirs,
"It is notorious," continued the biographer, "that the infant was born with long hair" — e come e publico e notorio nacque vestito involto in una certa pellicina sottile come foglia di cipola — and that this occurrence was looked upon as an omen of a brilliant career. Jules was educated at the College of Jesuits at Rome ; he charmed every- body with his exquisite manners, his ability and his superior mind. When he was but five years old he was able to recite, in public, little sermons — i sermoncini — which he had heard in the oratory of the Fathers of Saint- Philippe of Neri in the New Church or of that of Saint-Onuphrius. There was so much talk about this prodigy that a Venetian gentleman, living at Rome, had settled ten crowns per month towards the ex- penses of his education. His masters en- deavoured to make him join their congregation, but they were not successful in that respect.
This document shows that the youthful age of Mazarin was spent more seriously than it was represented by the Mazarinades. The bio- grapher deserves to be taken earnestly, for the details he gives are precise and convincing ; his writing bears the Italian tone and colour of the epoch ; the facts he gives are probable.
For these reasons it would be consistent to 31
\
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
accept these biographical details as the only authentic ones, especially in the presence of this fact, that even the Cardinal Mazarin's efforts to obtain some details concerning his family did not bring any results.
Colbert says that before his death the Cardinal sent to Sicily a trustworthy and capable priest by the name Piaceta a Montaldi, and who, helped by a M. Costa, succeeded in gathering some documents, but the death of Mazarin put a stop to all further researches in that direction, and it is impossible to learn anything more positive about the origin of the Mazarins than is given in this chapter.
The Cardinal-statesman had been too busy about affairs of a greater importance than was his descent.
32
CHAPTER III
It seems that after having left college, Mazarin had forgotten the good advice he received from the Jesuits and could not resist certain temptations of life. He became acquainted with the dissipated young men, who induced him to gamble. Pietro Mazarin was alarmed lest his beloved son, Giulio, should turn out badly, and was looking for an opportunity which would allow him to change his life. The youth felt also that he was on a bad road, and his conscience pricked him ; this he felt more acutely when he had no money for gambling. He told the above- mentioned biographer, from whose work these details are taken, that he was restless day and night, that he deplored his disorderly life, and that he was longing for an opportunity to leave Rome and to turn over a new leaf— /J^r tornar homo novus.
His wish was fulfilled ; his father found him the post of chamberlain in the household of the Prince Girolamo Colonna, who subsequently became a cardinal ; he was then going to the Court of Madrid, and he took the youth with
him.
c 33
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
The capital of Spain was hardly a favourable place where a dissolute young man could reform his life, for they gambled in Madrid as recklessly as they did at Rome.
However, for a certain time Mazarin resisted the temptation of cards and dice, not because he wished to be true to his resolution of putting a stop to his gambling, but because he had no money, and a sentiment of decency precluded him from pledging his jewellery and clothes.
One day he had risked all the cash he had and lost sur parole a fair amount. This made him very morose, and it was then when he uttered these words so full of deep truth :
" Ah, what a stupid beast is man without money ! "
A notary of Madrid, with whom the youth
became acquainted, seeing his sadness, asked him
what was the reason of his being so depressed.
Mazarin seized the opportunity that presented
itself to him to get out of the difficulty, answered
unhesitatingly that he was awaiting money from
Rome and that the delay inconvenienced him
greatly. The Spaniard offered him his purse
of gold, from which, however, his discreet friend
took but a few gold pieces, with which he again
tempted Fortune, whom this time he caught by
the hair — per la Chioma.
34
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Having won a fair amount he paid the Spaniard back, telling him that the money came from Rome.
The notary had a beautiful daughter ; Mazarin, having been received as a friend, was introduced to her and fell in love with her. The Spaniard was pleased, for he thought a young man who paid his debts promptly and received money from Rome was worthy to become his son-in-law. Matrimony was decided on, for which, however, the consent of the Prince-Abbe Colonna was necessary. The matrimonial plans of his chamberlain did not please him, for he was thinking of an ecclesiastical post for him, but as the youth was very much in love he did not wish to plunge him suddenly into despair, and he apparently consented on condition that Mazarin should return at once to Rome to carry an important correspondence and, at the same time, to tell his parents about his proposed marriage.
Many persons in love are easily duped, and Mazarin was not an exception to the rule. He left Madrid full of hope and joy. It was not difficult for him to obtain his father's leave, but the Con- stable Colonna, to whom his son had written from Madrid, did not wish to listen to anything ; he sneered mercilessly at the amorous youth, com- manded him to stay at Rome and apply himself
again to his studies.
3-5
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Poor Mazarin, locked in his room, cried for several days after his beautiful Spanish girl, and then became resigned to his apparently cruel lot.
This was the turning-point in the life of the future statesman ; the apparent heartlessness of the Prince Colonna saved Mazarin from obscurity and assured him almost — one could say — ever- lasting fame. Though one could surmise, on the other hand, that had he married the notariana, and remained at Madrid, perchance he had supplanted in the Council of Castilia the Duke of Olivares, and might have signed the treaty on the Isle of Faisants for Spain instead of for France.
Mazarin was twenty years of age when he returned from Spain in 1622.
That happy age, towards which everybody looks back with pleasure while passing in review the past years of one's life, is not the most brilliant period in anybody's history, and a biographer can seldom be enthusiastic about it.
The writers who have written about Mazarin differ very much on this point also.
The Cardinal de Retz, more daring than were
all his scribblers of pamphlets, slandered Mazarin
so much that he asked the reader to be on his
guard. But the already mentioned biographer
36
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
spoke of Jules Mazarin as being a charming companion.
"No one," said he, ** could be more sweet, more obliging, more disinterested than he ; he never quarrelled, he never said one hard word ; he knew how to spend, and he would say often that ' Heaven is the exchequer of a generous man.
He admired Mazarin ingenuously, he praised his ability at play, his cleverness that enabled him to borrow from the Jews.
He says that one day, having been playing with a captain, who uttered some licentious joke, Jules stretched out — con gentil maniera — his hand towards the stakes, and they disappeared ; however, he did not put the money into his pocket, but returned it gallantly to the astonished captain. He wished only to warn the player.
This was told by an eye-witness, who said, " I have seen it ! "
That ugly word "swindler," which the Cardinal de Retz throws cynically into the face of his colleague, could not be justified. It was true that Mazarin was an expert gambler, but his friend-biographer did not find that he had made an illicit use of his accomplishment.
Then he is so naive that had he known that Mazarin was a cheat he could not have remained
silent about it. If Mazarin were such an able
17
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
gambler that he could give points to the best players, this was not a drawback ; it was simply a precaution, a defensive weapon against the cheats.
It is true that he won often and was able to buy for himself fine clothes, cosdy rings and chains, but it is not forbidden to be lucky in playing, and the best gambler has a right to be clever.
Then, gambling was so fashionable not only in Italy, but in France, in England, and in all the countries, that one should not be surprised that Mazarin had caught the contagion. In those days everybody gambled, both respect- able men and women who were reputed to be honest ; as everybody had a dancing master, so every one had a cheating master — un niaitre a piper.
The Count de Laborde gives a few in- teresting details concerning gambling in France :
" Gourville, in half an hour, made lighter the purse of Fouquet by ^^55,000. The Marquis de Crequy had lost ;^ 100,000 in an evening and paid but half of the amount. The Marshal d'Estrees had lost one evening, at his own house, ;^ 100,000. Monsieur — the King of France's eldest brother — lost ;^ 1 00, 000 to Dangeau and Langlee ; in order
to be able to pay he sold his gold plate, his silver
38
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
banisters and his jewels. The King, while in bed, won in a short evening 2700 pistoles ; and we know that in 1660, the Abbe de Gordes, whose name had been unknown to history if not for this misfortune, had lost with him ^150,000.
" The Duchess de la Fert^ would gather at her palace her butchers, grocers, bakers, etc., would put them round a large table and play with them a kind of lansquenet. She whispered to me : * I cheat them, but they rob me.' "
After his return from Spain Mazarin gave up playing and began to study very seriously by attending regularly the lectures of Cosimo Flor- entino, the famous master of that epoch. His aim was to become a prelate, and for this purpose he had taken the degree of doctor of both civil and canon laws.
When the Jesuits were going to give a per- formance of a drama in which their founder, St Ignatius Loyola, was the principal character, they were anxious to choose an amateur-actor of whose success they could be certain. They thought that Mazarin would be the only person on whom they could securely rely in that regard, and asked him to take up the part. But they found him very recalcitrant to their suggestion, which attitude could be attributed either to his modesty or to the rancour he had against his former instructors. It was necessary that certain princes and ambas-
39
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
sadors should intercede to make him play the part. He represented the saint so eloquently and so majestically, and in such a beautiful costume, that the whole of Rome was in rapture — stupir di Roma. As to the Jesuits, they were overjoyed that their saint was so much applauded.
It is rather strange that this young man, who followed a prelate to Spain, and who studied divinity, instead of serving the Church, sud- denly joined the army and became Captain Mazarin.
From this one could conclude that he was seeking his way in more than one direction ; as it seems, he was not sure of himself; however, he showed everywhere great ability and served well those from whom he expected any help for his career.
The Pope's army had seldom any opportunity
to leave their quarters ; the discipline was not
very strict, and the young officers had plenty of
time for pleasures of all kinds. Mazarin was fond
of music, painting, of all the arts ; he wrote, as
did so many others in those days, verses ; he
recollected them when he became a Prince of the
Church and Prime Minister, and compared them
with those of the poet Benserade, who was
very much flattered and humbly thanked His
Eminence.
Unfortunately, Captain Mazarin employed his 40
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
leisure not exclusively in writing poetry ; soon he allowed his passion for gambling to master him, and this penchant lasted as long as did his life.
However, he was born under a lucky star ; this officer of the Pope had a chance to show his talent in war, which, although short and not very bloody, gave him an opportunity to distinguish himself.
If Captain Mazarin had not been in the war, perchance he had remained in the army the whole of his life. He had an opportunity of facing the enemy and, thanks to this, he became cardinal.
Here are the facts in a few words : the Pope sent his army to Valteline ; Mazarin was with the troops ; but Torquato Conti and the Marquess of Bagni, generals of this small army, were obliged to negotiate more than to fight, and they success- fully employed Captain Mazarin. One day he was sent to the Duke of Feria, governor of Milan, then to the Marshal d'Estrees, who com- manded the French ; he was successful in the negotiations, and then his report of the affair was so able that xh^pontifex maximus was very pleased when he read it.
Undoubtedly, when Mazarin returned to Rome,
he thought much about his career ; the Valteline
campaign had opened his eyes and revealed to
him his avocation. He decided to cast aside the
41
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
uniform. His historians state that he again studied law, but they do not add that while study- ing much he intrigued much also and did his best to win for himself influential friends. He accom- panied several legates during their missions, watch- ing attentively for an opportunity that might make him conspicuous.
The war for the succession of Mantua, and contact with the great French statesman, the Cardinal de Richelieu, furnished him with such an opportunity, and he fully availed himself of it.
42
CHAPTER IV
Although there are no historical documents
proving that several interviews with the Cardinal
de Richelieu had the decisive influence over
Mazarin's career, one would be justified in making
such an assertion on the circumstantial evidence,
that after having joined the Church, Mazarin's
only effort seemed to be to go to France in some
capacity. One could logically surmise that
Mazarin's intelligence and activity would have
prompted him to find an issue for his energy if he
had desired to go to some other country than
France. But it would seem France was the only
kingdom to which he wished to be sent. This was
done in 1634, when he was appointed as vice-legate
at Avignon, where he resided in that capacity two
years ; and most assuredly he did not miss the
opportunity of becoming better acquainted with
Richelieu, for it was at his wish that Mazarin was
subsequently appointed as extraordinary nuncio
in France.
He arrived at Paris in state ; " entered the city
through Saint Antoine's gate, in a carriage sent
to him by the King, preceded by his noblemen
and by a number of outriders and lackeys in rich
43
f
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
liveries, and followed by a hundred and twenty- carriages." . . .
The nuncio was successful both in Paris and Rome. The Cardinal de Retz said that " he pleased Chavigny by telling him licentious Italian stories, and that through Chavigny he won Richelieu."
It is difficult to know how much truth there is in this phrase, but it is easy to see that while Retz made in his Memoirs a splendid portrait of Richelieu, he gave us only a bad caricature of Mazarin.
An Italian historian wrote marvellous stories pertaining to Mazarin's sojourn at the Court of France ; thev are fairv tales created, one would say. by the distance. Here is one of them : One evening Mazarin went to the Palais Royal, where a great number of noblemen and ladies were gathered and gambled much. Being urged to tr^^ his luck, he agreed to do so, hoping to be seen by the Queen ; soon he won so prodigiously that the news was spread in the galleries and ever)-body rushed to see the amount of gold pieces heaped in front of him. The Queen came also ; she entered when Mazarin won a great stake and he failed not to attribute his sfood luck to the presence of Her Majesty. He won then ninety thousand gold pieces ; he left the table and distributed a part of his winnings among the ladies
44
"n ~3eLS. =»g«ti^ ue
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
liveries, and followed by a hundred and twenty
carriages.
The nuncio was successful both in Paris and Rome. The Cardinal de Retz said that "he pleased Chavigny by telling him licentious Italian stories, and that through Chavigny he won Richelieu."
It is difficult to know how much truth there is in this phrase, but it is easy to see that while Retz made in his Memoirs a splendid portrait of Richelieu, he gave us only a bad caricature of Mazarin.
An Italian historian wrote marvellous stories pertaining to Mazarin's sojourn at the Court of France ; they are fairy tales created, one would say, by the distance. Here is one of them : One evening Mazarin went to the Palais Royal, where a great number of noblemen and ladies were gathered and gambled much. Being urged to try his luck, he agreed to do so, hoping to be seen by the Queen ; soon he won so prodigiously that the news was spread in the galleries and everybody rushed to see the amount of gold pieces heaped in front of him. The Queen came also ; she entered when Mazarin won a great stake and he failed not to attribute his good luck to the presence of Her Majesty. He won then ninety thousand gold pieces ; he left the table and distributed a part of his winnings among the ladies
44
The Cardinal de Richklieu
[to face page 44
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
and gentlemen ; then he caused to be sent fifty thousand to the Queen. At first she refused to accept such a present, but the Italian begged of her in such convincing words and so sweetly — con parole si agguistate et con si soavi accenti — that she allowed herself to be persuaded.
This might be true or not, although one could judiciously say that when Mazarin was at the Court of France he could not help seeing that Anne of Austria had then no influence whatever, that everything was in the hands of Richelieu, and that it was of far greater consequence to win the Prime Minister than the Queen.
This naturally could not have been seen at Rome, and they talked but of Mazarin's deeds in France, and naturally gambling and love played a big part in the imagination of his old friends.
As soon as Mazarin returned to Rome he gave up the Nunciature and went to France, where he must have seen great chances, for he sacrificed for them his expectations at Rome, his powerful friends, and especially the hope, being such an able man, of becoming Pope.
He was right in his choice of the field on which he could display his great ability, for soon he was created a cardinal through the influence of the almost omnipotent Richelieu, and when Louis XIII. was dying he pointed at Mazarin as the future
Prime Minister. This was very much but not
45
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
everything, for the final decision rested with the Queen- Regent. Mazarin having been a protege of Richelieu, he could not flatter himself that this made him 2i persona grata in the eyes of the Queen, between whom and Richelieu there was not much sympathy ; on the contrary, reciprocal hatred-^- consumed their hearts. The Queen hated Richelieu for his too great influence over the mind of her son, the King Louis XIV. ; while Richelieu did not forget the humiliation received at the hands of the Queen when she laughed at the love he offered to her.
It would appear that Mazarin was either in- structed by Richelieu, or found for himself that the road to the supreme power was resting in the heart of Anne of Austria, and he was deter--:^ mined to win that heart.
Mazarin was then forty years of age and one of the handsomest men of the Court ; he conquered everybody by his excellent and refined manners, by his Italian elegancy and the great care he took of his person. Even those who were maliciously disposed towards him, except the Cardinal de Retz, too vain, too much oi petit -maitre himself to be able ^ to grant that kind of advantage to his adversary, agreed about Mazarin's above-mentioned qualities.
The Count de Brienne says in his Memoirs that " Mazarin was tall, a little taller than the
average height of men ; his complexion was fresh
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Anne ok Austria
[to face pack 46
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
and bright ; his eyes were full of fire ; he had a large and majestic forehead, dark hair a little curled, black beard always carefully combed, and beautiful hands." . . .
His discreet foe, Mme. de Monteville, said that "he had the gift to please," and that '* it was impossible not to be charmed by his sweet ways, manners and words."
The satirical and ever-growling Bussy-Rabutin, seemed to be under the influence of the charm emanating from Mazarin when he sketched the following portrait of him : "He was the best- looking man of the world ; he was handsome, his ways were very agreeable ; his mind was broad, fine, insinuating, delicate ; he could tell a story very well."
Another contemporary, the Marshal de Gram- mont, a past-master courtier, spoke of Mazarin thus: "He was affable, insinuating; his figure was chafming ; he was capable of friendship. We have seen him face all kinds of fortune, conquer all his foes, keep the supreme power to the last moment of his life, and teach his master the art of governing."
Such was the man whose fortune was in the hands of a lazy and passionate Spanish woman, who had been beautiful, accustomed to homage, to romantic amours.
The woman of the bed-chamber to Anne of
47
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Austria detailed the first relations of the Queen with her Prim Minister : "He began to come to the Queen eveiy evening and to have with her long talks ; his sweet and humble manners, under which he hid his ambitious plans and designs, had this effect, that the cabal of opposition were not afraid of him."
This security did not last for ever, and when the Cardinal had his apartments in the Palais Royal the private talks became so frequent, and the tHe-d,-tHe so long, that those who surrounded the Queen began to whisper, and her true friends risked to talk to her about the gossip concerning her reputation. The most devoted from amongst the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, the beautiful and virtuous Marie d'Hautefort, lost her favour for this reason. The Cardinal did not pardon those efforts made to make the Queen uneasy ; he was taking note of them. " The Bishop of Beauvais," he wrote, "has asked Mme. de S^necd to speak to the Queen that she must not see me so often for the sake of her own reputation." Then : " The Marchioness de S6nec^ and Mile. d'Hautefort have made Mother Ang^lique speak to Her Majesty against me." One reads further : " I have against me Hautefort, S^nec^, and the whole house of the Queen."
Those ladies had a powerful weapon against Mazarin ; it was the Queen's religion. Being a
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
true Spanish woman she was given to all kinds of devout practices ; she frequented -constantly the monastery of Val-de-Grace, attaiued churches and sermons.
Mazarin was furious against convents, monks, nuns, who, under the pretext of keeping up the Queen's religious fervour, had no other purpose but to take up her time, " so much so that she has not a moment to attend to her own affairs and to talk to me." Then he continues: ** The Queen subordinates the public affairs to the affairs of devotion, while she ought to do the contrary. . . . God is everywhere and the Queen could pray in her oratory."
The uneasiness and temper shown in those
notes seem to prove that Mazarin was not yet
certain of his conquest of the Queen — at least,
at the beginning of their friendly intercourse. It
is almost certain that in order to win the Spaniard
he followed the Duchess de Chevreuse's advice
during those long talks, which advice was almost
infallible as a means to interest Her Majesty, and
this was : to look in a distracted and dreamingf
manner at her beautiful hands, of which she was
very proud. He cared not what they would think
and say, providing he could show his ardour ;
in that regard he behaved like a youthful page.
One day he rushed gallantly to the door of the
carriage in which the Queen was seated and opened r> 49
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
it for her when the lackey was too slow to do his duty. This incident caused the following song :
" Devant la reine, Mazarin A fait une trivalinade ; II a saut^ comme Arleouin Devant la reine, Mazann ! "
The wife of the Secretary of State, de Brienne, was one of those charitable persons who warned the Queen about wicked talk injuring her reputa- tion, and one finds in the Memoirs of her son the following : " When my mother stopped talking, the Queen, her eyes full of tears, said, ' My dearest, why did you not tell me all that before ? I admit that I love him very much indeed, but the affection I have for him is not love, and if it be love, then it is without my knowledge and my senses do not take any part in it ; my mind alone is charmed by the beauty of his mind. Is this sinful ? Do not deceive me ! If in this love there be a shade of sin I give it up now in the presence of God and his saints, whose relics are deposited in this oratory. Henceforth I shall talk to him — I promise to you — but of State affairs, and I will break the conversation as soon as he speaks to me about other matters.' "
This promise was very solemn, the rendering
of it very pompous, but one cannot affirm whether
it is true.
It is impossible to know whether the Queen 50
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
kept her word, and whether what de la Porte, the King's valet, says refers to the same period of the Queen's intercourse with Mazarin, or to the time posterior to the remonstrance made by Mme. de Brienne. La Porte said one day to the Queen : " Everybody is talking about Your Majesty and His Eminence in such a manner that you should think of it." She became red and angry, and said that it was Monsieur le Prince ' who slandered her and circulated the news, and that he was a wicked man. " I answered her that if she had enemies she should be careful and not give them a chance to speak evil of her. After having rapped the pane of a window with her fan she became a little quieter ; then I told her that the best example of how she should conduct herself was that given by Marie de Medicis and the Marshal d'Ancre, and that the fault committed by the Queen-Mother should guide her how to avoid similar faults in her life.
" * What faults ? ' she asked.
"The evil talk about her and the Italian, I answered."
We see that there were several persons who were ready to preach to the Queen. La Porte added : " I was not the only one who gave advice
' When it was said Monsieur le Prince it was understood that the reference was to the Prince de Cond^ ; the same way Monsieur le Comtt referred to the Count de Soissons. It was not necessary to add the name ; everybody understood.
5? .
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
to the Queen and who reminded her of the late Queen. M. Cottignon, my father-in-law, whom I introduced one day into Her Majesty's bed- chamber, following his natural frankness, told her the same before the people and with less reserve than I did."
One can imagine how the proud Anne of Austria received such charitable advice, and one cannot help saying that these people were very i^ ungraciously free with her.
It would be useless to quote the Cardinal de Retz's opinion concerning this delicate question, which is now quite clear, for there exists a long, amorous correspondence between the Queen and Mazarin from which we learn much more about their relations than from the whole con- temporary Memoirs, no matter how slanderous they may be. It is true that those indiscreet documents, which proved to be very dangerous, do not say distinctly that there was a secret marriage between the Queen and Mazarin, but there is enough in them to make one surmise what the Palatine Duchess d'Orleans affirmed • in her letters, viz. : — that Mazarin and the Queen were united by marriage, the Cardinal having been but one of the lay cardinals to whom matrimony was not forbidden. The Duchess d'Orleans said also that, during her time, a secret
staircase was shown in the Palais Royal by
52
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
which it was His Eminence's custom to pass in order to join his wife.
This supposition is compatible with the great foresight with which Mazarin was endowed, which foresight had prevented him from taking the burden of priesthood, for this would have prohibited him from carrying out his daring scheme of ruling over France through the Queen. When he came into contact with Richelieu, when the great Cardinal understood his qualities, both of mind and body, there could be no doubt that he had instructed him how he should proceed in order to grasp the supreme power, and that Mazarin was clever enough to understand the value of this instruction and determined to follow it.
There is no other person to whom one could apply more justly the following clever saying of an Italian cardinal : Bisogna enfarinarsi di ieologia, e farsi un fondo di politica — one should be powdered with divinity, but it is necessary to be a master of politics.
53
CHAPTER V
That Mazarin was very certain of the Queen could be seen by this circumstance that he did not desire any longer to dwell in the Palais Royal, under the same roof with Her Majesty, but conceived an ambitious plan to have his own palace. Probably he was a little tired of those long conversations which he used to have with the Regent and determined to be a little more independent through the means of a distance between his sovereign and himself. However, he did not go far. On the other end of the Queen's garden there was a mansion built in the midst of a field. This mansion belonged to a man by the name of Tubeuf, and the Cardinal had a notion it should become his property. His detractors said that he had won it playing cards with the owner, but it is only one of many slanders, for there could be produced certain bills to be found in Colbert's accounts for money received in 1644 by the said Tubeuf in payment for the mansion and the ground.
Having been a true Italian of great culture, Mazarin was very fond of the arts, and he deter- mined to have not only a palace, but especially
54
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
spacious galleries in which masterpieces of painting and sculpture could be displayed to the best advantage. For this purpose he asked the architect, Bernini, to come from Rome to Paris. The Pope objected to Bernini's leaving Italy for France, and Mazarin turned then to the great French architect, Mansart, who constructed, in the same style as was the mansion, two beautiful galleries : one for pictures and the other for statues and other works of art. A little later the Cardinal enlarged his palace by adding to it another gallery for pictures, a chapel, a library and extensive stables.
M. Sauval, describing Mazarin's palace in his Antiquites de Paris, said that " the stables were so long and so splendid that foreigners affirm that there is nothing so magnificent either in Europe or in any other country in the world."
That this building must have been large is demonstrated by the fact that when Marie-Therese entered Paris there were in the procession one hundred and fifty-four horses and mules that belonged to His Eminence.
"In the first place there marched seventy-two mules of the Cardinal de Mazarin's, divided in three troops ; they were preceded by two trumpeters wearing a rich livery of silk embroidered with gold and silver. Sir de Fautenelles, first equerry,
and Moreau, second equerry of His Eminence,
55
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
followed at the head of twenty-four pages dressed magnificently and on beautiful chargers. They were followed by twelve Spanish horses with coverings of red embroidered velvet ; every one was led by two grooms.
"After that there followed seven carriages of His Eminence, each carriage with six horses, and surrounded by forty footmen richly clad. They were followed by Sir de Bezmo, at the head of a company of the guards of Sir Cardinal."
For the artistic decorations of the galleries Mazarin brought from Rome two famous painters, Grimaldi and Romaneli. Grimaldi decorated the walls, while Romaneli painted that remarkable ceiling representing the mythological heaven, which can still be seen in the room of manu- scripts of the National Library.
It would take too much space to describe the beauty of these galleries and the works of art they contained, but it should not be forgotten that when in 1650- 1653 the English Parliament passed the Bill authorising the sale of the famous collection of pictures which Charles I. purchased from the Dukes of Mantua, Mazarin acquired most of the pictures, through Jabach, a German Banker, who resided then in Paris. Mazarin was the happy possessor of three pictures by Raphael, two by Correggio, five by Titian, four by Guido
Reni, one by Leonardo da Vinci, one by
56
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Giorgione, four by Carrachio, two by Domenichino, speaking only of the most important.
Mazarin accumulated in his palace the master- pieces of all arts, but this he did, as he affirmed himself in one of the notes he used to write every day, not for the sake of vulgar ostentation, or because of the egotistical taste of possession, but because he wished to give to the French artists an opportunity of seeing good examples of great art, and in that way to arouse their-^- enthusiasm for artistic productions.
The galleries were always open to the public, and that really very remarkable man was first to originate a kind of exhibition so much in favour nowadays. The unusually good choice of great masterpieces attracted every day a large number of visitors to the Mazarin Palace.
Here is a very curious note written by Mazarin to Colbert in regard to the visit of the Queen of Sweden, Christina, to his residence : — " I do not see by this account that the Queen has seen my apartment at the Louvre, but should she express a desire to do so, I beg of you not to allow the madwoman to enter my study, for my small pictures might be stolen."
Being an enlightened patron of literature and men of letters, Mazarin conceived a notion to form a large and well-chosen library and to allow
the public free access to it. As far back as 1644,
57
: Heiresses of France
-:?? =
3as
- ^very cjUfUiy for ^' . - d to pui chase
mflnesice -. \- r-d^jnsu Saooe:'. ^ !a 1651 die-
Tomin,.
'.-^ dus libfaiy coold be ' ir days. - !-5d books
131
'^yly>Jy. wi'Jjum any excep- - 'rsaag dfl fire
r those who
with peas^
3llld fi3^ to
v.*sr^ to gnrc to ask ior« aad to
.■:a^ri!f9^s^stae»^ff/!^'^ ■
I '
>
J
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
put them in their places when they were no longer required.
When the building of the College of Four Nations — to-day the Institute of France — was finished, the panelling and the books of the Mazarin Library were transported there, and in 1 69 1 they became public property under the direction of the Sorbonne, till 1791, when L. Joseph Hooke refused to take the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy. Under the lay administration the collection became larger, but it lost the superiority which it had at the beginning over the King's Library — called now the National. To-day it is the fourth library in Paris, containing about 150,000 volumes and 6000 manuscripts.
Without discussing what the Cardinal de
Mazarin has done for France on the political
field by his intelligent activity, one can rightly
affirm that, judging him only by what he has
done for art and letters, by collecting pictures,
statues, bronzes, etc., as well as by gathering the
best books and by enriching the French Academy,
Cardinal de Mazarin, " that Sicilian, that beggar."
so much abused when he was alive, deserves not
only the admiration of mankind for his vast
intelligence, but also the deep gratitude of the
French, who by his efforts became incontestably
the most artistic nation of the world ; and even,
59
r
i
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
before he had built at his palace the spacious library, he permitted anybody to read any of his several thousand volumes which he purchased in 1643 for nineteen thousand pounds from M. de Cordes, canon of Limoges. A little later he wished that his library should be superior to any other collection of books in Europe, and for this purpose he commissioned the learned bibliophile, Gabriel Naude, to search in every country for the rarest books and manuscripts, and to purchase them on his account ; in the meanwhile he used all his diplomatic influence with ambassadors and foreign sovereigns. Success followed promptly his efforts, and in 1651 there were in his library forty thousand volumes of the choicest and rarest books, all beautifully bound.
In regard to the rules, this library could be set as an example even in our days.
The first rule was not to lend books outside the building.
It was open to everybody, without any excep- tion, from eight o'clock in the morning till five o'clock in the afternoon.
There were chairs provided for those who would like to read, and tables with pens, paper and ink for those who would like to write.
The librarian and his staff were to give to
students any book they might ask for, and to
58
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
put them in their places when they were no longer required.
When the building of the College of Four Nations — to-day the Institute of France — was finished, the panelling and the books of the Mazarin Library were transported there, and in 1 69 1 they became public property under the direction of the Sorbonne, till 1791, when L. Joseph Hooke refused to take the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy. Under the lay administration the collection became larger, but it lost the superiority which it had at the beginning over the King's Library — called now the National. To-day it is the fourth library in Paris, containing about 150,000 volumes and 6000 manuscripts.
Without discussing what the Cardinal de Mazarin has done for France on the political field by his intelligent activity, one can rightly affirm that, judging him only by what he has done for art and letters, by collecting pictures, statues, bronzes, etc., as well as by gathering the best books and by enriching the French Academy, Cardinal de Mazarin, "that Sicilian, that beggar," so much abused when he was alive, deserves not only the admiration of mankind for his vast intelligence, but also the deep gratitude of the French, who by his efforts became incontestably
the most artistic nation of the world ; and even,
59
r
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
perhaps, it would be not an exaggeration if one said that they are at the head of Hterature as well.
If one could justly question Richelieu's wisdom in regard to destroying the individuality of the French nobility by sending to the block those who were the most individual amongst them, and in that way preparing the road for the Revolution and for Democracy, one is obliged to admit that he was not mistaken when he induced his master, Louis XIII., to take Mazarin for his adviser and minister.
60
CHAPTER VI
When Mazarin became Prime Minister, he remained without his family for more than five years, which isolation was counted in his favour. The Duke de la Rochefoucauld wrote that Mazarin repeated quite often "that he did not wish anything for himself, and as his whole family was in Italy he wished to adopt as his relations all those who served the Queen and to seek his grandeur and his security by bestowing upon them all favours and riches." He would repeat, while showing the beautiful statues which he imported from Italy, that they were the only relations he wished to have in France.
However, with time he changed his notions on that subject, and when he felt that his position was solid he thought of bringing from Rome his sisters' children.
The Signora Martinozzi, who was a widow, had two daughters. The Signora Mancini, endowed more richly, was the mother of ten children. The Cardinal asked Signora Martinozzi to send him her eldest daughter, and the Mancinis three of their children — two girls and one boy.
6i
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
It is permissible to suppose that had his father had any children by his second wife he would have brought them to France in preference to his nieces and nephews, for he would have been very proud to say that they were borne by a mother from the proud and princely house of the Orsinis.
He was very fond of his relations, as one could see by casual notes.
Although their social position was quite good in Rome, the people were surprised when they saw a great French lady by the name of the Countess de Noailles arrive at Rome in a grand equipage, for the purpose of bringing His Eminence's nieces to France. Surely they were already treated by him like princesses.
They came to the Court of France without their mothers, without any relation. The Cardinal affected to give orders that they should be treated in a simple manner, but he did not set a good example himself by the choice of their gouvernante, for he appointed to this post the Marchioness de S^nec6, of the house of the la Rochefoucaulds, and who, previously, was the gouver7iante of Louis XIV.
The arrival of those children is related by
Mme. de Motteville with such interesting
details that they deserve to be mentioned.
•'On September the nth three nieces and a 62
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
nephew of the Cardinal arrived from Italy. The
eldest of the little Mancinis was a charming,
dark-haired girl of twelve. The second was also
dark, with a longish face and pointed chin. Her
eyes were small but lively, and one could hope
that when they are fifteen they will be beautiful.
Mile. Martinozzi was fair ; her features were
beautiful and her eyes sweet. She allowed
the hope of great beauty. The last two mentioned
were of the same age, and we were told they
were about nine years old. Mme. de Nogent,
commanded by the Cardinal, went to Fontainebleau
to wish them welcome. The Queen desired to see
them the evening of their arrival, and she saw them
with pleasure. She found them pretty. Mme.
de S6nec6 suggested that the Queen should
visit them the next day, but some one intimated
that the Cardinal expressed the desire that they
should not be visited, for as they were lodged in
his house, where he liked to be quiet, the visitors
would disturb him. When this so much-respected
and so powerful uncle saw his nieces, he left
the Queen as soon as they arrived, returned home
and went to bed. When they saw the Queen
they were conducted to him, but he did not show
that he cared much for them ; on the contrary, he
bantered those who were stupid enough to pet
them. But notwithstanding that disdain, it is
certain that he had important designs in regard
62
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
to the little girls. His indifference on that matter was a pure comedy, and by this we can see that it is not in the theatre only that the best comedies are played."
The last remark is of surpassing interest, and characterises in the best manner Mazarin's in- telligence and the means he adopted for his
:: complete success.
p The next day they were again conducted to the Queen, who kept them for some time, in order to be able to consider them well. Then they were shown in public and everybody rushed to see them. The Duke d'Orleans came to the Abbe de la Riviere and me, while we were talk- ing at the window, and said to us in a low voice : " There is such a crowd round those little girls that I am very much afraid they will be suffo- cated." The Marshal de Villeroy, who was pos- sessed of the gravity of a Cabinet Minister, came to him and said : " Here are young ladies who just at present are not rich at all, but who soon shall have beautiful castles, good incomes, precious stones, substantial silver plate, and perchance great rank ; as to the boy, it might be that he shall see Fortune only on a painting, for it will take some time for him to grow up."
The Cardinal by the choice of the gouvernante seemed to intend putting his nieces on the same
level as the princesses of the blood.
64
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
There was much comment about this, and it was said in a pamphlet that " he brought from Rome little fisher-girls, he causes them to be brought up in the King's house, with luxury worthy of the princesses of the blood and under the guidance of a lady who had the honour of being gouvernante to the King." The Marchioness de S^nec6 was also ridiculed in the following song : —
" Faire la maitresse d'ecole Sur une esperance frivole De voir sa fille au tabouret ; Lui faire oublier sa naissance, Jouer toujours bien sot rolet : Honni soit qui mal y pense."
Mme. de Motteville transmitted to posterity a good portrait of the Marchioness de S^necd when she wrote :
" The pronunciation alone of the name of de la Rochefoucauld caused her an extraordinary joy. Her mind went constantly from one to the other extremity of everything ; she was full of impetuosity and passionate vanity. . . . She had accesses of those contrarieties which the Spaniards call altos y baxos ; for one time she was angry as the others, then she was very submissive to the Cardinal, and complimented herself on the smallest nice word he would say to her."
It is difficult to understand why Mazarin gave
to his nieces as 2l gouvernante the lady whom he E 65
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
mistrusted, as one sees by the notes in which one reads that she taught Louis XIV. to despise the memory of Richelieu, and that one day, pointing at his portrait, she said: "Here is that dog!" To which the young Prince answered : " Give me quickly my cross - bow that I may shoot at him."
However, when the King was seven years old the gouvernante was dismissed, and Mazarin became his tutor, for he wished to have absolute control over his education.
As to the Cardinal's nieces, Mme. de Senece did not guide their education for a long time, for the Fronde had broken everything. In the meanwhile, the young Italian ladies were brought up in the Palais Royal, together with the King and his brother, and always treated in the same way as if they were the youthful sovereign's sisters. The Queen took as good care of them as if they were her own children, teaching them good manners, and even giving them some in- struction in religious matters. She was very fond of going with them often to the convent of Val-de-Grace for the purpose of devotion. She was quite successful in her efforts, and two of her pupils did her great honour.
66
CHAPTER VII
For six years Mazarin enjoyed peacefully his exalted post, his power, his pictures, statues, books and family life. The cabales that were seething round the Queen, especially the one called the Importants, composed of melancholy people, of whom de Retz said bitingly, " they were thinking of nothing," were not able to harm such an able man as was Mazarin. He was still popular, for the French, guided by him, were victorious both on land and sea, and advantageous treaties with different foreign powers strengthened his might.
He was fond of luxurious life, and the influence he had over the Queen now only shocked the princes and the courtiers.
As this volume concerns Mazarin, his family life, and especially his nieces, it would not do to make a long digression and speak of the causes of the Fronde that tried to break Mazarin s might.
When the Court left Paris, in order to punish'vk the rebellious Parisians — escaping the powerful
pressure brought by the leaders of the Fronde, the
67
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
object of which was to bring Mazarin down from the heights he had reached by his genius — his three nieces were entrusted to the nuns of Val- de-Grace. The Marchioness de S^necd was not with them ; she went over to the Fronde, where were the de la Rochefoucaulds, her relations. To punish her for this act of rebellion, Mazarin deprived the Countess de Fleix, her daughter, of the honour so much envied by the French ladies of quality, of being permitted to remain seated on a stool in the presence of the sovereign.
When the peace of Ruel was concluded the Court returned to Paris, and the Parisians were pleased to see Mazarin back, for his presence in the capital meant the residence of the Queen, and consequently the spending of much money, by which they benefited.
Unfortunately for Mazarin the Prince de Conde became the most inconvenient of all the frondeurs, and he demanded that the Cardinal should give him a formal promise that he would not marry his niece without His Highness's con- sent. Rather a strange political precaution !
Then Cond^ had a notion to supplant the
Cardinal from the Queen's heart, through the help
of a fop by the name of the Marquess de Jarza,
who flattered himself that he would succeed.
The Cardinal learned about this machination,
68
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
took exception to it, and asked the Queen to make the presumptuous man feel her indigna- tion publicly. The Queen yielded to his wish and the petit-maitre was asked to leave the Court.
The idea of supplanting Mazarin passed also through other people's heads, as it was the case with the famous, or rather notorious, Mme. de Chevreuse, who advised Cardinal de Retz as follows: "If you wish to play well your part I will not despair of anything ; pretend to be a dreamer when you are in the presence of the Queen ; look slyly at her hands ; speak strongly against the Cardinal, and leave me to do the rest."
The details of the campaign were talked about, and Retz continues the story :
" I followed faithfully Mme. de Chevreuse's advice. The Queen, who was naturally very coquettish, understood my attitudes. . . . There were twenty or thirty conversations of that kind, during which the Queen convinced Mme. de Chevreuse that I was an idiot if I per- mitted such a stupid idea to be put into my head."
The mischance with the Marquess de Jarze
angered extremely the irritable Condd ; he lost
all measure of decency in treating Mazarin,
and he sent him a letter addressed : " Alt
69.
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Ilustrissimo signor Face kino.'' One day he left him, making an insulting gesture and shouting defiantly: '' Adieu, Mars V
Conde and his brother were arrested at the Palais Royal, but this strong measure did not bring peace ; on the contrary, the revolt spread into the provinces. Parliament rose against him, and the King's uncle passed to the camp of the enemies. Under such circumstances Mazarin decided to leave the kingdom. He left Paris disguised as a cavalier, followed by the Count de Broglie and by another nobleman ; he went towards Havre, where he stopped in order to release Conde and his brother, and continued his way towards 'the frontier, passing through Abbeville and Doulens.
The pamphlets showered upon Mazarin during the Fronde abused him still more now that he was a fugitive, laughing at his care about his clothes, at his beautiful hands, at his curled moustaches, at his pomatums, lemonades, stews, pastry, and even at his bread ; then they laughed at his galleries, pictures, statues, books and stables !
Through the whole of Paris resounded :
" Adieu, done, pauvre Mazarin ! Adieu, mon pauvre Tabarin ; Adieu, I'oncle aux Mazarinettes ; Adieu, pere aux marionnettes ; 70
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Adieu, le plus beaux des galans ;
Adieu, buveur de limonades ;
Adieu, I'inventeur de pommades ;
Adieu, I'homme aux bonnes senteurs ! " . . .
In this case, as in many others, there is great wisdom indeed shown by the voice of the people !
Naturally his beautiful nieces were not forgotten. They were also banished, and they went to Peronne, being conducted there by the Marshal d'Hocquincourt. They did well by leaving Paris, for the Parisians were so enraged against their uncle that probably they would have done some mischief to the poor innocent girls. As soon as some one spread the false news that either Mazarin or his nieces were hidden in some house, a large and threatening crowd gathered round, shouting.
" Notwithstanding that the Cardinal's position was very difficult during his exile, he did not think of sending his nieces back to Rome. He was tenacious in his projects in regard to them ; he did not lose the hope of returning to power and of strengthening it through them. They played a great part not only in his but in his adversaries' calculations ; thus when the Princes were arrested their friends gathered in council had a notion to go to the Val-de-Grace, to carry away the
Cardinal's nieces and to put them in some strong-
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
hold controlled by Conde. But Mazarin, who thought of everything, placed the girls in security.
In those times of ambitious and egotistical intrigues — what times are free from egotism ? — everybody was speculating in his own manner over the girls — the Cardinal de Retz as well. As he had nobody in his party to whom he could marry Mazarin's nieces, he thought of marrying his nephew, Paul Mancini, " who had heart and merit," as Retz said of him, to his niece, Mile, de Retz.
Mazarin left P^ronne with his nieces and nephew, proposing to settle in some town beyond the French frontier. He was received at Clermont, in Argonne, by the Marshal de la Fert6 Senneterre, " who entertained him magnificently, notwith- standing that the Parliament forbade all com- munication with him."
At Sedan the brave Fabert offered him
shelter in the town of which he was the commander,
although there was an order signed by the Queen
that her former friend and perchance husband
should leave her kingdom. Mazarin left his
family with Fabert until he found a suitable
place for his and their temporary residence. He
chose the town of Bruhl, situated not very far
from Cologne, to which town he brought his
young kinsfolk.
The most remarkable event of this exile is 72
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
that Mazarin, notwithstanding his equivocal and \ even difficult position, succeeded in marrying the eldest of his nieces, Laura Mancini, to the Duke de Mercoeur, the grandson of Henry IV.
What an alleviation to his sufferings ! What y an unpleasant surprise to his foes !
7Z
Sevr-
H
CHAPTER VIII
When Laura Mancini was brought from Rome to Paris she was thirteen years old. Her uncle had to think about her being established. The aspirants to her hand were numerous, and Mazarin could boast that the greatest nobles of the land were attracted both by her great beauty and by \ the enormous dowry that they expected the Prime ' Minister would give to his nieces. He found it difficult to choose, and he was guided in his decision not by the presumptive happiness of his\ niece but by his political interests.
The reasons for which he brought his nieces / from Rome was not pure affection ; he wished, by marrying them well, to create for himself _ powerful friends.
He thought that the Duke de Candale, heir to
the great title of the d'Epernons, would be the best
parti for Laura Mancini. The Duke de Candale
was a young lord of great physical charms, very
fashionable and much sought after by the fair sex.
The Cardinal was taken also by the young
nobleman and wished to have him for his nephew.
However, one has the right to surmise that the
fair hair and the personal charms of the Duke
74
botit*'*^ h^ ^
ven' fan? '
yk Hs most Rfv
01 ^ IR
Tliis Dsnnc
tllj^l
me :!e .ne
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
attracted him less than the influence and enormous wealth of his family.
The marriage was desired and then decided, but it was delayed during the first years of the Fronde. The Duke de Candale, having been very busy with his numerous amours, did not hasten to chain his freedom by matrimony. The project of an alliance existed until the day when that brilliant nobleman died of fever while going to Lyons.
Many beautiful eyes shed tears over his death. His friend, Saint-Evremond, left us a most remarkable description of the outburst of grief aroused amongst his women friends. This historical page of the epoch is so beautiful and charming that it would be a pity not to quote it :
" In Monsieur le Prince's prison I had a great
intercourse with M. de Candale. As his wont was
to have a confidant, I became one in regard to
his passion for Mme. de Saint- Loup. Prompted
by the ardour of new confidence he could not do
without me, and he communicated to me the little
things dear to lovers but very indifferent to those
who are obliged to listen to them. I used to
receive them as one receives mysteries, but I
considered them as importunate trifles. However,
he was so charming, and there was so much of
nobleness in him that it caused me pleasure to
75
\
CHAPTER VIII
When Laura Mancini was brought from Rome
to Paris she was thirteen years old. Her uncle
had to think about her being established. The
aspirants to her hand were numerous, and Mazarin
could boast that the greatest nobles of the land
were attracted both by her great beauty and by \
the enormous dowry that they expected the Prime '
Minister would give to his nieces. He found
it difficult to choose, and he was gruided in his
decision not by the presumptive happiness of his \
niece but by his political interests.
The reasons for which he brought his nieces
from Rome was not pure affection ; he wished,
by marrying them well, to create for himself
powerful friends.
; He thought that the Duke de Candale, heir to
;v' the great title of the d'Epernons, would be the best
parti for Laura Mancini. The Duke de Candale
was a young lord of great physical charms, very
fashionable and much sought after by the fair sex.
The Cardinal was taken also by the young
nobleman and wished to have him for his nephew.
However, one has the right to surmise that the
fair hair and the personal charms of the Duke
74
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
attracted him less than the influence and enormous wealth of his family.
The marriage was desired and then decided, but it was delayed during the first years of the Fronde. The Duke de Candale, having been very busy with his numerous amours, did not hasten to chain his freedom by matrimony. The project of an alliance existed until the day when that brilliant nobleman died of fever while going to Lyons.
Many beautiful eyes shed tears over his death. His friend, Saint-Evremond, left us a most remarkable description of the outburst of grief aroused amongst his women friends. This historical page of the epoch is so beautiful and charming that it would be a pity not to quote it :
"In Monsieur le Prince's prison I had a great
intercourse with M. de Candale. As his wont was
to have a confidant, I became one in regard to
his passion for Mme. de Saint- Loup. Prompted
by the ardour of new confidence he could not do
without me, and he communicated to me the little
things dear to lovers but very indifferent to those
who are oblio-ed to listen to them. I used to
receive them as one receives mysteries, but I
considered them as importunate trifles. However,
he was so charming, and there was so much of
nobleness in him that it caused me pleasure to
75
/
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
look at him, while there was so little of it while listening to him. . . .
" During the last years of his life all the ladies sought after him. The most modest of them sighed after him secretly ; the most gallant ones contended for him, and desired to have his preference, as it were their greatest happi- ness. After having sown dissension amongst them through the interest of gallantry, he had united them in tears after his dissolution. Those who loved him formerly recollected their old sentiments and imagined that they were losing that which they had already lost. Those who were indifferent to him flattered themselves that he was not so always ; and being angry with death for having hindered their bliss, they wept over this amiable man who might have loved them. And last, there were even those who regretted him through vanity, and there were some strangers who contributed their tears in order to be credited with gallantry."
This is truly the most charming monument ever erected by a literary man to his friend.
The Duke de Candale was reofretted also by Mazarin, for he, together with everybody, was fascinated by him.
As to Laura, her loss was not so serious, for
the young Duke, without having been endowed
with the same troublesome temper as was one of
76
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
his ancestors, who beat his wife publicly and boxed the ears of the bishops in their churches, would have been obliged to make an enormous effort in order to become an exemplary husband.
There was much less risk for Laura Mancini in marrying the Duke de Mercoeur, for the grandson of Henry IV. and the beautiful Gabrielle was quite different ; he did not aspire to numerous conquests as did Candale ; he did not have, either, the hot blood of his grandparents ; he was quiet and pious. There was not in him either the ambition or turbulent unrest of his father, the Duke de Vendome, who was exiled and imprisoned for his foolish designs.
The need of making peace and gaining favours after so many misfortunes decided the Duke de Vendome to consent that his son should marry a niece of the powerful Cardinal. But when Mazarin's fortune was suddenly shattered by the Fronde nobody thought that the marriage would take place. Nothing of the kind ! The Duke de Mercoeur, that kind and honest young nobleman, true to his word and the sentiment inspired by the beautiful Laura, went bravely to Bruhl, notwith- standing all thunderbolts directed by the Parlia- ment against Mazarin, and the marriage was solemnised.
When the news became known it caused a tremendous uproar, not only against the able
77
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
outlaw, but against the simple - minded Duke, who was laughed at because of his stupid dis- interestedness, which seemed strange and even ridiculous to the courtiers.
Cond6 was roaring like an enraged lion because of this marriage, and accused Mercoeur in Parliament of having been in communication with Mazarin, which was against a parliamentary- decree. The Duke, as a peer of the realm, was obliged to appear before the two chambers and give some explanation on the matter. He did his best by stating that he was married to Laura Mancini before the decree of banishment was issued against her uncle and that he went to Bruhl to see his wife and not the Cardinal.
The defence, although it deviated from the truth, was plausible ; and Parliament decreed that the certificate of the marriage should be produced, and forbade explicitly that " the said Mancini should be allowed to enter the king-dom and live there under the pretext of this union."
Mazarin was satisfied and did not care what
there was said about him in the pamphlets and
chansons. He hoped to do still better by
marrying another niece to the Duke de
Mercoeur's brother, the famous, in the Fronde,
Duke de Beaufort — le Rois des Halles as he
was popularly called. "If I could," wrote the
Cardinal in his note-book, "win by an alliance
78
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
the Duke de Beaufort I could give two nieces to two brothers, invest the younger with the governorship of Paris and command through him the He de France ; one could make a gran coup (sic), because, as he is loved by the population of the said town, he could render one day some considerable service to the Kinof."
He smiled at the thought that he could win some advantage through the popularity of the King of the market. This proves what an important part his nieces occupied in his political plans ; according to the fluctuation of his destiny, he stretched quietly the matrimonial net-work oni this and that side, and he was certain to catch in it his most dreaded adversaries.
Soon the Vendomes found in that alliance
ample reward for their previous disappointments.
The father, when Mazarin returned to power,
was appointed the Viceroy of Brittany ; the Duke
de Mercoeur, who was already in anticipation
the Viceroy of Catalogne, became now Viceroy
of Provence, and was also commanded to subdue
those towns which revolted at the instigation of
Cond^. He was quickly successful, for the
frondeurs were tired of the strife. Then he
commanded the French army in Italy, where he
operated conjointly with the Dukes de Savoie
and Modena. He took Valence after a lonof
siege.
79
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
\ The Duke de Mercoeur, notwithstanding his
modesty, was brave ; his contemporaries admit
that even he knew something about the art of
war-making. But one should add that the army
he commanded was well equipped, and that the
minister knew how to make the road conducting
his nephew to glory as easy as possible.
/ While the Duke was gathering military laurels
i the beautiful Laura, his consort, led a very quiet,
\ devout life ; sometimes she was at the Court,
A where she was made much of by the Queen ; some-
/times at the Anet Castle, the seat of the Vendomes,
/ everywhere distributing much money in alms, in
which she was in accord with her mother-in-law,
Vwho was as saintly as was the lovely Duchess de
Mercoeur.
The King, with whom she was brought up, was very affectionate towards her. He made her dance first in the ballets, which she frequented very seldom.
Mme. de Motteville tells us the following story : " The King, having been too much accus- tomed to render all the honours to the Cardinal's nieces, went to take Mme. de Mercoeur to begin with her the dance. The Queen, surprised by this mistake, left quickly her chair, tore from him Mme. de Mercoeur, telling him in a low voice to go and take for the dance the Princess of England.
The Queen of England, who had noticed the
80
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Queen's anger, rushed after her, and begged of her in a low voice not to constrain the King ; that her daughter had a bad foot and could not dance. The Queen answered that if the Princess would not dance, the King would not either. The Queen of England let the Princess dance and, in her heart of hearts, was not pleased with the King. He was once more reprimanded in the even- ing by the Queen, his mother, to whom he answered that he did not like to dance with little girls."
The Duchess de Mercoeur had three children : her eldest son was the famous Duke de Vendome, the conqueror of Luzzara ; the second was the Grand Prieur. Neither of them inherited their mother's angelic virtues ; neither could their father find his likeness in those intrepid libertines. When King Philippe V. said once to the Duke de Vendome :
"How is it possible that you, a son of such an inferior father, should be possessed of such genius ? "
"It is because I inherited it from my grand- father," replied the grandson of Henry IV.
The Duchess de Mercoeur was going to be delivered of her third son when Signora Mancini, her mother, died on December the 29th, 1656, in Paris. However, everything was satisfactory with the Duchess, but after a few days she was struck
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
by paralysis and lost her speech. The Cardinal was not alarmed, and he went to assist at a ballet in which the King danced that day ; while he was leaving the entertainment he was told that the Duchess de Mercoeur was much worse. He rushed to her immediately, taking the first carriage that was at hand. When he arrived at the Ven- dome Palace he found that she could not speak, and she only smiled at him.
Mme. de Motteville says in her Memoirs that ** As she did not suffer, and as she was conscious, approaching death did not produce in her that frightful change which it causes in everybody. The bright complexion produced by fever had increased her natural beauty. Everybody re- gretted her very much. The Cardinal was so touched that he could not help giving way to violent grief ; he shrieked so much that it seemed that he had sharp pains.
" This beautiful dying woman, Mme. de Mercoeur, having been ill but one day and one night, expired on February the 8th, sincerely re- gretted by her relations and everybody at the Court, for virtue and good-heartedness attract the good-will of the people. This quick and surprising death that seemed to triumph over a young and healthy princess, who was beautiful and a niece of a powerful favourite by whom the whole of France
was ruled, proved that all is vanity which is to be
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Laura Mancini The Duchess de Mercceur
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found in the grandeur and in the false joys of the earth."
An eye-witness, Daniel de Cosnac, Archbishop of Aix, gives us in his Memoirs still more precise details showing how charming was this young lady who smiled a few moments before her death.
" For ten days she did not suffer at all. I spent a part of those ten days in her room, and I found her more gay than she was since her mother's death. I chaffed her on account of her feebleness and of her staying in bed, notwithstand- ing that she looked so healthy. She told me that she was unable to get rid of a thought which she had during her pregnancy, viz., that she would never recover from this lying-in. I laughed at her apprehension. . . .
" Mme. de Venelle, her lady-in-waiting, being in the chamber, the Princess began to talk, laughing about her dissolution ; among other things, she said, that while dying, she would be unable to refrain from laughing at the grimaces which Mme. de Venelle would make. I found her being so well and so cheerful that I said to her : ' Madame, you must dress to-morrow, and we shall dine at your fireplace.'
" The next day I came to the Vendome Palace at noon-time. While going up, I was told that Madame was very bad. Then all that she told me the day before came to my mind. . . . When
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I asked her how she was she could answer, but with great difficuky, and taking hold with her right hand of her left arm, she said that she did not feel either her hand or her arm. . . . The physicians maintained that there was no danger : however, she was overpowered with such drowsi- ness that they feared lest her brain was attacked. They ordered cupping, and this was done so brutally that the poor Princess shrieked because of pain. The drowsiness increased ; this lasted the whole day, and the physicians began to doubt themselves. . . . The Cardinal administered to her extreme unction. She looked so beautiful that it was impossible to think that she was going to die. She noticed at the foot of her bed Mme. de Venelle, who was weeping. The Princess noticed her grimaces ; she sought my eyes and when our looks met, she glanced at Mme. de Venelle's face and smiled ; undoubtedly, she recollected what she said to me on a previous occasion."
She was but nineteen years old when she died!
As the Duke de Mercoeur was very much in
love with his wife he was greatly afflicted, but
received the cruel blow as was becoming to a
\ pious and deeply religious man. He retired to a
convent of the Capucins, and remained there for
several days. Although he was very young, he
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never thought about taking another wife. After the last campaign in Catalonia he became a priest, and fulfilled scrupulously all his duties, and died as a Cardinal and legate of the Holy See in France.
85
CHAPTER IX
Although an outlaw, Mazarin conducted the State affairs from Bruhl ; nothing was decided without him. He was in continual secret corre- spondence with the Queen, she receiving his letters and he hers through sharp emissaries.
The Queen braved everything : hatred, l insults, mockery of the people and nobles, and 1 civil war ; she was ready to lose her crown rather than the man who was the cause of so many perils, i Would this indolent woman, very unstable in re- gard to friendship, have been capable of such loyalty if Mazarin had only been a friend and zealous servant ?
On his part the Cardinal knew how to play his role ; in his letters to the Queen he appears as a true hero of romance ; he seemed but to think how to give to his Princess the best proofs of his passion towards her ; he seemed to dream of the means of reaching her ; he thought but of extraordinary and strange deeds ; he assured her that he would like to sacrifice thousands of his own lives — could he have more than one — that he might only see her for a minute.
After fifteen months of sojourn at Bruhl
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Mazarin decided to try to enter France. His difficulties in exile were many : as his principal income was from benefices of which he was deprived, and as he did not take much money with him, he was in financial difficulties, and, as it seems, his family suffered much on that account. The Queen, in order to help him, sold the office of Superintendent of the Post to the Marquess de Vienville, and the Cardinal had then enough money to arm six thousand men for his service, at the head of which army he crossed the frontier.
When Parliament learned this news, a price was offered for his head, and a bill was passed ordering the sale of his furniture, pictures and books, in order that the ;!^ 150,000 might be obtained in that way, which sum was a reward to the one who would deliver the detested Italian alive or dead.
And that library, gathered with such efforts and at such cost, was sold at an auction ! More efforts of that indomitable man, more money was going to be spent by him, who was accused of / being miserly for the reconstitution of that collec- tion of books, for which alone, he deserved a monument, not only in bronze but in the hearts of the French as well.
Mazarin did not take any notice of the
threatening attitude of his adversaries, and, head-
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ing his troops, who wore the green sash of his house, entered Sedan, where he was heartily welcomed by his loyal friend Fabert. Again he asked the brave commandant of the stronghold to take care of his nieces until fortune would change the uncertainty of his life into stability. He advanced boldly and joined the King and his mother at Poitiers.
His nephew, Paul Mancini, followed him ; he was a youth who promised well and was loved. When he came from Rome his uncle placed him at a Jesuits College in Paris, where he was treated as if he were a prince of the blood. He occupied the same room as did His Highness the Prince de Conti, at the College of Clermont ; he was accommodated with the same chair in which the said prince used to sit during classes.
How different from our times, when it is considered proper that the princes of the royal house should be treated as commoners are.
Paul Mancini showed valour during the fight- ings at Bleneau and Etampes, where the King's army, commanded by Turenne, defeated the Prince de Cond^. Mazarin loved his nephew the best of all his relations, and hoped that he would bring military splendour into the family. But his illusion was short. Paul Mancini was mortally wounded at the fight of Saint-Antoine suburb. His uncle suffered much on account of
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this loss, but the Fronde respected not his grief, and the most abominable invectives and cynical jokes were sent to him instead of condolence.
Mazarin was a foreigner, consequently he could e more easily abused than any native. The Press directed against him succeeded in arousing the hatred of the populace. The ignorant crowd believed everything that libels advanced as the truth ; Mazarin was a personification of all the vices. It was affirmed that this man, whose good fortune was almost marvellous, had sold his soul to the devil ; the people believed this, for the text of an agreement, dated from Rome in 1632, was given. One of the paragraphs read thus: **He has given his soul and body to the devil under the condition that he should be the richest and the most important in Europe ; to be loved by beautiful ladies and to die in bed." It was through the medium of pamphlets and i calumnies that this foreigner, who never wavered / to serve France faithfully, was discredited by the 1 people who had intrigued against him.
As a whole, Mazarin was benefited by his-#- exile ; consequently, he decided to withdraw again in order to have more advantage when the moment of reconciliation would come. He went to Sedan, where he remained a few months. When he returned to Paris his two nieces were brought to him by the Princess de Savoie-
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Cariornan. The troubles those
ladies
caused him during the exile did not deter him from thinking about increasing his house. One finds a peculiar note written by Colbert referring to that.
This able agent did his utmost to cut down the Cardinal's heavy expenses, and he wrote to him:
"We have here, in His Eminence's stables, two big greyhounds, whose food costs every day thirty sols for each," and he advises his master to get rid of them ; but the Cardinal answered on the margin: "One must keep those dogs." Colbert was not discouraged and returns to the dogs again and again, saying : "I beg of your Eminence to think about cutting down the stables' expenses and not of increasing his family." We must believe that the word family means in this sense servants.
When Laura Mancini became the Duchess de Mercceur, the hope of making more of such good alliances decided Mazarin to brino- from Rome
o
two other girls, and the youngest boy of the Mancinis, as well as the second daughter of the Martinozzis. This was done in 1653. The Cardinal's two sisters came also to see him, and this was a great event both in town and at the Court.
Those three nieces were destined to attract
90
m^
]ii
\
she ns lira
517.' ML .
4 fist-
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.0
^1 :ay
■10
on
•.r.e jr .es' ■Ve
great attention and make much talk. The eldest of them was Laura Martinozzi, the two others were Marie and Hortense Mancini ; Philippe Mancini, their brother, came also with them, the youngest, Marie-Anne, arrived later.
Sicrnora Martinozzi had but two daug^hters, the eldest had been with her uncle for four years, she was already marriageable, and the Cardinal was thinking about that. He prepared a great surprise for the Parisians, for when the Parlia- ment, clad in their red robes, pronounced the death sentence against Conde, a wedding was announced between his brother, the Prince de Conti, with Marie-Anne Martinozzi.
Many people must have exclaimed then : *' If the news is false it is at least oreat news ! "
Mazarin, by one move, caused dissension in his adversaries' camp, and secured for himself and his family a prince of the blood.
This time he made a gran coup, as was his ^ wont to say.
racl
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Carignan. The troubles those young ladies caused him during the exile did not deter him from thinking about increasing his house. One finds a peculiar note written by Colbert referring to that.
This able agent did his utmost to cut down the Cardinal's heavy expenses, and he wrote to him:
"We have here, in His Eminence's stables, two big greyhounds, whose food costs every day thirty sols for each," and he advises his master to get rid of them ; but the Cardinal answered on the margin: "One must keep those dogs." Colbert was not discouraged and returns to the dogs again and again, saying : "I beg of your Eminence to think about cutting down the stables' expenses and not of increasing his family." We must believe that the word family means in this sense servants.
When Laura Mancini became the Duchess de Mercoeur, the hope of making more of such good alliances decided Mazarin to brine from Rome two other girls, and the youngest boy of the Mancinis, as well as the second daughter of the Martinozzis. This was done in 1653. The Cardinal's two sisters came also to see him, and this was a great event both in town and at the Court.
Those three nieces were destined to attract
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great attention and make much talk. The eldest of them was Laura Martinozzi, the two others were Marie and Hortense Mancini ; Philippe Mancini, their brother, came also with them, the youngest, Marie-Anne, arrived later.
Signora Martinozzi had but two daughters, the eldest had been with her uncle for four years, she was already marriageable, and the Cardinal was thinking about that. He prepared a great surprise for the Parisians, for when the Parlia- ment, clad in their red robes, pronounced the death sentence against Conde, a wedding was announced between his brother, the Prince de Conti, with Marie-Anne Martinozzi.
Many people must have exclaimed then : "If the news is false it is at least great news ! "
Mazarin, by one move, caused dissension in his adversaries' camp, and secured for himself and his family a prince of the blood.
This time he made a gran coup, as was his ^ wont to say.
91
CHAPTER X
When the Prince de Conti decided to redeem his faults by marrying his adversary's niece, he found that the Cardinal received the illustrious culprit very heartily indeed. I Armand, Prince de Conti, had a beautiful head
\ ornamented with magnificent hair ; but he was small and hunchbacked.
The Prince de Conde, his imperious brother, decided that Conti should not produce lineage, and destined him to become a cardinal. He had studied successfully for the Church, and was already provided with a big income from several rich abbeys, when both the Fronde and Mme. de Longueville took hold of him. f It was his destiny to be influenced in every- thing by his sister.
This influence that made him err so much H^was going with equal success to push him on \ a better road. Mme. de Longueville became converted to the Cardinal's party and was, naturally, followed by her brother Conti. His conversion became still more certain, when he married that marvellously beautiful blonde Marie- Anne Martinozzi.
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The previously mentioned Daniel de Cosnac left us in his Memoirs very interesting details concerning this alliance. It was the poet Sarrazin, His Highness's secretary, who gave him the notion of it, Conti left Bordeaux secretly when that town had surrendered. He was humiliated, forsaken, and crippled with debts. Speaking with his secretary about the desperate state of his affairs he made a comparison between himself and the Duke de Candale, who was at the head of the King's army.
"It depends on Your Highness," said Sarrazin, "to be at the head of the army commanded by the Duke de Candale."
De Cosnac was against this project of marriage because the Prince would have been obliged to resign ;^30o,ooo of benefices. How- ever, Sarrazin's advice prevailed and he was sent to Paris to begin the negotiations with the Cardinal.
Malicious tongues said that Mazarin promised him money should he succeed in persuading the Prince to marry his niece.
Sarrazin conferred with Mazarin, who, pleased
as he must have been, remained faithful to his
tactics, and the more the Prince showed himself
desirous to finish the negotiations the more the
Cardinal haggled with him about the advantages of
the marriage. He cavilled even about the dowry
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which he reduced to two hundred thousand dcus.
As it seems the Prince de Conti gave carte blajiche to Sarrazin as to the choice of a princess, for as he said, he cared not which girl he married, that he was going to marry the Cardinal and not a woman. This was rather cynical, but in those days the people seemed to have more courage, both physical and moral, and it comes into the province of moral courage to say what one means.
Sarrazin proved to be a good servant and, of the two candidates for that glorious alliance with a prince of the blood, he chose not only the prettiest but also the most virtuous : she was Marie-Anne Martinozzi.
But there was an obstacle : Marie-Anne was almost promised to the Duke de Candale. Fortunately, the Duke looked at the matter the same way as did the Prince de Conti — he also wished to marry the Cardinal, therefore he cared not which of his nieces should be his consort. He generously ceded Marie-Anne to the Prince, by which resolution he obtained delay for enjoying his freedom still longer, and gave the Cardinal an opportunity of becoming allied to the House of France.
Daniel de Cosnac said that if the Duke de Candale knew how to take advantage of this
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The Prince uk Conii
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opportunity he could have obtained any favour from the Prime Minister, but he did not, and was satisfied with his freedom.
As to Signorina Martinozzi she did not think in the same way, and she told de Cosnac that had she been consulted on the matter she had not consented to change her fiance.
While the negotiations were proceeding the Prince de Conti prepared himself in a very peculiar way for Hymen. He was seen in Bordeaux to pass from libertinage to devotion, then go back to all kinds of excesses in order to be again more penitent.
The betrothal took place on February the 21st, 1654, at Compiegne. The blonde bride, says the Gazette, wore a frock of black velvet that was glittering with diamonds with which it was embroidered.
One reads in the contemporary writings that Conti was so ashamed of this alliance, that one day he gave to Sarrazin, who suggested it to him, such a terrible blow with a poker that the poet died of it. However, Cosnac, who was of the household of the Prince, flatly denies this act of brutality. On the other hand, the same de Cosnac relates that the Cardinal promised to Conti the sword of the Constable of France. When Cosnac learned that Conti would not be
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appointed to that exalted office, he said to the Prince :
"Your Highness is betrayed! They marry you au denier deux!'
The Prince was so indignant at this insinuation of his beggarly marriage, and became so wrathful, that he seized his almoner by the throat and threw him out from the library.
However, with time, Conti became reconciled with the fact of his alliance which, although it did not correspond with the grandeur of his family, was not half bad, on account of the great splendour the Cardinal's immense wealth and influence brought to him ; this influence and wealth atoned in some way for the low origin of Mazarin's family, which now ranked with the most elevated dignities in the land.
Then Signorina Martinozzi was wonderfully beautiful, very sweet, witty, cultured and endowed with common sense. Those qualities — so agree- able to a husband — were perfected by her devotion, which was so great that she was able to follow her husband on the road of the most severe piety. Only she had this advantage over him that she had given to God her pure heart, and that the foundation-stone of her virtues was innocence.
As odd money to the virtues of his niece the
Cardinal gave to the Prince, who now became
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his nephew, the governorship of Guyenne and the command of the army of Catalonia. He conducted the campaign successfully ; later, when he was sent to Italy, he failed. The Cardinal, in a fit of generosity to the Contis, had built for them a splendid palace, situated on the Quai Malaquais ; it was pulled down in 1845.
Notwithstanding the Princess de Conti's great devotion and sublime virtues her consort had accesses of jealousy.
Thus one day the Prince de Conti met the beau Marquis de Vardes who, like the Duke de Candale, was famous for his extraordinary gift of fascinating the ladies, only de Vardes was still more dangerous. Conti asked de Vardes to enter his carriage and to accompany him for a drive. De Vardes excused himself on the ground that he had just returned from a hunt and that he was not properly dressed ; besides, being tired, he would like to go to bed.
An hour later Conti returned home and to his great surprise found the beau Marquis, dressed splendidly, in the drawing-room with the Princess, It was the wolf in company with Red Riding- Hood! Notwithstanding de Vardes' smiles and undisturbed correctness, the husband was furious.
Here is another story.
When Conti y^ras in Catalonia, the King, who
was then only seventeen years old, danced one G 97
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
day with the Princess de Conti. During the dance he had a notion to address some gallantry to her, which the Princess disliked, and made such a scene that the Cardinal forced his niece the next day to ask the King's pardon. The news of this went as far as Catalonia, and the Abbe de Cosnac received the following note from His Highness :
"They say here openly that the King is in love ; tell me exactly what does this mean, for it is probable that it would interest me. You know what you have promised to me."
The almoner explained to him the incident as best he could, but the Prince would not hear anything and wrote a second note :
" I wish that my wife should join me at once ; this is my last resolution ; she has to start as soon as she receives this note ! "
The Princess obeyed, but while riding, her
horse fell down and the Princess injured her
head. It took several days before she recovered ;
in the meanwhile her impatient consort advanced
towards her, and they met half-way.
\ Cosnac made us acquainted with another
I characteristic of this most charming princess.
\ She had learned that he was against her marriage
I with Conti, and when after the wedding ceremony
he was presented to her, she received him very
coolly, and did not even deign to look at him.
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
But the noble woman could not be angry with him because he was loyal to his master, and she showed her appreciation in the following manner :
This twenty-four-year-old priest was, as were the others, on the lookout for a bishopric. One day he learned that there was a vacancy at Valence. He rushed to the Palace Conti at six o'clock in the morning and waked up the Princess. He boldly entered her chamber and besought her to rise at once, and to go to see the Cardinal about the matter : she dressed hastily and went to her uncle. The lucky and enterprising Cosnac became a bishop.
In those days the people knew how to love^ls^ be friendly and hate !
A little later the Prince de Conti, who was always jealous without any reason, said to the young Bishop :
" I am aware of the innocence and virtues of my wife, but she, like the other women, has vanity to be pleased, how then can I know that she will be able to avoid bein^ loved ? "
" Monseigneur," answered the Bishop of Valence, "to search for a woman that dislikes to be loved means to search for a black swan."
Upon that Conti told him about the incident
with de Vardes, to which the Bishop replied :
" I have seen nothing that would permit one 99
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
to think anything else, but that de Vardes had forgotten himself so far that he dared to raise his eyes to Her Highness."
Not assured by the almoner who watched well over his honour, the Prince took certain measures against the dangerous de Vardes who was listened to by the ladies even better than the King, and he withdrew with his wife to Guyenne, where they both threw themselves into Jansenism and the deepest devotion.
In Bordeaux, where they resided, and where the Prince had previously committed many faults, he made public penitence, and it was said of him that, "the beauty of his repentance surpassed by much the ugliness of his faults."
Pushed by the ardour of repentance he wrote! a booklet against theatres, apropos of which book! Voltaire said wittily : "It would have been better if he had written against civil war."
The Prince de Conti died young in 1666. His widow continued the life of devotion and charity. Mme. de Sevigne called her and her sister-in-law " the Mothers of the Church."
The King was much moved by her death and made a panegyric by saying that she was more considerable by her virtues than by the grandeur of her fortune.
This saintly Princess left two sons : one of
them was that brilliant Prince de Conti, so witty
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Marie-Anne Maktinozzi The Princess de Conti
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and so brave, who was elected King of Poland, and who was, as Saint-Simon said, " The con- stant delice of the world, of the Court and of the army, a divinity of the people, the idol of the soldiers."
lOI
CHAPTER XI
Marriages followed each other in the Cardinal's family. He began his alliances so well, and the success seemed to encourage him more and more. His desire in that regard was equal to the increase of his influence and wealth. He now desired for yet another nephew a ruling Prince of Modena, who asked for the hand of Laura Martinozzi, the younger sister of the Princess de Conti. She was then seventeen years old, consequently a little younger than her cousin, Olympia Mancini.
It is impossible to say why the Prince of Modena asked for Laura and not for Olympia, who, naturally, was vexed that this time also a cadette was preferred to her as was the case with Conti.
The contemporary Memoirs do not say whether the Prince of Modena preferred Laura because of her piety or beauty. We do not know even whether she was fair as her sister the Princess Conti, or dark as were her cousins, the Mancinis. A poet said of her : " Martinozzi, Roman beauty ! " Does it simply mean that she was from Rome .'* Or, those words beauU romaine, do they signify that she was stately ?
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However, one can surmise that her beauty- did not prompt the Prince of Modena to ask for her hand, for he married her without having seen her. He needed the help of France against Spain, which then weighed heavily on the small Italian principalities.
It was the Prince Eugene- Maurice de Savoie- Carignan, thirty-first Count de Soissons, the father of the great Prince Eugene, who married Laura Martinozzi by proxy. The wedding was cele- brated at Compiegne with as much splendour as if a king's sister were married.
The young bride went then to Italy, accom- panied by her mother, where she found that her husband was a youth of twenty. A few months later the Duke of Modena, the father, was appointed the gendralissime of the French army in Italy.
It was in this way that the Cardinal treated
his nephews ; the command of the troops seemed
to be included in the dowry. As there were
four more nieces to be married, this military
nepotism ought to have alarmed the old generals.
During the campaign of 1656 there were two
nephews of this Eminency at the head of the
army, while the third one was in Catalonia.
One must avow that those generals appointed by
Hymen were as good as one could expect, and
this is saying much.
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In that way the Cardinal was pleased, for, naturally, he felt that a few leaves of the laurel wreaths gathered by his nephews were due to him, not only because he appointed them but also because he, being a soldier, gave them good advice.
The Princess of Modena was naturally pleased to find herself once more under the beautiful sky of Italy, which she could not forget, for she spent but two years in France. Signora Martinozzi, her mother, remained for some time with her, then she went to Rome, where she found her old friends.
The year following his son's marriage with the Cardinal's niece, the Prince Francis of Modena came to France to visit Louis XIV., but especially Mazarin. He was well received by both. He was considered to be one of the best generals of Italy — undoubtedly, he must have studied the art of war under Montecuculi, who was from Modena. He was also an able poli- tician, but he could not develop his brilliant gifts for the field of his action was too small, and that is why history does not speak as much of him as he deserved. Like the Princes of Savoie, or of any small sovereigns surrounded by big states, he was seeking for his surety once in this direction, then in another. Francis of Modena
was allied first with Spain, and with her help he
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Laura Maktinozzi The Princess of Modena
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attacked his brother-in-law, Edward Farnese, Duke of Parma ; this obtained for him the PrincipaHty of Correggio. Then he thought that it was to his advantage to approach France, hoping to obtain some benefit. In order that his part should be made larger, he asked the hand of the Cardinal's niece for his son. When he returned from France he died of a fever, contracted at the siege of Mortara, at the age of forty. He was succeeded by the consort of Laura Martinozzi, who did not enjoy long the pleasures of sovereignty, for he died in 1662, when he was but eight-and-twenty.
Laura found herself Regent on behalf of herVl infant son. She was always loyal to France, andr Louis XIV. was of much use to her. History/l qualifies her as a virile woman — virile donnal although she ruled over her little states withf justice and piety. Her Regency was quiet, and' there were not many events.
Albeit it happened that she was obliged to draw sword ; it is true that this was done not against a mighty neighbour, but against a woman, also a Regent, during the minority of her son.
It was the ardour of maternal sentiment that inflamed one against the other.
There was the question about a small island
on the Po, which island was claimed both by
Mantua and Modena.
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The two Duchesses gathered their men-of- arms and had their cannons brought to the banks of the river, ready for the attack. Muratori says that it would have been interesting to see the exploits of those modern Amazons.
But the Spanish Government became alarmed at that feminine duel : they were afraid that the Duchess Laura would ask France, her protectress, for help — ricorrendo alia Francia sua protectrice, and that Louis XIV. might take advantage of this quarrel. The Viceroy of Milan was in- structed to arrange the matter at once.
The most important episode of her reign, where the influence of France was felt, was the marriage of her daughter, Marie- Beatrice. Louis XIV. promised to find a husband for her, and he thought the Duke of York, subsequently King James II., would be suitable. However, there were some obstacles ; the young Princess did not like the notion ; she cared not for a throne, for she wished to become a nun, and the idea of her going to a Protestant country was contrary to her ardent piety. Only the inflexible desire of the King of France, and even the Pope's inter- vention, could break her resistance.
At last the marriage was decided and the
Earl of Peterborough went to Modena, where
he married Marie-Beatrice d'Este in the name
of the Duke of York. The young Princess
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Marie of Modena Consort of James II.
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started for England, her mother accompanying her as far as Paris, where she desired to see the children of the Princess Conti, whose death affected her much.
The sovereign of Modena and the future Queen of England were received at Versailles in a manner that was worthy of their host and consideration that they deserved.
The two Princesses alone accompanied the King in his carriage while driving in the Park : after the drive the King accompanied them to an apartment where a splendid collation was served, at which the Queen and her ladies were present. They were conducted to Paris in the same carriage, the route being lighted by wax candles carried by the King's pages.
The grand Mademoiselle, who was never impressed by youth and beauty, was but little charmed by the Duchess of York, and she wrote in her Memoirs: "She looked to me a big melancholic creature, neither beautiful, nor homely, very thin, quite yellow. I have heard that now she is very gay and fat, and that she became beautiful."
When the Duchess of Mantua returned home, she gave up the government to her son who was but fourteen. The "virile dame," notwith- standing her efforts, could not make of her
progeny anything worthy : his health was feeble
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h-
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started for England, her mother accompanying her as far as Paris, where she desired to see the children of the Princess Conti, whose death affected her much.
The sovereign of Modena and the future Queen of England were received at Versailles in a manner that was worthy of their host and consideration that they deserved.
The two Princesses alone accompanied the King in his carriage while driving in the Park : after the drive the King accompanied them to an apartment where a splendid collation was served, at which the Queen and her ladies were present. They were conducted to Paris in the same carriage, the route being lighted by wax candles carried by the King's pages.
The grand Mademoiselle, who was never impressed by youth and beauty, was but little charmed by the Duchess of York, and she wrote in her Memoirs: "She looked to me a big melancholic creature, neither beautiful, nor homely, very thin, quite yellow. I have heard that now she is very gay and fat, and that she became beautiful."
When the Duchess of Mantua returned home, she gave up the government to her son who was but fourteen. The "virile dame," notwith- standing her efforts, could not make of her
progeny anything worthy : his health was feeble
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and his soul was as weak as his body. Such was the Duke Francis II. As soon as Laura with- drew, her son became enslaved by his illegitimate brother by the name of Csesar.
Laura, dissatisfied with State affairs, wounded in her affection and legitimate ambition, decided to go to Rome, notwithstanding the prayers of her son and the tears of her subjects by whom she was loved and who cherished her memory.
She lived at Rome in piety, given to charitable works and in continual correspondence with her daughter who became Queen of England ; she was the confidante of many worries.
As soon as it was announced that Mary d'Este was going to be the Duke of York's consort, the whole country rose in opposition. The House of Commons begged the King to appoint a day of fast, and to command public prayers in order to entreat Heaven to discard the dangers by which the State was threatened. They wished to prevent the Princess from leaving Paris ; they demanded that the Duke of York should retire into the country and live there as a private gentleman.
Notwithstanding this resistance the Duke went to Dover to meet the Princess, whom he brought to St James's Palace.
Mary was so young, so charming and so
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[T(J I'ALli l'A(,K 108
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beautiful that soon she pacified the fury of the opposition, and she was loved by everybody.
It was not politics alone that brought her bitterness ; her private life was much troubled, for James II., notwithstanding his devotion, could not help having been influenced by the Court life ] of Charles II., and Anne Churchill occupied a I certain place in his life.
Laura did not see the catastrophe that threw down from the throne her son-in-law and her daughter ; death spared her that great sorrow.
Detached from the grandeur and illusions of this world, she would have been crushed by the ruin of the House of the Stuarts, to which her daughter had given offspring. She suffered enough on account of what happened at Modena : her son was dying ; being always an invalid, — he had gout in his legs and arms, — he had a fancy to contract a marriage — he died two years after.
Albeit that her son much respected his mother and often came to Rome to visit her in state, she wished not to return to Modena, and gave up all the vanities of this world, remaining loyal in her sentiments towards France.
She was one of those rare exceptions, for she.Jf^ practised the rarest of virtues — gratitude.
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CHAPTER XII
The position of the Cardinal and his family had undergone great changes ; instead of scurrilous Mazarinades, the gazetteers respectfully noted their movements, while the poets, headed by Scarron, who in guise of apology for his previous virulent attacks, burned incense at the altar of Mazarinettes, were sino-ing- :
"La, les jeunes beautes du Tibre Font maint coeur cerf de maint coeur libres."
A slight indisposition, an absence from a fete sufficed to make the Court sad :
" Mancine, cette illustre fiUe A rendu la cour si chagrine. Que depuis dimanche passee On n'a presque ri ni dance."
Their presence at a ball was hailed like an apparition of poetical divinities, in verses, which, it is true, were not always poetry.
Olympia Mancini, who was but ten years old
when she came from Rome with her elder sister
Laura, no more described as having "eyes
like an owl, and the skin white like cabbage,"
was praised now as "the nymph Mancini." Her
no
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education, begun in a convent at Rome, was con- tinued in Paris under the Queen's supervision. Brought up, so to say, with the King, who was of her age, being intelligent and supple, she took a greater part than did the others in his plays, and made him prefer her to the others, who grew with him.
The favourite of the King had not beauty by which she could attract him, but she succeeded to please him by her lively and insinuating mind, by her tact which prompted her to understand his likes and dislikes, and to guess the propensities of her youthful playmate.
The King's attachment to Olympia Mancini became an important affair, and was the subject of gossip both of the Court and town. Everybody was asking if the Cardinal, who did not think that an alliance with the princes of the blood was too exalted for his nieces, who married one to a petty sovereign, would stop on his route.
It is difficult to ascertain whether he had a notion to make his niece a queen, for it is almost impossible to fathom the thought of such a man as he was. Perchance he himself did not know what advantage he could obtain through the penchant of the King towards his niece. In the meanwhile he was satisfied, one can understand this quite easily, for through his niece he got hold of the youthful sovereign and kept him
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prisoner, so to say, in his house. As his star was shining then very brilliantly, it was generally believed that he would dare any- thing.
Consequently, Olympia was for some time the divinity of the Court ; everybody flattered her ambitious designs. The Queen Christine, who after her abdication passed through France and wished to please the Cardinal, gave advice sans fagon, as it was her wont. Speaking to the King, she praised very much the charms of Olympia, and hesitated not to say :
"It would be a pity not to marry, as quickly as possible, the two young people who suit each other so well."
Those words much pleased the favourite who, charmed with the ugly-looking Queen of Sweden, adopted, as she did, masculine attire, and the poet sang :
La nymphe Mancine,
For bien vetue a la Christine, D'une Amazon avait les traits ; Parmi ces celestes attraits, Qui font que sous son bel empire Maint cceur d'importance soupire.
But the nymph Mancine had something else to do besides play the part of the masculine Queen of Sweden ; she associated herself with the taste of the King for theatrical representa-
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tions, for both were spending their time in arranging ballets.
Richelieu had expended a hundred thousand ^cus for the representation of one of his tragedies. Mazarin also disbursed lavishly for ballets and operas, the taste for which he brought from Italy. He imported singers, dancers and scenery from Mantua and Milan.
The ballets, carousals, fancy-dress balls and games of the ring were very much in fashion after the Fronde, and made a diversion from political passions.
Olympia Mancini understood well how to help her uncle in the agreeable ways by means of which he ruled over the country. The King also had taken so much to his heart those pleasures that he sometimes played five parts during one evening ; in the ballet called Noces de Thetis et de PdUe, the most magnificent ever performed, His Majesty represented by turns, Mars, Apollo, a Dryad, a Fury and a Courtier ; all parts seemed to please him. During the winter of 1656 this indefatigable actor gave three performances of this ballet in a week.
Olympia did her best, limiting herself, however, to taking only one part ; she represented the goddess of music. She was careful not to over- work herself, for she had something more serious
to think about. The preference Louis XIV. had H 113
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for her did not promote quickly enough her secret hope, and she began to fear that nothing serious might come out of the King's love for her. Louis XIV. seemed to be, for her, nothing more than a comedy lover, more occupied with his parts than with his sweetheart.
As to the Queen, Mme. de Motteville says that " she was not angry because of that attach- ment, but she could not suffer, even in jest, that they should speak of this friendship as of a senti- ment that could become legitimate ; the grandeur of her soul was horrified at the notion of such abasement."
The Gazette was in error in publishing the following verses :
" Cette Olympe au divine esprit, Et dont sur le coeur des monarques Le pouvoir peut graver ses marques."
The King had only to look to see that there were more seductively beautiful girls round him than was his favourite. The adolescent ardour of " Louis XIV. was very active during this period, and the marks of Olympia's power over him began to wane. Her jealousy burst on several occasions ; her sulking became frequent, the result of which was the King's complaisance ceased ; as passion did not make Olympia blind, she understood that it
was time to leave illusions and do something serious.
114
Thomas-Francis de Savoie-Carignan The Count de Soissons
[to face I'AGE 114
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As soon as this resolution was made, she would have been satisfied with the Prince de Conti, and would have sacrificed her doubtful chances of matrimony with the King for a result more certain and more prompt. Unfortunately, Sarrazin's report was unfavourable of her, and he obtained for his master Signorita Martinozzi. Olympia was no more successful with the Prince of Modena ; later, Armand de la Meillerie, whom Mazarin wished to have for a nephew, refused Olympia's hand and fell in love with Hortense. All chances of matrimony seemed out of her reach, when there appeared on her horizon the Prince Eugene-Maurice de Savoie-Carignan. It is probable that he also, as the others, wished to marry the Cardinal. His mother, the Countess de Soissons, nee de Bourbon-Soissons, consort of Thomas- Francis de Savoie-Carignan, who became the thirtieth Count de Soissons through her, pressed the Cardinal to consent to the marriage, but, as it seems, he was not in a hurry to do so. Could he expect a better parti than was the descendant of Wittikind, the Great King of Saxony .•* Besides, there was in the veins of the Prince Eugene- Maurice the royal blood of the house of France.
Probably, the surmise of Mme. de la Fayette
was right when she said that the Cardinal "loved
his niece Olympia so much that he would like to
see her on the throne." However, not seeing
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any probability that she would become a queen, he gave his consent, and Olympia Mancini married the Count de Soissons, which meant that she became a Princess of the blood. The gazet- teers celebrated this marriage in verses, if not in
poetry :
" Le matin de ce meme jour, Le dieu d'hymen, le dieu d'amour, Rayonnant d'agreables flammes, XTnirent deux illustres ames, Savoir, Soissons et Mancini."
As to the King, he received the news so calmly that the Queen said to Mme. de Motte- ville : "I told you that there was nothing to fear of that attachment." The fact was that this marriage, instead of dividing the King and his former favourite, had brought them, so to say, nearer together. There was not one day that the King would not go to the Soissons Palace, which, according to Sauval, who described it at great length in his book Antiquiids de Paris, was the largest and the most luxurious in the capital of France.
Apparently, Olympia's good humour returned ; she was quiet and satisfied and seemed not to desire anything else but to retain her influence over the King. She was intelligent enough to understand that the King's friendship for his playmate threw a great splendour over her and her house, and that she could not ask more than he
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*f^R^r"i
'■i^^'-^~-^^£^.
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should remain constant in visiting her. Mme. de Motteville says that "her youthful age" — she was but eighteen years old — " her embonpoint, her beautiful arms, her lovely hands, the King's favour and great toilettes, lent brilliancy to her mediocre beauty."
However, this great advantage of the King's daily visits to the Soissons Palace did not last for ever, as nothing does in this world. The fluctu- ating King transported sentiment to Olympia's sister Mary, who obtained from him the promise not to visit her sister ; the King became cold towards the Countess de Soissons as long as his passion for the jealous Mary lasted. As to the Count de Soissons, he was mortified that the King stopped visiting his wife. Mme. de Motte- ville says of him that " he was an honest man and, above all, a good husband."
When the King married and became detached
from Mary, he restored Olympia to friendship and
favour, and la Fare says that "the King had
much intercourse with the Countess de Soissons,
whom he visited daily, even since he fell in love j
with Mile, de la Valliere." Olympia became
Surintefidante of the Queen's household, and in
that manner she was the greatest lady of the
Court : on account of her post, her favours, her i
marriage, she was living in a peerless splendour. |
She was called Madame la Comtesse and treated
as a princess of the blood.
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The Countess de Soissons was a charming hostess and she held a kind of Court. The King took again the habit of going to her to seek ease after his pleasures. He would spend evenings at the Soissons Palace, where the conversation and gambling would often keep him up very late. Saint-Simon says " that there was not another house equal in splendour to that of the Countess de Soissons, whom the King visited constantly before and after his marriage, and who was the mistress of the Court, oi fetes and of graces."
One of the ladies-in-waiting to the Queen Marie-Therese, by the name of the Duchess de Navailles, was very pious and severe, which caused a certain friction between her and the King, whom she dared to oppose. She ordered that certain windows should be walled in order to prevent the King passing through them to the apartment of the ladies - in - waiting. Mme. de Caylus says that "she told the King boldly that she will do her duty however disagreeable it might be to His Majesty's inclinations." It was a declaration of war. The King, in order to defeat her, decided that the ladies-in-waiting should obey the Surintendante, for she understood her duties less austerely than the old Duchess did. This quarrel became so serious that the husbands of the ladies were obliged to interfere, and the
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Count de Soissons fought a duel with the Duke de Navailles, in order to close the difference.
The Countess de Soissons did not like the King's fancy for Mile, de la Valliere, and this caused another kind of friction which made the King visit her less frequently, either because he preferred the society of his new favourite, or because the company gathered in the Soissons Palace was not congenial for her. They looked at Mile, de la Valliere askance, for she did not belong to any coterie, and she did not ask for anything from anybody, being happy with her worship for the youthful monarch.
One of the Countess de Soissons' friends was famous for his amours and duels, the Marquess de Vardes, " the handsomest and the most amiable man of the whole of France," as the Abbe de Cosnac said of him. His part in the history of the Court of that epoch was so brilliant that some details about him would be interesting.
The Marquess de Vardes was a son of Henry IV. by the Countess de Moret ; consequently, he was not very young when he became acquainted with the Countess de Soissons. He was very much renowned for his good looks, bravery and especially gallantry. A story told by Saint- Simon about his own father and the Marquess de Vardes characterises well both the man and
the epoch. They quarrelled and "agreed to
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fight a duel, at the Saint- Honor^ Gate, which then was quite deserted ; in order that the duel might look like a casual affair, M. de Vardes' carriage should pass that of my father, and that the masters should take up the quarrel of the coachmen, come out with their seconds and fight there. . . . Vardes, who was waiting at a corner of a street, reached my father's carriage, touched, and passed it. This was followed by a cut of his coachman's whip and answered by that of my father's. They seized their swords. Fortune favoured my father. Vardes fell and was dis- armed. My father wanted him to ask for his life ; he did not wish to do so. My father told him that at least he would make a cut on his face. Vardes assured him that he was too generous to do that, but that he avowed to be vanquished. Then my father helped him to rise and went to separate the seconds."
The Marquess's duels and amours would be too long to count here, suffice to recollect that he was daring enough to raise his eyes to that saintly Princess de Conti, who was offended because of the eagerness of the King.
His most brilliant and touching victim was
the Duchess de Rocquelaure ; she was perfectly
beautiful and good. "We have here M. de
Vardes," wrote Bussy-Rabutin to Mme. de
Sevigne, "and I know, through M. le Prince de
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Conti, that he has amorous designs concerning Mme. de Rocquelaure this winter. And in regard to that, madam, do you not pity those poor women who very often reward by a true passion a love of purpose, this is to say give good money in exchange for counterfeit coins ?"
In that way spoke Bussy, whose money was not of the best coinage. When the winter came Vardes loved the beautiful Duchess de la Rocquelaure, who considered herself rich through the counterfeit money of that cheat. "She granted him everything, bent only to please him," assures us the dignified Conrart in his Memoirs, speaking as seriously as he would do about a State affair.
Vardes was soon tired of an amour that needed care, precautions and secrecy ; it was too much to ask of him such sacrifices. As the Marquess de Rocquelaure was rather a dangerous adversary, it happened that Vardes was obliged to spend forty-eight hours, hidden in the cellar of the palace. His love could not stand such a trial ; his beautiful clothes suffered too much. He abandoned that adorable woman, who loved him with a deep love, although she was such a beauty that everybody was in love with her. " Mme. de la Rocquelaure returned this winter so beautiful," writes Mme. de Sevigne, "that she
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• defeated the whole of the Louvre a plate couture r
Her cruel destiny wished that this noble creature should marry a man who was notorious for his low jokes. Unfortunate in regard to husband and lover, she became bitterly sad ; she made an effort to cure herself, and tried another passion as a remedy ; she listened to the sweet words of a brother of Louis XIV. who seemed to be in love with her ; but this sixteen-year-old gallant could not make an impression on her soul. Conrart has learned from a person who was her confidant that an ardent and concealed passion killed her. She did not survive her misfortune and died at the age of twenty-three.
When the King began to admire that sweetest and the most disinterested from amongst the ladies of the Court, Mile, de la Valliere, the Marquess de Vardes and the Countess de Soissons organised a cabal against her.
The Marquess de Vardes was very friendly with the Count de Guishe ; according to Mme. de Sevigne he was " the only man at the Court who was the hero of a romance and looked not like the others." The Count de Guishe was the only son of the Marshal de Grammont, and a nephew of that Chevalier de Grammont, who passed to posterity by the medium of his Memoirs. He was a hero of the day. He returned from foreign
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and distant lands, where he went to fight like a paladin of the Middle Ages, and everybody was talking of his exploit and adventures. This noble- man, who aimed to be looked upon as an extra- ordinary person, had very many gifts ; he could speak all languages, was brilliant in all kinds of sports, and charmed the ladies by the romantic turn of his mind.
The times were favourable to peculiarities, and the Count de Guishe shared with the Marquess de Vardes the favours and successes. They were quite different, for Vardes was less chivalrous and endowed with a deeper and more finished art of pleasing.
As the Count de Guishe needed uncommon loves he dared to look at Madame. This beautiful and witty Henriette had, as the Count de Guishe, a penchant for the romantic ; she was fond of adventures and perils. She received his letters and read volumes of them, then she ended by receiving him. Mme. de la Fayette, the indulgent historian of Henriette, speaks of those interviews, showing them in a very favour- able light.
"The Count de Guishe," she says, "would chance anything, and Madame and he, without being really in love with each other, exposed themselves to the greatest dangers. Madame
was ill and surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting.
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. . . She allowed the Count de Guishe some- times to enter during the day, disguised as a fortune-teller ; the ladies-in-waiting of Madame, who saw him every day, did not recognise him. Another time there were some other inventions, but always very perilous, and those interviews so hazardous were arranged in order to laugh at Monsieur."
The Marquess de Vardes, friend of the Count, was his confidant in regard to those strange visits paid to Madame.
The following plan was made by the Marquess de Vardes and the Count de Guishe for the dismissal of Mile, de la Valliere. The Countess de Soissons took from the Queen's chamber an envelope of a letter which she received from Spain ; they put in that envelope another letter in which the Queen was told about the King's amour with Mile, de la Valliere. This epistle, written by Vardes, was translated into Spanish by the Count de Guishe. The message was given to Seiiora Molina, woman of the Queen's bed-chamber ; but, suspecting something wrong, that woman, instead of carrying the epistle to Marie-Therese, handed it to Louis XIV.
"Molina," says Mme. de Motteville, "told me that when the King read the letter, he became red, and seemed surprised ; he asked the woman
brusquely whether the Queen had read the
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letter." The King suspected not the true culprits ; on the contrary, as he trusted the Marquess de Vardes, he sought his advice on the matter. The Marquess had no difficulty in convincing the King that this mauvais tour was played by that Duchess de Navailles, whom His Majesty qualified as "an extravagant reformer of humankind," and who fulfilled her duty in an embarrassing manner. The consequence of this perfidious insinuation was that the Duchess was dismissed.
The failure of the intrigue discouraged not the Countess de Soissons and the Marquess de Vardes, who worked still harder to substitute Mile, de la Valliere, by a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, by the name of Mile, de la Motte- Houdancourt.
The Countess de Soissons persuaded the King that this young lady was passionately in love with him ; the King agreed to the intrigue, but he did not give up Mile, de la Valliere. He was charmed with the letters which Mile, de la Motte-Houdancourt wrote to him, only he was surprised that that young person could write brilliant letters, notwithstanding that in personal converse she was not clever. The secret of this was that it was the Countess de Soissons con- jointly with the Marquess de Vardes who wrote
those highly-interesting messages to the King.
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Some time later the King disentangled this clever intrigue, and the authors of it were pun- ished. It happened in the following manner. The charming de Vardes, who betrayed his friend and abused the confidence of his sovereign, had delivered to Louis XIV. some important political letters written by Charles II., which were en- trusted to him by Mme. Henriette ; then he obtained possession of letters, written by the Count de Guishe to Madame ; finally, he spoke very disrespectfully of this Princess. Mme. Henriette, indignant at such dastardly behaviour, complained to the King, and de Vardes was put into the Bastille. The Countess de Soissons being wrathful that her friend was treated so severely, decided, true Italian that she was, to avenge her friend ; she rushed also to the King and accused the Count de Guishe of planning to deliver Dunkerque to the English, and — this was at least the truth — that it was he who had written the Spanish letter to the Queen. On her part Madame made a complete avowal. " Those ladies," said a contemporary writer, " seemed to be bent on injuring each other." The King, making a comparison between their revelations, learned the truth, which was not without difficulty, for Vardes had entangled so well the threads of the intrigue, that Mme. de la Fayette, who told the
story, could hardly make sense of it.
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Vardes was punished by imprisonment in the fortress of MontpelHer, from which he was released after two years and then exiled to Aigues-Mortes of which he was governor. The Countess de Soissons and her husband, who was quite innocent, were banished to Champagne, the Count being the Viceroy of that province. Their exile was short ; they returned to Versailles, where the Countess lived in great splendour, as formerly ; she remained the Surintendante of the Queen's household, although the King did not visit her as often as before. Her frequent indisposition obliged her to withdraw from time to time from the Court, and curtailed her participation in the pleasures of the King. She frequently stayed at Blandy Castle, where the Prince Eugene was born, and not at Soissons Palace in Paris, as is erroneously repeated by the historians. She was against Mile, de la Valliere and this did not do her much credit, but when Mme. de Montespan became the inamorata, Olympia came out badly by this sub- stitution. She quarrelled continually with the haughty favourite, who, having been but a lady- in-waiting, wished to become Surintendante.
A command of the King that came like a thunderbolt deprived the Countess de Soissons of her intriguing colleague, the daring Vardes, that Titan of gallantry buried in a little town of
Provence. Such a loss was very bitter to the
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Countess, but her heart did not wither from eternal regret.
Vardes formed some disciples. The most brilliant of them was the Marquess de Villeroy, whom the women called le Charmant. He was not as brilliant as his master in regard to wit, but he had fire, splendour of youth, and luxuriant beauty. He was admitted to the Soissons Palace on the same footing as was formerly Vardes. Should one believe the chansons and the secret chronicles one could say that there was intimacy between le Charmant and the Countess de Soissons ; but there are no serious proofs in that regard, and after all, notwithstanding what could be said, even the history of women ought not to be written according to what is put in chansons.
4 The Countess de Soissons, so badly treated by her powerful foes, while alive, was unfortunate in this regard also, that the historians were in- clined to censure her severely instead of study- ing her life carefully. Amongst the others, Walckenaer, in the previously quoted Memoirs sur Mme. de Sevignd, has overstepped the limits of just severity, when he represented the mother of the great Prince Eugene as being a shameless woman, and when he qualified her charms by the adjective "stale," at the time of her return from
her first exile, while the fact is that she was then
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but twenty-seven years old. Therefore, the insult was too previous ! As Walckenaer, ordinarily so fond of quotations, did not trouble himself to say what proofs he had in making such an injurious remark, one is justified in surmising that he was inspired by the cynical chansons taken from the collection of Maurepas. Neither Choisy, nor la Fare, although contemporary with the Countess de Soissons' writers, treat her so severely, and the truth about her is that her real charm con- sisted of her grace piquante and of cet esprit agrdable et naturel, which are attributed to her by Mme. de la Fayette.
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CHAPTER XIII
Olympia became a widow when she was thirty- three years old.
The Count de Soissons, who was a very good husband, was dominated by his wife, whom he loved much.
Some writers made this good Prince a little
ridiculous : they ascertained that one day he
was surprised that he could speak in prose, and
that it was from him that Moliere had borrowed
the amusing words which he made Jourdain, one
of his characters, speak. This may be true or
not, but it is certain that the thirty-second Count de
Soissons was a brave soldier, and that he served
his King well. He distinguished himself at the
battle of Dunes, under the great Turenne, where,
at the head of the Swiss, whom he commanded,
he defeated the Spanish troops. The command
of the Swiss was the most important post at the
Court of France, for there were thirty thousand of
them in the service of the King, and the income of
the commandant was a hundred thousand pounds.
He was sent as an extraordinary ambassador to the
coronation of Charles II., of which fact one reads
in Pepys' Diary. During his stay in London he
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OlvxMpia Mancum The Countess de Soissons Mother of the Prince Eugene
Thk Prince Eugene
Son of the Coun-tess de Soissons
[lO FACE PAGE 130
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fought a duel with an English nobleman, who spoke ill of the King of France. Then he went on campaigns in Flanders and Holland, and was one of the bravest when the French crossed the Rhine. He was going to join the army of Turenne when he suddenly died.
His country seat was La Cassine Castle in the Ardennes, not far from the forest des Molieres ; it was built in Italian style, standing in the midst of enormous grounds, which were in harmony with the maor-nificence of the Castle.
The Countess de Soissons did not marry again ; she had eight children, the most famous of which was the Prince Eugene. She lost in the Count de Soissons an honoured, considerate and quiet consort, who was for her a brave and devoted champion.
There were circulated strange stories when the Count de Soissons died, for Olympia's enemies talked about poisoning without being able to prove anything, or even to show what motive she could have had to commit such an abominable crime.
However, it is true that strange things happened in the Soissons Palace, and those stories might have furnished a pretext for scandal-mongers. Astrology, black art and horoscopy were much practised there, even spirits were invoked. The Abbe de Choisy tells us
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about an invocation of spirits which took place before the Count de Soissons' death.
" Here is what happened at the Countess de Soissons Palace. Her husband was ill in Champagne. One evening she was uncertain whether she should go the next day to see him or not, when an old nobleman of her household offered to tell her, by the medium of a spirit, if Monsieur le Comte should die or not. Mme. de Bouillon was present, together with M. de Vendome and the Duke de Villeroy. The noble brought into the study a little girl who was five years old, and he told her to hold in her hand a glass of pure water, then he made his conjurations.
" The little girl said that the water became muddy ; the nobleman told quietly to those who were present that he was going to command the spirit to make appear in the glass a white horse, in case Monsieur le Comte should die, and a tiger should he not. Then he asked the little grirl whether she saw anything in the glass 1
"'Ah!' exclaimed the child, 'I see a lovely white horse ! '
" The same was repeated five times, and every
time the little girl announced the death by different
signs, which M. do Vendome or Mme. de Bouillon
suggested to the nobleman in such a low voice
that the little girl was not able to hear them."
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There is nothing extraordinary in that if one bears in mind that invocations of spirits were quite usual means of amusement.
Olympia's father openly practised astrology in Rome, and often frightened his family by sinister predictions. The Cardinal consulted horoscopes on several occasions in regard to himself and his nieces.
Therefore there is nothing astonishing that this Italian lady, who aspired to the throne of France, this passionate and ambitious soul, troubled in her ambitions and her amours, should have been given, as the others were, to such practices.
That fondness of astrology and black art was the cause of the Countess de Solssons and her sister Mary, the Duchess de Bouillon, being com- promised in the famous poisoning case of la Voisin, who in her sinister habitation practised something more than innocent necromancy.
The Archbishop of Paris advised the authorities that the priests of his parishes heard at the confession many people who were repenting for the crime of poisoning. The result of this important communication was the arrest of the infamous Marchioness de Brinvllliers, and although she was four years in prison the torture she endured did not stop that horrid contagion. The Marchioness, who pursued her criminal operations under the name of la Voisin, denounced during
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her cross-examinations the Marshal de Luxem- bourg, the Countess de Soissons, and her sister, the Duchess de Bouillon, among the people of quality who visited her house.
The Marshal was put into the Bastille, where he spent two years. The Duchess de Bouillon had undergone an interrogatory, but was not arrested ; her courage saved her, for she avowed openly that she visited la Voisin to be told her fortune ; then she dared to mystify the judges, and in that way succeeded in making of them a laughing-stock.
As to the Countess de Soissons, she was not as brave as her sister ; she dared not face her judges ; there was a warrant issued for her arrest and imprisonment in the Bastille and she ran away.
It was never proved that she was guilty of anything, but her flight threw over her a shadow that never disappeared.
While going away she gave as a reason that
her enemies were too powerful to fight. " M.
de Louvois," said she, as reported by the Abbe
de Choisy, " is my mortal foe, because I refused
him the hand of my daughter. He was powerful
enough to accuse me ; he has false witnesses.
If he could obtain a decree against a person of
such importance as I am, he will finish his crime
and make me die on the scaffold, or at least he
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will keep me always in prison. I prefer freedom. I will justify myself later."
Louvois was not the only one whom she had to fear, Mme. de Montespan, who hated her, joined her enemies and wished to crush her ; united with Louvois her might was boundless ! ■\ Those are quite good reasons by which one tan justify Olympia's flight.
Then accusations against her were very vague and consisted only of that which the unfortunate la Voisin said while she was tortured. There was not even an allegation of her having poisoned anybody except her husband, but even that was hardly probable and almost absurd.
La Voisin, during her vertigo or fit of madness,
had killed even her children ; Olympia had eight
of them and none of them had died then. La
Voisin and her accomplices called their poisons
"powders of succession." The Countess de
Soissons did not expect any succession, except
from her mother-in-law, and she was on the best
terms with that lady.
\ No, she could not have been guilty of such
arimes. What she did was worse in the eyes of
the Court, and even of the King himself, and this
was that she dared to question that sinister and
dreadful sibyl in regard to the King and his
inamorata. Then, being as passionate as he was,
she certainly tried to obtain some magical remedy
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
to make herself loved. That is all of what one could suspect her with a shade of probability, and it is in this light that Mme. de Sevigne looked at that extraordinary affair. Here is what she wrote to her daughter with her wonderful pen :
"As it seems there is nothing black, until now, in the stupid accusations brought against them ; there is not even gris b7'un. If they do not find anything more, then there should not have been inflicted that scandal on the persons of quality. The Marshal de Villeroy said that those gentlemen and those ladies do not believe in God, but that they believe in the devil. They tell truly ridiculous stories about what happened at the houses of those abominable women. The Marechale de la Ferte went there to please Madame la Comtesse, but did not go up. This affair caused her pleasure of which ordinarily she is deprived : she was told that she was innocent. . . .
" Mme. de Soissons asked whether she could help her to get back a lover who had left her. This lover was a great prince, and they assure that she said, that he will regret, if he returns not ; this means the King and everything is of importance concerning such a subject."
It was then rumoured that the King said to the dowager Countess de Soissons : " Madame, I permitted that Madame la Comtesse should
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
escape. Perchance I shall be obliged to render an account of that to God and my people."
Such words pronounced by the King would have a sinister meaning, but Louis XIV., pre- judiced as he surely was by those who sur- rounded him, saw the affair not in ^ris brun, but in black ; therefore, he gave leave to ruin a woman, his playmate, and of whom he was such a great friend !
Most of the contemporary writers, amongst whom were la Fare and de Choisy, suspect that Louvois and Montespan conducted the affair.
" I believe," says la Fare, "that the Countess de Soissons' arrest was decided too lightheartedly."
As to Mademoiselle, so little indulgent, her reticence is significant when she says : " I do not wish to explain myself on that delicate subject." Mme. de Sevigne, in the letter dated 30th January 1680, communicated to her daughter that the opinion about the Countess de Soissons had undergone a great change.
Let us now listen to that peerless teller about
the last evening spent by Olympia at the Soissons
Palace. "On Wednesday she played basseite.
M. de Bouillon entered ; he asked her to follow
himi to a boudoir, and told her that she must
leave France or go to the Bastille. She did not
hesitate at all ; she caused the Marchioness
d'Alluye to leave the play and they did not appear
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
again. Supper-time came ; it was announced that Madame la Comtesse had gone out ; every- body left, convinced that something extraordinary had happened.
"In the meantime many packets were made, money and jewels were taken ; the lackeys and the coachmen were told to put on grey coats ; eight horses were put to a carriage. She placed by her side the Marchioness d'Alluye, who did not wish to go, they say, and two chambermaids in front. She told her people that they must not worry about her, that she was innocent ; but that those wicked women took delight in giving her a bad name. She wept, went to her mother-in-law and left Paris at three o'clock in the morning."
Hardly had the fugitive crossed the frontier and reached Flanders when she was judged by contumacy.
She was agreeable to come back, provided they would promise not to put her either into the Bastille or at Vincennes before the sentence, but the condition was not accepted.
Her exile was the more convenient !
n^
CHAPTER XIV
While the minds in France became a little quieted after the rude shock caused by the poisoning case, the Countess de Soissons found that the people were very hostile towards her wherever she went during her wandering abroad. As it seems, it was Louvois who was the cause of her troubles. He wished to dis- honour her still more and make her life miserable.
" M. de Louvois," says the Abbe de Choisy, "persecuted her even to hell. In all towns and villages, through which she passed, they refused to receive her in large hostelries ; she was often obliged to sleep on straw and suffer the insults of the insolent people, who called her sorceress and poisoner.
" M. de Louvois sent as far as Bruxelles a certain captain who gave money to beggars to insult her. One day she was obliged to pass the night in a nunnery where she went to buy lace, for there gathered before the door a crowd of more than three thousand people who wished to tear her into pieces. It was necessary that the Governor of the Netherlands, the Count de
Monterey, should take her under his protection
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
again. Supper-time came ; it was announced that Madame la Comtesse had gone out ; every- body left, convinced that something extraordinary had happened.
"In the meantime many packets were made, money and jewels were taken ; the lackeys and the coachmen were told to put on grey coats ; eight horses were put to a carriage. She placed by her side the Marchioness d'Alluye, who did not wish to go, they say, and two chambermaids in front. She told her people that they must not worry about her, that she was innocent ; but that those wicked women took delight in giving her a bad name. She wept, went to her mother-in-law and left Paris at three o'clock in the morning."
Hardly had the fugitive crossed the frontier and reached Flanders when she was judged by contumacy.
She was agreeable to come back, provided they would promise not to put her either into the Bastille or at Vincennes before the sentence, but the condition was not accepted.
Her exile was the more convenient !
10 :
138
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coats;
CHAPTER XIV
While the minds in France became a little quieted after the rude shock caused by the poisoning case, the Countess de Soissons found ' that the people were very hostile towards her wherever she went during her wandering abroad. As it seems, it was Louvois who was the cause of her troubles. He wished to dis- honour her still more and make her life miserable.
" M. de Louvois," says the Abbe de Choisy, "persecuted her even to hell. In all towns and villages, through which she passed, they refused to receive her in large hostelries ; she was often obliged to sleep on straw and suffer the insults of the insolent people, who called her sorceress and poisoner.
*' M. de Louvois sent as far as Bruxelles a
certain captain who gave money to beggars to
insult her. One day she was obliged to pass the
night in a nunnery where she went to buy lace,
for there gathered before the door a crowd of
more than three thousand people who wished to
tear her into pieces. It was necessary that the
Governor of the Netherlands, the Count de
Monterey, should take her under his protection
139.
^
M
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
in order to save her from the threatening crowds."
There are plenty of details about that sad Odyssea in Mme. de Sevigne's incomparable correspondence : " M. de la Rochefoucauld," she writes, "told us yesterday that at Bruxelles the Countess de Soissons was obliged to leave the church quietly, and that they have organised a dance of cats bound together, or, to be more clear, a frightful sabbat ; they shouted in the meanwhile that devils and sorcerers followed her, and she was obliged to leave the place to let that folly pass."
Everywhere she went she was treated in the same way.
" At Namur and Antwerp, and in many towns of Flanders, they shut the gates before the Countess, saying : ' We do not wish to have poisoners.' In this way, and henceforth, a Frenchman, in foreign lands, and a poisoner will mean the same," said Mme. de Sevigne in another letter.
Notwithstanding all, Olympia remained in
the Netherlands ; the storm aroused against her
quieted and there was many a knight ready to
break a lance in her honour. The exiled lady from
Versailles had at Bruxelles a little court, for,
amongst others, the Prince of Parma, the
Governor of the Netherlands, was at her feet ;
140
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
one must remember that she was forty years old, that she could not help any ambitious designs \ through her influence, which she had lost ; there- ' fore one is obliged to believe that her social
o
qualities had a great charm, if after such dis- credit she could still attract the people.
" M. le Prince de Parma," wrote Mme. de Villars, "is then in love with the Countess de Soissons ? He is not a handsome gallant. It is also certain that had he a hundred thousand ^cus in his strong box he would not spend them in order to please his lady."
The Countess de Soissons, who was going to spend thirty years in foreign lands and to die there, left in France large estates and a numerous family.
She had five sons and three daughters, of whom their grandmother, the dowager Countess de Soissons, took care. The eldest son, Louis- Thomas de Savoie-Carignan, thirty-second Count de Soissons, was twenty years old ; he married two years after his mother's departure, and this marriage was for her another terrible blow, for it was the kind of alliance which would not restore to the family the prestige lost through that dreadful poisoning affair.
This great noble, who descended from a family^
first in the land after that of the Kings of France,
married a daughter of the Prince de Conti's
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
equerry ; her name was Uranie de la Cropte- Beauvais.
The great critic of genealogies, the Duke de Saint- Simon, maintained that she was a bastard. "There is no doubt that she was a bastard," says he, "for when her father was dying. Monsieur le Prince went to his rooms in the Conde Palace, and tried to induce him to marry her mother. Notwithstanding that he used his authority, his prayers and arguments that if he refused to do so the position of his daughter, who was very beautiful, would be very difficult, Beauvais was merciless and maintained that he never promised to marry that creature and that he would not marry her. He died with this resolution."
If Saint-Simon speaks badly of her birth he is full of enthusiasm about her beauty. " She was as beautiful as the most lovely day ; she was dark ; she had those grand features with which the Sultan's wives are painted ; to this Roman beauty was joined sweetness and nobleness. She surprised the Court by the splendour of her beauty, which excused the Count de Soissons."
But the dowager Countess de Soissons never forgave her grandson and she disinherited him ; his mother did the same, and this was the cause of the downfall of the house of the Counts de Soissons, whose splendour has never since been
restored.
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
All the relations of the de Savoies were also very wrathful. As to the foolish Count de Soissons, who was the cause of the ruin of his house, he was so much in love with his beautiful Uranie that for the time being he did not care about anything but his lovely consort.
The King was also impressed by the beauty of the Countess de Soissons, whom he found more beautiful than la Fontanges. The Princess Palatine says in one of her letters: "He fell in love with her, but she would not give in ; then he returned to La Fontanges, her friend." It was perchance in consideration of that fact that Louis XIV. was indulgent about this marriage. Then one must not forget that the young Count de Soissons grew up under the eyes of the King, for the sovereign used to visit his mother daily. Therefore it is natural that he should not wish to let this amorous young couple die of hunger, and he granted to the Count de Soissons a pension of ;^ 2 0,000.
It was too little to keep up at the Court the rank of a prince of the blood !
" His birth put him in good company, but his
taste mixed him with the low people," says the
merciless Saint- Simon. Mme. de Sevigne paints
the Count de Soissons a little better ; she even
attributes to him some qualities of heart.
The cruel fatum persecuted the Count de 143
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Soissons ; abandoned by his family and relations, a victim of the opprobrium which was thrown on his mother, destitute of fortune, he vegetated surrounded by many difficulties. The hatred of Louvois for his mother was a serious obstacle to his military career, although he was as brave as was his father ; he was so disheartened that he left France, he offered the services of his sword to Spain, then he entered the Emperor's service ; he was sent at the head of the Imperial troops to besiege Landau, where he was killed in 1702, at the beginning of the campaign.
There is nothing interesting about Olympia's two other sons, Louis-Jules and Emmanuel- Filibert. There will be an interesting detail about Philippe in connection with Olympia's sister Hortense.
As to her fourth son, Eugene- Maurice, subse-- quently known to the world as the Prince Eugene, his career was as splendid as that of his four brothers was obscure, although at the beginning it was full of difficulties. Notwithstanding that the history of Prince Eugene is well known, especially by the student of the military exploits of the Duke of Marlborough, whose name is so closely allied with that of Eugene, a few details about him would not be out of place.
As he was cadet de la famille, and as almost
in every family there must have been one son in
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
the service of the Church, Eugene was told to put on le petit collet, and almost as soon as he complied with this wish of his family he was provided with three abbeys — two in France and one in Piedmont.
His physique seemed to justify the pacific avocation they chose for him ; he was not only quite small, but also mean in appearance, and , even a little hunchbacked. His mother brought ■ him up with care, although that terrible gossip, i the Palatine, says that he was neglected and that they allowed him to run about comme un petit galopin.
The Abb 3 de Savoie-Carignan, as he was then qualified, although he studied divinity and other subjects proper for a churchman with intelligence and application, preferred rather to look at the manoeuvres of troops than on processions of clergy and pious people.
This penchant for military matters became so
strong in him, that he asked leave to change his
career and enter the army ; but the heartless
Louvois, who still remembered that he was
refused the hand of a Lady de Savoie-Carignan,
declined with his usual brutality. The King
himself, to whom Eugene applied personally,
dismissed his request, probably because he did
not think that a small and feeble man could serve
him well in the army. He even affected to call K 145
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
him disdainfully le petit abbd ! Such an intelligent King as was Louis XIV. was very much mistaken in that regard, and of this he was convinced to his own cost, when the General States granted to Eugene the flattering name of Grand Abbd de Holla7tde.
As after the peace of Nimegue there was nothing to do for the military men in France, many a nobleman, and amongst them the Princes de Conti, went to Hungary to war against the Turks. The Prince Eugene joined them. Louis XIV. did not like the absence of his brave knights and commanded them to return home. They obeyed their King. Eugene alone was rebellious and answered that he had given up France.
It is probable that the Prince Louis von Baden, his cousin and a renowned general in the Emperor^s service, induced him to do so. Louis XIV., having learned this, said laughingly : " Do not you think that I have sustained a great loss } "
It was a great loss indeed, for through his lack of appreciation of Eugene's military genius he gave to his enemies a general equal to Turenne, and of whom an English historian said: "The history of Marlborough presents nothing equal in subtlety of contrivance and dexterity of execu- tion to the surprise of Cremona by the Prince
Eugene — the ambuscade he laid for the French
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The Duke ue Makeuokough
[to facb page 146
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
behind the Adige — and his artifice in directing the French retreat to be beat amidst the confu- sion and darkness that followed the battle of Oudenarde. In thQ Jinesse and stratagem of war the Prince Eugene was as fertile in resources as Hannibal himself."
Supported by Prince Eugene, Louis XIV. had died the arbiter of Europe ; he had remained the Great King to the end. Yes, France lost much by the lack of appreciation of le petit abbd !
147-
,i.-i?.,^,.v.^p_g7niy^>iJCTgg}misyr/^^-i-Tii^^
I
CHAPTER XV
It is not so easy to follow the vicissitudes of Eugene's mother in her obscurity as the brilliant deeds of her son.
After having lived for a time in the Netherlands she went to Hamburg, and then sojourned in certain towns in Germany,
It is impossible to say for certain that she tried to return to France when she learned that her sister, the Duchess de Bouillon, extricated herself from the affair so boldly, and when the Marshal de Luxembourg left the Bastille without having been tried and appeared at Versailles as formerly. But Louvois was still in office and would not allow the Countess to justify herself.
It is true that the sway of Mme. de Montespan
was nearly finished, but she retained enough
power to forbid the return of the woman under
whose influence the King was kept such a long
time, and who hoped so much to win him back
that she risked to ask the help of sorcerers.
There was still another obstacle. Prince Eugene
had passed to the enemies of France, or, strictly
speaking, of the King.
Her husband alone, had he been alive, could 148
tt'
k
tx
Wt-
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
)iij(l
have served her usefully ; the other members of his and her family were going down in regard to consideration, influence and even wealth. Thus the two Princes de Conti were in disgrace ; the de Vendomes, her nephews, were known only by their disorderly life. The Princess Colonna and the Duchess de Mazarin, her two sisters, were rele- gated to foreign countries, as she was, after noisy adventures. Her brother, the Duke de Nevers, had no influence, for he did not care for anything else but travel and verses, in which he sang his famille errante, flattering himself that he was more clever than were his sisters. Of course the Cardinal was dead.
This explains why the mother of the Prince Eugene de Savoie-Carignan remained under the opprobrium of accusation and could not be excul- pated and her former favours returned.
She was the only one from amongst the four \ nieces of the Cardinal de Mazarin in whom there could be found some vestiges of his genius ; he preferred her to the others, for he liked to see in her the taste for intriguing and active ambition ; unfortunately Olympia had not inherited his clever- ness. It was probably the fault of the stars which he consulted so often on her behalf. . . .
There was still another adventure which tar- nished her glorious name. After ten years' sojourn
in Germany andTTtaly the Countess de Soissons
149
CHAPTER XV
It is not so easy to follow the vicissitudes of Eugene's mother in her obscurity as the brilliant deeds of her son.
After having lived for a time in the Netherlands she went to Hamburg, and then sojourned in certain towns in Germany.
It is impossible to say for certain that she tried to return to France when she learned that her sister, the Duchess de Bouillon, extricated herself from the affair so boldly, and when the Marshal de Luxembourg left the Bastille without having been tried and appeared at Versailles as formerly. But Louvois was still in office and would not allow the Countess to justify herself.
It is true that the sway of Mme. de Montespan was nearly finished, but she retained enough power to forbid the return of the woman under whose influence the King was kept such a long time, and who hoped so much to win him back that she risked to ask the help of sorcerers. There was still another obstacle. Prince Eugene had passed to the enemies of France, or, strictly speaking, of the King.
Her husband alone, had he been alive, could
148
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
have served her usefully ; the other members of his and her family were going down in regard to consideration, influence and even wealth. Thus the two Princes de Conti were in disgrace ; the de Vendomes, her nephews, were known only by their disorderly life. The Princess Colonna and the Duchess de Mazarin, her two sisters, were rele- gated to foreign countries, as she was, after noisy adventures. Her brother, the Duke de Nevers, had no influence, for he did not care for anything else but travel and verses, in which he sang his famille errante, flattering himself that he was more clever than were his sisters. Of course the Cardinal was dead.
This explains why the mother of the Prince Eugene de Savoie-Carignan remained under the opprobrium of accusation and could not be excul- pated and her former favours returned.
She was the only one from amongst the four \ nieces of the Cardinal de Mazarin in whom there could be found some vestiges of his genius ; he preferred her to the others, for he liked to see in her the taste for intriguing and active ambition ; unfortunately Olympia had not inherited his clever- ness. It was probably the fault of the stars which he consulted so often on her behalf. . . .
There was still another adventure which tar- nished her glorious name. After ten years' sojourn
in Germany and ftaly the Countess de Soissons
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
went to Spain. Her sister, Mary, took refuge there, but it is difficult to ascertain whether she was there when Olympia arrived. While she was living in Flanders she became acquainted with some Spanish families, who induced her to visit their country. Then the Queen of Spain was a French lady ; the Countess de Soissons knew her when she was a child ! As she could not live at Versailles, it is easy to understand that she wanted to try Fortune elsewhere.
A few words about the Queen of Spain. Marie- Louise d'Orleans, the only daughter of Monsieur, brother of Louis XIV., and of Henriette of England, was obliged by the terms of the treaty of Nimegue to marry the King of Spain, Charles IL While growing up she fell in love with the Dauphin of France, and she hoped to become his consort. Naturally, when she learned that she was to marry the King of Spain, she was in despair, which Mme. de Sevigne describes thus : —
" The Queen of Spain is always crying for mercy and throws herself at the feet of everybody. I cannot conceive how the pride of Spain could suffer such despair. The other day she stopped the King while he was going to Mass ; the King said to her : ' Madame, it would be strange if the Queen Catholic should prevent the King Very- Christian from going to Mass.' They say that they
will be pleased to be ridden of that Catholic lady."
150
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Then again :
" The Queen of Spain has turned into a foun- tain. The Queen of Spain is always weeping. The people said, seeing her in Saint Honore Street, * Ah, Madame is too good ; she will not let her go, she is too afflicted.' The King said to her, ' Madame, I wish to say farewell for ever ; it would be the greatest misfortune that
could happen to you should you see France
> >> agam.
Louis XIV. said to her :
" I have made you the Queen of Spain ; I could not do better for my own daughter."
" Yes," she answered, crying. " But you could do better for your niece."
As to the Dauphin, who cost her so many tears, here is the part he took in her grief :
"My cousin," he said to her, "I am very pleased with your marriage ; when you are in Spain, send me some tourou ; I am very fond of it."
" This put her in despair," says Mademoiselle ; " she entered the carriage without taking leave of him. The Princess d'Harcourt accompanied her ; she was a very stupid woman and treated ridicu- lously this poor Princess, who was a mere child." Mme. de Sevigne speaks much on that matter, for she learned the news from a good
source.
i5lI
f"
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
The wedding ceremony was celebrated and the young Queen was consoled ; the King of Spain was very much in love with her and made her forget the Dauphin, who asked her but for some tourou.
Did she remember it ?
Lively and witty like her mother, Louise d'Orleans had great influence over her husband ; however, she remained French, and in her corre- spondence she often communicated the events at Madrid. Naturally she had done her best to keep peace between the two countries and to make Charles IL withdraw from the great alliance constituted against Louis XV, In this she was obliged to stand against the Council of Spain where the Austrian spirit prevailed. Such wa.^ the situation when she died suddenly. Th( party which benefited by her death was suspected o having poisoned her ; but as to the details, and tc those who were agents of that alleged crime, th( stories differ very much.
The Duke de Saint-Simon, who went to Spai as ambassador more than thirty years afte seemed to gather those stories on the spot, an he accuses the Countess de Soissons of havin administered the poison.
A shortened account will suffice.
" The Count von Mansfeld was the Emperor
ambassador at Madrid, and the Countess c
152
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Soissons became friendly with him. The Queen, who was very fond of France, wished to see the Countess de Soissons. The King of Spain, who had heard much of her, and who was inundated with warnings that they proposed to poison the Queen, did not wish to give his consent. It seems that at last the Countess de Soissons came by a secret staircase to see the Queen ; she saw her alone with the King. Those visits became more frequent, but the King was always reluctant. He asked the Queen as a great favour not to take anything before he had eaten or drank first, for he knew that they did not wish to poison him.
"It was very hot ; milk was rare at Madrid ; the Queen wished to drink, and the Countess, who from time to time found herself alone with the Queen, told her that she would bring her some cold milk. They say it was prepared at the Countess von Mansfeld's. The Countess de Soissons brought it ; the Queen drank it and died a short time after. The Countess de Soissons, whose escape was pre-arranged, left the palace the moment the Queen drank the milk and succeeded in leaving Spain."
As one can see, the
positive than that made
one must remember it
to torture Saint-Simon to
153
accusation is more
by la Voisin, but
was not necessary
make him ascribe
\<
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
The wedding ceremony was celebrated and the young Queen was consoled ; the King of Spain was very much in love with her and made her forget the Dauphin, who asked her but for some tourou.
Did she remember it ?
Lively and witty lii^e her mother, Louise d'Orleans had great influence over her husband ; however, she remained French, and in her corre- spondence she often communicated the events at Madrid. Naturally she had done her best to keep peace between the two countries and to make Charles IL withdraw from the great alliance constituted against Louis XV. In this she was obliged to stand against the Council of Spain, where the Austrian spirit prevailed. Such was the situation when she died suddenly. The party which benefited by her death was suspected of having poisoned her ; but as to the details, and to those who were agents of that alleged crime, the stories differ very much.
The Duke de Saint-Simon, who went to Spain as ambassador more than thirty years after, seemed to gather those stories on the spot, and he accuses the Countess de Soissons of having administered the poison.
A shortened account will suffice.
" The Count von Mansfeld was the Emperor's
ambassador at Madrid, and the Countess de
152
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Soissons became friendly with him. The Queen, who was very fond of France, wished to see the Countess de Soissons. The King of Spain, who had heard much of her, and who was inundated with warnings that they proposed to poison the Queen, did not wish to give his consent. It seems that at last the Countess de Soissons came by a secret staircase to see the Queen ; she saw her alone with the King. Those visits became more frequent, but the King was always reluctant. He asked the Queen as a great favour not to take anything before he had eaten or drank first, for he knew that they did not wish to poison him.
"It was very hot ; milk was rare at Madrid ; the Queen wished to drink, and the Countess, who from time to time found herself alone with the Queen, told her that she would bring her some cold milk. They say it was prepared at the Countess von Mansfeld's. The Countess de Soissons brought it ; the Queen drank it and died a short time after. The Countess de Soissons, whose escape was pre-arranged, left the palace the moment the Queen drank the milk and succeeded in leaving Spain."
As one can see, the accusation is more
positive than that made by la Voisin, but
one must remember it was not necessary
to torture Saint- Simon to make him ascribe
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crimes to those whom he disliked. This tardy frondeur treated Mazarin's niece in the same manner as he did the Dukes de Vendome, and du Maine, Mme. de Maintenon, and so many- others.
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1
CHAPTER XVI
After having left Spain the Countess de Soissons went to Germany, "where she Hved in obscurity," says Saint-Simon, " sometimes in one place, then in another ; she dared not return to the Nether- lands, where she appeared much later."
This is not true either, and to prove the denial one has only to read what the contemporary writers say. Thus Mme. de Coulanges wrote : " Do you not know that M. le Marshal de Villeroy went to Bruxelles to see Madame la Comtesse de Soissons? He took with him her son ; and Madame la Comtesse de Soissons said that it was a long time since she had had such joy."
In another letter Mme. de Sevigne's keen friend says : " My sister is shining at Bruxelles ; Madame la Comtesse de Soissons sups every night at her house."
This shows that she did not live in obscurity
as Saint-Simon wished to have it, and it was not
just to try to show in opprobrium this woman who
occupied such an exalted place and whose social
position was envied. In justice it is necessary
to disbelieve the Duke de Saint-Simon, whose
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biting disposition prompted him to tear into pieces' the reputation of his adversaries as does the vulture his victims.
When the Countess de Soissons died, the King did not command the Court to go into mourning, although she was related to him ; only the Duchess de Bourgogne wore a black frock for six days.
It is commonly said that the Prince Eugene went to see his mother but once.' This is impossible to say for certain ; moreover, it is not logically probable, for as his military operations often required his presence in Flanders, one can rightly conclude that he saw her often.
When Prince Eugene visited England in 1 710 — he stopped in a house situated near Leicester Square — the peace party insulted him in the Gazettes by defaming the memory of his mother.
She died in 1708,^ when he was covered with
^ Brussels Journal of the Time, " Les relations veritables." 1690:
"At noon of the same day (July 6) the Prince Eugene de Savoie, accompanied by Major-General Cadogan and travelling post, passed by this town on his way to the camp of Assche, where he held a council of war with the Prince and the Duke of Marlborough ; on the 7th he came to this town and alighted at the house of Her Highness the Countess de Soissons, his mother, where he received the compliments of the ministers and the nobles."
» ^'Brussels, Tth Oct., 1690.
" Tuesday morning, the 9th of this month. Her Highness the Dowager-Countess de Soissons died in this town, after an illness of some weeks : her good qualities, her virtues, and especially her charity towards the poor, render her worthy of praise, and cause her to be regretted by all the world."
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glory, not far from the battle-fields on which he gathered his laurels.
This circumstance permits the surmise that courtiers, generals, negotiators of the great alliance did not fail to pay their respect to the mother of the victorious generalissimo.
She was well avenged for the opprobrium brought upon her by her enemies, for the victor at Malplaquet and Oudenarde took many prisoners of those who frequented Versailles and filled with them the fortresses of Germany and Flanders.
She saw the throne of Louis XIV. tremble ' under the blows of her son, she witnessed the defeat and humiliation of the Court that had banished her, and Eugene's mother died tasting the last pleasure of vengeance.
This story of the vicissitudes of the Countess de Soissons would not be complete without a few details concerning her friend the famous Marquis de Vardes, who ended his life more happily than she did in the sense that he was forgiven.
He remained in exile nineteen years as Governor of Aigues-Mortes, where he was petted by the nobility of Provence.
He was not a man who cared to make a long
penitence, consequently he lived in exile more or
less as he did at the Court. The years did not
take from him the dangerous gift of seductiveness ;
he succeeded in making himself loved by the
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daughter of the Marquess de Toiras, Governor of Montpellier.
Mile, de Toiras was twenty years old ; Vardes was fifty. But Nature, which had provided him with the gift of pleasing, had not bestowed that of constancy, and he abandoned the beautiful Toiras girl and left her a prey to the most tragical despair.
This story was very much commented on, and Mme. de Sevigne wrote to her daughter, Mme. de Grignan : " I am horrified at M. de Vardes' inconstancy ; he could not have another reason for his conduct at the end of his passion than this, that he is no more capable of love ; this is exasperating, but I would rather have this pain than be left for another woman. Here is our old quarrel. There are many other things of which I do not approve in M. de Vardes."
It is really strange that Vardes' conduct should have furnished a subject of amusement for the Society people. Some one, I cannot tell who it was, has written a kind of drama which was played privately, and Mme. de Sevigne was delighted to taste such pleasure for one or two hours, and she wrote : " Madame de Coulanges and M. de Barillion played yesterday well the scene of Vardes and of Mile, de Toiras ; we were inclined to cry ; they surpassed themselves."
How could they be severe with a man who
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furnished to Society such pleasure ? Mme. de Sevigne gave abundant news about this amiable exile, whom the beautiful ladies forgave every- where. She was so happy to spend a season with Vardes at Vichy, who obtained leave to go there and bewitched everybody as usual. " Vardes," she writes, "pleased extremely Termes, and Termes Vardes. Their minds were equally pleased ; it was un coup double. The knowledge they had of pleasing each other rendered them more agreeable still."
Finally Louvois went to Provence, and this stern man was fascinated as the others ; Vardes entertained him so pleasantly that he made the King desirous to forgive him and to call him back to the Court.
There was a great commotion when Louis XIV. announced during a lever that Vardes would be at Versailles in three days. When he was in the presence of the King he knelt on one knee and cried. But laughter burst out at his aspect, for this arbiter of the ancient elegancy preserved the clothes of the time in which he left Versailles. He was a King of Fashion, but struck by the wand of a fairy he slept for nineteen years, consequently he made the impression of a ghost.
His indulgent friend, Mme. de Sevigne, says :
" He arrived with a head unique of its kind, and
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wore an o\d justaucorps a brevet'' — it was a blue coat, embroidered with gold and silver, which the principal courtiers wore, and was similar to that worn by the King ; a warrant was necessary to have the right to wear it — "as it was worn in 1663."
Yes, it was an old fashion, and seen only on the family portraits.
The King himself could not keep serious and beo-an to laugrh when he noticed Vardes' dress.
"Ah, sire," exclaimed Vardes, whose mind was still keen, "when one is unfortunate enough to be removed from your presence, one is not only miserable, one is also ridiculous."
The King called the Dauphin and presented him to Vardes as if he were a young courtier. However, Vardes recognised the heir to the throne of France and bowed to him ; the King said laughingly :
" Vardes, this is a fault, you know well that one bows to nobody in my presence."
" Sire," answered the imperturbable Vardes, " I do not know anything, I have forgotten every- thing ; Your Majesty must forgive me until thirty faults."
"Very well," said the King, "remain at the
twenty-ninth."
And the charming gossip, Mme. de Sevigne, 160
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concludes : " Vardes, always the same Vardes ! His sayings remained the gospel of the day."
Reading this narration one cannot help suspecting that Vardes arranged this comedy of the old clothes for the occasion. How, indeed, could one admit that a man who set the fashion in Provence, who constantly looked towards the Court, could retrograde for nineteen years in regard to his clothes ?
This is incredible. He wished to please his master the King by bringing to his memory the times of their youthful age, by making him mirthful at his own expense, and for this purpose he put on his old justaucorps. Surely this time the penetrating Mme. de Sevigne was duped by the shrewdness of her incomparable Marquess de Vardes.
The beau, having been reintegrated into the King's favour, became again, at the age of sixty, a great favourite of Society. He lived for five years that agreeable life, "displaying to the end all the human perfection ; " the expression is worthy to be retained. "He was more delightful than ever ; he was always a good parti for con- versation."
However, this man, who knew how to please, was not much regretted, for the same writer who enjoyed his wit and commerce — that ungrateful woman — wrote after his death :
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" I wrote to you about M. de Vardes' arrival at the Court, to-day I can write to you about his arrival at Heaven ; for every Christian must presume the salvation of his fellow-man when he is dead with all his sacraments."
"Well," she ends, " I regret him, for there is not another man at the Court who is built after that model."
The funeral sermon is assuredly more witty than the sublime Bossuet could have delivered, and it is more lasting, from this point of view, that it is more read than are the most eloquent orations of the aigle de Meaux, for who nowa- days reads his lofty thoughts ? . , .
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CHAPTER XVII
Mazarin's youngest sister, Hyeronima, was married to Lorenzo Mancini, Roman Baron, who was qualified in the marriage certificate as very illustrious.
The Mancinis' name could be found in the old registers of Rome as far back as 1 380 ; and the first man of this name was styled as a gentiluomo principale di quella cita. This is a fact which even the malicious Saint-Simon could j not deny, although he thought proper to sneer at | the Mancinis and thus to lessen their import- ance.
When the war of the Fronde was over,
Signora Mancini, giving in to the Cardinal's wish,
brought to Paris her two daughters Mary and
Hortense. Mary Mancini, who left an interesting
volume of Memoirs, says that her mother, finding
that she was not beautiful, was not anxious to
produce her at the Court and proposed to place
her in the convent of Campo Marzo, where one
of the Cardinal's sisters was a nun. However,
Mary, who was displeased at the notion, answered
her mother :
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" There are convents everywhere, and should I be moved by such a celestial emotion, it would be easy for me to follow it as well in Paris,"
Signora Mancini, her sister Martinozzi and their children embarked on a magnificent galley, covered with bunting, sent to them by the Republic of Genoa as if they were queens. The Duchess de Mercceur came to Provence to meet her mother and her sisters, and they remained eight months in Aix, living in the governor's palace. The Cardinal wished they should acquire the language and become familiar with the customs of the country. When they came to Paris, Mary and Hortense were placed in the convent of Filles-de-Sainte-Marie, at Chaillot, where they remained two years.
From that quiet sojourn the Cardinal brought them to the distracting life of the Louvre. Mary was then eighteen and Hortense thirteen years old. Mazarin gave them for a gouvernante Mme. de Venelle, who was very zealous in regard to her duties. Sometimes the gay ladies were living with their uncle in the Louvre, near the King and his mother, or in the Mazarin Palace, as well as at Saint-Germain and Fontainebleau, where the Court went frequently.
Almost all the contemporary writers say that
the Cardinal brought from the convent his nieces
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that he might give to the King playmates, ready to substitute Olympia, hoping that one of them would be able to arouse in him a more stable sentiment.
This interpretation does not clash with the actual truth, although one could surmise also that as the Cardinal had lost his sister, who died in Paris 1656, his niece Laura, and his nephew, while his other nieces, the Martinozzis, and Olympia Mancini, by marrying, were not with him, he probably felt the need of family life, which would not hinder his political plans.
He was an able man, and he saw that there was danger for him should the King's very inflammable heart be turned by some woman, and that, therefore, it was prudent to keep it under the control of his own family.
It is true that there were some difficulties, particularly this, that although Hortense was perfectly beautiful she was still of very tender years, and Louis XIV. disliked little girls. . . .
As to Mary, who was almost as old as was
the King, it seems that the convent did not
develop her charms, if her portrait that was left
for posterity be true. She was tall, but so thin
that her shoulders and arms looked scraggy ; then
she was dark and yellow . . . "her big dark
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eyes were wanting as yet in fire and therefore seemed hard ; her mouth was big and flat, and if not for the teeth, which were beautiful, one could say that she was homely."
Such is the portrait of that modern Helene whose destiny shone in the stars. The King accepted her as a playmate and nothing else, preferring her to the small Hortense ; he was so little impressed by her that he fell in love almost immediately after he met Mary, with a lady- in-waiting to his mother, Mile, de la Mothe d'Argencourt. This young lady was made to please by the medium of her blue eyes, fair hair, beautiful figure and graceful bearing. She was allowed to take part in the games, and the King seeing her every day became madly in love with her.
The Cardinal was alarmed at such a turn, and, although he pretended to encourage the King in his sentiment, he warned the Queen about it. The mother asked her son to follow her into the oratory and had a long conversa- tion with him. She frightened him out of his passion and showed him the danger which he ran in offending God. He owned that he felt inclined to sin. There was yet time to ward the peril, but the sacrifice seemed to him very painful. He sighed, groaned, then he confessed and took the holy communion. After this he went to
1 66
Louis XIV.
[to kace i'Age i66
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Vincennes to see the Cardinal, and in that way to finish the victory over his own heart. He returned to the Court well forearmed against dangers of love, but at the first ball the beautiful Mile. d'Argencourt came to him and asked him to dance with her. He was not prepared for such a brusque attack, and his resolution was shaken. Therefore he danced, and Mme. de Motteville noticed that " he grew very pale at first, then he became very red."
It was said also that the young beauty told her friends the next day that the King's hand trembled all the time while he held hers. She confided also in her mother all the promises the youthful King made to her, vowing that he would be faithful to her, and that nothing and nobody would this time shake his resolve.
Naturally, her mother was in the seventh heaven of happiness, for she fancied that all kinds of prosperity would rain on her family. However, she became frightened at the thought that the Cardinal might ruin everything once more, and she had a stupid notion to call on him, to confide everything to him, and thus to win him to her side.
The King, violendy smitten with passion, did not hide his love any more, which made every- body rush to Mile. d'Argencourt trying to win
her favour.
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As it seems the young girl's heart beat for somebody else before His Majesty took a fancy to her. His Eminency, to whom all means were good, gained possession of the love letters written by her, and went to see the King, who was dis- agreeably surprised to hear repeated to him all that which he said to his inamorata. Mazarin made him believe that she had told everything to her lover, and that the unfaithful girl made sport of him. It was not difficult to convince the King about this point by showing him the letters which the Cardinal had brought with him. Louis XIV. believed that he was betrayed, and when the beautiful d'Argencourt advanced towards him in the midst of a ball, smiling and beaming, he turned his head from her and did not look at her any more.
The offended amour-propre was a better weapon against his love than religion.
As to this ephemeral idol who, the same evening, came adorde and triumphant, and who went, like the Queen of Argos, alone and de- spairing, she consoled herself for the fall of her ambitious dreams with the Marquess de Richelieu. Unfortunately this consolation did not remain secret, and the affronted Marchioness complained ; poor Mile. d'Argencourt was conducted to the convent at Chaillot, the same in which the
sweet Mile, de la Valliere wept over her sins.
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
It is not probable that Mile. d'Argencourt did the same, but it is certain that she was obliged to make penitence.
A few months after the King's love affair with Mile. d'Argencourt he found diversion. There was a war in 1658, and he joined the army commanded by Turenne in Flanders. After the battle at Dunes several strong-holds were besieged in which the King took part. But in that marshy country he became so dangerously ill that they feared for his life so much that already his courtiers went over to his brother, vying with the favourites of Monsieur, who saw himself treated, in anticipation, as king.
Mazarin, naturally, was so alarmed at such a state of affairs that he ordered his rich furniture to be hidden in the cellars of Vincennes Castle. Probably he was aware that there was the question of his arrest after the King's death. Already the impatient courtiers listened at the key-hole of the sick sovereign's room, trying to find out whether he ceased to breathe.
In the midst of those scenes of egotism and
ambition there was one person who had shown
signs of sincere grief: this was Mary Mancini.
When she heard that the physicians had no hope
for the King's recovery she could not control
her despair ; she alone did not care about herself,
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about to-morrow as did everybody, her uncle being amongst the other people.
Those signs of pain and grief indicated clearly that Mary Mancini was in love with the King.
170
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CHAPTER XVIII
While Mary Mancini was in a convent she often heard praises uttered for Louis XIV.'s good looks, when he courted her sister Olympia. Of whom, then, dreamed that homely, young girl, of whom they wished to make a nun ? Was it of God, or of the King ?
If one recollects the reply given to her mother in regard to convents, one could justly surmise that the object of her dreams was that Court at which her sister shone, and of which she heard such marvellous stories.
Her ardent soul was capable of religious exaltation, but the day she left the convent and entered that intoxicating world everything was changed in her.
When the King recovered he could not help hearing of Mary Mancini's sentiments that burst out during his malady. He was not spoiled in regard to regrets and tears shed while he was in danger of life ; he lost much of his illusions concerning those whom he called his injideles. Mary's love and despair pleased him, and hence- forth he became attached to her more seriously.
That tall, thin girl, devoid of elegancy and ex-
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pression when she was in the convent, changed now very much. The air of the Court, beautiful frocks, the desire to please, the flame that was burning in her heart, all that transfigured her. Her figure acquired fulness and grace ; her eyes, both bright and sweet, admirably expressed her soul ; her features were not beautiful, and they were more expressive than noble ; but, as a whole, she was a beautiful woman.
The sad picture that Mme. de Motteville made of her when she entered dans le monde is not much like Mary's true portrait ; instead of "a large, flat mouth" one finds that it was remarkably small, and that it had fresh lips.
Is it possible that the metamorphosis went as far as that.'*
Her mind became as developed as her figure ; the worldly distractions had less influence over her than over Olympia and her cousins. When she came from Rome she was about fifteen years old, and, fortunately, her education was already begun when she entered the convent of Sisters of Saint- Mary.
This Italian girl knew by heart the poets of her native land. Later, the French novels of that epoch, full of passion and absorbing delicacy, pleased her exalted sentiments, and she was constantly reading that amorous literature. Her
mind, void of everything, was eager for in-
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struction ; her ardent soul was full of curiosity. She saw her father given to astrological con- templation, and her looks also wandered often towards the stars. On the other hand, being a niece of a powerful minister, she became fond of politics, and loved Corneille and his State maxims.
All that constituted a great contrast between Mary and her royal friend. The King dressed wonderfully well and shone in the carousals and ballets, but he did not know anything else ; his mind remained without culture, and the mistakes he often made caused the proud Mary to blush. However, soon she obtained such influence over him that she undertook that which his masters were not able to accomplish.
She pfave him some books and induced him to read them ; she taught him Italian and made him love her favourite poets. Being a Roman, she was fond of art, and she gave him first lessons on that subject as well.
Mary Mancini's conversation was brilliant and daring ; according to Mme. de la Fayette, "she was infinitely intelligent." The most grave men of the Court would stop to converse willingly with that girl, who attacked them bravely, who was not frightened to talk politics with Lyonne or Servien, morals with the Duke de la Roche- foucauld, history with Saint-Evremond, war with
^73
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
the Viscount de Turenne. She asked questions, and listened, full of ardent and naive inquisitive- ness. Often she read aloud romances and tragedies to the King, the Queen and her ladies, and her passionate, amorous voice kindled flames in the heart of her lover. On account of her love for poetry and her knowledge of the subtleties of the human mind, she deserved to be numbered amongst the pr^cieuses as indicated by this verse :
" Le roi, notre monarque illustre, Menait I'infante Mancini Des plus sages et gracieuses, Et la perle des precieuses."
In the Grand Dictionnaire historique des precieuses of Somaize, one can read of Mary Mancini, under the name of Maximilienne, the following most flattering lines : "I can say, without being suspected of flattery, that she is the wittiest person in the world, that she knows everything, that she has read all the good books, that she writes with surpassing facility, and that not being of France she knows the language as well as the most cultured people of Paris, and even those who belong to the French Academy confess that she knows perfectly well its delicacy."
However, she was the only prdcieuse who did
not coast along the river Tendre, but jumped into
it boldly.
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Incited by love, the King retrieved the time he lost. " He was," says Mile, de Montpensier, "of much better humour since he was in love with Mile, de Mancini. She advised him strongly to read romances and verses. He had a large collection of poetry and comedies."
But Mary did better than furnishing the King's mind with those light ornaments ; she was bent to make his character more manly.
The King was twenty years old, but still he was submitting to the Queen and Mazarin like a child. There was nothing in him that indicated a master ; he used to be present at the councils, but it bored him ; less solitary in his amusements than was his father, he seemed to be disposed, as he was, to leave to others the burden of State affairs.
Mary roused in Louis XIV. pride that was yet slumbering ; very often she spoke to him of glory ; she extolled to him the happiness that lies in command. Pushed either by the pride of a sweetheart, or by calculation, she wished her hero should wear the diadem worthily.
From that one can see that Mazarin's niece cared not about her uncle's interest ; they even say that she undermined his influence, and that she reported to the King all that was said of the Queen and Mazarin. It is very probable that the Cardinal, who had spies everywhere, was
175 -
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
aware how his niece formed the King's mind to the detriment of the Prime Minister. It mattered not that his illustrious pupil should be taught how to appreciate the beauty of art and literature, to become fond of romances and tragedies ; but it was quite a different matter, more serious, and incompatible with the Cardinal's most vital interests, that in the King there should be aroused the desire of ruling over his kingdom.
It would be too presumptuous to say for certain what measure the uncle proposed to adopt towards his niece. It is very probable that he had nothing decided, for being a crafty man he would not subject his action to a decided plan ; he was one of the men who was determined not to sail against the wind, but, on the contrary, to be directed in his course by circumstances.
When after Olympia's marriage he placed his young nieces near the King, it was an allure- ment that he offered to Fortune ; he simply wished to see her turn her wheel in that direction. But now, when the King's love for Mary became so serious, it was generally believed that marriage would be the natural consequence. Therefore it was a great surprise when the news burst over the courtiers that the Court was going to travel with the object of finding a suitable bride for the ardent King. There was the question of the
Princess Marguerite de Savoie.
176
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
The two Courts started the same day to meet at Lyons. The season was not propitious for this gallant expedition ; it was the end of November. However, the King made this long journey on horseback, and his daring companion Mary de Mancini rode beside him. There was a certain amount of surprise to find Mary included in that party, for it was difficult to guess what role she was going to play in Mazarin's new move.
The King showed himself more eager than ever towards her ; their conversation was never exhausted, but he did not speak to the Countess de Soissons. There was a war between the two sisters, and this long journey could not be called une partie de plaisir for Olympia ; so little so, that she became ill, or pretended to be so, and she was obliged to stop before entering Lyons.
As to the King, he was very gay, and spoke quietly of the coming event as does a man who is sure of himself.
At Dijon, where the Court stopped for a few days, the King began to manifest his independ- ence ; he had given some fetes and commanded to be served separately. Mme. de Montpensier reports in her Memoirs that " he did not sup with the Queen, and in that way he could talk with Mile, de Mancini for four or five hours. The beautiful Hortense and her sister Marie-Anne
M 177
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
aware how his niece formed the King's mind to the detriment of the Prime Minister. It mattered not that his illustrious pupil should be taught how to appreciate the beauty of art and literature, to become fond of romances and tragedies ; but it was quite a different matter, more serious, and incompatible with the Cardinal's most vital interests, that in the King there should be aroused the desire of ruling over his kingdom.
It would be too presumptuous to say for certain what measure the uncle proposed to adopt towards his niece. It is very probable that he had nothing decided, for being a crafty man he would not subject his action to a decided plan ; he was one of the men who was determined not to sail against the wind, but, on the contrary, to be directed in his course by circumstances.
When after Olympia's marriage he placed his young nieces near the King, it was an allure- ment that he offered to Fortune ; he simply wished to see her turn her wheel in that direction. But now, when the King's love for Mary became so serious, it was generally believed that marriage would be the natural consequence. Therefore it was a great surprise when the news burst over the courtiers that the Court was going to travel with the object of finding a suitable bride for the ardent King. There was the question of the
Princess Marguerite de Savoie.
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The two Courts started the same day to meet at Lyons. The season was not propitious for this gallant expedition ; it was the end of November. However, the King made this long journey on horseback, and his daring companion Mary de Mancini rode beside him. There was a certain amount of surprise to find Mary included in that party, for it was difficult to guess what role she was going to play in Mazarin's new move.
The King showed himself more eager than ever towards her ; their conversation was never exhausted, but he did not speak to the Countess de Soissons. There was a war between the two sisters, and this long journey could not be called une partie de plaisir for Olympia ; so little so, that she became ill, or pretended to be so, and she was obliged to stop before entering Lyons.
As to the King, he was very gay, and spoke quietly of the coming event as does a man who is sure of himself
At Dijon, where the Court stopped for a few days, the King began to manifest his independ- ence ; he had given some fetes and commanded to be served separately. Mme. de Montpensier reports in her Memoirs that "he did not sup with the Queen, and in that way he could talk with Mile, de Mancini for four or five hours. The
beautiful Hortense and her sister Marie-Anne M 177
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
entertained the guests at cards during those conversations."
The Court reached Lyons on November the 28th ; the Princesses de Savoie arrived a few days later.
Although the King was very much captivated by Mary Mancini, he was desirous to see the Princess destined to him by politics. He rode to meet her, while the Queen was very uneasy as to the first impression made by the Princess on her son during their meeting. He returned galloping, his face was radiant ; he came near the Queen's carriage.
"Well, my son?" she said immediately. " She is smaller than Mme. la Marechale de Villeroy, but she has the most beautiful figure in the world ; her complexion is olive, but it is becoming to her ; she has beautiful eyes ; she pleases me."
The Princess, who produced this impression on Louis XIV., was a daughter of Victor Am^d^e I., twelfth Duke of Savoie, and of Christina of France, daughter of Henry IV. The mother of the Princess, Mme. Royale — such was her title — was very desirous to make her daughter Marguerite the Queen of France, and that was the reason for which she braved the grievous hazards of such a proceeding, for there was
neither promise nor engagement ; all depended
178
Christina of France The Duchess de Savoie
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on the King's impression, or, speaking more precisely, on the Cardinal, who had certain reasons which prevented him from making any definite promise.
The Duchess Christina de Savoie went to the meeting on this doubtful chance, which meant loss of dignity to the house of Savoie. Charles- Emmanuel II., the youthful Duke of Savoie, understood the delicacy of his position, and he proposed to come a little later in case everything turned out satisfactorily.
In the meanwhile Mme. Royale made a splendid entree ; her sedan chair was preceded by twelve pages clad in black, her guards wore also black uniforms embroidered with gold and silver, with numerous mules richly caparisoned, and many carriages with six horses.
The Duchess de Savoie, who wished much to succeed in her enterprise, did not spare herself in her efforts. She began by big compliments addressed to the Queen, kissing her hands in a rapture of admiration. It was certainly an excellent means to captivate the old coquette of sixty years of age.
Christina was not as reserved as was her
brother Louis XIII.: she was effusive and
demonstrative; so much so, that "her mouth
never shut," as Mademoiselle informs us in her
Memoirs. Although she was intelligent and spoke
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well, she spoke so much that Anne of Austria called her " the greatest comedienne of the world." The Princess Marguerite, whom the King found agreeable at first, happy of her success, began to talk with her supposed bridegroom in a most familiar manner. Louis was pleased with her wit and entertained iier by telling her what pleasure she should expect in France.
It is said that the King had some doubt as to the personal charms of the Princess. In order to turn that doubt into a certainty, he had re- course to a bold stratagem : he entered suddenly her chamber the next morning, in order to surprise her en d^shabilU : having been told she was hunchbacked. History does not say what he saw during that indiscreet visit, but the fact is that the King changed entirely his attitude towards poor Princess Marguerite de Savoie : "He became as cold towards her as he was eager when she arrived, which quite stunned Madame de Savoie."
It is impossible to find who suggested to the King that merciless step, but one could logically suppose that it was the work of Mary Mancini, for Mademoiselle wrote that she said to her royal admirer: "Are you not ashamed that they wish you to marry such a woman ? "
It would be only just to rehabilitate the
reputation of this poor Princess, on whom we
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are not obliged to look through Mary Mancini's eyes. The best means for doing so is to listen to what Mademoiselle, who was not indulgent towards women, said of her.
Well, according to Mademoiselle, the Princess Marguerite de Savoie had quite a pretty figure, big and agreeable eyes, her nose was big, her mouth not pretty at all, and her complexion olive ; " with all that she did not displease. She is very sweet, although her mien is a little haughty, and she is infinitely witty."
The King took to his old habits and his long aparth with Mary Mancini. He occupied the mansion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer of France in Bellecour Square ; the Cardinal and his niece were living opposite, on the other side of the square. His Majesty, coming out in the evening from the Queen, used to escort Signora Mancini. " At the beginning he followed the carriage, then he served as coachman, finally he entered the vehicle."
On other occasions he would go round the square with her when it was moonlight. During the reviews of the troops, theatrical performances and walks, Mary was always at his side. As for the poor Olympia she was almost continually sick and almost abandoned during that journey.
However, the Duke of Savoie having received good news concerning the first impression on
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the King, decided to go to Lyons, where he came convinced that he should find the negotia- tions in a fairly advanced stage ; but at the moment he entered the town, there came also a mysterious messenger sent by the Court of Spain — he was Don Antonio Pimentel, and he came to offer to Louis XIV. the hand of the Infanta.
It was the dream of Anne of Austria to put an end to the war between the two countries through the means of a marriage between her son and her niece, Marie-Therese. Her joy was so great on that account that she cared not about the affront inflicted on the house of Savoie.
When this news was divulged, the Duke mounted his steed very early in the morning and galloped in the direction of his State, in order to save, as much as was possible under the circumstances, his dignity.
Mademoiselle assures that he was heard to utter the following words, while riding away :
"Farewell, France! I leave thee without a regret and for ever."
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CHAPTER XIX
As to the Duchess de Savoie, she did not give up her hopes so easily ; she had made that venture- some journey against the will of the Duke, her son, against the advice of her council, and she wished to have a talk with Mazarin on the subject.
The Cardinal denied not that he had a conference with the Spanish envoys, and the poor lady became so angry that she struck her head against the wall. Mazarin, however, succeeded in pacifying her by giving her a promise in writing, to re-open the negotiation with her concerning the marriage of her daughter, in case the King would not marry the Infanta.
It was said that the Duchess's anger could not resist a pair of ear-rings, presented to her by Mazarin, which she hastened to wear the same evening, and she recovered her good humour.
A misfortune suffered with such dignity did not seem to touch the Queen, who laughed at Madame de Savoie, calling her a comedienne, madwoman, and said when she saw her going
away that "she was pleased to get rid of such
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people." It was rather sans-fafon behaviour between sisters-in-law and crowned heads.
The Princess Marguerite, contrary to her mother, kept an admirable reserve and equanimity in those difficult moments. Her sweet and proud soul was able to control the emotions she felt.
While the Cardinal was negotiating, the King amused Mary Mancini, giving in her honour fites and fancy-dress balls. They remained at Lyons until the middle of January. Finally, the Court started for Paris, and notwithstanding the cold of the winter, Louis and his intrepid com- panion travelled on horseback, undoubtedly to have more freedom for conversation.
The King seemed to multiply his love and earnestness towards his sweetheart ; every day there was a n^^ fete for her.
One finds in Mary's Memoirs many a charming gallant proceeding of her royal lover.
"One day," says she, "it was, I remember well, at Bois-le-Vicomte, in an avenue of trees, where, as I walked very rapidly. His Majesty wished to offer me his arm, it happened that I hurt slightly my hand against the hilt of his sword ; and he, charmingly angry, drew the sword from the scabbard and threw it away."
Mary breathed freely since the conference concerning the King's marriage was broken ; but
when Don Antonio Pimentel came to Paris, she
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again became alarmed. Her uneasiness increased when Don Juan of Austria appeared as a mes- senger of peace and hymen. He was an original and haughty man, whose manners shocked Mary much ; consequently she spared few efforts to dispose the King ill towards the Spaniard. He was impudent enough to bring with him and introduce at the Court a certain woman, whom they called his Folic. This madwoman was clever and the King liked her. But as Capiton — such was the name of the woman — was talking con- stantly about the Infanta, Mary Mancini could not bear her, and she avenged herself by sarcasms directed against Capiton.
However, the great affair of peace and mar- riage was progressing, and there was the question of Mazarin's going to the frontier, where he should meet the Spanish ministers and work together at the famous treaty. It was then that the King had a serious talk with the Cardinal, and told him his intention was to marry his niece. Mazarin refused to grant his consent.
Let us see whether it would be possible to fathom his thoughts aroused under those circum- stances. Had Mazarin really thought of that marriage ?
It seems probable that the Cardinal thought of marrying Olympia to the King, and perchance
he had the same designs concerning Mary, but
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one could surmise also that he had changed his mind on this point. Olympia was the woman according to his heart's desire ; he believed that he would be able to keep her under his control, and through her the King. She knew His Eminency's foibles ; she listened attentively to everything and reported to her uncle ; then she was vain and ambitious.
It was quite a different matter with Mary, that ardent and proud girl, who despised her uncle, because often she saw him bend his head and flatter those who insulted him.
Then the influence she had over the King- was too great, and such a man as was Mazarin could not agree with it. She urged the King to become free, to take the affairs of the State into his own hands, and naturally, Mazarin had asked himself what benefit he would get if his niece became the Queen of France. " She was stupid enough," said the Abb^ de Cosny, "to laugh at her uncle from morning till evening." She thought that she was strong enough, sure enough of her lover, to defeat her uncle, but she was mistaken.
Had she been perspicacious enough to win her uncle to her side, everything leads one to believe that he had succeeded to do that for Mary which his ambition prompted him to do for Olympia. He was not very far from the throne now that he was allied to the princes of the blood
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and sovereigns. It is true that Anne of Austria would have given her consent to such an alliance, but with much reluctance ; it was her habit to give in to Mazarin in everything, and to prompt the interests of the man for whom she had risked everything,
Mme. de Motteville, whose opinion most of the historians copy, and who was no friend of Mazarin, said that he coveted the alliance with the King of France, but that he was prevented from carry- ing out his ambitious notion by the proud resist- ance of Anne of Austria. According to her the Queen said to Mazarin : " Monsieur le Cardinal, I believe not that the King would be capable of committing such a cowardly deed, but should it be possible that he had thought of doing so, I warn you that the whole of France would rise in rebellion against you and him, and that I would place myself at the head of the rebels, and that I would induce my second son to do the same."
It is not probable that Mme. de Motteville had heard those proud words, and that they were only a kind of Court legend spread and accredited by those who envied Mazarin, and which legend the cam^riste believed for the glory of her mis- tress. That this haughty speech could not be attributed to the Queen proves this, that, habitually, Anne of Austria did not speak in that manner to
the Cardinal. It is possible, after all, that in a
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moment of proud humour Her Majesty boasted that she pronounced this magnificent tirade, at which, however, Mazarin would not have been alarmed, for he knew what means to adopt against the woman who was very much in love with him, in order to quell the outburst of Spanish pride.
Thanks to the change that was made in Mazarin 's mind in regard to his niece Mary, the Cardinal pressed the negotiations with the Spanish Court on to the marriage and peace. Ready to go to the Pyrenees for the purpose of conferring with the Spanish Prime Minister, he determined to put in order his family affairs. He did not think that it would be wise to leave behind him his niece Mary, who was working for a different end than was his purpose. Consequently he resolved to send her, together with her two younger sisters, to the Stronghold of Brouage, and in that way to break her connection with the King.
Nothing could change his resolution ; this time he spoke like a master should do ; he was not shaken by supplications. "They said," writes Mademoiselle, "that the King knelt before the Queen and the Cardinal, and besought them to let him marry Mile, de Mancini." Seeing such a desperate passion the Queen seemed for a moment to be willing to postpone the separation.
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but Mazarin was inflexible. If the King had promised to his inamorata that he would marry her notwithstanding all the obstacles, then he did not know how firm Mazarin could be.
Mary, while going away, said to him those charmingly proud words :
"You love me, you are the King, and I must go ! "
Vain effort! Louis XIV. answered only by tears. And this passionate sweetheart, moved by the violence of her despair, cried :
" Ah ! I am abandoned ! "
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CHAPTER XX
When his nieces left Paris for Brouage, Mazarin went towards the frontier where the conferences were going to be held ; once there, although very absorbed by the affairs of great consequence, he did not neglect to watch the inhabitants of the Louvre. He learned soon, through the spies in his pay, that the two amorous young people were in active correspondence. Although he expected this, he was very angry, for it meant for him an increase of difficulties, which, however, he faced, by writing letters, one followed by another, to the King, Queen, his niece, her gouvernante. Some fragments of this voluminous correspondence would be interesting.
Mazarin left Paris at the end of June ; fifteen days after he wrote to the King :
"... They say, and this is corroborated by the letters I received from the Court, that you are continually writing to the person whom you love, and that you lose more time for this corre- spondence than you used to for conversation with her when she was at the Court. They add, that this is done with my knowledge, and that I am in understanding with you in order to satisfy my
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ambition and prevent peace. . . . God has established the kings that they may watch over the welfare and security of their subjects, and not sacrifice those goods to their particular passions ; and when there were some un- fortunate sovereigns to deserve, through their conduct, that the Divine Providence should abandon them, the history is full of revolutions and miseries which they brought over their persons and their States."
This firmness and haughtiness, towards the King, surprises one. Even Richelieu could not speak more haughtily to a recalcitrant pupil. All the following letters are written in the same diapason.
Towards the end of July, one month after the departure of the Cardinal and his nieces, the King and the Court went to Bordeaux, in order to be near the spot where the conferences were held. The King, always in love, supplicated his mother to consent that he might see his exiled sweetheart who was languishing at Brouage. She gave in to the King's prayer, while the Cardinal wrote in regard to her soft-heartedness :
" I see by your letters and by those of the
King that the tenderness you have for him did
not allow you to be firm, and that you allowed
yourself to be won over. ... As for me, I
change not my opinion. ... I complain to the
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King in regard to his request made to my niece, and that is all I am writing to him."
It was at Saint-Jean-d'Angely, where Mary and her sisters went, that the two lovers met again. The King repeated his oath to remain faithful at least in his love. This interview inflamed them still more, and when the Court was at Bordeaux, they wrote to each other more frequently than ever. It was necessary for Mazarin, in the midst of his great cares of State, to continue his vigilance and scolding.
One of his letters addressed to the King con- tained ten pages ; it is full of vehemence and energy, and throws light on the situation. There is shown uneasiness, and anger bursts in these words : "I would tear my niece into pieces in order to ease myself." Mazarin was frightened — he could not doubt the triumph of his niece — for himself and for the State. The King spoke to him on several occasions and in the presence of the Queen about marrying his niece ; but there is nothing to indicate that the Queen-Mother was indignant at his design.
On the contrary, in the Cardinal's letters there is the question about Anne of Austria's feebleness and indulgence for the two lovers. Therefore the lofty part which some courtiers wished her to play is denied by trustworthy documents.
As to the Cardinal, the contemporary writers
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were at fault in regard to the true explanation of his conduct ; they were not accustomed to see him display proud sentiments ; they could not understand such magnanimous disin- terestedness.
"It was a great problem," says the Abbe de Choisy, "between politicians, to know if the Cardinal acted in good faith, and if he did not try to stop the torrent in order to increase its violence. I have heard the old Marshal de Villeroy and the late M. le Premier discuss the question. They advanced an infinite number of reasons for and against, and generally concluded in favour of the Cardinal's sincerity."
When it became the fashion to canonise f-'^, Mazarin, the historians failed not to look on his opposition to the King's marriage with his niece as a lofty act of pure disinterestedness. This is not exact, and a little study of the great states- man's character, and of his conduct, would suffice to find the truth.
The sincerity of which the Abbe de Choisy speaks, the historical truth in regard to Mazarin 's attitude towards the King's love for his niece is this : the Cardinal's heart's desire was to seat one of his nieces, either Olympia, or Hortense, on the throne of France, of course, should Louis XIV. be fond enough of either of those girls to
make one of them his queen. There could be
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no doubt about it that Mazarin, who was successful almost in everything he enter- prised, would have been successful in this as well.
However, he, who had done so much to foster the interests of his family, would do nothing to help his niece Mary to become the Queen of France, for she was his rival in every sense, as testifies his letter addressed to the King, and in which he said :
" You believe that the bad opinion I have of her is due to my being prejudiced against her through malicious people. Is it possible that you should believe that I am so clever and per- spicacious in the great affairs, but that I see nothing in those pertaining to my family, and that I can doubt the intentions of that person towards me, if one takes into consideration that she forgets nothing but to do contrary to that which I wish, that she ridicules my advice which I give to her . . . that she wishes to be mistress and change all the orders given by me ? She is more assured than ever to be able to direct entirely your sentiments after the new promises you made to her at Saint-Jean-d'Angely ; and I know that if you were obliged to marry, she claims to be able to make miserable for ever the princess whom you would marry."
Mazarin was not the only one of his family to
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fear that Mary would dwarf all his ambitious efforts. The Abbe de Choisy says that " Olympia and the other nieces were much afraid of the con- sequences of this marriage for the interest of their house. I have heard," says he, "the Countess de Soissons say that the Cardinal's nieces saw his near downfall, and they distrusted the King's love, who abandoned them suddenly, and caused them misery. It seemed to them that he was very much in love, but this did not make them restful. . . ."
It was the Cardinal's own interest that made him so pressing, arbitrary and eloquent. Before all he wished to be successful in his political designs ; he considered it his glory to give peace to the State, and Mazarin loved dearly the State by confounding it with himself; he was such an absolute master of the whole of France that it might have happened to him to be saying to himself, at least in a very low voice, as several years later Louis XIV. said loudly :
" L' Etat cest iiioi t "
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CHAPTER XXI
Mazarin considered that the affair of the King's love for his niece was the most delicate in his life, and wrote to Colbert :
" I am not able to tell you all that I think about that which Terron put into my niece's head, flattering her so much and considering her to be the principal instrument for his rise. . . . This affair is perchance the most delicate that I had in my life, and which caused me the greatest amount of uneasiness."
The Cardinal played so cunningly his part that he succeeded in putting the beautiful appear- ance on his side and making himself admired by the contemporary writers and posterior historians. He was able to overcome so many difficulties : he stopped the epistolary intercourse between the King and Mary Mancini, making this imperious girl almost submissive, with whom he seemed to be fully satisfied as one can judge by a letter, addressed to Mme. de Venelle from Saint-Jean-de-Luz :
"It is my greatest joy to have such a niece,
for she came by herself to this generous resolution,
so conformable with her honour and causing me
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satisfaction, because she has written to the King as you advise me. I am sure that His Majesty will respect her still more, and if France knew her conduct, she would wish her all kinds of happiness. . . .
" As she is fond of morale, tell her from me that she should read those books in which it is treated, especially Seneca ; there she will find consolation and confirmation of the joy caused by the resolution she has made."
The eloquent Bishop Fenelon would have advised the reading of the " Imitation of Jesus Christ " or the Fathers of the Church, but Mazarin was not familiar with those books ; he was more fond of preaching from profane texts ; he was a man to recommend a chapter from Seneca, treating " Of the contempt for riches ! "
Mary Mancini and her sisters came back to the Court only when the King was married ; they remained at Brouage more than one year ; consequently the poor girl, abandoned by her royal lover, had time to fortify herself by reading- Seneca, and other philosophers recommended to her by her hard-hearted uncle.
It is difficult to say what was her resolution
in regard to her conduct towards the King, and
whether she intended to rule over his heart,
notwithstanding that she could not dream to be
his Queen. However, one could suppose that
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she did not intend to be the King's mistress, for
had she wished to be so, she had probably
succeeded. She was profoundly wounded, and
that proud soul turned away from the man who
did not keep his most solemn oaths. Then it
was said that Louis XIV. was very fond of the
young queen, and Mary's pride prompted her to
disdain a heart which was not capable of stability
of sentiment.
But the sight of the King opened constantly
her old wound, and Mary's passionate soul was
exposed to violent fights within. She begged
her sister Hortense to tell her all the evil she
could think or find about her unfaithful lover, to
show her all his faults, as she said herself in her
Memoirs. Her only wish now was a new love, a
marriage, as a heroic remedy for her sufferings.
Her love adventure with the King, instead of
driving away the suitors, turned into an allurement.
Amongst those who solicited for her hand was
the Prince Charles de Lorraine. He was heir
to the ducal coronet, which, although it had lost
its most beautiful gems, had still enough splendour
for Mazarin's niece.
The Prince Charles de Lorraine was the
handsomest man at the Court of France. Mile.
de Montpensier, although granting him certain
qualities, paints his portrait thus : "He was
often so badly dressed that most of the people
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laughed at him. He was well made, and had a beautiful face ; his beauty was inanimate. He was always awkward and was lacking of elegancy in everything he did."
As Mile, de Montpensier was capricious and vain, she qualified the Prince's indifference towards herself as awkwardness. She took pains to g\wQ fetes for him, and she wished much he should marry her.
Mary Mancini had seen Charles de Lorraine, and she looked favourably on his courtship, be it that her love was prompted by vexation, or by her heart which was still burning for another.
The Prince Charles de Lorraine had an uncle, Charles IV., Duke of Lorraine, one of the greatest characters of those times, in which originality was not a sin as it is in our monotonous and colourless epoch. This Duke de Lorraine had a fancy one day to annul his nuptial tie by his own authority, and, defying the Pope's thunderbolts, had contracted another marriage with a virago, who rode everywhere with him ; she was called his campaign wife. Charles IV. was always on horseback and led the life of a condottiere. Pressed by Richelieu's policy and the French army, he left Lorraine, after having lost and reconquered it several times. At the head of some thousands of men
he went making war one time for one party, then
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for another, selling himself to France, Spain, according to circumstances, and rarely failing to betray his allies.
Segrais says that his eyes were like those of a cat, of which animal he had all the ruses. The bands he commanded lived on pillaging ; he allowed them to commit the most horrible atrocities, and he was pleased to tell the ladies of the Court most frightful stories. It is impossible to imagine the cynicism of his con- versation : his discourses were very coarse, but, notwithstanding that, this kind of devil was feasted and listened to. His incredible bon mots were repeated in whispers. All the suitability of beautiful language, which was exaggerated by the pr^cieuses, was suddenly replaced by jocose grossness. The charming people, being blase over subtleties, accepted vulgar language because it was something new.
But the most surprising contrast was that this villain of sixty was impudent enough to ask Mazarin for Mary's hand.
In this way the Cardinal had to choose
between a nephew and an uncle, and the two
rivals exerted themselves in gallantries for His
Eminency's niece ; the uncle and his nephew
could be seen accompanying her everywhere, at
the Louvre, theatre, and during her promenades.
At the beginning, Mazarin received well their 200
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assiduities, then, one day, he shut his door to them. According to Mile, de Montpensier, " the Cardinal thanked them and told them that he had taken other measures for his niece."
These measures consisted in removino- her from
o
France, and he had just finished his arrangement in this regard when his death took place.
That niece of his, whom he disliked, and counteracted all her wishes, did not cry much after him. She left the Louvre and went to live with her sister Hortense, who became the Duchess de Mazarin. The King's visits to the Mazarin Palace became very frequent, and every- body was surmising whether the old flame was rekindled, or whether it was now the beautiful Hortense's turn. Olympia, abandoned for some time, had been again taken into the King's favour, Mary became reconciled with her sister and every evening found a Court gathered at the Soissons Palace, to which the King's presence attracted everybody of the greatest consequence. The two Queens came rarely, but the amiable Henriette, who was brought up in France, and who used to play with Olympia and Mary, was very often there.
This splendid and spacious Palace was the rendezvous of the favourites of both sexes, of all those who either wished to get, or to keep in the Royal favour. There the brilliant Marquess
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^
de Vardes could be seen almost evry evening ; he was the mainspring of all the iniiguings and the soul of all the pleasures.
Another favourite was the Pri'^'^^''^ Marsillac, the son of that Duke de la Ro( Ad, who
sinned so much during the FroncU ad was now granted absolution from all the wrens committed against the King.
The Prince de Marsillac was notut according to Vardes' pattern. As it seems 1 ' ' r put into his Maximes all that was the bt. ... ....ii. and
preserved nothing for his son ; howcer. all kinds of favours were granted him ju the same. " He was of medium size." says -iaint-Simon, "thin, with a big nose; his mie was silly; although rude, he was embarrased in his manners, and had hair like hemp.'
If Marsillac was not the greates ornament of that brilliant gathering he was a ran of great importance, for he was a silent cofidant, who followed the King when, his nose overed with his cloak, he went to some rendezvot d' amour.
Nobody was more assiduous atchc Soissons Palace than the Duke and the Duchess de Montausier. They claimed to e the most virtuous people of the whole Cart, but this austerity, of which the Montasiers made profession for the world, did not re vent them from being the most ambitious to lease and to
Lonst fli '
PW
H .•yf
feBgrogggg^
Sevei Richest Heiresses of France
succeed. The Duchess was that famous Julie of whoi the poets of the Rambouillet Palace sang somuch, and who held the school of the beautifu sentiments.
Satified to be good, she did not pretend to be as vi:uous as to quarrel with Fortune. Julie — who ould foresee this — was a competitor of Marsilk in the discreet art of complacency.
The nephew of that strange sovereign of Lorrain. the beau Charles de Lorraine, was a frequen visitor at the Soissons Palace, where he used toneet Mary Mancini, and still cherished the not)n of becoming her husband, especially after Mzarin's death.
Mm. de la Fayette says in her Histoire de Madair Henriette : " The King had probably returne to Mile, de Mancini had he not been convincd that the Duke Charles knew how to make a impression on her heart."
Yes Louis XIV. remained always the same
•A.- .-■ ■.
proud .overeign, who could not bear any rivalry.
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
de Vardes could be seen almost every evening ; he was the mainspring of all the intriguings and the soul of all the pleasures.
Another favourite was the Prince de Marsillac, the son of that Duke de la Rochefoucauld, who sinned so much during the Fronde and was now granted absolution from all the wrongs committed against the King.
The Prince de Marsillac was not cut according to Vardes' pattern. As it seems his father put into his Maximes all that was the best in him, and preserved nothing for his son ; however, all kinds of favours were granted him just the same. " He was of medium size," says Saint-Simon, " thin, with a big nose ; his mien was silly ; although rude, he was embarrassed in his manners, and had hair like hemp."
If Marsillac was not the greatest ornament of that brilliant gathering he was a man of great importance, for he was a silent confidant, who followed the King when, his nose covered with his cloak, he went to some rendezvous d' amour.
Nobody was more assiduous at the Soissons
Palace than the Duke and the Duchess de
Montausier. They claimed to be the most
virtuous people of the whole Court, but this
austerity, of which the Montausiers made
profession for the world, did not prevent them
from being the most ambitious to please and to
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succeed. The Duchess was that famous Julie of whom the poets of the Rambouillet Palace sang so much, and who held the school of the beautiful sentiments.
Satisfied to be good, she did not pretend to be as virtuous as to quarrel with Fortune. Julie — who could foresee this — was a competitor of Marsillac in the discreet art of complacency.
The nephew of that strange sovereign of Lorraine, the beau Charles de Lorraine, was a frequent visitor at the Soissons Palace, where he used to meet Mary Mancini, and still cherished the notion of becoming her husband, especially after Mazarin's death.
Mme. de la Fayette says in her Histoire de Madame Henriette: "The King had probably returned to Mile, de Mancini had he not been convinced that the Duke Charles knew how to make an impression on her heart."
Yes, Louis XIV. remained always the same proud sovereign, who could not bear any rivalry.
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CHAPTER XXII
A LITTLE before his death the Cardinal had arranged a marriage between the Roman Prince Colonna and Mary Mancini.
When Mary learned about his plan she was in despair, and she besought the King to permit her to remain in France, but the King did not allow himself to be persuaded, and desired that the Cardinal's will should be respected. It was then necessary for her to become resigned to the notion of departure.
At the beginning this ardent and proud soul concealed her grief, but when she took leave and started, her tears were flowing during the whole of the journey. One could have taken her for a person going to be executed.
When she arrived at Milan the Constable Colonna and his parents met her there, and the wedding ceremony was celebrated, followed by great feasts ; then they went to reside at Rome.
We do not know much about her life at
Rome, where she spent several quiet years. She
saw again there her Aunt Martinozzi and the
Cardinal Mancini, her uncle.
The Prince Colonna was for her an indulgent 204
Mary Mancim The Princess Colonna
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t
CHAPTER XXII
A LITTLE before his death the Cardinal had arranged a marriage between the Roman Prince Colonna and Mary Mancini.
When Mary learned about his plan she was in despair, and she besought the King to permit her to remain in France, but the King did not allow himself to be persuaded, and desired that the Cardinal's will should be respected. It was then necessary for her to become resigned to the notion of departure.
At the beginning this ardent and proud soul concealed her grief, but when she took leave and started, her tears were flowing during the whole of the journey. One could have taken her for a person going to be executed.
When she arrived at Milan the Constable Colonna and his parents met her there, and the wedding ceremony was celebrated, followed by great feasts ; then they went to reside at Rome.
We do not know much about her life at
Rome, where she spent several quiet years. She
saw again there her Aunt Martinozzi and the
Cardinal Mancini, her uncle.
The Prince Colonna was for her an indulgent 204
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and easy husband, and very much in love with Madame la Conetable.
The Duchess de Mazarin's Memoirs initiate us into the most intimate secrets of that matri- mony. "The Constable," wrote the Duchess, "who did not believe that there could be inno- cence in the King's amours, was so pleased to find the contrary in the person of my sister that he counted as nothing not having been the first master of her heart. He has lost the bad opinion he had, like all Italians, concerning the freedom the women in France enjoy, and he wished she should have the same freedom in Rome, as she knew how to employ it well."
The lives the Colonnas were leading at Rome should have pleased a romantic and bold imagina- tion. They had large estates and spent some part of the year at Frascati, or hunted in the Abruzzi in a manner worthy of fabulous times ; they chased for a fortnight without leaving the woods, and, according to Mary's Memoirs, killed sixty wild boars. Those grand struggles in the poetical forest of the Latium charmed this intrepid Roman lady, who had already shown her courage in the woods of Versailles and Fontainebleau. They spent the time of the Carnival at Venice with the Duke de Nevers.
At Rome Marie delighted in the arts and all
kind of studies, without neglecting astrology, even
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chiromancy, for which she had hereditary Hking. In a few years she gave to the Prince several sons, and, as it seemed, nothing was lacking to their happiness. But the last delivery was so dreadful that in order to avoid further perils she refused her consort his conjugal rights ; the Prince Colonna was obliged to submit to it, but it was at the expense of their tranquillity. The Prince submitted unwillingly to this new regime ; under the sway of the inflexible law of nature he became less and less amiable, then he turned jealous.
One day during the Carnival the Prince Colonna and his consort promenaded in the Corso, when a masqued man jumped into their carriage and kissed the Princess. The Prince was ready to use his dagger to punish this insolence, when the man took his mask off; it was the Duke de Nevers, the Princess Colonna's brother. He came from Paris and surprised his brother-in-law on his arrival.
The Duke de Nevers called his sister la sage
Marie. The fact was that the Princess, being a
little older than her brother, watched over his
conduct, but her authority was not efficacious as
one can see by the following letter addressed to
Colbert, who preserved a kind of guardianship
over the family of his late master. " The respect,
sir, I have for you, causes me to appreciate
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everything that comes from you, and I assure you that I have received your letter with so much greater joy because it shows me that you always preserve kindness for our family.
"As to my brother, who arrived here yester- day and returns to Venice in a few days, I beg of you to be convinced, sir, that I have not enough influence over his mind to be able to turn him away from designs for which, as you know, so many people employ their time uselessly ; more- over, he did not tell me anything concerning his future plans. I doubt not that he will open his eyes and that finally he will learn that which is to his disadvantage. You must not doubt that I do my utmost to make him do so.
" Monsieur du Mas has shown me a letter in which you wrote to him the sentiments you preserve for me, and I only wish for an oppor- tunity which would allow me to show the grati- tude of la Conetable Colonna."
A love epistle written by Mary to Louis XIV. would better answer our purpose, but as such a letter is not available — for nothing of that volumi- nous correspondence between her and the King- was preserved for posterity — we must be satisfied with a letter showing her wisdom, instead of passion, which was her other characteristic.
As it seems the Prince Colonna gave his
consort serious motives for jealousy. "There
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was at Venice," writes Mary, "a Marchioness, who came to Hve with us, and whose beauty- attracted the eyes of everybody. ... I was constantly troubled by stories that I heard every day concerning the Constable's amours."
There is also the question of a Princess Ghigi, whom he courted, as he claimed, for an honour- able reason : this dame, pushed by hatred, slandered Mary outrageously, and it was in the interest of his wife that the Constable flirted with her. The Princess Colonna was subjected to all kinds of nasty tricks that the rival played on her ; for instance, she caused a rope ladder to be attached during the night to her balcony for the purpose of making her conduct look suspicious.
Those diabolical manoeuvres ended by intro- ducing discord into the Colonna Palace, so much so that the Prince would open his mouth only to address to his consort some indifferent or cold words.
They were already much troubled when an illustrious personage, exiled from the Court of France, arrived at Rome ; he was the Chevalier de Lorraine.
This Adonis was a great favourite of Monsieur,
over whom he ruled absolutely. A kind of
rivalry existed between him and Madame ;
supplanted in her home by this Chevalier de
Lorraine, Madame Henriette burst into com-
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plaints and, notwithstanding Monsieur's despair and tears, succeeded with the King, who banished the Chevalier from the Court. The exile came to Rome, where he visited the Princess Colonna, whom he knew well formerly.
A man, who came from France, who could talk to her about the Court, refresh her memory about so many people and things, was heartily welcomed by Mary. She enjoyed very much the Chevalier de Lorraine's society, and probably thought not that her intercourse with him could be compromising.
In that imaginary security she enjoyed herself in his company, together with the Duke de Nevers and her sister Hortense ; every day there were promenades, cavalcades, collations, hunting parties. They also were very fond of bathing in the Tiber, which was told by the Princess thus :
" To other pleasures we wished to join that of bathing, and for this purpose we went, my brother, sister and myself, to Tiberon, a danger- ous spot because of the rapidity of the water. Wishing to jump, as they did, over a rope which was attached to some pontoon placed there that we miofht be seated, the violence of the water carried me with such an impetuosity that I was going to drown infallibly, if not for the help of
a Turkish servant who was more robust than big, o 209
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and who helped my brother, and drew me out of danger.
" We searched for a place less dangerous in the Tiber, near which river I had constructed a cabin in which we could undress, and where there was a gallery overlooking the bath. The whole was formed of canes, leaves, reeds, and with such art that everybody admired it."
Here the Prince Colonna took an exception, and notwithstanding that the Princess declared that those amusements with the Chevalier were innocent, he seemed not to believe it.
According to her Memoirs, Colonna re- proached his wife that she showed herself un- dressed to the Chevalier, but she said that her maids could testify that she never left the cabin, for plunging into the Tiber, without being clad in a robe de gaze that descended to her ankles. Nothing more decent could be imagined !
It was said also that the Chevalier, seeing the Princess coming out from the water in that diaphanous costume, begged her to permit him to paint her portrait, but one is not obliged to believe all that the scandal-mongers of Rome said on this subject.
Pasquin made of this gross pleasantries which set against her the Prince still more. He became so gloomy that the Duke de Nevers said to his sister that one day when she would think it least
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likely she would find herself locked in the Palliano, a stronor casde which belong-ed to Colonna, situated on the confines of the Roman State.
This disgusted her finally of living in Rome. The Duchess de Mazarin, whose family life was very much like that of the Colonnas, came from France to seek a refuge with her sister.
This example decided Mary also to run away, and she took advantage of her consort's absence to go with Hortense to Civita-Vecchia. They arrived there notwithstanding strange accidents and adventures ; then the fugitives took a felucca and landed at Provence. The Prince Colonna's galleys, sent after them, did not reach them, and the Turkish pirates failed to capture them, which peril frightened them less than the other, for it would have been for them a new adventure.
The arrival of the Princess Colonna and her sister at Provence was the cause of much talk ; this could be judged by Mme. de Sevignd's description ; her daughter, Mme. de Grignan, was there ; she wrote to her about the adventure, and she answered :
" In the midst of sorrows the description you sent me of Mme. de Colonna and her sister is a divine thing ; it is an admirable painting. The Countess de Soissons and Mme. de Bouillon are
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furious against those madwomen, and say that they should be locked up ; they are much against this folly. They do not believe that the King would make M. le Conetable angry, who, assuredly, is one of the greatest lords of Rome."
CHAPTER XXIII
The two sisters were arrested at Aix, dressed like men. Their flight was interpreted in different ways ; some people said that one of them ran after the Chevalier de Lorraine, and the other after his brother, the Count de Marsan. But all that is pure gossip.
Released soon by the King's order, they parted ; Hortense, caring not to fall again under the yoke of Mazarin, crossed the frontier, and the Princess Colonna went to Paris, where she could have hardly expected to be well received.
"The King," says Mme. de Scudery in one of her letters, "who was in love with Mme. Colonna, was very angry on account of this adventure, and because of it he could not see her. She withdrew to the Abbey of Lys, where she remained several months, writing to the King and Colbert supplicating letters to be allowed to remain in France."
The Constable Colonna, on his part, demanded urgently that his wife should be sent to him. Was it love, indulgence, or something else ? As it seems she was afraid that her husband might
seek revenge in the Italian fashion.
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The Princess Colonna was visited in her convent by her sister Olympia, who, being naturally generous, sent her a magnificent bed with costly draperies. Her brothers-in-law, the Count de Soissons and the Duke de Bouillon, visited her as well. But it was the King that she wished to see, and she wrote to Colbert such pressing letters that His Majesty, fearing that one day she might appear at Versailles, com- manded that she should be relegated fifty leagues from Paris.
She went to Lyons and then joined her sister Hortense in Savoie. There she quarrelled with the Duke de Savoie, who advised her to go back to Rome. She crossed the Saint- Bernard, then Switzerland, and, deceived by the advice of a certain marquess, whom the Prince Colonna sent after her, she reached the Spanish Nether- lands. The poor woman was arrested and con- ducted to the Antwerp citadel. Being very much tired of her imprisonment, she escaped and reached Saint-Sebastian, and she conceived a notion to go to Madrid, where she could not be received well, for the Prince Colonna was on too good terms with the Spanish Court.
She could not expect anything else but a convent life, and it was unfortunate for her that
she did not seek solace in that manner.
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She did not abdicate, as did Charles V., an empire for a cloister ; she wished to live in the world in which she counted no lonorer.
Mme. de Villars, in her letters addressed from Madrid to Mme. de Coulanges, speaks occasionally of Mary Mancini : " She is always in her convent, and she is very low-spirited." As it seems those who saw her at Madrid found her to be more pretty when she was forty than when she was but twenty years old. The Abbe de Villars wondered at her : " She is more beautiful than she was in France : she has a charming figure, fair complexion, beautiful eyes, white teeth and lovely hair. . . . She is dressed in the Spanish fashion in an exquisite manner."
One morning the Marquess and Marchioness de Villars were told that a lady wished to see them. A few moments later a veiled woman — a tapada — entered, followed by her maid ; it was the Princess Colonna, who ran from the convent and "implored them with tears in her eyes to have pity on her."
A few months later the Prince Colonna was in Madrid, living with his wife. This trial for a reconciliation was not successful : Mary detested the Prince, who. however, was "like a picture," said Mme. de Villars, but he became very avaricious, and he haggled about the price
for his wife's board in the convents. It was not
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the same husband of former times, when he was magnanimous and good-natured.
As to the Princess Colonna, let us still listen to Mme. de Villars : " She is really very original ; one cannot help admiring her when one knows her as well as I do. She has here a lover ; she wishes me to say that he is a pleasant fellow, that he has something fine in his roguish eyes. He is horrible. . . .
"Without mentioning another little thing, which is not worth while, the fact is that this man does not love her at all, and she knows it. However, she feels happy that it should be in that way."
Then she simply desired to love ; she had as much disinterestedness as imagination — poor woman !
The Prince Colonna became merciless : he locked her up in the Alcagal of Segovia, " where she was treated miserably." Mme. de Villars, who was full of pity for her, says, "that she was right not to trust her Italian husband." In most Spanish convents the Princess was treated as a prisoner, although " she was one of the best women in the world, and I pity her misfortune."
The Marchioness de Villars says that there
was the question of sending this poor recluse to
her cousin, the Duchess of Modena, who offered
generously to take care of her, but it is doubtful
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whether that pious lady would have been able to make that strange wanderer stay with her.
The company and society of her sister Hortense would have suited better that ardent and fickle woman. Why did she not go to England when Colonna died in 1689? It is probable that she would have found consolation in that elegant and joyful company which gathered at Hortense's apartment in St James's Palace, and would have delighted in the conversa- tion of those witty causeurs who gathered round her still beautiful sister.
Fate willed differently ; her life became more and more obscure. She returned to France and that woman, who used to live in the most splendid palaces, who was almost seated on a throne, has not left even a vestige of her last steps in this world that was so cruel to her.
Mary Mancini was very gifted : she was generous, courageous, witty and proud. She was a little like that Queen Christine, with whom she was very intimate at Rome ; she, also, as the sovereign of Sweden, subordinated everything to her desires and passions.
Her influence was salutary and one owes her
much, for it is probable that she rescued Louis
XIV. from a life similar to that of Louis XV.
Le Rot Soleil was sensual, and the flesh might
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have been dominating in him, if Mary Mancini had not awakened in him thought.
Through the attraction of love she made him understand the arts, works of human mind and politics. She turned his pride towards great things.
Her arrival was timely and her action decisive, and she is bound to have a glorious page in the history of France, where all scholars are familiar with this charming and pathetic exclamation, which is worthy of being repeated again in this volume : " Vous maimez, vous etes roi, et je pars ! "
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CHAPTER XXIV
Armand de la Porte, the only son of the Marshal de la Meilleraye, was the only exception from amongst those who aspired to Mazarin's nieces, for he alone wished not to marry the Cardinal.
His Eminency, desirous to have him for a son-in-law, suggested he should marry Olympia, but he declined and fell in love with the beautiful Hortense, although she was yet a little girl, for which reason the King disliked her.
When she came from Rome she was but ten years old ; she was in a convent two years with Mary, and left it after Olympia's marriage.
Armand de la Porte, whose father was Mazarin's intimate friend and was received in his palace, became so inflamed by Hortense's charms, that as he said, "he did not mind marrying her even if he should die three months after."
It is difficult to understand why the Cardinal, who seemed to care only for the princely alliances, destined his most beautiful niece for a man who was not very exalted, for the Marshal de Meille- raye, although related to Richelieu, was a grand- son of an advocate ; Saint-Simon, malicious
towards everybody, made him descend from an
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apothecary, adding, that it was said that one of his ancestors was a porter, from whence came their patronymic name de la Porte.
The Marshal de la Meilleraye was, like Fabert, one of the rare exceptions in his military career, for he won his rank by personal merit and services. But there was a difference between Meilleraye and Fabert ; the Commandant of Sedan was disinterested and consequently poor, while the Marshal was greedy and naturally immensely rich ; then he succeeded to transmit to his son the rank of grand-master of artillery together with several governorships.
The suitors of Penelope must have been less numerous than those who contested for the beauti- ful Hortense. There were amongst them even crowned heads. Charles II. of England — he was without a crown yet — asked Mazarin for his niece's hand. However, the Cardinal was not inclined to burden himself with a prince, although a grand- son of Henry IV., who was dispossessed of his kingdom, had no money, and was very much in debt. Then the Prime Minister of France was in friendly relations with Cromwell, whom, naturally, such an alliance would offend.
Mademoiselle de Montpensier, whose mental equilibrium was upset by every marriage, says that it was on account of consideration for her that Mazarin did not take advantage of his proposition.
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Here are her own words : " The next day after his arrival from Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the Cardinal came to see me, and when we entered the boudoir, he said, ' I shall never be accused of preferring my own interests to those of my master and all those who have the honour of being connected with him. I am aware of the difference there is between his family and mine.' Then he said : ' The King of England proposed to me to marry my niece Hortense. I answered him that it was too great an honour, and that as long as there are the King's cousins to be married, he must not think of my niece.' "
Such language is not probable, for Mazarin could not have foro-otten that Mademoiselle ordered a cannon to be fired from the Bastille against the Cardinal's partisans. If he had spoken as she reported, then he was laughing at her, promising himself inwardly that for that cannon she should enjoy the charms of celibacy. She did not notice that he jeered at her, and she thanked him for his benevolence towards her, telling him how charmed she should be if Hortense became her cousin-german.
Mademoiselle de Mcntpensier mentions also the name of an illustrious personage who wished much to see the success of this matrimonial pro- ject. This negotiator was the Viscount de Turenne, the great general and victor of so many
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Here are her own words : " The next day after his arrival from Saint- Jean-de-Luz, the Cardinal came to see me, and when we entered the boudoir, he said, ' I shall never be accused of preferring my own interests to those of my master and all those who have the honour of beine connected with him. I am aware of the difference there is between his family and mine.' Then he said : ' The King of England proposed to me to marry my niece Hortense. I answered him that it was too great an honour, and that as long as there are the King's cousins to be married, he must not think of my niece.' "
Such language is not probable, for Mazarin could not have foro-otten that Mademoiselle ordered a cannon to be fired from the Bastille against the Cardinal's partisans. If he had spoken as she reported, then he was laughing at her, promising himself inwardly that for that cannon she should enjoy the charms of celibacy. She did not notice that he jeered at her, and she thanked him for his benevolence towards her, telling him how charmed she should be if Hortense became her cousin-german.
Mademoiselle de Montpensier mentions also the name of an illustrious personage who wished much to see the success of this matrimonial pro- ject. This negotiator was the Viscount de Turenne, the great general and victor of so many
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battles. He was very much interested in Charles II. ; but "as he was not lucky in the affairs," says Mademoiselle, " in which he took part, this succeeded not." Consequently the invincible Turenne on the battle-field was beaten in that matrimonial campaign.
It is true that in regard to love and marriage this great general was a very poor tactician.
However, the health of the Protector began to decline, and great events were going to take place. Mazarin's foresight was this time very faulty, for Charles II. was seated on the throne of his ancestors. Naturally the Cardinal was not pleased with himself this time, and was angry with the capricious Fortune, who turned smiling to that penniless — a short time ago — Stuart, and made him the king of a great realm. The negotiations for making Hortense the Queen of England were opened now, on the part of Mazarin, who could not forgive himself that twice he repulsed a brilliant opportunity of being closely allied to a king.
The Queen Henriette, Charles II.'s mother, went to London, for it was her heart's desire that her son should marry Hortense Mancini. The daughter of Henry IV. had no aversion for such a misalliance ; she had forgotten the double insult which was implied in the Cardinal's
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refusal ; she was dazzled by Hortense's enormous dowry of twenty-eight millions with which the shaky throne of the Stuarts could have been made more solid. Poor woman, she must have opened wide her eyes at the sight of this Pactolus in ex- pectation, she, who during her exile found herself so destitute that she had no fuel durino- the winter, and was obliged to run through the gallery of the Louvre in order to warm herself A little dis- appointed over grandeurs, she now thought but of something solid.
But her son, that apparently careless Charles II., showed himself more proud than was his mother, and, being angry with Mazarin, who had not stipulated for him in the Pyrenees Treaty, and his wrath having been increased on account of the Cardinal's refusal of his niece, when he was but a poor pretender, declined flatly to have anything to do with the foxy Mazarin.
According to Mademoiselle, the Queen of England turned then to her. This is what she says: " Mme. de Motteville came to speak to me on behalf of the Queen of England, to tell me that since her son's re-establishment she wished more than ever that he should marry me. ... I answered Mme. de Motteville : ' Then Hortense's marriage came to nought ! As long as the Queen of England could hope for it, she did not think of me.' "
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It Is impossible to verify whether this be true or not.
As to the Cardinal, he has an able apologist in Mme. de Motteville in regard to Charles II.'s refusal, for she says: "The Cardinal un- doubtedly was sorry for this change ; but one can say to his glory that apparently he did not seek this honour and showed ostentatiously his indifference towards this article."
There was another pretender to a throne who aspired to Hortense's hand ; this was a Portuguese prince, who was Regent, then King under the name of Peter II. Mazarin lost this opportunity also. Had he consulted Doctor Guy Patin, through whom we got this news, probably he had succeeded, for one reads in one of the malicious physician's letters " that Hortense was asked by the brother of the King of Portugal — a good parti — for the King was feeble, delicate and in ill- health." Mazarin should have thought in the same manner, and as he knew about those things as much as the said physician, he should not have lost this chance.
Another prince whose destiny was not prob- lematic— for he wore the crown since he was in his cradle — did not succeed better than those two already mentioned ; this was the same Duke de Savoie of whom there was the question during
the matrimonial interview at Lyons.
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It would be presumptuous to attempt to say what was his motive in asking for Hortense's hand : it might have been that he was smitten by her glorious beauty at Lyons, or that he had some political plans for which the Cardinal's help was necessary.
Besides the ducal coronet that young sovereign had other qualities by the medium of which he could please, for he was a brilliant and amiable cavalier and had a great success at the Court at Lyons.
" M. de Savoie," says Mademoiselle, "left the whole of the Court very satisfied because of his personality ; they found that he had very good manners and was very civil towards everybody. The Queen found that he was very handsome, and that he looked like a man of his quality. As to his intelligence, he spoke always very well and even pleasantly."
One remembers how vexed he was when he left Lyons, and how proud was the leave he took of France ; however, he put aside his rancour, forgot the affront made to his sister and his family, and asked for Hortense's hand. But this time also Mazarin did not wish a prince for his nephew, and declined the honour of being allied to the ancient house of Savoie. Mme. de Motte- ville assigns this refusal to a reason that would do honour to Mazarin, for, according to her, the
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Duke de Savoie had asked that besides dowry the fortress of Casal should be returned to him.
The Abbe de Coligny tells us that the Cardinal had the notion to marry one of his nieces to one of those faithful followers of Conde who went with him to Flanders. He chose the Count de Coligny for his heir and Hortense's husband. The name of Coligny was illustrious amongst those of the French noblemen, but one could not say that it was as good as those which Mazarin had already found for his other nieces.
The probable motive of this design was the pleasure of intriguing and a notion of making un bon coup. He wished to take away Coligny from Conde in the same way as he did his brother Conti. This time, however. His Eminence met a man of quite a different temperament, who refused the very advantageous proposition, saying proudly :
" I will not abandon Monsieur le Prince in his misfortune."
Five or six years later when Coligny returned
to the allegiance of the King, was forgiven and
then appointed a commandant of the army sent
by Louis XIV. to Hungary, M. le Tellier, giving
him his instructions, said to him : " Do you
remember, sir, my visiting you at Calais ? I had
been ordered by the Cardinal — in case you would
agree to leave the Prince's party — to tell you that
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he had chosen you for a husband for his niece, and that he was going to make you his heir."
" I have done my duty," replied the Count de Coligny, "and I do not regret it."
Then Mazarin had another whim in regard to the choice of a husband for Hortense : he wished that the Prince de Courtenay should marry her.
An alliance with the last offspring of the first Capetians was very tempting ; unfortunately, he was very poor and possessed but a cape and sword. The Courtenays descended from the last son of King Louis le Gros. While their elder kin were fiorhting- ao-ainst their vassals and came out victorious from the pressure of feudalism, their younger branch was ruling over the splendour of Byzantium ; there were four of them who were seated on the thrones of the Emperors of the Orient, but that which was the cause of their grandeur also prompted their ruin. Having been dispossessed of their inheritance their descend- ants made useless efforts to win it back ; in that way they let go the body and ran after its shadow.
When they became poor they descended to
the last step of the feudal ladder, finding it
difficult to marry even the daughters of their
former vassals, and serving under the banners of
their neighbours. They committed a grave
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mistake by giving up xSx&fleurs de lis for the arms of the first Courtenays ; in that way the origin of those impoverished Capetians was contested.
The more judicious Bourbons kept their arms, and when the Courtenays wished to be recognised as princes of the blood, Henry IV., seeing that they were poor wretches without any property and good alliances, did not care to raise that ruined house, and not much affected by the Byzantine souvenirs, the Bearnais shifted off, true Gascon as he was, the Courtenays who were as good and as legitimate princes as he was himself.
Mazarin then desired to marry Hortense to the last survivor of this illustrious family and have him solemnly recognised as a prince of the blood. As he intended to make Hortense his heiress, the Courtenays, who were as poor as was Job, would have become the richest of all the princes.
But Mazarin, although he was attracted by the splendour of the birth, could not accept a man who was so wretchedly poor ; it was more than he was able to do, and he dropped the project.
Hortense followed Mary in her exile to
Brouaoe and was the confidante of her amours.
Their little sister, Marianne, complained to her
uncle, in her letters to him, that her sisters were
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always sending her away to keep secret their interminable tHe-a-tHe. The Cardinal, although his correspondence regarded especially Mary, did not forget Hortense, and his solicitude is shown in regard to a malady she had suffered at Brouage.
"I have received your three letters," writes he to Mme. de Venelle. " Hortense's illness pained me, but I saw since by her own letter that there is nothing dangerous. As to her repugnance for medicine, I doubt not that her common sense, her sister's and your persuasions, would overcome it easily."
Having been seriously ill himself, on his return from Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Mazarin hastened to choose a husband for Hortense, and he decided on the Duke de la Meilleraye, the only heir to his father's immense wealth and posts.
The Cardinal, warned by his physicians about his imminent dissolution, married Hortense to the Duke, making him his heir on condition that he should adopt Mazarin's name and coat of arms. In that way he left his enormous fortune rather to the heir of his name than to his niece.
According to Saint-Simon, Hortense's dowry
consisted of twenty-eight millions — besides big
incomes from several governorships, and the
Mazarin Palace with its great riches.
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master of the artillery, became Viceroy of Alsace and Brittany and Governor of Vincennes ; his private fortune was enormous.
The King admitted him to all the councils, and honoured him in every possible manner. And this lucky man was the husband of the most beautiful woman in the whole of France.
It would be interesting to know something about that great favourite of Fortune who had bestowed on him so many favours.
Mme. de Sevigne says that the Duke's face was a good excuse for his beautiful wife. But at the time of his marriage he is shown in quite a different light. The Abbe de Choisy says that "he was then quite d la modeT Saint- Simon is very generous this time, and he makes of Hortense's consort a beautiful portrait which has but one fault : it is probably too flattering. " I have heard," says the Duke writer, ** from the contemporaries that one could not be more clever, nor more agreeable ; that he had the best manners and was very cultured ; that he was magnanimous and had good taste for every- thing, and that he was brave ; that he was intimately familiar with the King, who never ceased to love him. He was polished and gracious."
What woman would not have envied Hortense.''
Besides this portrait let us put another, that of
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the new Duchess de Mazarin, made by Mme. de la Fayette.
"She was," she says, "not only the most beautiful of all the nieces of the Cardinal, but also the most perfect beauty of the Court. She was wanting only of wit to make her the most accomplished, and of vivacity, which she had not. But not everybody saw this default in her, and many people thought that she was capable of being loved notwithstanding her languishing way and her negligence."
It seemed impossible to make a better match than was made between this beautiful, indolent and gracious woman, and that good-mannered, witty, cultured, amiable and passionately loving man.
Their wedding ceremony was celebrated in 1 66 1, and the Cardinal died shortly after. They resided in the Mazarin Palace, full of precious pictures, rarest statues, and surpassing the Louvre by its riches without. Their way of living was magnificent.
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The Marshal de la Meilleraye did not endeavour to secure for his son all that prodigious wealth ; on the contrary, he besought his old friend Mazarin not to charge his heir with such a heavy burden, for he knew that his son would not be capable of carrying out the Cardinal's wishes, and feared that he would be crushed by it.
The solicitous father guessed well.
The important post of the master of the artillery, several governorships, administration of so many estates, and to all that, envy which soon began its work, made feeble that mind which was not of the strongest.
Then the King's frequent visits paid to his wife made him extremely uneasy, and he did not see other means to escape the danger he imagined than to keep the beautiful Hortense in perpetual locomotion. They were not fixed anywhere ; notwithstanding that his wife was frequently pregnant, he dragged her from one governorship to another, from town to town, from Brittany to Alsace, without announcing his arrival, exposing the poor woman to the hardships of lying-in at
hostelries or uncomfortable manor houses. The
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King's image and perchance many others per- secuted this wandering Jew of jealousy and allowed him not to remain in one place.
Then he became extremely pious and fright- fully scrupulous. During the Fronde the Jan- senists were scandalised, as were the Puritans in England, that the Cardinal had in his palace nude statues and pictures with figures scantily dressed. The Duke de Mazarin, pushed by his religious mania, revolted against those nude masterpieces, and, not being satisfied as was Tartufe to put a handkerchief over them, he seized one day a hammer, and rushing through his magnificent gallery began to break the beautiful marbles which shocked him the most. The pictures by Correggio and Titian, if they represented subjects not according to the standard of his stupid notion of decency, were subjected to the atrocity of being painted over.
When the King learned about the Duke de Mazarin's fit of religious madness, he sent Colbert to him. The former commissioner of the Cardinal, knowing the price of those masterpieces, did all he could to save the rest. But the Abb^ de Choisy says that the King was obliged to send a detachment of his guards to take posses- sion of the Palace, and thus to stop the religiously infuriated maniac from his barbarous efforts of
destruction.
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Unfortunately for his wife and his heirs this savage reformer of sculpture and painting did not become a madman, for, in the midst of all his peculiarities, he preserved the appearance of gravity and lordly manners, while his conversation was that of an honest man.
As the King's amours vexed him as much as the nakedness of his statues and pictures, he took advantage of his free access to his sovereign and preached to him. One day he told the King that the angel Gabriel sent him to His Majesty to warn him that a misfortune would happen to him if he did not give up immediately Mile, de la Valliere. The King laughed at him, of course.
It would take too long to tell about all the
peculiarities of that strange personage. That
man who had so many provinces to govern and
such large estates to administer was fond of
wasting his time in litigation. The Abb6 de
Choisy informs us that he had three hundred
lawsuits, and that he lost almost all of them. " I
am very glad," he used to say, " that they proceed
against me in regard to the estates I had from
the Cardinal, for I believe that they were all
acquired dishonestly : when there is a decision
of the Court in my favour, then my conscience is
at rest."
Saint-Simon says that "one day there was 234
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a fire in the Mazarin Palace, everybody rushed to stop it, but the Duke drew away all those rogues who wished to prevent God's pleasure."
Thanks to such manner of administration he got rid of a part of the immense fortune that burdened his conscience.
Notwithstanding all his stupid deeds the King, deploring his aberrations, respected him ; he kept, besides his own estates, most of his great posts and governorships; in 1688, after having been the laughing-stock of the whole of Paris, he received the collar of the order of the Holy Ghost. It was at this time that Saint- Simon saw him at his father's house and found him full of "that good-heartedness, which was the sign of cleverness."
As for the beautiful Hortense, she has written her Memoirs in which she tells us about her wandering life, and initiates us into her sorrows. She assures us, and we cannot help believing her, for she was an honest woman, that she loved him, " that there was not a greater joy for her than to see him ; she thought that she could get used to those strange travels, if there were not joined to them her husband's tyrannical pro- ceedings. " I could not speak," she says, " to a servant, without his being discharged the follow- ing day ; I could not receive two calls from the same man without his being forbidden to enter my
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house again. If I showed a preference for one of my maids, she was at once sent away. If I asked for my carriage he forbade the horses to be harnessed, and joked with me about his defiance. He wished me to see but him alone in the world."
This too exclusive pretentiousness spoiled the happiness which Hortense tasted at the begin- ning of their conjugal life. But the Duke had other drawbacks.
" Hardly were the beautiful eyes of his consort closed," writes Saint-Evremond, "when M. de Mazarin, who had always a devil present in his black imagination, this amiable husband, would awaken her to tell her about his nocturnal visions. The torches would be then lighted ; they would search everywhere, but Mme. de Mazarin would not find another ghost than the one who was sitting near her on the bed."
There are such stones told about this maniac that had they not been vouchsafed by trust- worthy eye-witnesses, it would be impossible to believe them. He went as far as to forbid the farm girls to milk the cows, and the nurses were not allowed to feed the babies on Fridays and Saturdays.
His rigorousness d la Mrs Grundy prompted him to interfere with his wife's toilet, introducing
barbarous reforms : he could not suffer that she
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should put patches on her face, as our great- grandmothers used to do, and he would hide her jewels.
It was an affair connected with diamonds that exasperated the poor woman the most, and the storm burst out. Very often she would escape crying bitterly, and go to her brother by a door through which their palaces communicated, but the Duke bethought himself to wall in that door.
One day, however, when she was distressed by his jokes — the saintly man was jocose — she resolved to leave him at any cost.
" M. de Mazarin," she says, "who took measures to make a prison of my palace, rushed ahead of me, pushed me very rudely in order to bar my way, but grief having given me an extra- ordinary strength, I passed, notwithstanding ; and although he almost killed himself by shouting throug-h the window that all the doors should be closed, and especially the one of the courtyard, nobody, seeing me in tears, dared to obey him. I walked in the street, in which there were many people, in that sad state, alone on foot in order to go to my usual asylum."
Such was the spectacle given by the inhabi- tants of the Mazarin Palace to the crowd : the Duchess crying and dishevelled rushing through the street in full daylight.
At the end of a few days there was a recon- 237
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ciliation between husband and wife through the intervention of some members of the family.
Then during months and months there were again conjugal scenes, one more grotesque than the other.
Hortense decided to enter the abbey at Chelles ; her husband went to Alsace and re- turned in six months ; he went to see his wife, and they quarrelled at once. He decided that she should change the convent, although the abbess was his own aunt ; but as she spoke well of Hortense's conduct he became angry with her on that account. He asked the King that his Duchess should be locked up in the convent of Filles-de-Sainte-Marie at the Bastille, and she was conducted there by a detachment of the King's own guards.
This was a great change for poor Hortense, for, instead of the benevolence of the abbess who protected her against her own nephew, the nuns of the convent of Filles-de-Sainte-Marie were very strict, and prejudiced against her ; probably they were told to watch over her well.
However, she found in this convent some distraction. A certain dame, of whom there was much talking then, by the name of Sidonie de Lenoncourt, Marchioness de Courcelles, was there
also, and for similar reasons as was Hortense.
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There was a certain affinity between those two women ; there were no more beautiful, richer, nor worse married women than were they, and the circumstances in which they found themselves were the same.
A few words would suffice concerninor the Marchioness, de Courcelles, who was wittily called "le Manon Lescaut of the seventeenth century " — there is some likeness between those two women.
She was the heiress of a very rich and very noble house ; she was brought up by a venerable aunt who was the abbess of Saint- Loup at Orleans. This orphan was as beautiful as pious, and had the sweetest disposition one could desire ; she was living at the convent without thinking: of the world when the Kind's command ended her happy and peaceful life.
The noble heiress tempted Colbert, who, wishing to make rich and noble his house, con- ceived a notion to marry her to his brother. The beautiful girl now changed her modest convent for the luxurious Soissons Palace, where the Dowasfer-Countess de Soissons consented to take care of her.
Soon her beauty, birth and wealth became
an object of ambitious speculation, for if Colbert
coveted her estates, Louvois desired ardently her
person ; the young girl could only see round her
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the people who served either the calculations of one or the desires of the other.
They finished their black conspiracy against this innocent child by marrying her to a heartless profligate, devoid of all sentiment of manly pride and honour, who was willing to give his name, while steeping himself in the most shameful abominations. Then Louvois could do as he pleased, and he did everything in order to corrupt her. The Memoirs left by the Marchioness de Courcelles do not permit one to doubt that he entirely succeeded. The only excuse that could be alleged for the justification of his dastardly proceeding is this, that he was madly in love with her, but the power he deposited at the little feet of beautiful women was not able to win their hearts for him.
Sidonie suffered his assiduities without loving him. She felt an ardent passion for that Marquess de Villeroy, whom the beauties called le Char7?tant, and her worthy husband who was watching for an opportunity to grab her estates, locked her up in the convent of Filles-de-Sainte- Marie, and instituted proceedings against her.
Therefore Hortense and Sidonie were led to
the same results, but by different proceedings —
one by the tricks or shuffles of a jealous demon,
the other by the infamous complaisance of a
corrupter.
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CHAPTER XXVI
It was only natural that those two unfortunate women, whose minds were not developed and characters not formed, were thinking, while in their religious prison, of means to amuse them- selves and forget their disgrace.
They acted like two naughty and mischievous children, and they were accused of having turned the convent inside out, and playing the sisters all kinds of roguish tricks.
It must be said that Hortense defends herself but little in her Memoirs of having compromised her own and her companion's dignity ; she simply tries to lessen the importance of their deeds and she says :
"As Mme. de Courcelles was very amiable and full of fun, I played with her certain jokes on the sisters ; hundreds of ridiculous stories were told about us to the King : that we put ink into the holy water, that those poor ladies should besmear themselves ; that we rushed through the dormitories with a pack of dogs, shouting 'Tayaut! tayaut!' and others similar, which were either invented or very much exaggerated.
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" But it is true that we filled two large boxes, which were in the dormitory, with water, and that as the boards of the floor were badly joined, the water, having penetrated through that bad floor, wetted the beds of those good sisters.
" Under the pretext of keeping us company, they watched us ; for this post the oldest nuns were chosen, as the most difificult to suborn or corrupt ; but as we had nothing to do but to promenade the whole day, they were soon exhausted, and three of them sprained their ankles when they wished to run after us."
Such were the amusements of those ladies, who looked upon their misfortune philosophically enough, and it would be cruel to upbraid them for having preserved, notwithstanding their grief, a certain amount of mirth.
They did not laugh alone at their disgrace ;
the chanson-mongers did the same, when they
sang :
" Mazarin et Courcelles Sont dedans un convent, Mais elles sont trop belles, Pour y rester longtemps. Si on ne les retire. On ne verra plus rire De dame assurement."
It is probable that the sisters, being unable to
manage those two spirited young women, asked
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to be relieved of them, and that is why they were conducted to the Abbey of Chelles, where Hortense won the heart of the abbess.
The Duke de Mazarin did not Hke this change, and, a few days later, escorted by sixty horsemen, and provided with a permit, granted him by the Archbishop, to enter the convent, came to Chelles to take away his wife. The abbess, hurt by her nephew's proceeding, refused to let him in ; she did even better, for she handed the keys of the monastery to the threatened wife, in order to show the confidence she had in her, and that she approved of her and was willing to help her.
Hortense came to speak with her infuriated consort ; he shouted as loudly as he could that she was not the abbess, but she retorted, showing him the keys, that she was for that day. The Duke, although the Grand Master of the artillery, did not push the siege any further and went back, this time beaten by his beautiful wife.
The next day the rumour was circulated that the half-demented Duke was going to renew the attempt of taking away his wife from the convent. In fact Hortense perceived from the tower that a troop of cavaliers was coming. It was Hortense's brothers-in-law : the Count de
Soissons, the Duke de Bouillon, and the brave
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Duchess her sister, who, having heard about the adventure, were rushing to Hortense's help with numerous people of quality.
Hortense could not recognise them in clouds of dust produced by the horses ; she thought it was her Blue-Beard, who returned with his escort to seize her ; she became frightened and did not think of anything else but of flight. There was an aperture in the grate of her room through which she passed, with a great effort, in order to hide somewhere. Ashamed of her fright, she wished to return by the same way, but it happened to her as to the weasel in the fable. Her companion of joy and misfortune, Sidonie, who was thinner, passed easily ; as to Hortense, she remained fainting between two iron bars pressing her sides. After many efforts Sidonie succeeded in freeing^ her.
There was no other means of stopping the mad Duke from making Hortense's life miserable than by a Bill of Parliament, and by the first decision of that body the Duchess de Mazarin became free ; she was going to occupy the Mazarin Palace, while her husband was obliged to be satisfied with his apartments as master of artillery and live at the Arsenal.
The jealous husband was not satisfied with
this decision and appealed to the great chamber,
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and the Duchess learned that she could not expect a decision in her favour.
She explains very well the reason for this variation of justice when she says: "The first decision was made by a chamber of inquiries, composed almost entirely of very reasonable young men, and there was not one amongst them who was not willing to serve me." On the contrary, the great chamber was formed by the old coun- cillors who were in favour of the Duke de Mazarin, as the young men were in that of the beautiful Duchess.
Seeing that those judges would not be reason- able, she decided to go to Italy, to her sister the Princess Colonna, and wait there the decision of the Parliament. Her brother approved of this plan, and the Chevalier de Rohan, who was one of the enthusiastic partisans of the Duchess, offered to escort her.
She did not deem it necessary to tell her sisters about her intention of leaving France, for she says that the Countess de Soissons was telling her constantly that she neglected her case, and that " it was a shame that she did not solicit at all." Hortense answered her that the judges were too old and that consequently all her efforts would be wasted on them. Olympia could not
understand such an indifference and repeated,
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"It is not seemly you should remain in your chamber the whole day undressed and playing the guitar," and that this fright- ful negligence made her believe what was said, namely, that she wished to escape to Italy.
Well, one evening she went without being seen by anybody, although she had a carriage with six horses and she was escorted by the Chevalier de Rohan to the gate of the city ; then, dressed in man's clothes, she mounted a horse and reached Lorraine. She had with her one of her maids, who was very small, and who, in man's clothes, looked so grotesque that her mistress forgot her anguish and laughed heartily every time she looked at her.
In that manner travelled the beautiful Hortense !
She assures us that it was a great effort on her part to run away, and that during eight days she had neither eaten nor slept. She was so much distracted while leaving her palace, that she had forgotten to take money and her jewels, and returned from Saint-Antoine's gate to get them.
When the Duke de Mazarin learned of his wife's flight he went to the Louvre, awakened
the King at three o'clock in the morning, and
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asked him to send after his wife and to arrest her.
When Hortense reached Nancy she was very- well received by the Duke de Lorraine, who had asked her sister Mary's hand ; he was young, and, undoubtedly, he also was anxious to serve her. He gave her an escort of his guards as far as Geneva, from where she proposed to cross the Alps and reach Milan. The journey was perilous and full of painful accidents, the worst of which was this, that while romping with her maid she hurt her knee ; the poor fugitive was intoxicated with her freedom, after shaking off the heavy chains of her married life, and she enjoyed that freedom like a hare-brained child !
Her knee hurt her so much that it was necessary that she should be carried across the mountains. There was the question, during that painful peregrination, of cutting her leg off, which had undoubtedly stopped her wanderings and entirely changed her destiny ; but that charming woman escaped such destruction.
During that time the Parliament decided to authorise the Duke de Mazarin to arrest his wife anywhere.
Ah, yes, the young members of the lower
chamber were more reasonable than the old,
iniquitous councillors, for it was only just that
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this lovely woman, who needed to be guided in her life, should be delivered from a maniac, who ought to have been locked up.
The Duke de Mazarin, who could not live without litigation, prosecuted the Duke de Nevers and the Chevalier de Rohan as accom- plices of his wife's flight. Hortense's letter, addressed to the Chevalier, fell into her husband's hands ; he showed it triumphantly to the King. However, there was nothing compromising in this letter, and only the Duke's corrupted mind could see anything improper. As Hortense herself said, "the conduct of the Chevalier de Rohan towards me was that of a friend, who advised me as to means of escape, but it was not the conduct of a lover " ; then she added that the Chevalier was then in love with somebody else, with a person of such exalted rank that he was exiled for his daring.
As for the Duke de Nevers, he was accused of something more serious, for, advised by his sickly jealousy, his brother-in-law delivered into the hands of justice many verses, letters and amiable chansons, which the Duke de Nevers addressed to his sister.
" Posterity," says Hortense, with justified indignation, "could hardly believe — should our
affairs pass to posterity — that a man of my
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brother's rank and social position should be cross- examined in a law court about trifles of such kind ; that those trifles should be considered seriously by the judges ; that such an odious interpretation should be given to the commerce of mind and sentiments between two people so closely connected ; and that, in fine, the respect and friendship for a brother of such known merit as is my brother, and who loved me more than his life, should serve as a pretext to the most unjust and most cruel of all defamation."
In that manner the Duke de Nevers was obliged to appear before the judges and ex- culpate himself from the crime of having sung on his lyre the evident merits of his sister.
However, amongst the numerous verses, there was one which assured the Duke de Mazarin of being right, for one of the lines declares that Hortense was "more beautiful than Venus, and more chaste than Lucrezia."
This certificate of good conduct was written when there was already discord in the Mazarin Palace, and the Duke de Nevers thought to render justice to his sister in that hyperbolical form.
After great hardships and strange adventures, Hortense reached Rome. Her sister and her
brother-in-law, Colonna, received her well, not-
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withstanding that her family begged of them not to do so. This general animosity against her, after her flight, caused her, as she says, " extra- ordinary melancholy." Even her brother, who came to Rome soon after her arrival at the Holy City, began to importune her in regard to a nobleman whom the Chevalier de Rohan gave her as an escort. The Duke de Nevers disliked the man and he wished that his sister should send him away at once ; but this man served her so well during her travels that she had no heart, says she, "to give him up without being un- grateful."
She was obstinate in keeping him, and this inflexibility caused her brother's sentiments to greatly change towards her. The Colonnas, also, did not think she was right, and there were "continual disputes between the four of them, in which they all blamed her."
In the meanwhile, they went to enjoy them- selves at Venice, then Sienna, from where they returned to Rome.
They passed the hot season in a beautiful palace at Marines. The Duke de Nevers was always displeased with his sister, for she did not send away that nobleman, notwithstanding bad gossip caused by his presence. Finally, this
man behaved so badly, and committed so
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many silly deeds, that she decided to dismiss him.
Irritated against the Colonnas, Hortense went to reside with her Aunt Martinozzi, where she lived, she says, as in a prison ; the humour and the habits of the two women being so different that they could not agree.
Having been on bad terms with her brother and the Colonnas, Hortense became so dis- couraged that she was inclined to put down arms and made a peace proposition to her husband.
While waiting his reply she entered a convent in which one of her aunts, the Cardinal's sister, was the abbess.
Her husband's reply was that she should remain two years in the convent, after which he would do what he thought was right. But she had had enough of Rome, and especially of the monastic seclusion. She wished to leave the convent, but was detained by force. Fortunately her sister, the Princess Colonna, came to her help ; she called at the convent and succeeded in freeing her sister by a stratagem. The abbess was so vexed on that account that she died of anger.
The Duke de Nevers left Rome at this time and went to marry Diane de Tianges, a niece
of the Marchioness de Montespan. Hortense,
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being now reconciled to him, found this was a good opportunity for making some arrangement with her husband. Therefore, she went with her brother, and, travelling according to their sweet will, they amused themselves so much that they remained six months on the road.
It was in this manner that the Duke de Nevers hastened to marry the beautiful Diane, and Hortense to finish her lawsuit.
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CHAPTER XXVII
When Hortense and her brother arrived at Nevers, a commissary of the superior chamber came to arrest the Duchess de Mazarin, but the King intervened and made her husband sign a kind of agreement ; the Duke acceded to this, weeping.
The unfortunate man was evidently sorry not to be able to lock his wife up. . . .
Hortense saw the King at Mme. de Monte- span's house. He spoke kindly to her, and offered her a pension of ;^ 24,000 and leave to reside in Rome in case she should prefer to do so instead of living with her husband.
That pension was very litde for an heiress to thirty millions, therefore Lauzun laughed, saying :
"What will you do with such a paltry amount? You will spend it at the first inn."
She assured him that since misfortune had
fallen on her she had learned now to economise
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and that she was no more fastidious in her tastes.
She went to Rome, but one cannot see clearly from her Memoirs whether she did so by her own will or not.
The King granted her an escort of two guards and an officer as far as the frontier, and she gives us to understand that this was a mark of honour.
A few months after her departure for Italy the news reached Versailles that the Princess Colonna and the Duchess de Mazarin had run away from Rome and were in Pro- vence.
Who was responsible for this adventure ?
Hortense affirms that it was Mary who, tired of conjugal life and her husband's faults, had pro- posed to her that bold step ; that she employed "an extraordinary eloquence " to induce her sister to abandon such a venture. Should one believe her, then it was to share her sister's perils that she agreed to leave Rome.
They took advantage of the Prince Colonna's absence and went to Civita-Vecchia ; they were dressed like men, and reached the coast at two o'clock in the morning. Not having found the boat, which they expected, they were obliged to
pass the night in a wood ; they remained there
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liOKTENSli MaNCIM
The Duchess de Mazarin
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the whole of the following day, till it pleased the master of the boat to come and to take them. The sailors were so much surprised at seeing those fine ladies that they asked them " whether they had killed the Pope."
Their sea voyage lasted eight days, and they disembarked at la Ciotat, from whence they went on horseback to Marseilles. Their clothes were in such a pitiful state that Mme. de Grignan was obliged to send them even chemises, and wrote to them "that they travelled like true heroines of romance, with much of jewellery but without white linen."
They wished to see at Montpellier a man who had fallen as they had ; he was the Marquess de Vardes. He deserved this honour for the adventure was worthy of him.
Hortense was unwilling to follow her sister further ; she did not wish to go back to Rome and went to Turin.
The Duke de Savoie, Charles Emmanuel II., was one of her former suitors. She passed through, in a very modest carriage, the State of which she might have been the sovereign, but was very well received at Turin, The Duke, pleased to see her again, suggested she should remain at his Court, and she agreed willingly to do so. Hortense's sojourn in Savoie was quite
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long, but it is not much known what she was doing there, for her Memoirs were not continued further.
One thing is certain, namely, that she was a source of jealousy to the ruling Duchess, n^e de Savoie- Nemours. Hortense kept at Chambdry a small Court, where all people of quality passing from France to Italy would stop. The winter she spent always at Turin, where not one fete was given without her taking part in it, and where her great beauty was very much admired. The Duke de Savoie invited her to his hunting parties, received her magnificently at his palace, or visited her at Chambery.
In the midst of this agreeable passe-temps Hortense cultivated her mind, studying the arts, and even philosophy. According to her old friend Saint- Evremond, "she spent there three years quietly, thinking and studying."
But an event once more changed her lot : the Duke de Savoie died and his widow became the Regent. Hortense, not caring to live under the new government, left Savoie.
There is nothing positive to show whether her
departure was free or forced, for Saint- Evremond,
who speaks of it, is not very clear on that point
when he says :
" The late Prince had for her a sentiment 256
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similar to all those who saw her. He admired her at Turin, and this admiration made Mme. de Savoie think that it was a true love. Jealousy produced certain proceedings which were any- thing but agreeable. Nothing else made it necessary for Mme. de Mazarin to leave the country in which the new Regent ruled absolutely. . . . Her friends did all to make her change her mind ; never were there more tears than then."
It was at the beginning of the winter that Hortense left Chambery and crossed Switzerland, Germany, and Holland in order to reach England, where she intended to settle.
She travelled during the war and she was obliged to pass through armies, across countries whose language she did not speak, but "she made herself understood," says Saint-Evremond, "for eyes speak universal language. . . . Helene was never as beautiful as was Hortense ; but Hortense, this innocent and persecuted woman, flew from an unjust husband and was not following a lover."
Never was Saint-Evremond more eloquent than when he expressed his admiration for the beautiful Hortense.
The Marchioness de Courcelles, the same with whom Hortense became so friendly in a
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convent, throws quite a different light on the manner in which the Duchess de Mazarin travelled across the Continent towards England. " I have learned," writes the beautiful Sidonie from Geneva, " when I arrived here that Mme. de Mazarin passed a few days ago towards Germany . . . ; she was on horse- back ; she wore a wig and plumes ; there were twenty men in her retinue ; she spoke only of music and hunting — viz., of all that which causes pleasure."
What a charming picture ! The beautiful Hortense on horseback, wearing plumes and wig ! She appeared to be ready both to please and fight.
This manner of travelling during the winter, in a country seething with soldiers, must have been to Hortense's taste and full of adven- tures. . . .
News reached Versailles that Hortense was in
France, six leagues from Paris. Mme. de Sevigne,
writing about this, exclaimed : '' Ak ! lafolle ! la
folle ! " But as it seems this was only a false
alarm.
From Amsterdam Hortense went to England ; it was di parti pris with her to visit her former suitors. Saint- Evremond says that her purpose
was to visit the Duchess of York, who was her
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first cousin, but one should add that she did not wish to neglect King Charles II., who proposed to marry her, and whose proposition was declined by Mazarin.
His Court was such that Hortense deserved to be the queen of it. When she appeared at Whitehall she caused a commotion and alarmed all the King's favourites, who could not rival her in regard to beauty. Hortense was nearly thirty, but she was more beautiful now than when the King of England was in love with her.
A political party was formed round her, for there was a patriotic desire to dethrone, not the Queen, but the Duchess of Portsmouth, who was in the pay of Louis XIV. and directed the will of Charles II. The reign of the beautiful Qu^roualles was already declining, her downfall was whispered, when this plan was overthrown by Hortense's coup de tete : she fell in love with the Prince de Monaco, and all the advice of her political friends could not prevail against the penchant of her heart. Her new passion was very much commented on, and, naturally, the King was shocked ; he stopped the pension of four thousand pounds sterling which he had granted to her.
Here ends the political part of the Duchess 259
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de Mazarin in England. Her disappointed par- tisans looked round for somebody more reliable, while her personal friends groaned at the turn of Fortune, whom Hortense did not know how to captivate.
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CHAPTER XXVIII
HoRTENSE did not win the gallant attentions of Charles II., but she recovered at least her pension, for the King commanded it should be paid to her in guise of restitution of money borrowed from Mazarin when he was but a poor pretender to the throne of England. He granted her as well apartments in St James's Palace as her residence. The women of quality, the most witty men of the Court and the world, foreign ambassadors and ministers, scholars and all Frenchmen of rank and distinction, living in England, gathered at Hortense's apartment, and formed a small court.
The first years of her life in London were most brilliant, for her great beauty was increased, so to say, by the pleasure she took in art, literature and studies ; her animated and attractive conver- sation became more serious and solid. That beautiful woman discoursed with the learned Vossins, the sceptical Canon of Windsor Chapel, to whom she would say: "You, sir, who read all kinds of good books, except the Bible, could
you explain to us such or such a question ? "
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There were also the theologian Justel ; Saint- Real, endowed with lively mind and great learning ; the poet Waller and the serious historian and amiable philosopher, Saint- Evremond, inexhaus- tible talker on pleasures and wisdom.
Saint- Evremond was banished from the Court of France and had lived in England for fourteen years when the Duchess de Mazarin met him again. It was a great pleasure for both of them to be able to talk about the past, about la belle France, about the splendours of Versailles. He visited her every day, and it is in his letters, verses and discourses that one finds the scattered details concerning her life in London, for he was her poet, lawyer, secretary and disinterested admirer.
Saint- Evremond was famous for his charminof conversation ; if his poetry is but an easy im- provisation, void of originality, it is not the same with his works in prose, for his Reflexions sur les divers genies du peuple roniain suffice to mark his place amongst the keenest critics. The chapters on Hannibal and the second Punic war could be advantageously compared with Montes- quieu's writing on the same subject, and even one could say that Saint-Evremond is broader in his views than Montesquieu. His writings
on Tacitus, Sallust, Caesar, Alexander, and
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his discourses on various historians, Seneca, Plutarchus and Petronius, deserve to be read attentively.
He describes in the following- manner the pleasures of Hortense's hospitality: "One finds here the greatest freedom ; everybody is more comfortable here than in his own house, and treated more respectfully than at the Court. It is true that one disputes often, but this is done more for enlightenment than in anger ; this is done less for the sake of contradiction than for elucidation of a subject ; more for the love of animated conversation than for making the mind sour. The playing is but moderate and it is the only entertainment."
When Hortense's friend employs the adjective moderate to qualify the gambling, for which Hortense's apartment at St James's Palace was so famous that it was popularly known as la banque of the Duchess de Mazarin, he is not exact ; he is the only historian who attempted to exculpate Hortense from the accusation of being a gambler.
It is true that at the beginning of her life
at St James's Palace, conversation and wit
prevailed in Hortense's drawing-room, but this
was changed.
A croupier by the name of Morin ran away 263
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from Paris to London and succeeded in sneaking into St James's Palace, where he made the game of bassette fashionable, and for this game Hortense neglected the witty and learned conversations. In vain Saint-Evremond protested in his prose and verses against the rage for gambling which competed with conversation as does in our time bridge playing ; he remained vox clamantis ifi deserto. Morin drove away from Hortense's drawing-rooms, Vossins, Justel, Waller and the whole witty Areopagus.
It is probable that during that gambling fever the amiable Hortense, so indulgent for her friends, had accesses of bad humour of which Saint-Evremond complains so eloquently and so wittily.
But the game of bassette, which upset Hortense's sweet disposition, did not interfere with her other passions. That life of violent emotions and long vigils had no detrimental influence on her beauty. She was nearly forty, but still she had many admirers ; they came from all countries.
A Swede by the name of Baron de Banier,
son of the famous General who served under
Gustavus Adolphus, was, amongst the others,
impressed by her beauty. As it seems, his
admiration was reciprocated. About this time
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the youngest son of her sister Olympia, the Countess de Soissons, the Prince de Savoie- Carignan, came to London to visit his aunt, in whose house he breathed the contaeious air ; his aunt's lovely eyes aroused in him ardour not very proper for a nephew. He challenged to a duel in Hyde Park the Baron de Banier, who was unfortunate enough, although a son of a soldier, not to know the art of fencing better than his adversary Philippe de Savoie-Carignan ; the Baron was mortally wounded, and died a few days after the encounter.
This fight made a great commotion ; the Prince was arrested and tried, but there is nothing certain as to whether he was sentenced or not.
Mme. de Sevisfne wrote on this occasion : " I could not believe that the eyes of a grand- mother could make such ravages."
The affair was serious for Hortense, who caused her apartment to be upholstered in black and received nobody. She was so depressed that she intended to again enter a convent. The Duke de Mazarin having learned that his wife became inclined towards devotion, sent to London a certain woman, whose mission was to make Hortense carry out her notion concerning a
retreat behind the grating of a nunnery.
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Saint- Evremond was much alarmed at this turn of affairs, and he wrote to her several letters in which he used his wit with great effect to make her give up the idea of life in a convent. As it seems his aro^uments were so sfood that soon she began to live as before, and she often repeated with la Fontaine :
" Sur les ailes du Temps la tristesse s^envole.'"
A few years later the Revolution dethroned James II. and this was a very severe blow to Hortense, for William of Orange did not give pensions to beautiful women.
The Duchess de Bouillon was with her sister in England during the Revolution, and she found some difficulties in leaving the Court. " Mme. de Bouillon," says Mme. de Sevigne, "came from Rouen ; the Prince of Orange gave her a yacht to go to France. He does not pay the pension to Mme. de Mazarin, and they think that she will be obliged to leave England."
This was impossible, for Hortense was kept in London less by her friends' entreaties than by her creditors' power.
The Duke de Mazarin was squandering
millions piously, but left his wife in want. He
wished she should return to the Mazarin Palace
in Paris, but she, remembering what a miserable
time she spent there, would answer by the words
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used during the Fronde : Point de Mazarin ! Point de Mazarin !
There was the question in Parliament of banishing her from England — probably because she was nearly related to James II. 's consort; but her friends had still influence over William, who not only allowed her to remain in this country but also granted her a pension of two thousand pounds sterling.
While the Duchess de Bouillon was with her sister in London in 1687, the question arose of inducing la Fontaine to come and live here ; he began to grow old, his domestic affairs did not prosper, but notwithstanding that, he could not make up his mind to leave France.
La Fontaine, being the favourite poet of the Duchess de Bouillon, did not forget in his fables :
^^ Mazarin, des Amours deesse tuteiaire,''^
and the portrait he made of Hortense in verse is her most lasting monument.
Her mind was glorified as well as her beauty by the members of her litde academy, and Bayle, who was not under the influence of her charms, for he was then living in Holland,
wrote :
" She was endowed with surprising charm
of mind and manners ; she was possessed of
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learning ; she was fond of reading and of con- versation with learned men."
During the last years of her life, Hortense, being surrounded mostly by people who were fond of little indulgences of the senses, led a life a la anglaise ; she was very fond of races, hunting, betting and cock-fights. In that manner she lived up to the last year of the seventeenth century, which was less convenient for her than would have been the following century.
After an illness of one month she died on 2nd July 1699, in a house on the Chelsea Embank- ment, which she occupied after she was obliged to leave St James's Palace.
The Duke de Mazarin brought her body over to France and, as if being jealous of her last rest, he carried it with him on his travels. In that way poor Hortense experienced after her death that which she feared so much during her life : she fell into her husband's hands.
Saint-Evremond shed tears over his friend's departure, and one reads in one of his letters :
" She was the most beautiful woman in the
world, and her beauty preserved its splendour
until the last moment of her life. She was the
greatest heiress in Europe ; her bad luck caused
her to have nothing, and, magnificent, without
worldly goods, she lived more honourably than
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the richest people would be able to do. She died seriously with Christian indifference towards life. . . ."
It is certain that the gratitude of authors, for her love for art and literature, left in their works is the most lasting monument to that extra- ordinary woman of whom Mme. de Sevignd said that " the ordinary rules of life were not made for her."
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CHAPTER XXIX
When the Cardinal Mazarin was lying at Vincennes on his death-bed, an illustrious personage came to visit him, but seeing that somebody was with His Eminency, he withdrew discreetly.
This shy visitor was the Viscount de Turenne, one of the greatest generals of France. Having learned that the Cardinal's death was imminent, he wished to talk with him privately on a matter of importance : he was desirous to bring to the memory of the dying statesman the project which he had formerly of marrying his youngest niece, Marie-Anne — or Marianne, as she was called in abbreviation — to the heir of the princely house of the de Bouillons.
There were already some conferences on that subject with the Duchess de Bouillon, but the Cardinal did not hasten to close the affair. Although the de Bouillons were of great con- sequence, they were obliged to let others precede them in marrying Mazarin's nieces ; their turn had not come, when the Cardinal was going to leave
this world, in which he was of such importance.
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CHAPTER XXIX
When the Cardinal Mazarin was lying at Vincennes on his death-bed, an illustrious personage came to visit him, but seeing that somebody was with His Eminency, he withdrew discreetly.
This shy visitor was the Viscount de Turenne, one of the greatest generals of France. Having learned that the Cardinal's death was imminent, he wished to talk with him privately on a matter of importance : he was desirous to bring to the memory of the dying statesman the project which he had formerly of marrying his youngest niece, Marie-Anne — or Marianne, as she was called in abbreviation — to the heir of the princely house of the de Bouillons.
There were already some conferences on that subject with the Duchess de Bouillon, but the Cardinal did not hasten to close the affair. Although the de Bouillons were of great con- sequence, they were obliged to let others precede them in marrying Mazarin's nieces ; their turn had not come, when the Cardinal was going to leave
this world, in which he was of such importance.
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The de Bouillons were hurt by this delay, and the proud Turenne made it a point of honour not to talk about the affair.
"Seeing His Eminency's indifference," says a contemporary writer, " he summoned all his pride and did not move in the matter ; but when he saw that the malady was mortal, he did all he could to become reconciled to his dying friend."
The Viscount de Turenne was at last intro- duced to his bed-chamber ; he approached the bed on which the Cardinal was lying.
The warrior was moved at the sight of the Cardinal's face, formerly so beautiful, but which now was thin and pale. The sick man made an effort to rise in order to show his respect, and to kiss the man whose sword made firm his shaking fortune ; he told Turenne that he wished to die his friend and servant. He pulled from his finger his most costly ring, and begged of the great hero to wear it in his memory.
It was a good opportunity to show courage, and the Cardinal, proud to have such a witness of it, grew animated while reciting Horace's
verse —
" Si fractus illabatur orbis, Impavidum ferient ruinse."
But it was in vain that Turenne waited for Mazarin
to open the question of the alliance between their
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families ; not a word was said about it during their last converse. Turenne went out disappointed, when a thought made him raise his drooping head.
He went to see Mazarin's confidant, the supple and discreet Ahh6 Ondedei, whom the Cardinal made the Bishop of Frdijus. When there was a secret mission or family difficulty, Ondedei was the man who was clever enough to disentangle any difficulty. Ondedei was to the Cardinal Mazarin what Father Joseph was to the Cardinal de Richelieu.
It was said of him that he had much to do with the previous marriages of Mazarin's nieces, and that his wedding presents were considerable. The Duke de Mazarin, amongst others, promised him a hundred and fifty thousand pounds if he succeeded to get for him Hortense's hand. Ondedei succeeded, but he had not asked the Duke de Mazarin for any security, and the scrupulous nobleman gave him nothing, for, as he said, he would not commit simony ; it was in this way he reconciled his avarice to his conscience.
It is not known whether Turenne used power- ful means to win Ondedei, but it is almost certain that he took to his heart the interest of the de Bouillons, and taking advantage of the few last
calm moments of the Cardinal's life he spoke to
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him about the marriage. However, his effort was lost, for "the Cardinal almost dying would not listen to any arguments ; this alliance did not tempt him. His niece with her big dowry and the governorship of Auvergne would find a husband."
Whether he had something against the de Bouillons, or thought that the nephew of Turenne and heir to the principality of Sedan was not a sufficiently brilliant parti for his niece, the fact is that he resisted all Ondedei 's persuasions.
How strange that the proud de Bouillon, should bend their heads before the vanishing grandeur ! This was a proof of the power of that dying man. It would not have been strange, when he was master of the State, disposing of governorships, commands, and favours, to see the most proud families seek an alliance with him ; but his rule was finishing and the prestige was still there !
On the other hand, a big dowry, together with the governorship of Auvergne, were tempting, for the de Bouillons' estates were much mortgaged since the Fronde, and then the governorship of Auvergne would have been a great pleasure to the princes, who came originally from that country. Aeain it was much to be allied to the de Contis,
de Soissons, de Vendomes and Colonnas.
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However, the Cardinal died without giving to the de Bouillons that joy, and his last niece remained without establishment, although there was ample time for that, Marianne having been then but thirteen years old.
She was brought from Rome after her sisters. Signora Mancini, frightened by the presentiment of the imminent dissolution, wished not to consent to her going to a convent and preferred to be with her when she went to Paris. She had for a gouvernante the same Mme. de Venelle who took care of her sisters ; she was then educated at the Louvre and Mazarin Palace, where her precocious mind was a source of amusement to the Cardinal and the Court, and His Eminency, while in good humour, used to play her many tricks.
The precocity of her mind was so extra- ordinary that when she was but six years old she used to compose verses ; her chansons and witticisms were well known, and she was at the Court a little personage. She patronised the poets and they did not fail to show their gratitude
by singing :
" Marie-Anne de Mancini Fille d'un merite infini."
She valued the pleasure caused by the
incense offered to her, and she gave proofs of
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her appreciation of which the writers were sensitive.
When the Cardinal was gfoino- to the confer- ence to be held between Spain and France, in regard to peace and the marriage of Louis XIV. with the Infanta, he wished to take with him Hortense and Marianne ; but Mary, who was exiled in Brouage, would not be separated from them, and the Cardinal consented generously to this sacrifice. In this way he abandoned the pleasure of playing on Marianne some new tricks, and he was obliged to renounce this passe-temps, the lack of which he would prob- ably have felt in the midst of the cares of State.
By way of indemnity Marianne wrote to her uncle rhymed letters which he not only praised much but also diligently answered, although one day he was rather too frank, when he wrote to her "that she acquired common sense, but her rhymes were in proportion."
Being a politician before all he took advantage
even of the naivete of his youngest niece by asking
her to write to him what her sisters Hortense
and Mary were doing. It was when the King's
love for Mary caused him so much trouble and
care. Marianne wrote to him about everything
she heard or saw at Brouage, complaining that
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her sisters were always sending her away and had secrets.
Probably she had listened at the doors in order to make her letters interesting, and rhymed her reports. None of those rhymed letters passed to posterity, but it would be interesting to quote a few lines of her early prose by which one can perceive already her character. Marianne wrote to the Cardinal :
. . . "As for the news, I will tell you that I am sorry because of your absence, and ... of the King's also, for I love the King. If you wish to hear some more news then it is this that Mme. de Venelle and I have made some chan- sons, and that the Queen found mine admirable, and that of Mme. de Venelle frightful . . . and for the news you will learn that one is bored much. . . . My sisters do not write to you because they have no mind to write you a letter, and are furious when I write. Come soon, soon. . . . Monseigneur, I beg your pardon, I have not said Your Eminency, and I beg of you to make my compliments to the King and answer my beautiful letter. — Your very humble servant, " Mademoiselle Marianne."
"This beautiful letter" allows us to see what
a good opinion that little girl had already of her-
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self. This precocity and intrepidity of a?nour- propre could be explained by this, that Marianne was a spoiled child of the Queen, her uncle, and consequently of the whole Court.
Marianne, like her sisters, took part in the King's ballets, only she was more applauded. Le piquant of her face, her original grace, and above all, an imperturbable assurance of herself, gave her complete success in those entertainments of the Court.
She shone much in the ballet of the Saisons given at Fontainebleau, and danced with the King- in 1661.
She was then between twelve and thirteen years old.
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CHAPTER XXX
The Cardinal died without having established Marianne, but the de Bouillons were not dis- heartened, and Turenne took advantage of his leisure caused by peace and began again his efforts.
Ondedei, the precious man won by the de Bouillons, employed for that purpose his savoir- faire and the influence he had with the Queen- Mother ; he was au fait in regard to many secrets, and made himself listened to. Anne of Austria took the affair to her heart, and Marianne Mancini was betrothed to Maurice-Godefroy de la Tour, Duke de Bouillon. The marriage took place at the Soissons Palace, in the presence of the King, two Queens, and was celebrated by brilliant fHes.
The bridegroom, Turenne's nephew, was a young and very brave military man, but one who had neither taste nor aptitude for mental exercise ; although dominated entirely by his wife's influence, he had nothing in common with her ideas.
They occupied the Bouillon Palace, which was
situated in the rue Neuve des Petits-Champs, at
a short distance from the Soissons Palace, which
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occupied the whole space between the streets Coquilliere, de Grenelle, des Deux- Ecus and du Four-Saint- Honor^, and not far from the Mazarin Palace, built between the streets des Petits- Champs, Richelieu, and Vivien.
The Duchess de Bouillon in the midst of her grandeurs continued in touch with the beaux esprits : Benserade, Segrais, Mme. Deshoulieres, Menaye and others. That fifteen-year-old Duchess, who made verses, presided at the Bouillon Palace over her little academy, her in- quisitive mind taking interest in everything ; she was not frightened even of Latin.
*' Tous vous duit I'histoire et la Fable, Prose et vers, latin et frangois,"
wrote to her la Fontaine. She continued to shine also in the ballets in which she displayed her vivaciousness and gracefulness. She appeared in La Naissance de Vdnus as Nereid, and while coming out from the water, her magnificent hair was greatly admired, and was glorified by Ben- serade in his rhymed prose :
"... Qu'elle avait les cheveux Les plus longs, les plus fins, les plus epais du inonde."
In January 1665 the Duchess de Bouillon
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had a son, and her husband, more embarrassed than his wife with his leisure, decided to go to war against the Turks in Hungary under Monte- cuculi. During that time the Duchess left Paris and lived at Chateau-Thierry, one of the de Bouillons' seats. Confined at the old Castle, natu- rally she felt keenly the absence of her Parisian literary friends, when la Fontaine was introduced to her. He was then very unhappy on account of the misfortune of Fouquet who was his Maecenas. Although he was then already forty years old, he was yet unknown, for he had published only a little volume containing Joconde la Matronne cCEphese, and some poems ; his fables were printed separately.
It was a lucky meeting for the poet and his genius, for he found in that grande dame of sixteen the stimulant which was necessary for his natural laziness. It was she who indicated to him the road towards immortality ; she pressed him ener- getically to write his fables, and her own imagina- tion furnished him many subjects for them.
La Fontaine, urged by her, worked so well that two years later he had published the first six books of his fables ; finally his tardy genius brought fruits. But it was not for the fables alone that we are indebted to the Duchess de
Bouillon.
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The Cardinal de Retz said that Mazarin had pleased Richelieu through "the libertine Italian stories." The fact was that Boccaccio and Poggio were then much read, and the courtiers learned the Italian language to be able to understand those two authors. The Duchess de Bouillon, being accustomed to see since her childhood the Italian sans gene buffooneries, was pleased with the stories which la Fontaine took from De- cameron, which we do not appreciate nowadays, but the taste for which could be explained by the spirit of those times. More severe women than was Marianne amused themselves as she did ; Mme. de Sevigne and her stern daughter speak of those stories in their letters.
La Fontaine, having been asked to amuse his chatelaine, increased the collection of his stories as well as that of the fables. Of course it was not when the Duchess de Bouillon was but six- teen years old that she showed the taste for that light literature ; it was later that she encouraged this badinage, and this was done to make a diver- sion from the fables.
The Duchess de Bouillon charmed the sensitive
poet and encouraged him to work. This great
lady, so attractive through her vivaciousness and
youthful age, that piquante and splendid beauty,
displayed all her coquetry to captivate, to inspire
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that rare and immortal mind ; perchance she succeeded better than she thought.
What a picture when one imagines that lady in her princely residence, seated under the trees of her park, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, listening to that peerless fabulist. Impossible to imagine anybody more peaceful and more grace- ful than was Marianne !
She had not the antique beauty with which her sister Hortense was endowed ; hers was rather expressive ; her nose was slightly retroussd, her eyes reflected the lustre of wit ; her fine smiles made her face charming. There was an infinite grace in her movements, and occasionally there was sovereign pride in her mien. They praised her figure, her little feet — which she was fond of showing — her beautiful hands, her brilliant com- plexion and her magnificent hair.
La Fontaine could not help singing in beautiful verses her moral and physical beauty, and nobody could have done better than he did, when he said that she
" . . . a de beautes, de graces et de charmes ! Elle sait enchanter et I'esprit et les yeux. Mortels, aimez la tous ! mais ce n'est qu'a des dieux Qu'est reserve I'honneur de lui rendre les armes."
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CHAPTER XXXI
The Duke de Bouillon, after his return from Hun- gary, where he had helped the Prince Eugene de Savoie-Carignan in driving the Turks out of the country, went straight to take his wife from the old castle and brought her to Paris.
La Fontaine followed his patroness, who made him known to her sisters, the ladies de Soissons ; to Mazarin ; to her brother, the Duke de Nevers, who also haunted the muses ; to her brother- in-law, the Duke d'Albret, witty, learned, who was at twenty-six the Cardinal de Bouillon. She did even better than that, she obtained for her poet the post of a gentleman-in-waiting to Madame, the charming Henriette.
The Bouillon Palace became again the rendez- vous of poets and beaux esprits : Moliere, la Fontaine, Corneille sometimes met Turenne, princes and the greatest lords in the land. That Turenne, whose looks were hard and who seemed so stern, was fond of wanton poets and light lectures given at the Bouillon Palace,
Marianne held the sceptre of wit perchance
more boldly than did Mme. de Rambouillet, for
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she was not simply a judge of tournament, she also took part in the combats ; she composed and versified, but above all, and better than anybody else, she argued. Nobody dabbled more in literature or was more fiery in ail the debates of the republic of letters.
Art and literature did not absorb her entirely ; this daughter of Italy was enthusiastic for other things as well.
In regard to her husband she was more lucky than was her sister Hortense, for the Duke de Bouillon's humour was not as troublesome as was that of the Duke de Mazarin ; neither had he his peevishness. Although the Grand Chamber- lain, he was a military man, something like his brother-in-law, the Count de Soissons, who was not jealous and did not drag his wife with him when he went to war. But the brave Duke, except his military exploits, shone but little amongst the wits who used to gather in his Palace. Too much conversation tired him, and he left to his wife the task of contending with his guests, while he would go either to the Chateau- Thierry or Navarre, to his estates, to run after a deer or wolf ; he was indefatigable, and it was said of him :
" Vous saurez que le chambellan
A couru cent cerfs en un an."
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That slayer of deer, Turks and even Christians, was not embarrassed by a thought as to what his wife was doing whilst he was away ; they were not leading the same life.
The Duke de Bouillon had several brothers : one of them, the Duke d'Albret, belonged to the Church ; he was famous for his learning, and, when he was but twenty-six years old, the nephew of Turenne was raised to the rank of Cardinal. On account of great qualities of mind and body he was one of the most brilliant men ; he was as fond as his sister-in-law of books and elegant conversations. He encouraged and patronised la Fontaine, who praised him in his verses.
This prince of the Church and of the Parnassus, eloquent, learned, magnificent, was an everyday guest at the Bouillon Palace, while his brother was hunting. Attracted towards each other by the same tastes, seeking after the same pleasures, the handsome Cardinal and Marianne became, naturally, great friends. There was some malicious talk about them ; but the slanderers did not trouble themselves to furnish proofs, which could justify the gossip.
There was another story : the Count de Louvigny, cadet of the Marshal de Grammont,
frequented the Bouillon Palace, and there was
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some gossip about that good-looking blunderer and the Duchess. Her husband's family, the head of which was Turenne, on account of his age and glory, intimated to the lovely Marianne that it would be wise for her to spend some time in a retreat.
In that way more or less towards the same epoch the three sisters, Mary, Hortense and Marianne, found themselves behind the grating of a convent. Marianne was placed in a nunnery at Montreuil, where instead of making salutary reflections she played on the sisters as good tricks as did the joyful Hortense.
After a short retreat she returned to Paris, proud and charming. She re-assumed her brilliant role of protector of poets, her beautiful conversations, and all the pleasures of mind which, after all, are least dangerous.
The sons of her cousin Laura, the Princes de
Vendome, were growing up and were living at
the Bouillon Palace, where they acquired the
taste for verses and chansons which they caused
to bloom during their fast life at the Temple.
The Duke de Nevers was, naturally, one of the
faithful ones of the house, when he happened to
stop in France, for he travelled constantly. Since
Mary and Hortense had left the country he became
more devoted — in his capacity of poet, naturally —
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to his youngest sister, Marianne. It was for her that he made verses, and as his brother-in- law de Bouillon was not as jealous as was de Mazarin, and allowed, without going to Law Courts, the Duke de Nevers to sing of the beauty of mind and body of his sister, de Nevers was doing it whole-heartedly. One of his songs finished thus :
"Oui, nous sommes, quoi qu'on en die, Moi le plus sage, et vous la plus jolie."
How inconstant was this poet ! for he de- clared previously Hortense to be "more beautiful than Venus." Notwithstanding all he judged Marianne, that spoiled child, pretty well, when he says :
" Mais Ton vous aime trop, et jamais sous les cieux On n'en vit une si legere ! "
Yes, she was light-hearted, but in what an exalted manner !
The Princes de Vendome and their agent
de Chaulieu applied in a broad way in their
palaces — the Temple and d'Anet — the joyful
maxims of the Bouillon Palace. Their aunt, the
lovely Marianne, was not shy of their suppers
during which her nephews, glass in hand, im-
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provised their gallant verses, in which their guests treated them sa^ts fagon as Highnesses chan- sonieres. The Duke de Nevers, the uncle of those amphitryons, accompanied his sister to the Vendome Palace and to the Temple, where she listened to joyful songs, but the goddess Bouillon was fond of r esprit and would risk anything.
Ah, what have they not done to enjoy them- selves ! Those disrespectful de Vendomes, during their intemperate raptures, addressed rndLTiy propos (£ amour to their aunt, at which she laughed in a most hearty manner. At least all that did not turn tragically as was the case with Philippe de Savoie-Carignan and his aunt, the Duchess de Mazarin.
If the fancy of her mind made her go to the Temple, the inquisitiveness of her imagination attracted her elsewhere.
Her father was an astrologer and Marianne
heard of stars when she was a mere child. She
saw also her uncle busy himself with horoscopes
and predictions, as seriously as with State affairs.
Colbert entertained the same notions ; Ondedei
was in correspondence with many astrologers,
and when he became the Bishop of Frejus, he
sent to Colbert a horoscope from Italy. Then
she often witnessed at the Soissons Palace the
invocations of spirits. Her imagination was
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
much impressed ; a caprice conducted her to la Voisin, and she was summoned to appear before the judges at the Arsenal.
Fortunately for the Duchess de Bouillon there was not issued a warrant for her arrest as was the case with Olympia, the Marshal de Luxembourg and many others ; she was simply examined. There are two versions of the dialogue between her and justice ; one is given to us by Mme. de Sevigne, the other one finds in the Court archives, and naturally they are not written in the same manner.
The version of the Law Court is dry and un- interesting, for, as it seems, the answers of the beautiful and witty Duchess de Bouillon were so sharp and humiliating to the judges that they were not recorded.
The condensed version of the Law Courts reads thus : —
" La Voisin, interrogated in regard to her
commerce with the Duchess de Bouillon, did
not accuse her much, saying that simply the
curiosity attracted her to her house. But an
accomplice of la Voisin, le Sage, said that the
Duchess asked him for poison to get rid of her
husband in order to marry her nephew, the Duke
de Vendome, Mme, de Bouillon appeared at the
Arsenal January the 29th, 1680. It transpired X 289
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
from her examination that it was la Voisin who
went to the Duchess and offered her her services,
praising much the abiHty of one of her acolytes.
The Duchess spoke of him to the Duke de Ven-
dome, who was curious to see this man. They
went to him in a carriage with six horses and
asked that individual, who was le Sage, if he
could do something unusual.
** The sorcerer asked them to write some
questions on a piece of paper ; the Duke de
Vendome took the pen and wrote asking whether
the Duke de Beaufort was really dead, and where
was the Duke de Nevers. The note was sealed,
le Sage bound it with a silk thread, and placed
it in an envelope in which he put a little of
sulphur ; then he directed the Duke de Vendome
to burn it, telling the Duchess that she would
find this note at her Palace in a porcelain vase.
She searched for it but found nothing. Vendome
went again to le Sage but did not succeed any
better — he was cheated out of his money. The
Duchess found the affair ridiculous, ' told her
friends, and even wrote about it to the Duke de
Bouillon who was then with the army.' "
The most serious point was this : —
" Questioned whether it was true that she
wrote a note which she handed to le Sage, which
note was sealed and burned, and in which she
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
demanded her husband's death, she answered, ' No,' and the question was so strange that it fell by itself."
Such were the questions answered by the Duchess de Bouillon, and that was the end of the affair concerning her.
The miserable sorcerer le Sage, at whom she laughed, could not be believed when he said that the Duchess wrote the note concerning her husband's death. Then la Voisin's version was different.
Let us hear now what says Mme. de Sevigne :
" The Duchess de Bouillon went to la Voisin t© ask her for some poison to make her old and tedious husband die in order to be able to marry a young man whom she loved. This young man was M. de Vendome, who led her by one, and M. de Bouillon, her husband, by the other, hand ; it is laughable. When a Mancini does such a stupid thing as that the sorcerers take that very seriously and frighten the whole of Europe through a trifle."
It must be remembered that Mme. de Sevign^
was not the Duchess de Bouillon's friend ; she
speaks of her but rarely ; their friends did not
mix together. Therefore it was not friendship
that caused her to be indulgent. She was only
the echo of public opinion, which could not take
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
as serious that chimerical accusation. 1 1 was under this impression that Mme. de Sevigne reports the Duchess de Bouillon's interview with the judges.
" Here it is," she says, "what I learn from a good source. Mme. de Bouillon entered like a little queen in that room ; she sat on a chair which was ready for her, and, instead of answer- ing the first question, she demanded that they should write that which she wished to say : this was, ' That she came there only through respect for the King's order, and not for the chamber, which she did not recognise, wishing not to derogate to the privileges of dukes.' She would not say another word until this was written ; then she took off her glove in order to show the most beautiful hand : she answered sincerely even as to her age.
' Do you know la Vigoureux ? '
'No.'
' Do you know la Voisin ? '
'Yes.'
' Why did you wish to get rid of your
husband ? '
" ' I .'^ to get rid of him ! You had better ask
him whether he believes that ; he came with me
to this door.'
" * But why did you go so often to la Voisin ? '
" ' I wished to see the Sybilles, whom she 292
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
promised to show me ; tliat company deserved that I should take all steps.'
" ' Have you not shown to that woman a bag of money ? '
" ' No, for many reasons. Well, sirs, is that all you have to tell me ? '
" ' Yes, my lady.'
" Here she rose and while going out she said loudly :
" ' Truly I could never believe that serious men should ask me such stupid questions.'
" She was received by her relations and friends with admiration, for she was so beautiful, naive, natural, daring, and had the mien of a quiet mmd.
After this charming picture of a sinister affair, let us quote de la Fare : " The Duchess de Bouillon," he says, "appeared before the judges with confidence and pride, accompanied by all her friends, who were in large number, and all of them of great consequence."
The public opinion, full of emotion caused by that process, protected the Duchess so well that she was not troubled any more. It was even said, and the story has survived, that "the Counsellor of State, by the name of la Reynie, asked her whether she had seen the devil, and
she answered :
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
"I see him now : he is ugly, old and disguised as a Counsellor of State."
To this one can only say what the Italians would exclaim at such a story : '' Se no7i e vero, e ben trovato ! "
If the Duchess de Bouillon made this answer to la Reynie, he did not register it.
The Duke de Bouillon had his wife's interro- gatory printed and caused it to be circulated throughout Europe.
294
CHAPTER XXXII
If the Duchess de Bouillon succeeded in brow- beating and mystifying the judges, and in making joyful her friends and partisans, the King was angry at such a disrespectful noise and exiled the Duchess to Nerac on i6th February 1680. There she lived as she did everywhere where she was established. Then she obtained leave to return to Paris. She visited Versailles but little, for the constrained life did not agree with her free humour and pride.
At Versailles, as everywhere, she preserved her mien of independence which was not tolerated at the residence of le Roi Soleil. The Duke de Saint-Simon says that "she would appear before the King and raise her voice high, that one could hear her across two rooms. This way of speaking loudly was never altered, and very often, even during the King's supper, she attached to herself Monseigneur and other princes."
Those grand airs of freedom did not please
the King, who favoured those who were nervous
in his presence.
It was fifteen years since Marianne had seen 295
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
her sister Hortense. In July of 1687 she went to England to visit her.
She took part in her misfortunes, and even helped her bravely against her husband ; when he wished to take away his wife from the convent at Chelles, the Duchess de Bouillon gathered a little army of relations and friends and went with them on horseback to preter main-forte to her sister.
It is true that later when Mary and Hortense ran away from Rome, " Mme. de Bouillon was furious against those madwomen," says Mme. de Sevigne ; she was against such noisy pranks.
The Duchess de Bouillon found that she could enjoy herself at St James's Palace ; she thought she was at her own palace. Besides the game of bassette, of which she was fond, she was herself surrounded by beaux esprits, poets, philosophers and courtiers of Charles II., who were as elegant as those of Louis XIV. In that manner she found something new without chang- ing her habits ; she could talk freely about everything and contend with the most daring.
She had an idea to induce la Fontaine to
cross the Channel, but he was reluctant, and
instead of going to see her he wrote her letters
in which he complained of her long absence.
" Madame, we begin to growl against the 296
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
English for their keeping you such a long time. My advice is that they should give you back to France before the end of the autumn, and that in exchangee we should g^ive to them two or three islands in the Ocean. If there was the question but of my own satisfaction, I would cede to them the whole Ocean."
In another letter he tries to make her return soon by bringing to her memory the souvenirs of a charming past.
"... I remember that one morning, reading to you verses, I found you paying attention in the meanwhile to my reading and to three quarrel- some beasts. It is true that they were nearly strangling each other. Jove, the reconciler, would not have done his work. One can judge by this how far can go your imagination when there is nothing to turn it aside."
What a charming dart of irony mingled with the most amiable praise !
This was, in fact, one of the little drawbacks of the Bouillon Palace, where all kind of importunate guests competed with gens (£ esprit ; the mistress of the palace was as indulgent to one kind as to another. "You have more beasts," Chaulieu wrote to her, "than I have imagination; you should hire Boursault for making epitaphs if
you wish to preserve so many dogs . . ."
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
The Duchess de Bouillon's sojourn at London furnished to la Fontaine and Saint- Evremond an opportunity for holding a poetical tournament : one contested for Hortense, the others for Marianne ; they challenged each other like true knights.
" Let us become the Knights of the Round Table," wrote la Fontaine, "as it was in England that this chivalry was started. We shall have two tents as our equipage, and on the tops of those tents the two portraits of the divinities that we worship."
Maria7ine sa7is pair, Hortense sans seconds.
The Duchess de Bouillon was surprised by a very serious event, the downfall of James IL She found herself a prisoner of his successor William ; it was believed that he would not let her go, but finally this gloomy politician had an access of courteousness towards the Duchess, and caused her to be conducted on his own yacht as far as Rouen.
Saint-Evremond addressed to her, after her departure, a message in the name of the Society of St James :
" Vous nous avez sauve les larmes
Qu'on rdpand aux tristes adieux :
Mais le souvenir de vos charmes
Tous les jours en coute a nos yeux." 298
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
As she was forbidden to live in Paris she went to Navarre, situated in her county of Evreux. One reads in Dangeau's Journal : " Mme. de Bouillon, who is in England, asked the King, through M. de Seignelay, permission to go to Venice ; the King answered that she could go anywhere she pleased except the Court and Paris."
This seems to be very hard coming from the King who was on terms of friendship with the Duchess de Bouillon's sister, but one must agree that Mazarin's family caused much trouble to His Majesty ; Olympia importuned him in regard to his amours, intrigued against his inamorata, and went to the sorcerers for a remedy to win back her illustrious admirer.
The Duke and Duchess de Mazarin deafened the King with their quarrels : the Duke went to awake him at three o'clock in the morning, asking him to send after his runaway wife ; the Duchess held carnival in the convents in which she was locked up, then she went to England to war against Louis XIV.'s beautiful spies. As to the Duchess de Bouillon, she received and patronised literati, who manifested a spirit of independence, or she conspired against the poets who were under the protection of the
Court.
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
Such were, more or less, the King's grievances against Mancines, friends of his childhood.
The de Vendomes, those noisy youths of the Temple, caused also some tribulations to His Majesty. The Duke de Nevers alone, travelling constantly and asking for nothing, gave him no cause for dissatisfaction.
As her nomadic brother was in Italy she took advantage of this opportunity and went there also. Her brother-in-law, the Cardinal, who caused to the King also some trouble, resided then at Rome. Marianne's son, the Prince de Turenne, after having some difficulties with the master of France, went to serve in the Venetian army. He came back and went to see his mother together with his brother the Duke d'Albret.
The gay Coulanges, who was then at Rome, speaks in his Memoirs of the Prince de Turenne thus :
" He was very intelligent and possessed the bravery of his race. . . . The Venetians praised him very much."
It is the same Coulanges who gives us the details concerning the Duchess's life at Rome.
" She remembered nothing of her native
country ; it was necessary to show her everything
as to a stranger. There were many promenades ;
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
dinners given in the most lovely villas, where music was not forgotten. The Duchess de Bouillon and the Duke de Nevers even had a notion, in moonlight, to take advantage of lovely fresh nights, and to drive in an open carriage, having with them the Signora Faustina, one of the best singers in Rome, and instruments necessary for accompaniment."
She came back to France with her two sons the Prince de Turenne and the Duke d'Albret, their establishments were the subject of great solicitude to the Duchess. The Duke de Bouillon gave up for the benefit of the Duke d'Albret his governorship of Auvergne, while the Count d'Evreux, the youngest, being very friendly with the Count de Toulouse, was appointed colonel-general of cavalry.
After the unfortunate battle at Oudenarde
the Count d'Evreux wrote a letter in which the
Duke de Bourgogne was insulted ; this letter
was shown to the King. "That letter," said
Saint-Simon, "was so much commented on that
Mme. de Bouillon had heard of it, and as she was
very keen she shivered at the thought of its
consequences. . . . She sent to her son asking
him to write another letter, of which one could
say that it was the only one. ... M. de
Bouillon arrived from Turenne and carried to
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
the King this second letter written by his son ; however, there were some merciless people who enlightened him on the political wisdom of Mme. de Bouillon."
This cadet of the de Bouillon married a daughter of a rich banker, and the Duchess called her daughter-in-law her "little gold ingot." In this case she gave up her pride, but she had her revenge for it elsewhere in the following manner.
The Duchess of Hanover, having met the Duchess de Bouillon driving, wished to precede her, at which the French Duchess was very- offended. " Her family," said Saint-Simon, " was very numerous and in great splendour. The Bouillons, irritated excessively, swore to avenge themselves, and they have done so. When, one day, they learned that Mme. de Hanover was going to the comedy, they all went there with Mme. de Bouillon and numerous servants. The domestics were told to pick a quarrel with the servants of Mme. de Hanover. The execution of the plan was good, for the men of the latter were beaten, the harnesses of her horses cut, and the carriage damaged." It was in that way that that great lady treated her equals, but was so amiable with the poets, her friends.
She preserved until her death, which occurred
in 1 7 14, her beauty and charm. Of this we are
302
Marianne Mancini The Duchess de Bouillon
[to KACE I'AtiE 302
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assured by Saint-Simon, who painted her picture thus :
" She was the Queen of Paris and of all the places where she was exiled. ... Her husband, children, the de Bouillons, the Prince de Conti, the Duke de Bourbon, who were among those who filled her palace, were all of them smaller in her presence than grass. . . . She visited but very seldom, and preserved an air of superiority over everybody which she knew how to measure and season with much politeness according to the persons. . . .
"Her house was open from morning till evening ; the tables always ready, and all sorts of games going on at the same time. Never a woman cared less for her toilette ; there was not another more beautiful and peculiar face that needed less help than hers, and to which everything was becoming ; however, she wore beautiful jewels. She knew how to talk well, contended willingly and sometimes went as far as to thrust. Her wit and beauty sustained her, and the people became accustomed to be domi- nated by her."
Such was Marianne Mancini, Duchess de Bouillon !
She was endowed with the gift of grandeur
in the highest degree ; she was really a woman
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
of high lineage ; nothing made her head bend, nothing could deprive her of her prestige. This woman whose "face was beautiful and peculiar" should have worn a crown instead of a coronet ; but being created to please and rule the Duchess de Bouillon was " Queen of Paris," and she deserved immortality for having understood and fostered the genius of la Fontaine !
304
CHAPTER XXXIII
Mazarin took great interest in his nieces* and nephews' education. The letters which he wrote to his father and sisters contain many details on that subject. When he brought them over to France and took charge of them his solicitude was still greater, which is amply demonstrated in eight of his letters, transmitted to posterity, addressed to their ^-oiivernajzle, Mme. de Venelle, while he was at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, for the negotiations of peace between France and Spain. Then there are numerous letters written from the same place to the Queen, who was the confidante of the tribulations and joys of the uncle ; he even asks her sans fagon to scold and correct his nieces, which allows one to think that Her Majesty was one of the family.
When his nieces were going to re-enter Paris, the statesman found time in the midst of the great cares of State to write what they had to do.
"It is necessary to lead a regular life at
Paris because many people will watch the
conduct of my nieces ; I agree that they should u 305
Seven Richest Heiresses of France
enjoy themselves, but they should do so in such a manner that nobody could say anything against them. In regard to calls, it is necessary to see first the Queen of England, and to call on her once every month ; they should also visit from time to time Mme. de Savoie-Carignan and Mme. de Vendome, and caress carefully my little nephews. One could see also Mme. d'Angouleme, for she is a great friend of our family and very virtuous. It would be necessary also to visit Mme. de Villeroy and Mme. de Creqi, and I do not deem it proper that my nieces should go to the Comedy, unless they could go with one of those ladies. Should they desire to promenade at Vincennes they can do so.
" I believe it was very proper that you did not accept Mme. de Bonnelle's proposition to bring M. le Due d'Enghien to play with my nieces, for my advice is that it would be against the rules of decency to act hastily in similar matters."
Notwithstanding his efforts he was not satisfied with his family for whom he had done so much, for his nieces taxed his patience to the extreme. One must avow that Mme. de Venelle did not succeed in making angels of
the girls of whom she had charge. They were
306
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lacking in devotion, and this naturally was very vexatious for a prince of the Church.
"You could not believe," says Hortense, in her Memoirs, " how vexed he was that we have been but very little religious ; he employed all kinds of arguments in order to inspire us with faith. One time, amongst others, he complained that we did not go to Mass every day, and he said that we had neither piety nor honour. ' At least,' he said, ' if you do not go to Mass for the sake of God listen to it for the sake of the people.' "
Mazarin failed to make his nieces pious and to love him for all the good he had done for them, and when he died, those nieces, who were an object of so many cares on his part, exclaimed heartlessly, ''Pure e crepato,'' which exclamation could not be justified even by the severity of which they accused him, and excusing their lack of sentiment.
However, the fact was that Mazarin, this
sociable and charming statesman, who was armed
with all kinds of seductions when he treated
political affairs, would return home brusque and
angry. He reserved all his sweetness for his
politics. Being tired, he changed his part at
home, and became a growling uncle. He spent
all his graces and caresses outside his family.
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Such is the history of more than one amiable man.
"It is impossible to comprehend," says Hortense again, ''that a man of his merit, after having worked the whole of his life to bring up and make rich his family, should receive from them but marks of aversion, even after his death. If you only knew how severely he treated us in everything, you would be surprised. Never anybody had sweeter manners in public and so rude at home ; all our inclinations and humours were quite different from his."
It is sad to think that Mazarin succeeded in everything except in winning the love of his family, and it is impossible to say why he failed not- withstanding Hortense's arguments.
Since the Cardinal's return from the con- ferences with Spain, his health declined gradually. Those three months of negotiations, spent in the midst of a river, on a little island wrapped in fog, precipitated the pace of the malady from which he suffered. "He turned a pfood countenance to death," said one of those who did not like him much, but was just enough to acknowledge that Mazarin was brave even while facing eternity.
The good countenance he kept while dying is to his credit, for he was leaving behind every- thing that the most fastidious mind could desire.
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His riches were so enormous that he was able to give as a wedding present to Marie-Therese, when she married Louis XIV., ;^ 1,200,000 worth of jewels, a dinner service in solid gold, two state carriages of great value, one upholstered with red velvet and gold, with six Russian horses ; the other in green velvet and silver, with six horses brought from the Indies.
While dying he bequeathed eighteen big diamonds, subsequently known as " Mazarins," to the Crown; "The Rose of England," a diamond uncut, weighing fourteen carats, and the ruby '* Cabochon " he gave to the Queen- Mother ; the young Queen had a bouquet com- posed of fifteen diamonds ; the Duke d'Anjou received thirty-one emeralds ; the Prince Colonna a sword set with diamonds ; then ;^6o,ooo worth of diamonds were given to various people, while his nieces had ;^36o,ooo worth of jewels between them.
The collection of his pictures contained five
hundred and forty-six original paintings, two
hundred and eighty-three of the Italian school,
seventy-seven of the German and Flemish schools,
one hundred and nine from various schools ; then
ninety-two copies of masters, and two hundred
and forty-one portraits of Popes, from St Peter
to Urban VII.
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Seven Richest Heiresses of France
From amongst those pictures Mazarin be- queathed the best to Louis XIV., and to-day they are almost the foremost in the Louvre Galleries. Amongst those are —
Raphael's — St Michael, St George, Portrait of Balthasar Castiglione.
Correggio's — The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, Antiopa's Sleep.
Titian's — The Venus of Prado, Entombment, Portrait of a Man, Pilgrims of Emaus, Titian's Mistress.
Guido Reni's — David, Conqueror of Goliath, Christ in the Olive Garden, Madeleine, St Sebastian.
Leonardo da Vinci's — St John the Baptist.
Giorgione's — The Holy Family.
Annibal Carraccio's — The Deluge.
Lafranchi's —Parting of St Peter and St Paul.
Bassano's — The Wedding at Cana.
Rosso's — Pierides' Challenge.
Gobbo's — The Virgin nursing the Infant Jesus.
Orbetto's — St Catherine's Mystic Marriage.
From amongst the most costly furniture
Mazarin bequeathed to the King two large
cabinets — " Peace " and " War " ; to the
Queen- Mother, the lapis lazuli cabinets ; the
great cabinet of jasper went to the Duke
d'Anjou.
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The tapestry called "Fruits of the War," executed after the cartoons of Jules Romain, was bequeathed to the Crown, together with the tapestry " Sabines " after Raphael. The Princess de Conti got tapestry, " Roboam," also after Raphael ; " The Acts of the Apostles," a tapestry made in Paris, went to the Marquess de Mancini, together with " Eneas and Scipio," and a tapestry executed at Bruges and representing twelve months of the year.
Brienne in his Memoirs says that besides these Mazarin had in his collection at least thirty more tapestries, some of them made in Rome of cloth of silver, others of gold brocades with velvet flowers of various colours, cut out at Milan ; then antique Flemish of all kinds, and modern made at the Louvre and the Gobelins.
On March of 165 1 the Mazarin Palace was covered with black cloth, and in all the churches of Paris there were celebrated one thousand masses for the rest of the soul of Jules Mazarin, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Duke de Nevers, de Douzi, de Mayenne, etc.
The life of the brilliant people of the seven- teenth century fascinates the students of that glorious past ; amongst those illustrious person- ages the career of Mazarin and his nieces
perchance is the most captivating from the point
311
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of view that they rose almost from nothingness and lived to sit on the steps of a great throne.
Mazarin's blood was mingled with that of the Contis, Stuarts, Soissons, Colonnas, Estes and Bouillons, and ran in the veins of two heroes — Prince Eugene and the Duke de Vendome. But that ardent Italian blood, capable of showing its great qualities in heroic deeds and in imperish- able love for art and especially literature, had, as it seems — if a surmise could be allowed in anything as enigmatic as is this question — the germ of death, for all the families which became allied with the great Cardinal Statesman — although they lasted for centuries — became ex- tinct, except those of the de Soissons ' and Colonnas.
Here would be the proper place to recollect the wisdom of the antique sage expressed in the familiar exclamation :
" Vanitas vanitatis et omnia vanitas ! "
' Philippe-Emmanuel was the thirty-fifth Count de Soissons (1697- 1 762) ; he was a nephew of the Prince Eugene. When his eldest broth er's (Emmanuel-Thomas, thirty-third Count de Soissons, who married Anne Princess von Lichtenstein) son, Eugene-Jean-Franfois, died without issue, Philippe-Emmanuel succeeded to the title of the Count de Soissons. He was followed by Amedee-Victor (1728- 1798), thirty-sixth Count of the name ; then comes Eugene Amedee (1758-1878), thirty-seventh Count of the name; then follows Philippe-Humbert-Eug^ne (1820-1880), thirty- eighth Count of the name, and then Guy-Jean-Raoul- Eugene-Charles- Emmanuel, born in 1S60, thirty-ninth Count de Soissons.
312
INDEX
Academy, French, enriched by
Mazarin, 59 Accusations brought against Mari- anne, the Duchess de Bouillon,
289 Adventures of the Princess Colonna
after her flight from Rome, 214 Aix, Hortense and Mary arrested
at, 213 Amorous literature and Mary
Mancini, 172 Amorous correspondence between
Anne of Austria and Mazarin, 52 Amours of the Prince Colonna,
208 Amusements of two noble ladies in
a convent, 242 Anne Churchill, 109 Anne of Austria, no influence at
Court, 45 — and Mazarin, 48 —
her love for Mazarin, 50 — plain
speaking of, to Mazarin, 187 Anselme, Father, French genea- logist, on Mazarin's origin, 28 Answers of Marianne to her judges,
292 Armand de la Porte, in love with
Hortense, 219 Armand, Prince de Conti, 92 Arrest of the Prince de Conde and
his brother, 70 Art galleries, established by
Mazarin, 57 Astrology practised, 131, 2S8 Attack on Mazarin by Cardinal de
Retz, 23 — on the Duchess of
Hanover, 302 Austria, Don Juan of, a messenger
of hymen, 185 Avarice of the Prince Colonna, 215
Ballets at the French Court, ex- penditure on, 113
Banier, Baron de, an admirer of Hortense, 264
Barberini, Francesco, reference to, 16
Basseite, the game of, 264 Bastille, the Marquis de Vardes
sent to, 126 — exiled, 127 Bathing, the Princess Colonna,
nearly drowned while, 209 Bayle on Hortense, 267 Bearnais, the, 228 Beasts, three quarrelsome, 297 Beggars paid to insult the Countess
de Soissons, 139 Benserade on the hair of the
Duchess de Bouillon, 279 Benserade, Mazarin compares his
own verse with that of, 40 Black Art, the, 133 Black Conspiracy, a, 240 Boccaccio, 281 Bouillon Palace, the rendezvous of
poets and beaux esprits, 283 Bouillon, the Duke de, and his
relations to his wife, 284 Bouillon, the Duchess de, 270 — in
her grandeur, 279 Bourbons and their coat of arms,
228 Brienne, Memoirs of, 311 Brienne, the Count de, description
of Mazarin, 46 Brinvilliers, the Marchioness, 133 Brousse, an enemy of Mazarin, 17,
18 Bruhl, Mazarin conducts State
aff^airs while an outlaw, 86 Bruhl, the place of Mazarin's exile,
72 Bruxelles, the Countess de Soi ons
holds a court at, 140 Bussy-Rabutin, sketch of Mazarin
by, 47
Cabal against Mile, de la Valliere,
122 Cadet of the Bouillon family,
marriage of, 302 Ctesar, illegitimate brother of
Francis H. of Modena, 108
313
Ind
ex
Campaign wife of the Duke of Lorraine, the, 199
Candale, the Duke de, 74
Capetians, an alliance with the last offspring of the, 227
Capiton, a clever madwoman, 185
Cardinal de Richelieu, 16
Carnival, curious incident at, 206
Carnival in convents, held by the Duchess de Mazarin, 299
Chambery, Hortense keeps a court at, 256
Change in the position of Cardinal Mazarin and his family, no
Charles II. refuses to marry Hor- tense, 223
Chevalier de Rohan, 245
Chevreuse, the Duchess de, advises Mazarin, 49, 69
Choisy, the Abbe de, and an in- vocation of spirits, 131
Christina, Queen of Sweden, visits Mazarin, 57
Church, Mothers of the, lOO
Churchill, Anne, 109
Civita-Vecchia, 211
Colbert, and the origin of Mazarin,
Colbert, letter of Mazarin to, 196 Coligny, the Count de, and Hor- tense, 226 Colonna, death of the Prince de,
217 Colonna, Prince, marriage arranged
between, and Mary Mancini,
204 Colonnas, the lives of, in Rome,
205 Colonna, the Prince, and his amours,
208 Colonna, the Princess, runs away
from Rome, 211 — in the Alca9al
of Segovia, 2 16 Comedy of old Court dress, 161 Conde, the Prince de, plots against
Mazarin, 68 Con6scation of Mazarin's property
by the French Parliament, 87 Conjugal scenes between Hortense
and the Duke de Mazarin, 238 Conti, the Prince de, marries
Marie-Anne Martinozzi, a niece
of Mazarin, 91 Conti, the Prince, jealousy of the
King, 98
3
Convent, the Princess Colonna in a,
214 Correspondence between Mazarin
and the Queen, 86 Correspondence between Mazarin,
the Queen, his niece and her
gouveniante, 190 Cosnac, Daniel de, on the Conti
marriage, 93 Cosnac, the Abbe de, how he be- came a Bishop, 99 Coulanges, the gay, 300 Courcelles, Marchioness de, forms a
friendship with Hortense, 239 —
married to Louvois, 240 Courtenay, the Prince de, his royal
descent, 227 Cremona, surprise of, by Prince
Eugene, 146 "Crimson Cheat," Cardinal
Mazarin as a, 16 Cromwell, reference to, 220 Cynical chansons, 129
D'Albret, the Duke, his brilliant
qualities, 285 D'Argencourt, Mile., taken to a
convent, 169 Death of Mazarin, 201 Death of Mme. de Mercoeur, 82 Death of Paul Mancini, 88 Death sentence pronounced against
Conde, 91 Decameron, the, 281 Defeat of Conde at Bleneau and
Etampes, 88 Despair of Mary Mancini, the, 189 D'Este, Marie Beatrice, and the
Duke of York, 106 Dethronement of James II., the, 266 Device of Cardinal Mazarin to de- tach the King from Mile.
d'Argencourt, 168 D'Hauteford, Marie and Mazarin,
48 Diamonds, an affair of, 237 Diamonds, bequeathed to the
French Crown by Cardinal Maz- arin, 309 Diane de Tianges, 251 Diaphanous bathing costume worn
by the Princess Colonna, 2IO Directions of Cardinal Mazarin as
to the conduct of his nieces,
305
14
Inde
X
Dismissal, a plan for the, of Mile, de
la Valliere, 124 Dogs, Mazarin and his greyhounds,
9°
Doors, listening at, 276
Dowry, the enormous one of
Hortense, 223 Duchess of York, a portrait of, 107 Duchesses, the rival, 106 Duel, a fatal, 265 Dying words of Mazarin, 271
Ear-rings, presented by Mazarin to the Duchess de Savoie, 183
En dishabilli, surprise of the Prin- cess Marguerite when, 180
Eugene-Maurice, Prince, some account of, 144 — and his mother, 156 — his military career, 146
Evreux, Marianne at, 299
Exile of the Countess de .Soissons, 138
Fables of La Fontaine, prompted
by the Duchess de Bouillon, 280 Father of Mazarin, migrated to
Rome and became Chamberlain
of the Constable Colonna, 30 Faustina Signora, a singer of Rome,
301 Fayette, Mme. de la, on the King
and Mile, de Mancini, 203 Fayette, Mme. de la, portrait of
Hortense by, 231 Feminine duel, a, 106 Fenelon, Bishop, reference to, 197 Ferte, the Duchess de la, and her
tradespeople, 39 Fire at the Mazarin Palace, 235 Fleurs de lis and the Courtenays, 228 Flight of the Countess de Soissons,
134
Fontaine, La, introduced to the Duchess de Bouillon, 280 — his reference to Hortense, 267 — re- fuses to cross the English Channel, 296
Francesco Barbarini, reference to, 16
Francis, Prince of Modena, death of, 105
French Academy, founded by Mazarin, 59
Fronde, end of the war of the, 163 — the; reference to, 66
Gabrielle, the beautiful, 77 Gambler, Horttnse as a, 263 Gambling fashionable in Italy,
France and England, 38 Gambling in France, details of,
Ghigi, the Princess, plays nasty tricks on the Princess Colonna, 20S
Good qualities of Signorina Marti- nozzi, the, 96
Gossip about the Queen and Mazarin,
51 Grammont, the Marshal de, his
account of Mazarin, 47 Guishe, the Count de, 123
Hanover, the Duchess of, attack on, 302 — the Duchess of Hanover preserving her beauty, 302
Haughty letter from Mazarin to the King, 191
Hazardous interviews with Madame, 124
Helene, a portrait of, 166
Henriette and the Count de Guishe,
^23
Henrietta, Queen, visits London, 222
Heroines of Romance, the Duchess de Mazarin and the Princess Colonna, 255
Plistorical truth of Mazarin's attitude towards the King's attachment for his niece, 193
Hortense and Mary arrested at Aix, 213 — many suitors contend for, 220 — negotiations for marriage with Charles H. of England, 222 — marriage of, 231 — an account of her married troubles, 235 — escapes from a tyrannical husband, 237 — in the Convent of Filles-de- Sainte-Marie, 238 — caught be- tween the window bars, 244 — tries to escape disguised as a man, 246 — arrives in Rome, 249 — de- tained by force in a convent, 251 — liberated by stratagem, 251 — her travels during war time, 257 — visits England, 258 — her passion for the Prince de Monaco, 259 — her life in London, 261 — regains her pension and has apartments in St James's Palace, 261 — has her apartments upholstered in
315
Inde
black, 265 — at the Revolution in England left in want, 266 — re- gains a pension, 267 — her death, 268
Hospitality, the, of Hortense, 263
Houdancourt, Mile, de la Motte, intrigue of the King with, 125
How Richelieu prepared the way for democracy, 60
Hyeronima, sister of Mazarin, her marriage, 163
Hymen, generals appointed by, 103
Important part played by Maz- arin's nieces in his political plans,
79 Independence of the King, 177 Ink in the holy water, 241 Invocation of spirits, an, 132
Jansenism, the Prince and Princess Conti's connection with, 100
Jansenists, reference to, 233
Jealousy of the Marshal de la Meilleraye, 233
Jesuits, College of, at Rome, 31
Jew, a wandering, 233
Jokes on nuns, 241
Joseph, Father, reference to, 272
King, daily visits of the, to the Soissons Palace, 117 — the, as a comedy lover, 117 — the, deafened by the quarrels of the Duke and Duchess de Mazarin, 299 — the, repeats his oath to be faithful to Mary Mancini, 192 — the, repri- manded by the Queen for leading Mme. de Mercoeur to begin a dance, 80
Knights of the Round Table, 298
Laeorde, Count Leon de, pro- nounced Mazarin a noble by birth, 26 — the Count de, on gambling in France, 38
Laura as Regent of Modena, 105 — (Duchess of Modena), death, 109 — Mancini, married to the Duke de Mercoeur, 73 — the wife of the Duke de Mercoeur and her quiet life, 80
Lescaut, Le Manon, of the seven- teenth century, 239
Libels against Mazarin. 89
Libraries, Mazarin establishes a free
one, 58 Listening at doors, 276 Little girls disliked by Louis XIV.,
I6S Longueville, Mme., converted to
Mazarin's party, 92 Lorraine, Prince Charles, solicits
Mary Mancini in marriage, 198 —
the Chevalier, banished from the
French Court, 208 Louis XIV. and the memory of
Richelieu, 66 — permitted the
Countess de Soissons to escape,
137 — grants a pension to the
Count de Soissons, 143 Louise d'Orleans and her influence,
152 Louvois, fascinated by the Marquis
de Vardes, 159 — a mortal foe of
the Countess de Soissons, 134 Louvois, M. de, persecution of the
Countess de Soissons, 139 Loyola, St Ignatius, Mazarin in the
character of, 39 Lyons, meeting of the two Courts
at, 177 Lys, the abbey of, 213
Malplaquet, reference to, 157 Mancines, the King's grievances
against the, 300 Mancini, an illustrious name, 163 Mancini, Laura, married to the Duke
de Mercceur, 73 Mansart, the architect employed by
Mazarin to embellish his palace, 55 Mantua, succession to the throne of,
IS. 42
Marguerite de Savoie, the Princess, her personal appearance, 181
Marianne, a niece of Mazarin, her precocity, 274 — letter from, to her uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, 276 — takes part in the King's ballets, 277 — betrothed to Maurice-Gode- froy de la Tour, 278 — a sketch of her personal charms, 282 — the Duchess de Bouillon in Paris, 283 — her return to Paris, 286 — sent to a convent, 286 — ^judicially ex- amined in connection with astro- logy, etc., 289 — her witty reply to a Counsellor of State, 293 — the Duchess de Bouillon, exiled, 295
316
Index
— offends the King by her loud talking, 295 — visits England after an absence of fifteen years, 296 — the Duchess de Bouillon, a priso- ner of William III., 29S — life in Rome, 300 — her death, 302 — as the Queen of Paris, 303
Marie-Therese, proposed marriage with Louis XIV., 182, 309
Marriage of Laura Mancini, solem- nised at Bruhl, 77
Marsillac, the Prince de, 202
Mary Mancini, 163
Mary Mancini, in love with the King, 170 — changed by the air of the Court, 172, 173 — instructs the King, 173 — her extraordinary influence over the King, 175 — incessant attendance of the King upon her, j8i — the rival of her uncle, Mazarin, 194 — married at Milan to the Constable Colonna, 204 — enjoys the society of the Chevalier de Lorraine, 209 — and her influence on Louis XIV., 218 — her friendship with the Due d'Albret, 285
Mas, M. du, 207
Masses, one thousand for the soul of Cardinal Mazarin, 311
Maximilienne, allusion to Mary Mancini under that name, 174
Mazarin and the Pope, 1 5 — accused of being bribed by Richelieu, 16 — painted on a charger, 17 — who was he? 17 — scurrilous reference to, 18 — a purveyor of dishonest pleasures, 19 — a Sicilian, 19 — as a Jew, 20 — as a descendant of the Normans, 20 — the son of a hatter, 19, 22 — as a soldier, alleged cheating at play, 23 — pronounced of noble birth by Count Leon de Laborde. 26 — descended from Roman Patricians, 27 — was he ever at Nanles in a noble college ? 28 — Father Anselme on his origin, 28— Gualdo Priorato and Aubery on his origin, 28 — origin of, in the clouds, 29 — a life of, in the Turin Library, 29— many par- ticulars about his birth, etc., 29 — affirmed as having been born in Rome, 30 — reciting at five years, 31 — as a gambler, leads a
disorderly life in Rome, ^^ — be- comes Chamberlain in the house- hold of Prince Girolamo Colonna, 33 — at Madrid, 34 — on man with- out money, 34 — and the Notary's daughter, 35 — Constable Colonna interferes with his love aff'air at Madrid, 35 — a turning-point in his life, 36 — the word swindler not justly applied to, 37 — takes to study, 39 — in the character of St Ignatius Loyola, 39 — in the Pope's army, 40 — as a writer of verse, 40 — faces the enemy and so becomes a Cardinal, 41 — suc- cessful in military negotiations, 41 — the Valteline Campaign, 41 — appointed vice -legate in 1634, 43 — entry into Paris, 43 — wins the favour of Richelieu, through Chavigny, 44 — marvel- lous stories about sojourn at the Court of France, 44 — distributes his winnings to the ladies of the Court, and gives 50,000 gold pieces to the Queen, 44 — sacri- fices the hope of becoming Pope, 45 — created a cardinal through the influence of Richelieu, 45 — personal description by the Count de Brienne, 46 — with the Queen's ladies, 48 — objects to the Queen's religious fervour, 49 — gossip about his relations to the Queen, 51 — amorous correspondence with Anne of Austria, 52 — secret marriage with Anne of Austria, 52^scheme to rule over France through the Queen, 53 — great splendour of his state, 55 — as a collector of works of art, 56 — originates the public exhibition of picture galleries, 57 — his re- lation to Queen Christina of Sweden, 57 — establishes a great library, 58 — what Cardinal Mazarin did for art and letters, 59 — as founder of the French Academy, 59 — sends for his family, 61 — his choice of a gotiver- tianti for his nieces, 64 — as Tutor of Louis XIV., 66 — in his popu- larity, 67 — insulted by the Prince de Conde, 70 — in exile at Bruhl, 72 — marries his niece, Laura
1^7
Index
Mancini, to the Duke de Mer- coeur, 73 — his motive for bringing his nieces from Rome, 74 — plans to marry another niece to the Duke de Beaufort, 79 — conducts State affairs at Bruhl, while an outlaw, 86 — correspondence with the Queen during his exile, 86 — crosses the French frontier at the head of 6000 men, 87 — marries another niece to the Prince de Conti, 91 — his opportunity for allying himself to the House of France, 94 — schemes for another family marriage, 102 — and the King's attachment to his niece, III — and horoscopes, 133 — brings his nieces, Mary and Hortense, to the Louvre, 164 — how he felt the need of family life, 165 — fears the death of the King, 169 — refuses the proposal of the King to marry his niece, Mary Mancini, 185 — sends his niece, Mary, to Brouage, 188 — letter of, regarding his niece Mary, 194 — and the State, 195 — death of, 201 — his interest in his nieces' and nephews' education, 305 — his vexation at his nieces* want of piety, 307 — his exalted connections, 312 — his sweet manners in public, 308 — his enormous wealth, 309
Mazarin, Le Palais, 26
Mazarin, the Duke de, as an icono- clast, 233 — preaches to the King, 234 — baffled by his wife,
243. Mazarin, the Duchess de, and the Princess Colonna fly from Rome,
254. Mazarin's nieces conducted to the
Queen, 64 Mazarinade, 21 Mazarinades, 18 Meilleraye, the Marshal de la,
descended from an apothecary,
220 Meilleraye, the Duke de la, chosen
by Mazarin, as a husband for
Hortense, 229 Memoirs of Mary Mancini. 184 Mercenary, Duke of Lorraine as a.
200
Mercoeur, the Duke de, after the death of his wife becomes a priest, 85
Military nepotism of Mazarin, the, 103
Modena, the Prince of, marries Laura Martinozzi, 103
Moliere, reference to, 130
Monaco, passion of Hortense for the Prince of, 259
Montausier, the Duke and the Duchess, claim to be most vir- tuous, 202
Montespan, Mme. de, 135
Montpensier, Mile, de, on Prince Charles de Lorraine, 199 — on proposal from the King of Eng- land to marry Hortense, 221
Morin introduces bassette into Eng- land, 264
Mothe d'Argencourt, Mile., cap- tivates Louis XIV., 166
Mothers of the Church, 100
Motteville, Mme. de, on Mazarin, 23 — description of Mazarin, 47 — describes three of Mazarin's nieces, 63
Navailles, the Duchess de, causes friction with the King by reason of her piety, 1 18 — her dismissal, 125
Nephew and uncle rivals for the hand of Mary Mancini, 200
Nereid, Marianne as a, 279
Nevers, the Duke de, his scmgs about his sister Marianne, 287
Nieces, three of Mazarin's, arrive in France, 62 ; two more to follow, 90
Noces de TMtis et de Pelee, 113
Olympia Mancini, praised as the nymph, iio — a favourite of the King, III — a Court Divinity, 112 — ^jealousy of, 114 — seeks mar- riage, 115 — marries the Count de Soissons, 116 — as a widow, 130 — her last evening at the Soissons Palace, 137
Ondedei, the Abbe, confidant of Mazarin, 272
Organised attacks on the Countess de Soissons, 140
Oudenarde, Battle of, 147. See s\%q 301
318
Index
Palais Royai,, a secret staircase used by Mazarin to visit the Queen, 52
Paris, Marianne Mancini, Duchess de Bouillon, as Queen of, 303
Parliament and the Duke de Mer- cceur, 78 — invoked to decide between Hortense and her hus- band, 245
Parma, the Prince de, in love with the Countess de Soissons, 141
Pasquin, pleasantries of, on the Princess Colonna, 210
Patin, Dr Guy, 224
Paul Mancini, a nephew of Mazarin, accompanies him, 88
Peter II. of Portugal, 224
Philippe the Fifth and the Duke de Vendome, 81
Pictures, the Mazarin collection, 309
Playmates for the King, nieces of Mazarin as, 165
Poggio, Italian novelist, 281
Poisoning, the death of the Count de Soissons attributed to, 131
Political party formed against Hor- tense, 259
Portsmouth, the Duchess of, 259
Portugal, Peter II. of, 224
Powders of succession, 135
Pricieuses, allusion to the, 174
Press, the, used as an engine against Mazarin, 89
Price, a, on Mazarin's head, 87
Priorato Gualdo on Mazarin's origin, 28
Prosecution of the Duke de Nevers by the Duke de Mazarin, 248
Public penance by the Prince de Conti, 100
Quarrelsome Beasts, three, 297 Queen, the, her plain speaking to
Mazarin, 187 Queen of Paris, the, 303 Queroualles, reign of, declining, 259 Question of the banishment of Hor- tense from England, 267 Questions judicially put to Marianne, the Duchess de Bouillon, 290
Resistance in England to the marriage of the Duke of York to Mary d'Este, 108
Retz, Cardinal de, 18
Reiz on Mazarin, 37
Rhymed Letters from Marianne to her uncle, Mazarin, 275
Richelieu, Cardinal de, 16 — indi- cates Mazarin as the future Prime Minister of France. 45
Riviere, the Abbe de la, 64
Rochefoucauld, the Duke de, on Mazarin, 61
Rocquelaure, the Duchess de, 120 — dies of a concealed passion, 122
Roguish tricks in a convent, 241
Rohan, Chevalier de, 245
Roi Soleil, Le, 2 1 7
Rome, lives of the Colonnas in, 205
Rose of England, the, 309
Royale, Mme., splendid entn'c of, 179
Sage, Le, the sorcerer, 291
Saint-Evremond and the Duchess de Mazarin, 262
Saint-Loup, Mme. de, the Duke de Candale's passion for, 75
Saint-Simon, the Duke de, on the origin of Mazarin, 24 — on the birth of Uriane de la Cropte- Beauvais, 142 — accuses the Countess de Soissons of poisoning Louis d'Orleans, 152
Sarrazin aids Mazarin in marrying his niece to Prince de Conti, 93
Sauval, M., description of Mazarin's Palace by, 55
Savoie, the Princess Marguerite de, 176
Saxony, the great King of, 115
Scarron, the poet, satirising Mazarin, 20
Scurrilous references to Mazarin, 18
Secret marriage between Mazarin and Anne of Austria, 52
Sedan, Mazarin enters that strong- hold, 88
Senece, the Marchioness, ridiculed in a song, 65 — punished by Maz- arin for her secession to the Fronde, 68
Sevigne, Mme., letter from, 121 — a letter to her daughter, 136 — on the Queen of Spain, 150 — on the Marquis de Vardes, 158 — on Marianne's alleged attempt to poison her husband, 291
319
Index
Sidonie (the Marchioness de Cour- celles) shut up in a convent, 240
Siege of Mortara, the, 105
Simony, the Duke de Mazarin on, 272
SoissMis, the Count de, as a soldier, 130 — death of, at the siege of Landau, 144
Soissons, the Countess de, at Brux- elles, 140 — an account of her family, 141 — cause for the down- fall of the house of, 142 — the vicissitudes of, 148— goes to Spain, 150 — in Germany, 155 — her death, 156
Soissons Palace, a fashionable ren- dezvous, 201
Sorcerer, a, 290
Spain, the Queen' of, 150, 151
State, Mazarin and the, 195
Strange conduct of the Prince ce Conti, prior to his marriage, 95
Strange stories about the death of the Count de Soissons, 131
Succession to the throne of Mantua, 15
Suppers at the Temple and d'Anet, 287
Surintendante of the Queen's household, Olympia as, 117
Sweden, the Queen of, and Olympia, 1 12
Table, Knights of the Round, 298
Tapestries belonging to Cardinal Mazarin, 311
Three hundred lawsuits, the, of the Duke de Mazarin, 234
Tianges, Diane de, 251
Tiber, bathing in the, 209
Toilet, the Duke de Mazarin inter- feres with that of the Duchess, 236
Toiras, Mile., and the Marquis de Vardes, 158
Tubeuf, sold his mansion to Cardinal Mazarin, 54
Turenne, the King joins the army commanded by, 169 — mention of, 222 — visits Mazarin in his last illness, 270
Turks, French military men go to war against the, 146
Uncle, a growling, 307
Uncle and nephew rivals for the
hand of Mary Mancini, 200 Uranie de la Cropte-Beauvais, 142
Valliere, Mile, de, reference to, 117,119
Valteline Campaign, the, and Maz- arin, 41
Vardes, the Marquis de, anecdote of, 97 — famous for amours and duels, account of, 119— spends forty-eight hours in a cellar, I2i — in exile, 157 — recalled from exile, 159 — and Louis XIV., 160 — death of, 161 — mainspring of intrigues, 202
Vendome, the Duke de, reference
to, 77
Vendomes, the, rewarded for their alliance with Mazarin, 79
Venelle, Mme. de, and the educa- tion of Mazarin's nieces, -306
Versailles, Marianne at, 295
Vices, Mazarin described as a per- sonification of all the, 89
Villars, Mme. de, her comments on Mary Mancini, 215
Villeroy, the Marquess, 128
Violent passion of the King for Mile, de la Mothe d'Argencourt, 166
Voisin, la, famous poisoning case of, 133. See also 289, 290
Walckenaer, libels by, 24, and
on Mazarin, 129 Waller, the poet, 262 War of the Fronde, end of, 163 Wedding of the Queen of Spain, 152 Wedding present to Marie-Therese,
309 Whitehall, Hortense at, 259 William IIL releases Marianne, 298 Window bars, Hortense caught
between. 244 Wittikind, the great King of Saxony,
"5 I
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