“What a fine story, that story of Bassompierre!” he writes. “One of the reasons which caused him to be so passionately loved ought to be understood. At that time, France was divided into two classes, one dominant, the other semi-servile. The sempstress clasped Bassompierre in her arms as though he were a demi-god who had descended to the bosom of a slave: he gave her the illusion of glory, and Frenchwomen alone amongst women are capable of intoxicating themselves with that illusion. But who will reveal to us the unknown causes of the catastrophe? Was the body which lay upon the table by the side of another body that of the pretty wench of the Two Angels? Whose was the other body? Was it the husband or the man whose voice Bassompierre had heard? Had the plague (for the plague was raging in Paris) or jealousy reached the Rue Bourg-l’Abbé before love? The imagination can easily find matter for exercise in such a subject as this. Mingle with the poet’s inventions, the chorus of the populace, the approaching grave-diggers, the ‘crows’ and Bassompierre’s sword, and a magnificent melodrama springs from the adventure.”--_Mémoires d’Outre Tombe_, Vol. I. [51] Louise Pot, second wife of Claude de l’Aubespine, Seigneur de Verderonne. [52] Mlle. de la Patière, daughter of Georges l’Enfant, Seigneur de la Patière, and of Françoise du Plessis-Richelieu. The La Patières were friends and neighbours of Bassompierre. [53] Jean Louis de Nogaret de la Valette, born 1554; created Duc d’Épernon, 1581; died 1642. [54] The Duc de Montpensier died on February 27, 1608; the ballet appears to have been danced about the middle of January. [55] Charlotte de Montmorency, daughter of the Connétable Henri de Montmorency, by his second wife, Louise de Budos. She was born in 1594 and was at this time only fourteen. By his first wife, Antoinette de la Marck, the Constable had two daughters: (1) Charlotte de Montmorency, married in 1591 to Charles de Valois, Comte d’Auvergne, died in 1636, at the age of sixty-three; (2) Marguerite de Montmorency, married in 1593 to Anne de Lévis, Duc de Ventadour, died December 3, 1660, aged eighty-three. [56] Jean du Fay, Baron de Pérault, lieutenant of the King in the Bresse. He was married to Marie de Montmorency, a natural daughter of the Constable. [57] See the author’s “The Fascinating Duc de Richelieu” (London, Methuen; New York, Scribner, 1910). [58] The exception was Renée de Lorraine, Mlle. de Mayenne, daughter of Charles, Duc de Mayenne. [59] Charles de Montmorency. He was at first known under the title of Seigneur de Méru, then as Baron de Damville, and, in 1610, was created Duc de Damville. He died in 1612, after having filled the offices of Colonel-General of the Swiss troops in the French service and Admiral of France.