Charles IV., Duke of Lorraine, who, according to Voltaire, spent his life in losing his dominions, had been a lover of the open-hearted Duchess of Chevreuse, for whose sake his state was made the focus of intrigue against Richelieu. Louis XIII. when dying ordered this mischievous lady to be kept out of France, and Mazarin afterwards noted how disaster had dogged her footsteps in Lorraine and everywhere else. Her sojourn in England preceded the rebellion there, her voyage to Madrid was followed by the loss of Portugal and Catalonia, and her stay at Brussels coincided with the progress of French arms at the expense of Spain. Acknowledging the suzerainty of the Emperor and repudiating that of the French king, the Duke of Lorraine had visions of an eighth electorate, and of a commanding military position like that of Wallenstein. He lost his duchy, he did not gain his electorate, and the mercenaries whom he gathered from all sides, and supported by plunder or by forced contributions, were used by the Emperor or the King of Spain with very little regard for the permanent interests of their leader, who, however, made money by the business like an Italian condottiere of the fifteenth century. At the beginning of 1646 he gave a commission to Colonel Thomas Plunket to raise an Irish regiment for service in Flanders, and sought the assistance of Ormonde in so doing. Plunket brought letters to the Confederate Catholics, also, with money enough for recruiting purposes, and with a gift of four field pieces, thirty barrels of powder, and some pikes and muskets. Through the Spanish ambassador in London he had also obtained a safe conduct for himself and a passage for his men through the places held for the Parliament, and he was allowed to carry some of his levies to Flanders. As the Parliamentarians had command of the sea, it was easy for Ormonde to say that he countenanced nothing against the French court, and that there was little chance of Irish recruits being obtainable for the service of Louis XIV.[198] [Sidenote: The Duke's objects.] [Sidenote: Mission of Bishop French.] [Sidenote: Abortive dealings with Ormonde.]