Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Emanuela Piasentini and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +------------------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note. | | | |The original punctuation, language and spelling have been | |retained, except where noted at the end of the text. | |The [oe] ligature has been rendered as oe. | | | |Alternative spellings: | |Chateau: Chateau | |Chateauneuf: Chateauneuf | |Chatillon: Chatillon | |Claire Clemence de Maille: Claire Clemence de Maille | |Gondi: Gondy | |Guemene: Guemenee, Guymene | |heyday: heydey | |Hotel, hotel: Hotel, hotel | |Meilleraye: Meilleraie | |Montresor: Montresor | |Muenster: Munster | |Orleans: Orleans | |Scudery: Scuderi | |Seguier: Seguier | |Sevigne: Sevigne | |strenuously: strenously | |Tallemant des Reaux: Tallement des Reaux, Tallemant de Reaux| +------------------------------------------------------------+ POLITICAL WOMEN. BY SUTHERLAND MENZIES, AUTHOR OF "ROYAL FAVOURITES," ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. HENRY S. KING & CO., 65, CORNHILL, AND 12, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1873. [_All rights reserved._] CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. PART I. PAGE INTRODUCTION vii BOOK I. CHAP. I.--Anne de Bourbon (sister of the Great Conde) 3 II.--The Duchess de Longueville 12 III. & IV.--The Duchess de Chevreuse 17, 35 BOOK II. CHAP. I.--Anne of Austria's Prime Minister and his policy 43 II.--The Duchess de Montbazon--Affair of the dropped letters--The Quarrel of the rival Duchesses 66