[49] Nicolas Brulart, Seigneur de Sillery, was the elder son of Pierre Brulart, president of the Court of Requests at Paris. He obtained the office of court-councillor in 1573, and subsequently that of master of the Court of Requests. Henry IV, after his accession to the throne of France, appointed him ambassador to Switzerland; and on his return from that country, made him sixth president, that dignity having become vacant by the death of Jean Le Maître. In 1598 he was one of the deputies by whom the peace of Vervins was concluded; and from thence he proceeded to Brussels with the Duc de Biron, to be present when the Archduke swore to the observance of the treaty. He next visited Italy as ambassador extraordinary to the Pope, where he negotiated the marriage of the King with Marie de Medicis. In 1604 Henri IV created in his favour the office of keeper of the seals of France; and finally, on the death of the Chancelier de Bellièvre, he became his successor. [50] Sully, _Mém_. vol. iii. pp. 189, 190. [51] "Comme s'il fût revenu d'extase," says Péréfixe, vol. ii. p. 300. [52] In April 1599. [53] Bernard de Montfaucon. _Les Monumens de la Monarchie Française_, Paris, 1733, in folio, vol. v. p. 396. [54] Horace del-Monte. [55] Mézeray, vol. x. p. 123. [56] Maintenon, _Mém_., Amsterdam, 1756, vol. ii. p. 115. [57] Roger de St. Larry, Duc de Bellegarde, was the favourite of three successive sovereigns. Henri III appointed him master of his wardrobe, and subsequently first gentleman of the chamber, and grand equerry. Henri IV made him a knight of his Orders in 1595; and ultimately Louis XIII continued to him an equal amount of favour. The preservation of Quilleboeuf, which he defended with great gallantry during the space of three weeks, with only forty-five soldiers and ten nobles, against the army of the Duc de Mayenne, acquired for him a renown which he never afterwards forfeited. [58] Henri, Comte, and subsequently Duc, de Lude, was the last male representative of his family. He was appointed grand-master of the artillery in 1669, and died without issue in 1685. [59] Jean de St. Larry de Thermes, brother of the Duc d'Aiguillon. [60] Jacques, Marquis de Castelnau, subsequently Marshal of France, who, in 1658, commanded the left wing of the army at the battle of the Dunes, and died the same year, at the early age of thirty-eight. [61] François de Paule de Clermont, Marquis de Montglat, first maître d'hôtel to the King.