The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henri IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII — Volume 2Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
History
The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henri IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII — Volume 2
Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
Marie de Médicis, Queen, consort of Henry IV, King of France, 1573-1642
Hitherto M. de Condé had taken no part in the dissensions which were
going on about him, but on the night of the 10th of July he in his turn
received a warning to be upon his guard, and in consequence he caused a
strong patrol to keep watch on all sides of his palace. Not an hour
passed in which the gallop of a party of horsemen was not heard
clattering over the rough and ill-paved streets. At midnight the Marquis
d'Ancre waited upon the Prince to convey to him an invitation from the
Regent to take up his abode in the Louvre should he not consider himself
safe in his own house, but M. de Condé coldly declined to avail himself
of the offer, alleging that the manner in which her Majesty had replied
on the previous day, when he had informed her of his having been assured
of her intention to cause his arrest, had given him no encouragement to
become her guest; an answer which by no means tended to relieve the
increasing apprehensions of the Queen, who felt the necessity of
appeasing at any sacrifice the discontent of the Princes. She
accordingly desired the presence of M. de Condé at the Louvre, a summons
which he reluctantly obeyed; and it was long before the urbanity of her
welcome assured him of the sincerity with which she entreated him to
endeavour in her name to conciliate the Prince de Conti, who, on the
refusal of the coveted government, had quitted Paris in disgust, and to
induce his return to the Court.
It was not the fashion of that period even for Princes of the Blood to
make concessions whence they derived no personal benefit, and it was
accordingly without any compunction that M. de Condé declared the terms
upon which he would undertake the proposed mission. He was to receive as
recompense for his condescension the sum of fifty thousand crowns, with
the first government which should become vacant, and was authorized to
promise two hundred thousand crowns to the Duc de Guise for the payment
of his debts, as well as several lesser sums to others of the Princes,
on condition that they should return to their allegiance and forego
their personal animosities.
These preliminary arrangements concluded, M. de Condé hastened to
represent to his uncle the necessity of his immediate return to Paris
before the departure of the King for Rheims, whither he was about to
proceed for his coronation; and the Prince de Conti having with
considerable difficulty been induced to comply with his request, the
princely relatives entered the capital with so numerous a retinue of
nobles and gentlemen that it excited general remark.
On the following day the two Princes, similarly attended, and
accompanied by the Duc de Guise and M. de Joinville, proceeded to the
Parliament, where they took their accustomed seats; but neither M. de
Soissons nor the Duc d'Epernon were present, the first pretexting
indisposition and the second declining to adduce any reason for his
absence.[87]
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