The exultation of Louis XIII at the fall of La Rochelle was considerably lessened by a violent attack of gout which immediately succeeded, and by which he was detained a prisoner within its gates until the 19th of November, when he departed for Limours, where he was met by the two Queens and Monsieur. Thence the Court proceeded to St. Germain in order to enjoy the diversion of hunting, and subsequently to Versailles, to await the completion of the ceremonial of the solemn and triumphal entry of the King into his capital, which took place on the 23rd of December with great pomp and magnificence. All the approaches to the city were crowded by dense masses of the population of the adjacent country, while the streets were thronged with the citizens who rent the air with acclamations. Triumphal arches were erected at intervals along the road by which the royal procession was to travel; the balconies of the houses were draped with silks and tapestry; and nearly eight thousand men, splendidly armed and clothed, awaited the King a league beyond the gates in order to escort him to his capital. The Parliament, and all the municipal bodies, harangued him as he reached the walls, and exhausted themselves in the most fulsome and servile flatteries; and finally, he received the congratulations of all the foreign ambassadors, as well as the compliments of the Papal Nuncio, by whom he was exhorted in the name of the Pope to persist in the great work which he had so gloriously commenced, until he had accomplished the entire extermination of the Protestants of France.[110] FOOTNOTES: [90] Lingard, vol. ix. p. 326. [91] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 283, 286. [92] Motteville, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 342 _note_. [93] _Mercure Français_, 1625. Siri, _Mém. Rec_. vol. v, pp. 849, 850. [94] Brienne, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 422. [95] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 14, 15. Capefigue (Richelieu, Mazarin, etc.), vol. iv. p. 8. [96] Henri de Talleyrand, Prince de Chalais, was a younger son of the illustrious house of Talleyrand, whose personal attractions had secured to him the favour of Louis XIII, by whom he was appointed Grand Master of the Wardrobe. [97] Mézeray, vol. xi. pp. 317-319. [98] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. pp. 21, 22. Bassompierre, _Mém_. vol. iii. p. 56. Brienne, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 432. Gaston, Duc d'Orléans, _Mém_. vol. i. p. 56. Le Vassor, vol. v. pp. 471-500. [99] Capefigue, vol. iv. p. 34. [100] Sismondi, vol. xxiii. p. 22. Capefigue, vol. iv. p. 35. Bassompierre, _Mém_. vol. iii. p. 57. [101] Capefigue, vol. i. pp. 324-327. Bassompierre, _Mém_. vol. iii. pp. 60-76. [102] Mézeray, vol. xi. p. 334. [103] _Mercure Français_, 1627.