The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henri IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII — Volume 3Pardoe, 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 3
Pardoe, Miss (Julia)
Marie de Médicis, Queen, consort of Henry IV, King of France, 1573-1642
This promotion proved, however, too rapid for the vanity of Cinq-Mars:
who no sooner saw himself in a position so brilliant as to excite the
envy of half the Court than, with a self-confidence fatal to the
interests of Richelieu, he once more sought deliverance from the yoke of
his priest-patron, and devoted himself so earnestly to the service of
Louis that ere long the King found his companionship indispensable. When
by chance he absented himself for a few hours from Fontainebleau, in
order to exchange the monotony of that palace for the dissipation of the
capital, the King no sooner became aware of the fact than after having
impatiently reiterated more than once, "Cinq-Mars! Where is Cinq-Mars?"
he despatched a courier to Paris to recall him: and the pleasure-loving
young man was compelled to return upon the instant to attend his royal
master in a stag-hunt, or to parade his satins and velvets among the
hounds whom Louis delighted to feed and fondle; until he began to be
weary of the honours which he had so lately coveted, and to sigh for
unrestrained intercourse with his former associates.
With still less patience, however, did he endure the imperious chidings
of the Cardinal, who could not brook that one who owed his advancement
to his favour should seek to emancipate himself from his control; and
the spoiled child of fortune, when he occasionally passed from the
perfumed boudoir of some haughty Court beauty by whom he had been
flattered and caressed to the closet of the minister where he was
greeted by a stern brow and the exclamation of "Cinq-Mars, Cinq-Mars,
you are forgetting yourself!" found considerable difficulty in
controlling his impetuosity; but it was even worse when to this rebuke
Richelieu at times added in a contemptuous tone: "Remember to whom you
owe your fortune, and that it will be quite as easy for me to divest you
of the high-sounding titles which have turned your brain as it was to
procure them for you. Be warned, therefore; for if you do not conduct
yourself with more propriety, and evince more respect for my authority,
I will have you turned out of the palace like a lackey."
The constant repetition of these taunts made the impetuous blood of the
haughty youth boil in his veins; while the lingering remnant of
affection which he had hitherto retained for the friend of his father
and his own benefactor became gradually changed to hate, and impelled
him to redouble his zeal about the person of the sovereign, in order
that he might one day secure sufficient influence over the latter's mind
to enable him to revenge the insults offered to his pride.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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