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
"His Eminence having, on the return of the lackey, expressed his desire
to witness the effect of the disguise, M. de Rochefort retired to
another chamber, where, with the assistance of his servant, he exchanged
his velvet vest and satin haut-de-chausses for the foul garb of a
mendicant; this done, he smeared his face with dirt, and crouching down
in a corner, he requested me to announce to Monseigneur that he was
ready to receive him. His Eminence was astonished at his appearance, as
well as to see him act the character he had assumed as if he had studied
and practised it all his life. He told him to set forth, and that if he
succeeded in his attempt he would render him the greatest service which
he had ever received.
"As soon as the Cardinal had taken leave of Rochefort, he said to me:
'In the disguise the Count has on, and when he is crouched upon his
dunghill like a miserable cripple, it will be easy for him to look every
one in the face; and I hope he will make some discovery of that which
troubles me.' His Eminence then told me that he wanted my valet, to
place him in disguise in another direction. I therefore called him. He
was a very sharp fellow at everything that was required of him; and the
Cardinal made him put on a shabby cassock, with a false beard of
grizzled hair and eyebrows to match, which were all fastened on with a
certain liquid so firmly to the skin that it was necessary to apply
vinegar in which the ashes of vine-twigs had been steeped, when they
instantly fell off. My Basque was at length dressed in a torn,
threadbare cassock, masked by his false beard, with an old hat upon his
head, a breviary under his arm, and a tolerably thick stick in his hand,
and received an order to post himself near the little gate of the
Luxembourg stables. The Cardinal then desired me not to leave him, as he
had certain orders to give me which he could not entrust to every one on
such an occasion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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