One of the first acts of the Prince de Condé was to write a letter of thanks to Monsieur de Villardin, for the part he had taken in the late events; and he condescended especially to notice my somewhat dangerous enterprise in finding my way into Vincennes, for the purpose of communicating to him the plan framed by Gourville for his deliverance. He added, that he might have supposed I had deceived him, as the scheme was never put in execution, but that he had learned from other sources the cause which prevented the attempt; and he concluded by assuring Monsieur de Villardin that, if he could point out any object which either he or I desired, the whole influence of the house of Condé should be exerted to obtain it for us. This probably might have led me into other scenes, and indeed might have changed the complexion of my whole after-life, had not events arisen which soon placed the Prince in a state of fiercer opposition to the Court than ever. Anne of Austria resolved to recal her favourite Mazarin: Condé himself, aspiring to govern the state, was determined that the minister should remain in exile. Means were soon found to embroil him with the party of the Fronde; and the Prince at length made up his mind both to revenge himself upon those who had caused his imprisonment, and to strike boldly for the supreme power by force of arms. Having once taken his resolution, he pursued it with all that fearless decision which rendered him a great general, but more than once made him a bad subject. Retiring from Paris, he negotiated with all his former friends and adherents; and, carrying his measures still farther, treated with Spain itself, the open and declared enemy of his native country. From that crown he received every assurance of assistance that he could desire, which assurances were fulfilled to the letter; but with his former partisans in France he was not by any means so successful. His causes of complaint against the Court were not at all such as to justify the violent and ruinous measures he was pursuing. His own ambitious motives were apparent to every eye, and an immense change of circumstances had been effected by the simple fact of the young King having attained his majority. What people might affect to consider a struggle amongst the different powers of the state for the administration of the realm during the infancy of the King, could now be looked upon in no other light than as actual rebellion against the royal authority. The Duke of Bouillon,--tied by the engagement made at Bourg, and seeing the present situation of the Prince in a very different light from that in which his position while under imprisonment had appeared to him--positively refused to take part in his rebellion, though the regiment he had raised, officers and soldiers, went over to the party of Condé. Turenne followed the example of his brother the Duc de Bouillon, and declined to act with the Prince against the Court. Monsieur de Villardin also, in reply to