Serious illness of the Duc d’Enghien--Tyranny exercised over him by Richelieu--An amusing anecdote--Death of the Cardinal--His will--Lawsuit between the Prince de Condé and the Duchesse d’Aiguillon--Enghien contemplates the dissolution of his marriage, neglects his wife, and devotes himself to Marthe du Vigean--He receives the command of the Army of Flanders, gains the brilliant victory of Rocroi, and takes Thionville--The Duchesse d’Enghien gives birth to a son--Indifference of the duke--He returns to Paris and endeavours to procure the dissolution of his marriage--But this project is frustrated by the interference of the Prince de Condé--Enghien is wounded at the battle of Nördlingen, and has a dangerous attack of fever--To the astonishment of his friends, he suddenly breaks off his tender relations with Mlle. du Vigean--Despair of the lady, who, in spite of the opposition of her family, enters the Carmelites of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques. A few days after his marriage, the Duc d’Enghien fell dangerously ill, an event which was attributed by the Court to his despair at having been forced into an alliance so distasteful to him. Certainly, he behaved like a man who had little desire to live, and it was only with great difficulty that he could be persuaded to see the doctors whom _Monsieur le Prince_ called in. At one time, his condition was so serious that hope was almost abandoned, but these apprehensions were fortunately unfounded, and in six weeks he was convalescent. His spirits, however, did not return with his strength, and he remained for some time in a state of profound melancholy, refusing to go into Society, or to receive his friends, and spending “the entire day and a part of the night” reading romances. At length, he succeeded in shaking off his lethargy, and on 13 May celebrated his return to health by giving a grand fête at Charonne to his sister and her fair friends, including, needless to say, Mlle. du Vigean. The Cardinal, already irritated by the coldness with which Enghien had from the first treated his child-wife, in spite of the affection which she lavished upon him, was much displeased on learning of this entertainment, for, in his opinion, no society was more calculated to wean his nephew from the domestic hearth than that of these charming young ladies. He had another, and more serious cause for resentment against the young prince, in the fate which had befallen one Maigrin, a creature of his own, whom Condé, at his suggestion, had appointed comptroller of his son’s Household. Incensed by the surveillance which he suspected Maigrin of exercising over his actions, Enghien had inveighed against him in such violent terms before some of his confidential servants, that two of them, with the idea of pleasing their master, picked a quarrel with the unfortunate comptroller, and wounded him so severely that he died a few hours later.