the opulence for which he seemed born, displaying a magnificence and a pomp unknown in a like degree before his time. Moreover, volatile and presumptuous, as inconstant as pliant, without profundity in his views, without connection in his projects, clever in maintaining himself in power, but disastrous to the sovereigns whom he governed, by turns insolently familiar and irresistibly attractive, sometimes admired by the crowd for his supreme distinction, at others execrated for his fatal authority, not low but impetuous in his caprices, not knowing either how to foresee or to accept an obstacle, and sacrificing everything to his fancy, he possessed none of the qualities of the statesman although he may have had all those which characterize the courtier. He was expected, and was received in Paris with the most eager curiosity. “M. de Buckingham,” wrote Richelieu to the Marquis d’Effiat, “will find in me the friendship which he might expect from a true brother who will render him all the services which he could desire of any one in the world,”[30] and Louis XIII. caused to be said to him, “I assure you that you will not be considered a stranger here, but a true Frenchman, since you are one in heart, and have shown in this marriage negotiation such uniform affection for the welfare and service of the two crowns, that I think as much of it, so far as I am concerned, as the King your master. You will be very welcome here, and you will have access to me on all occasions.”[31] From the day of his arrival, Buckingham really showed himself “a true Frenchman” by his manner of behaving, by the ease and freedom of his movements. “He entered the court,” says La Rochefoucauld, “with more splendour, grandeur, and magnificence than if he were King.”[32] Eight great lords and four-and-twenty knights accompanied him. Twenty gentlemen and twelve pages were attached to his person, and his entire suite was composed of six or seven hundred pages or attendants.[33] “He had all the treasures of the Crown of England to expend, and all its jewels to wear.”[34] He alighted at the splendid Hôtel de Luynes in the Rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre, which was then called the Hôtel de Chevreuse, “the most richly furnished hotel which France at present possesses,” says the _Mercure_, and for several days the people of Paris were dazzled by the extraordinary luxury displayed by the ostentatious foreigner.[35] The admiration at the court was quite as lively, and Buckingham there pushed liberality to extravagance. Each of his sumptuous costumes was covered with pearls and diamonds intentionally fastened on so badly that a great number fell off, which the duke refused to receive when they were brought to him. His prodigality, the importance of his mission, the seductiveness which enveloped his past life, and the amiability which he invariably displayed, his title of foreigner which rendered his perfectly French manners more piquant, that art of pleasing which was so easy to him,