Marie de Medicis might also have quoted examples from the life of Anne of Austria herself, who had previously loved the Duke de Montmorency and the Duke de Bellegarde without her honour having been tarnished by so doing.[43] The recollection of Buckingham’s love dwelt more profoundly in the memory of all, because his passion had been more fiery and had been manifested by incautious acts. But to the end of the Queen’s life, even after the death of Louis XIII., and during the regency, it was in her presence a subject of conversation which she listened to complacently, because it flattered her self-esteem, and which she would certainly not have tolerated, had any one dared to start it, if this recollection had been to her a cause for remorse. Far from this, people familiarly jested with her about it with grace, and without offending her, since they could thus remind her of a liking which had been sufficiently strong, but had not led her to commit any fault. Richelieu, presenting Mazarin to the Queen, said, “You will like him, madam, he has Buckingham’s manner.”[44] Much later Anne of Austria, when Regent, meeting Voiture walking along in a dreamy state, in her garden of Ruel, and asking him what he was thinking of, received in reply these verses, which did not at all offend her:-- “Je pensais que la destinée, Après tant d’injustes malheurs, Vous a justement couronnée De gloire, d’éclat et d’honneurs; Mais que vous étiez plus heureuse Lorsque vous étiez autrefois, Je ne veux pas dire amoureuse, La rime le veut toutefois. Je pensais (que nos autres poëtes Nous pensons extravagamment) Ce que, dans l’humeur où vous êtes, Vous feriez si, dans ce moment, Vous avisiez en cette place Venir le Duc de Buckingham, Et lequel serait en disgrâce, De lui ou du père Vincent.”[45] Everything combines to absolve Anne of Austria from the crime of which she was accused during the troubles of the Fronde, and in the midst of the unjust passions aroused by civil war. Louis XIII.’s conduct with respect to her, and his persistent coldness, alone seemed to condemn her. But does this coldness date from Buckingham’s stay in Paris? Were the isolation in which Louis XIII. often remained and his neglect of the Queen such as people have believed up to the present time? Must we admit, as has been maintained, the proof of a criminal infidelity on the part of this Princess, deliberately committed either with Buckingham in 1625, or with an unknown individual, in 1630, with the view of being able, at the instant of Louis XIII.’s death, which then seemed imminent, to reign in the name of a child of whom she should be _enceinte_, and who, after the unexpected recovery of the King, became the Man with the Iron Mask? FOOTNOTES: [27] _Mercure Français_, 1625, pp. 365, 366. [28] _Mémoires de Madame de Motteville_, p. 15.