All my comfort is, that I am not by myself in a strange and unknown country: for the old duchess, who robbed me of my due benevolence in the other world, continually follows me to upbraid me; the _Guises_ rave, brandishing bloody daggers in their hands; and every hour I meet with numbers of my former acquaintance and nearest relations, but I avoid their company as much as I can, for the love of my dear cardinal, who continues as great a gallant as ever. I ask no masses of you, for the dead are not a farthing the better for them. But, madam, since all the world has not so good an opinion of me at _Brantome_, let me conjure you not to let my memory be too much insulted. Some may say I was as cunning as _Livia_, that I was even with my husband, and govern’d my children; but their fate did not answer my care: For _Francis_ liv’d but a little time, _Elizabeth_ found her tomb in the arms of a jealous husband, the queen of _Navarre_ was a wandering star, _Charles_ a cautious coxcomb, that sacrificed all to his safety; and _Henry_, on whom I had founded all my hopes, a dissolute debauchee, whom the justice of heaven would not spare. You know his history, and if you shou’d see a tragedy, of the like nature acted on your stage, let your constancy, which makes you respected even in hell, support you. Let old [6] _Messalina_ enjoy the famous honour of the royal bed; you need not blush at it, since all the world esteems you as much as they. _The Answer of the Duchess of_ ORLEANS _to_ CATHARINE de Medicis.