initial commit of ebook 3842HEADmain

7 files changed, 3518 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/3842.txt b/3842.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4de3bb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3842.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1776 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs Of Jean Francois Paul De Gondi,
+Cardinal De Retz, Volume I., by Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Memoirs Of Jean Francois Paul De Gondi, Cardinal De Retz, Volume I.
+       Being Historic Court Memoirs of the Great Events during the Minority
+       of Louis XIV. and the Administration of Cardinal Mazarin
+       
+
+Author: Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
+
+Release Date: September 29, 2006 [EBook #3842]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CARDINAL DE RETZ ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF JEAN FRANCOIS PAUL de GONDI,
+CARDINAL DE RETZ
+
+Written by Himself
+
+Being Historic Court Memoirs of the Great Events
+during the Minority of Louis XIV.
+and the Administration of Cardinal Mazarin.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+BOOK  I.
+
+BOOK  II.
+
+BOOK  III.
+
+BOOK  IV.
+
+BOOK  V.
+
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+Cardinal de Retz----Photogravure from an Old Painting
+
+Turenne----Photogravure from an Old Painting
+
+Richelieu----Engraving by Lubin
+
+Anne of Austria----Original Etching by Mercier
+
+Louis XIII----Painting in the Louvre
+
+Conde'----Painting in Versailles Gallery
+
+
+
+
+ORIGINAL PREFACE.
+
+
+Our Author, John Francis Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, Sovereign of
+Commercy, Prince of Euville, second Archbishop of Paris, Abbot of Saint
+Denis in France, was born at Montmirail, in Brie, in October, 1614.
+
+His father was Philippe Emanuel de Gondi, Comte, de Joigni, General of
+the Galleys of France and Knight of the King's Orders; and his mother was
+Frances Marguerite, daughter of the Comte de Rochepot, Knight of the
+King's Orders, and of Marie de Lannoy, sovereign of Commercy and Euville.
+
+Pierre de Gondi, Duc de Retz, was his brother, whose daughter was the
+Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.
+
+His grandfather was Albert de Gondi, Duc de Retz, Marquis de Belle Isle,
+a Peer of France, Marshal and General of the Galleys, Colonel of the
+French Horse, First Gentleman of the Bedchamber, and Great Chamberlain to
+the Kings Charles IX. and Henri III.
+
+This history was first printed in Paris in 1705, at the expense of the
+Duchesse de Lesdiguieres, the last of this noble family, whose estate
+fell after her decease to that of Villeroy.
+
+His preceptor was the famous Vincent de Paul, Almoner to Queen Anne of
+Austria.
+
+In 1627 he was made a Canon of the Cathedral of Paris by his uncle, Jean
+Francois de Gondi, first archbishop of that city, and was not long after
+created a Doctor of the Sorbonne.
+
+In 1643 he was appointed Coadjutor of the archbishopric of Paris, with
+the title of Archbishop of Corinth, during which, such was his pastoral
+vigilance that the most important affairs of the Church were committed to
+his care.
+
+As to his general character, if we take it from his own Memoirs, he had
+such presence of mind, and so dexterously improved all opportunities
+which fortune presented to him, that it seemed as if he had foreseen or
+desired them.  He knew how to put a good gloss upon his failings, and
+oftentimes verily believed he was really the man which he affected to be
+only in appearance.  He was a man of bright parts, but no conduct, being
+violent and inconstant in his intrigues of love as well as those of
+politics, and so indiscreet as to boast of his successful amours with
+certain ladies whom he ought not to have named.  He affected pomp and
+splendour, though his profession demanded simplicity and humility.  He
+was continually shifting parties, being a loyal subject one day and the
+next a rebel, one time a sworn enemy to the Prime Minister, and by and by
+his zealous friend; always aiming to make himself formidable or
+necessary.  As a pastor he had engrossed the love and confidence of the
+people, and as a statesman he artfully played them off against their
+sovereign.  He studied characters thoroughly, and no man painted them in
+truer colours more to his own purpose.  Sometimes he confesses his
+weaknesses, and at other times betrays his self-flattery.
+
+It being his fate to be imprisoned by Mazarin, first at Vincennes and
+then at Nantes, he made his escape to Rome, and in 1656 retired to
+Franche Comte, where Cardinal Mazarin gave orders for his being arrested;
+upon which he posted to Switzerland, and thence to Constance, Strasburg,
+Ulm, Augsburg, Frankfort, and Cologne, to which latter place Mazarin sent
+men to take him dead or alive; whereupon he retired to Holland, and made
+a trip from one town to another till 1661, when, Cardinal Mazarin dying,
+our Cardinal went as far as Valenciennes on his way to Paris, but was not
+suffered to come further; for the King and Queen-mother would not be
+satisfied without his resignation of the archbishopric of Paris, to which
+he at last submitted upon advantageous terms for himself and an amnesty
+for all his adherents.  But still the Court carried it so severely to the
+Cardinal that they would not let him go and pay his last devoirs to his
+father when on his dying bed.  At length, however, after abundance of
+solicitation, he had leave to go and wait upon the King and Queen, who,
+on the death of Pope Alexander VII., sent him to Rome to assist at the
+election of his successor.
+
+No wonder that King Charles II. of England promised to intercede for the
+Cardinal's reestablishment; for when the royal family were starving, as
+it were, in their exile at Paris, De Retz did more for them than all the
+French Court put together; and, upon the King's promise to take the Roman
+Catholics of England under his protection after his restoration, he sent
+an abbot to Rome to solicit the Pope to lend him money, and to dispose
+the English Catholics in his favour.
+
+He would fain have returned his hat to the new Pope, but his Holiness, at
+the solicitation of Louis XIV., ordered him to keep it.  After this he
+chose a total retirement, lived with exemplary piety, considerably
+retrenched his expenses, and hardly allowed himself common necessaries,
+in order to save money to pay off a debt of three millions, which he had
+the happiness to discharge, and to balance all accounts with the world
+before his death, which happened at Paris on the 24th of August, 1679, in
+the 65th year of his age.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS.
+
+
+CARDINAL DE RETZ.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I.
+
+
+MADAME:--Though I have a natural aversion to give you the history of my
+own life, which has been chequered with such a variety of different
+adventures, yet I had rather sacrifice my reputation to the commands of a
+lady for whom I have so peculiar a regard than not disclose the most
+secret springs of my actions and the inmost recesses of my soul.
+
+By the caprice of fortune many mistakes of mine have turned to my credit,
+and I very much doubt whether it would be prudent in me to remove the
+veil with which some of them are covered.  But as I am resolved to give
+you a naked, impartial account of even the most minute passages of my
+life ever since I have been capable of reflection, so I most humbly beg
+you not to be surprised at the little art, or, rather, great disorder,
+with which I write my narrative, but to consider that, though the
+diversity of incidents may sometimes break the thread of the history, yet
+I will tell you nothing but with all that sincerity which the regard I
+have for you demands.  And to convince you further that I will neither
+add to nor diminish from the plain truth, I shall set my name in the
+front of the work.
+
+False glory and false modesty are the two rocks on which men who have
+written their own lives have generally split, but which Thuanus among the
+moderns and Caesar among the ancients happily escaped.  I doubt not you
+will do me the justice to believe that I do not pretend to compare myself
+with those great writers in any respect but sincerity,--a virtue in which
+we are not only permitted, but commanded, to rival the greatest heroes.
+
+I am descended from a family illustrious in France and ancient in Italy,
+and born upon a day remarkable for the taking of a monstrous sturgeon in
+a small river that runs through the country of Montmirail, in Brie, the
+place of my nativity.
+
+I am not so vain as to be proud of having it thought that I was ushered
+into the world with a prodigy or a miracle, and I should never have
+mentioned this trifling circumstance had it not been for some libels
+since published by my enemies, wherein they affect to make the said
+sturgeon a presage of the future commotions in this kingdom, and me the
+chief author of them.
+
+I beg leave to make a short reflection on the nature of the mind of man.
+I believe there never was a more honest soul in the world than my
+father's; I might say his temper was the very essence of virtue.  For
+though he saw I was too much inclined to duels and gallantry ever to make
+a figure as an ecclesiastic, yet his great love for his eldest son--not
+the view of the archbishopric of Paris, which was then in his
+family--made him resolve to devote me to the service of the Church.  For
+he was so conscious of his reasons, that I could even swear he would have
+protested from the very bottom of his heart that he had no other motive
+than the apprehension of the dangers to which a contrary profession might
+expose my soul.  So true it is that nothing is so subject to delusion as
+piety: all sorts of errors creep in and hide themselves under that veil;
+it gives a sanction to all the turns of imagination, and the honesty of
+the intention is not sufficient to guard against it.  In a word, after
+all I have told you, I turned priest, though it would have been long
+enough first had it not been for the following accident.
+
+The Duc de Retz, head of our family, broke at that time, by the King's
+order, the marriage treaty concluded some years before between the Duc de
+Mercoeur--[Louis, Duc de Mercoeur, since Cardinal de Vendome, father of
+the Duc de Vendome, and Grand Prior, died 1669.]--and his daughter, and
+next day came to my father and agreeably surprised him by telling him he
+was resolved to give her to his cousin to reunite the family.
+
+As I knew she had a sister worth above 80,000 livres a year, I, that very
+instant, thought of a double match.  I had no hopes they would think of
+me, knowing how things stood, so I was resolved to provide for myself.
+
+Having got a hint that my father did not intend to carry me to the
+wedding, as, foreseeing, it may be, what happened, I pretended to be
+better pleased with my profession, to be touched by what my father had so
+often laid before me on that subject, and I acted my part so well that
+they believed I was quite another man.
+
+My father resolved to carry me into Brittany, for the reason that I had
+shown no inclination that way.  We found Mademoiselle de Retz at
+Beaupreau, in Anjou.  I looked on the eldest only as my sister, but
+immediately considered Mademoiselle de Scepaux (so the youngest was
+called) as my mistress.
+
+I thought her very handsome, her complexion the most charming in the
+world, lilies and roses in abundance, admirable eyes, a very pretty
+mouth, and what she wanted in stature was abundantly made up by the
+prospect of 80,000 livres a year and of the Duchy of Beaupreau, and by a
+thousand chimeras which I formed on these real foundations.
+
+I played my game nicely from the beginning, and acted the ecclesiastic
+and the devotee both in the journey and during my stay there;
+nevertheless, I paid my sighs to the fair one,--she perceived it. I spoke
+at last, and she heard me, but not with that complacency which I could
+have wished.
+
+But observing she had a great kindness for an old chambermaid, sister to
+one of my monks of Buzai, I did all I could to gain her, and by the means
+of a hundred pistoles down, and vast promises, I succeeded.  She made her
+mistress believe that she was designed for a nunnery, and I, for my part,
+told her that I was doomed to nothing less than a monastery.  She could
+not endure her sister, because she was her father's darling, and I was
+not overfond of my brother,--[Pierre de Gondi, Duc de Retz, who died in
+1676.]--for the same reason.  This resemblance in our fortunes
+contributed much to the uniting of our affections, which I persuaded
+myself were reciprocal, and I resolved to carry her to Holland.
+
+Indeed, there was nothing more easy, for Machecoul, whither we were come
+from Beaupreau, was no more than half a league from the sea.  But money
+was the only thing wanting, for my treasury, was so drained by the gift
+of the hundred pistoles above mentioned that I had not a sou left.  But I
+found a supply by telling my father that, as the farming of my abbeys was
+taxed with the utmost rigour of the law, so I thought myself obliged in
+conscience to take the administration of them into my own hands.  This
+proposal, though not pleasing, could not be rejected, both because it was
+regular and because it made him in some measure believe that I would not
+fail to keep my benefices, since I was willing to take care of them. I
+went the next day to let Buzai,--[One of his abbeys.]--which is but five
+leagues from Machecoul.  I treated with a Nantes merchant, whose name was
+Jucatieres, who took advantage of my eagerness, and for 4,000 crowns
+ready money got a bargain that made his fortune.  I thought I had
+4,000,000, and was just securing one of the Dutch pinks, which are always
+in the road of Retz, when the following accident happened, which broke
+all my measures.
+
+Mademoiselle de Retz (for she had taken that name after her sister's
+marriage) had the finest eyes in the world, and they never were so
+beautiful as when she was languishing in love, the charms of which I
+never yet saw equalled.  We happened to dine at a lady's house, a league
+from Machecoul, where Mademoiselle de Retz, looking in the glass at an
+assembly of ladies, displayed all those tender, lively, moving airs which
+the Italians call 'morbidezza', or the lover's languish.  But
+unfortunately she was not aware that Palluau, since Marechal de
+Clerambaut, was behind her, who observed her airs, and being very much
+attached to Madame de Retz, with whom he had in her tender years been
+very familiar, told her faithfully what he had observed.
+
+Madame de Retz, who mortally hated her sister, disclosed it that very
+night to her father, who did not fail to impart it to mine.  The next
+morning, at the arrival of the post from Paris, all was in a hurry, my
+father pretending to have received very pressing news; and, after our
+taking a slight though public leave of the ladies, my father carried me
+to sleep that night at Nantes.  I was, as you may imagine, under very
+great surprise and concern; for I could not guess the cause of this
+sudden departure.  I had nothing to reproach myself with upon the score
+of my conduct; neither had I the least suspicion that Palluau had seen
+anything more than ordinary till I arrived at Orleans, where the matter
+was cleared up, for my brother, to prevent my escape, which I vainly
+attempted several times on my journey, seized my strong box, in which was
+my money, and then I understood that I was betrayed; in what grief, then,
+I arrived at Paris, I leave you to imagine.
+
+I found there Equilli, Vasse's uncle, and my first cousin, who, I
+daresay, was one of the most honest men of his time, and loved me from
+his very soul.  I apprised him of my design to run away with Mademoiselle
+de Retz.  He heartily approved of my project, not only because it would
+be a very advantageous match for me, but because he was persuaded that a
+double alliance was necessary to secure the establishment of the family.
+
+The Cardinal de Richelieu--[Armand Jean du Plesais, Cardinal de
+Richelieu, was born in 1585, and died in 1642.]--(then Prime Minister)
+mortally hated the Princesse de Guemenee, because he was persuaded she
+had crossed his amours with the Queen,--[Anne of Austria, eldest daughter
+of Philip II., King of Spain, and wife of Louis XIII., died 1666.]--and
+had a hand in the trick played him by Madame du Fargis, one of the
+Queen's dressing women, who showed her Majesty (Marie de Medicis) a
+love-letter written by his Eminence to the Queen, her daughter-in-law.
+The Cardinal pushed his resentment so far that he attempted to force the
+Marechal de Breze, his brother-in-law, and captain of the King's
+Life-guards, to expose Madame de Guemenee's letters, which were found in
+M. de Montmorency's--[Henri de Montmorency was apprehended on the 1st of
+September, 1632, and beheaded in Toulouse in November of the same
+year.]--coffer when he was arrested at Chateau Naudari.  But the Marechal
+de Breze had so much honour and generosity as to return them to Madame de
+Guemenee.  He was, nevertheless, a very extravagant gentleman; but the
+Cardinal de Richelieu, perceiving he had been formerly honoured by some
+kind of relation to him, and dreading his angry excursions and
+preachments before the King, who had some consideration for his person,
+bore with him very patiently for the sake of settling peace in his own
+family, which he passionately longed to unite and establish, but which
+was the only thing out of his power, who could do whatever else he
+pleased in France.  For the Marechal de Breze had conceived so strong an
+aversion to M. de La Meilleraye, who was then Grand Master of the
+Artillery, and afterwards Marechal de La Meilleraye, that he could not
+endure him.  He did not imagine that the Cardinal would ever look upon a
+man who, though his first cousin, was of a mean extraction, had a most
+contemptible aspect, and, if fame says true, not one extraordinary good
+quality.
+
+The Cardinal was of another mind, and had a great opinion--indeed, with
+abundance of reason--of M. de La Meilleraye's courage; but he esteemed
+his military capacity infinitely too much, though in truth it was not
+contemptible.  In a word, he designed him for that post which we have
+since seen so gloriously filled by M. de Turenne.
+
+You may, by what has been said, judge of the divisions that were in
+Cardinal de Richelieu's family, and how much he was concerned to appease
+them.  He laboured at them with great application, and for this end
+thought he could not do better than to unite these two heads of the
+faction in a close confidence with himself, exclusive of all others. To
+this end he used them jointly and in common as the confidants of his
+amours, which certainly were neither suitable to the lustre of his
+actions nor the grandeur of his life; for Marion de Lorme, one of his
+mistresses, was little better than a common prostitute.  Another of his
+concubines was Madame de Fruges, that old gentlewoman who was so often
+seen sauntering in the enclosure.  The first used to come to his
+apartment in the daytime, and he went by night to visit the other, who
+was but the pitiful cast-off of Buckingham and Epienne.  The two
+confidants introduced him there in coloured clothes; for they had made up
+a hasty peace, to which Madame de Guemenee nearly fell a sacrifice.
+
+M. de La Meilleraye, whom they called the Grand Master, was in love with
+Madame de Guemenee, but she could not love him; and he being, both in his
+own nature and by reason of his great favour with the Cardinal, the most
+imperious man living, took it very ill that he was not beloved.  He
+complained, but the lady was insensible; he huffed and bounced, but was
+laughed to scorn.  He thought he had her in his power because the
+Cardinal, to whom he had declared his rage against her, had given him her
+letters, as above mentioned, which were written to M. de Montmorency,
+and, therefore, in his menaces he let fall some hints with relation to
+those letters to the disadvantage of Madame de Guemenee.  She thereupon
+ridiculed him no longer, but went almost raving mad, and fell into such
+an inconceivable melancholy that you would not have known her, and
+retired to Couperai, where she would let nobody see her.
+
+As soon as I applied my mind to study I resolved at the same time to take
+the Cardinal de Richelieu for my pattern, though my friends opposed it as
+too pedantic; but I followed my first designs, and began my course with
+good success.  I was afterwards followed by all persons of quality of the
+same profession; but, as I was the first, the Cardinal was pleased with
+my fancy, which, together with the good offices done me by the Grand
+Master with the Cardinal, made him speak well of me on several occasions,
+wonder that I had never made my court to him, and at the same time he
+ordered M. de Lingendes, since Bishop of Magon, to bring me to his house.
+
+This was the source of my first disgrace, for, instead of complying with
+these offers of the Cardinal and with the entreaties of the Grand Master,
+urging me to go and make my court to him, I returned the most trifling
+excuses and apologies; one time I pretended to be sick and went into the
+country.  In short, I did enough to let them see that I did not care to
+be a dependent on the Cardinal de Richelieu, who was certainly a very
+great man, but had this particular trait in his genius,--to take notice
+of trifles.  Of this he gave me the following instance: The history of
+the conspiracy of Jean Louis de Fiesque,--[Author of "The Conspiracy of
+Genoa."  He was drowned on the 1st of January, 1557.]--which I had
+written at eighteen years of age, being conveyed by Boisrobert into the
+Cardinal's hands, he was heard to say, in the presence of Marechal
+d'Estrees and M. de Senneterre, "This is a dangerous genius."  This was
+told my father that very night by M. de Senneterre, and I took it as
+spoken to myself.
+
+The success that I had in the acts of the Sorbonne made me fond of that
+sort of reputation, which I had a mind to push further, and thought I
+might succeed in sermons.  Instead of preaching first, as I was advised,
+in the little convents, I preached on Ascension, Corpus Christi Day,
+etc., before the Queen and the whole Court, which assurance gained me a
+good character from the Cardinal; for, when he was told how well I had
+performed, he said, "There is no judging of things by the event; the man
+is a coxcomb."  Thus you see I had enough to do for one of two-and-twenty
+years of age.
+
+M. le Comte,--[Louis de Bourbon, Comte de soissons, killed in the battle
+of Marfee, near Sedan, in 1641.]--who had a tender love for me, and to
+whose service and person I was entirely devoted, left Paris in the night,
+in order to get into Sedan, for fear of an arrest; and, in the meantime,
+entrusted me with the care of Vanbrock, the greatest confidant he had in
+the world.  I took care, as I was ordered, that he should never stir out
+but at night, for in the daytime I concealed him in a private place,
+between the ceiling and the penthouse, where I thought it impossible for
+anything but a cat or the devil to find him.  But he was not careful
+enough of himself, for one morning my door was burst open, and armed men
+rushed into my chamber, with the provost at their head, who cried, with a
+great oath, "Where is Vanbrock?" I replied, "At Sedan, monsieur, I
+believe."  He swore again most confoundedly, and searched the mattresses
+of all the beds in the house, threatening to put my domestics to the rack
+if they did not make a disclosure; but there was only one that knew
+anything of the matter, and so they went away in a rage.  You may easily
+imagine that when this was reported the Court would highly resent it. And
+so it happened, for the license of the Sorbonne being expired, and the
+competitors striving for the best places, I had the ambition to put in
+for the first place, and did not think myself obliged to yield to the
+Abbe de La Mothe-Houdancourt, now Archbishop of Auch, over whom I had
+certainly some advantage in the disputations.  I carried myself in this
+affair more wisely than might have been expected from my youth; for as
+soon as I heard that my rival was supported by the Cardinal, who did him
+the honour to own him for his kinsman, I sent the Cardinal word, by M. de
+Raconis, Bishop of Lavaur, that I desisted from my pretension, out of the
+respect I owed his Eminence, as soon as I heard that he concerned himself
+in the affair.  The Bishop of Lavaur told me the Cardinal pretended that
+the Abby de La Mothe would not be obliged for the first place to my
+cession, but to his own merit.  This answer exasperated me.  I gave a
+smile and a low bow, pursued my point, and gained the first place by
+eighty-four voices.  The Cardinal, who was for domineering in all places
+and in all affairs, fell into a passion much below his character, either
+as a minister or a man, threatened the deputies of the Sorbonne to raze
+the new buildings he had begun there, and assailed my character again
+with incredible bitterness.
+
+All my friends were alarmed at this, and were for sending me in all haste
+to Italy.  Accordingly, I went to Venice, stayed there till the middle of
+August, and was very near being assassinated; for I amused myself by
+making an intrigue with Signora Vendranina, a noble Venetian lady, and
+one of the most handsome I ever saw.  M. de Maille, the King's
+ambassador, aware of the dangerous consequences of such adventures in
+this country, ordered me to depart from Venice; upon which I went through
+Lombardy, and towards the end of September arrived at Rome, where the
+Marechal d'Estrees, who resided there as ambassador, gave me such
+instructions for my behaviour as I followed to a tittle.  Though I had no
+design to be an ecclesiastic, yet since I wore a cassock I was resolved
+to acquire some reputation at the Pope's Court.  I compassed my design
+very happily, avoiding any appearance of gallantry and lewdness, and my
+dress being grave to the last degree; but for all this I was at a vast
+expense, having fine liveries, a very splendid equipage, and a train of
+seven or eight gentlemen, whereof four were Knights of Malta.  I disputed
+in the Colleges of Sapienza (not to be compared for learning with those
+of the Sorbonne), and fortune continued still to raise me.  For the
+Prince de Schomberg, the Emperor's ambassador, sent me word one day,
+while I was playing at 'balon' at the baths of Antoninus, to leave the
+place clear for him.  I answered that I could have refused his Excellency
+nothing asked in a civil manner, but since it was commanded, I would have
+him to know that I would obey the orders of no ambassador whatever, but
+that of the King, my master.  Being urged a second time by one of his
+attendants to leave the place, I stood upon my own defence, and the
+Germans, more, in my opinion, out of contempt of the few people I had
+with me than out of any other consideration, let the affair drop.  This
+bold carriage of so modest an abbe, to an ambassador who never went
+abroad without one hundred musketeers on horseback to attend him, made a
+great noise in Rome, and was much taken notice of by Cardinal Mazarin.
+
+The Cardinal de Richelieu's health declining, the archbishopric of Paris
+was now almost within my ken, which, together with other prospects of
+good benefices, made me resolve not to fling off the cassock but upon
+honourable terms and valuable considerations; but having nothing yet
+within my view that I could be sure of, I resolved to distinguish myself
+in my own profession by all the methods I could.  I retired from the
+world, studied very hard, saw but very few men, and had no more
+correspondence with any of the female sex, except Madame de -------.
+
+The devil had appeared to the Princesse de Guemenee just a fortnight
+before this adventure happened, and was often raised by the conjurations
+of M. d'Andilly, to frighten his votary, I believe, into piety, for he
+was even more in love with her person than I myself; but he loved her in
+the Lord, purely and spiritually.  I raised, in my turn, a demon that
+appeared to her in a more kind and agreeable form.  In six weeks I got
+her away from Port Royal; I was very diligent in paying her my respects,
+and the satisfaction I had in her company, with some other agreeable
+diversions, qualified in a great measure the chagrin which attended my
+profession, to which I was not yet heartily reconciled.  This enchantment
+had like to have raised such a storm as would have given a new face to
+the affairs of Europe if fortune had been ever so little on my side.
+
+M. the Cardinal de Richelieu loved rallying other people, but could not
+bear a jest himself, and all men of this humour are always very crabbed
+and churlish; of which the Cardinal gave an instance, in a public
+assembly of ladies, to Madame de Guemenee, when he threw out a severe
+jest, which everybody observed was pointed at me.  She was sensibly
+affronted, but I was enraged.  For at last there was a sort of an
+understanding between us, which was often ill-managed, yet our interests
+were inseparable.  At this time Madame de La Meilleraye, with whom,
+though she was silly, I had fallen in love, pleased the Cardinal to that
+degree that the Marshal perceived it before he set out for the army, and
+rallied his wife in such a manner that she immediately found he was even
+more jealous than ambitious.  She was terribly afraid of him, and did not
+love the Cardinal, who, by marrying her to his cousin, had lessened his
+own family, of which he was extremely fond.  Besides, the Cardinal's
+infirmities made him look a great deal older than he was.  And though all
+his other actions had no tincture of pedantry, yet in his amorous
+intrigues he had the most of it in the world.  I had a detail of all the
+steps he had made therein, which were extremely ridiculous.  But
+continuing his solicitation, and carrying her to his country seat at
+Ruel,--[The Cardinal de Richelieu's seat, three leagues from
+Paris.]--where he kept her a considerable time, I guessed that the lady
+had not brains enough to resist the splendour of Court favour, and that
+her husband's jealousy would soon give way to his interest, but, above
+all, to his blind side, which was an attachment to the Court not to be
+equalled.  When I was in the hottest pursuit of this passion I proposed
+to myself the most exquisite pleasures in triumphing over the Cardinal de
+Richelieu in this fair field of battle; but on a sudden I had the
+mortification to hear the whole family was changed.  The husband allowed
+his wife to go to Ruel as often as she pleased, and her behaviour towards
+me I suspected to be false and treacherous.  In short, Madame de
+Guemenee's anger, for a reason I hinted before, my jealousy of Madame de
+La Meilleraye, and an aversion to my own profession, all joined together
+in a fatal moment and were near producing one of the greatest and most
+famous events of our age.
+
+La Rochepot, my first cousin and dear friend, was a domestic of the late
+Duc d'Orleans,--[Gaston Jean Baptists de France, born 1608, and died at
+Blois, 1660.]--and his great confidant.  He mortally hated the Cardinal
+de Richelieu, who had persecuted his mother, and had her hung up in
+effigy, and kept his father still a prisoner in the Bastille, and now
+refused the son a regiment, though Marechal de La Meilleraye, who very
+highly esteemed him for his courage, interceded for the favour.  You may
+imagine that when we came together we did not forget the Cardinal.
+
+I being crossed in my designs, as I told you, and as full of resentment
+as La Rochepot was for the affronts put upon his person and family, we
+chimed in our thoughts and resolutions, which were, dexterously to manage
+the weakness of the Duc d'Orleans and to put that in execution which the
+boldness of his domestics had almost effected at Corbie.
+
+The Duc d'Orleans was appointed General, and the Comte de Soissons
+Lieutenant-General of the King's forces in Picardy, but neither of them
+stood well with the Cardinal, who gave them those posts only because the
+situation of affairs was such that he could not help it.  L'Epinai,
+Montresor, and La Rochepot made use of all the arguments they could think
+of to raise jealousies and fears in the Duc d'Orleans, and to inspire him
+with resolution and courage to rid himself of the Cardinal.  Others
+laboured to persuade the Comte de Soissons to relish the same proposal,
+but though resolved upon, it was never put into execution.  For they had
+the Cardinal in their power at Amiens, but did him no harm.  For this
+every one blamed the Count's companion, but I could never yet learn the
+true cause; only this is certain, that they were no sooner come to Paris
+than they were all seized with a panic, and retired, some one way, some
+another.
+
+The Comte de Guiche,  since Marechal de Grammont, and M. de Chavigni,
+Secretary of State and the Cardinal's most intimate favourite, were sent
+by the King to Blois.  Here they frightened the Duc d'Orleans and made
+him return to Paris, where he was more afraid than ever; for such of his
+domestics as were not gained by the Court made use of his pusillanimous
+temper, and represented to him the necessity he was under to provide for
+his own, or rather their, security.  La Rochepot and myself endeavoured
+to heighten his fears as much as possible, in order to precipitate him
+into our measures.  The term sounds odd, but it is the most expressive I
+could find of a character like the Duke's.  He weighed everything, but
+fixed on nothing; and if by chance he was inclined to do one thing more
+than another, he would never execute it without being pushed or forced
+into it.
+
+La Rochepot did all he could to fix him, but finding that the Duke was
+always for delays, and for perplexing all expedients with groundless
+fears of invincible difficulties, he fell upon an expedient very
+dangerous to all appearance, but, as it usually happens in extraordinary
+cases, much less so than at first view.
+
+Cardinal de Richelieu having to stand godfather at the baptism of
+Mademoiselle, La Rochepot's proposal was to continue to show the Duke the
+necessity he lay under still to get rid of the Cardinal, without saying
+much of the particulars, for fear of hazarding the secret, but only to
+entertain him with the general proposal of that affair, thereby to make
+him the better in love with the measures when proposed; and that they
+might, at a proper time and place, tell him they had concealed the detail
+to the execution from his Highness upon no other account but that they
+had experienced on several occasions that there was no other way of
+serving his Highness, as he himself had told La Rochepot several times;
+that nothing, therefore, remained but to get some brave fellows fit for
+such a resolute enterprise, and to hold post-horses ready upon the road
+of Sedan under some other pretext, and to so execute the design in the
+presence and in the name of his Royal Highness upon the day of the
+intended solemnity, that his Highness should cheerfully own it when it
+was done, and that then we would carry him off by those horses to Sedan.
+Meanwhile the distraction of the inferior ministers and the joy of the
+King to see himself delivered from a tyrant would dispose the Court
+rather to invite than to pursue him.  This was La Rochepot's scheme, and
+it seemed exceedingly plausible.
+
+La Rochepot and I had, it may be, blamed the inactivity of the Duc
+d'Orleans and the Comte de Soissons in the affair of Amiens a hundred
+times; yet, no sooner was the scheme sufficiently matured for execution,
+the idea of which I had raised in the memory of La Rochepot, than my mind
+was seized with I know not what fear; I took it then for a scruple of
+conscience,--I cannot tell whether it was in truth so or not, but, in
+short, the thought of killing a priest and a cardinal deeply affected my
+mind.  La Rochepot laughed at my scruples, and bantered me thus: "When
+you are in the field of battle I warrant you will not beat up the enemy's
+quarters for fear of assassinating men in their sleep."  I was ashamed of
+my scruples, and again hugged the crime, which I looked upon as
+sanctified by the examples of great men, and justified and honoured by
+the mighty danger that attended its execution.  We renewed our
+consultations, engaged some accomplices, took all the necessary
+precautions, and resolved upon the execution.  The danger was indeed very
+great, but we might reasonably hope to come off well enough; for the
+Duke's guard, which was within, would not have failed to come to our
+assistance against that of the Cardinal's, which was without.  But his
+fortune, and not his guards, delivered him from the snare; for either
+Mademoiselle or himself, I forget which, fell suddenly ill, and the
+ceremony was put off to another time, so that we lost our opportunity.
+The Duke returned to Blois, and the Marquis de Boissi protested he would
+never betray us, but that he would be no longer concerned, because he had
+just received some favour or other from the Cardinal's own hands.
+
+I confess that this enterprise, which, had it succeeded, would have
+crowned us with glory, never fully pleased me.  I was not so scrupulous
+in the committing of two other transgressions against the rules of
+morality, as you may have before observed; but I wish, with all my heart,
+I had never been concerned in this.  Ancient Rome, indeed, would have
+counted it honourable; but it is not in this respect that I honour the
+memory of old Rome.
+
+There is commonly a great deal of folly in conspiracies; but afterwards
+there is nothing tends so, much to make men wise, at least for some time.
+For, as the danger in things of this nature continues, even after the
+opportunities for doing them are over, men are from that instant more
+prudent and circumspect.
+
+Having thus missed our blow, the Comte de La Rochepot and the rest of
+them retired to their several seats in the country; but my engagements
+detained me at Paris, where I was so retired that I spent all my time in
+my study; and if ever I was seen abroad, it was with all the reserve of a
+pious ecclesiastic; we were all so true to one another in keeping this
+adventure secret, that it never got the least wind while the Cardinal
+lived, who was a minister that had the best intelligence in the world;
+but after his death it was discovered by the imprudence of Tret and
+Etourville.  I call it imprudence, for what greater weakness can men be
+guilty of than to declare themselves to have been capable of what is
+dangerous in the first instance?
+
+To return to the history of the Comte de Soissons, I observed before that
+he had retired to Sedan for safety, which he could not expect at Court.
+He wrote to the King, assuring his Majesty of his fidelity, and that
+while he stayed in that place he would undertake nothing prejudicial to
+his service.  He was most mindful of his promise; was not to be biassed
+by all the offers of Spain or the Empire, but rejected with indignation
+the overtures of Saint-Ibal and of Bardouville, who would have persuaded
+him to take up arms.  Campion, one of his domestics, whom he had left at
+Paris to mind his affairs at Court, told me these particulars by the
+Count's express orders, and I still remember this passage in one of his
+letters to Campion: "The men you know are very urgent with me to treat
+with the enemy, and accuse me of weakness because I fear the examples of
+Charles de Bourbon and Robert d'Artois."  He was ordered to show me this
+letter and desire my opinion thereupon.  I took my pen, and, at a little
+distance from the answer he had already begun, I wrote these words:
+
+"And I do accuse them of folly."  The reasons upon which my opinion was
+grounded were these: The Count was courageous in the highest degree of
+what is commonly called valour, and had a more than ordinary share in
+that boldness of mind which we call resolution.  The first is common and
+to be frequently met with among the vulgar, but the second is rarer than
+can be imagined, and yet abundantly more necessary for great enterprises;
+and is there a greater in the world than heading a party?  The command of
+an army is without comparison of less intricacy, for there are wheels
+within wheels necessary for governing the State, but then they are not
+near so brittle and delicate.  In a word, I am of opinion there are
+greater qualities necessary to make a good head of a party than to make
+an emperor who is to govern the whole world, and that resolution ought to
+run parallel with judgment,--I say, with heroic judgment, which is able
+to distinguish the extraordinary from what we call the impossible.
+
+The Count had not one grain of this discerning faculty, which is but
+seldom to be met with in the sublimest genius.  His character was mean to
+a degree, and consequently susceptible of unreasonable jealousies and
+distrusts, which of all characters is the most opposite to that of a good
+partisan, who is indispensably obliged in many cases to suppress, and in
+all to conceal, the best-grounded suspicions.
+
+This was the reason I could not be of the opinion of those who were for
+engaging the Count in a civil war; and Varicarville, who was the man of
+the best sense and temper of all the persons of quality he had about him,
+told me since that when he saw what I wrote in Campion's letter the day I
+set out for Italy, he very well knew by what motives I was, against my
+inclination, persuaded into this opinion.
+
+The Count held out all this year and the next against every solicitation
+of the Spaniards and the importunities of his own friends, much more by
+the wise counsels of Varicarville than by the force of his own
+resolution; but nothing could secure him from the teasings of the
+Cardinal de Richelieu, who poured into his ears every day in the King's
+name his many dismal discoveries and prognostications.  For fear of being
+tedious I shall only tell you in one word that the Cardinal, contrary to
+his own interest, hurried the Count into a civil war, by such arts of
+chicanery as those who are fortune's favourites never fail to play upon
+the unfortunate.
+
+The minds of people began now to be more embittered than ever.  I was
+sent for by the Count to Sedan to tell him the state of Paris.  The
+account I gave him could not but be very agreeable; for I told him the
+very truth: that he was universally beloved, honoured, and adored in that
+city, and his enemy dreaded and abhorred.  The Duc de Bouillon, who was
+urgent for war, be the consequence what it would, improved upon these
+advantages, and made them look more plausible, but Varicarville strongly
+opposed him.
+
+I thought myself too young to declare my opinion; but, being pressed to
+do so by his Highness, I took the liberty to tell him that a Prince of
+the blood ought to engage himself in a civil war rather than suffer any
+diminution of his reputation or dignity, yet that nothing but these two
+cases could justly oblige him to it, because he hazards both by a
+commotion whenever the one or the other consideration does not make it
+necessary; that I thought his Highness far from being under any such
+necessity; that his retreat to Sedan secured him from the indignity he
+must have submitted to, among others, of taking the left hand, even in
+the Cardinal's own house; that, in the meantime, the popular hatred of
+the Cardinal gained his Highness the greater share of the public favour,
+which is always much better secured by inaction than action, because the
+glory of action depends upon success, for which no one can answer;
+whereas inaction is sure to be commended as being founded upon the hatred
+which the public will always bear to the minister.  That, therefore, I
+should think it would be more glorious for his Highness, in the view of
+the world, to support himself by his own weight, that is, by the merit of
+his virtue, against the artifices of so powerful a minister as the
+Cardinal de Richelieu,--I say, more glorious to support himself by a wise
+and regular conduct than to kindle the fire of war, the flagrant
+consequences whereof no man is able to foresee; that it was true that the
+minister was universally cursed, but that I could not yet see that the
+people's minds were exasperated enough for any considerable revolution;
+that the Cardinal was in a declining state of health, and if he should
+not die this time, his Highness would have the opportunity of showing the
+King and the public that though, by his own personal authority and his
+important post at Sedan, he was in a capacity to do himself justice, he
+sacrificed his own resentments to the welfare and quiet of the State; and
+that if the Cardinal should recover his health, he would not fail, by
+additional acts of tyranny and oppression, to draw upon himself the
+redoubled execrations of the people, which would ripen, their murmurings
+and discontents into a universal revolution.
+
+This is the substance of what I said to the Count, and he seemed to be
+somewhat affected by it.  But the Duc de Bouillon was enraged, and told
+me, by way of banter, "Your blood is very cold for a gentleman of your
+age."  To which I replied in these very words: "All the Count's servants
+are so much obliged to you, monsieur, that they ought to bear everything
+from you; but were it not for this consideration alone, I should think
+that your bastions would not be always strong enough to protect you." The
+Duke soon came to himself, and treated me with all the civilities
+imaginable, such as laid a foundation for our future friendship. I stayed
+two days longer at Sedan, during which the Count changed his mind five
+different times, as I was told by M. Saint-Ibal, who said little was to
+be expected from a man of his humour.  At last, however, the Duc de
+Bouillon won him over.  I was charged to do all I could to convince the
+people of Paris, had an order to take up money and to lay it out for this
+purpose, and I returned from Sedan with letters more than enough to have
+hanged two hundred men.
+
+As I had faithfully set the Count's true interest before him, and
+dissuaded him from undertaking an affair of which he was by no means
+capable, I thought it high time to think of my own affairs.  I hated my
+profession now more than ever; I was at first hurried into it by the
+infatuation of my kindred.  My destiny had bound me down to it by the
+chains both of duty and pleasure, so that I could see no possibility to
+set myself free.  I was upwards of twenty-five years of age, and I saw it
+was now too late to begin to carry a musket; but that which tortured me
+most of all was this fatal reflection, that I had spent so much of my
+time in too eager a pursuit of pleasure, and thereby riveted my own
+chains; so that it looked as if fate was resolved to fasten me to the
+Church, whether I would or no.  You may imagine with what satisfaction
+such thoughts as these were accompanied, for this confusion of affairs
+gave me hopes of getting loose from my profession with uncommon honour
+and reputation.  I thought of ways to distinguish myself, pursued them
+very diligently, and you will allow that nothing but destiny broke my
+measures.
+
+The Marechaux de Vitri and Bassompierre, the Comte de Cremail, M. du
+Fargis, and M. du Coudrai Montpensier were then prisoners in the Bastille
+upon different counts.  But, as length of time makes confinement less
+irksome, they were treated very civilly, and indulged with a great share
+of freedom.  Their friends came to see them, and sometimes dined with
+them.  By means of M. du Fargis, who had married my aunt, I got
+acquainted with the rest, and by conversing with them discovered very
+remarkable emotions in some of them, upon which I could not help
+reflecting.  The Marechal de Vitri was a gentleman of mean parts, but
+bold, even to rashness, and his having been formerly employed to kill the
+Marechal d'Ancre had given him in the common vogue, though I think
+unjustly, the air of a man of business and expedition.  He appeared to me
+enraged against the Cardinal, and I concluded he might do service in the
+present juncture, but did not address myself directly to him, and thought
+it the wisest way first to sift the Comte de Cremail, who was a man of
+sound sense, and could influence the Marechal de Vitri as he pleased. He
+apprehended me at half a word, and immediately asked me if I had made
+myself known to any of the prisoners.  I answered, readily:
+
+"No, monsieur; and I will tell you my reasons in a very few words.
+Bassompierre is a tattler; I expect to do nothing with the Marechal de
+Vitri but by your means.  I suspect the honesty of Du Coudrai, and as for
+my uncle, Du Fargis, he is a gallant man, but has no headpiece."
+
+"Whom, then, do you confide in at Paris?"  said the Comte de Cremail.
+
+"I dare trust no man living," said I, "but yourself."
+
+"It is very well," said he, briskly; "you are the man for me.  I am above
+eighty years old, and you but twenty-five; I will qualify your heat, and
+you my chilliness."
+
+We went upon business, drew up our plan, and at parting he said these
+very words: "Let me alone one week, and after that I will tell you more
+of my mind, for I hope to convince the Cardinal that I am good for
+something more than writing the 'Jeu de l'Inconnu.'"
+
+You must know that the "Jeu de l'Inconnu" was a book, indeed, very ill
+written, which the Comte de Cremail had formerly published, and which the
+Cardinal had grossly ridiculed.  You will be surprised, without doubt,
+that I should think of prisoners for an affair of this importance, but
+the nature of it was such that it could not be put into better hands, as
+you will see by and by.
+
+A week after, going to visit the prisoners, and Cremail and myself being
+accidentally left alone, we took a walk upon the terrace, where, after a
+thousand thanks for the confidence I had put in him, and as many
+protestations of his readiness to serve the Comte de Soissons, he spoke
+thus: "There is nothing but the thrust of a sword or the city of Paris
+that can rid us of the Cardinal.  Had I been at the enterprise of Amiens,
+I think I should not have missed my blow, as those gentlemen did.  I am
+for that of Paris; it cannot miscarry; I have considered it well.  See
+here what additions I have made to our plan."  And thereupon he put into
+my hand a paper, in substance as follows: that he had conferred with the
+Marechal de Vitri, who was as well disposed as anybody in the world to
+serve the Count; that they would both answer for the Bastille, where all
+the garrison was in their interest; that they were likewise sure of the
+arsenal; and that they would also declare themselves as soon as the Count
+had gained a battle, on condition that I made it appear beforehand, as I
+had told him (the Comte de Cremail), that they should be supported by a
+considerable number of officers, colonels of Paris, etc.  For the rest,
+this paper contained many particular observations on the conduct of the
+undertaking, and many cautions relating to the behaviour to be observed
+by the Count.  That which surprised me most of all was to see how fully
+persuaded these gentlemen were of carrying their point with ease.
+
+Though it came into my head to propose this project to the persons in the
+Bastille, yet nothing but the perfect knowledge I had of their
+disposition and inclination could have persuaded me that it was
+practicable.  And I confess, upon perusal of the plan prepared by M. de
+Cremail, a man of great experience and excellent sense, I was astonished
+to find a few prisoners disposing of the Bastille with the same freedom
+as the Governor, the greatest authority in the place.
+
+As all extraordinary circumstances are of wonderful weight in popular
+revolutions, I considered that this project, which was even ripe for
+execution, would have an admirable effect in the city.  And as nothing
+animates and supports commotions more than the ridiculing of those
+against whom they are raised, I knew it would be very easy for us to
+expose the conduct of a minister who had tamely suffered prisoners to
+hamper him, as one may say, with their chains.  I lost no time;
+afterwards I opened myself to M. d'Estampes, President of the Great
+Council, and to M. l'Ecuyer, President of the Chamber of Accounts, both
+colonels, and in great repute among the citizens, and I found them every
+way answering the character I had of them from the Count; that is, very
+zealous for his interest, and fully persuaded that the insurrection was
+not only practicable, but very easy.  Pray observe that these two
+gentlemen, who made no great figure, even in their own profession, were,
+perhaps, two of the most peaceable persons in the kingdom.  But there are
+some fires which burn all before them.  The main thing is to know and
+seize the critical moment.
+
+The Count had charged me to disclose myself to none in Paris besides
+these two, but I ventured to add two more: Parmentier, substitute to the
+Attorney-General; and his brother-in-law, Epinai, auditor of the Chamber
+of Accounts, who was the man of the greatest credit, though but a
+lieutenant, and the other a captain.  Parmentier, who, both by his wit
+and courage, was as capable of a great action as any man I ever knew,
+promised me that he would answer for Brigalier, councillor in the Court
+of Aids, captain in his quarter, and very powerful among the people, but
+told me at the same time that he must not know a word of the matter,
+because he was a mere rattle, not to be trusted with a secret.
+
+The Count made me a remittance of 12,000 crowns, which I carried to my
+aunt De Maignelai, telling her that it was a restitution made by one of
+my dying friends, who made me trustee of it upon condition that I should
+distribute it among decayed families who were ashamed to make their
+necessities known, and that I had taken an oath to distribute it myself,
+persuant to the desire of the testator, but that I was at a loss to find
+out fit objects for my charity; and therefore I desired her to take the
+care of it upon her.  The good woman was perfectly transported, and said
+she would do it with all her heart; but because I had sworn to make the
+distribution myself, she insisted upon it that I must be present, not
+only for the sake of my promise, but to accustom myself to do acts of
+charity.  This was the very thing I aimed at,--an opportunity of knowing
+all the poor of Paris.  Therefore I suffered myself to be carried every
+day by my aunt into the outskirts, to visit the poor in their garrets,
+and I met very often in her house people who were very well clad, and
+many whom I once knew, that came for private charity.  My good aunt
+charged them always to pray to God for her nephew, who was the hand that
+God had been pleased to make use of for this good work.  Judge you of the
+influence this gave me over the populace, who are without comparison the
+most considerable in all public disturbances.  For the rich never come
+into such measures unless they are forced, and beggars do more harm than
+good, because it is known that they aim at plunder; those, therefore, who
+are capable of doing most service are such as are not reduced to common
+beggary, yet so straitened in their circumstances as to wish for nothing
+more than a general change of affairs in order to repair their broken
+fortunes.  I made myself acquainted with people of this rank for the
+course of four months with uncommon application, so that there was hardly
+a child in the chimney-corner but I gratified with some small token.  I
+called them by their familiar names.  My aunt, who always made it her
+business to go from house to house to relieve the poor, was a cloak for
+all.  I also played the hypocrite, and frequented the conferences of
+Saint Lazarus.
+
+Varicarville and Beauregarde, my correspondents at Sedan, assured me that
+the Comte de Soissons was as well inclined as one could wish, and that he
+had not wavered since he had formed his last resolution.  Varicarville
+said that we had formerly done him horrible injustice, and that they were
+now even obliged to restrain him, because he seemed to be too fond of the
+counsels of Spain and the Empire.  Please to observe that these two
+Courts, which had made incredible solicitations to him while he wavered,
+began, as soon as his purpose was fixed, to draw back,--a fatality due to
+the phlegmatic temper of the Spaniard, dignified by the name of prudence,
+joined to the astute politics of the house of Austria.  You may observe
+at the same time that the Count, who had continued firm and unshaken
+three months together, changed his mind as soon as his enemies had
+granted what he asked; which exactly comes up to the character of an
+irresolute man, who is always most unsteady the nearer the work comes to
+its conclusion.  I heard of this convulsion, as one may call it, by an
+express from Varicarville, and took post the same night for Sedan,
+arriving there an hour after Aretonville, an agent despatched from the
+Count's brother in-law, M. de Longueville.--[Henri d'Orleans, the second
+of that name, died 1663.]--He came with some plausible but deceitful
+terms of accommodation which we all agreed to oppose.  Those who had been
+always with the Count pressed him strongly with the remembrance of what
+he himself thought or said was necessary to be done ever since the war
+had been resolved on.  Saint-Ibal, who had been negotiating for him at
+Brussels, pressed him with his engagements, advances, and solicitations,
+insisted on the steps I had, by his order, already taken in Paris, on the
+promises made to De Vitri and Cremail, and on the secret committed to two
+persons by his own command, and to four others for his service and with
+his consent.  Our arguments, considering his engagements, were very just
+and clear.  We carried our point with much ado after a conflict of four
+days.  Aretonville was sent back with a very smart answer.  M. de Guise,
+who had joined the Count, and was a well-wisher to a rupture, went to
+Liege to order the levies, Varicarville and I returned to Paris, but I
+did not care to tell my fellow conspirators of the irresolution of our
+principal.  Some symptoms of it appeared afterwards, but they very soon
+vanished.
+
+Being assured that the Spaniards had everything in readiness, I went for
+the last time to Sedan to take my final instructions.  There I found
+Meternic, colonel of one of the oldest regiments of the Empire,
+despatched by General Lamboy, who had advanced with a gallant army under
+his command, composed for the most part of veteran troops.  The Colonel
+assured the Count that he was ordered to obey his commands in everything,
+and to give battle to the Marechal de Chatillon,  who commanded the army
+of France upon the Meuse.  As the undertaking at Paris depended entirely
+on the success of such a battle, the Count thought it fitting that I
+should go along with Meternic to Givet, where I found the army in a very
+good condition.  Then I returned to Paris, and gave an account of every
+particular to the Marechal de Pitri, who drew up the order for the
+enterprise.  The whole city of Paris seemed so disposed for an
+insurrection that we thought ourselves sure of success.  The secret was
+kept even to a miracle.  The Count gave the enemy battle and won it.  You
+now believe, without doubt, the day was our own.  Far from it; for the
+Count was killed in the very crisis of the victory, and in the midst of
+his own men; but how and by whom no soul could ever tell.
+
+You may guess what a condition I was in when I heard this news; M. de
+Cremail, the wisest of us all, thought of nothing else now but how to
+conceal the secret, which, though known to only six in all Paris, was
+known to too great a number; but the greatest danger of discovery was
+from the people of Sedan, who, being out of the kingdom, were not afraid
+of punishment.  Nevertheless, everybody privy to it religiously kept it
+secret, and stood their ground, which, with another accident I shall
+mention hereafter, has made me often think, and say too, that secrecy is
+not so rare a thing as we imagine with men versed in matters of State.
+
+The Count's death settled me in my profession, for I saw no great things
+to be done, and I found myself too old to leave it for anything trifling.
+Besides, Cardinal de Richelieu's health was declining, and I already
+began to think myself Archbishop of Paris.  I resolved that for the
+future I would devote myself to my profession.  Madame de Guemenee had
+retired to Port Royal, her country-seat.  M. d'Andilly had got her from
+me.  She neither powdered nor curled her hair any longer, and had
+dismissed me solemnly with all the formalities required from a sincere
+penitent.  I discovered, by means of a valet de chambre, that, captain
+---- of the Marshal's Guards, had as free access to Meilleraye's lady as
+myself.  See what it is to be a saint!  The truth is, I grew much more
+regular,--at least affected to be thought so,--led a retired life, stuck
+to my profession, studied hard, and got acquainted with all who were
+famous either for learning or piety.  I converted my house almost into an
+academy, but took care not to erect the academy into a rigid tribunal.  I
+began to be pretty free with the canons and curates, whom I found of
+course at my uncle's house.  I did not act the devotee, because I could
+not be sure how long I should be able to play the counterfeit, but I had
+a high esteem for devout people, which with such is the main article of
+religion.  I suited my pleasures to my practice, and, finding I could not
+live without some amorous intrigue, I managed an amour with Madame de
+Pommereux, a young coquette, who had so many sparks, not only in her
+house but at her devotions, that the apparent business of others was a
+cover for mine, which was, at least, some time afterwards, more to the
+purpose.  When I had succeeded, I became a man in such request among
+those of my profession that the devotees themselves used to say of me
+with M. Vincent, "Though I had not piety enough, yet I was not far from
+the kingdom of heaven."
+
+Fortune favoured me more than usual at this time.  I was at the house of
+Madame de Rambure, a notable and learned Huguenot, where I met with
+Mestrezat, the famous minister of Charento.  To satisfy her curiosity she
+engaged us in a dispute; we had nine different disputations.  The
+Marechal de la Forde and M. de Turenne were present at some of them, and
+a gentleman of Poitou, who was at all of them, became my proselyte.  As I
+was then but twenty-six years of age, this made a great deal of noise,
+and among other effects, was productive of one that had not the least
+connection with its cause, which I shall mention after I have done
+justice to a civility I received from my antagonist in one of the
+conferences.  I had the advantage of him in the fifth meeting, relating
+to the spiritual vocation; but in the sixth, treating of the Pope's
+authority, I was confounded, because, to avoid embroiling myself with the
+Court of Rome, I answered him on principles which are not so easy to be
+maintained as those of the Sorbonne.  My opponent perceived the concern I
+was under, and generously forebore to urge such passages as would have
+obliged me to explain myself in a manner disagreeable to the Pope's
+Nuncio.  I thought it extremely obliging, and as we were going out
+thanked him in the presence of M. de Turenne; to which he answered, very
+civilly, that it would have been a piece of injustice to hinder the Abbe
+de Retz from being made a cardinal.  This was such complaisance as you
+are not to expect from every Geneva pedant.  I told you before that this
+conference produced one effect very different from its cause, and it is
+this: Madame de Vendome, of whom you have heard, without doubt, took such
+a fancy to me ever after, that a mother could not have been more tender.
+She had been at the conference too, though I am very well assured she
+understood nothing of the matter; but the favourable opinion she had of
+me was owing to the Bishop of Lisieux, her spiritual director, who,
+finding I was disposed to follow my profession, which out of his great
+love to me he most passionately desired, made it his business to magnify
+the few good qualities I was master of; and I am thoroughly persuaded
+that what applause I had then in the world was chiefly owing to his
+encouragement, for there was not a man in France whose approbation could
+give so much honour.  His sermons had advanced him from a very mean and
+foreign extraction (which was Flemish) to the episcopal dignity, which he
+adorned with solid and unaffected piety.  His disinterestedness was far
+beyond that of the hermits or anchorites.  He had the courage of Saint
+Ambrose, and at Court and in the presence of the King he so maintained
+his usual freedom that the Cardinal de Richelieu, who had been his
+scholar in divinity, both reverenced and feared him.  This good man had
+that abundant kindness for me that he read me lectures thrice a week upon
+Saint Paul's Epistles, and he designed also the conversion of M. de
+Turenne and to give me the honour of it.
+
+M. de Turenne had a great respect for him, whereof he gave him very,
+distinguishing marks.  The Comte de Brion,  whom, I believe, you may
+remember under the title of Duc d'Amville, was deeply in love with
+Mademoiselle de Vendome, since Madame de Nemours; and, besides, he was a
+great favourite of M. de Turenne, who, to do him a pleasure and to give
+him the more opportunities to see Mademoiselle de Vendome, affected to be
+a great admirer of the Bishop of Lisieux and to hear his exhortations
+with a world of attention.  The Comte de Brion, who had twice been a
+Capuchin, and whose life was a continual medley of sin and devotion,
+pretended likewise to be much interested in M. de Turenne's conversion,
+and was present at all the conferences held at Mademoiselle de Vendome's
+apartment.  De Brion had very little wit, but was a clever talker, and
+had a great deal of assurance, which not very seldom supplies the room of
+good sense.  This and the behaviour of M. de Turenne, together with the
+indolence of Mademoiselle de Vendome, made me think all was fair, so that
+I never suspected an amour at the bottom.
+
+The Bishop of Lisieux being a great admirer of Corneille's writings, and
+making no scruple to see a good comedy, provided it was in the country
+among a few friends, the late Madame de Choisy proposed to entertain him
+with one at Saint Cloud.  Accordingly Madame took with her Madame and
+Mademoiselle de Vendome, M. de Turenne, M. de Brion, Voiture, and myself.
+De Brion took care of the comedy and violins, and I looked after a good
+collation.  We went to the Archbishop's house at Saint Cloud, where the
+comedians did not arrive till very late at night.  M. de Lisieux admired
+the violins, and Madame de Vendome was hugely diverted to see her
+daughter dance alone.  In short, we did not set out till peep of day (it
+being summer-time), and the days at the longest, and were got no further
+than the bottom of the Descent of Bonshommes, when all on a sudden the
+coach stopped.  I, being next the door opposite to Mademoiselle de
+Vendome, bade the coachman drive on.  He answered, as plain as he could
+speak for his fright, "What!  would you have me drive over all these
+devils here?"  I put my head out of the coach, but, being short-sighted
+from my youth, saw nothing at all.  Madame de Choisy, who was at the
+other door with M. de Turenne, was the first in the coach who found out
+the cause of the coachman's fright.  I say in the coach, for five or six
+lackeys behind it were already crying "Jesu Maria" and quaking with fear.
+
+Madame de Choisy cried out, upon which M. de Turenne threw himself out of
+the coach, and I, thinking we were beset by highwaymen, leaped out on the
+other side, took one of the footmen's hangers, drew it, and went to the
+other aide to join M. de Turenne, whom I found with his eyes fixed on
+something, but what I could not see.  I asked him what it was, upon which
+he pulled me by the sleeve, and said, with a low voice, "I will tell you,
+but we must not frighten the ladies," who, by this time, screamed most
+fearfully.  Voiture began his Oremus, and prayed heartily.  You, I
+suppose, knew Madame de Choisy's shrill tone; Mademoiselle de Vendome was
+counting her beads; Madame de Vendome would fain have confessed her sins
+to the Bishop of Lisieux, who said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer;
+you are in the hands of God."  At the same instant, the Comte do Brion
+and all the lackeys were upon their knees very devoutly singing the
+Litany of the Virgin Mary.
+
+M. de Turenne drew his sword, and said to me, with the calm and
+undisturbed air he commonly puts on when he calls for his dinner, or
+gives battle, "Come, let us go and see who they are."
+
+"Whom should we see?"  said I, for I believed we had all lost our senses.
+
+He answered, "I verily think they are devils."
+
+When we had advanced five or six steps I began to see something which I
+thought looked like a long procession of black phantoms.  I was
+frightened at first, because of the sudden reflection that I had often
+wished to see a spirit, and that now, perhaps, I should pay for my
+incredulity, or rather curiosity.  M. de Turenne was all the while calm
+and resolute.  I made two or three leaps towards the procession, upon
+which the company in the coach, thinking we were fighting with all the
+devils, cried out most terribly; yet it is a question whether our company
+was in a greater fright than the imaginary devils that put us into it,
+who, it seems, were a parcel of barefooted reformed Augustine friars,
+otherwise called the Black Capuchins, who, seeing two men advancing
+towards them with drawn swords, one of them, detached from the
+fraternity, cried out, "Gentlemen, we are poor, harmless friars, only
+come to bathe in this river for our healths."  M. de Turenne and I went
+back to the coach ready to die with laughing at this adventure.
+
+Upon the whole we could not help making this reflection, that what we
+read in the lives of most people is false.  We were both grossly
+mistaken, I, for supposing him to be frightened; he, for thinking me calm
+and undisturbed.  Who, therefore, can write truth better than the man who
+has experienced it?  The President de Thou is very just in his remark
+when he says that "There is no true history extant, nor can be ever
+expected unless written by honest men who are not afraid or ashamed to
+tell the truth of themselves."  I do not pretend to make any merit of my
+sincerity in this case, for I feel so great a satisfaction in unfolding
+my very heart and soul to you, that the pleasure is even more prevalent
+than reason with me in the religious regard I have to the exactness of my
+history.
+
+Mademoiselle de Vendome had ever after an inconceivable contempt for the
+poor Comte de Brion, who in this ridiculous adventure had disclosed a
+weakness never before imagined; and as soon as we were got into the coach
+she bantered him, and said, particularly to me:
+
+"I fancy I must be Henri IV.'s granddaughter by the esteem I have for
+valour.  There's nothing can frighten you, since you were so undaunted on
+this extraordinary occasion."
+
+I told her I was afraid, but being not so devout as M. de Brion, my fears
+did not turn to litanies.
+
+"You feared not," said she, "and I fancy you do not believe there are
+devils, for M. de Turenne, who is very brave, was much surprised, and did
+not march on so briskly as you."
+
+I confess the distinction pleased me mightily and made me think of
+venturing some compliments.  I then said to her, "One may believe there
+is a devil and yet not fear him; there are things in the world more
+terrible."
+
+"And what are they?"  said she.
+
+"They are so strong," said I, "that one dare not so much as name them."
+
+She interpreted my meaning rightly, as she told me since, though she
+seemed at that time not to understand me.
+
+Mademoiselle was not what they call a great beauty, yet she was very
+handsome, and I was complimented for saying of her and of Mademoiselle de
+Guise that they were beauties of quality who convinced the beholders at
+first sight that they were born Princesses.  Mademoiselle de Vendome had
+no great share of wit, but her folly lay as yet concealed; her air was
+grave, tinctured with stateliness, not the effect of good sense, but the
+consequence of a languid constitution, which sort of gravity often covers
+a multitude of defects.  In the main, take her altogether, she was really
+amiable.
+
+Let me beseech you, madame, with all submission, to call now to mind the
+commands you were pleased to honour me with a little before your
+departure from Paris, that I should give you a precise account of every
+circumstance and accident of my life, and conceal nothing.  You see, by
+what I have already related, that my ecclesiastical occupations were
+diversified and relieved, though not disfigured, by other employments of
+a more diverting nature.  I observed a decorum in all my actions, and
+where I happened to make a false step some good fortune or other always
+retrieved it.  All the ecclesiastics of the diocese wished to see me
+succeed my uncle in the archbishopric of Paris, but Cardinal de Richelieu
+was of another mind; he hated my family, and most of all my person, for
+the reasons already mentioned, and was still more exasperated for these
+two which follow.
+
+I once told the late President de Mesmes what seems now to me very
+probable, though it is the reverse of what I told you some time ago, that
+I knew a person who had few or no failings but what were either the
+effect or cause of some good qualities.  I then said, on the contrary, to
+M. de Mesmes, that Cardinal de Richelieu had not one great quality but
+what was the effect or cause of some greater imperfection.  This, which
+was only 'inter nos', was carried to the Cardinal, I do not know by whom,
+under my name.  You may judge of the consequences.  Another thing that
+angered him was because I visited the President Barillon, then prisoner
+at Amboise, concerning remonstrances made to the Parliament, and that I
+should do it at a juncture which made my journey the more noticeable. Two
+miserable hermits and false coiners, who had some secret correspondence
+with M. de Vendome,  did, upon some discontent or other, accuse him very
+falsely of having proposed to them to assassinate the Cardinal, and to
+give the more weight to their depositions they named all those they
+thought notorious in that country; Montresor and M. Barillon were of the
+number.  Early notice of this being given me, the great love I had for
+the President Barillon made me take post that night to acquaint him with
+his danger and get him away from Amboise, which was very feasible; but
+he, insisting upon his innocence, rejected my proposals, defied both the
+accusers and their accusations, and was resolved to continue in prison.
+This journey of mine gave a handle to the Cardinal to tell the Bishop of
+Lisieux that I was a cordial friend to all his enemies.
+
+"True enough," said the Bishop; "nevertheless you ought to esteem him;
+you have no reason to complain of him, because those men whom you mean
+were all his true friends before they became your enemies."
+
+"If it be so," replied the Cardinal, "then I am very much misinformed."
+
+The Bishop at this juncture did me all the kind offices imaginable, and
+if the Cardinal had lived he would undoubtedly have restored me to his
+favour; for his Eminence was very well disposed, especially when the
+Bishop assured him that, though I knew myself ruined at Court to all
+intents and purposes, yet I would never come into the measures of M. le
+Grand.--[M. de Cinq-Mars, Henri Coeffier, otherwise called Ruze d'Effial,
+Master of the Horse of France; he was beheaded September 12, 1642.]--I
+was indeed importuned by my friend M. de Thou to join in that enterprise,
+but I saw the weakness of their foundation, as the event has shown, and
+therefore rejected their proposals.
+
+The Cardinal de Richelieu died in 1642, before the good Bishop had made
+my peace with him, and so I remained among those who had rendered
+themselves obnoxious to the Ministry.  At first this character was very
+prejudicial to my interest.  Although the King was overjoyed at his
+death, yet he carefully observed all the appearances of respect for his
+deceased minister, confirmed all his legacies, cared for his family, kept
+all his creatures in the Ministry, and affected to frown upon all who had
+not stood well with the Cardinal; but I was the only exception to this
+general rule.  When the Archbishop of Paris presented me to the King, I
+was treated with such distinguishing marks of royal favour as surprised
+all the Court.  His Majesty talked of my studies and sermons, rallied me
+with an obliging freedom, and bade me come to Court once every week.  The
+reasons of these extraordinary civilities were utterly unknown to us
+until the night before his death, when he told them to the Queen.  I
+passed them by in silence before as having no bearing on my history, but
+I am obliged to insert them here because they have been, in their
+consequences, more fortunate than I seemed to have any just claim to
+expect.
+
+A short time after I left the college, my governor's valet de chambre
+found, at a poor pin-maker's house, a niece of hers but fourteen years
+old, who was surprisingly beautiful.  After I had seen her he bought her
+for me for 150 pistoles, hired a little house for her, and placed her
+sister with her; when I went to see her I found her in great heaviness of
+mind, which I attributed to her modesty.  I next day found what was yet
+more surprising and extraordinary than her beauty; she talked wisely and
+religiously to me, and yet without passion.  She cried only when she
+could not help it.  She feared her aunt to a degree that made me pity
+her.  I admired her wit first, and then her virtue, for trial of which I
+pressed her as far as was necessary, until I was even ashamed of myself.
+I waited till night to get her into my coach, and then carried her to my
+aunt De Maignelai, who put her into a convent, where she died eight or
+ten years after, in great reputation for piety.  My aunt, to whom this
+young creature confessed that the menaces of the pin-maker had terrified
+her so much that she would have done whatsoever I wished, was so affected
+with my behaviour that she went to tell it to the Bishop of Lisieux, who
+told it to the King.
+
+This second adventure was not of the same nature, but it made as great an
+impression on the King's mind.  It was a duel I had with Coutenau,
+captain of a company of the King's Light-horse, brave, but wild, who,
+riding post from Paris as I was going there, made the ostler take off my
+saddle and put on his.  Upon my telling him I had hired the horse, he
+gave me a swinging box on the ear, which fetched blood.  I instantly drew
+my sword, and so did he.  While making our first thrusts his foot
+slipped, and his sword dropped out of his hand as he fell to the ground.
+I retired a little and bade him pick it up, which he did, but it was by
+the point, for he presented me the handle and begged a thousand pardons.
+He told this little story afterwards to the King, with whom he had great
+freedom.  His Majesty was pleased with it, and remembered both time and
+place, as you will see hereafter.
+
+The good reception I found at Court gave my relatives some grounds to
+hope that I might have the coadjutorship of Paris.  At first they found a
+great deal of difficulty in my uncle's narrowness of spirit, which is
+always attended with fears and jealousies; but at length they prevailed
+upon him, and would have then carried our point, if my friends had not
+given it out, much against my judgment, that it was done by the consent
+of the Archbishop of Paris, and if they had not suffered the Sorbonne,
+the cures, and chapter to return him their thanks.  This affair made too
+much noise in the world for my interest.  For Cardinal Mazarin, De
+Noyers, and De Chavigni thwarted me, and told his Majesty that the
+chapter should not be entrusted with the power of nominating their own
+archbishop.  And the King was heard to say that I was yet too young.
+
+But we met with a worse obstacle than all from M. de Noyers, Secretary of
+State, one of the three favourite ministers, who passed for a religious
+man, and was suspected by some to be a Jesuit in disguise.  He had a
+secret longing for the archbishopric of Paris, which would shortly be
+vacant, and therefore thought it expedient to remove me from that city,
+where he saw I was extremely beloved, and provide me with some post
+suitable to my years.  He proposed to the King by his confessor to
+nominate me Bishop of Agde.  The King readily granted the request, which
+confounded me beyond all expression.  I had no mind to go to Languedoc,
+and yet so great are the inconveniences of a refusal that not a man had
+courage to advise me to it.  I became, therefore, my own counsellor, and
+having resolved with myself what course to take, I waited upon his
+Majesty, and thanked him for his gracious offer, but said I dreaded the
+weight of so remote a see, and that my years wanted advice, which it is
+difficult to obtain in provinces so distant.  I added to this other
+arguments, which you may guess at.  I was in this adventure also more
+happy than wise.  The King continued to treat me very kindly.  This
+circumstance, and the retreat of M. de Noyers, who fell into the snare
+that Chavigni had laid for him, renewed my hopes of the coadjutorship of
+Paris.  The King died about this time, in 1643.  M. de Beaufort, who had
+been always devoted to the Queen's interest, and even passed for her
+gallant, pretended now to govern the kingdom, of which he was not so
+capable as his valet de chambre.  The Bishop of Beauvais, the greatest
+idiot you ever knew, took upon himself the character of Prime Minister,
+and on the first day of his administration required the Dutch to embrace
+the Roman Catholic religion if they desired to continue in alliance with
+France.  The Queen was ashamed of this ridiculous minister, and sent for
+me to offer my father--[Philippe Emmanuel de Gondi, Comte de Joigni; he
+retired to the Fathers of the Oratory, and became priest; died 1662,
+aged eighty-one.]--the place of Prime Minister; but he refusing
+peremptorily to leave his cell and the Fathers of the Oratory, the place
+was conferred upon Cardinal Mazarin.
+
+You may now imagine that it was no great task for me to obtain what I
+desired at a time that nothing was refused, which made Feuillade say that
+the only words in the French tongue were "La Reine est si bonne."
+
+Madame de Maignelai and the Bishop of Lisieux desired the Queen to grant
+me the coadjutorship of Paris, but they were repulsed, the Queen assuring
+them that none should have it but my father, who kept from Court; and
+would never be seen at the Louvre, except once, when the Queen told him
+publicly that the King, the very night before he died, had ordered her
+expressly to have it solicited for me, and that he said in the presence
+of the Bishop of Lisieux that he had me always in his thoughts since the
+adventures of the pinmaker and Captain Coutenau.  What relation had these
+trifling stories to the archbishopric of Paris?  Thus we see that affairs
+of the greatest moment often owe their rise and success to insignificant
+trifles and accidents.  All the companies went to thank the Queen.  I
+sent 16,000 crowns to Rome for my bull, with orders not to desire any
+favour, lest it should delay the despatch and give the ministers time to
+oppose it.  I received my bull accordingly; and now you will see me
+ascending the theatre of action, where you will find scenes not indeed
+worthy of yourself, but not altogether unworthy of your attention.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Assurrance often supplies the room of good sense
+By the means of a hundred pistoles down, and vast promises
+False glory and false modesty
+He knew how to put a good gloss upon his failings
+He weighed everything, but fixed on nothing
+Is there a greater in the world than heading a party?
+Nothing is so subject to delusion as piety
+So indiscreet as to boast of his successful amours
+Verily believed he was really the man which he affected to be
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs Of Jean Francois Paul De
+Gondi, Cardinal De Retz, Volume I., by Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CARDINAL DE RETZ ***
+
+***** This file should be named 3842.txt or 3842.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/4/3842/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/3842.zip b/3842.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..671bd9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3842.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe3397f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #3842 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3842)
diff --git a/old/cm05b10.txt b/old/cm05b10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24a886b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/cm05b10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1726 @@
+The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, v1
+#1 in our series by Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
+#5 in our series Historic Court Memoirs
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check
+the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!!
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.
+
+Please do not remove this.
+
+This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book.
+Do not change or edit it without written permission.  The words
+are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they
+need about what they can legally do with the texts.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below, including for donations.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
+organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541
+
+
+
+Title: The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, v1
+
+Author: Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
+
+Official Release Date: March, 2002  [Etext #3842]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
+[The actual date this file first posted = 06/24/01]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, v1
+*******This file should be named cm05b10.txt or cm05b10.zip*******
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, cm05b11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cm05b10a.txt
+
+This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions,
+all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a
+copyright notice is included.  Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any
+of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after
+the official publication date.
+
+Please note:  neither this list nor its contents are final till
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement
+can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03
+or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext
+files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third
+of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we
+manage to get some real funding.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of June 16, 2001 contributions are only being solicited from people in:
+Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana,
+Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri,
+Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma,
+Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,
+Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in nearly all states now, and these are the ones
+that have responded as of the date above.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met,
+additions to this list will be made and fund raising
+will begin in the additional states.  Please feel
+free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork
+to legally request donations in all 50 states.  If
+your state is not listed and you would like to know
+if we have added it since the list you have, just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in
+states where we are not yet registered, we know
+of no prohibition against accepting donations
+from donors in these states who approach us with
+an offer to donate.
+
+
+International donations are accepted,
+but we don't know ANYTHING about how
+to make them tax-deductible, or
+even if they CAN be made deductible,
+and don't have the staff to handle it
+even if there are ways.
+
+All donations should be made to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
+organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541,
+and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal
+Revenue Service (IRS).  Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum
+extent permitted by law.  As the requirements for other states are met,
+additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the
+additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org
+if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if
+it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . .
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+***
+
+
+Example command-line FTP session:
+
+ftp ftp.ibiblio.org
+login: anonymous
+password: your@login
+cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg
+cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc.
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET GUTINDEX.??  [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99]
+GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books]
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this etext,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.06/12/01*END*
+[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart
+and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.]
+[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales
+of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or
+software or any other related product without express permission.]
+
+
+
+
+
+This etext was produced by David Widger  <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+
+
+
+
+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF JEAN FRANCOIS PAUL de GONDI, CARDINAL DE RETZ, v1
+
+Written by Himself
+
+Being Historic Court Memoirs of the Great Events during the Minority of
+Louis XIV. and the Administration of Cardinal Mazarin.
+
+
+
+
+ORIGINAL PREFACE.
+
+Our Author, John Francis Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, Sovereign of
+Commercy, Prince of Euville, second Archbishop of Paris, Abbot of Saint
+Denis in France, was born at Montmirail, in Brie, in October, 1614.
+
+His father was Philippe Emanuel de Gondi, Comte, de Joigni, General of
+the Galleys of France and Knight of the King's Orders; and his mother was
+Frances Marguerite, daughter of the Comte de Rochepot, Knight of the
+King's Orders, and of Marie de Lannoy, sovereign of Commercy and Euville.
+
+Pierre de Gondi, Duc de Retz, was his brother, whose daughter was the
+Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.
+
+His grandfather was Albert de Gondi, Duc de Retz, Marquis de Belle Isle,
+a Peer of France, Marshal and General of the Galleys, Colonel of the
+French Horse, First Gentleman of the Bedchamber, and Great Chamberlain to
+the Kings Charles IX. and Henri III.
+
+This history was first printed in Paris in 1705, at the expense of the
+Duchesse de Lesdiguieres, the last of this noble family, whose estate
+fell after her decease to that of Villeroy.
+
+His preceptor was the famous Vincent de Paul, Almoner to Queen Anne of
+Austria.
+
+In 1627 he was made a Canon of the Cathedral of Paris by his uncle, Jean
+Francois de Gondi, first archbishop of that city, and was not long after
+created a Doctor of the Sorbonne.
+
+In 1643 he was appointed Coadjutor of the archbishopric of Paris, with
+the title of Archbishop of Corinth, during which, such was his pastoral
+vigilance that the most important affairs of the Church were committed to
+his care.
+
+As to his general character, if we take it from his own Memoirs, he had
+such presence of mind, and so dexterously improved all opportunities
+which fortune presented to him, that it seemed as if he had foreseen or
+desired them.  He knew how to put a good gloss upon his failings, and
+oftentimes verily believed he was really the man which he affected to be
+only in appearance.  He was a man of bright parts, but no conduct, being
+violent and inconstant in his intrigues of love as well as those of
+politics, and so indiscreet as to boast of his successful amours with
+certain ladies whom he ought not to have named.  He affected pomp and
+splendour, though his profession demanded simplicity and humility.  He
+was continually shifting parties, being a loyal subject one day and the
+next a rebel, one time a sworn enemy to the Prime Minister, and by and by
+his zealous friend; always aiming to make himself formidable or
+necessary.  As a pastor he had engrossed the love and confidence of the
+people, and as a statesman he artfully played them off against their
+sovereign.  He studied characters thoroughly, and no man painted them in
+truer colours more to his own purpose.  Sometimes he confesses his
+weaknesses, and at other times betrays his self-flattery.
+
+It being his fate to be imprisoned by Mazarin, first at Vincennes and
+then at Nantes, he made his escape to Rome, and in 1656 retired to
+Franche Comte, where Cardinal Mazarin gave orders for his being arrested;
+upon which he posted to Switzerland, and thence to Constance, Strasburg,
+Ulm, Augsburg, Frankfort, and Cologne, to which latter place Mazarin sent
+men to take him dead or alive; whereupon he retired to Holland, and made
+a trip from one town to another till 1661, when, Cardinal Mazarin dying,
+our Cardinal went as far as Valenciennes on his way to Paris, but was not
+suffered to come further; for the King and Queen-mother would not be
+satisfied without his resignation of the archbishopric of Paris, to which
+he at last submitted upon advantageous terms for himself and an amnesty
+for all his adherents.  But still the Court carried it so severely to the
+Cardinal that they would not let him go and pay his last devoirs to his
+father when on his dying bed.  At length, however, after abundance of
+solicitation, he had leave to go and wait upon the King and Queen, who,
+on the death of Pope Alexander VII., sent him to Rome to assist at the
+election of his successor.
+
+No wonder that King Charles II. of England promised to intercede for the
+Cardinal's reestablishment; for when the royal family were starving, as
+it were, in their exile at Paris, De Retz did more for them than all the
+French Court put together; and, upon the King's promise to take the Roman
+Catholics of England under his protection after his restoration, he sent
+an abbot to Rome to solicit the Pope to lend him money, and to dispose
+the English Catholics in his favour.
+
+He would fain have returned his hat to the new Pope, but his Holiness, at
+the solicitation of Louis XIV., ordered him to keep it.  After this he
+chose a total retirement, lived with exemplary piety, considerably
+retrenched his expenses, and hardly allowed himself common necessaries,
+in order to save money to pay off a debt of three millions, which he had
+the happiness to discharge, and to balance all accounts with the world
+before his death, which happened at Paris on the 24th of August, 1679, in
+the 65th year of his age.
+
+
+
+
+                        HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS.
+
+                           CARDINAL DE RETZ.
+
+                                BOOK I.
+
+
+MADAME:--Though I have a natural aversion to give you the history of my
+own life, which has been chequered with such a variety of different
+adventures, yet I had rather sacrifice my reputation to the commands of a
+lady for whom I have so peculiar a regard than not disclose the most
+secret springs of my actions and the inmost recesses of my soul.
+
+By the caprice of fortune many mistakes of mine have turned to my credit,
+and I very much doubt whether it would be prudent in me to remove the
+veil with which some of them are covered.  But as I am resolved to give
+you a naked, impartial account of even the most minute passages of my
+life ever since I have been capable of reflection, so I most humbly beg
+you not to be surprised at the little art, or, rather, great disorder,
+with which I write my narrative, but to consider that, though the
+diversity of incidents may sometimes break the thread of the history, yet
+I will tell you nothing but with all that sincerity which the regard I
+have for you demands.  And to convince you further that I will neither
+add to nor diminish from the plain truth, I shall set my name in the
+front of the work.
+
+False glory and false modesty are the two rocks on which men who have
+written their own lives have generally split, but which Thuanus among the
+moderns and Caesar among the ancients happily escaped.  I doubt not you
+will do me the justice to believe that I do not pretend to compare myself
+with those great writers in any respect but sincerity,--a virtue in which
+we are not only permitted, but commanded, to rival the greatest heroes.
+
+I am descended from a family illustrious in France and ancient in Italy,
+and born upon a day remarkable for the taking of a monstrous sturgeon in
+a small river that runs through the country of Montmirail, in Brie, the
+place of my nativity.
+
+I am not so vain as to be proud of having it thought that I was ushered
+into the world with a prodigy or a miracle, and I should never have
+mentioned this trifling circumstance had it not been for some libels
+since published by my enemies, wherein they affect to make the said
+sturgeon a presage of the future commotions in this kingdom, and me the
+chief author of them.
+
+I beg leave to make a short reflection on the nature of the mind of man.
+I believe there never was a more honest soul in the world than my
+father's; I might say his temper was the very essence of virtue.  For
+though he saw I was too much inclined to duels and gallantry ever to make
+a figure as an ecclesiastic, yet his great love for his eldest son--not
+the view of the archbishopric of Paris, which was then in his family--
+made him resolve to devote me to the service of the Church.  For he was
+so conscious of his reasons, that I could even swear he would have
+protested from the very bottom of his heart that he had no other motive
+than the apprehension of the dangers to which a contrary profession might
+expose my soul.  So true it is that nothing is so subject to delusion as
+piety: all sorts of errors creep in and hide themselves under that veil;
+it gives a sanction to all the turns of imagination, and the honesty of
+the intention is not sufficient to guard against it.  In a word, after
+all I have told you, I turned priest, though it would have been long
+enough first had it not been for the following accident.
+
+The Duc de Retz, head of our family, broke at that time, by the King's
+order, the marriage treaty concluded some years before between the Duc de
+Mercoeur--[Louis, Duc de Mercoeur, since Cardinal de Vendome, father of
+the Duc de Vendome, and Grand Prior, died 1669.]--and his daughter, and
+next day came to my father and agreeably surprised him by telling him he
+was resolved to give her to his cousin to reunite the family.
+
+As I knew she had a sister worth above 80,000 livres a year, I, that very
+instant, thought of a double match.  I had no hopes they would think of
+me, knowing how things stood, so I was resolved to provide for myself.
+
+Having got a hint that my father did not intend to carry me to the
+wedding, as, foreseeing, it may be, what happened, I pretended to be
+better pleased with my profession, to be touched by what my father had so
+often laid before me on that subject, and I acted my part so well that
+they believed I was quite another man.
+
+My father resolved to carry me into Brittany, for the reason that I had
+shown no inclination that way.  We found Mademoiselle de Retz at
+Beaupreau, in Anjou.  I looked on the eldest only as my sister, but
+immediately considered Mademoiselle de Scepaux (so the youngest was
+called) as my mistress.
+
+I thought her very handsome, her complexion the most charming in the
+world, lilies and roses in abundance, admirable eyes, a very pretty
+mouth, and what she wanted in stature was abundantly made up by the
+prospect of 80,000 livres a year and of the Duchy of Beaupreau, and by a
+thousand chimeras which I formed on these real foundations.
+
+I played my game nicely from the beginning, and acted the ecclesiastic
+and the devotee both in the journey and during my stay there;
+nevertheless, I paid my sighs to the fair one,--she perceived it.
+I spoke at last, and she heard me, but not with that complacency which
+I could have wished.
+
+But observing she had a great kindness for an old chambermaid, sister to
+one of my monks of Buzai, I did all I could to gain her, and by the means
+of a hundred pistoles down, and vast promises, I succeeded.  She made her
+mistress believe that she was designed for a nunnery, and I, for my part,
+told her that I was doomed to nothing less than a monastery.  She could
+not endure her sister, because she was her father's darling, and I was
+not overfond of my brother,--[Pierre de Gondi, Duc de Retz, who died in
+1676.]--for the same reason.  This resemblance in our fortunes
+contributed much to the uniting of our affections, which I persuaded
+myself were reciprocal, and I resolved to carry her to Holland.
+
+Indeed, there was nothing more easy, for Machecoul, whither we were come
+from Beaupreau, was no more than half a league from the sea.  But money
+was the only thing wanting, for my treasury, was so drained by the gift
+of the hundred pistoles above mentioned that I had not a sou left.  But I
+found a supply by telling my father that, as the farming of my abbeys was
+taxed with the utmost rigour of the law, so I thought myself obliged in
+conscience to take the administration of them into my own hands.  This
+proposal, though not pleasing, could not be rejected, both because it was
+regular and because it made him in some measure believe that I would not
+fail to keep my benefices, since I was willing to take care of them.
+I went the next day to let Buzai,--[One of his abbeys.]-- which is but
+five leagues from Machecoul.  I treated with a Nantes merchant, whose
+name was Jucatieres, who took advantage of my eagerness, and for 4,000
+crowns ready money got a bargain that made his fortune.  I thought I had
+4,000,000, and was just securing one of the Dutch pinks, which are always
+in the road of Retz, when the following accident happened, which broke
+all my measures.
+
+Mademoiselle de Retz (for she had taken that name after her sister's
+marriage) had the finest eyes in the world, and they never were so
+beautiful as when she was languishing in love, the charms of which I
+never yet saw equalled.  We happened to dine at a lady's house, a league
+from Machecoul, where Mademoiselle de Retz, looking in the glass at an
+assembly of ladies, displayed all those tender, lively, moving airs which
+the Italians call 'morbidezza', or the lover's languish.  But
+unfortunately she was not aware that Palluau, since Marechal de
+Clerambaut, was behind her, who observed her airs, and being very much
+attached to Madame de Retz, with whom he had in her tender years been
+very familiar, told her faithfully what he had observed.
+
+Madame de Retz, who mortally hated her sister, disclosed it that very
+night to her father, who did not fail to impart it to mine.  The next
+morning, at the arrival of the post from Paris, all was in a hurry, my
+father pretending to have received very pressing news; and, after our
+taking a slight though public leave of the ladies, my father carried me
+to sleep that night at Nantes.  I was, as you may imagine, under very
+great surprise and concern; for I could not guess the cause of this
+sudden departure.  I had nothing to reproach myself with upon the score
+of my conduct; neither had I the least suspicion that Palluau had seen
+anything more than ordinary till I arrived at Orleans, where the matter
+was cleared up, for my brother, to prevent my escape, which I vainly
+attempted several times on my journey, seized my strong box, in which was
+my money, and then I understood that I was betrayed; in what grief, then,
+I arrived at Paris, I leave you to imagine.
+
+I found there Equilli, Vasse's uncle, and my first cousin, who, I
+daresay, was one of the most honest men of his time, and loved me from
+his very soul.  I apprised him of my design to run away with Mademoiselle
+de Retz.  He heartily approved of my project, not only because it would
+be a very advantageous match for me, but because he was persuaded that a
+double alliance was necessary to secure the establishment of the family.
+
+The Cardinal de Richelieu--[Armand Jean du Plesais, Cardinal de
+Richelieu, was born in 1585, and died in 1642.]--(then Prime Minister)
+mortally hated the Princesse de Guemenee, because he was persuaded she
+had crossed his amours with the Queen,--[Anne of Austria, eldest daughter
+of Philip II., King of Spain, and wife of Louis XIII., died 1666.]--and
+had a hand in the trick played him by Madame du Fargis, one of the
+Queen's dressing women, who showed her Majesty (Marie de Medicis) a love-
+letter written by his Eminence to the Queen, her daughter-in-law.  The
+Cardinal pushed his resentment so far that he attempted to force the
+Marechal de Breze, his brother-in-law, and captain of the King's Life-
+guards, to expose Madame de Guemenee's letters, which were found in M. de
+Montmorency's--[Henri de Montmorency was apprehended on the 1st of
+September, 1632, and beheaded in Toulouse in November of the same year.]
+--coffer when he was arrested at Chateau Naudari.  But the Marechal de
+Breze had so much honour and generosity as to return them to Madame de
+Guemenee.  He was, nevertheless, a very extravagant gentleman; but the
+Cardinal de Richelieu, perceiving he had been formerly honoured by some
+kind of relation to him, and dreading his angry excursions and
+preachments before the King, who had some consideration for his person,
+bore with him very patiently for the sake of settling peace in his own
+family, which he passionately longed to unite and establish, but which
+was the only thing out of his power, who could do whatever else he
+pleased in France.  For the Marechal de Breze had conceived so strong an
+aversion to M. de La Meilleraye, who was then Grand Master of the
+Artillery, and afterwards Marechal de La Meilleraye, that he could not
+endure him.  He did not imagine that the Cardinal would ever look upon a
+man who, though his first cousin, was of a mean extraction, had a most
+contemptible aspect, and, if fame says true, not one extraordinary good
+quality.
+
+The Cardinal was of another mind, and had a great opinion--indeed, with
+abundance of reason--of M. de La Meilleraye's courage; but he esteemed
+his military capacity infinitely too much, though in truth it was not
+contemptible.  In a word, he designed him for that post which we have
+since seen so gloriously filled by M. de Turenne.
+
+You may, by what has been said, judge of the divisions that were in
+Cardinal de Richelieu's family, and how much he was concerned to appease
+them.  He laboured at them with great application, and for this end
+thought he could not do better than to unite these two heads of the
+faction in a close confidence with himself, exclusive of all others.
+To this end he used them jointly and in common as the confidants of his
+amours, which certainly were neither suitable to the lustre of his
+actions nor the grandeur of his life; for Marion de Lorme, one of his
+mistresses, was little better than a common prostitute.  Another of his
+concubines was Madame de Fruges, that old gentlewoman who was so often
+seen sauntering in the enclosure.  The first used to come to his
+apartment in the daytime, and he went by night to visit the other,
+who was but the pitiful cast-off of Buckingham and Epienne.  The two
+confidants introduced him there in coloured clothes; for they had made up
+a hasty peace, to which Madame de Guemenee nearly fell a sacrifice.
+
+M. de La Meilleraye, whom they called the Grand Master, was in love with
+Madame de Guemenee, but she could not love him; and he being, both in his
+own nature and by reason of his great favour with the Cardinal, the most
+imperious man living, took it very ill that he was not beloved.  He
+complained, but the lady was insensible; he huffed and bounced, but was
+laughed to scorn.  He thought he had her in his power because the
+Cardinal, to whom he had declared his rage against her, had given him her
+letters, as above mentioned, which were written to M. de Montmorency,
+and, therefore, in his menaces he let fall some hints with relation to
+those letters to the disadvantage of Madame de Guemenee.  She thereupon
+ridiculed him no longer, but went almost raving mad, and fell into such
+an inconceivable melancholy that you would not have known her, and
+retired to Couperai, where she would let nobody see her.
+
+As soon as I applied my mind to study I resolved at the same time to take
+the Cardinal de Richelieu for my pattern, though my friends opposed it as
+too pedantic; but I followed my first designs, and began my course with
+good success.  I was afterwards followed by all persons of quality of the
+same profession; but, as I was the first, the Cardinal was pleased with
+my fancy, which, together with the good offices done me by the Grand
+Master with the Cardinal, made him speak well of me on several occasions,
+wonder that I had never made my court to him, and at the same time he
+ordered M. de Lingendes, since Bishop of Magon, to bring me to his house.
+
+This was the source of my first disgrace, for, instead of complying with
+these offers of the Cardinal and with the entreaties of the Grand Master,
+urging me to go and make my court to him, I returned the most trifling
+excuses and apologies; one time I pretended to be sick and went into the
+country.  In short, I did enough to let them see that I did not care to
+be a dependent on the Cardinal de Richelieu, who was certainly a very
+great man, but had this particular trait in his genius,--to take notice
+of trifles.  Of this he gave me the following instance: The history of
+the conspiracy of Jean Louis de Fiesque,--[Author of "The Conspiracy of
+Genoa."  He was drowned on the 1st of January, 1557.]--which I had
+written at eighteen years of age, being conveyed by Boisrobert into the
+Cardinal's hands, he was heard to say, in the presence of Marechal
+d'Estrees and M. de Senneterre, "This is a dangerous genius."  This was
+told my father that very night by M. de Senneterre, and I took it as
+spoken to myself.
+
+The success that I had in the acts of the Sorbonne made me fond of that
+sort of reputation, which I had a mind to push further, and thought I
+might succeed in sermons.  Instead of preaching first, as I was advised,
+in the little convents, I preached on Ascension, Corpus Christi Day,
+etc., before the Queen and the whole Court, which assurance gained me a
+good character from the Cardinal; for, when he was told how well I had
+performed, he said, "There is no judging of things by the event; the man
+is a coxcomb."  Thus you see I had enough to do for one of two-and-twenty
+years of age.
+
+M. le Comte,--[Louis de Bourbon, Comte de soissons, killed in the battle
+of Marfee, near Sedan, in 1641.]--who had a tender love for me, and to
+whose service and person I was entirely devoted, left Paris in the night,
+in order to get into Sedan, for fear of an arrest; and, in the meantime,
+entrusted me with the care of Vanbrock, the greatest confidant he had in
+the world.  I took care, as I was ordered, that he should never stir out
+but at night, for in the daytime I concealed him in a private place,
+between the ceiling and the penthouse, where I thought it impossible for
+anything but a cat or the devil to find him.  But he was not careful
+enough of himself, for one morning my door was burst open, and armed men
+rushed into my chamber, with the provost at their head, who cried, with a
+great oath, "Where is Vanbrock?" I replied, "At Sedan, monsieur, I
+believe."  He swore again most confoundedly, and searched the mattresses
+of all the beds in the house, threatening to put my domestics to the rack
+if they did not make a disclosure; but there was only one that knew
+anything of the matter, and so they went away in a rage.  You may easily
+imagine that when this was reported the Court would highly resent it.
+And so it happened, for the license of the Sorbonne being expired, and
+the competitors striving for the best places, I had the ambition to put
+in for the first place, and did not think myself obliged to yield to the
+Abbe de La Mothe-Houdancourt, now Archbishop of Auch, over whom I had
+certainly some advantage in the disputations.  I carried myself in this
+affair more wisely than might have been expected from my youth; for as
+soon as I heard that my rival was supported by the Cardinal, who did him
+the honour to own him for his kinsman, I sent the Cardinal word, by M. de
+Raconis, Bishop of Lavaur, that I desisted from my pretension, out of the
+respect I owed his Eminence, as soon as I heard that he concerned himself
+in the affair.  The Bishop of Lavaur told me the Cardinal pretended that
+the Abby de La Mothe would not be obliged for the first place to my
+cession, but to his own merit.  This answer exasperated me.  I gave a
+smile and a low bow, pursued my point, and gained the first place by
+eighty-four voices.  The Cardinal, who was for domineering in all places
+and in all affairs, fell into a passion much below his character, either
+as a minister or a man, threatened the deputies of the Sorbonne to raze
+the new buildings he had begun there, and assailed my character again
+with incredible bitterness.
+
+All my friends were alarmed at this, and were for sending me in all haste
+to Italy.  Accordingly, I went to Venice, stayed there till the middle of
+August, and was very near being assassinated; for I amused myself by
+making an intrigue with Signora Vendranina, a noble Venetian lady, and
+one of the most handsome I ever saw.  M. de Maille, the King's
+ambassador, aware of the dangerous consequences of such adventures in
+this country, ordered me to depart from Venice; upon which I went through
+Lombardy, and towards the end of September arrived at Rome, where the
+Marechal d'Estrees, who resided there as ambassador, gave me such
+instructions for my behaviour as I followed to a tittle.  Though I had no
+design to be an ecclesiastic, yet since I wore a cassock I was resolved
+to acquire some reputation at the Pope's Court.  I compassed my design
+very happily, avoiding any appearance of gallantry and lewdness, and my
+dress being grave to the last degree; but for all this I was at a vast
+expense, having fine liveries, a very splendid equipage, and a train of
+seven or eight gentlemen, whereof four were Knights of Malta.  I disputed
+in the Colleges of Sapienza (not to be compared for learning with those
+of the Sorbonne), and fortune continued still to raise me.  For the
+Prince de Schomberg, the Emperor's ambassador, sent me word one day,
+while I was playing at 'balon' at the baths of Antoninus, to leave the
+place clear for him.  I answered that I could have refused his Excellency
+nothing asked in a civil manner, but since it was commanded, I would have
+him to know that I would obey the orders of no ambassador whatever,
+but that of the King, my master.  Being urged a second time by one
+of his attendants to leave the place, I stood upon my own defence, and
+the Germans, more, in my opinion, out of contempt of the few people I had
+with me than out of any other consideration, let the affair drop.  This
+bold carriage of so modest an abbe, to an ambassador who never went
+abroad without one hundred musketeers on horseback to attend him, made a
+great noise in Rome, and was much taken notice of by Cardinal Mazarin.
+
+The Cardinal de Richelieu's health declining, the archbishopric of Paris
+was now almost within my ken, which, together with other prospects of
+good benefices, made me resolve not to fling off the cassock but upon
+honourable terms and valuable considerations; but having nothing yet
+within my view that I could be sure of, I resolved to distinguish myself
+in my own profession by all the methods I could.  I retired from the
+world, studied very hard, saw but very few men, and had no more
+correspondence with any of the female sex, except Madame de -------.
+
+The devil had appeared to the Princesse de Guemenee just a fortnight
+before this adventure happened, and was often raised by the conjurations
+of M. d'Andilly, to frighten his votary, I believe, into piety, for he
+was even more in love with her person than I myself; but he loved her in
+the Lord, purely and spiritually.  I raised, in my turn, a demon that
+appeared to her in a more kind and agreeable form.  In six weeks I got
+her away from Port Royal; I was very diligent in paying her my respects,
+and the satisfaction I had in her company, with some other agreeable
+diversions, qualified in a great measure the chagrin which attended my
+profession, to which I was not yet heartily reconciled.  This enchantment
+had like to have raised such a storm as would have given a new face to
+the affairs of Europe if fortune had been ever so little on my side.
+
+M. the Cardinal de Richelieu loved rallying other people, but could not
+bear a jest himself, and all men of this humour are always very crabbed
+and churlish; of which the Cardinal gave an instance, in a public
+assembly of ladies, to Madame de Guemenee, when he threw out a severe
+jest, which everybody observed was pointed at me.  She was sensibly
+affronted, but I was enraged.  For at last there was a sort of an
+understanding between us, which was often ill-managed, yet our interests
+were inseparable.  At this time Madame de La Meilleraye, with whom,
+though she was silly, I had fallen in love, pleased the Cardinal to that
+degree that the Marshal perceived it before he set out for the army, and
+rallied his wife in such a manner that she immediately found he was even
+more jealous than ambitious.  She was terribly afraid of him, and did not
+love the Cardinal, who, by marrying her to his cousin, had lessened his
+own family, of which he was extremely fond.  Besides, the Cardinal's
+infirmities made him look a great deal older than he was.  And though all
+his other actions had no tincture of pedantry, yet in his amorous
+intrigues he had the most of it in the world.  I had a detail of all the
+steps he had made therein, which were extremely ridiculous.  But
+continuing his solicitation, and carrying her to his country seat at
+Ruel,--[The Cardinal de Richelieu's seat, three leagues from Paris.]--
+where he kept her a considerable time, I guessed that the lady had not
+brains enough to resist the splendour of Court favour, and that her
+husband's jealousy would soon give way to his interest, but, above all,
+to his blind side, which was an attachment to the Court not to be
+equalled.  When I was in the hottest pursuit of this passion I proposed
+to myself the most exquisite pleasures in triumphing over the Cardinal de
+Richelieu in this fair field of battle; but on a sudden I had the
+mortification to hear the whole family was changed.  The husband allowed
+his wife to go to Ruel as often as she pleased, and her behaviour towards
+me I suspected to be false and treacherous.  In short, Madame de
+Guemenee's anger, for a reason I hinted before, my jealousy of Madame de
+La Meilleraye, and an aversion to my own profession, all joined together
+in a fatal moment and were near producing one of the greatest and most
+famous events of our age.
+
+La Rochepot, my first cousin and dear friend, was a domestic of the late
+Duc d'Orleans,--[Gaston Jean Baptists de France, born 1608, and died at
+Blois, 1660.]--and his great confidant.  He mortally hated the Cardinal
+de Richelieu, who had persecuted his mother, and had her hung up in
+effigy, and kept his father still a prisoner in the Bastille, and now
+refused the son a regiment, though Marechal de La Meilleraye, who very
+highly esteemed him for his courage, interceded for the favour.  You may
+imagine that when we came together we did not forget the Cardinal.
+
+I being crossed in my designs, as I told you, and as full of resentment
+as La Rochepot was for the affronts put upon his person and family, we
+chimed in our thoughts and resolutions, which were, dexterously to manage
+the weakness of the Duc d'Orleans and to put that in execution which the
+boldness of his domestics had almost effected at Corbie.
+
+The Duc d'Orleans was appointed General, and the Comte de Soissons
+Lieutenant-General of the King's forces in Picardy, but neither of them
+stood well with the Cardinal, who gave them those posts only because the
+situation of affairs was such that he could not help it.  L'Epinai,
+Montresor, and La Rochepot made use of all the arguments they could think
+of to raise jealousies and fears in the Duc d'Orleans, and to inspire him
+with resolution and courage to rid himself of the Cardinal.  Others
+laboured to persuade the Comte de Soissons to relish the same proposal,
+but though resolved upon, it was never put into execution.  For they had
+the Cardinal in their power at Amiens, but did him no harm.  For this
+every one blamed the Count's companion, but I could never yet learn the
+true cause; only this is certain, that they were no sooner come to Paris
+than they were all seized with a panic, and retired, some one way, some
+another.
+
+The Comte de Guiche,  since Marechal de Grammont, and M. de Chavigni,
+Secretary of State and the Cardinal's most intimate favourite, were sent
+by the King to Blois.  Here they frightened the Duc d'Orleans and made
+him return to Paris, where he was more afraid than ever; for such of his
+domestics as were not gained by the Court made use of his pusillanimous
+temper, and represented to him the necessity he was under to provide for
+his own, or rather their, security.  La Rochepot and myself endeavoured
+to heighten his fears as much as possible, in order to precipitate him
+into our measures.  The term sounds odd, but it is the most expressive I
+could find of a character like the Duke's.  He weighed everything, but
+fixed on nothing; and if by chance he was inclined to do one thing more
+than another, he would never execute it without being pushed or forced
+into it.
+
+La Rochepot did all he could to fix him, but finding that the Duke was
+always for delays, and for perplexing all expedients with groundless
+fears of invincible difficulties, he fell upon an expedient very
+dangerous to all appearance, but, as it usually happens in extraordinary
+cases, much less so than at first view.
+
+Cardinal de Richelieu having to stand godfather at the baptism of
+Mademoiselle, La Rochepot's proposal was to continue to show the Duke the
+necessity he lay under still to get rid of the Cardinal, without saying
+much of the particulars, for fear of hazarding the secret, but only to
+entertain him with the general proposal of that affair, thereby to make
+him the better in love with the measures when proposed; and that they
+might, at a proper time and place, tell him they had concealed the detail
+to the execution from his Highness upon no other account but that they
+had experienced on several occasions that there was no other way of
+serving his Highness, as he himself had told La Rochepot several times;
+that nothing, therefore, remained but to get some brave fellows fit for
+such a resolute enterprise, and to hold post-horses ready upon the road
+of Sedan under some other pretext, and to so execute the design in the
+presence and in the name of his Royal Highness upon the day of the
+intended solemnity, that his Highness should cheerfully own it when it
+was done, and that then we would carry him off by those horses to Sedan.
+Meanwhile the distraction of the inferior ministers and the joy of the
+King to see himself delivered from a tyrant would dispose the Court
+rather to invite than to pursue him.  This was La Rochepot's scheme, and
+it seemed exceedingly plausible.
+
+La Rochepot and I had, it may be, blamed the inactivity of the Duc
+d'Orleans and the Comte de Soissons in the affair of Amiens a hundred
+times; yet, no sooner was the scheme sufficiently matured for execution,
+the idea of which I had raised in the memory of La Rochepot, than my mind
+was seized with I know not what fear; I took it then for a scruple of
+conscience,--I cannot tell whether it was in truth so or not, but, in
+short, the thought of killing a priest and a cardinal deeply affected my
+mind.  La Rochepot laughed at my scruples, and bantered me thus: "When
+you are in the field of battle I warrant you will not beat up the enemy's
+quarters for fear of assassinating men in their sleep."  I was ashamed of
+my scruples, and again hugged the crime, which I looked upon as
+sanctified by the examples of great men, and justified and honoured by
+the mighty danger that attended its execution.  We renewed our
+consultations, engaged some accomplices, took all the necessary
+precautions, and resolved upon the execution.  The danger was indeed very
+great, but we might reasonably hope to come off well enough; for the
+Duke's guard, which was within, would not have failed to come to our
+assistance against that of the Cardinal's, which was without.  But his
+fortune, and not his guards, delivered him from the snare; for either
+Mademoiselle or himself, I forget which, fell suddenly ill, and the
+ceremony was put off to another time, so that we lost our opportunity.
+The Duke returned to Blois, and the Marquis de Boissi protested he would
+never betray us, but that he would be no longer concerned, because he had
+just received some favour or other from the Cardinal's own hands.
+
+I confess that this enterprise, which, had it succeeded, would have
+crowned us with glory, never fully pleased me.  I was not so scrupulous
+in the committing of two other transgressions against the rules of
+morality, as you may have before observed; but I wish, with all my heart,
+I had never been concerned in this.  Ancient Rome, indeed, would have
+counted it honourable; but it is not in this respect that I honour the
+memory of old Rome.
+
+There is commonly a great deal of folly in conspiracies; but afterwards
+there is nothing tends so, much to make men wise, at least for some time.
+For, as the danger in things of this nature continues, even after the
+opportunities for doing them are over, men are from that instant more
+prudent and circumspect.
+
+Having thus missed our blow, the Comte de La Rochepot and the rest of
+them retired to their several seats in the country; but my engagements
+detained me at Paris, where I was so retired that I spent all my time in
+my study; and if ever I was seen abroad, it was with all the reserve of a
+pious ecclesiastic; we were all so true to one another in keeping this
+adventure secret, that it never got the least wind while the Cardinal
+lived, who was a minister that had the best intelligence in the world;
+but after his death it was discovered by the imprudence of Tret and
+Etourville.  I call it imprudence, for what greater weakness can men be
+guilty of than to declare themselves to have been capable of what is
+dangerous in the first instance?
+
+To return to the history of the Comte de Soissons, I observed before that
+he had retired to Sedan for safety, which he could not expect at Court.
+He wrote to the King, assuring his Majesty of his fidelity, and that
+while he stayed in that place he would undertake nothing prejudicial to
+his service.  He was most mindful of his promise; was not to be biassed
+by all the offers of Spain or the Empire, but rejected with indignation
+the overtures of Saint-Ibal and of Bardouville, who would have persuaded
+him to take up arms.  Campion, one of his domestics, whom he had left at
+Paris to mind his affairs at Court, told me these particulars by the
+Count's express orders, and I still remember this passage in one of his
+letters to Campion: "The men you know are very urgent with me to treat
+with the enemy, and accuse me of weakness because I fear the examples of
+Charles de Bourbon and Robert d'Artois."  He was ordered to show me this
+letter and desire my opinion thereupon.  I took my pen, and, at a little
+distance from the answer he had already begun, I wrote these words:
+
+"And I do accuse them of folly."  The reasons upon which my opinion was
+grounded were these: The Count was courageous in the highest degree of
+what is commonly called valour, and had a more than ordinary share in
+that boldness of mind which we call resolution.  The first is common and
+to be frequently met with among the vulgar, but the second is rarer than
+can be imagined, and yet abundantly more necessary for great enterprises;
+and is there a greater in the world than heading a party?  The command of
+an army is without comparison of less intricacy, for there are wheels
+within wheels necessary for governing the State, but then they are not
+near so brittle and delicate.  In a word, I am of opinion there are
+greater qualities necessary to make a good head of a party than to make
+an emperor who is to govern the whole world, and that resolution ought to
+run parallel with judgment,--I say, with heroic judgment, which is able
+to distinguish the extraordinary from what we call the impossible.
+
+The Count had not one grain of this discerning faculty, which is but
+seldom to be met with in the sublimest genius.  His character was mean to
+a degree, and consequently susceptible of unreasonable jealousies and
+distrusts, which of all characters is the most opposite to that of a good
+partisan, who is indispensably obliged in many cases to suppress, and in
+all to conceal, the best-grounded suspicions.
+
+This was the reason I could not be of the opinion of those who were for
+engaging the Count in a civil war; and Varicarville, who was the man of
+the best sense and temper of all the persons of quality he had about him,
+told me since that when be saw what I wrote in Campion's letter the day I
+set out for Italy, he very well knew by what motives I was, against my
+inclination, persuaded into this opinion.
+
+The Count held out all this year and the next against every solicitation
+of the Spaniards and the importunities of his own friends, much more by
+the wise counsels of Varicarville than by the force of his own
+resolution; but nothing could secure him from the teasings of the
+Cardinal de Richelieu, who poured into his ears every day in the King's
+name his many dismal discoveries and prognostications.  For fear of being
+tedious I shall only tell you in one word that the Cardinal, contrary to
+his own interest, hurried the Count into a civil war, by such arts of
+chicanery as those who are fortune's favourites never fail to play upon
+the unfortunate.
+
+The minds of people began now to be more embittered than ever.  I was
+sent for by the Count to Sedan to tell him the state of Paris.  The
+account I gave him could not but be very agreeable; for I told him the
+very truth: that he was universally beloved, honoured, and adored in that
+city, and his enemy dreaded and abhorred.  The Duc de Bouillon, who was
+urgent for war, be the consequence what it would, improved upon these
+advantages, and made them look more plausible, but Varicarville strongly
+opposed him.
+
+I thought myself too young to declare my opinion; but, being pressed to
+do so by his Highness, I took the liberty to tell him that a Prince of
+the blood ought to engage himself in a civil war rather than suffer any
+diminution of his reputation or dignity, yet that nothing but these two
+cases could justly oblige him to it, because he hazards both by a
+commotion whenever the one or the other consideration does not make it
+necessary; that I thought his Highness far from being under any such
+necessity; that his retreat to Sedan secured him from the indignity he
+must have submitted to, among others, of taking the left hand, even in
+the Cardinal's own house; that, in the meantime, the popular hatred of
+the Cardinal gained his Highness the greater share of the public favour,
+which is always much better secured by inaction than action, because the
+glory of action depends upon success, for which no one can answer;
+whereas inaction is sure to be commended as being founded upon the hatred
+which the public will always bear to the minister.  That, therefore, I
+should think it would be more glorious for his Highness, in the view of
+the world, to support himself by his own weight, that is, by the merit of
+his virtue, against the artifices of so powerful a minister as the
+Cardinal de Richelieu,--I say, more glorious to support himself by a wise
+and regular conduct than to kindle the fire of war, the flagrant
+consequences whereof no man is able to foresee; that it was true that the
+minister was universally cursed, but that I could not yet see that the
+people's minds were exasperated enough for any considerable revolution;
+that the Cardinal was in a declining state of health, and if he should
+not die this time, his Highness would have the opportunity of showing the
+King and the public that though, by his own personal authority and his
+important post at Sedan, he was in a capacity to do himself justice, he
+sacrificed his own resentments to the welfare and quiet of the State; and
+that if the Cardinal should recover his health, he would not fail, by
+additional acts of tyranny and oppression, to draw upon himself the
+redoubled execrations of the people, which would ripen, their murmurings
+and discontents into a universal revolution.
+
+This is the substance of what I said to the Count, and he seemed to be
+somewhat affected by it.  But the Duc de Bouillon was enraged, and told
+me, by way of banter, "Your blood is very cold for a gentleman of your
+age."  To which I replied in these very words: "All the Count's servants
+are so much obliged to you, monsieur, that they ought to bear everything
+from you; but were it not for this consideration alone, I should think
+that your bastions would not be always strong enough to protect you."
+The Duke soon came to himself, and treated me with all the civilities
+imaginable, such as laid a foundation for our future friendship.
+I stayed two days longer at Sedan, during which the Count changed his
+mind five different times, as I was told by M. Saint-Ibal, who said
+little was to be expected from a man of his humour.  At last, however,
+the Duc de Bouillon won him over.  I was charged to do all I could to
+convince the people of Paris, had an order to take up money and to lay it
+out for this purpose, and I returned from Sedan with letters more than
+enough to have hanged two hundred men.
+
+As I had faithfully set the Count's true interest before him, and
+dissuaded him from undertaking an affair of which he was by no means
+capable, I thought it high time to think of my own affairs.  I hated my
+profession now more than ever; I was at first hurried into it by the
+infatuation of my kindred.  My destiny had bound me down to it by the
+chains both of duty and pleasure, so that I could see no possibility to
+set myself free.  I was upwards of twenty-five years of age, and I saw it
+was now too late to begin to carry a musket; but that which tortured me
+most of all was this fatal reflection, that I had spent so much of my
+time in too eager a pursuit of pleasure, and thereby riveted my own
+chains; so that it looked as if fate was resolved to fasten me to the
+Church, whether I would or no.  You may imagine with what satisfaction
+such thoughts as these were accompanied, for this confusion of affairs
+gave me hopes of getting loose from my profession with uncommon honour
+and reputation.  I thought of ways to distinguish myself, pursued them
+very diligently, and you will allow that nothing but destiny broke my
+measures.
+
+The Marechaux de Vitri and Bassompierre, the Comte de Cremail, M. du
+Fargis, and M. du Coudrai Montpensier were then prisoners in the Bastille
+upon different counts.  But, as length of time makes confinement less
+irksome, they were treated very civilly, and indulged with a great share
+of freedom.  Their friends came to see them, and sometimes dined with
+them.  By means of M. du Fargis, who had married my aunt, I got
+acquainted with the rest, and by conversing with them discovered very
+remarkable emotions in some of them, upon which I could not help
+reflecting.  The Marechal de Vitri was a gentleman of mean parts, but
+bold, even to rashness, and his having been formerly employed to kill the
+Marechal d'Ancre had given him in the common vogue, though I think
+unjustly, the air of a man of business and expedition.  He appeared to me
+enraged against the Cardinal, and I concluded he might do service in the
+present juncture, but did not address myself directly to him, and thought
+it the wisest way first to sift the Comte de Cremail, who was a man of
+sound sense, and could influence the Marechal de Vitri as he pleased.
+He apprehended me at half a word, and immediately asked me if I had made
+myself known to any of the prisoners.  I answered, readily:
+
+"No, monsieur; and I will tell you my reasons in a very few words.
+Bassompierre is a tattler; I expect to do nothing with the Marechal de
+Vitri but by your means.  I suspect the honesty of Du Coudrai, and as for
+my uncle, Du Fargis, he is a gallant man, but has no headpiece."
+
+"Whom, then, do you confide in at Paris?"  said the Comte de Cremail.
+
+"I dare trust no man living," said I, "but yourself."
+
+"It is very well," said he, briskly; "you are the man for me.  I am above
+eighty years old, and you but twenty-five; I will qualify your heat, and
+you my chilliness."
+
+We went upon business, drew up our plan, and at parting he said these
+very words: "Let me alone one week, and after that I will tell you more
+of my mind, for I hope to convince the Cardinal that I am good for
+something more than writing the "Jeu de l'Inconnu."
+
+You must know that the "Jeu de l'Inconnu" was a book, indeed, very ill
+written, which the Comte de Cremail had formerly published, and which the
+Cardinal had grossly ridiculed.  You will be surprised, without doubt,
+that I should think of prisoners for an affair of this importance, but
+the nature of it was such that it could not be put into better hands, as
+you will see by and by.
+
+A week after, going to visit the prisoners, and Cremail and myself being
+accidentally left alone, we took a walk upon the terrace, where, after a
+thousand thanks for the confidence I had put in him, and as many
+protestations of his readiness to serve the Comte de Soissons, he spoke
+thus: "There is nothing but the thrust of a sword or the city of Paris
+that can rid us of the Cardinal.  Had I been at the enterprise of Amiens,
+I think I should not have missed my blow, as those gentlemen did.  I am
+for that of Paris; it cannot miscarry; I have considered it well.  See
+here what additions I have made to our plan."  And thereupon he put into
+my hand a paper, in substance as follows: that he had conferred with the
+Marechal de Vitri, who was as well disposed as anybody in the world to
+serve the Count; that they would both answer for the Bastille, where all
+the garrison was in their interest; that they were likewise sure of the
+arsenal; and that they would also declare themselves as soon as the Count
+had gained a battle, on condition that I made it appear beforehand, as I
+had told him (the Comte de Cremail), that they should be supported by a
+considerable number of officers, colonels of Paris, etc.  For the rest,
+this paper contained many particular observations on the conduct of the
+undertaking, and many cautions relating to the behaviour to be observed
+by the Count.  That which surprised me most of all was to see how fully
+persuaded these gentlemen were of carrying their point with ease.
+
+Though it came into my head to propose this project to the persons in the
+Bastille, yet nothing but the perfect knowledge I had of their
+disposition and inclination could have persuaded me that it was
+practicable.  And I confess, upon perusal of the plan prepared by M. de
+Cremail, a man of great experience and excellent sense, I was astonished
+to find a few prisoners disposing of the Bastille with the same freedom
+as the Governor, the greatest authority in the place.
+
+As all extraordinary circumstances are of wonderful weight in popular
+revolutions, I considered that this project, which was even ripe for
+execution, would have an admirable effect in the city.  And as nothing
+animates and supports commotions more than the ridiculing of those
+against whom they are raised, I knew it would be very easy for us to
+expose the conduct of a minister who had tamely suffered prisoners to
+hamper him, as one may say, with their chains.  I lost no time;
+afterwards I opened myself to M. d'Estampes, President of the Great
+Council, and to M. l'Ecuyer, President of the Chamber of Accounts, both
+colonels, and in great repute among the citizens, and I found them every
+way answering the character I had of them from the Count; that is, very
+zealous for his interest, and fully persuaded that the insurrection was
+not only practicable, but very easy.  Pray observe that these two
+gentlemen, who made no great figure, even in their own profession, were,
+perhaps, two of the most peaceable persons in the kingdom.  But there are
+some fires which burn all before them.  The main thing is to know and
+seize the critical moment.
+
+The Count had charged me to disclose myself to none in Paris besides
+these two, but I ventured to add two more: Parmentier, substitute to the
+Attorney-General; and his brother-in-law, Epinai, auditor of the Chamber
+of Accounts, who was the man of the greatest credit, though but a
+lieutenant, and the other a captain.  Parmentier, who, both by his wit
+and courage, was as capable of a great action as any man I ever knew,
+promised me that he would answer for Brigalier, councillor in the Court
+of Aids, captain in his quarter, and very powerful among the people, but
+told me at the same time that he must not know a word of the matter,
+because he was a mere rattle, not to be trusted with a secret.
+
+The Count made me a remittance of 12,000 crowns, which I carried to my
+aunt De Maignelai, telling her that it was a restitution made by one of
+my dying friends, who made me trustee of it upon condition that I should
+distribute it among decayed families who were ashamed to make their
+necessities known, and that I had taken an oath to distribute it myself,
+persuant to the desire of the testator, but that I was at a loss to find
+out fit objects for my charity; and therefore I desired her to take the
+care of it upon her.  The good woman was perfectly transported, and said
+she would do it with all her heart; but because I had sworn to make the
+distribution myself, she insisted upon it that I must be present, not
+only for the sake of my promise, but to accustom myself to do acts of
+charity.  This was the very thing I aimed at,--an opportunity of knowing
+all the poor of Paris.  Therefore I suffered myself to be carried every
+day by my aunt into the outskirts, to visit the poor in their garrets,
+and I met very often in her house people who were very well clad, and
+many whom I once knew, that came for private charity.  My good aunt
+charged them always to pray to God for her nephew, who was the hand that
+God had been pleased to make use of for this good work.  Judge you of the
+influence this gave me over the populace, who are without comparison the
+most considerable in all public disturbances.  For the rich never come
+into such measures unless they are forced, and beggars do more harm than
+good, because it is known that they aim at plunder; those, therefore, who
+are capable of doing most service are such as are not reduced to common
+beggary, yet so straitened in their circumstances as to wish for nothing
+more than a general change of affairs in order to repair their broken
+fortunes.  I made myself acquainted with people of this rank for the
+course of four months with uncommon application, so that there was hardly
+a child in the chimney-corner but I gratified with some small token.  I
+called them by their familiar names.  My aunt, who always made it her
+business to go from house to house to relieve the poor, was a cloak for
+all.  I also played the hypocrite, and frequented the conferences of
+Saint Lazarus.
+
+Varicarville and Beauregarde, my correspondents at Sedan, assured me that
+the Comte de Soissons was as well inclined as one could wish, and that he
+had not wavered since he had formed his last resolution.  Varicarville
+said that we had formerly done him horrible injustice, and that they were
+now even obliged to restrain him, because he seemed to be too fond of the
+counsels of Spain and the Empire.  Please to observe that these two
+Courts, which had made incredible solicitations to him while he wavered,
+began, as soon as his purpose was fixed, to draw back,--a fatality due to
+the phlegmatic temper of the Spaniard, dignified by the name of prudence,
+joined to the astute politics of the house of Austria.  You may observe
+at the same time that the Count, who had continued firm and unshaken
+three months together, changed his mind as soon as his enemies had
+granted what he asked; which exactly comes up to the character of an
+irresolute man, who is always most unsteady the nearer the work comes to
+its conclusion.  I heard of this convulsion, as one may call it, by an
+express from Varicarville, and took post the same night for Sedan,
+arriving there an hour after Aretonville, an agent despatched from the
+Count's brother in-law, M. de Longueville.--[Henri d'Orleans, the second
+of that name, died 1663.]--He came with some plausible but deceitful
+terms of accommodation which we all agreed to oppose.  Those who had been
+always with the Count pressed him strongly with the remembrance of what
+he himself thought or said was necessary to be done ever since the war
+had been resolved on.  Saint-Ibal, who had been negotiating for him at
+Brussels, pressed him with his engagements, advances, and solicitations,
+insisted on the steps I had, by his order, already taken in Paris, on the
+promises made to De Vitri and Cremail, and on the secret committed to two
+persons by his own command, and to four others for his service and with
+his consent.  Our arguments, considering his engagements, were very just
+and clear.  We carried our point with much ado after a conflict of four
+days.  Aretonville was sent back with a very smart answer.  M. de Guise,
+who had joined the Count, and was a well-wisher to a rupture, went to
+Liege to order the levies, Varicarville and I returned to Paris, but I
+did not care to tell my fellow conspirators of the irresolution of our
+principal.  Some symptoms of it appeared afterwards, but they very soon
+vanished.
+
+Being assured that the Spaniards had everything in readiness, I went for
+the last time to Sedan to take my final instructions.  There I found
+Meternic, colonel of one of the oldest regiments of the Empire,
+despatched by General Lamboy, who had advanced with a gallant army under
+his command, composed for the most part of veteran troops.  The Colonel
+assured the Count that he was ordered to obey his commands in everything,
+and to give battle to the Marechal de Chatillon,  who commanded the army
+of France upon the Meuse.  As the undertaking at Paris depended entirely
+on the success of such a battle, the Count thought it fitting that I
+should go along with Meternic to Givet, where I found the army in a very
+good condition.  Then I returned to Paris, and gave an account of every
+particular to the Marechal de Pitri, who drew up the order for the
+enterprise.  The whole city of Paris seemed so disposed for an
+insurrection that we thought ourselves sure of success.  The secret was
+kept even to a miracle.  The Count gave the enemy battle and won it.  You
+now believe, without doubt, the day was our own.  Far from it; for the
+Count was killed in the very crisis of the victory, and in the midst of
+his own men; but how and by whom no soul could ever tell.
+
+You may guess what a condition I was in when I heard this news; M. de
+Cremail, the wisest of us all, thought of nothing else now but how to
+conceal the secret, which, though known to only six in all Paris, was
+known to too great a number; but the greatest danger of discovery was
+from the people of Sedan, who, being out of the kingdom, were not afraid
+of punishment.  Nevertheless, everybody privy to it religiously kept it
+secret, and stood their ground, which, with another accident I shall
+mention hereafter, has made me often think, and say too, that secrecy is
+not so rare a thing as we imagine with men versed in matters of State.
+
+The Count's death settled me in my profession, for I saw no great things
+to be done, and I found myself too old to leave it for anything trifling.
+Besides, Cardinal de Richelieu's health was declining, and I already
+began to think myself Archbishop of Paris.  I resolved that for the
+future I would devote myself to my profession.  Madame de Guemenee had
+retired to Port Royal, her country-seat.  M. d'Andilly had got her from
+me.  She neither powdered nor curled her hair any longer, and had
+dismissed me solemnly with all the formalities required from a sincere
+penitent.  I discovered, by means of a valet de chambre, that, captain
+---- of the Marshal's Guards, had as free access to Meilleraye's lady as
+myself.  See what it is to be a saint!  The truth is, I grew much more
+regular,--at least affected to be thought so,--led a retired life, stuck
+to my profession, studied hard, and got acquainted with all who were
+famous either for learning or piety.  I converted my house almost into an
+academy, but took care not to erect the academy into a rigid tribunal.  I
+began to be pretty free with the canons and curates, whom I found of
+course at my uncle's house.  I did not act the devotee, because I could
+not be sure how long I should be able to play the counterfeit, but I had
+a high esteem for devout people, which with such is the main article of
+religion.  I suited my pleasures to my practice, and, finding I could not
+live without some amorous intrigue, I managed an amour with Madame de
+Pommereux, a young coquette, who had so many sparks, not only in her
+house but at her devotions, that the apparent business of others was a
+cover for mine, which was, at least, some time afterwards, more to the
+purpose.  When I had succeeded, I became a man in such request among
+those of my profession that the devotees themselves used to say of me
+with M. Vincent, "Though I had not piety enough, yet I was not far from
+the kingdom of heaven."
+
+Fortune favoured me more than usual at this time.  I was at the house of
+Madame de Rambure, a notable and learned Huguenot, where I met with
+Mestrezat, the famous minister of Charento.  To satisfy her curiosity she
+engaged us in a dispute; we had nine different disputations.  The
+Marechal de la Forde and M. de Turenne were present at some of them, and
+a gentleman of Poitou, who was at all of them, became my proselyte.  As I
+was then but twenty-six years of age, this made a great deal of noise,
+and among other effects, was productive of one that had not the least
+connection with its cause, which I shall mention after I have done
+justice to a civility I received from my antagonist in one of the
+conferences.  I had the advantage of him in the fifth meeting, relating
+to the spiritual vocation; but in the sixth, treating of the Pope's
+authority, I was confounded, because, to avoid embroiling myself with the
+Court of Rome, I answered him on principles which are not so easy to be
+maintained as those of the Sorbonne.  My opponent perceived the concern I
+was under, and generously forebore to urge such passages as would have
+obliged me to explain myself in a manner disagreeable to the Pope's
+Nuncio.  I thought it extremely obliging, and as we were going out
+thanked him in the presence of M. de Turenne; to which he answered, very
+civilly, that it would have been a piece of injustice to hinder the Abbe
+de Retz from being made a cardinal.  This was such complaisance as you
+are not to expect from every Geneva pedant.  I told you before that this
+conference produced one effect very different from its cause, and it is
+this: Madame de Vendome, of whom you have heard, without doubt, took such
+a fancy to me ever after, that a mother could not have been more tender.
+She had been at the conference too, though I am very well assured she
+understood nothing of the matter; but the favourable opinion she had of
+me was owing to the Bishop of Lisieux, her spiritual director, who,
+finding I was disposed to follow my profession, which out of his great
+love to me he most passionately desired, made it his business to magnify
+the few good qualities I was master of; and I am thoroughly persuaded
+that what applause I had then in the world was chiefly owing to his
+encouragement, for there was not a man in France whose approbation could
+give so much honour.  His sermons had advanced him from a very mean and
+foreign extraction (which was Flemish) to the episcopal dignity, which he
+adorned with solid and unaffected piety.  His disinterestedness was far
+beyond that of the hermits or anchorites.  He had the courage of Saint
+Ambrose, and at Court and in the presence of the King he so maintained
+his usual freedom that the Cardinal de Richelieu, who had been his
+scholar in divinity, both reverenced and feared him.  This good man had
+that abundant kindness for me that he read me lectures thrice a week upon
+Saint Paul's Epistles, and he designed also the conversion of M. de
+Turenne and to give me the honour of it.
+
+M. de Turenne had a great respect for him, whereof he gave him very,
+distinguishing marks.  The Comte de Brion,  whom, I believe, you may
+remember under the title of Duc d'Amville, was deeply in love with
+Mademoiselle de Vendome, since Madame de Nemours; and, besides, he was a
+great favourite of M. de Turenne, who, to do him a pleasure and to give
+him the more opportunities to see Mademoiselle de Vendome, affected to be
+a great admirer of the Bishop of Lisieux and to hear his exhortations
+with a world of attention.  The Comte de Brion, who had twice been a
+Capuchin, and whose life was a continual medley of sin and devotion,
+pretended likewise to be much interested in M. de Turenne's conversion,
+and was present at all the conferences held at Mademoiselle de Vendome's
+apartment.  De Brion had very little wit, but was a clever talker, and
+had a great deal of assurance, which not very seldom supplies the room of
+good sense.  This and the behaviour of M. de Turenne, together with the
+indolence of Mademoiselle de Vendome, made me think all was fair, so that
+I never suspected an amour at the bottom.
+
+The Bishop of Lisieux being a great admirer of Corneille's writings, and
+making no scruple to see a good comedy, provided it was in the country
+among a few friends, the late Madame de Choisy proposed to entertain him
+with one at Saint Cloud.  Accordingly Madame took with her Madame and
+Mademoiselle de Vendome, M. de Turenne, M. de Brion, Voiture, and myself.
+De Brion took care of the comedy and violins, and I looked after a good
+collation.  We went to the Archbishop's house at Saint Cloud, where the
+comedians did not arrive till very late at night.  M. de Lisieux admired
+the violins, and Madame de Vendome was hugely diverted to see her
+daughter dance alone.  In short, we did not set out till peep of day (it
+being summer-time), and the days at the longest, and were got no further
+than the bottom of the Descent of Bonshommes, when all on a sudden the
+coach stopped.  I, being next the door opposite to Mademoiselle de
+Vendome, bade the coachman drive on.  He answered, as plain as he could
+speak for his fright, "What!  would you have me drive over all these
+devils here?"  I put my head out of the coach, but, being short-sighted
+from my youth, saw nothing at all.  Madame de Choisy, who was at the
+other door with M. de Turenne, was the first in the coach who found out
+the cause of the coachman's fright.  I say in the coach, for five or six
+lackeys behind it were already crying "Jesu Maria" and quaking with fear.
+
+Madame de Choisy cried out, upon which M. de Turenne threw himself out of
+the coach, and I, thinking we were beset by highwaymen, leaped out on the
+other side, took one of the footmen's hangers, drew it, and went to the
+other aide to join M. de Turenne, whom I found with his eyes fixed on
+something, but what I could not see.  I asked him what it was, upon which
+he pulled me by the sleeve, and said, with a low voice, "I will tell you,
+but we must not frighten the ladies," who, by this time, screamed most
+fearfully.  Voiture began his Oremus, and prayed heartily.  You, I
+suppose, knew Madame de Choisy's shrill tone; Mademoiselle de Vendome was
+counting her beads; Madame de Vendome would fain have confessed her sins
+to the Bishop of Lisieux, who said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer;
+you are in the hands of God."  At the same instant, the Comte do Brion
+and all the lackeys were upon their knees very devoutly singing the
+Litany of the Virgin Mary.
+
+M. de Turenne drew his sword, and said to me, with the calm and
+undisturbed air he commonly puts on when he calls for his dinner, or
+gives battle, "Come, let us go and see who they are."
+
+"Whom should we see?"  said I, for I believed we had all lost our senses.
+
+He answered, "I verily think they are devils."
+
+When we had advanced five or six steps I began to see something which I
+thought looked like a long procession of black phantoms.  I was
+frightened at first, because of the sudden reflection that I had often
+wished to see a spirit, and that now, perhaps, I should pay for my
+incredulity, or rather curiosity.  M. de Turenne was all the while calm
+and resolute.  I made two or three leaps towards the procession, upon
+which the company in the coach, thinking we were fighting with all the
+devils, cried out most terribly; yet it is a question whether our company
+was in a greater fright than the imaginary devils that put us into it,
+who, it seems, were a parcel of barefooted reformed Augustine friars,
+otherwise called the Black Capuchins, who, seeing two men advancing
+towards them with drawn swords, one of them, detached from the
+fraternity, cried out, "Gentlemen, we are poor, harmless friars, only
+come to bathe in this river for our healths."  M. de Turenne and I went
+back to the coach ready to die with laughing at this adventure.
+
+Upon the whole we could not help making this reflection, that what we
+read in the lives of most people is false.  We were both grossly
+mistaken, I, for supposing him to be frightened; he, for thinking me calm
+and undisturbed.  Who, therefore, can write truth better than the man who
+has experienced it?  The President de Thou is very just in his remark
+when he says that "There is no true history extant, nor can be ever
+expected unless written by honest men who are not afraid or ashamed to
+tell the truth of themselves."  I do not pretend to make any merit of my
+sincerity in this case, for I feel so great a satisfaction in unfolding
+my very heart and soul to you, that the pleasure is even more prevalent
+than reason with me in the religious regard I have to the exactness of my
+history.
+
+Mademoiselle de Vendome had ever after an inconceivable contempt for the
+poor Comte de Brion, who in this ridiculous adventure had disclosed a
+weakness never before imagined; and as soon as we were got into the coach
+she bantered him, and said, particularly to me:
+
+"I fancy I must be Henri IV.'s granddaughter by the esteem I have for
+valour.  There's nothing can frighten you, since you were so undaunted on
+this extraordinary occasion."
+
+I told her I was afraid, but being not so devout as M. de Brion, my fears
+did not turn to litanies.
+
+"You feared not," said she, "and I fancy you do not believe there are
+devils, for M. de Turenne, who is very brave, was much surprised, and did
+not march on so briskly as you."
+
+I confess the distinction pleased me mightily and made me think of
+venturing some compliments.  I then said to her, "One may believe there
+is a devil and yet not fear him; there are things in the world more
+terrible."
+
+"And what are they?"  said she.
+
+"They are so strong," said I, "that one dare not so much as name them."
+
+She interpreted my meaning rightly, as she told me since, though she
+seemed at that time not to understand me.
+
+Mademoiselle was not what they call a great beauty, yet she was very
+handsome, and I was complimented for saying of her and of Mademoiselle de
+Guise that they were beauties of quality who convinced the beholders at
+first sight that they were born Princesses.  Mademoiselle de Vendome had
+no great share of wit, but her folly lay as yet concealed; her air was
+grave, tinctured with stateliness, not the effect of good sense, but the
+consequence of a languid constitution, which sort of gravity often covers
+a multitude of defects.  In the main, take her altogether, she was really
+amiable.
+
+Let me beseech you, madame, with all submission, to call now to mind the
+commands you were pleased to honour me with a little before your
+departure from Paris, that I should give you a precise account of every
+circumstance and accident of my life, and conceal nothing.  You see, by
+what I have already related, that my ecclesiastical occupations were
+diversified and relieved, though not disfigured, by other employments of
+a more diverting nature.  I observed a decorum in all my actions, and
+where I happened to make a false step some good fortune or other always
+retrieved it.  All the ecclesiastics of the diocese wished to see me
+succeed my uncle in the archbishopric of Paris, but Cardinal de Richelieu
+was of another mind; he hated my family, and most of all my person, for
+the reasons already mentioned, and was still more exasperated for these
+two which follow.
+
+I once told the late President de Mesmes what seems now to me very
+probable, though it is the reverse of what I told you some time ago,
+that I knew a person who had few or no failings but what were either the
+effect or cause of some good qualities.  I then said, on the contrary,
+to M. de Mesmes, that Cardinal de Richelieu had not one great quality but
+what was the effect or cause of some greater imperfection.  This, which
+was only 'inter nos', was carried to the Cardinal, I do not know by whom,
+under my name.  You may judge of the consequences.  Another thing that
+angered him was because I visited the President Barillon, then prisoner
+at Amboise, concerning remonstrances made to the Parliament, and that I
+should do it at a juncture which made my journey the more noticeable.
+Two miserable hermits and false coiners, who had some secret
+correspondence with M. de Vendome,  did, upon some discontent or other,
+accuse him very falsely of having proposed to them to assassinate the
+Cardinal, and to give the more weight to their depositions they named all
+those they thought notorious in that country; Montresor and M. Barillon
+were of the number.  Early notice of this being given me, the great love
+I had for the President Barillon made me take post that night to acquaint
+him with his danger and get him away from Amboise, which was very
+feasible; but he, insisting upon his innocence, rejected my proposals,
+defied both the accusers and their accusations, and was resolved to
+continue in prison.  This journey of mine gave a handle to the Cardinal
+to tell the Bishop of Lisieux that I was a cordial friend to all his
+enemies.
+
+"True enough," said the Bishop; "nevertheless you ought to esteem him;
+you have no reason to complain of him, because those men whom you mean
+were all his true friends before they became your enemies."
+
+"If it be so," replied the Cardinal, "then I am very much misinformed."
+
+The Bishop at this juncture did me all the kind offices imaginable, and
+if the Cardinal had lived he would undoubtedly have restored me to his
+favour; for his Eminence was very well disposed, especially when the
+Bishop assured him that, though I knew myself ruined at Court to all
+intents and purposes, yet I would never come into the measures of M. le
+Grand.--[M. de Cinq-Mars, Henri Coeffier, otherwise called Ruze d'Effial,
+Master of the Horse of France; he was beheaded September 12, 1642.]--
+I was indeed importuned by my friend M. de Thou to join in that
+enterprise, but I saw the weakness of their foundation, as the event has
+shown, and therefore rejected their proposals.
+
+The Cardinal de Richelieu died in 1642, before the good Bishop had made
+my peace with him, and so I remained among those who had rendered
+themselves obnoxious to the Ministry.  At first this character was very
+prejudicial to my interest.  Although the King was overjoyed at his
+death, yet he carefully observed all the appearances of respect for his
+deceased minister, confirmed all his legacies, cared for his family, kept
+all his creatures in the Ministry, and affected to frown upon all who had
+not stood well with the Cardinal; but I was the only exception to this
+general rule.  When the Archbishop of Paris presented me to the King, I
+was treated with such distinguishing marks of royal favour as surprised
+all the Court.  His Majesty talked of my studies and sermons, rallied me
+with an obliging freedom, and bade me come to Court once every week.  The
+reasons of these extraordinary civilities were utterly unknown to us
+until the night before his death, when he told them to the Queen.  I
+passed them by in silence before as having no bearing on my history, but
+I am obliged to insert them here because they have been, in their
+consequences, more fortunate than I seemed to have any just claim to
+expect.
+
+A short time after I left the college, my governor's valet de chambre
+found, at a poor pin-maker's house, a niece of hers but fourteen years
+old, who was surprisingly beautiful.  After I had seen her he bought her
+for me for 150 pistoles, hired a little house for her, and placed her
+sister with her; when I went to see her I found her in great heaviness of
+mind, which I attributed to her modesty.  I next day found what was yet
+more surprising and extraordinary than her beauty; she talked wisely and
+religiously to me, and yet without passion.  She cried only when she
+could not help it.  She feared her aunt to a degree that made me pity
+her.  I admired her wit first, and then her virtue, for trial of which I
+pressed her as far as was necessary, until I was even ashamed of myself.
+I waited till night to get her into my coach, and then carried her to my
+aunt De Maignelai, who put her into a convent, where she died eight or
+ten years after, in great reputation for piety.  My aunt, to whom this
+young creature confessed that the menaces of the pin-maker had terrified
+her so much that she would have done whatsoever I wished, was so affected
+with my behaviour that she went to tell it to the Bishop of Lisieux, who
+told it to the King.
+
+This second adventure was not of the same nature, but it made as great
+an impression on the King's mind.  It was a duel I had with Coutenau,
+captain of a company of the King's Light-horse, brave, but wild, who,
+riding post from Paris as I was going there, made the ostler take off my
+saddle and put on his.  Upon my telling him I had hired the horse, he
+gave me a swinging box on the ear, which fetched blood.  I instantly drew
+my sword, and so did he.  While making our first thrusts his foot
+slipped, and his sword dropped out of his hand as he fell to the ground.
+I retired a little and bade him pick it up, which he did, but it was by
+the point, for he presented me the handle and begged a thousand pardons.
+He told this little story afterwards to the King, with whom he had great
+freedom.  His Majesty was pleased with it, and remembered both time and
+place, as you will see hereafter.
+
+The good reception I found at Court gave my relatives some grounds to
+hope that I might have the coadjutorship of Paris.  At first they found a
+great deal of difficulty in my uncle's narrowness of spirit, which is
+always attended with fears and jealousies; but at length they prevailed
+upon him, and would have then carried our point, if my friends had not
+given it out, much against my judgment, that it was done by the consent
+of the Archbishop of Paris, and if they had not suffered the Sorbonne,
+the cures, and chapter to return him their thanks.  This affair made too
+much noise in the world for my interest.  For Cardinal Mazarin, De
+Noyers, and De Chavigni thwarted me, and told his Majesty that the
+chapter should not be entrusted with the power of nominating their own
+archbishop.  And the King was heard to say that I was yet too young.
+
+But we met with a worse obstacle than all from M. de Noyers, Secretary of
+State, one of the three favourite ministers, who passed for a religious
+man, and was suspected by some to be a Jesuit in disguise.  He had a
+secret longing for the archbishopric of Paris, which would shortly be
+vacant, and therefore thought it expedient to remove me from that city,
+where he saw I was extremely beloved, and provide me with some post
+suitable to my years.  He proposed to the King by his confessor to
+nominate me Bishop of Agde.  The King readily granted the request, which
+confounded me beyond all expression.  I had no mind to go to Languedoc,
+and yet so great are the inconveniences of a refusal that not a man had
+courage to advise me to it.  I became, therefore, my own counsellor, and
+having resolved with myself what course to take, I waited upon his
+Majesty, and thanked him for his gracious offer, but said I dreaded the
+weight of so remote a see, and that my years wanted advice, which it is
+difficult to obtain in provinces so distant.  I added to this other
+arguments, which you may guess at.  I was in this adventure also more
+happy than wise.  The King continued to treat me very kindly.  This
+circumstance, and the retreat of M. de Noyers, who fell into the snare
+that Chavigni had laid for him, renewed my hopes of the coadjutorship of
+Paris.  The King died about this time, in 1643.  M. de Beaufort, who had
+been always devoted to the Queen's interest, and even passed for her
+gallant, pretended now to govern the kingdom, of which he was not so
+capable as his valet de chambre.  The Bishop of Beauvais, the greatest
+idiot you ever knew, took upon himself the character of Prime Minister,
+and on the first day of his administration required the Dutch to embrace
+the Roman Catholic religion if they desired to continue in alliance with
+France.  The Queen was ashamed of this ridiculous minister, and sent for
+me to offer my father--[Philippe Emmanuel de Gondi, Comte de Joigni; he
+retired to the: Fathers of the Oratory, and became priest; died 1662,
+aged eighty-one.]--the place of Prime Minister; but he refusing
+peremptorily to leave his cell and the Fathers of the Oratory, the place
+was conferred upon Cardinal Mazarin.
+
+You may now imagine that it was no great task for me to obtain what I
+desired at a time that nothing was refused, which made Feuillade say that
+the only words in the French tongue were "La Reine est si bonne."
+
+Madame de Maignelai and the Bishop of Lisieux desired the Queen to grant
+me the coadjutorship of Paris, but they were repulsed, the Queen assuring
+them that none should have it but my father, who kept from Court; and
+would never be seen at the Louvre, except once, when the Queen told him
+publicly that the King, the very night before he died, had ordered her
+expressly to have it solicited for me, and that he said in the presence
+of the Bishop of Lisieux that he had me always in his thoughts since the
+adventures of the pinmaker and Captain Coutenau.  What relation had these
+trifling stories to the archbishopric of Paris?  Thus we see that affairs
+of the greatest moment often owe their rise and success to insignificant
+trifles and accidents.  All the companies went to thank the Queen.  I
+sent 16,000 crowns to Rome for my bull, with orders not to desire any
+favour, lest it should delay the despatch and give the ministers time to
+oppose it.  I received my bull accordingly; and now you will see me
+ascending the theatre of action, where you will find scenes not indeed
+worthy of yourself, but not altogether unworthy of your attention.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Assurrance often supplies the room of good sense
+By the means of a hundred pistoles down, and vast promises
+False glory and false modesty
+He knew how to put a good gloss upon his failings
+He weighed everything, but fixed on nothing
+Is there a greater in the world than heading a party?
+Nothing is so subject to delusion as piety
+So indiscreet as to boast of his successful amours
+Verily believed he was really the man which he affected to be
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, v1
+by Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
+
diff --git a/old/cm05b10.zip b/old/cm05b10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9b804f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/cm05b10.zip