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diff --git a/old/cm08b10.txt b/old/cm08b10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2577d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm08b10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1565 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, v4 +#4 in our series by Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz +#8 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. 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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, v4 + +Written by Himself + +Being Historic Court Memoirs of the Great Events during the Minority of +Louis XIV. and the Administration of Cardinal Mazarin. + + + + +BOOK IV. + +In December, 1651, the Parliament agreed to the following resolution: To +send a deputation to the King to inform him of the rumours of Mazarin's +return, and to beseech him to confirm the royal promise which he had made +to his people upon that head; to forbid all governors to give the +Cardinal passage; to desire the King to acquaint the Pope and other +Princes with the reasons that had obliged him to remove the Cardinal; and +to send to all the Parliaments of the kingdom to make the like decree. + +Somebody making a motion that a price might be set upon the Cardinal's +head, I and the rest of the spiritual councillors retired, because +clergymen are forbidden by the canon law to give their vote in cases of +life and death. + +They agreed also to send deputies to the King to entreat him to write to +the Elector of Cologne to send the Cardinal out of his country, and to +forbid the magistrates of all cities to entertain any troops sent to +favour his return or any of his kindred or domestics. A certain +councillor who said, very judiciously, that the soldiers assembling for +Mazarin upon the frontiers would laugh at all the decrees of Parliament +unless they were proclaimed to them by good musketeers and pikemen, was +run down as if he had talked nonsense, and all the clamour was that it +belonged only to the King to disband soldiers. + +The Duc d'Orleans acquainted the House, on the 29th, that Cardinal +Mazarin had arrived at Sedan; that Marechals de Hoquincourt and de la +Ferte were gone to join him with their army to bring him to Court; and +that it was high time to oppose his designs. Upon this it was +immediately resolved that deputies should be despatched forthwith to the +King; that the Cardinal and all his adherents should be declared guilty +of high treason; that the common people should be commanded to treat them +as such wherever they met them; that his library and all his household +goods should be sold, and that 150,000 livres premium should be given to +any man who should deliver up the said Cardinal, either dead or alive. +Upon this expression all the ecclesiastics retired, for the reason above +mentioned. + +A new decree was passed on the 2d of January, 1652, wherein it was +decided that all the Parliaments of France should be invited to issue +their decrees against Mazarin, conformable to the last; that two more +councillors should be added to the four sent to guard the rivers and to +arm the common people; and that the troops of the Duc d'Orleans should +oppose the march of Mazarin. + +On the 24th the deputies who had been to Poitiers to remonstrate with the +King against the return of the Cardinal, made their report in Parliament, +to the effect that his Majesty, after having consulted with the Queen and +her Council, returned for answer, that without doubt, when the Parliament +issued their late decrees, they did not know that Cardinal Mazarin had +made no levy of soldiers but by his Majesty's express orders; that it was +he who commanded him to enter France with his troops, and that therefore +the King did not resent what the company had done; but that, on the other +hand, he did not doubt that when they had heard the circumstances he had +just mentioned, and knew, moreover, that Cardinal Mazarin only desired an +opportunity to justify himself, they would not fail to give all his +subjects an exemplary proof of the obedience they owed to him. The +Parliament was highly provoked, and next day resolved to admit no more +dukes, peers, nor marshals of France till the Cardinal had left the +kingdom. + +Mazarin, arriving at Court again, persuaded the King to go to Saumur, +though others advised him to march to Guienne against the Prince de +Conde, with whom the Duc d'Orleans was now resolved to join forces. The +King went from Saumur to Tours, where the Archbishop of Rouen carried +complaints to the King, in the name of the bishops there, against the +decrees of Parliament relating to the Cardinal. + +The Duc d'Orleans complained in Parliament against the inconsistency of +their proceedings, and said the King had sent him carte blanche in order +to oblige him to consent to the restoration of the Cardinal, but that +nothing would ever cause him to do it, nor to act apart from the +Parliament. Yet their unaccountable proceedings perplexed him beyond +expression, so that he commanded, or rather permitted, M. de Beaufort to +put his troops in action. And because I told him that, considering the +declarations he had so often repeated against Mazarin, I thought his +conduct in setting his troops in motion against him did not add so much +to the measure of the disgust he had already given to the Court that he +need to apprehend much from it, he gave me for answer these memorable +words which I have reflected upon a thousand times: "If you," said he, +"had been born a Son of France, an Infante of Spain, a King of Hungary, +or a Prince of Pales, you would not talk as you do. You must know that, +with us Princes, words go for nothing, but that we never forget actions. +By to-morrow noon the Queen would not remember my declarations against +the Cardinal if I would admit him tomorrow morning; but if my troops were +to fire a musket she would not forgive me though we were to live two +thousand years hence." + +In February, 1652, I was made a cardinal, and was to receive the hat, as +all French cardinals do, from the King. My enemies, who thought to ruin +my credit with the Duc d'Orleans, gave out that I had been obliged to the +Court for my dignity, attacked me in form as a secret favourer of +Mazarin, and, while their emissaries gained over such of the dregs of the +people as they could corrupt by money, they were supported by all the +intrigues of the Cabinet. But the Duke, who knew better, only laughed at +them; so that they confirmed me in his good opinion, instead of +supplanting me, because in cases of slander every reflection that does +not hurt the person attacked does him service. I said to the Duke that I +wondered he was not wearied out with the silly stories that were told him +every day against me, since they all harped upon one string; but he said, +"Do you take no account of the pleasure one takes every morning in +hearing how wicked men are under the cloak of religious zeal, and every +night how silly they are under the mask of politicians?" + +The servants of the Prince de Conde gave out such stories against me +among the populace as were likely to have done me much more mischief. +They had a pack of brawling fellows in their pay who were more +troublesome to me now than formerly, when they did not dare to appear +before the numerous retinue of gentlemen and liverymen that accompanied +me, for as I had not yet had the hat, I was obliged, wherever I went, to +go incognito, according to the rules of the ceremonial. Those fellows +said that I had betrayed the Duc d'Orleans, and that they would be the +death of me. I told the Duke, who was afraid they would murder me, that +he should soon see how little those hired mobs ought to be regarded. He +offered me his guards, but though Marechal d'Estampes fell on his knees +in my way to stop me, I went down-stairs with only two persons in +company, and made directly towards the ruffians, demanding who was their +leader. Upon which a beggarly fellow, with an old yellow feather in his +hat, answered me, insolently, "I am." Then I called out to the guards at +the gate, saying, "Let me have this rascal hanged up at these grates." +Thereupon he made me a very low bow, and said that he did not mean to +affront me; that he only came with his comrades to tell me of the report +that I designed to carry the Duc d'Orleans to Court, and reconcile him +with Mazarin; that they did not believe it; that they were at my service, +and ready to venture their lives for me, provided I would but promise +them to be always an honest Frondeur. + +The Duc d'Orleans took such delight in conversing with me that, on De +Goulas, one of his secretaries, telling him that all the foreign officers +took mighty umbrage at it, he pulled him up very sharply, and said, "Go +to the devil, you and your foreign officers. If they were as good +Frondeurs as Cardinal de Retz, they would be at their posts, and not +tippling in the taverns of Paris." There was such a strong faction in +the city of Orleans for the Court that his presence there was very +necessary; but as it was much more so at Paris, the Duke was prevailed +upon by his Duchess to let her go thither. M. Patru was pleased to say +that as the gates of Jericho fell at the sound of trumpets, those of +Orleans would open at the sound of fiddles, of which M. de Rohan was a +very great admirer. But, in fact, though the King was just at hand with +the troops, and though M. Mold, Keeper of the Seals, was at the gate +demanding entrance for the King, the Duchess crossed the river in a +barge, made the watermen break down a little postern, which had been +walled up for a long time, and marched, with the acclamations of +multitudes of the people, directly to the Hotel de Ville, where the +magistrates were assembled to consider if they should admit the Keeper of +the Seals. By this means she turned the scale, and MM. de Beaufort and +de Nemours joined her. + +The Prince de Conde arriving at Paris from Guienne on the 11th of April, +the magistrates had a meeting in the Hotel de Ville, in which they +resolved that the Governor should wait on his Royal Highness, and tell +him that the company thought it contrary to order to receive him into the +city before he had cleared himself from the King's declaration, which had +been verified in Parliament against him. + +The Duc d'Orleans, who was overjoyed at this speech, said that the Prince +had only come to discourse with him about private affairs, and that he +would stay but twenty-four hours at Paris. M. de Chavigni informed the +Duke that the Prince was able to stand his ground as long as he pleased, +without being obliged to anybody; and he gathered together a mob of +scoundrels upon the Pont-Neuf, whose fingers itched to be plundering the +house of M. du Plessis Guenegaut, and by whom the Duke was frightened to +a great degree. + +The reflections I had leisure to make upon my new dignity obliged me to +take great care of my hat, whose dazzling flame of colour turns the heads +of many that are honoured with it. The most palpable of those delusions +is the claiming precedence of Princes of the blood, who may become our +masters the next moment, and who at the same time are generally the +masters of all our kindred. I have a veneration for the cardinals of my +family, who made me suck in humility after their example with my mother's +milk, and I found a very happy opportunity to practise it on the very day +that I received the news of my promotion. Chateaubriant said to me, +before a vast number of people at my levee, "Now we will pay our respects +no more to the best of them," which he said because, though I was upon +ill terms with the Prince de Conde, and though I always went well +attended, I yet saluted him wherever I met him with all the respect due +to him on the score of so many titles. I said to him: + +"Pray pardon me, monsieur; we shall pay our respects to the great men +with greater complaisance than ever. God forbid that the red hat should +turn my head to that degree as to make me dispute precedence with the +Princes of the blood. It is honour enough for a gentleman to walk side +by side with them." This expression, I verily believe, afterwards +secured the rank of precedence to the hat in the kingdom of France, by +the courtesy of the Prince de Conde, and his friendship for me. + +Mademoiselle de Chevreuse, the most fantastical lady upon earth, +suspecting that I held a secret correspondence with the Queen, could not +forbear murmuring and threatening what she would do. She said I had +declared to her a thousand times that I could not imagine how it was +possible for anybody to be in love with that Swiss woman. In short, she +said this so often that the Queen had a notion from somebody or other +that I had called her by that name. She never forgave me for it, as you +will perceive in the sequel. You may easily conceive that this +circumstance, which gave me no encouragement to hope for a very gracious +reception at Court for the time to come, did not weaken those resolutions +which I had already taken to retire from public business. The place of +my retreat was agreeable enough: the shadow of the towers of Notre-Dame +was a refreshment to it; and, moreover, the Cardinal's hat sheltered it +from bad weather. I had fine ideas of the sweetness of such a +retirement, and I would gladly have laid hold of it, but my stars would +not have it so. I return to my narrative. + +On the 12th of April the Duc d'Orleans took the Prince de Conde with him +to the Parliament, assuring them that he had not, nor ever would have, +any other intention than to serve his King and country; that he would +always follow the sentiments of the Parliament; and that he was willing +to lay down his arms as soon as the decrees against Cardinal Mazarin were +put into execution. + +The President Bailleul said that the members always thought it an honour +to see the Prince de Conde in his place, but that they could not +dissemble their real concern to see his hands stained with the blood of +the King's soldiers who were killed at Bleneau. Upon this a storm arose +from the benches, which fell with such fury upon the poor President that +he had scarcely room to put in a word for himself, for fifty or sixty +voices disowned him at one volley. + +On the 13th the Parliament agreed that the declaration made by the Duc +d'Orleans and the Prince should be carried to the King; that the +remonstrances they had sent to the King should likewise be sent to all +the sovereign companies of Paris, and to all the Parliaments of the +kingdom, to invite them also to send a deputation on their own behalf; +and that a general assembly should be immediately held at the Hotel de +Ville, to which the Duc d'Orleans and the Prince should be invited to +make the same declarations as they made to the Parliament; and that, in +the meantime, the King's declaration against Cardinal Mazarin, and all +the decrees passed against him, should be put into execution. + +On the 13th of May a councillor of Parliament and captain of his ward, +having brought his company to the Palace to act as ordinary guard, was +abandoned by all the burghers that composed it, who said they were not +created to guard Mazarins. + +The mob, who at the same time appeared ready enough to murder some of the +magistrates in the streets, had nothing in their mouths but the names and +services of the Princes, who next day disowned their humble servants in +the assemblies of the several courts. Though this conduct gave occasion +to severe decrees, which the Parliament issued at every turn against the +seditious, it did not hinder the same Parliament from believing that +those who disowned the sedition were the authors of it, and consequently +did not lessen the hatred which many private men conceived against them. +Such were the various and complicated views every one had concerning the +then position of affairs, that I wrapped myself up, as one may say, in my +great dignities, to which I abandoned the hopes of my fortune; and I +remember one day the President Bellievre telling me that I ought not to +be so indolent. I answered him: "We are in a great storm, where, +methinks, we all row against the wind. I have two good oars in my hand, +one of which is the Cardinal's dignity, and the other the Archiepiscopal. +I am not willing to break them; and all I have to do now is to support +myself." + +At the same time I had other disquietings of a more private nature. +Mademoiselle de Chevreuse fell in love with my rival, the Abbe Fouquet. +Little De Roye, who was a very, pretty German lass at her house, informed +me of it, and made me amends for the infidelity of the mistress, whose +choice, to tell you the truth, did not mortify me much, because she had +nothing but beauty, which cloys when it comes alone. She cared for +nobody besides him she loved; but as she was never long in love, so +neither was it long that she was in good temper. She used her cast-off +lovers as she did her old clothes, which other women lay aside, but she +burnt, so that her daughters had much ado to save a petticoat, head- +dress, gloves, or Venice point. And I verily believe that if she could +have committed her lovers to the flames when she left them off, she would +have done it with all her heart. Madame her mother, who endeavoured to +set her at variance with me when she was resolved to unite herself +entirely with the Court, could not succeed, though she went so far that +Madame de Guemenee caused a letter to be read to her in my handwriting, +whereby I devoted myself body and soul to her, as witches give themselves +to the devil. + +It was at that time that Madame de Chevreuse, seeing herself neglected at +Paris, resolved to retire to Dampierre, where, depending upon what had +been told her from Court, she hoped to be well received. I gave vent to +my passion, which, in truth, was not very great, to Mademoiselle de +Chevreuse, and I took care to have both the mother and daughter +accompanied out of Paris, quite to Dampierre, by all the nobility and +gentlemen I had with me. + +I cannot finish this slight sketch of the condition I was in at Paris +without acknowledging the debt I owe to the generosity of the Prince de +Conde, who, finding that a person was come from the Prince de Conti, at +Bordeaux, with a design to attack me, told him that he would have him +hanged if he did not go back to his master in two hours' time. + +Marigny told me, almost at the same time, that, observing the Prince de +Conde to be very intent upon reading a book, he took the liberty to tell +him that it must needs be a very choice one, because he took such delight +in it; and that the Prince answered him, "It is true I am very fond of +it, for it shows me my faults, which nobody has the courage to tell me." +This book was entitled "The Right and False Steps of the Prince de Conde +and of the Cardinal de Retz." + +There were divers negotiations between the parties, during which Mazarin +gave himself the pleasure of letting the public see MM. de Rohan, de +Chavigni, and de Goulas conferring with him, before the King as well as +in private, at that very instant when the Duc d'Orleans and the Prince de +Conde said publicly, in the assembly of the Chambers, that it ought to be +the preliminary of all treaties to have nothing to do with Mazarin. +He acted a perfect comedy in their presence, pretending to be forcibly +detained by the King, whom he begged with folded hands to let him return +to Italy. + +On the 30th of April there was so great a murmuring in Parliament that +the Duc d'Orleans said they should never see him there again until the +Cardinal was gone. + +On the 6th of May the remonstrances of the Parliament and the Chamber of +Accounts were carried to the King by a large deputation, as were, on the +7th, those of the Court of Aids and the city. The King's answer to both +was that he would cause his troops to retire when those of the Princes +were gone. + +On the 10th it was resolved that the King's Council should be sent to +Saint Germain for a further answer touching the removal of Cardinal +Mazarin from the Court and kingdom, and the armies from the neighbourhood +of Paris. + +On the 14th there was a great uproar again in the Parliament, where there +was a confused clamour for taking into consideration the best means for +hindering the riots and disorders daily committed in the city and in the +hall of the Palace; upon which the Duc d'Orleans, who was afraid that +under this pretence the Mazarinists should make the House take some steps +contrary to their interests, came to the Palace on a sudden, and proposed +that they should grant him full power. + +The 29th being the day that the deputies of the Court of Inquiry desired +the Parliament to consider the ways and means for raising the 150,000 +livres promised to him who should bring Cardinal Mazarin to justice, and +the Archbishop's Grand Vicar coming up at that moment to the bar of the +King's Council to confer about the descent of the shrine of Sainte +Genevieve, a member said, very pleasantly, "We are this day engaged in +devotion for a double festival: we are appointing processions, and +contriving how to murder a Cardinal." + +On the 20th of June the King's answer to the Parliament's remonstrances +was reported in substance as follows: That though his Majesty was +sensible that the demand for the removal of Cardinal Mazarin was but a +pretence, yet, he was willing to grant it after justice was done to the +Cardinal's honour by such reparations as were due to his innocence, +provided the Princes would give him good security for the performance of +their proposals upon the removal of the said Cardinal. That therefore +his Majesty, desired to know: 1. Whether, in this case, they will +renounce all leagues and associations with foreign princes? 2. Whether +they will not form new pretensions? 3. Whether they will come to Court? +4. Whether they will dismiss all the foreigners that are in the kingdom? +5. Whether they will disband their forces? 6. Whether Bordeaux will +return to its duty, as well as the Prince de Conti and Madame de +Longueville? 7. Whether the places which the Prince de Conde has +fortified shall be put into the condition they were in before the breach? + +The Duc d'Orleans, provoked at these propositions, said that a Son of +France and a Prince of the blood were never known to have been treated +like common criminals, and that the declaration which both had made was +more than sufficient to satisfy the Court. + +On the 21st it was moved in Parliament that an inventory should be taken +of what remained of Mazarin's furniture. There having been in the +morning a great commotion at the Palace, when the President and some +others had run a risk of being killed by the mob, M. de Beaufort invited +his friends to meet him in the afternoon in the Palais Royal, and having +got together four or five thousand beggars, he harangued them as to the +obedience which they owed to the Parliament. But two or three days after +this fine sermon of his, the sedition was more violent than ever. + +On the 25th the Princes declared in Parliament that, as soon as the +Cardinal had departed the kingdom, they would faithfully execute all the +articles contained in the King's answer, and immediately send deputies to +complete the rest. + +On the 4th of July a mob assembled, who forced all that went by to put a +handful of straw in their hats, upon which the Duc d'Orleans and the +Prince de Conde went to the Hotel de Ville and convinced the assembly of +the necessity they were under of defending themselves against Mazarin. +Upon a trumpeter arriving from his Majesty with orders to adjourn the +assembly for a week, the people were much incensed, and called out to the +citizens to unite strictly with the Princes. They fell upon the first +thing they met in their way, threw stones into the windows of the Hotel +de Ville, set fire to its gates, and, entering with drawn swords, +murdered M. Le Gras, the Master of Requests, and the Master of Accounts, +and twenty or thirty citizens perished in the tumult. There was a +general consternation all over the city; all the shops were shut in an +instant, and in some parts they set up barricades to stop the rioters, +who had almost overrun the whole town. It was observed that the +appearance of the Duchesse de Beaufort prevailed more with the mob in +causing them to disperse than the exposing of the Host by the cure of St. +John's. + +The late riot had such an effect on the Parliament that the President +Mortier and many of the councillors kept away from the public assemblies +for fear, notwithstanding they were enjoined, by a special decree, to +come and take their places. The magistrates, for the same reason, did +not go to the Hotel de Ville. + +On the 18th the deputies of Parliament being ordered to follow the King +to Pontoise, the House passed a decree for their immediate return to +Parliament, and the Prince de Conde and the Duke de Beaufort brought them +into town with twelve hundred horse. + +The Court in the meantime passed decrees of Council, annulling those of +the Parliament and the transactions of the assembly at the Hotel de +Ville. + +On the 20th the Parliament declared by a decree that, the King being +prisoner to Cardinal Mazarin, the Duc d'Orleans should be desired to take +upon him the office of Lieutenant-General of his Majesty, and the Prince +to take upon him the command of the army as long as Mazarin should +continue in the kingdom, and that a copy of the said decree should be +sent to all the Parliaments of the kingdom, who should be desired to +publish the like; but not one complied, except that of Bordeaux. +Nor was the Duke better obeyed by the several governors of the provinces, +for but one vouchsafed him an answer when he acquainted them with his new +dignity, the Court having put them in mind of their duty by an order of +Council, published to annul that of the Parliament for establishing the +said lieutenancy; and in Paris itself the Duke's authority was despised, +for two wretches having been condemned for setting fire to the Hotel de +Ville, the citizens who were ordered to take charge of the execution +refused to obey. + +On the 24th it was ordered that a general assembly should be held at the +Hotel de Ville, to consider the ways and means to raise money for +supporting the troops, and that the statues at Mazarin's palace should be +sold to make up the sum set upon the Cardinal's head. + +On the 29th it was resolved in the Hotel de Ville to raise 800,000 livres +for augmenting his Royal Highness's troops, and to exhort all the great +towns of the kingdom to unite with the metropolis. + +On the 6th of August the King sent a declaration signifying the removal +of the Parliament to Pontoise. There was a great commotion in the House, +who agreed not to register it till the Cardinal had left the kingdom. +As for the Parliament of Pontoise, which consisted of but fourteen +officers, with three Presidents at their head, who had a little before +retired in disguise from Paris, they made remonstrances likewise to the +King for removing Cardinal Mazarin. The King granted what was desired of +him, and that upon the solicitations of that honest, disinterested +minister, who withdrew from Court to Bouillon. This comedy, so unworthy +the dignity of a king, was accompanied with circumstances that rendered +it still more ridiculous:--The two Parliaments fulminated severe decrees +against one another, and that of Paris made an order that whosoever sat +in the assembly at Pontoise should be struck off the register. + +At the same time that of Pontoise registered the King's declaration, +which contained an injunction to the Parliament of Paris, the Chamber of +Accounts, and the Court of Aids, that, since Cardinal Mazarin was +removed, they should now lay down their arms on condition that his +Majesty would grant an amnesty, remove his troops from about Paris, +withdraw those that were in Guienne, allow a free and safe passage to the +Spanish troops, and give the Princes permission to send to his Majesty +persons to confer with his ministers concerning what remained to be +adjusted. This same Parliament resolved to return their thanks to his +Majesty for removing Cardinal Mazarin, and most humbly to entreat the +King to return to his good city of Paris. + +On the 26th they also registered the King's amnesty, or royal pardon, +granted to all that had taken up arms against him, but with such +restrictions that very few could think themselves safe by it. + +The King acquainted the Duc d'Orleans that he wondered that, since +Mazarin was removed, he should delay, according to his own declaration +and promise, to lay down his arms, to renounce all associations and +treaties, and to cause the foreign troops to withdraw; and that when this +was done, those deputies that should come to his Majesty from him should +be very welcome. + +On the 3d of September the Parliament resolved that their deputies should +wait upon the King with their thanks for removing Cardinal Mazarin, and +to beseech his Majesty to return to Paris; that the Duc d'Orleans and the +Prince de Conde should be desired to write to the King and assure him +they would lay down their arms as soon as his Majesty would be pleased to +send the passports for the safe retreat of the foreigners, together with +an amnesty in due form, registered in all the Parliaments of the kingdom; +and that his Majesty should be petitioned to receive the deputies of the +Princes. + +Pray indulge me with a short pause here to consider the scandalous arts +which ministers palliate with the name and sacred word of a great King, +and with which the most august Parliament of the kingdom--the Court of +Peers--expose themselves to ridicule by such manifest inconsistencies as +are more becoming the levity of a college than the majesty of a senate. +In short, persons are not sensible of what they do in these State +paroxysms, which savour somewhat of frenzy. I knew in those days some +very honest men, who were so fully satisfied of the justice of the cause +of the Princes that, upon occasion, they would have laid down their lives +for it; and I also knew some eminently virtuous and disinterested men who +would as gladly have been martyrs for the Court. The ambition of great +men manages such dispositions just as it suits their own interests; they +help to blind the rest of mankind, and they even become blinder +themselves than other people. + +Honest M. de Fontenay, who had been twice ambassador at Rome, a man of +great experience and good sense and a hearty well-wisher to his country, +daily condoled with me on the lethargy into which the intestine divisions +had lulled the best citizens and patriots. We saw the Spanish colours +and standards displayed upon the Pont-Neuf; the yellow sashes of Lorraine +appeared at Paris with the same liberty as the Isabelles and blue ones. +People were so accustomed to these spectacles and to the news of +provinces, towns, and battles lost, that they were become insolent and +stupid. Several of my friends blamed my inactivity, and desired me to +bestir myself. They bid me save the kingdom, save the city, or else I +should fall from the greatest love to the greatest hatred of the people. +The Frondeurs suspected me of favouring Mazarin's party, and the Mazarins +thought I was too partial to the Frondeurs. + +I was touched to the quick with a pathetic speech made to me by M. de +Fontenay. "You see," said he, "that Mazarin, like a Jack-in-the-bog, +plays at Bo-peep; but you see that, whether he appears or disappears, +the wire by which the puppet is drawn on or off the stage is the royal +authority, which is not likely to be broken by the measures now on foot. +Abundance of those that appear to be his greatest opponents would be very +sorry to see him crushed; many others would be very glad to see him get +off; not one endeavours to ruin him entirely. You may get clear of the +difficulty that embarrasses you by a door which opens into a field of +honour and liberty. Paris, whose archbishop you are, groans under a +heavy load. The Parliament there is but a mere phantom, and the Hotel de +Ville a desert. The Duc d'Orleans and the Prince have no more authority +than what the rascally mob is pleased to allow them. The Spaniards, +Germans, and Lorrainers are in the suburbs laying waste the very gardens. +You that have rescued them more than once, and are their pastor, have +been forced to keep guards in your own house for three weeks. And you +know that at this day your friends are under great apprehension if they +see you in the streets without arms. Do you count it a slight thing to +put an end to all these miseries? And will you neglect the only +opportunity Providence puts a into your hands to obtain the honour of it? +Take your clergy with you to Compiegne, thank the King for removing +Mazarin, and beg his Majesty to return to Paris. Keep up a good +correspondence with those bodies who have no other design but the common +good, who are already almost all your particular friends, and who look +upon you as their head by reason of your dignity. And if the King +actually returns to the city, the people of Paris will be obliged to you +for it; if you meet with a refusal, you will have still their +acknowledgments for your good intention. If you can get the Duc +d'Orleans to join with you, you will save the realm; for I am persuaded +that if he knew how to act his part in this juncture it would be in his +power to bring the King back to Paris and to prevent Mazarin ever +returning again. You are a cardinal; you are Archbishop of Paris; you +have the good-will of the public, and are but thirty-seven years old: +Save the city, save the kingdom." + +In short, the Duc d'Orleans approved of my scheme, and ordered me to +convene a general assembly of the ecclesiastical communities, and to get +deputies chosen out of them all, and go with them to Court, there to +present the deputation, which should request the King to give peace to +his people and return to his good city of Paris. I was also to endeavour +by the aid of my friends to induce the other corporate bodies of the city +to do likewise. I was to tell the Queen that she could not but be +sensible that the Duke was in good earnest for peace, which the public +engagements he was under to oppose Mazarin had not suffered him to +conclude, or even to propose, while the Cardinal continued at Court; that +he renounced all private views and interests with relation to himself or +friends; that he desired nothing but the security of the public; and that +after he had the satisfaction of seeing the King at the Louvre he would +then with joy retire to Blois, fully resolved to live in peace and +prepare for eternity. + +I set out immediately with the deputies of all the ecclesiastical bodies +of Paris, nearly two hundred gentlemen, accompanied by fifty men of the +Duke's Guards. The number of my attendants gave such umbrage at Court, +where it was ridiculously exaggerated, that the Queen sent me word I +should only have accommodation for eighty horses, whereas I had no less +than one hundred and twelve for the coaches alone. If I had known as +much when I went as I heard after I returned, I should have hesitated +about going, for I was told that some moved for arresting me, and others +for killing me. However, the Queen received me very well; the King gave +me the cardinal's hat and a public audience. + +I told the Queen, in a private audience, that I was not come only as a +deputy from the Church of Paris, but that I had another commission which +I valued much more, because I took it to be more for her service than the +other,--that of an envoy from the Duc d'Orleans, who had charged me to +assure her Majesty that he was resolved to serve her effectually and +without delay, as he had promised by a note under his own hand, which I +then pulled out of my pocket. The Queen expressed a great deal of joy, +and said, "I knew very well, M. le Cardinal, that you would at last give +some particular marks of your affection for me." + +The Queen told me that she thanked the Duke, and was very much obliged to +him; that she hoped and desired he would contribute towards making the +necessary dispositions for the King's return to Paris, and that she would +not take one step but in concert with him. At the same time I heard that +the Queen spoke disdainfully of me, whom she dreaded, to my enemies at +Court; pretended that I had owned Mazarin was an honest man, and +ridiculed me for the expense I had put myself to on the journey, which, +indeed, was immense for so short a time, because I kept seven open +tables, and spent 800 crowns a day. + +When I returned to Paris I was received with incredible applause. The +King also came thither on the 21st of October, and was welcomed by the +acclamations of the people. The Queen received me with wonderful +respect, and bade the King embrace me, as one to whom he chiefly owed his +return to Paris; but orders were sent to the Duc d'Orleans to retire next +morning to Limours. + +When I went to see him, he was panic-struck, and imagined it was only a +feint to try his temper. He was in an inconceivable agony, and fancied +that every musket which was let off by way of rejoicing for his Majesty's +return was fired by the soldiers coming to invest his palace. Every +messenger that he sent out brought him word that all was quiet, but he +would believe nobody, and looked continually out of the window to hear if +the drums were beating the march. At last he took courage to ask me if I +was firm to him, and after I had assured him of my fidelity he desired +that, as a proof of my attachment and affection for him, I would be +reconciled to M. de Beaufort. "With all my heart," said I. Whereupon he +embraced me, then opened the gallery door by his bedchamber, and out came +M. de Beaufort, who threw himself about my neck, and said, "Pray ask his +Royal Highness what I have been saying to him concerning you. I know who +are honest men. Come on, monsieur, let us drive all the Mazarins away +for good and all." He endeavoured to show both the necessity and the +possibility of it, and advised the raising of barricades next morning, by +break of day, in the market-places. + +The Duc d'Orleans turned to me and said, as they do in Parliament, "Your +opinion, M. Dean." I replied: "If I must give it as Dean, there never +was more occasion for the forty hours' prayers than now. I myself stand +in need of them more than anybody, because I can give no advice but what +must appear very cruel and be attended with horrid inconveniences. If I +should advise you to put up with the injurious treatment you undergo, +will not the public, who always make the worst of everything, have a +handle to say I betray your interest, and that my advice was but a +necessary consequence of all those obstacles I threw in the Princes' way? +And if I give it as my opinion that your Royal Highness should follow the +measures which M. de Beaufort proposes, shall I not be accounted one who +blows hot and cold in a breath?--who is for peace when he thinks to gain +his advantages by the treaty, but for war when he is not permitted to +negotiate?--one who is for destroying Paris with fire and sword, and for +carrying the flames to the gates of the Louvre by attacking the very +person of the King? If you obey, you will be responsible to the public +for all it may suffer afterwards. I am no competent judge of what it may +suffer in particular; for who can foresee events depending on the +caprices of a cardinal, on the stormings of Ondedei, the impertinence of +the Abbe Fouquet, and the violence of Servien? But you will have to +answer for all, because the public will be persuaded that you might have +prevented it. If you do not obey, you may go near to overturn the +realm." + +Here the Duke interrupted me eagerly, and said, "This is not to the +purpose; the question is whether I am in a condition, that is, if it is +in my power, to disobey." + +"I believe so," I said; "for I do not see how the Court can oblige you to +obey, unless the King himself should march to Luxembourg, which would be +a matter of great importance." + +"Nay," said M. de Beaufort, "it would be impossible." + +I then perceived that the Duke began to think so too, for it fitted his +humour, as he could not endure taking any pains, and, upon this +supposition, resolved to stay at home with his arms folded. I said: + +"You are able to do anything to-night and tomorrow morning, but I cannot +answer how it may be in the evening." + +M. de Beaufort, who thought that I was going to argue for the offensive, +fell in roundly with me to second me; but I stopped him short by telling +him he mistook my meaning. + +"I shall never presume," said I, "to give advice in the condition things +are now in. The Duke himself must decide, and even propose, too, and it +is our business to perform his commands." + +Then he said, "If I should resolve to brave it out, will you declare for +me?" + +"Yes," I said, "it is what I ought in duty to do. I am attached to your +service, in which I shall certainly not be wanting, and you need only to +command me. But I am very much grieved that, considering the present +state of affairs, an honest man cannot act the honest part, do what he +may." + +The Duke, who was by nature good, but not very tender, could not help +being moved at what I said; the tears came into his eyes, he embraced me, +and asked me if I thought he could secure the King's person. I told him +that nothing was more impossible. I found at length that he was inclined +to obey, but he bade us keep our friends together in readiness, and to be +with him at break of day. However, he set out for Limours an hour sooner +than he had told us, and left word that he had his reasons for so doing, +which we should know another day, advising us, if possible, to make our +peace with the Court. + +On the 22d the King held his Bed of Justice, at the Louvre, where he +published the amnesty, as also an order for reestablishing the Parliament +at Paris, in which there was a clause forbidding them to meddle with +State affairs. At the same time he caused a declaration to be published +ordering MM. de Beaufort, Rohan, Viole, de Thou, Broussel, Portail, +Bitaud, Croissi, Machaut, Fleury, Martineau, and Perraut to depart the +city. + +The Court now began to offer me terms of reconciliation. I was desirous +that as many of my friends as possible should be included; but Caumartin, +who was in the secret of affairs, told me there were no hopes of +procuring any advantages for particular persons; that all that could be +done was to save the ship for another voyage, and that this ship, which +was myself, could be saved in no other way, in the condition into which +our affairs were fallen by the Duc d'Orleans's want of resolution, but by +launching out into the main, and steering towards Rome. "You stand," +said he, "as it were, on the point of a needle, and if the Court knew +their strength they would rout you as they do the rest; your courage +gives you an air that both deceives and disquiets them. Make use of the +present opportunity for obtaining what may be serviceable to you in your +employ at Rome, for the Court will deny you nothing." + +Montresor, hearing of it, said to me afterwards, with an oath, "He is a +villain who says your Eminence can make your peace honourably without +making terms for your friends; he who affirms the contrary does it for +his own private ends." Therefore I refused the offers made me by +Servien, which were that the King would resign his affairs in Italy to my +care, and allow me a pension of 50,000 crowns; that I should have 100,000 +crowns towards paying off my debts, and 50,000 in hand towards furniture; +that I should continue three years at Rome, and then return to resume my +functions at Paris. + +The Princess Palatine told me I ought either to accept or else treat with +the Cardinal, since all the subalterns were against me. Madame de +Lesdiguieres advised me to preserve my equanimity and keep within doors, +adding that the Cardinal, who was impatient to return to Paris, but durst +not as long as I stayed, would make me a bridge of gold to go out and +agree to whatever I demanded. Accordingly, I sent my proposals to the +Cardinal, who was then lurking in Turenne's army upon the frontiers, and +desired such and such posts for my friends. Meantime Servien and the +Abbe Fouquet endeavoured to exasperate the Queen by telling her that I +was continually caballing with the annuitants and officers of the +militia; and because I refused to go to Parliament, in obedience to the +King's orders, when he held his Court of Justice there to register the +declaration of high treason against the Prince de Conde, the Queen was +made to believe that I was intriguing for the Prince, and therefore +resolved to ruin me, cost what it would. One officer posted men in a +house near Madame de Pommereux's, to attack me; another was employed to +get intelligence at what time of night I was in the habit of visiting +her; a third had an order, signed by the King, to attack me in the street +and bring me off dead or alive. An unknown person advised me not to go +that day to Rambouillet; but I went with two hundred gentlemen, and found +a great many officers of the Guards, who, whatever were their orders, +were in no condition to attack me, and received me with reverence; but I +blamed myself for it afterwards, because it only tended to incense the +Court the more against me. + +Upon All Saints' Day I preached at Saint Germain, which is the King's +parish, where their Majesties did me the honour to be present, for which +I went next day to return them thanks; but finding that the cautions sent +me from all quarters multiplied very fast, I did not go to the Louvre +till the 19th of December, when I was arrested in the Queen's antechamber +by the captain of the Guards then in waiting, who carried me into an +apartment where the officers of the kitchen brought me dinner, of which I +ate heartily, to the mortification of the base courtiers, though I did +not take it kindly to see my pockets turned inside out as if I had been a +cutpurse. This ceremony, which is not common, was performed by the +captain; but he found nothing except a letter from the King of England, +desiring me to try if the Court of Rome would assist him with money. +When this letter came to be talked of, it was maliciously reported that +it came from the Protector. I was carried in one of the King's coaches, +under guard, to Vincennes. As we passed we found at several of the gates +a battalion of Swiss with their pikes presented towards the city, where +everybody was quiet, though their sorrow and consternation were visible +enough. I was afterwards informed, however, that all the butchers in the +veal market were going to take up arms, and that they might have made +barricades there with all the ease in the world, only they were +restrained for fear that I should have paid for their tumult with the +loss of my life; so that the women remained in tears, and the men stood +stock-still in a fright. I was confined at Vincennes for a fortnight +together, in a room as big as a church, without any firing. My guards +pilfered my, linen, apparel, shoes, etc., so that sometimes I was forced +to lie in bed for a week or ten days together for want of clothes to +dress myself. I could not but think that such treatment had been ordered +by the higher powers on purpose to break my heart; but I resolved not to +die that way, and though my guard said all he could to vex me, I affected +to take no notice. + +The influence of the clergy of Paris obliged the Court to explain itself +concerning the causes of my imprisonment, by the mouth of the Chancellor, +who, in the presence of the King and Queen, acquainted them that his +Majesty had caused me to be arrested for my own good, and to prevent me +from putting something that I designed into execution. The chapter of +Notre-Dame had an anthem sung every day for my deliverance. The Sorbonne +and many of the a religious orders distinguished themselves by declaring +for me. This general stir obliged the Court to treat me somewhat better +than at first. They let me have a limited number of books, but no ink +and paper, and they allowed me a 'valet de chambre' and a physician. + +During my confinement at Vincennes, which lasted fifteen months, I +studied both day and night, especially the Latin tongue, on which I +perceive one cannot bestow too much pains, since it takes in all other +studies. I dived into the Greek also, and read again the ninth decade of +Livy, which I had formerly delighted in, and found as pleasant as ever. +I composed, in imitation of Boetius, a treatise, which I entitled +"Consolation de la Theologie," in which I proved that every prisoner +ought to endeavour to be 'vinctus in Christo' (in the bonds of Christ), +mentioned by Saint Paul. I also compiled "Partus Vincennarum," which was +a collection of the Acts of the Church of Milan for the use of the Church +of Paris. + +My guard omitted nothing he could invent to make my life uneasy and +disturb my studies. One day he came and told me that he had received +orders from the King to give me an airing on the top of the donjon; and +when he perceived that I took a pleasure in walking there, he informed +me, with joy in his looks, that he had orders to the contrary. I told +him that they were come in good time, for the air, which was too sharp +there, had made my head ache. Afterwards he offered to take me down into +the tennis-court to see my guards at play. I desired him to excuse me, +because I thought the air would be too piercing for me; but he made me +go, telling me that the King, who took more care of my health than I +fancied, had ordered that he should give me some exercise. Soon after he +desired me to excuse him for not bringing me down again, "for reasons," +said he, "which I must not tell." The truth was, I was so much above +these chicaneries that I despised them; but I must own that I used to +think within myself that, in the main, to be a prisoner of State was of +all others the most afflicting. All the relaxation I had from my studies +was to divert myself with some rabbits on the top of the donjon, and some +pigeons in the turrets, for which I was indebted to the continual +solicitations of the Church of Paris. I had not been a prisoner above +nine days when one of my guards, while his comrade who watched me was +asleep, came and slipped a note into my hand from Madame de Pommereux, in +which were only these words: "Let me have your answer; you may safely +trust the bearer." The bearer gave me a pencil and a piece of paper, on +which I wrote that I had received her letter. + +Notwithstanding that three sergeants and twenty-four Life-guards relieved +one another every day, our correspondence was not interrupted. Madame de +Pommereux, M. de Caumartin, and M. de Raqueville wrote me letters twice a +week constantly about the means to effect my escape, which I attempted +twice, but in vain. + +The Abbe Charier, who set out for Rome the day after I was arrested, +found Pope Innocent incensed to the highest degree, and ready to throw +his thunder upon the heads of the authors of it. He spoke of it to the +French Ambassador with great resentment, and sent the Archbishop of +Avignon, with the title of Nuncio Extraordinary, on purpose to solicit my +release. The King was in a fury, and forebade the Nuncio to pass Lyons. +The Pope told the Abbe Charier that he was afraid to expose his and the +Church's authority to the fury of a madman, and said, "Give me but an +army, and I will furnish you with a legate." It was a difficult matter +indeed to get him that army, but not impossible, if those that should +have stood my friends had not left me in the lurch. + +In the meantime Noirmoutier and Bussi Lamet wrote a letter to Mazarin, +declaring they could not help proceeding to extremities if I were +detained any longer in prison. The Prince de Conde declared he would do +anything, without exception, which my friends desired, for my liberty, +and offered to march all the Spanish forces to their assistance; but the +misfortune was that there was nobody to form the proper schemes; and +Noirmoutier, who was the most enterprising man of them all, was hindered +from action by Madame de Chevreuse and De Laigues, who, the Cardinal +said, would be accountable for the actions of their friends, and that if +they fired one pistol-shot they must expect what would follow. Therefore +Noirmoutier was glad to elude all the propositions of the Prince de +Conde, and to be content with only writing and speaking in my favour, and +firing the cannon at the drinking of my health. + +M. de Pradello, who commanded the French and Swiss Guards in the castle, +came one day to tell me of the happy return of Cardinal Mazarin to Paris, +and of his magnificent reception at the Hotel de Ville; and he informed +me that the Cardinal had sent him to assure me of his most humble +services, and to beg of me to be persuaded that he would forget nothing +that might be for my service. I made as if I did not heed the +compliment, and was for talking of something else; but as he pressed me +for a direct answer, I told him that I should have been ready at the +first word to show him my acknowledgments were I not persuaded that the +duty of a prisoner to the King did not permit him to explain himself in +anything relating to his release, till his Majesty had been graciously +pleased to grant it him. He understood my meaning, and endeavoured to +persuade me to return a more civil answer to the Cardinal, which I +declined to do. + +The Cardinal was so pestered with complaints from Rome, and so disturbed +with the discontent which prevailed in Poitou and Paris, on account of my +imprisonment, that he sent me an offer of my liberty and great +advantages, on condition that I would resign the coadjutorship of Paris. + +The solicitations of the chapter of Notre-Dame prevailed on the Court to +consent that one of their body might be always with me, who, though he +came gladly for my sake, fell into a deep melancholy. He could not, +however, be prevailed upon to go out; and being soon after seized with a +fever, he cut his own throat. My uncle dying soon after, possession was +taken of the archbishopric in my name by my proxy, and Tellier, who was +sent to Notre-Dame Church to oppose it on the part of the King, was +mortified with the thunder of my bulls from Rome. The people were +surprised to see all the formalities observed to a nicety, at a juncture +when they thought there was no possibility of observing one. The cures +waxed warmer than ever, and my friends fanned the flame. The Nuncio, +thinking himself slighted by the Court, spoke in dignified terms, and +threatened his censures. A little book was published, showing the +necessity of shutting up the churches, which aroused the Cardinal's +apprehensions, and his apprehensions naturally led him into negotiation. +He amused me with hundreds of fine prospects of church livings, +governments, etc., and of being restored to the good graces of the King +and to the strictest friendship with his Prime Minister. + +I had more liberty than before. They always carried me up to the top of +the donjon whenever it was fair overhead; but my friends, who did not +doubt that all the Court wanted was to get some expression from me of my +inclination to resign, in order to discredit me with the public, charged +me to guard warily my words, which advice I followed; so that when a +captain of the Guards came from the King to discourse with me upon this +head, who, by Mazarin's direction, talked to me more like a captain of +the Janissaries than like an officer of the most Christian King, I +desired leave to give him my answer in writing, expressing my contempt +for all threats and promises, and an inviolable resolution not to give up +the archbishopric of Paris. + +Next day President Bellievre came to me on the part of the King, with an +offer of seven abbeys, provided I would quit my archbishopric; but he +opened his mind to me with entire freedom, and said he could not but +think what a fool the Sicilian was to send him on such an errand. "Most +of your friends," said Bellievre, "think that you need only to stand out +resolutely, and that the Court will be glad to set you at liberty and +send you to Rome; but it is a horrid mistake, for the Court will be +satisfied with nothing but your resignation. When I say the Court, I +mean Mazarin; for the Queen will not bear the thought of giving you your +liberty. The chief thing that determines Mazarin to think of your +liberty is his fear of the Nuncio, the chapter, the cures, and the +people. But I dare affirm that the Nuncio will threaten mightily, but do +nothing; the chapter may perhaps make remonstrances, but to no purpose; +the cures will preach, and that is all; the people will clamour, but take +up no arms. The consequence will be your removal to Brest or Havre-de- +Grace, and leaving you in the hands of your enemies, who will use you as +they please. I know that Mazarin is not bloodthirsty, but I tremble to +think of what Noailles has told you, that they are resolved to make haste +and take such methods as other States have furnished examples of. You +may, perhaps, infer from my remarks that I would have you resign. By no +means. I have come to tell you that if you resign you will do a +dishonourable thing, and that it behooves you on this occasion to answer +the great expectation the world is now in on your account, even to the +hazarding of your life, and of your liberty, which I am persuaded you +value more than life itself. Now is the time for you to put forward more +than ever those maxims for which we have so much combated you: 'I dread +no poison nor sword! Nothing can hurt me but what is within me! It +matters not where one dies!' Thus you ought to answer those who speak to +you about your resignation." + +I was carried from Vincennes, under guard, to Nantes, where I had +numerous visits and diversions, and was entertained with a comedy almost +every night, and the company of the ladies, particularly the charming +Mademoiselle de La Vergne, who in good truth did not approve of me, +either because she had no inclination for me, or else because her friends +had set her against me by telling her of my inconstancy and different +amours. I endured her cruelty with my natural indifference, and the full +liberty Marechal de La Meilleraye allowed me with the city ladies gave me +abundance of comfort; nevertheless I was kept under a very strict guard. +As I had stipulated with Mazarin that I should have my liberty on +condition that I would resign my archbishopric at Vincennes, which I knew +would not be valid, I was surprised to hear that the Pope refused to +ratify it; because, though it would not have made my resignation a jot +more binding, yet it would have procured my liberty. I proposed +expedients to the Holy See by which the Court might do it with honour, +but the Pope was inflexible. He thought it would damage his reputation +to consent to a violence so injurious to the whole Church, and said to my +friends, who begged his consent with tears in their eyes, that he could +never consent to a resignation extorted from a prisoner by force. + +After several consultations with my friends how to make my escape, I +effected it on August the 8th, at five o'clock in the evening. I let +myself down to the bottom of the bastion, which was forty feet high, with +a rope, while my valet de chambre treated the guards with as much liquor +as they could drink. Their attention, was, moreover, taken up with +looking at a Jacobin friar who happened to be drowned as he was bathing. +A sentinel, seeing me, was taking up his musket to fire, but dropped it +upon my threatening to have him hanged; and he said, upon examination, +that he believed Marechal de La Meilleraye was in concert with me. Two +pages who were washing themselves, saw me also, and called out, but were +not heard. My four gentlemen waited for me at the bottom of the ravelin, +on pretence of watering their horses, so that I was on horseback before +the least notice was taken; and, having forty fresh horses planted on the +road, I might have reached Paris very soon if my horse had not fallen and +caused me to break my shoulder bone, the pain of which was so extreme +that I nearly fainted several times. Not being able to continue my +journey, I was lodged, with only one of my gentlemen, in a great +haystack, while MM. de Brissac and Joly went straight to Beaupreau, to +assemble the nobility, there, in order to rescue me. I lay hid there for +over seven hours in inexpressible misery, for the pain from my injury +threw me into a fever, during which my thirst was much augmented by the +smell of the new hay; but, though we were by a riverside, we durst not +venture out for water, because there was nobody to put the stack in order +again, which would very probably have occasioned suspicion and a search +in consequence. We heard nothing but horsemen riding by, who, we were +afterwards informed, were Marechal de La Meilleraye's scouts. About two +o'clock in the morning I was fetched out of the stack by a Parisian of +quality sent by my friend De Brissac, and carried on a hand-barrow to a +barn, where I was again buried alive, as it were, in hay for seven or +eight hours, when M. de Brisac and his lady came, with fifteen or twenty +horse, and carried me to Beaupreau. From thence we proceeded, almost in +eight of Nantes, to Machecoul, in the country of Retz, after having had +an encounter with some of Marechal de La Meilleraye's guards, when we +repulsed them to the very barrier. + +Marechal de La Meilleraye was so amazed at my escape that he threatened +to destroy the whole country with fire and sword, for which reason I was +an unwelcome guest to Madame de Retz and her father, who rallied me very +uncharitably on my disobedience to the King. We therefore thought fit to +leave the country, and went aboard a ship for Belle Isle, whence, after a +very short stay there, we escaped to San Sebastian. + +Upon my arrival there I sent a letter to the King of Spain requesting +leave to pass through his dominions to Rome. The messenger was received +at Court with civilities beyond expression, and sent back next day with +the present of a gold chain worth 800 crowns. I had also one of the +King's litters sent me, and an invitation to go to Madrid, but I desired +to be excused; and though I also refused immense offers if I would but go +to Flanders and treat with the Prince de Conde, etc., for the service of +Spain, yet I had a velvet coffer sent me with 40,000 crowns in it, which +I likewise thought fit to refuse. As I had neither linen nor apparel, +either for myself or servants, and as the 400 crowns which we got by the +sale of pilchards on board the barque in which we came from Belle Isle +were almost all spent, I borrowed 400 crowns of the Baron de Vateville, +who commanded for the King of Spain in Guipuzcoa, and faithfully repaid +him. + +From San Sebastian I travelled incognito to Tudela, where I was met by +the King's mule drivers and waited on by the alcade, who left his wand at +my chamber door and at his, entrance knelt and kissed the hem of my +garment. From thence I was conducted to Comes by fifty musketeers riding +upon asses, who were sent me by the Governor of Navarre. At Saragossa I +was taken for the King of England, and a large number of ladies, in over +two hundred carriages, came to pay me their respects. Thence I proceeded +to Vivaros, where I had rich presents from the Governor of Valencia. And +thence I sailed to Majorca, whose Governor met me with above one hundred +coaches of the Spanish nobility, and carried me to mass at the Cathedral, +where I saw thirty or forty ladies of quality of more than common charms; +and, to speak the truth, the women there in general are of rare beauty, +having a graceful tincture both of the lily and the rose, and wear a +head-dress which is exceedingly pretty. The Governor, after having +treated me with a magnificent dinner under a tent of gold brocade near +the seaside, carried me to a concert of music in a convent, where I found +the nuns not inferior in beauty to the ladies of the town. The Governor +carried me to see his lady, who was as ugly as a witch, and was seated +under a great canopy sparkling with precious stones, which gave a +wonderful lustre to about sixty ladies with her, who were the handsomest +in the whole town. I was reconducted on board my galley with music and a +discharge of the artillery, and sailed to Port Mahon, and thence through +the Gulf of Lyons to the canal between Corsica and Sardinia, where our +ship was very nearly cast away upon a sandbank; but with great difficulty +we got her off and reached Porto Longone. There we quitted the galley, +and went by land to Piombino. + + + + +BOOB V. + +I travelled from Piombino to Florence, where I had great honours and vast +offers from the Grand Duke, though Mazarin had threatened him, in the +King's name, with a rupture if he granted me passage through his +dominions; but the Grand Duke sent to desire the Cardinal to let him know +whether there was any possibility of refusing it without disobliging the +Pope and the Sacred College. As I was travelling through the Duke's +country, my mules, being frightened by a clap of thunder, ran with my +litter into a brook, where I narrowly escaped being drowned. + +As soon as I arrived at Rome the Pope sent me 4,000 crowns in gold. I +was immediately informed that a strong faction was formed there against +me by the Court of France; that the Cardinal d'Est, representative of +that nation, had terrible orders from the King; and that they were +resolved to send me packing from Rome, cost what it would. I had my old +scruples upon me, and said I would die a thousand deaths rather than make +resistance; but I thought it would be too disrespectful in a cardinal +to come so near the Pope and to go away without kissing his feet, and I +resolved to leave the rest to the providence of God. + +The Pope having ordered his guards to be ready, in case the French +faction should offer to rise, the Cardinal d'Est was so good as to let me +alone. His Holiness gave me an audience of four hours, condescended to +beg my forgiveness for not having acted with more vigour for my liberty; +and said, with tears in his eyes: "God forgive those who delayed to give +me timely notice of your imprisonment, and who made us believe that you +had been guilty, of an attempt upon the King's person. The Sacred +College took fire at the news; but the French Ambassador being at +liberty, to give out what he chose, because nobody, appeared here on your +part to contradict him, Mazarin extinguished it, and half the Sacred +College thought you were abandoned by the whole kingdom." In short, the +Pope was so well disposed to me that he thought of adopting me as his +nephew, but he sickened soon after and died. + +The conclave chose Cardinal Chigi (who was called Alexander VIII.) for his +successor, in whose election I had such a share that when it came to my +turn, at the adoration of the cardinals, to kiss his feet, he embraced +me, saying, "Signor Cardinal de Retz, 'ecce opus manuum tuarum'" ("Behold +the work of your own hands"). I went home accompanied with one hundred +and twenty coaches of gentlemen, who did not doubt that I should govern +the Pontificate. + +My friends in France, who commonly judge of other nations by their own, +imagined that a persecuted cardinal might, nay, ought to live like a +private man even at Rome, and advised me not to spend much money, because +my revenues in France were all seized, and said that such exemplary +modesty would have an admirable effect upon the clergy of Paris. But +Cardinal Chigi talked after another manner: "When you are reestablished +in your see you may live as you please, because you will be in a country +where everybody will know what you are or are not able to do. You are +now at Rome, where your enemies say every day that you have lost your +credit in France, and you are under a necessity to make it appear that +what they say is false. You are not a hermit, but a cardinal, and a +cardinal, too, of the better rank. At Rome there are many people who +love to tread upon men when they are down. Dear sir, take care you do +not fall, and do but consider what a figure you will make in the streets +with six vergers attending you; otherwise every pitiful citizen of Paris +that meets you will be apt to jostle you, in order to make his court to +the Cardinal d'Est. You ought not to have come to Rome if you had not +had resolution and the means to support your dignity. I presume you do +not make it a point of Christian humility to debase yourself. And let me +tell you that I, the poor Cardinal Chigi, who have but 5,000 crowns +revenue, and am one of the poorest in the College, and though I am sure +to meet nobody in the streets who will be wanting in the respect due to +the purple, yet I cannot go to my functions without four coaches in +livery to attend me." + +Therefore I hired a palace, kept a great table, and entertained fourscore +persons in liveries. The Cardinal d'Est, the very day after the creation +of the new Pope, forbade all Frenchmen to give me the way in the streets, +and charged the superiors of the French churches not to admit me. M. de +Lionne, who resided here as a sort of private secretary to Mazarin, was +so nettled because the new Pope had granted me the pallium for my +archbishopric that he told him the King would never own me, insinuated +that there would be a schism among the clergy of France, and that the +Pope must expect to be excluded from the congress for a general peace. +This so frightened his Holiness that he made a million of mean excuses, +and said, with tears in his eyes, that I had imposed upon him, and that +he would take the first opportunity to do the King justice. Upon this M. +de Lionne sent word to the Cardinal that he hoped very shortly to +acquaint him of my being prisoner in the Castle of Saint Angelo, and that +the Cardinal would be no better off for his Majesty's amnesty, because +the Pope said none but he could absolve or condemn cardinals. Meantime +all my domestics who were subjects of the King of France were ordered to +quit my service, on pain of being treated as rebels and traitors. I +could have little hope of protection from the Pope, for he was become +quite another man, never spoke one word of truth, and continually amused +himself with mere trifles, insomuch that one day he proposed a reward for +whoever found out a Latin word for "calash," and spent seven or eight +days in examining whether "mosco" came from "muses," or "musts" from +"mosco." All his piety consisted in assuming a serious air at church, +in which, nevertheless, there was a great mixture of pride, for he was +vain to the last degree, and envious of everybody. The work entitled +"Sindicato di Alexandro VII." gives an account of his luxury and of +several pasquinades against the said Pope, particularly that one day +Marforio asking Pasquin what he had said to the cardinals upon his death- +bed, Pasquin answered, "Maxima de aeipso, plurima de parentibus, parva de +principibus, turpia de cardinalibus, pauca de Ecclesia, de Deo nihil." +("He said fine things of himself, a great many things of his kindred, +some things of princes, nothing good of the cardinals, but little of the +Church, and nothing at all of God"). His Holiness, in a consistory, laid +claim to the merit of the conversion of Christina, Queen of Sweden, +though everybody knew to the contrary, and that she had abjured heresy a +year and a half before she came to Rome. + +Having heard that Bussiere, who is Chamberlain to the Ambassadors at +Rome, had declared I should not have a place in Saint Louis's church on +the festival of that saint, I was not discouraged from going thither. At +my entrance he snatched the holy water stick from the cure just as he was +going to sprinkle me; nevertheless, I took my place, and was resolved to +keep up the status and dignity of a French cardinal. This was my +condition at Rome, where it was my fate to be a refugee, persecuted by my +King and abused by the Pope. All my revenues were seized, and the French +bankers forbidden to serve me; nay, those who had an inclination to +assist me were forced to promise they would not. Two of the Abbe +Fouquet's bastards were publicly maintained out of my revenues, and no +means were left untried to hinder the farmers from relieving me, or my +creditors from harassing me with vexatious and expensive lawsuits. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Help to blind the rest of mankind, and they even become blinder +She had nothing but beauty, which cloys when it comes alone +You must know that, with us Princes, words go for nothing + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, v4 +by Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz + diff --git a/old/cm08b10.zip b/old/cm08b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd6b799 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm08b10.zip |
