toire de France_, vol. vii. p. 386.

[84] L'Etoile, _Journal de Henri IV_, vol. ii. p. 481.

[85] L'Etoile, vol. ii. pp. 436, 437.

[86] Mezeray, vol. x. p. 127.

[87] Sebastian Zamet was a wealthy contractor, of Italian origin, but
who had caused himself to be naturalized in France, in 1581, together
with his two brothers, Horace and John-Anthony Zamet. Although he
ultimately became the father of an adjutant-general of the King's
armies, and of a bishop, it was confidently asserted that during the
preceding reign he had been a shoemaker. Be that as it may, it is no
less certain that he must have possessed considerable talent, as even
during the lifetime of Henri III he was already a rich contractor, and
under Henri IV he was esteemed the richest in the kingdom. On the
occasion of the marriage of one of his daughters, the notary who was
employed to draw up the marriage contract, finding it difficult to
define his real rank, inquired by what title he desired to be
designated; upon which Zamet calmly replied: "You may describe me as the
_lord of seventeen hundred thousand crowns_." His ready wit first
procured for him the favour off Henri IV, which he subsequently retained
by a system of complaisance of thoroughly Italian morality. His house
was always open to the King, even for the most equivocal purposes; and
so great was the familiarity with which he was treated by the dissolute
monarch, that the latter constantly addressed him by a pet name, and
held many of his orgies beneath his roof.

[88] L'Etoile, vol. ii. pp. 492, 493.

[89] Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. p. 58 _n_.

[90] L'Etoile, vol. ii. pp. 511, 512.

[91] Sully had recently been appointed grand-master of artillery.

[92] Saint-Edme, vol. ii. p. 207.

[93] Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. pp. 74-76.

[94] Louis de Comboursier, Seigneur du Terrail, commenced his military
career as a cornet in the troop of the Dauphin. He was brave, but
haughty and reckless, and was obliged to retire into Flanders in
consequence of having killed a man under the eyes of the King, and
within the precincts of the Louvre. After making a pilgrimage to the
shrine of Our Lady of Loretto, he profited by his return through Turin
to pay his respects to the Duke of Savoy, to whom he offered his
services and assistance in his project of taking the city of Genoa by
surprise. The plot was, however, discovered by a valet, who apprised the
authorities of the intended treachery; and Du Terrai