ime--Arrest of
the Duc de Biron and the Comte d'Auvergne--The royal soiree--A timely
caution--Biron is made prisoner by Vitry, and the Comte d'Auvergne by
Praslin--They are conveyed separately to the Bastille--Exultation of the
citizens--Firmness of the King--Violence of Biron--Tardy
repentance--Trial of Biron--A scene in the Bastille--Condemnation of
the Duke--He is beheaded--The subordinate conspirators are pardoned--The
Duc de Bouillon retires to Turenne--Refuses to appear at
Court--Execution of the Baron de Fontenelles--A salutary lesson--The
Comte d'Auvergne is restored to liberty--Revolt of the Prince de
Joinville--He is treated with contempt by the King--He is imprisoned by
the Duc de Guise--Removal of the Court to Fontainebleau--Legitimation of
the son of Madame de Verneuil--Unhappiness of the Queen--She is consoled
by Sully--Birth of the Princesse Elisabeth de France--Disappointment of
the Queen--Soeur Ange.

The convalescence of the Queen was the signal for a succession of
festivities, and the whole winter was spent in gaiety and dissipation;
banquets, ballets, and hunting-parties succeeded each other with
bewildering rapidity; and so magnificent were several of the Court
festivals that even some of the gravest historians of the time did not
disdain to record them. The most brilliant of the whole, however, and
that which will best serve to exemplify the taste of the period, was the
ballet to which allusion has already been made as given in honour of the
King by his royal consort, and in which Marie de Medicis herself
appeared. In order to heighten its effect she had selected fifteen of
the most beautiful women of the Court, Madame de Verneuil being,
according to the royal promise, one of the number; and the first part of
the exhibition took place at the Louvre. The entertainment commenced
with the entrance of Apollo and the nine Muses into the great hall of
the palace, which was thronged with native and foreign princes,
ambassadors, and ministers, in the midst of whom sat the King with the
Papal Nuncio on his right hand. The god and his attendants sang the
glory of the monarch, the pacificator of Europe; and each stanza
terminated with the somewhat fulsome and ungraceful words:

"Il faut que tout vous rende hommage,
Grand Roi, miracle de notre age."

Thence the whole gay and gallant company proceeded to the Hotel de
Guise, where the eight maids of honour of the Queen performed the second
act; an