ments had been made in
Burgundy, in Saintonge, in Perigord, and in Guienne, which threatened to
prove inimical to his authority, and that couriers were constantly
passing from one of these provinces to the other, he sent to desire the
presence of the Sieur Descures,[183] an intimate friend and follower of
the Marechal, whom he commanded to proceed with all speed to Burgundy,
and to inform his lord that if he did not forthwith obey the royal
summons, the sovereign would go in person to bring him thence. This
threat was sufficiently appalling; and the rather as Sully, by his
authority as grand-master of artillery, had taken the precaution, on
pretext of recasting the cannon and improving the quality of the powder
in the principal cities of Burgundy, to cripple Biron's resources, and
to render it impossible for him to attempt any rational resistance to
the royal will. The Marechal soon perceived that he had been duped, but,
nevertheless, he would not yield; and Descures left him, firm in his
determination not to trust himself within the precincts of the Court.

The King, who, from his old attachment to Biron, had hitherto hoped that
he had been calumniated, and that, in lieu of crimes, he had only been
guilty of follies, offended by so resolute an opposition to his will,
began, like his ministers, to apprehend that he must in truth
thenceforward number the Duke among his enemies; and he consequently
suffered himself, shortly after the return of his last messenger, to be
persuaded to despatch the President Jeannin[184] as the bearer of a
third summons to the Marechal, and to represent to him how greatly he
was increasing the displeasure of the sovereign by his disobedience, as
well as strengthening the suspicions which were already entertained
against him. Finally, the president was instructed to assure the haughty
and imperious rebel that the King had not forgotten the good service
which he had rendered to the nation; and that he ascribed the
accusations which had reached him rather to the exaggerations of those
who in making such reports sought to increase their own favour at Court
than to any breach of trust on the part of the Marechal himself.[185]

Somewhat reassured by these declarations, and unconscious of the extent
of La Fin's treachery, Biron allowed himself to be persuaded by the
eloquence of Jeannin, and reluctantly left Dijon for Fontainebleau,
where he arrived on the 13th of June. As he was about to dismount,