more Henry declared his
determination to exile the Queen to one of his palaces. From this
extreme measure he was, however, dissuaded by his ministers; and at
length, after the estrangement between the royal couple had lasted
nearly three weeks, a partial reconciliation was effected; but Marie,
although she was induced by the representations of her advisers to
restrain her indignation, was from that hour alienated in heart from her
husband, by whom she felt that her dignity had been compromised both as
a Queen and as a wife.

Profiting, however, by this partial calm, several of the nobility
proposed to add to the amusements of the Carnival, in commemoration of
the recent escape of their Majesties, a ballet in which the Queen
consented to appear; and the preparations were already far advanced when
the King solicited her permission to include Madame de Moret among the
performers, but Marie, who had previously condescended to associate
herself in a similar exhibition with the Marquise de Verneuil, had been
rendered less amenable by recent circumstances, and she peremptorily
refused to appear in such intimate association with another of her
husband's mistresses. The concession was not one upon which Henry could
insist with any propriety, a fact of which the Queen was so well aware,
that in order to terminate the affair as gracefully as possible she
declined altogether either to assist in the entertainment or even to
witness it, a decision which caused it to be abandoned altogether.[336]
This mortification was, however, compensated to the Countess by a
donation from the King of eighty-five thousand five hundred
francs.[337]

At the commencement of July the King had accredited the Marechal de
Bassompierre as his ambassador-extraordinary to Lorraine, to be present
at the marriage of the Duc de Bar, his brother-in-law, with the daughter
of the Duke of Mantua, the Queen's niece; and had also furnished him
with instructions to invite the Duchess of Mantua[338] to become the
godmother of the Dauphin, and the Duc de Lorraine to act as sponsor to
the younger Princess. The marriage took place at Nancy, where M. de
Bassompierre, as the representative of his sovereign, was magnificently
and gratuitously entertained.[339] Numerous balls were given, and a
joust concluded the festivities; which were no sooner terminated than
the courtly envoy communicated the royal invitation, which was received
"with proper respect and honour"; and he t