port of this reluctant
testimony, Bassompierre relates that, being anxious to assist at the
opening of the States of Lorraine in compliance with the invitation of
the Duke, he solicited the permission of Henry to that effect on two or
three different occasions, but as he always played on the side of the
King, and universally with great success, he was constantly refused.

Resolved to carry his point, however, the spoiled courtier at length set
forth without any leave-taking; a fact which was no sooner ascertained
by the monarch than he despatched two of the _exempts_ of his guard to
arrest him and bring him back. This they did without difficulty, as
Bassompierre did not travel at night; but as the gallant Marquis had no
ambition to be conveyed to Fontainebleau in the guise of a prisoner, he
despatched a letter to M. de Villeroy requesting to be liberated from
the presence of his captors, and pledging himself to return instantly to
Court. On his arrival the King laughed heartily at the idea of his
disappointment, which he, however, lightened by pledging himself that in
ten days he should be left at liberty to depart.[382]

On the 25th of April Marie de Medicis became the mother of a third son,
upon whom, after some contestation between his illustrious parents, was
bestowed the title of Duc d'Anjou. The Queen was desirous that he should
be called Prince of Navarre, but Henry preferred the former designation,
from the fact that it had been that of many of the French Princes who
had been sovereigns of Jerusalem and Sicily.[383] The birth of another
Prince to their beloved sovereign filled up the measure of joy in
France; the citizens of Paris made costly gifts to the Queen, and the
circumstance of the infant having come into the world on the anniversary
of St. Louis increased the general enthusiasm.[384] As the convalescence
of the royal invalid was less rapid upon this than on previous
occasions, the Court remained during the spring and a portion of the
summer at Fontainebleau, where every species of amusement was exhausted
by the courtiers. Once only, at the beginning of May, the King resided
for a few days in the capital, and on his return Marie manifested such
undisguised satisfaction that he accorded to her the sum of twelve
thousand crowns for the embellishment of her chateau at Monceaux.

So early as the year 1598, during the journey of the sovereign to
Brittany, a marriage had been arranged between his' son, the Du