me de Verneuil, and one which she was
never destined to overcome. Clever as she was, she had suffered herself
to forget that youth is not eternal, and that passion is even more
evanescent than time; and thus, by a last impotent effort to assert a
supremacy to which she could no longer advance any claim, she only
succeeded in extinguishing in the heart of the King the last embers of a
latent and expiring attachment.[390]

FOOTNOTES:

[356] The _careme-prenant_ includes the three days which precede
Ash-Wednesday.

[357] L'Etoile, vol. iii. pp. 411, 412.

[358] Benjamin de Rohan, Duc de Soubise, was the grandson of Jean de
Parthenay-Soubise, and the son of Rene-Rohan. He was a zealous supporter
of the reformed faith, and was present at several sieges; but becoming
dissatisfied with the citizens of La Rochelle, with whom he took refuge
in 1622, he passed over to England, to solicit assistance; a proceeding
which compelled the French Court to declare him guilty of
_lese-majeste_, and he subsequently refused to return to his own country
when a general amnesty was proclaimed.

[359] L'Etoile, vol. iii. pp. 414, 415.

[360] _Memoires_, p. 57.

[361] Saint-Edme, vol. ii. p. 238.

[362] Saint-Edme, vol. ii. pp. 239, 240. L'Etoile, vol. iii. p. 360.
_Amours du Grand Alcandre_, p. 49.

[363] Bassompierre, _Mem_. p. 51.

[364] Antoine de Bourbon, Comte de Moret, the son of Henri IV and Madame
de Moret, was legitimated in 1608, and was killed during the subsequent
reign at the battle of Castelnaudary, while serving under the Duc de
Montmorency.

[365] Damin de Montluc, Seigneur de Balagny, son of Jean, Prince de
Cambray, and of Renee de Clermont de Bussy d'Amboise. He was one of the
most confidential friends of the King.

[366] Saint-Edme, vol. ii. pp. 241, 242.

[367] Charlotte, daughter of Francois des Essarts, Seigneur de Sautour,
Equerry of the King's Stable, and of his second wife, Charlotte de
Harlay de Chanvallon.

[368] The Comte Christophe de Beaumont-Harlay, Governor of Orleans. He
died in 1615.

[369] Louis de Lorraine, Cardinal de Guise, son of Henri, Due de Guise,
who was killed at the States of Blois. He obtained a dispensation from
the Pope to effect his marriage with Mademoiselle des Essarts. He was a
warlike prelate; and his death, which took place at Saintes in 1621, was
caused by the extreme fatigue that he underwent during the campaign of
Guienne, and at the siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angely, whith