ere her
personal attractions, combined with a modesty of demeanour more than
unusual at the Court in that age, that even the most experienced of the
great nobles were compelled to confess that they had never heretofore
seen any person who could compete with her. "The purity of her
complexion," says Dreux du Radier, quoting from one of the old
chroniclers, "was admirable; her eyes, lively and full of tenderness,
inspired passion in the most careless hearts; she had not a feature in
her face which was not gracefully moulded. The tones of her voice, her
bearing, her slightest movements, had a charm which compelled
admiration, and it was yielded the more willingly that it was elicited
by no artifice on her part, but was a tribute to her natural merits.
Nature had, indeed, done everything for her, and she had no occasion to
resort to any adventitious aid however innocent." [392]

This lady, thus richly gifted with youth, beauty, and high birth, had
been, even before her appearance at Court, promised in marriage by her
father to the Marechal de Bassompierre, to whom indeed he had himself
offered her hand,[393] but she was no sooner seen by Henry in the circle
of the Queen than he became violently enamoured of her person, and
resolved to prevent the alliance; a determination in which he found
himself strengthened by the remonstrances of the Duc de Bouillon, the
nephew of the Connetable, and consequently the cousin of the young
beauty, whose favour Bassompierre had, in the excess of his happiness,
neglected to conciliate, and who represented to the King that he could
not conceal his astonishment on ascertaining that his Majesty was about
to permit the union of Mademoiselle de Montmorency with a mere noble,
however deserving of such distinction, when the Prince de Conde had
attained to a marriageable age, and that it would be imprudent to
countenance his alliance with a foreign princess; while as regards
himself, he could not discover another eligible match save his cousin or
Mademoiselle du Maine; and he was inclined to believe that none of the
advisers of his Majesty would counsel him to authorize his own marriage
with the latter, while the remnant of the League continued so formidable
as to threaten a still more forcible and dangerous demonstration should
they once find themselves under a leader with the power which he
possessed to further their cause. He then represented that his alliance
with Mademoiselle de Montmorency wou