Bellegarde that he had never before beheld so
faultless a face and form; to which assurance M. le Grand replied, says
Bassompierre, "according to his usual manner of extolling everything
that was novel, and particularly Mademoiselle de Montmorency, who was
indeed worthy of all admiration; and thus infused into the mind of the
King, always ready to yield to a new fancy, the passion which
subsequently caused him to commit so many extravagances." [396]

For the moment, however, Henry was unable to pursue his unworthy
purpose, being attacked the same evening by a violent fit of the gout,
to which he had been occasionally subject for the last four years, and
which declared itself on this occasion with so much acuteness that
during fifteen days he was compelled to keep his bed. Meanwhile, the Duc
de Bouillon was not idle. Considering himself aggrieved by the
Connetable in not having been selected as the husband of his daughter,
he complained loudly and bitterly of the slight, and even induced the
Duc de Roquelaure to exert his influence with M. de Montmorency to
withdraw his promise from Bassompierre, and to bestow the hand of the
Princess upon himself. The Connetable, however, remained firm, declaring
that he had already the honour to be the great-uncle of M. de Bouillon,
a degree of kindred which quite satisfied his ambition; and that his
daughter, being pledged to Bassompierre, could no longer be an object of
pursuit with any prospect of success to any other noble, however great
might be his rank; while, in pursuance of this resolution, the Duke
caused preparations to be made for the celebration of the marriage in
the chapel of his palace at Chantilly. Bassompierre was consequently at
the summit of happiness; his ambition and his heart were alike
satisfied, and he received the congratulations of those around him with
an undisguised delight, which, in so proverbially gay and gallant a
cavalier, could not fail to prove highly flattering to the object of his
attachment.

Unfortunately, before the ceremony could be performed, M. de Montmorency
was in his turn attacked by gout, and, greatly to the mortification of
the expectant bridegroom, the marriage was necessarily deferred. Still,
relying on the assurance of the Connetable that nothing should induce
him to rescind his resolution, Bassompierre endeavoured to await with
what patience he might the termination of the inopportune illness of the
generous Prince; and in the inter