agency he ere long became Governor of Peronne,
Roye, and Montdidier, which he purchased from M. de Crequy for the sum
of forty thousand crowns. The Queen had been induced to furnish an order
upon the royal treasury for this amount, which was presented without any
misgiving by the exulting favourite; but M. de Villeroy, who considered
himself to have been slighted on some occasion by her Majesty, refused
to countersign the document, an opposition which so enraged Concini that
he hastened to pour out his complaints to Marie; who, overcome by the
wrath of the husband and the tears of the wife, summoned the Duc de
Sully, of whom she inquired if it were not possible to procure the
requisite amount by having recourse to the money lodged at the Arsenal.
Sully replied in the negative, declaring that the sums therein deposited
were not available for such a purpose, and reminding her that seven
millions of livres had already been withdrawn since the death of the
King.[75] It was, consequently, necessary to raise the desired
purchase-money by other means, which having been at length effected,
Concini found himself not only placed by his court-appointment on a par
with the peers of the realm, but also enabled, by the munificence of the
Regent, and the revenues of his new government, to rival them in
magnificence.

Then it was that his talent for intrigue boldly developed itself. In
vain did his wife warn him of the danger of further forcing his
fortunes, and thus drawing down upon himself the hatred and envy of the
native nobility; in vain did she represent that by indulging his passion
for power and display he must eventually create enemies who were certain
to prove fatal to his prosperity; Concini, as weak and vain as he was
greedy and ambitious, disregarded her advice, and strenuously turned his
attention to fomenting a misunderstanding among the most influential of
the nobles, in order to prevent a coalition which threatened to diminish
his own importance. He was well aware of his unpopularity with the
Princes of the Blood, who could not without indignation see themselves
compelled to treat with him almost upon equal terms, protected as he was
by the favour of the Queen; and he consequently lived in perpetual
apprehension of their forming a cabal to effect his ruin. Skilfully,
therefore, with a smiling countenance, but an anxious heart, he availed
himself of every opportunity to foment the jealousies and hatreds which
policy ha