his
vanity suffering bitterly from the contempt with which he was
ostentatiously treated by the Duke, who was, as the Italian asserted, a
mere gentleman of fortune like himself, until raised to his present rank
by the favour of Henri III, a favour as ill-gained as it was
unbecomingly exhibited. M. d'Epernon, with an absence of tact as
astonishing as it was lamentable in a man whose ambition was unbounded,
and who had no party to support his pretensions against the Princes of
the Blood, lent himself meanwhile by his puerile and headstrong folly to
their enmity, by affecting to brave it; and after a sharp altercation
with M. de Soissons, who did not conceal his intention of insulting him
whenever and wherever they might meet, the infatuated Duke, on the
pretext that he considered his personal safety endangered by the menaces
of the Prince, paraded the streets of Paris with a retinue of seven or
eight hundred mounted followers; and occasionally proceeded on foot to
the Louvre, with his guards ranged in order of battle, and in such force
that the van had frequently reached the gates of the palace before the
rear had quitted those of the Hotel d'Epernon, a distance of two
thousand paces.[111]

This external affectation of almost regal state did not, however,
prevent him from experiencing the most bitter mortification at his
exclusion from all public affairs. He still considered that as he had
been the first to swear fealty, and to place his services at the command
of the Regent, he had a right to retain the supremacy which he had then
assumed; and this arrogant pretension enabled him for a time to support
the daily affronts to which he was subjected; but it soon became
apparent that his position must ere long prove untenable.

The Cardinal de Joyeuse, whose favour depended upon that of the Duc
d'Epernon, having perceived that his credit with the Regent was on the
decline, determined to proceed to Rome. He accordingly took leave of the
King and his mother, and left France; while M. d'Epernon endeavoured to
effect a reconciliation with the Comte de Soissons, an attempt which was
repulsed with resolute coldness on the part of the Prince, who was daily
attaching himself more and more to the interests of Concini.

Early in the spring the Court left Paris for Fontainebleau, accompanied
by all the Princes of the Blood; and during their sojourn in that palace
Marie de Medicis constantly caused M. de Soissons and the Ducs de Guise