commanded the French men-of-war
ordered to join those of Holland against England. Finally, in 1669, he
went to the aid of the Venetians, attacked by the Turks in the island of
Candia. The galleys and vessels, newly constructed in the port of
Toulon, disembarked seven thousand men under Beaufort--a contingent too
weak for such a dangerous undertaking. That aid only served to retard
the taking of Candia for a few days, and was the means of useless
bloodshed. In a sortie, the rash and impetuous grandson of Henry the
Great was cut to pieces in the most merciless way; and as his body
could not be found after the fight, his death gave rise to fables sought
to be rendered probable by the remembrance of the eccentric part he had
previously played.

CHAPTER V.

MADEMOISELLE DE MONTPENSIER.

ANNE MARIE LOUISE D'ORLEANS, Duchess de Montpensier, whom history
distinguishes by the epithet of _La Grande Mademoiselle_, after telling
us in her memoirs, at least twenty times, in order to make herself
better known, that she was fond of glory, adds--"The Bourbons are folks
very much addicted to trifles, with very little solidity about them;
perhaps I myself as well as the rest may inherit the same qualities from
father and mother."[6] With this hint, whoever scans her portrait may
readily read the character her features reveal:--a mind false to the
service of a noble and generous heart; an honest but frivolous mind, too
often swayed, by a bombastic heroism; a _precieuse_ of the Hotel
Rambouillet, whom Nicolas Poilly very happily painted as Pallas, with
her helmet proudly perched upon the summit of her fair tresses; an
amazon, who bordered upon the adventuress, and, notwithstanding,
remained the princess; in short, a personage at whom one cannot help
laughing heartily, nor at the same time help admiring.

[6] The daughter of Gaston d'Orleans and the charming Marie de
Bourbon, she was born in 1627, the same year as Bossuet and Mad. de
Sevigne. Her mother died five days after her birth.

Passing by the subject of her numerous matrimonial projects, we hasten
on to the commencement of her political--and perhaps we may add her
military[7]--career, when, in January, 1652, a treaty had been concluded
between _Monsieur_ her father, Conde, and the Duke de Lorraine, the
Duchess d'Orleans had signed in her brother's name, and the Count de
Fiesque in the name of Conde. On her part, Mademoiselle, somewhat
fantastic but loyal