for
the reason, replied: "Because, Madame, she has a greater calibre
and is larger than any of the others." The Queen was the first
to laugh at this reply.

The Queen spared no pains to read anything which struck her fancy.
On one occasion I saw her embarking at Blaye on her way to dine
at Bourg, and occupying the whole journey by reading from a
parchment, like some reporter or lawyer, a deposition made by
Derdois, favourite secretary of the late M. le Connetable, concerning
certain actions and information of which he had been accused
and for which imprisoned at Bayonne. She never lifted her eyes
until she had finished reading the whole thing, and there were
more than ten pages of it. When she was not prevented she herself
read all letters of importance addressed to her, and often wrote
the reply with her own hand, whether to the most exalted or
insignificant person. I saw her once, after dinner, indite twenty
such letters of considerable length.

She wrote and spoke French very well, although an Italian. She
even addressed those of her own nation often in French, so much
did she honour it, making special effort to exhibit its fine
diction to strangers and ambassadors who came to pay her their
respects after seeing the King. She would reply to them very
pertinently, with grace and dignity, just as I have heard her
speak to the courts of parliament both publicly and privately;
often keeping them well in hand when they were extravagant or
over-cautious, and did not wish to yield to the royal edicts
or to the wishes of the King or herself. You may be sure that
she spoke as a Queen and made herself feared as such. I saw her
once at Bordeaux when she took her daughter, the Queen of Navarre,
to her husband. She had commanded the Court to come with her
and spoke urgently on the subject to these gentlemen, who did
not wish to abolish a certain fraternity which they had founded
and adhered to, and which she wished to dissolve, foreseeing
that it might lead to some end prejudicial to the state. They
came to visit her in the Bishop's garden, where she was walking
one Sunday morning. One of them, the spokesman, showed to her
the usefulness of this fraternity and its good offices for the
people. She, without preparation, responded so well, with such
apt words and cogent reasons to show why it was badly founded
and odious, that there was none present who could help but admire
the spirit of the Queen or remain astonished and con