fused at her
logic. She concluded with these words: "No, I wish it, and the
King my son wishes that this order shall be abolished and that
the subject may never again be discussed, for secret reasons
which I shall not give you, in addition to those which I have
given; otherwise I shall make you sensible of what it means to
disobey the King and me." After that they all went their way,
and nothing more was heard of the matter.

She assumed this manner very often and kept in line the princes
and haughty lords when they had committed some large indiscretion
and made her angry. Then she put on her grandest air, and no
other living person could be so proud and disdainful as she,
when it was necessary, sparing the truth to no one. I have seen
the late M. de Savoie, who was a friend of the Emperor, the King
of Spain, and many notables, fear and respect her more than if
she had been his mother; and M. de Lorraine the same--in short,
all the great people of Christendom. I could cite many instances,
which at another time and in their own place I may do, but at
present what I have said will suffice.

Among all her other fine qualities, she was a good Christian and
very devout, always observing her fast days and never failing to
attend daily service, either mass or vespers, which she made very
agreeable to worshippers by the good singers in her chapel, being
careful to select the finest artists. She had a natural taste
for music and often entertained the Court in her own apartment,
which was never closed to right-minded ladies and gentlemen.
She saw each and every one, not denying admittance as was the
custom in Spain and also in her own country, Italy; nor yet as
our other Queens, Elizabeth of Austria and Louise of Lorraine,
have done; but saying, like King Francis, her father-in-law, whom
she greatly honoured as he had raised her to her high position,
that she wished to maintain the true French spirit as the King
her husband had also desired. So her rooms were always accessible
to the Court.

Generally, she had very beautiful and virtuous maids of honour,
who could be seen every day in her antechamber chatting with
us and entertaining us so sensibly and modestly that none of
us would have dared do otherwise; for the gentlemen who fell
short of this were denied admittance, or warned of even worse
punishment, until she pardoned them and extended her favour again,
which out of her good heart she was ready to do.

In a word, h