is best beloved,
to make her partaker--you will never be able to guess of what--to make
her partaker of his nocturnal visions. Flambeaux are lighted, and search
is made everywhere; but no spectre does Madame Mazarine find, except
that which lay by her in the bed."

The distresses to which she was subjected were increased by the
knowledge that her husband was squandering her vast fortune. In
what manner the money was spent she does not state. "If" she writes,
"Monsieur Mazarine had only taken delight in overwhelming me with
sadness and grief, and in exposing my health and my life to his most
unreasonable caprice, and in making me pass the best of my days in
an unparalleled slavery, since heaven had been pleased to make him my
master, I should have endeavoured to allay and qualify my misfortunes by
my sighs and tears. But when I saw that by his incredible dilapidations
and profuseness, my son, who might have been the richest gentleman in
France, was in danger of being the poorest, there was no resisting
the force of nature; and motherly love carried it over all other
considerations of duty, or the moderation I proposed to myself. I saw
every day vast sums go away: moveables of inestimable prices, offices,
and all the rich remains of my uncle's fortune, the fruits of his
labours, and the rewards of his services. I saw as much sold as came to
three millions, before I took any public notice of it; and I had hardly
anything left me of value but my jewels, when Monsieur Mazarine took
occasion to seize upon them."

She therefore sought the king's interference, but as the duke had
interest at court, she received but little satisfaction. Then commenced
disputes, which, after months of wrangling, ended by the duchess
escaping in male attire out of France, in company with a gay young
cavalier, Monsieur de Rohan. After various wanderings through Italy and
many adventures in Savoy, she determined on journeying to England.
That her visit was not without a political motive, we gather from
St. Evremond; who, referring to the ascendancy which the Duchess of
Portsmouth had gained over his majesty, and the uses she made of her
power for the interests of France, tells us, "The advocates for liberty,
being excluded from posts and the management of affairs, contrived
several ways to free their country from that infamous commerce; but
finding them ineffectual, they at last concluded that there was no other
course to take than to work the Duc