ath-warrant of the victim beneath his pillow, and had striven
to rise upon his ruin. The after-career of Richelieu did not belie its
commencement. The glorious talents with which Heaven had gifted him
festered into a curse beneath his ambition; he became the marvel of the
whole civilized world, and the scourge of those who trusted in his
sincerity.

That Marie was as eager as Richelieu himself for the alliance with
England is undoubted; for while the latter, whose enlarged political
views led him to seek through this medium to curb the growing power of
Austria and Spain, looked only to the aggrandizement of the nation which
he served, the Queen-mother was equally anxious to secure for herself a
safe asylum in the event of any new reverse; and consequently on this
particular subject they acted in unison, the Cardinal openly striving to
attain his own object, and Marie de Medicis secretly negotiating at the
Court of St. James's to effect a marriage by which she believed that she
should ensure her future safety.

The difference of religion between the contracting parties necessarily
induced considerable difficulties, but as these were never, at that
period, suffered to interfere with any great question of national
policy, Richelieu unhesitatingly undertook to obtain the consent of the
Sovereign-Pontiff, who, as the minister had foreseen, finally accorded
the required dispensation. Nor was he deterred from his purpose by the
opposition of the Spanish monarch, who caused his ambassador to assure
Marie de Medicis that, in the event of her inducing the King to bestow
the hand of the Princesse Henriette upon the Infant Don Carlos, he would
secure to that Prince the sovereignty of the Catholic Low Countries on
the demise of the Archduchess Isabella, and meanwhile the royal couple
could take up their abode at Brussels under the guardianship of that
Princess.[85]

The Queen-mother, however, placed no faith in the sincerity of this
promise, while Richelieu met it by an instant negative, declaring that
"every one was aware that Spain was like a canker which gnawed and
devoured every substance to which it attached itself." [86] And
meanwhile Louis, glad to have once more found an individual alike able
and willing to take upon himself the responsibility of government,
suffered the Cardinal to pursue his negotiation with England. The dowry
demanded by James with the Princess was eight hundred thousand crowns,
half of which was to be