with the
measures which he had already adopted. Marie de Medicis was, however,
less placable; and much as she deprecated the idea of hostilities with
England, she nevertheless openly applauded the resistance of her
daughter to what she designated as the tyrannical presumption of
Buckingham, and the blind weakness of Charles, who sacrificed the
domestic happiness of a young and lovely bride to the arrogant intrigues
of an overbearing favourite. The English Duke himself was peculiarly
obnoxious to the Queen-mother, who could not forgive his insolent
admiration of Anne of Austria, and the ostentatious manner in which he
had made the wife of her son a subject of Court scandal; while, at the
same time, she deeply resented the fact that Henriette had not even been
permitted to retain her confessor, but was compelled to accept one
chosen for her by the minister.

While, therefore, Bassompierre constantly received directions from both
the King and the Cardinal to ensure peace at any price, and to prevail
upon the young Queen to make the concessions necessary for producing
this result, Marie de Medicis as continually wrote to entreat of the
Marechal to uphold the interests of the French Princess, and to assure
her of her perfect satisfaction at the spirit which she had evinced;
though it is doubtful if, when these messages were entrusted to the
royal envoy, they were ever communicated to the excitable Henriette.

Finally, to his great satisfaction, Bassompierre succeeded in carrying
out the wishes of his sovereign; and he at length took his leave of the
English Court, laden with rich presents, after having received the warm
acknowledgments of all parties for the patience and impartiality with
which he had acted throughout; and the gratification of feeling that a
better, and as he hoped a lasting, understanding existed between the
royal pair. The household of Henriette had been re-organized, and
although upon a more reduced scale than that by which she had been
accompanied from France, it was still sufficiently numerous to satisfy
even the exigencies of royalty; and thus, estimated by its consequences,
this embassy was probably the most brilliant event of Bassompierre's
whole career; as from the period of his residence at the Court of
England, the young Queen possessed both the heart and the confidence of
her royal husband, whose affection for his beautiful and accomplished
consort thenceforward endured to the last day of his e