taly, and the power of
France beyond the Alps was consequently threatened with annihilation. In
this extremity Richelieu instantly directed the concentration of all the
frontier forces upon Piedmont, and declared war against the Duke of
Savoy; but as the whole responsibility of this campaign would
necessarily devolve upon himself, he demanded of the King that an
unlimited authority should be granted to him, in the event of his
Majesty declining to head the army in person. With this demand Louis
unhesitatingly complied; and on the 29th of December the Cardinal left
Paris as lieutenant-general of the royal forces, escorted by ten
companies of the King's bodyguard, and surrounded by upwards of a
hundred nobles.[122]

Previously to his departure, however, he entertained the King, the two
Queens, and the principal nobility at one of those elaborate _fetes_
which have now become merely legendary; and which combined a comedy, a
concert, and a ballet, with other incidental amusements, sufficient, as
it would appear in these days, to have afforded occupation for a week
even to the most dissipated pleasure-seekers; but which during the reign
of Louis XIII excited emulation rather than surprise.

Richelieu had scarcely commenced his march, when the King resolved in
his turn to proceed to Italy with a force of forty thousand men; a
determination which was no sooner made known to the Queen-mother than
she expressed her intention of bearing him company in this new
expedition; as, superadded to her anxiety to counterbalance by her
presence the influence of the Cardinal, she was moreover desirous of
preventing a rupture with Spain, and of protecting the Duke of Savoy,
whom she secretly favoured.[123]

The never-ceasing intrigues of the Court had once more sowed dissension
between the two Queens; and it is here necessary to state that on the
death of the Comtesse de Lannoy, which had occurred towards the close of
the preceding year, her post of lady of honour to Anne of Austria had
been conferred upon the Marquise de Senecay,[124] while that previously
held by Madame de Senecay was bestowed upon Madame du Fargis. As these
arrangements had been made without any reference to the wishes of the
Queen herself, she expressed great indignation at an interference with
the internal economy of her household which was generally attributed to
Marie de Medicis; but her anger reached its climax when she ascertained
that the Comtesse du Fargis was