er, thrown herself upon
the hospitality of the nation to which she was so nearly allied; urging
them to avert the reproach which must inevitably fall upon the country
should the misguided zeal of the people be permitted to subject the
exiled Queen to violence, when her rank, her misfortunes, and her age
should alike render her person sacred.

The Peers referred the remonstrance to the Commons, who at once agreed
to the necessity of affording protection to the Queen-mother; but, urged
by the agents of Richelieu, they at the same time suggested that she
should be desired to depart the kingdom; "for the quieting those
jealousies in the hearts of his Majesty's well-affected subjects,
occasioned by some ill instruments about the Queen's person, by the
flowing of priests and Papists to her house, and by the use and practice
of the idolatry of the mass, and exercise of other superstitious
services of the Romish Church, to the great scandal of true
religion." [228]

Incapable of opposing the will of his Parliament, Charles I. had no
alternative save to request his unhappy mother-in-law to pardon him if
he entreated her to seek another asylum, while Marie de Medicis on her
side, compelled to obey this intimation, promised immediate compliance;
only imploring him to exert his influence with Philip of Spain to
receive her once more in his dominions; or, failing that concession, to
permit her passage through the Low Countries into Holland. Philip,
however, affecting great displeasure at the manner in which she had left
Brussels, refused to concede either favour; upon which the persecuted
Princess applied to the States-General of the United Provinces to afford
her an asylum; and solicited the Prince of Orange (whose son had
recently married her grand-daughter) to second her request. Both the
States-General and Frederic Henry, however, stood too much in awe of
Richelieu to venture thus to brave his displeasure; and, accordingly,
they also, in their turn, requested the Queen-mother to select
another retreat.

The iron hand of the Cardinal still pressed upon his victim. Abandoned
by her children, and by the ancient allies of the King her husband;
forsaken by her friends, and almost despised by her enemies, the
wretched Marie de Medicis found herself literally bereft of all support,
and at length, hopeless and heart-stricken, she took leave of her
afflicted daughter, who was fated only a few years later to become like
herself depend