that he died in the flower of his age,
happy, adored by his people, and beloved by a mistress he was
desperately in love with. The evening before his death he caused
Madame his sister to be married to the Duke of Savoy without ceremony.
One may judge what condition the Duchess of Valentinois was in; the
Queen would not permit her to see the King, but sent to demand of her
the King's signets, and the jewels of the crown which she had in her
custody. The Duchess enquired if the King was dead, and being
answered, "No"; "I have then as yet no other matter," said she, "and
nobody can oblige me to restore what he has trusted in my hands." As
soon as the King expired at Chateau de Toumelles, the Duke of Ferrara,
the Duke of Guise, and the Duke de Nemours conducted the Queen-Mother,
the New King and the Queen-Consort to the Louvre. The Duke de Nemours
led the Queen-Mother. As they began to march, she stepped back a
little, and told the Queen her daughter-in-law, it was her place to go
first; but it was easy to see, that there was more of spleen than
decorum in this compliment.

IV

The Queen-mother was now wholly governed by the Cardinal of Loraine;
the Viscount de Chartres had no interest with her, and the passion he
had for Madam de Martigues and for liberty hindered him from feeling
this loss as it deserved to be felt. The Cardinal, during the ten days'
illness of the King, was at leisure to form his designs, and lead the
Queen into resolutions agreeable to what he had projected; so that the
King was no sooner dead but the Queen ordered the Constable to stay at
Tournelles with the corpse of the deceased King in order to perform the
usual ceremonies. This commission kept him at a distance and out of
the scene of action; for this reason the Constable dispatched a courier
to the King of Navarre, to hasten him to Court that they might join
their interest to oppose the great rise of the House of Guise. The
command of the Army was given to the Duke of Guise and the care of the
finances to the Cardinal of Loraine. The Duchess of Valentinois was
driven from Court; the Cardinal de Tournon, the Constable's declared
enemy, and the Chancellor Olivier, the declared enemy of the Duchess of
Valentinois, were both recalled. In a word, the complexion of the
Court was entirely changed; the Duke of Guise took the same rank as the
Princes of the blood, in carrying the King's mantle at the funeral
ceremonies: He and his brothers c