friend. To all this must be added the
mind and manners of Mazarin--supple and insinuating, always master of
himself, of an unchangeable serenity amidst the gravest circumstances,
full of confidence in his good star, and diffusing that confidence
around him. It must also be remembered that Cardinal although he was,
Mazarin was not a priest; that imbued with the maxims which formed the
code of gallantry of her native land, Anne of Austria had always loved
to please the other sex; that she was then forty-one and still
beautiful, that her Prime Minister was of the same age, that he was
exceedingly well-made and of a most pleasing countenance, in which
_finesse_, was blended with a certain air of greatness. He had readily
recognised that without ancestry, establishment, or support in France,
and surrounded by rivals and enemies, all his strength centred in the
Queen. He applied himself therefore above all things to gain her heart,
as Richelieu had tried before him; and as he happily possessed far other
means for attaining success in that respect, the handsome and
gentle-mannered Cardinal eventually succeeded. Once master of her heart,
he easily directed the mind of Anne of Austria, and taught her the
difficult art of pursuing ever the same end by the aid of conduct the
most diverse, according to the difference of circumstances.

But favourable and indeed gracious as his royal mistress had shown
herself towards him personally, and apart from any particular line of
policy, at the outset of his premiership Mazarin had nevertheless to
contend against a formidable host of enemies; and not the least
redoubtable among them might be reckoned that intrepid political heroine
the lately-banished Duchess de Chevreuse. No sooner did she again find
herself at the side of Anne of Austria than the indefatigable Marie set
to work with all her characteristic dash, spirit, and energy to attack
Richelieu's system and its adherents, now directed by Mazarin.

The first point she sought to carry was the return of Chateauneuf to
office. "The good sense and long experience of M. de Chateauneuf," says
La Rochefoucauld, "were known to the Queen. He had undergone a rigorous
imprisonment for his adhesion to her cause; he was firm, decisive, loved
the State, and more capable than anyone else of re-establishing the old
form of government which Richelieu had first begun to destroy. Firmly
attached to Mdme. de Chevreuse, she knew sufficiently-well how to g