pection, his profound prudence, and at the same time the
judicious vigour of his resolves. She saw the affairs of France
prospering on all sides under his firm and skilful hand. The Cardinal,
it is true, was not quite a nullity, in the fierce war which had
inaugurated the new reign so dazzlingly; but a power of no slight weight
was manifest in the success which had followed his advent to office,
and which proved to startled Europe that the victory of Rocroy was not a
lucky stroke of chance. When every member of the Council was opposed to
the siege of Thionville, and when Turenne himself, on being consulted,
did not venture to declare his opinion on the subject, it was Mazarin
who had insisted with an unflinching persistence that the victory of
Rocroy should be profited by, and that France should extend her frontier
to the Rhine. That proposition, doubtless, emanated from the youthful
conqueror, but Mazarin had the merit of comprehending, sustaining, and
causing it to triumph. If no first minister had ever before been so
served by such a general, neither had general ever been so supported by
such a minister; and thanks to both, on the 11th of August, whilst the
chivalrous _Importants_ were exhausting their combined talents in
putting a shameful affront upon the noble sister of the hero who had
just served France so gloriously, and who was about to aggrandize it
further--whilst they were displaying their vapid and turgid eloquence in
the salons, or sharpening their poniards in gloomy council chambers,
Thionville, then one of the chief strongholds of the Empire, surrendered
after an obstinate defence. Thus, the Regency of Anne of Austria had
opened under the most brilliant auspices.

[1] Entry in Carnet, iii. p. 10, in Spanish:--"Sy yo creyera lo que
dicen que S.M. se sierve di mi per necessidad, sin tener alguna
inclination, no pararia aqui tres dias."

But in the height of this national glory and signal triumph, Queen Anne
must indeed have shuddered when Mazarin placed before her all the proofs
of the odious conspiracy formed against him. Explanations the most
minute and confidential thereupon ensued between them. It was now more
than ever compulsory for her to "raise the mask,"[2] to sacrifice to a
manifest necessity the circumspection she was studious of preserving--to
brave somewhat further the tittle-tattle of a few devotees of either
sex, and at all events to permit her Prime Minister to defend his life.