POLITICAL WOMEN.

BY

SUTHERLAND MENZIES,

AUTHOR OF "ROYAL FAVOURITES," ETC.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

HENRY S. KING & CO.,

65, CORNHILL, AND 12, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

1873.

[_All rights reserved._]

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

PART I. PAGE

INTRODUCTION vii

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.--Anne de Bourbon (sister of the Great Conde) 3

II.--The Duchess de Longueville 12

III. & IV.--The Duchess de Chevreuse 17, 35

BOOK II.

CHAP. I.--Anne of Austria's Prime Minister and his policy 43

II.--The Duchess de Montbazon--Affair of the dropped
letters--The Quarrel of the rival Duchesses 66

III.--The _Importants_ 77

IV.--Conspiracy of the Duchess de Chevreuse and the Duke
de Beaufort to get rid of Mazarin 82

V.--Failure of the plot to assassinate Mazarin--Arrest
of Beaufort--Banishment of Madame de Chevreuse and
dispersion of the _Importants_ 99

VI.--Results of the quarrel between the Duchesses--Fatal
duel between the Duke de Guise and Count Maurice de
Coligny 110

BOOK III.

CHAP. I.--The Duchess de Longueville and the Duke de la
Rochefoucauld 121

II.--La Rochefoucauld draws Madame de Longueville into
the vortex of politics and civil war 131

III.--The Duchess de Chevreuse driven into exile for the
third time 143

IV.--Fatal influence of Madame de Longueville's passion
for La Rochefoucauld--The Fronde 149

V.--Madame de Longueville wins over her brother Conde
to the Fronde 161

VI.--The causes which led to the _coup d'etat_--The