, and was daily in expectation of being summoned by his
patroness the Queen to exert his influence in quelling them. The
populace, with an Archbishop-governor of Paris at their head, imagined
that they were going to rule there as in the time of the League. This
made them both blind and deaf to the morals and manners of the little
prelate. A braggart, a duellist, and more than a gallant--though having
swarthy, ugly features, turned-up nose, and short, bandy legs--yet his
expressive eyes carried off every fault, sparkling as they were with
intelligence, audacity, and libertinage. Few withstood this subtle
knave, for he was wont to waive all ceremonial and spare everybody
prefatory speeches. The ladies of gallantry--especially those whose
lover he was--were his most indefatigable political agents. The Queen,
at length, suspecting that the worthy Archbishop was not quite the
simple and self-denying individual he appeared, had him watched and
followed. Whilst he flattered himself with the anticipation that his
assistance would be solicited at the Palais Royal, the Queen was making
a jest of him, and Mazarin determined to strike the blow.

On the 27th of August, 1648, a vast assemblage crowded the spacious
precincts of Notre Dame, to celebrate a _Te Deum_ for the great victory
of Lens, of which the youthful Conde had just sent home the news. When
the multitude were dispersing, a dash was made upon two or three of the
obnoxious councillors who had inflamed the discussions of the
Fronde--for that civil war was fairly on foot ere Anne of Austria and
Mazarin knew of its existence. Two of the intended prisoners escaped,
but a surly, burly demagogue, named Broussel, was tracked to his house
in the mechanics' quarter of Paris, and arrested by an armed force.
Thereupon the populace rose and armed against the Court. They made an
extraordinary stand in the streets, having raised _twelve hundred_
barricades in the course of twelve hours. They had no further need of De
Retz. It was, however, one of his mistresses, the sister of a president
and wife of a city captain, who having in her house the drum belonging
to the citizen guard of that quarter, gave the first impulse by causing
it to be beaten. The train was thus fired and the flame of civil war
kindled. This was called the _Day of the Barricades_.

Thus, the royal power which, as wielded by Richelieu, had come to
be considered as absolute, was attacked by three parties
simultaneously