rough the ascendancy of his talents, great
influence with the Parisian Parliament, but it mistrusted him; and that
body, in its heterogeneous composition, offered rather the means for an
opposition than strength to the Government. Conde, to whom the state
owed its glory, and the Sovereign his safety, was therefore the sole
prop upon which Anne of Austria might have rested; but that young hero
had no capacity for business. He could not then have filled up the void
which Mazarin's retirement would have created. Conde, whose natural
pride was still further exalted by the flattery of the young nobles who
formed his train, and who obtained the nickname of _petits maitres_,
only used the influence which his position gave him to wring from
Mazarin the places and good things at his disposal, and of these he and
his adherents showed themselves insatiable. Thus, Conde rendered himself
formidable and odious to Mazarin, and made himself detested by the
people as Mazarin's supporter, at the same time that by his arrogance he
shocked the Parliament, already unfavourably disposed towards him on
account of his rapacity and his ambition.[1]

[1] Talon, mem. t. lxii. pp. 65-105.--Montpensier.

Such was the state of things, when the singular circumstances which
attended the murder of one of Conde's domestics made that prince believe
that the chiefs of the Fronde had conspired to assassinate him. He
thought, by such a crime, to have found an opportunity for crushing that
faction in the persons of its chiefs, and he instituted a process in
parliament against the contrivers of that murder. Public report
particularly pointed to two persons, De Retz and Beaufort; and Conde, by
his accusation, hoped to force them to quit Paris, where they found
their principal means of influence in the populace. But in attacking
thus, as it were, face to face, the two most popular men of the moment,
Conde showed no better tact than in dealing with the Prime Minister. He
conducted himself with so much haughtiness and arrogance, that the young
nobles who surrounded the soldier prince, when they wished to flatter
him, spoke of Mazarin as his slave.[2]

[2] Motteville, mem. t. xxxix. p. 4.--Guy-Joly.

The process went on nevertheless. Almost all the judges were convinced
of the innocence of the accused, but Conde pretended that they could not
be absolved without giving a deadly affront to himself. He demanded that
at the very least the Coadjutor and Beau