men at the French Court. Grandson of the _Balafre_, his high birth
fixed the eyes of all upon him, at the same time that his impetuous
imagination, his profession, all the aristocratic follies of the
day--remarkable duels, romantic loves, eccentricities, the adventures
and elegant habits of the _grand seigneur_--had constituted him an
oracle of fashion and the hero of every festival. He was fascinated by
the grace and beauty of Anne de Gonzagua, and she herself, in the midst
of that gallant Court which masked a real depravation under the thin
varnish of an ingenious subtlety of expression,--she herself, a disciple
of the Hotel de Rambouillet, where questions of sentiment were
discussed, studied, and analysed incessantly, knew not how to resist the
gilded accents of a young, handsome, and impassioned lover. She let him
see that she loved him. He made her a promise of marriage, signed, it is
said, with his blood; and the affair seemed to promise a happy
conclusion. But their mutual inclination was thwarted by Madame de
Guise. The Duchess thought that the high dignities of the Church would
procure greater wealth, honour, and power for her son than he could
obtain in any other career: Henri was then Archbishop of Rheims.
Nevertheless, he persisted in his love for Mademoiselle de Gonzagua, and
in his design of espousing her. The overtures which he made to the
Vatican were not in vain. He received from the Pope, with the
authorisation to again become a layman, a dispensation which his kinship
to Anne rendered necessary for the celebration of their nuptials. But
the lovers did not hasten to avail themselves of such privilege,
apparently through dread of Richelieu, who was also opposed to their
union. Perhaps that minister, from whom nothing secret was hidden--not
even the unshaped designs of the ambitious,--already suspected Henri de
Guise of being favourably disposed to the interests of Spain, as well as
contrary to those of France. Anne and Henri, therefore, contented
themselves with the possibility which the complaisance of the Holy
Father had given them of contracting an indissoluble bond, and with the
oath by which they reciprocally pledged their faith. Confiding in the
honour of the Prince whom she so ardently loved, Anne consented to
follow him, when he quitted France in order to escape from the espionage
of Richelieu. Disguising herself in male attire, Anne rejoined her lover
at Besancon, according to Mademoiselle de Mon