t having been
abandoned, offered the Queen, if she would consent to it, to procure the
disappearance of the Coadjutor by sending him an invitation, and then
having him confined in a cellar of her hotel. De Retz learned that a
design to assassinate him had been formed, and whenever he repaired to
the Hotel de Chevreuse, by way of precaution placed sentinels outside
the gate of that mansion, and quite close to the Queen's sentries who
guarded the Palais-Royal, without heeding the effect such an excess of
insolence and scandal produced. With every kind of talent fitting to
dominate party spirit, he failed to acquire the confidence of anyone. He
regarded all alliance with the foreigner as odious and impolitic; and
notwithstanding, when his embarrassments increased, he lent an ear to
the Archduke's envoy, and even to that of Cromwell. At the same time,
full of admiration for the Marquis of Montrose, whom he called a hero
worthy of Plutarch, he contracted the closest friendship with the
Scottish royalist, and aided him to the utmost of his ability in the
efforts he was making to restore to the throne the legitimate King of
Great Britain. De Retz, in few words, appeared anxious to show himself
as taking pleasure in exhausting every kind of contrast. When the
intricate plot of the drama in which he was engaged had become so
complicated by his intrigues, that he no longer saw the possibility of
unravelling it, he sought means to retire from the situation with the
greatest advantage practicable for himself and friends, and to obtain
the Cardinal's hat. The marriage of Mademoiselle de Chevreuse with the
Prince de Conti became the essential condition of all the negotiations
which he carried on, whether with the Court or with the Duchess de
Chevreuse. The remembrance of an old and close friendship, the habit of
a familiarity contracted in youth, gave the Duchess de Chevreuse a means
of influence over that Queen, so fixed in her hatred, so inconstant in
her friendships. Anne of Austria, who then, moreover, found herself very
miserable through the obstacles which so many factions created, had
partially restored the Duchess to her confidence. Madame de Chevreuse
appeared also to have the same interests as De Retz, since, like him,
she desired intensely the union of her daughter with a Prince of the
blood. But she had large sums of money to recover from the Government,
and the success of her claims depended on the decision of the prime
m