ne for repose and a tranquil life. The first draughts
of almost supreme power tasted by the long-oppressed Queen were not yet
embittered by faction and anarchy. In bygone days, insult, neglect, and
persecution had stirred her at intervals into mental activity, and urged
her upon dangerous courses; but now, having obtained all she aimed at,
happy, and beginning to form attachments, she entertained a dread of
troublesome adventures and hazardous enterprises. She therefore feared
Madame de Chevreuse quite as much as she loved her. The astute Cardinal
anxiously strove to foster such distrust. He looked for support from the
Princess de Conde, then high in the Queen's favour, both through her own
merit as well as that of the Prince her husband, but more than all
through the brilliant exploits of her son, the Duke d'Enghien; through
the services also of her son-in-law the Duke de Longueville, who had,
with honourable distinction, commanded the armies of Italy and Germany,
and by her recently-married daughter, Madame de Longueville, already the
darling of the _salons_ and the Court. The Princess, like Queen Anne,
had in the heyday of her beauty been fond of homage and gallantry, but
had now grown serious, and displayed a somewhat lively piety. She held
Madame de Chevreuse in aversion, and detested Chateauneuf, who, in 1632,
at Toulouse, had presided at the trial and condemnation of her brother,
Henri de Montmorency. She therefore had striven, in concert with
Mazarin, to destroy or at least weaken Madame de Chevreuse's hold upon
the Queen. Armed with the last will of Louis XIII., they had made it
appear something like a fault in the Queen's eyes to disregard it so
soon and so entirely. They had given her to understand that former days
and associations could never return; that the amusements and passions of
early youth were but "evil accompaniments"[2] of a later period of life;
that now she was before all things a mother and a Queen; that Madame de
Chevreuse, dissipated and carried away by passion, and cherishing the
same inclination for gallantry and idle vanity as hitherto, was no
longer worthy of her confidence; that she had brought good fortune to no
one; and that in lavishing wealth and honour upon the Duchess the debt
of gratitude she owed her would be sufficiently discharged.

[2] Madame de Motteville, tom. i. p. 162.--"Mauvais
accompagnements."

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I.

ANNE OF AUSTRIA'S PRIME MINI