of the Marshal de
Luxembourg, the Countess de Soissons, and the Duchess de Bouillon. The
marshal seems only to have been guilty of a piece of discreditable folly
in visiting a woman of this description, but the popular voice at the time
imputed to him something more than folly. The author of the _Memoirs of
the Affairs of Europe since the Peace of Utrecht_, says, "The miserable
gang who dealt in poison and prophecy alleged that he had sold himself to
the devil, and that a young girl of the name of Dupin had been poisoned by
his means. Among other stories, they said he had made a contract with the
devil, in order to marry his son to the daughter of the Marquis of
Louvois. To this atrocious and absurd accusation the marshal, who had
surrendered himself at the Bastille on the first accusation against him,
replied with the mingled sentiment of pride and innocence, 'When Mathieu
de Montmorenci, my ancestor, married the widow of Louis le Gros, he did
not have recourse to the devil, but to the states-general, in order to
obtain for the minor king the support of the house of Montmorenci.' This
brave man was imprisoned in a cell six feet and a half long, and his
trial, which was interrupted for several weeks, lasted altogether fourteen
months. No judgment was pronounced upon him."

The Countess of Soissons fled to Brussels, rather than undergo the risk of
a trial; and was never able to clear herself from the stigma that attached
to her, of having made an attempt to poison the Queen of Spain by doses of
succession-powder. The Duchess of Bouillon was arrested, and tried by the
Chambre Ardente. It would appear, however, that she had nothing to do with
the slow poisons, but had merely endeavoured to pry into the secrets of
futurity, and gratify her curiosity with a sight of the devil. One of the
presidents of the Chambre, La Reynie, an ugly little old man, very
seriously asked her whether she had really seen the devil; to which the
lady replied, looking him full in the face, "Oh, yes! I see him now. He is
in the form of a little ugly old man, exceedingly illnatured, and is
dressed in the robes of a Counsellor of State." M. la Reynie prudently
refrained from asking any more questions of a lady with so sharp and ready
a tongue. The duchess was imprisoned for several months in the Bastille;
and nothing being proved against her, she was released at the intercession
of her powerful friends. The severe punishment of criminals of this note