Peace was thus restored to Paris, and was not long in being established all over the kingdom. The Archduke, who had already penetrated with his troops to the neighborhood of Rheims, perceiving that he could no longer reckon upon the support of the factious, withdrew precipitately into Flanders. The fate of Turenne was still more mortifying: at the first news of his defection Cardinal Mazarin had sent eight hundred thousand livres to M. d'Erlach, the Lieutenant-General, to be distributed to the army, and had caused letters to be written by the Prince of Condé to all the Colonels. These measures had their due effect upon the troops of Turenne at the very moment when the peace was being concluded, they turned against their General, to remain faithful to their Queen, and Turenne, on the point of being arrested, escaped with some few friends, first into Germany and afterwards into Holland. From his retreat he implored the protection of Condé, who willingly granted it to the former companion of his glory; and being at that time all-powerful at Court, he not only succeeded in procuring him his pardon, but afterwards gained for him several considerable favors.*

After the signing of the peace, the Château of St. Germain became the resort of many Frondeurs; the Duchess de Longueville, the Prince of Conti, and nearly all the other chiefs of the party, hastened to pay their respects to the Queen. She received everybody without bitterness, some even with friendship; and the Minister on his part affected much general good-will. But in spite of these popular appearances, Mazarin, a coward, if ever there was one, could not make up his mind to return so soon amongst the Parisians; and under the pretext of superintending the war in Flanders, he removed the Court to Compiègne. To insult his timidity by the contrast, the Prince of Condé made his entry into Paris in broad daylight, and drove through the prin cipal street in his coach, attended only by two lackeys. The people were intimidated by his boldness, or touched by his confidence, and let him pass everywhere with respect. The Parliament on its part showed him great consideration, sending him a deputation to thank him for the good offices which he had rendered to the Company during the war.

* Desormeaux, vol. ii., p. 188.

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RECONCILIATION WITH HIS FAMILY.

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CHAPTER IV.

Growing Irritation between Condé and the Court.-Designs of Mazarin.His Combination with the Frondeurs.-Arrest of Condé and his Brothers.They are sent to the Donjon de Vincennes.-Adventures of the Duchess of Longueville in Normandy.-She embarks for Holland.-The Princess of Condé and the Princess Dowager at Chantilly.-Their Alarms and Anxieties.

ONE of the first effects of the peace between the parties was a reconciliation in the House of Condé. The Princess Dowager employed herself with zeal and success in re-establishing harmony between her children. Condé, who despised his brother too much to hate him, readily agreed to a reconciliation with him. As to his sister, he had always felt for her great affection and confidence, and she no less for him: these sentiments were revived at their very first interview at Ruel, and he not only gave her back his friendship, but began to enter into her views, and even to be guided by her counsels.

The Prince's policy was to make Royalty powerful and respected, but not absolute. He said publicly that he had done what he ought in upholding Mazarin, because he had promised to do so; but for the future, if things took a different line, he should not be bound by the past.* Upon the same principle he refused the command of the army in Flanders-foreseeing that any reverse would tarnish his own glory, and that successes would increase the power of the Minister. A prey to a thousand conflicting feelings, and discontented with everybody, and perhaps with himself, he took the resolution of retiring for several months to his government in Burgundy.

On returning from Dijon in the month of August, the Prince found the Queen and the Cardinal at Compiègne, and very much dejected. Their general in Flanders, the Count d'Harcourt, had

failed shamefully at the siege of Cambray, and the campaign was a failure. But Condé's generous nature often led him to assist the weak and throw his weight into the scale of the unfortunate. If he had shown any ill-humor at his departure, there were no traces of it on his return. “Madam,” said he to the Queen on their first meeting, "your Majesty will not find me changed; I am neither a Frondeur nor a devotee, but always the same " (this is the usual language of men who have undergone any alteration); "and always ready," continued he, "to spill the last drop of my blood in your Majesty's service!" He then pressed her to return to Paris with her Minister, answering for Mazarin's safety, at the risk of his own head.* It may well be imagined that the Queen hastened to take advantage of this generous offer. Their entry into Paris took place a few days after, the Prince in concert with his family having arranged everything for this object. Such was then the influence of the House of Condé, and such is always the instability of the people, the Mazarin was received by an immense crowd, not only without hooting, but even with acclamations and applause. Condé was seated beside him, at the portière of the Queen's coach, and listened with equal contempt to the cries of joy from the people, and to the Minister's protestations of friendship.t

Soon after, on the day of St. Louis, the young King, hardly eleven years of age, made a brilliant cavalcade in the Rue St. Antoine; and the Prévôt of the Merchants announced a magnificent ball at the Hôtel de Ville. The Queen wished to direct She first tried out of spite to

herself all the details of this fête. exclude Madame de Longueville, foreseeing, no doubt, that such a blow would go straight to her heart; but Condé interceded in her favor, and it became therefore necessary to submit and send her an invitation. Anne of Austria, however, did not even then give up her womanly design of revenge. Knowing that Madame de

* Desormeaux, vol. ii., p. 214.

"There was an extraordinary confusion amongst the people. I was never more tired. It was extremely hot; we were eight persons in the Queen's coach, and were from three o'clock in the afternoon to eight o'clock at night in coming from Le Bourget to Paris, which is only two short leagues." (Memoirs of Mademoiselle, vol. i., p. 230, ed. 1746.)

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DISSENSION WITH THE COURT.

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Longueville's complexion had lost its first bloom, the Queen ordered that the ball should take place, not in the evening, but in broad daylight, "much," added she, as it may vex certain painted ladies, who have been great Frondeuses, and who will gain nothing when seen by the light of the sun!"

Cares and anxieties soon succeeded to fêtes and rejoicings. Mazarin had just concluded a marriage for one of his nieces, Mademoiselle de Mancini, with the Duke de Mercœur, eldest son of the Duke de Vendôme; but Monsieur le Prince declared that he would not allow this alliance of the Prime Minister with the House of Vendôme, the old enemies of the House of Condé. The Duke de Longueville demanded the town of the Pont de l'Arche in Normandy, and Monsieur le Prince supported his pretensions. In vain did the Queen represent that the Duke de Longueville already held the government of the citadels of Dieppe, Caen, and Rouen, and that if that of the Pont de l'Arche was added, nothing would be wanting but the title of Duke of Normandy. “I should like better," said she with bitterness, "to give up one-third of the kingdom to the enemy, than the Pont de l'Arche to the Governor of the province!" Without being moved by such expressions, Condé addressed the same request to the Prime Minister, and receiving another answer in the negative, he forgot himself so far as to touch him rather roughly with his hand under the chin, and exclaimed on leaving him with contempt, "Adieu, Mars!" It is even said that he sent him, a short time afterwards, a letter addressed "A l'Illustrissimo Signor Faquino."* The Cardinal, less irritated than alarmed at these insults, sent M. Le Tellier, Secretary of State, to him on the following day, with conciliatory overtures; but the Prince, so far from allowing himself to be appeased, desired Le Tellier to inform the Cardinal that he would never meet him again but at Council, and that he declared himself his open enemy.

Attentive to all these changes, and foreseeing that discord amongst others would increase their own strength, the chiefs of the Frondeurs hastened in crowds to the Hôtel de Condé to offer their services. The Coadjutor and the President de Bellièvre

* Memoirs of Guy Joly, p. 82, ed. 1817.

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especially pressed the Prince to place himself at the head of their party, to join his own to theirs, and to combine in shaking off the yoke of the foreign favorite. Such a combination could not have been for a moment withstood. The Cardinal seeing his humblest submissions repulsed one after the other, was already resigning himself to his disgrace, and was making preparations for his journey into Italy; but Condé, brought up with a profound veneration for the throne, and on the other hand despising in his heart the gentlemen of the long robe, could not make up his mind to the proposed alliance. He began to lend an ear to the entreaties of the humbled Minister. During three days," says his friend the Duke de Rohan, “he changed his mind three hundred times!” The decisive moment having at length arrived, Gondy and Noirmoutier went to the Hôtel de Condé on the 18th of September. It was only four o'clock in the morning, and they found Monsieur le Prince still sound asleep. Having awakened him, they learnt with surprise from his own lips that he renounced the projects concerted between them, because he could not agree to a civil war; and that the Queen was so attached to the Cardinal that there was but that one method of separating them. He added that he had already accepted the Pont de l'Arche for his brother-inlaw, and that he restored his friendship to the Cardinal at that price; but that nevertheless he promised his protection to both the Coadjutor and the President, if it should ever become necessary. Then taking leave of them, after a few other complimentary speeches, he dressed hastily, and proceeded to the Queen's levee.*

On leaving the Court, where he had been taking his final measures, the Prince went to see the Duchess de Longueville, whom he found much hurt at not having been consulted on an affair of such importance. He found with her only Pierre Lenet, of whom we shall often have occasion to speak hereafter. He was a Councillor in the Parliament of Dijon, and one of the most devoted servants of the House of Condé. “Well, sister,” said the Prince in a laughing and jesting tone," Mazarin and I are now become like two heads in one cap!" "That is very fine, brother," re

* Memoirs of Retz, vol. ii., p. 21, ed. 1817.