LETTER XLII.
I have hardly any news, and yet I feel I ought not to allow a longer time to elapse before writing.
The King has returned from Lyons without achieving anything worth notice, as far as I know. He stayed for some time at the castle of le Bois de Vincennes, in the neighbourhood of Paris, where he is building a church, to be held by the order of St. Jerome, for the benefit of himself and his society of Penitents.[214] At the same time he is carrying on his campaign against vice by punishing heinous offences, especially those which are connected with malversation of public moneys, whether they belong to the privy purse or the exchequer, France being full of offenders of this kind.
In dealing with these matters he does not spare even men of high rank; consequently there is a panic, and people are leaving the country. He will next attack the Parliaments, it is supposed, and require them to give an account of the way they have administered justice, and the sentences they have pronounced, for these courts of justice are, it is considered, full of corruption and in great need of reform. In France the Parliaments have powers almost equal to the King’s; in them justice is sold, or given as a matter of favour.
Though well stricken in years,[215] the Cardinal de Bourbon is apparently unwilling to surrender the right of succession to the throne to his nephew Navarre, and therefore inclines to the Guises, whom a numerous party regard as their leaders; nay, a little while ago it was stated that he intended to resign his orders, surrender his Cardinal’s hat, and marry the widow of Montpensier, sister to the Duke of Guise. The report is still current.
Marshal de Retz is still in Picardy, strengthening fortifications and garrisoning posts, for the Queen Mother has, it appears, set her mind on keeping Cambrai, and some of the household troops have been despatched thither with that object. The Queen herself has left Paris for the banks of the Loire, and is going from place to place in the hope of arranging an interview with Navarre, but the probability of his meeting her is not great, as he is afraid of treachery, and will not trust either her or the King. That his wife may meet her mother is not impossible. The King too has set out for the Loire, and will stop some time, should the plague, which keeps him from Paris, allow him to remain. At Paris it is still doubtful as to what the King’s destination really is.
Matters in the Netherlands have taken a turn very favourable to the King of Spain. Ghent[216] has made its peace with him. If report says true, the terms are as follows: they are to pay him 200,000 crowns, restore the churches, allow two citadels to be built, and give up any six men who may be demanded.
Moreover, the men of Brussels are also talking of surrender. In spite of this Antwerp does not lose heart, nor are the Hollanders and Zealanders abandoning any part of their programme. The Queen Mother’s Ambassador has arrived from the Netherlands, and talks much of the highly favourable terms on which they are willing to conclude a bargain with the King of France. The result is doubtful. Meantime, that God Almighty may preserve your Imperial Majesty is the prayer of your humble servant.
October 4, 1584.
[LETTER XLIII.]
I have allowed an unusually long interval to elapse, partly because I was every day expecting Sancerre to leave, and partly because I had no news worth sending.
The King, who had been dodging the plague from place to place, at last stopped at Blois; the plague,[217] however, gave him notice to quit by carrying off one of the ladies of the Queen’s bedchamber, so after all he has returned to Saint-Germain en Laye, where he intends prosecuting his social and legal reforms. I saw him at Blois, whither I went to express to him and the two Queens, his mother and his wife, the grief and sorrow of the Most Christian Queen, your Majesty’s sister, at the death of Alençon.
There was some talk of disturbances in the south of France, but they seem to have subsided.
Don Bernardino de Mendoza, whom I mentioned as travelling from England to Spain by way of Paris, has returned to these parts. He comes to express his master’s grief at the death of Alençon, and also to supersede Tassis[218] as ambassador to France. Tassis has gone to the Netherlands en route for Spain. If laying out large sums be the proof of a good ambassador, Don Bernardino must be the best in the world, for they say he intends spending as much as 16,000 crowns a year. I hope the rest may be in keeping, and that he may prove in every way as good as Tassis.
The Duke of Epernon, who is the King’s second self, is ill with a severe attack of scrofula, a disease which the Kings of France profess to heal by a touch of the hand,[219] so the King has an admirable opportunity of putting his power to the test! I write this because I have nothing else to say. Everything is at a standstill from the frost, but this pause will probably lead to greater movements in the spring.
December 10, 1584.