PRAYING TO THE DEVIL.
I always thought that this unfashionable sort of worship was confined to some obscure fanatical sects in the East, and was not prepared to find an apparent record of its having been practised, amidst the frivolities and plotting of the French Court, by no less celebrated a lady than Catharine de Medicis. In the Secret History of France for the Last Century (London, printed for A. Bell, at the Cross Keys in Cornwel, (sic.) &c. 1714), I find such an odious charge advanced. I do not draw attention to it with the slightest shadow of belief in a story so ridiculous and incredible; but to ask, whether there existed any foundation for the following statement regarding the "steel box," and if so, what were its contents?
"In the first Civil War, when the Prince of Conde was in all appearance likely to prevail, and Katherine was thought to be very near the End of her much desir'd Regency, during the Young King's Minority, she was known to have been for Two days together, retir'd to her Closet, without admitting her menial Servants to her Presence. Some few Days after, having call'd for Monsieur De Mesme, one of the Long Robe, and always firm to her Interest, she deliver'd him a Steel Box fast lock'd, to whom she said, giving him the Key, That in respect she knew not what might come to be her Fortune, amidst those intestine Broils that then shook France, she had thought fit to inclose a thing of great Value within that Box, which she consign'd to his Care, not to open it upon Oath, but by an Express Order under her own Hand. The Queen Dying, without ever calling for the Box, it continued many Years unopen'd in the Family of De Mesme, after both their Deaths, till at last Curiosity, or the Suspicion of some Treasure from the heaviness of it, tempted Monsieur De Mesme's Successor to break it open, which he did. Instead of any Rich Present from so great a Queen, what Horror must the Lookers on have, when they found a Copper Plate of the Form and Bigness of one of the Ancient Roman Votive Shields, on which was Engraven Queen Katherine de Medicis on her Knees, in a Praying Posture, offering up to the Devil sitting upon a Throne, in one of the ugliest Shapes they use to Paint him, Charles the IXth. then Reigning, the Duke of Anjou, afterwards Henry the IIId., and the Duke of Alanson, her Three sons, with this Motto in French, So be it, I but Reign. This very Plate continues yet in the Custody of the House of Mesme, of which Monsieur D'Avaux, so famous for his Ambassies, was a Branch, and was not only acknowledged by him to be so, when Ambassador in Holland, but he was also pleas'd at that time, to promise a Great Man in England, a Copy of it; which is a Terrible Instance of the Power of Ambition in the Minds of French Princes, and to what Divinity, if one dares give the Devil that name, even in Irony, they are ready to pay their adoration, rather than part with their hopes of Empire."—Pp. 6, 7.
R. S. F.
Perth.