[60] MS. Bibliothèque Nationale.
[61] Loménie de Brienne, Memoirs, 1828.
[62] Retz, Memoirs, edition 1836.
CHAPTER II
THE YOUNG PRINCESS DE CONDÉ CONDUCTS THE WAR IN THE SOUTH.
To generous and feeling hearts, Condé’s misfortune presented all the characteristics of a real romance. The majority of the women therefore who meddled with politics were, through sympathy, of his party. The glory of France under lock and key! The young hero arrested for treason, and prisoner to whom? The foreign Cardinal Mazarin. All the spoils of the Condés distributed amongst the sbires of the favourite,—Normandy to Harcourt, Champagne to L’Hospital, &c. A monstrous alliance between King and people. The Queen keeping the Bastille in the hands of Broussel’s son—the highest posts bestowed upon the magistrates—a reversal, in fact, of everything. Did not the French nobility rise to a man against such a state of things?
No, everything was at a standstill. Neither Condé’s military clients, nor his numerous seigniories, nor his governments took any active part whatsoever. Far from it, Madame de Longueville, as we have seen, who thought to raise Normandy, everywhere met with a repulse in that province. Neither Turenne nor she could do anything save by accepting aid from Spain, for which Madame de Bouillon was also doing her best in Paris.
But whilst that lovely amazon, Condé’s sister, was occupied in her endeavours to lure the hero of Stenay into the party of revolt by intoxicating him with love, and wasting time in negotiation and parade, a succour more direct and much more energetic was given to Condé from a quarter he had the least expected—from his own chateau of Chantilly. He had there left his aged mother, his young wife, and a son seven years old. Mazarin hesitated to have these ladies arrested, fearing the force of public opinion. The mother went to hide herself in Paris, and one morning appeared before the Parliament, suppliant, weeping sorely, stooping so far as to kneel in prayer, to flattery, and even to falsehood. All being unavailing, she went home to die.