[77] The Queen’s entry was to have taken place on May 16.
[78] Bassompierre carried at the Sacre the train of the Princesse de Conti, who herself carried that of the Queen.
[79] But, according to a contemporary account of the ceremony, Henri IV was in an unusually sombre mood, and, on entering the church and beholding the vast silent assemblage, observed: “It reminds me of the great and last judgment. God give us grace to prepare well for that day!” (Cérémonial français, Tome I., p. 570.)
[80] Pierre Fougeu, Seigneur d’Escures, Quartermaster-General of the camps and armies of the King.
[81] Bernard Potier, Seigneur de Blérencourt. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Light Horse of which Bassompierre was Colonel.
[82] Méry de Vic, Seigneur d’Ermenonville. He was appointed Keeper of the Seals in 1621.
[83] This was no idle threat, for Madame de Bassompierre’s will contains a clause providing that, in the event of her son espousing the demoiselle Marie Charlotte de Balsac, “she disinherited him and deprived him of all her property, having expressly forbidden him to contract a marriage with her.”
[84] “Five giants took part in the procession, of the race of those whom Hercules slew in the war which they waged against the gods, in the valley of Phlegra, in Thessaly.”—Laugier de Porchères, le Camp de la Place-Royale (Paris, 1612).
[85] “The five challengers styled themselves the Knights of Glory. M. de Bassompierre made his entry among them under the name of Lysander. He had for his device a lighted fuse, with these words: Da l’ardore l’ardire (De l’ardour la hardiesse), in allusion to a love avowed.”—le Camp de la Place-Royale.
[86] The Prince de Conti’s troupe called themselves the Knights of the Sun; the Duc de Vendôme’s the Knights of the Lily.