[37] Louise-Marguerite de Lorraine was the daughter of Henri, Duc de Guise, surnamed le Balafré, and of Catherine of Clèves, subsequently Duchesse de Nemours. She was celebrated alike for her extreme beauty, her brilliant wit, and her great intellect. She wrote admirably for that age, and was the author of the Histoire des Amours du Grand Alcandre, and of some Court Chronicles, which she published under the patronymic of Dupilaust. Mademoiselle de Guise married François, Prince de Conti, son of the celebrated Louis, Prince de Condé, who was killed at Jarnac.
[38] Catherine de Lorraine, daughter of Charles, Duc de Mayenne, and of Henriette de Savoie-Villars, who became in February 1599 the wife of Charles de Gonzague, Duc de Nevers, and subsequently Duke of Mantua. She died on the 8th of March 1618, at the age of thirty-three years; and was consequently, at the period referred to in the text, only seventeen years old.
[39] Anne, daughter and heiress of Charles, last Duc d'Aumale, by whom the duchy was transferred to the house of Savoy.
[40] Mademoiselle de Longueville was the sister of Henri d'Orléans, first Duc de Longueville.
[41] Catherine de Rohan, second daughter of Réné II, Vicomte de Rohan, and of Catherine, the daughter and heiress of Jean de Parthenay, Seigneur de Soubise. When she had subsequently become the wife of the Duc de Deux-Ponts, Henry IV was so enamoured of her as to make dishonourable proposals, to which she replied by the memorable answer: "I am too poor, Sire, to be your wife, and too well-born to become your mistress."
[42] Diane de Luxembourg, who, in 1600-1, gave her hand to Louis de Ploësqueler, Comte de Kerman, in Brittany.
[43] Mademoiselle de Guéménée was the daughter of Louis de Rohan, Prince de Guéménée, first Duc de Montbazon.
[44] Sully, Mém. vol. iii. pp. 162-174.
[45] Denys de Marquemont, Archbishop of Lyons, and subsequently cardinal (1626). He did not, however, long enjoy this dignity, to obtain which he had exerted all his energies, as he died at the close of the same year. He was a truckling politician, and an ambitious priest.
[46] Arnaud d'Ossat was born in 1536 at Cassagnaberre, a small village of Armagnac, near Auch. His parents lived in great indigence during his infancy, and at nine years of age he became an orphan, totally destitute. He was placed as an attendant about the person of a young gentleman of family, whose studies he shared with such success that, from the fellow-student of his patron, he became his tutor. After some time he accompanied his employer to Paris, where by persevering industry he completed his education, and was enabled to give lessons in philosophy and rhetoric. He then proceeded to Bourges, where he studied legal jurisprudence under the famous Cujas. Paul de Foix, Archbishop of Toulouse, when about to proceed as ambassador to Rome, engaged him as his secretary; and while there, he embraced the ecclesiastical profession, and rendered himself perfectly conversant with the whole policy of the Papal Court. Henri III bestowed upon him the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Varennes, but, as his claim was contested, he immediately resigned it. Subsequently he was raised to the bishopric of Rennes, was created a cardinal in 1598, and some time afterwards was appointed to the see of Bayeux. His untiring devotion to the interests of France was ultimately recognized by his elevation to the dignity of minister under Henri IV.