[244] In order to convey some idea of the effect produced by the ostensible devotion of Madame de Verneuil upon those who gave her credit for sincerity, we need only quote a passage in the dedication of D'Hemery d'Amboise to his translation of the works of Grégoire de Tours, in which, addressing himself to the Marquise, he gravely says "that she had deduced from the inspired writings of the fathers their salutary doctrine; and that she practised it so faithfully, that her firmness had triumphed over her adversities, and her merit exceeded her happiness." "Your life," he adds, with the same unblushing sycophancy, "serves as a mirror for the most pious, and compels the admiration of all who see so holy and resolute a determination exerted at an age that has scarcely attained its prime; and at which, despising mere personal beauty, and the other precious advantages with which you have been richly endowed by Heaven, you have devoted the course of your best years to the contemplation of the marvels of God, joining spiritual meditation to good works."--Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. pp. 94, 95.
[245] Richelieu, Hist. de la Mère et du Fils, vol. i. pp. 8-11.
[246] MSS. Dupuy, vol. 407.
[247] André Hurault, Seigneur de Maisse, had been ambassador to Venice under both Henri III and Henri IV, and in his official capacity had frequent disputes with the nuncios of Sixtus V and Clement VIII, in consequence of which those prelates exerted all their influence to injure his interests at the Court of Rome. André Morosin mentions M. de Maisse as an able and far-seeing man, sagaci admodum ingenio. In 1595 Henri IV again sent him to Venice to offer his thanks to the Senate for the extraordinary embassy which they had forwarded to him during the previous year; and as M. de Maisse travelled on this occasion with Cardinal Duperron, who was instructed to pass by that city on his way to Rome, great alarm was created in the mind of the Pope that the French ambassador was about to visit the Papal Court in his company, an event which he deprecated from the distrust which he felt of the designs of an individual who had already frustrated the measures of his accredited agents. His Holiness was, however, quitte pour la peur, the instructions of M. de Maisse having restricted him to his Venetian mission.
[248] Louis Potier de Gêvres, Secretary of State. It is from him that the branch of his family still bearing the name of Gêvres is descended, while that of Novion owes its origin to his elder brother, Nicolas Potier de Blancménil.
[249] Mézeray, vol. x. p. 261.
[250] Le Laboureur sur Castelnau.
[251] Jacqueline de Bueil, subsequently Comtesse de Moret, was the daughter of Claude de Bueil, Seigneur de Courcillon and La Machère, and of Catherine de Monteclu, who both died in 1596. The family of Bueil traced their descent from Jean, the first of the name, Sieur de Bueil in Touraine, who was equerry of honour to Charles-le-Bel in 1321.
[252] Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. p. 97.
[253] Wraxall, vol. v. pp. 356, 357.