LETTER XXX.
On the night before November 1, Louis du Guast was murdered in his bed; he was stabbed in several places. The gates of Paris were kept shut all the next day, and search was made for the murderers, but they could not be found. The King’s brother Alençon is supposed to have instigated the murder, or at any rate to have been privy to it, as he hated du Guast as much as the King loved him.[101] The cause of their respective [117]hatred and affection was but trifling; still, for that very reason it ought, I think, to be mentioned. Some years ago Thoré, the Constable’s son, had been playing tennis with du Guast, and had lost a considerable sum to him; on du Guast’s pressing for payment Thoré kept putting him off and making excuses. Du Guast finally lost his temper, took some horses out of Thoré’s stable, sold them by auction and paid himself out of the proceeds. When this came to Thoré’s knowledge, he was exceedingly annoyed, and quarrelled with du Guast, and ere long they came to blows. The King, who was then Duke of Anjou (for the late King was still alive), being informed of this, and fearing that du [118]Guast, who was his servant, would get the worst of it, as Thoré was the more powerful man of the two, turned out with his guards to defend his protégé. At the same time word was brought to Alençon that Thoré was in great danger, as Anjou had come to du Guast’s assistance. Thereupon he immediately brought up his escort to defend his friend Thoré. A disgraceful contest seemed inevitable, but the Swiss behaved with great discretion, and at last they parted without bloodshed.
However, from that day forth the brothers have been at variance, and the King has hated Thoré and the whole house of Montmorency. Du Guast, on the other hand, has always had Alençon for his foe. Moreover, from his reliance on the King’s favour he gave himself the habit of flouting Alençon and speaking of him in disrespectful terms. His impertinence has now cost him dear.
This du Guast had been appointed by the King commander of the ten regiments of Frenchmen which he had established after the model of the Prætorian guard. Among them were many picked privates, serjeants, and captains, who seldom left du Guast’s side, and generally messed at his house at the King’s expense. Such was the splendour and sumptuousness of his table that if any of the Princes, such as the Duke of Guise, or the titular King of Navarre, chose to drop in upon him unexpectedly, they never had any reason to regret it. Du Guast was enabled to live in this magnificent style by the King’s generosity, for it is certain that since he returned from Poland he has paid him more than 50,000 crowns for his expenses. He, on the other hand, thought it a point of honour not to be outdone by the King in generosity, and out of this vast sum laid by nothing for himself, as is sufficiently proved by his debts, which amount to 30,000 crowns. The King has taken his murder much to heart, and there is reason to fear it may serve as a torch and make the war between the two brothers blaze up more furiously than ever.
Paris, November, 1575.
LETTER XXXI.
On the 24th of last month, Laurence Scuter arrived, and delivered to me your Majesty’s two letters, from one of which I learn that your Majesty is anxious for definite information with regard to the Queen’s departure, while in the other your Majesty graciously advises me of the bill of exchange drawn on Nuremberg.
As to the Queen’s departure, it has till now depended so entirely on other people’s pleasure, and the issue of events on which it was impossible to reckon, that I could not write with any certainty, either in the letter which I sent by Peter the courier, or in that which I despatched a little later by Mola of Augsburg. But now everything is settled, and your Majesty will find in the enclosed paper a full account of the arrangements connected with the Queen’s return.