The Memoirs of Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz | Page 7

who did not fail to impart it to mine. The next
morning, at the arrival of the post from Paris, all was in a hurry, my
father pretending to have received very pressing news; and, after our
taking a slight though public leave of the ladies, my father carried me
to sleep that night at Nantes. I was, as you may imagine, under very
great surprise and concern; for I could not guess the cause of this
sudden departure. I had nothing to reproach myself with upon the score
of my conduct; neither had I the least suspicion that Palluau had seen
anything more than ordinary till I arrived at Orleans, where the matter
was cleared up, for my brother, to prevent my escape, which I vainly
attempted several times on my journey, seized my strong box, in which
was my money, and then I understood that I was betrayed; in what grief,
then, I arrived at Paris, I leave you to imagine.
I found there Equilli, Vasse's uncle, and my first cousin, who, I daresay,
was one of the most honest men of his time, and loved me from his
very soul. I apprised him of my design to run away with Mademoiselle
de Retz. He heartily approved of my project, not only because it would
be a very advantageous match for me, but because he was persuaded
that a double alliance was necessary to secure the establishment of the
family.
The Cardinal de Richelieu--[Armand Jean du Plesais, Cardinal de
Richelieu, was born in 1585, and died in 1642.]--(then Prime Minister)
mortally hated the Princesse de Guemenee, because he was persuaded
she had crossed his amours with the Queen,--[Anne of Austria, eldest
daughter of Philip II., King of Spain, and wife of Louis XIII., died
1666.]--and had a hand in the trick played him by Madame du Fargis,
one of the Queen's dressing women, who showed her Majesty (Marie
de Medicis) a love- letter written by his Eminence to the Queen, her
daughter-in-law. The Cardinal pushed his resentment so far that he
attempted to force the Marechal de Breze, his brother-in-law, and
captain of the King's Life- guards, to expose Madame de Guemenee's
letters, which were found in M. de Montmorency's--[Henri de
Montmorency was apprehended on the 1st of September, 1632, and
beheaded in Toulouse in November of the same year.] --coffer when he
was arrested at Chateau Naudari. But the Marechal de Breze had so

much honour and generosity as to return them to Madame de
Guemenee. He was, nevertheless, a very extravagant gentleman; but the
Cardinal de Richelieu, perceiving he had been formerly honoured by
some kind of relation to him, and dreading his angry excursions and
preachments before the King, who had some consideration for his
person, bore with him very patiently for the sake of settling peace in his
own family, which he passionately longed to unite and establish, but
which was the only thing out of his power, who could do whatever else
he pleased in France. For the Marechal de Breze had conceived so
strong an aversion to M. de La Meilleraye, who was then Grand Master
of the Artillery, and afterwards Marechal de La Meilleraye, that he
could not endure him. He did not imagine that the Cardinal would ever
look upon a man who, though his first cousin, was of a mean extraction,
had a most contemptible aspect, and, if fame says true, not one
extraordinary good quality.
The Cardinal was of another mind, and had a great opinion--indeed,
with abundance of reason--of M. de La Meilleraye's courage; but he
esteemed his military capacity infinitely too much, though in truth it
was not contemptible. In a word, he designed him for that post which
we have since seen so gloriously filled by M. de Turenne.
You may, by what has been said, judge of the divisions that were in
Cardinal de Richelieu's family, and how much he was concerned to
appease them. He laboured at them with great application, and for this
end thought he could not do better than to unite these two heads of the
faction in a close confidence with himself, exclusive of all others. To
this end he used them jointly and in common as the confidants of his
amours, which certainly were neither suitable to the lustre of his actions
nor the grandeur of his life; for Marion de Lorme, one of his mistresses,
was little better than a common prostitute. Another of his concubines
was Madame de Fruges, that old gentlewoman who was so often seen
sauntering in the enclosure. The first used to come to his apartment in
the daytime, and he went by night to visit the other, who was but the
pitiful cast-off of Buckingham and Epienne. The two confidants
introduced him there