1829.] 
thinks, between them, or Mazarin never 
would have said, as he often did, in his pre- 
sence—that she was a fool, and never could 
have steered the vessel of the state without 
him—that she was more attached to the 
interest of Austria than France—that the 
king her husband had good reason to hate 
and distrust her—that she was devout solely 
from’ necessity—had no taste of any kind 
but for good eating and drinking, and 
troubled herself, indeed, with nothing else, 
&c. On some occasion, the queen gave La 
Beauvois, her femme de chambre, an order 
to take some stones destined for the building 
of the Louvre. She must have lost her 
Senses, exclaimed the cardinal, ‘to make 
such presents. ‘ This,’’ says De Brienne, 
“ put mein a passion ; and I told the queen 
what he had said.”’ “If,” replied she, “I 
had given them to him, there would have 
been no noise about the matter. But, say 
what he will, La Beauvois shall have the 
stones. Very pretty for him to control my 
liberalities—he, to whom I have given so 
much, and who has taken so much more 
than I gave.” But all this indicates only 
alienation, not original dislike. The ground 
of hostility between them, apparently, was 
her haughty refusal to consent to the mar- 
riage of one of his seven nieces with the 
young king. 
In the conferences with Louis de Haro, 
to settle the terms of peace, the cardinal 
Seems to have exerted himself beyond his 
strength; and on his return to Paris, his 
health sensibly and rapidly declined. The 
queen visited him in his chamber, and in- 
quiring how he found himself, he suddenly 
threw his legs naked out of bed—“ See, 
Madame, these legs, which have lost their 
repose in giving it to France.” “ And, in- 
deed, in a miserable state they were,’’ adds 
De Brienne, “all withered and discoloured. 
The good queen,’’ says he, “shed tears at 
the sight—it was a Lazarus coming out of 
the tomb.”” One of his medical atten-, 
dants ventured to tell him of his peril- 
ous state. ‘“ How long may I live 2?” 
“ Two months.” Cela suffit! A few days 
after, De Brienne surprised him looking in- 
tently at some beautiful tapestry in his gal- 
lery, and exclaiming several times—“ I 
must leaye all this.”” Then turning to some 
other object— and that too; what pains 
have I taken to get these things—I shall 
see them no more where I am going.” De 
Brienne, in sympathy, sighing very deeply, 
recalled the attention of the cardinal ; and 
on some papers being presented, he said, 
“T am no longer able to attend to business 
—speak to the king—I have other things 
Domestic and Foreign. 
91 
in my head.’? Then recurring to his pre- 
vious thoughts—“ see, my friend, that beau- 
tiful Corregio_that Titian’s Venus, too— 
that incomparable Deluge by Caracci—for 
I know you love pictures, and understand 
them—I must leave them all—farewell, 
dear pictures, which I have loved so much 
—and which have cos¢ me so much.” ) 
Avarice, indeed, was his ruling passion, 
and the compelling motive ‘for gaming. 
When he could no longer hold the cards, 
he had the tables brought into his chamber, 
and betted upon the players. De Brienne 
tells a story, though not from actual know- 
ledge— that a few days before his death, 
Tabeuf (privy purse to the queen) brought 
him the balance of a sum, which he had 
lost at Hoc Mazarin, a game of Mazarin’s 
invention, to which he had given his own 
name, as he was very fond of doing to all 
sorts of things.’’ The sum amounted to 
15,000 francs. The cardinal took the 
money, and put it into his casket, which 
lay beside him—and while talking with 
Tabeuf, took up his rings and jewels one 
after another, repeating several times, and 
deliberating —“ I give to Madame Tabeuf.”’ 
“ What,”’ at last said Tabeuf, expecting of 
course some valuable brilliant. ‘‘ Bon 
jour,” added the cardinal, and closed the 
casket.”’ 
On the cardinal’s death, Louis, on the 
cardinal’s hint, it is said, took the reins 
into his own hands. De Brienne was pre- 
sent at the first council, and describes very 
minutely what took place, on announcing 
his intentions of becoming his own minister. 
Fouquet’s arrest and disgrace, which occur- 
red within a year or two, is told with much 
detail, and attributed to his attempt at 
rivalling the king in the affections of Ma- 
dame de Vallierie. Fouquet had made the 
lady an offer of 100,000 francs, which she 
communicated to the king. He had accu- 
mulated immense property, and, next to 
building, his great passion was purchasing 
the favours of the distinguées of the court. 
He once offered 250,000 francs to a cele- 
brated duchess—who bravely resisted. He 
seems, indeed, in spite of his liberality, to 
have been often unlucky — Mademoiselle 
Meneville took his 100,000 francs, and 
jilted him. The money appears, however, 
to have been finally returned. De Brienne 
himself was a little enamoured of De Val- 
lierie, and was actually closeted by the king 
on the subject; but he got out of the scrape 
on this occasion, by declaring his admira- 
tion was all platonic. The secret of Fou- 
quet’s disgrace, however, seems rather to 
have been Louvois’s enmity. 
»N2 
