718 
FRANCE. 
public welfare, had extorted from him permiffion to nego¬ 
tiate an union with Mary de Medicis, niece to the grand- 
duke of Tul’cany. Senlible of his irrefolution, the com- 
miflioners on whom he had devolved this important trnft 
haftened to conclude it. Their zeal outftripped the ex¬ 
pectations of Henry ; and he heard, with mingled regret 
and furprife, that they had figned a treaty of marriage 
with that princefs. His own honour and the happinefs 
of his people allowed him not to retraCt; lie hastened to 
Lyons, ii> the year 1600, to receive the hand of Mary ; 
and w hatever might be his private feelings, he difcovered 
to his royal confort no emotions but thole of refpeCt and 
regard. This marriage produced the fruitful bleffings of 
a fon in the following year 1601, which afforded a fource 
of doineftic fatisfacfion to Henry, and opened to his people 
the pleafmg prufpeCt of a peaceable and undifputed fuc- 
cellion. 
But the felicities of domeftic tranquillity were too foon 
broken by formidable cabals againd the throne. The 
marefchal Biron had entered into an alliance with the 
courts of Spain and Turin, to co-operate with their in- 
vafion of France. He clofely connected himfelf with the 
duke of Bouillon, who by his marriage had obtained the 
principality of Sedan ; and united in his treafonable enter, 
prife Charles count d’Auvergne, natural fon to Charles 
IX. The feditious contagion foon Tpread itfelf over the 
countries of Anjou, Poitou, Saintonge, Auvergne, 
Guienne, and Languedoc ; and the animated countenance 
of Henry was again clouded with the threatening horrors 
of a civil war. 
The fplendid profpeCts that Biron contemplated, and 
the power and influence of his confederates, were how¬ 
ever bladed by one fatal indance of mifplaced confidence. 
La Fin, a native of Burgundy, who had infinuated himfelf 
into the favour of Biron, had regarded with jealoufy 
the afcendency which the baron de Lux had acquired over 
the mind of his patron ; and in a moment of refentful 
difgud, he revealed to Henry the whole of a confpiracy, 
the wheels of which lie was no longer permitted to direCt. 
The king read witli adonilliment the treafonable fcroll, 
which contained the names of the mod illndrious nobles 
of France. Some of thefe had actually embarked in the 
projects of Biron; others, by their known difcontent, 
had afforded too much reafon to expeCt they would jpin 
the dandard of revolt; and many were probably added 
by the creative genius of La Fin, defirous of magnifying 
the confederacy : yet the danger was great and imme¬ 
diate ; and the king determined to vifit the different pro¬ 
vinces of PoiCtiers, Limonfin, and Guienne, to awe by 
hisprefence the feditious fpirit of the people.and to obtain 
more perfect information of the fchemes of the marefchal. 
Each day convinced him that he tottered on the brink of 
a precipice; and after a Ihort relidence at Blois he re¬ 
turned to Fontainblcau, determined to crudi the infant 
confpiracy, before it was drengthened by the troops and 
treatures of Spain and Savoy. Henry therefore refolved 
to give way to the courfe of impartial judice ; marefchal 
Biron and the count d’Auvergne were arreded, and con¬ 
veyed to the Badile. A commillion was directed to the 
parliament to examine into their condmSt ; and the proofs 
of their guilt were clear and pofitive ; the very treaty 
with Spain, which Biron had fubfcribed, was produced 
againd him; and his judges unanimouily pronounced 
fentence of death. He was beheaded in the court of the 
Baftile in 1602; and, in his lad moments, dil'graced by 
alternate fallies of rage and agonies of terror, the charac¬ 
ter of intrepid , which he had acquired amidfl the greated 
dangers and conflicts of war. 
The count d’Auvergne had been involved in the fame 
fentence as the marefchal Biron ; but regard for the bro¬ 
ther of his midrefs, the marchionefs of Verneuil, and re- 
fpeft for the lad male defeendant of the race of Valois, 
induced Henry not only to grant him his life, but alfo to 
alleviate the rigour of his confinement, and at length in- 
fenfibly to reftore him to freedom ; a clemency!which the 
fnbfequent intrigues of the count repaid with the blackeff 
.ingratitude. Of the other confpirators, the principal 
threw themfelves at the feet of their fovereign, who not 
only pardoned their imprudence, but even concealed 
from reproach their names ; the multitude found flielter 
in their numbers and obfeurity ; and the baron de Fon- 
tenelies alone, by a public and painful death, was doomed 
to atone for his treafonable intention of delivering up 
the fort of Douarnenes to the Spaniards. 
Wearied by inceffant importunities, the king of France, 
in 1604, confented to redore the Jefuits, and to demolHh 
the pillar which had been erected to perpetrate the atro¬ 
cious attempt of Chatel, and the dangerous principles of 
the order that he belonged to. But this frefh indance of 
the placable difpofition of the fovereign could not extin- 
guidt the embers of difcontent which dill lurked in his 
kingdom. The duke of Bouillon had deeply engaged in 
the confpiracy of the marefchal Biron, and to avoid the 
dorm which he beheld gathering, „had retired to his 
principality of Sedan ; he now refumed his correfpondence 
with the court of Spain and with the count d’Auvergne. 
That nobleman, unmindful of the clemency which he had 
fo lately experienced, involved in his intrigues his fider 
the marchionefs of Verneuil, the favourite midrefs of the 
king, and her father Francis d’Entragues, on whom 
Henry had bellowed the rank of marefchal. Their de- 
figns were dete&ed and difconcerted by the vigilance of 
Henry. The marchionefs was for fome days confined to 
her houfe ; but the paflion of the man triumphed over 
the judice of the fovereign, and Henry foon flew to pro- 
drate himfelf at the feet of the haughty beauty whofe 
chains lie found it impodible to break ; D’Entragues, 
who had been condemned to lofe his head, was indebted 
for his life to the charms of his daughter ; and the pro¬ 
tecting influence of the fair was even extended to her 
brother the count d’Auvergne, whofe fentence, of expiat¬ 
ing his repeated guilt on a public fcaffold, was commuted 
to the milder doom of perpetual imprifonment. 
But while the vigorous mind of Henry was thus fuc- 
cefsfully employed in curbing the fpirit of ingratitude 
.and rebellion, the royal bafom was doomed to experience 
thofe cares which invade with impartial mifery the peace 
of the peafant and the prince. The queen, cold and re- 
ferved in her temper and manner, received with indiffer¬ 
ence, or repreffed with difguft, the aftedfionate afliduities 
of Henry. Her imprudent partiality to her Italian atten¬ 
dants was regarded with indignation by that monarch ; 
and his own licentious amours, his open connection with 
the marchionefs of Verneuil, too frequently furnifhed juft 
caufe for reproach. The inmoft recedes of the palace 
were difturbed by their mutual complaints. The happi¬ 
nefs which Henry found not in the company and conver- 
fation of his queen, he fought in the fafeinating arms of 
others ; the arrogance of the marchionefs of Verneuil 
had for fome time part been infufferable ; and the lively 
wit and amiable manners of Charlotte de Montmorency, 
the daughter of the conftable, had infenfibly ftolen into 
his heart; yet he fuffered not this paflion, ardent as it 
was, and fatal as it probably afterwards proved, wholly 
to engrofs his mind. He renewed his ancient alliance 
with the united ftates of Holland ; he aftiduoufly ciUti- 
vated the friendfliip of England; he fnccefsfully inter- 
pofed his mediation between the court of Rome and the 
Venetians ; but he declined, in 160S, the importunate foli- 
citations of the Moorifh inhabitants of Spain ; who op- 
preffed, and at length driven into exile by the miftaken 
policy of Philip Ill. in vain implored an afylum in the 
bofom of France. 
The wifdom and policy of Henry appear at this time to 
have been wholly abforbed by the women. His affeClion 
for Charlotte de Montmorency induced him to beftow 
the hand of that lady on the prince of Conde, /and by in¬ 
troducing her into his own family, to enjoy the fatisfac- 
tion of her company. The marriage was celebrated 
without pomp at Chantilli, and it was the expreflion of 
