720 • FRA 
talents have juflly entitled him to the epithet of Great. 
His acceflion prefented to our view a kingdom difunited, 
a< nobility haughty and difcontented, a commonalty cla¬ 
morous and oppreffed. The broken provinces of the ffate 
were cemented by his policy, the nobles were humbled 
by his valour, the commons were conciliated by his ad- 
«irefs and relieved by his humanity. He fird introduced 
order into the finances, and difciplitie into the armies of 
France; new manufactories were edablirtied at his com¬ 
mand, and new colonies planted : and while he redored 
peace and plenty at home, he rendered his kingdom great 
and formidable in the eyes of Europe. In private life he 
was a kind and generous matter ; a warm and tender lntf- 
band ; a polite and obliging friend ; but the fincerity of 
the hi Adrian will not allow him to conceal thofe faults 
which he cannot but regret; the paffion of Henry for 
women, too often induced him to forget the dignity of the 
monarch. His ardent and guilty aft'eCtion for the princefs 
of Conde, in the decline of life, cat! a cloud over his 
meridian glory ; and the warmth with which he purfned, 
and the indifcretion with which he countenanced, the 
fatal rage of gaming, has been the fubjeCt of fevere and 
general cenfure. 
Of the three fons of Henry by his queen Mary of Me- 
dicis, the elded, who fucceedcd to the throne as Louis 
XIII. was only in the ninth year of his age ; and the two 
younger, though their birth might ferve to drengthen 
•the l'uccedion, could only be known by their different 
titles of dukes of Orleans and of Anjou ; but the queen, 
amidft the difmay of the court, waded not the important 
moments in unavailing forrovv ; and the affliction, if any, 
that die felt on the lofs of Henry, was fvvallowed up by 
the more intereding care of obtaining the regency. Her 
ambition was gratified by the ready acquiefcence of the 
parliament; and in her perfon were united the admini- 
ftration of the kingdom, and the guardianfiiip of her fons. 
The wretched Ravaillac, whofe guilty hand had pre¬ 
cipitated the untimely death of Henry, was drawn from 
his cell, to perifh by the mod: exquidte torments. His 
bones were broken by the arm of the executioner ; his 
iiedi was torn by hot pincers ; fealding lead and oil were 
poured upon his wounds; and his mangled body, dill 
denfible, was delivered to be difmembered by four horfes, 
fyis dubborn frame redded their utmod efforts ; the in¬ 
dignant multitude, whole third: of vengeance could no 
longer be reftrained, ruffled through the guards ; in an 
inffant they put an end to his mifery, by tearing him in 
pieces; and with barbarous joy they dragged his limbs 
in frantic triumph through the ftreets. Amidlf every 
mark of ingenious cruelty infliCted by public judice, or 
private hatred, he dill maintained with conftancy, the de¬ 
claration, “ that impreffed with the idea that the arma¬ 
ments of Henry weredeftined againd the catholic church, 
and the fuccefl’or of St. Peter, he alone had planned, he 
alone was privy to the deed, to the jud horror of which 
he >vas now awakened ; and which he hoped, in a future 
world, the torments he had fuffered here would in dome 
meafure expiate.” 
On the firft intelligence of the death of Henry, the 
prince of Conde quitted his retreat in the territories of 
Spain, and hadened to urge his pretenlions to the regency 
as firft prince of the blood ; while the difeontent of the 
count of Soiffons was appealed by the important govern¬ 
ment of Normandy. The former minifters of the crown, 
who had ferved with fidelity, were now likened to with 
difapprobation ; and the queen abandoned herfelf, with-, 
oi t relerve, to her fond partiality for her Italian adhe¬ 
rents. Conchini, a native of that country, and of ob- 
feure extraction, had increafed his influence by a mar¬ 
riage with Leonora Galigai, the favourite of the queen ; 
and their united counfels ruled France with abfolute fway. 
The marefchal de la Chatie, with a detachment of twelve 
thoufand men, had effected a junction with prince Mau¬ 
rice of Naffau, penetrated into Germany, and redored 
the duchy of Juliers to the marquis of Brandenburgh, 
N C E. 
and the count Palatine of Newburgh ; but the court, as 
if fatigued with this indance of vigour, again funk into 
fiipinenefs; and the duke of Savoy, betrayed and defert- 
ed, was happy to efeape the chaftifement of Spain, by the 
mod humiliating conceffions. 
The duke of Sully, audere and inflexible, and who, 
confiding in his integrity, difdained the arts of courts, 
found that fincerity, which had been edeemed by Henry, 
no longer acceptable ; lie refigned his offices of governor 
of the Baflile, and fuperintendant of the finances ; but 
the reformed, who dill condded in him, notwithdanding 
the intrigues of the duke of Bouillon, exhorted him to 
retain his government of Poitou, and his pod of maker of 
the ordnance. Each day revealed the afcendancy of 
Conchini, who endeavoured to remove from the eyes of 
the people the unpopular circumdance of foreign birth, 
by affuming the title of marquis of Ancre. The death 
of the young duke of Orleans, whofe title devolved on 
his younger brother the duke of Anjou, did not interrupt 
the negociations which the queen and her miniders 
anxioudy purfued with the court of Spain. Indead of 
attempting to reprefs the dangerous ambition of the 
houfe of Auftria, the regent, to edablidi her authority, 
determined clofely to connect herfelf with that family ; 
and while the young king Louis was contracted to the 
Infanta, the hand of his (ider, the princefs Elizabeth, 
was engaged to the prince of Adurias. 
Whatever might be the negociations of France abroad, 
at home, her annals for four fucceffive years, prefent a 
dreary profpeCt of uninterefting anarchy and barren dif- 
cord. The princes of the blood, infatiate of power, and 
the nobles turbulent and difcontented, repeatedly ereCted 
the dandard of revolt againd the regal authority ; as fre¬ 
quently, with contemptible levity, they courted the re¬ 
turning friendfflip of a court, whofe timid counfels were 
content to footh without prefuming to reprefs their capri¬ 
cious arrogance. It was amidd thefe inceffant alarms and 
defultory hodilities, A D. 1615, that the king, who had 
been declared of age, concluded the double marriage with 
Spain, and received at Bourdeaux the hand of Anne the 
Infanta. From the celebration of his nuptials, Louis 
purfued his march, at the head of a well-difciplined army, 
to reduce the prince of Conde, and to imprefs his fubjeCts 
with favourable fentiments of his courage and activity. 
The approach of the winter fufpended the operations of 
the contending parties, who, while they rejected all terms 
of accommodation, feemed no lefs dudious to avoid the 
effufion of blood. With the return of fpring the royal 
forces again affembled, and were again animated by the 
prefence of their fovereign ; but when his fubjeCts daily 
expeCted the effeCts of that military ardour which had 
thus early tranfported him to a camp, they were furprifed 
by the intelligence that he had fubferibed a peace, and 
had fubmitted to the demands of thofe princes, whom 
he had fo lately declared traitors to his throne. 
The fatal counfels of the marquis of Ancre had in¬ 
fluenced a meafure fo degrading to the royal authority ; 
the alternate perlecutor and proteCtor of the princes of 
the blood, he dreaded a war, which, if fuccefsful, could 
add but little to his power, and, if unfuccefsfui, mud be 
attended with his ruin. In the field, he well knew the 
king would be expofed to the ready accefs and ftiggedions 
of the nobility, jealous of the fuperior fortunes of a fa¬ 
vourite whom they hated and defpifed ; the partiality of 
tiie queen had inveded him with the dignity of marefchal; 
but this new rank had only increafed the envy of his com¬ 
petitors, and the detedation of the public. He languidied 
to return to Paris, that, by the afcendancy of his wife 
over the mind of Mary of Medicis, he might fecure him- 
felf from the hodile practices of his enemies. His return 
to court exceeded his mod fanguine expectations. The 
queen, though no longer legally inveded with the autho¬ 
rity of regent, dill appeared to maintain her- influence 
over her feeble foil, and was herfelf devoted to the wftl 
of the marefchal and his confort. With lavilh hand he 
didip ated. 
