721 
FRA 
diflipated thofe treafures which had been amaffed by 
the ambition of Henry and the unwearied frugality of 
Sully ; new titles were invented, and new ports were cre¬ 
ated, to gratify the pride or the avarice of his depend¬ 
ants ; the ancient fervants of the crown were difmirt'ed, 
and their places were fupplied by the creatures of his 
pleafure. At length, inflated with profperity, and no 
longer able to endure a rival, even in the firft prince of 
the blood, he prevailed on the queen to arrelt the prince 
of Conde, who had prefumed to menace him with his 
indignation. The imprifonment of that prince in the 
Baftile awakened from their dream of fecurity the dukes 
of Vendofme, Mayenne, Nevers, and Rohan, with a 
fplendid train of nobility, who haftily retired from court, 
and prepared by arms to deliver themfelves from the op- 
predion of the favourite. The public difcontent was 
increafed by the difmiftal of Villeroy, grown grey in the 
ferviceof Henry IV. from the office of fecretarv of rtate, 
and by the promotion of the birttop of Lucon, fince 
known as the celebrated cardinal Richelieu. 
The vigour that the court difplayed was moft probably 
the effeCt of the new minifter’s cottnfels ; three armies, 
levied with diligence, immediately appeared in the field 
to fupport the royal authority ; the firrt, in Champagne, 
commanded by the duke of Guife, reduced Chateau 
Portien, and Rethel ; the fecond, which acted in the Ni- 
vernois, and was conducted by the marefchal Montigny, 
defeated and took prifoner the fecond fon of the duke of 
Nevers ; the third was entrufted to the count d’Auvergne, 
whom the queen had drawn from the long confinement to 
which he had been fentenced by Henry, and now placed 
at the head of the royal forces in theifle of France. He 
furprifed and drfperfed the fcattered bodies of the con¬ 
federates, and inverted in Soiflons the duke of Mayenne, 
fon to the renowned chief of the league. The walls of 
that place could not long have refilled his ardour; and 
he had already prepared to give the fignal for a general 
alTault, when the duke, of Mayenne was preferved from 
the deftruCtion that impended over him, by an event as 
unexpected as it was decifive. 
While the marefchal of Ancre, elated at the profpeCt 
before him, gave loofe to a temper naturally rafli and vin¬ 
dictive, his capricious jealoufies and unbridled arrogance 
precipitated on his own head the ruin that lie meditated 
againft his enemies. He had placed about the perfon of 
the young king a gentleman of the name of Luines, who 
infinuated himfelf into the favour of Louis, by his un¬ 
wearied affiduities, and the ardour with which he planned 
and partook of his childifh amufements ; but while the 
thoughts and hours of this new favourite feemed occu¬ 
pied by fports and pleafures, he in private nourifhed an 
ambition above his rank and ftation. The marefchal had 
repulfed, with contempt, his offer of alliance by uniting 
his brother to the niece of Ancre ; and Luines, not infen- 
fible of the fufpicious difpofition of the Florentine, de¬ 
termined to provide for his own fafety, by the deftruCtion 
of a man whom from that moment he fecretly conlidered 
as his implacable enemy. In the unguarded hours of fa¬ 
miliarity, he found means to imprefs the mind of Louis 
with a lively -dread of the dangerous defigns of the 
afpiring Italian. With the concurrence of Louis, Luines 
exa6fed an oath from Vitri the captain of the guard, to 
execute whatever the king (hould command. He then dif- 
clofed to him the royal orders to arreft the marefchal d’An¬ 
cre ; and Vitri having alfociated in the enterprife his bro¬ 
ther and a few more friends, on whole courage and fidelity 
he could rely, prepared to execute the will of his fovereign. 
While the confpirators were engaged in concerting 
their meafures, the queen was confidentially admonifhed 
to difmifs her Italian favourites, whole infolence nitift in¬ 
volve in their ruin tier own influence ; but the marefchal 
indignantly rejected the alternative, and declared that he 
would never defert that fortune which hitherto had con- 
rtantly accompanied him. On the morning fixed for his 
dertruCtion, he had entered the Louvre, furrounded by 
Vol.VII. No.463. 
N C E. 
forty gentlemen who derived their fupport from his libe¬ 
rality ; lie was earneftly engaged in reading a letter, when 
the captain of the guard and his friends appeared ; the 
retinue of Ancre, imagining they preceded their royal 
maftep* gave way ; and Vitri, advancing to the marefchal, 
arrerted him in the name of the king. In a moment of 
aftonifhment and indignation lie laid his hand on his 
fword ; this mark of refiftance was the fignal of his de¬ 
rtruCtion. The command of Vitri to kill liim was iti- 
rtantly obeyed ; and three piftols, difeharged with un¬ 
erring aim, extended the marefchal lifejefs on the ground. 
The prefence of the king at a window which overlooked 
the bloody feene, reprefl'ed the ineffectual zeal of Ancre’s 
adherents; his fon, the marquis de Pene, and his wife, 
the unfortunate Leonora, were immediately fecured. A 
judicial procefs was commenced againft the latter; her 
eftates were confifeated, and fhe was condemned to expiate 
with her life a crime that exifted only in the malice of 
her profecutors. She was charged, and pronounced 
guilty, of having fafeinated the affection of the queen 
by magical arts ; but the conftancy with which in her 
laft moments file endured the fevered tortures, com¬ 
manded the admiration, though it difarmed not the rage, 
of her relentlefs enemies. The dertruCtion of her fa- ' 
vourites was attended by the difgrace of the queen-mo¬ 
ther herfelf; that princefs, in 1617, was diverted of her 
guartts and the enfigns of royalty, and ordered to retire 
to Blois. The power which had been occupied by Ancre 
was transferred to Luines; and the dignity of marefchal 
was conferred on Vitri. 
While the duke of Mayenne anticipated in his terrors 
the punifliment of unfuccefsful rebellion, he was agree¬ 
ably furprifed by the intelligence that the marefchal 
d’Ancre was no more, and that the king had been nleafed 
to approve of his conduCt, as originating in zeal for the 
public welfare. The gates of SoifTons were thrown open 
to the royal forces, and the count d’Auvergne entered as 
a friend that city which he had fo lately affliCted with the 
calamities of war. The dukes of Vendofme, Nevers, 
and Rohan, alfo haftened to court to throw themfelves at 
the feet of a fovereign whofe juftice had extinguifhed the 
objeCt of their enmity ; and while they loaded witli re¬ 
proaches the memory of the former, they laboured to ac¬ 
quire, by their afliduities, the friendfnip of the prefent, 
favourite. The birth of Luines rendered him defirous 
of ennobling his obfeure extraction by an illuftrious alli¬ 
ance ; and he folicited and obtained the hand of the 
daughter of the duke of Montbazon, who with pleafure 
confented to receive as his fon-in-law the favourite of 
the king. 
The favourite, who had obtained the title of duke of 
Luines, endeavoured, by every method that policy could 
fuggeft, firmly to eftablifh his dominion over the mind of 
his royal patron; and at the fame time he altiduoufly 
courted the general opinion ; to ingratiate himfelf with 
the people, he affembled the (fates ol Rouen, and abo- 
lifhed the moft burdenfome imports; to conciliate the 
princes of the blood, he appeared zealous in his lolicita- 
tions to procure the freedom of the prince of Conde ; 
and, by a dextrous application to the intereffs of indivi¬ 
duals, he converted the reproachful clamours of his mod 
formidable opponents into profellions of efteem. '1 he 
duke of Mayenne was gratified with the government of 
Guienne, wrefied from the prince of Conde; the mare¬ 
fchal Ornano was appointed to that of Normandy ; and 
the duke of Luines referved to himfelf the ille of France, 
the fituation of which allowed him toexercile the duties 
of a govefnor, without negleCting the artifices of a cour¬ 
tier. Yet amidft every precaution that prudence could 
dictate, the mind df the favourite was conftantly Jiaunted 
by the dread of the returning influence of the queen- 
mother. Exiled at Blois, that princefs was frill formida¬ 
ble. She entered into a correlpondence with the duke 
d’Epernon, who had formerly experienced her favours, 
and whofe deliverance he now engaged to achieve. At 
S X the 
