7-S8 FRA 
menil ttie prefidenf, and the counfellor Braudel. This - 
violent ftep was the fignal of infurreclion. The partizans 
of the league immediately revived; Paris was in arms ; 
and the fafeiy of the queen could only be lecured by the 
releafe of the priToners. 
But the regent and her minifter nourifhed in their bo- 
foms a lively refentment of the infult ; from the caprice 
and fury of a feditious multitude they retired with the 
infant king to the royal refidence of St. Germains ; they 
were accompanied by the duke of Orleans ; and the queen 
foon lummoned to her afii [lance and defence the brave and 
invincible prince of Conde. The adverfe fatlion, who 
affirmed the name of the Fronde, maintained poffelljon of 
Paris ; and the parliament foon eftablifhed a revenue for 
the fupport of the war. The citizens, deluded by the 
fnadovv of freedom, fubmitted to taxes far more burthen- 
fome than thofe that had excited their clamours ; the 
prince of Conti, envious of the fame of his brother the 
prince of Conde,with the dukes of Longueville, Bouillon, 
and Beaufort, devoted themfelves to the fervice of the 
parliament. Troops were levied with diligence ; and the 
cardinal of Retz railed a regiment, which from his titu¬ 
lar archbilhopric was called the regiment of Corinth ; 
the zeal of the Parifians laviftily fupplied their army with 
money,while the royaiifts experienced the fevered diftrefs, 
and the queen was reduced to pledge the jewels of the 
crown to alleviate the neceffities of her court. But that 
court was rendered formidable by the abilities of the 
prince of Conde ; with an army of eight thoufand foldiers, 
he blocked up the capital, a city that contained fi ve hun¬ 
dred thoufand citizens ; and, though the marefchal Tu- 
renne was allured by the charms of the duchefs of Lon- 
guevill'e to fupport the oppolite party, yet his military 
talents but little availed him, when only leconded by an 
undifciplined rabble. At length the leaders on each fide 
obtained the particular objects of their avarice or ambi¬ 
tion ; the public good was buried in (ilence ; the ftorm 
was hufhed ; and the whole court, in 1649, returned to 
the deferted capital. 
During thefe convulfions, in 1651, Louis XIV. attained 
the age fixed for his afllifning the reins of government, 
which was folemnly declared in parliament. He was ftill 
influenced by the counfels of his mother, and by a fond 
partiality for Mazarin. The prince of Conde, fenlible of 
the implacable refentment of the queen, quitted Paris to 
arm in his fupport the provinces of Guienne, Poitou, and 
Anjou ; and to ally himfelf with the very Spaniards on 
whole defeat he had originally founded his martial glory ; 
while cardinal de Retz, at the head of an army levied at 
his own expence, menaced the deftrudtion of his enemies. 
The parliament regarded that minifter with peculiar de¬ 
testation, and publicly fixed a price on his head ; but with 
an inconfiftency which charadterifed their proceedings, 
they alfo declared the prince of Conde an enemy to the 
Bate. While they exhorted the forces that the duke of 
Orleans had raifed to march againft the former, they 
ftridtly prohibited any part of the public revenue from 
being diverted to their fubfiftence ; their relolutions had 
at length fallen into contempt, and the rival factions dif- 
daining their mediation, prepared to terminate their dif¬ 
ferences by the fword. Conde, in league with the Spa¬ 
niards, appeared in the field againft the king ; and the 
marefchal Turenne, who had returned to his allegiance, 
avowed himlelf the champion of the court. 
Near the banks of the Loire the IVoftile armies regarded 
with a jealouseye each other’s motions ; when the prince 
of Conde, who had traverfed indifguife through the pods 
of his adverfaries, joined his forces, and immediately pre¬ 
pared to improve the confidence with which his prefence 
had infpired them. He attacked that divilion of the royal 
army which was polled at Bleneau, under the command 
of the marefchal d’Hocquincourt, and in a moment their 
ranks were broken by his impetuous charge. The panic 
in an inflant communicated itfelf from the camp to the 
Court j and the minifter propofed to fave the king by 
N C E. 
flight, and to convey him privately to Bourges. But this 
difgraceful expedient was averted by the courage of the 
marefchal Turenne. With the remnant of his army he 
availed himfelf of every favourable inequality of ground, 
reftored the finking fpirits of the great, and confirmed in 
their allegiance the wavering multitude ; Paris indeed re¬ 
ceived the vidlor with loud acclamations ; but his popu¬ 
larity was tranfient; the cardinal of Retz now governed 
with abfolute fway the mind of the duke of Orleans, and 
ftimulated that prince to offer himfelf to the citizens as 
the competitor of Conde. The commanding genius that 
diftinguifbed the latter in the field, could ill (loop to the 
cabals of a faction ; the duke of Lorraine, who had pro- 
mifed to join his arms, was bribed to defert him by Ma¬ 
zarin ; his troops too were enervated by the lafeivious 
pleafures of the capital ; yet with fecret fatisfadlion he 
regarded the approach of Turenne, whofe appearance 
again fummoned him to the theatre of active war. 
In the fuburbs of Saint Antoine the martial train of the 
prince of Conde was encompaffed by the fuperior numbers 
of the royaiifts. From a neighbouring eminence the king 
beheld the unequal conflict in which the blood of his beft 
fubjedts was fhed ; but the citizens of Paris affedled to 
maintain a perfedt neutrality, and ftuit their gates againft; 
each party ; the duke of Orleans, with the cardinal de 
Retz, were fecluded in the palace of Luxemburgh ; when 
mademoifelle, the daughter of that prince, taking the 
part of Conde, whom her father dared not aifift, ordered 
the gates to be opened for the wounded, and had the bold- 
nefs to fire the cannon of the Baftile upon the king’s 
troops. The royal army retired ; but mademoifelle ruined 
herfelf for ever with the king her coufin, by this impru¬ 
dent violence ; and cardinal Mazarin, who knew the great 
defire file had to efpoufe a crownedjiead, obferved upon 
this occafion, “ that thofe cannon had killed herhufband.” 
The parliament and citizens of Paris, difgufted and 
fatigued with the endlefs broils of thefe interefted parti¬ 
zans, of their own accord, in 1652, fent deputies to con¬ 
jure the king to return to his capital ; he entered itamidft: 
the acclamations of the inhabitants, and by the fudden 
turn of popular favour, beheld himfelf firmly feated ou 
his throne. The firlt exercife of his authority was to 
banifh the duke of Orleans to Blois, who there clofed the 
remnant of an inglorious life. The cardinal de Retz was 
alfo arrefted, and conveyed to prifon : while the prince 
of Conde, prelfed by the marefchal Turenne, abandoned 
by his partizans, and feebly fupported by the Spaniards, 
waged an unfuccefsful war on the frontiers of Champagne. 
The calm which the kingdom now enjoyed, had been the 
refult of the banilhment of Mazarin. Yet fcarcely was 
he expelled by the general voice of the French nation, 
and by the royal declaration, than he was recalled by the 
king (1653) ; and to his own aftoniftiment entered .Paris 
once more in full power, and without the leafl dilturb- 
ance. The king received him as a father, and the people 
as a mailer 5 but the cardinal, amidft the fatisfadlion of 
this change, could not reprefs his contempt of the national 
levity. The parliament, who had jnft before fet a price 
upon his head as a public robber, now fent deputies to 
compliment him ; and foon after palled fentence of death 
for contumacy on the prince of Conde, whom fo lately 
they had carelfed as their ally, and declared general of 
their forces. 
The power of the minifter now daily increafed ; the 
ptrince of Conti fought his alliance, and in 1654 obtained 
the hand of his niece; and the cabals of the parliament 
were] filenced by the refolution of Louis. England, whom 
mod he dreaded, was ruled by Cromwell ; who, after 
humbling the pride of Holland, meditated to take from 
Spain her tranfmarine pofteilions. That great and prof- 
perons ufurper was equally courted and dreaded by all 
Europe ; yet his political judgment has been impeached 
by pofterity, when he preferred the alliance of France to 
that of Spain. But Louis purchaled his friendlhip by a 
concellion the molt ignominious, which the magnanimity 
1 of 
