the name of the king, who promised, if the Cardinal would obtain for him some assistance from the Pope, to protect the Catholics after his restoration. Retz, hoping that the merit of having secured a promise of indulgence for the Catholic subjects of the King of England would powerfully assist his own cause, undertook the negotiation, and sent one of his adherents, the Abbe Charier, to Rome. The envoy could not, however, obtain an audience of the Pope ; and he was assured by one of the Cardinals that the promises of Charles had made no impression, and that the prospect of relief to the oppressed Catholics would never induce Alexander VII. to furnish him with money.[1] The Restoration soon altered the position of affairs, and improved the prospects of the Cardinal. He came to London in 1660, and received not only promises of support from the king, but large sums of money, on condition that he would promote the objects which Charles was pursuing in the court of Rome. These objects were of such importance that the notion of a marriage with one of the nieces of Mazarin was entertained for a moment by Charles as a means of securing them,[2] and was eagerly adopted by Retz for the purpose of recovering his favour at Paris. Mazarin despatched a special envoy to England charged with the mission of promoting the match. He found an auxiliary in Aubigny, who represented to Charles the beauty of the Cardinal's nieces, but more particularly their virtue, of which, says the envoy, the king was much pleased to hear. Together with this futile intrigue, Retz was pleading at Whitehall for the Catholics, and at Rome for the settlement of that important affair to which the alliance with Mazarin and the elevation of Aubigny were expected to contribute. The first of these subsidiary negotiations was speedily abandoned ; the other was pursued with a strange pertinacity for several years.
- ↑ Mémoires de Guy Joly, p. 140, ed. Michaud.
- ↑ "Aujourd'hui la reine a recu une lettre du roy son fils, où il parle positivement, et dit qu'apres avoir consideré toutes les raisons de son mariage, il se conformoit à son sentiment pour vostre niece, en vue du grand dessein a quoi il estoit porté de jour en jour avec plus de faveur" (Lionne to Mazarin. 7th July 1660, in Champollion, Complement des Mémoires de Retz, p. 589, ed. Michaud).
