his niece to him; but the king, disgusted with his former conduct, did not accept the offer. At last, at the age of fifteen, she was married to the Duke de la Meilleraye, who was passionately in love with her; and she soon after became heiress to the cardinal, who left her twenty millions.
This young man, whose understanding was capricious and contracted, was also superstitious. Once, when he had broken with a hammer statues of inestimable value, M. Colbert sent by the king, asked him the motive: "My conscience," returned he. One day meeting the bishop of Noyon, he asked him his blessing, though the bishop was in a travelling dress, when it was unusual for them to bestow it. He, however, was so importunate, remaining on his knees at the foot of the chariot, that the bishop impatiently exclaimed, "Well! Sir, since you desire it so much, I give you my compassion." He soon, though without cause, became jealous of the duchess, carried her with him from one province to another, though she was not in a situation to travel; and seemed to take every opportunity of making himself disagreeable to her. The door was shut to every body she knew or liked; and if a servant happened to please her, immediate dismission was the consequence. Prohibited of every pleasure however innocent, surrounded by a cabal who strove to give every word a wrong interpretation, the young Hortensia began to despair. She would have borne it all, she said, and passed her life in sorrow and confinement; but when the excessive expences of her husband threatened poverty to her son, who would else be the richest gentleman in France, she could bear it no longer. He took away her jewels, as useless and dangerous ornaments. In short, disputes ran so high between them that at length she fled to her sister, the countess of Sois-
