As she was a thorough royalist, it is probable she had no inconsiderable share in the restoration of Charles the Second. She is supposed to have recommended several of the privy-councillors in the list which the general presented to the king soon after his landing. It is more than probable that she carried on a very lucrative trade in selling offices, which were generally filled by such as gave her most money. She was an implacable enemy to Lord Clarendon; and had so great an influence over her husband, as to prevail upon him to assist in the ruin of that great man, though he was one of his best friends. Indeed, the general was afraid to offend her, as her anger knew no bounds. Nothing is more certain than that the intrepid commander, who was never afraid of bullets, was often terrified by the fury of his wife.
ANNE DE GONZAGUE,
Wife of Edward count Palatine, died at Paris, in 1684, aged sixty-eight; and was honoured with an eulogium by the celebrated Bossuet.
ANNE OF AUSTRIA,
Queen of Louis the Thirteenth of France, and regent during the minority of Louis the Fourteenth, was daughter of Philip the Second of Spain. She was born September 22nd., 1601, and was married to Louis the Thirteenth, in 1615. Anne found a powerful enemy in cardinal Richelieu, who had great influence over the king, and she was compelled to yield, as long as he lived, to the great minister.
Had Anne possessed greater talents, or been more agreeable, the case might have been different; but her coldness and gravity of demeanor, which only covered frivolity, alienated Louis the Thirteenth. Her attachment to her native country was also represented as a crime by the cardinal, and his whispers as to her betraying intelligence, brought upon Anne the ignominy of having her person searched, and her papers seized.
When it was known that the queen was in disgrace, the malcontent nobles, with Gaston, the king's brother, at their head, rallied around her, and she was implicated in a conspiracy against Louis the Thirteenth. Richelieu took advantage of this, to represent her as wishing to get rid of Louis to marry Gaston; and Anne was compelled to appear before the king's counsel to answer this grave chaise. Her dignity here came to her aid, and, scorning to make a direct reply, she merely observed, contemptuously, "That too little was to be gained by the change, to render such a design on her part probable." The duke of Buckingham's open court to the neglected queen, also gave rise to malicious reports.
On the death of Louis the Thirteenth, Anne, as mother of the infant king, held the undisputed reins; and she gave one great proof of wisdom in her choice of cardinal Mazarin as a minister. However, some oppressive acts of Mazarin gave birth to a popular insurrection, which terminated in a civil war, called the war of the Fronde, in which Anne, her minister, and their adherents, were opposed to the nobility, the citizens, and the people of Paris. But Anne and Mazarin came off triumphant. The result of this rebellion, and of Anne of Austria's administration, was, that the nobles and middle classes, vanquished in the field, were never after-
