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CHAPTER XXI.
"You're very welcome."
Shakespeare.
The change which had so suddenly elevated Charles Stuart to the throne of his ancestors, and, from a poor, wandering, and powerless exile, made him one of Europe's most powerful monarchs, had taken the various courts where he had sojourned, neglected, if not contemned, completely by surprise. None saw the error more clearly than Mazarin; and none, therefore, were more prompt to repair it; while no one could be less troubled with any false delicacy which might suggest that the change was somewhat barefaced, nor so little deterred by any scruples lest the interested motives should be too apparent. Laughing openly and secretly at the principles which he called prejudices—very good for the many, but never meant for the few—flattery and bribery were the two great levers by which mankind were to be moved; and if these
