CHAPTER II.
1637-1643.
Madame de Chevreuse in Spain, and in England.—Long negotiation with Richelieu to return to France.—Failure of the negotiation.—Marie de Medicis and the Duke d'Épernon.—Madame de Chevreuse in Flanders.—Conspiracy and rebellion of Count de Soissons.—Affair of Cinq-Mars.—Death of Richelieu and of Louis XIII.—Royal declaration of the 20th of April, 1643, condemning Madame de Chevreuse to a perpetual exile.—Her recall by the new regent.
We can easily imagine the reception which the King of Spain gave the intrepid friend of his royal sister. He sent several carriages-and-six to meet her, and at Madrid he overwhelmed her with every mark of honor. Madame de Chevreuse was then thirty-seven years of age. To her many attractions she added the prestige of the romantic adventures which she had just passed through, and it is said that Philip IV. swelled the list of her conquests.[1] She was already thoroughly English, and thoroughly Lorraine; she soon became Spanish also. She leagued herself with the Count-Duke Olivares, and gained a powerful ascendency over the councils of the cabinet at Madrid. This she doubtless owed to her talent and brilliancy, and still more to the noble pride which she displayed in refusing the pensions and money that were offered her, and in always speaking of France in a manner befitting the former Constabless de Luynes.[2]
- ↑ Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 93.
- ↑ Bibliothèque Nationale, Manuscrits de Colbert, affaires de France, in folio. Vol, ii., fol, 9. Mêmoire de ce que Madame de Chevreuse a donné charge au sieur de Boispille de dire a monseigneur le cardinal. "She incurred no obligations in Spain, and would not accept a tester
