lar marks of favour; the queen-dauphin made her one of her favourites, and begged her mother to bring her often to her court; the princesses, the king's daughters, made her a party in all their diversions; in short, she had the love and admiration of the whole court, except that of the duchess of Valentinois: not that this young beauty gave her umbrage; long experience convinced her she had nothing to fear on the part of the king, and she had to great a hatred for the viscount of Chartres, whom she had endeavoured to bring into her interest by marrying him with one of her daughters, and who had joined himself to the queen's party, that she could not have the least favourable thought of a person who bore his name, and was a great object of his friendship.
The prince of Cleves became passionately in love with Mademoiselle de Chartres, and ardently wished to marry her, but he was afraid the haughtiness of her mother would not stoop to match her with one who was not the head of his family: nevertheless his birth was illustrious, and his elder brother, the count d'En, had just married a lady so nearly related to the royal family, that this apprehension was rather the effect of his love, than grounded on any substantial reason. He had a great number of rivals; the most formidable among them, for his birth, his merit, and the lustre which royal favour cast upon his house, was the chevalier de Guise; this gentleman fell in love with Mademoiselle de Chartres the first day he saw her, and he discovered the prince of Cleves's passion as the prince of Cleves discovered his. Though they were intimate friends, their having the same pretentions gradually created a coolness between them, and their friendship grew into an indifference, without their being able to come to an explanation on the matter. The prince of Cleves's good fortune in having seen Mademoiselle de Chartres first seemed to be a happy presage, and gave him some advantage over his rivals, but he foresaw great obstructions on the part of the duke of Nevers his father: the Duke was strictly at-
