Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/76

 6o BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES she accepted the hand of Ladislas Sigismund, King of Poland, who died shortly afterwards. His brother, the ex-Jesuit and Cardinal Casimir, succeeded to the throne, and in 1649 married this queen-dowager, his sister-in-law. The Ahh6 de Villeloin, Sieur de MaroUes, who then enjoyed an immense reputation, was in high favour with the new queen, and exercised great influence over her, having been her tutor. Another great favourite was her secretary, M. des Noyers. Both of these were warm friends of Saint- Amant, and exerted themselves so efficiently in his service that we read, in the " Memoirs of Marolles," under the date of 1645 : "The Queen of Poland, in consideration of my constant praise of the poems of Saint-Amant and because she had listened to some of his serious pieces with much pleasure, appointed him one of the gentlemen of her household, with a pension of three thousand /ivres, which she assured to him by warrant, and which she caused to be sent to him expressly." Saint-Amant, according to his wont, paid abundantly in verse the debt of gratitude he owed to all three. In a sonnet to the Queen he celebrates the love she has inspired in " the greatest king of the pole," but naturally says nothing of the nocturnal visits paid her before by Cinq-Mars, or of those letters she had written to him, whose discovery brought her into serious danger after his death. To Des Noyers he wrote a miscellaneous epistle {Epitre diver sifiee) from Coillure, the port of Roussillon, where he was staying with his dear friend, the Gover- nor Tilly. He is constantly staying with dear friends, the best fellows, and joUiest souls on earth, all de- lighted to secure the boon-companionship of such