Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/12

vi several inedited letters of Queen Anne to the cardinal which solve the question of their relations.

Madame Chevreuse coped with Richelieu in the adroit political intrigues which marked the close of the reign of Louis XIII. and excited the admiration of all Europe; and in Cardinal Mazarin's memorable struggle at the beginning of his ministry and of the regency against the "Importants" (those predecessors of the "Frondeurs"), he encountered no more powerful adversary or none who gave him more anxiety than she. The author in his romantic memoir only rapidly sketches the early and the later life of his subject, dwelling most upon her career as an actress in the great drama of 1643; and his work was intended to be not so much the story of one of the most brilliant female politicians that France has ever produced, as a revelation of the secret history of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.