Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/81

Rh excited the admiration of a few choice spirits; but this continued harshness, joined with the sacrifices that were springing up unceasingly, wearied the greater number, and the king first of all. The favorite of the day, the Grand-Equerry Cinq-Mars, aspersed and undermined the cardinal as much as possible in the mind of Louis XIII. He knew of the conspiracy of the Count de Soissons, and favored, without taking part in it. They could count on him for the next day. Queen Anne, still in disgrace, despite the two sons which she had just given to France, would at least offer prayers for the end of a power which oppressed her. Monsieur had pledged his word—not very reliable, it is true; but the Duke de Bouillon, a warrior and an eminent politician, had openly declared himself; and his fortified town of Sedan, situated on the frontiers of France and Belgium, was an asylum in which they could brave for a long time all the forces of the cardinal. They had carefully arranged an extensive correspondence with every part of the kingdom, as well as with the clergy and the parliament. They even conspired in the Bastille, where the Marshal de Vitry and the Count de Cramail, prisoners as they were, had prepared a surprise with admirably guarded secrecy. The Abbé de Retz, then twenty-five years of age, preluded his adventurous career by this essay at civil war. The Duke de Guise, who had escaped from the Archbishop of Rheims and taken shelter in the Netherlands, had promised to come to Sedan to share in the perils of the conspirators. But the greatest, the