removed him from that parish, in order to keep him near his person. The Cardinal d'Este, aware of his great worth and extraordinary talents, conferred upon him the rank of doctor of divinity of the cathedral of Auch, the capital of his archbishopric; but he did not retain it long, having been recalled by his first patron to assume the same position in his church at Toulouse, where he was universally loved and respected. He was successively lecturer to Charles IX, Henri III, and Henri IV, and was consecrated, on his elevation to the see of Nevers, by the Cardinal de Gondy, Bishop of Paris. Monseigneur de Sorbin died in Nevers, on the 1st of May 1606.
[229] L'Etoile, vol. iii. pp. 152–154.
[230] Cayet, Chron. Septen., 1604.
[231] Emeric Gobier, Sieur de Barrault, ambassador at the Court of Spain.
[232] Antoine de Silly, Damoiseau de Commercy, Comte de Rochepot, knight of the Order of the Holy Ghost.
[233] Antoine de Brienne de Loménie, Seigneur de la Ville-aux-Clercs, ambassador-extraordinary to England in 1595, and secretary of state, was the representative of a distinguished family of Berry, whose father, Maréchal de Brienne, registrar of the council, fell a victim to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. He himself died in 1628, bequeathing to the royal library three hundred and forty manuscript volumes, known as the Manuscripts of Brienne.
[234] The Prévôts des Maréchaux were magistrates whose duties consisted in trying vagrants and persons who could not prove their identity, culprits previously sentenced to corporal punishment, banishment, or fine, soldiers, highway robbers, and the members of illicit societies. The Prévôts des Maréchaux took the title of Equerry-Councillors of the King, and their place on the bench of the criminal court was immediately after that of the presiding judge.
[235] L'Etoile, vol. iii. pp. 185–193. Matthieu, Hist, des Derniers Troubles, book ii. pp. 435–437. Sully, Mém. vol. v. pp. 109–121. Mézeray, vol. x. pp. 254–257.
[236] Sully, Mém. vol. v. p. 137.
[237] Sully, Mém. vol. v. pp. 139–142.
[238] The French term which I have ventured thus freely to translate is pot-de-vin, and literally signifies a sum of money given to a third party who is able to ensure the success of a bargain or negotiation of whatever nature. Thus, for example, in the granting and acceptance of a lease which has been effected by such means, the contracting parties jointly pay down the stipulated amount, irrespective of the value of the lease, for the benefit of the person through whose agency it has been concluded; while so general is the system throughout the country, even to this day, that domestic servants give a pot-de-vin to the individual, to whom they are indebted for their situation, in which instance, however, the bribe or recompense is also called a denier à Dieu.
[239] Florent d'Argouges, Treasurer of the Queen's Household. His son was first president of the Parliament of Brittany, and subsequently councillor of state and member of the Privy Council.
[240] Sully, Mém. vol. v. pp. 144–146.
[241] Sully, Mém. vol. v. pp. 147–149.
[242] Sully, Mém. vol. v. p. 155.
[243] Saint-Edmé, vol. ii. p. 223.
[244] In order to convey some idea of the effect produced by the ostensible devotion of Madame de Verneuil upon those who gave her credit for sincerity, we need only quote a passage in the dedication of D'Hemery d'Amboise to his translation of the works of Grégoire de Tours, in which, addressing himself to the Marquise, he gravely says "that she had deduced from the inspired writings of the fathers their salutary doctrine; and that she practised it so faithfully, that her firmness had triumphed over her adversities, and her merit exceeded her happiness." "Your life," he adds, with the same unblushing sycophancy, "serves as a mirror for the most pious, and compels the admiration of all who see so holy and resolute a determination exerted at an age that has scarcely attained its prime; and at which, despising mere personal beauty, and the other precious advantages with which you have been richly endowed by Heaven, you have devoted the course of your best years to the contemplation of the marvels of God, joining spiritual meditation to good works."--Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. pp. 94, 95.
[245] Richelieu, Hist. de la Mère et du Fils, vol. i. pp. 8–11.
[246] MSS. Dupuy, vol. 407.
[247] André Hurault, Seigneur de Maisse, had been ambassador to Venice under both Henri III and Henri IV, and in his official capacity had frequent disputes with the nuncios of Sixtus V and Clement VIII, in consequence of which those prelates exerted all their influence to injure his interests at the Court of Rome. André Morosin mentions M. de Maisse as an able and far-seeing man, sagaci admodum ingenio. In 1595 Henri IV again sent him to Venice to offer his thanks to the Senate for the extraordinary embassy which they had forwarded to him during the previous year; and as M. de Maisse travelled on this occasion with Cardinal Duperron, who was instructed to pass by that city on his way to Rome, great alarm was created in the mind of the Pope that the French ambassador was about to visit the Papal Court in his company, an event which he deprecated from the distrust which he felt of the designs of an individual who had already frustrated the measures of his accredited agents. His Holiness was, however, quitte pour la peur, the instructions of M. de Maisse having restricted him to his Venetian mission.
[248] Louis Potier de Gêvres, Secretary of State. It is from him that the branch of his family still bearing the name of Gêvres is descended, while that of Novion owes its origin to his elder brother, Nicolas Potier de Blancménil.
[249] Mézeray, vol. x. p. 261.
[250] Le Laboureur sur Castelnau.
[251] Jacqueline de Bueil, subsequently Comtesse de Moret, was the daughter of Claude de Bueil, Seigneur de Courcillon and La Machère, and of Catherine de Monteclu, who both died in 1596. The family of Bueil traced their descent from Jean, the first of the name, Sieur de Bueil in Touraine, who was equerry of honour to Charles-le-Bel in 1321.
[252] Dreux du Radier, vol. vi. p. 97.
[253] Wraxall, vol. v. pp. 356, 357.
[254] Abraham-Nicolas Amelot de la Houssaye, was born at Orleans in the year 1634, and passed nearly all his life in composing works of history and in translating the historians by whom he had been preceded. His principal productions are A History of the Government of Venice; Historical, Political, Critical, and Literary Memoirs; and translations of the History of the Council of Trent, by Fra Paolo; of the Prince by Machiavelli; and of the Annals of Tacitus. He died in 1706.
[255] Mézeray, vol. x. pp. 261, 262.
[256] Sully, Mém. vol. iv. p. 125.
[257] Pierre Fougeuse, Sieur d'Escures.
[258] Daniel, vol. vii. pp. 453, 454.
[259] Treasurer of the war department, and lieutenant-general at Riom.
[260] Philibert de Nérestan, knight of Malta, and captain of the bodyguard of Henri IV, was as celebrated for his admirable qualities of mind and heart as for the antiquity of his birth. He was grand master of the Orders of St. Lazarus and Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel, the latter of which was instituted by the sovereign at his intercession.
[261] Matthieu, Hist, des Derniers Troubles, book ii. p. 438. Péréfixe, vol. ii. pp. 406, 407.
[262] L'Etoile, vol. iii. p. 242.
[263] Mémoires, vol. v. p. 185.
[264] L'Etoile, vol. iii. p. 243.
[265] Charlotte, eldest daughter of Henri, Duc de Montmorency, High Constable of France.
[266] L'Etoile, vol. iii. pp. 247–249.
[267] Jean Defunctis, Lieutenant criminal of the Provost of Paris.--Hist. Chron. de la Chancell. de France, p. 316.
[268] Wraxall, Note quoted from Le Laboureur sur Castelnau, vol. v. p. 356.
[269]