"If, by your advice, Sir," said he, "I engage in this chimerical

undertaking for your Majesty's service, I must entreat your Majesty to

keep the affair secret, till the success of it shall justify me to the

public; I would not be thought guilty of the intolerable vanity, to

think that a Queen, who has never seen me, would marry me for love."

The King promised to let nobody into the design but the Constable,

secrecy being necessary, he knew, to the success of it. The Count de

Randan advised the Duke to go to England under pretence of travelling;

but the Duke disapproving this proposal, sent Mr. Lignerol, a sprightly

young gentleman, his favourite, to sound the Queen's inclinations, and

to endeavour to make some steps towards advancing that affair: in the

meantime, he paid a visit to the Duke of Savoy, who was then at

Brussels with the King of Spain.

The death of Queen Mary brought great

obstructions to the Treaty; the Congress broke up at the end of

November, and the King returned to Paris.

There appeared at this time a lady at Court, who drew the eyes of the

whole world; and one may imagine she was a perfect beauty, to gain

admiration in a place where there were so many fine women; she was of

the same family with the Viscount of Chartres, and one of the greatest

heiresses of France, her father died young, and left her to the

guardianship of Madam de Chartres his wife, whose wealth, virtue, and

merit were uncommon. After the loss of her husband she retired from

Court, and lived many years in the country; during this retreat, her

chief care was bestowed in the education of her daughter; but she did

not make it her business to cultivate her wit and beauty only, she took

care also to inculcate virtue into her tender mind, and to make it

amiable to her.

The generality of mothers imagine, that it is

sufficient to forbear talking of gallantries before young people, to

prevent their engaging in them; but Madam de Chartres was of a

different opinion, she often entertained her daughter with descriptions

of love; she showed her what there was agreeable in it, that she might

the more easily persuade her wherein it was dangerous; she related to

her the insincerity, the faithlessness, and want of candour in men, and

the domestic misfortunes that flow from engagements with them; on the

other hand she made her sensible, what tranquillity attends the life of

a virtuous woman, and what lustre modesty gives to a person who

possesses birth and beauty; at the same time she informed her, how

difficult it was to preserve this virtue, except by an extreme distrust

of one's self, and by a constant attachment to the only thing which

constitutes a woman's happiness, to love and to be loved by her husband.




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