message from the duc d’anjou, afterwards henri iii., to king charles his brother and the queen-mother.—her fondness for her children.—their interview.—anjou’s eloquent harangue.—the queen-mother’s character. discourse of the duc d’anjou with marguerite.—she discovers her own importance.—engages to serve her brother anjou.—is in high favour with the queenmother.

at the time my magnanimous brother charles reigned over france, and some few years after our return from the grand progress mentioned in my last letter, the huguenots having renewed the war, a gentleman, despatched from my brother anjou (afterwards henri iii. of france), came to paris to inform the king and the queen my mother that the huguenot army was reduced to such an extremity that he hoped in a few days to force them to give him battle. he added his earnest wish for the honour of seeing them at tours before that happened, so that, in case fortune, envying him the glory he had already achieved at so early an age, should, on the so much looked-for day, after the good service he had done his religion and his king, crown the victory with his death, he might not have cause to regret leaving this world without the satisfaction of receiving their approbation of his conduct from their own mouths, a satisfaction which would be more valuable, in his opinion, than the trophies he had gained by his two former victories.

i leave to your own imagination to suggest to you the impression which such a message from a dearly beloved son made on the mind of a mother who doted on all her children, and was always ready to sacrifice her own repose, nay, even her life, for their happiness.

she resolved immediately to set off and take the king with her. she had, besides myself, her usual small company of female attendants, together with mesdames de rais and de sauves. she flew on the wings of maternal affection, and reached tours in three days and a half. a journey from paris, made with such precipitation, was not unattended with accidents and some inconveniences, of a nature to occasion much mirth and laughter. the poor cardinal de bourbon, who never quitted her, and whose temper of mind, strength of body, and habits of life were ill suited to encounter privations and hardships, suffered greatly from this rapid journey.

we found my brother anjou at plessis-les-tours, with the principal officers of his army, who were the flower of the princes and nobles of france. in their presence he delivered a harangue to the king, giving a detail of his conduct in the execution of his charge, beginning from the time he left the court. his discourse was framed with so much eloquence, and spoken so gracefully, that it was admired by all present. it appeared matter of astonishment that a youth of sixteen should reason with all the gravity and powers of an orator of ripe years. the comeliness of his person, which at all times pleads powerfully in favour of a speaker, was in him set off by the laurels obtained in two victories. in short, it was difficult to say which most contributed to make him the admiration of all his hearers.

it is equally as impossible for me to describe in words the feelings of my mother on this occasion, who loved him above all her children, as it was for the painter to represent on canvas the grief of iphigenia’s father. such an overflow of joy would have been discoverable in the looks and actions of any other woman, but she had her passions so much under the control of prudence and discretion that there was nothing to be perceived in her countenance, or gathered from her words, of what she felt inwardly in her mind. she was, indeed, a perfect mistress of herself, and regulated her discourse and her actions by the rules of wisdom and sound policy, showing that a person of discretion does upon all occasions only what is proper to be done. she did not amuse herself on this occasion with listening to the praises which issued from every mouth, and sanction them with her own approbation; but, selecting the chief points in the speech relative to the future conduct of the war, she laid them before the princes and great lords, to be deliberated upon, in order to settle a plan of operations.

to arrange such a plan a delay of some days was requisite. during this interval, the queen my mother walking in the park with some of the princes, my brother anjou begged me to take a turn or two with him in a retired walk. he then addressed me in the following words: “dear sister, the nearness of blood, as well as our having been brought up together, naturally, as they ought, attach us to each other. you must already have discovered the partiality i have had for you above my brothers, and i think that i have perceived the same in you for me. we have been hitherto led to this by nature, without deriving any other advantage from it than the sole pleasure of conversing together. so far might be well enough for our childhood, but now we are no longer children. you know the high situation in which, by the favour of god and our good mother the queen, i am here placed. you may be assured that, as you are the person in the world whom i love and esteem the most, you will always be a partaker of my advancement. i know you are not wanting in wit and discretion, and i am sensible you have it in your power to do me service with the queen our mother, and preserve me in my present employments. it is a great point obtained for me, always to stand well in her favour. i am fearful that my absence may be prejudicial to that purpose, and i must necessarily be at a distance from court. whilst i am away, the king my brother is with her, and has it in his power to insinuate himself into her good graces. this i fear, in the end, may be of disservice to me. the king my brother is growing older every day. he does not want for courage, and, though he now diverts himself with hunting, he may grow ambitious, and choose rather to chase men than beasts; in such a case i must resign to him my commission as his lieutenant. this would prove the greatest mortification that could happen to me, and i would even prefer death to it. under such an apprehension i have considered of the means of prevention, and see none so feasible as having a confidential person about the queen my mother, who shall always be ready to espouse and support my cause. i know no one so proper for that purpose as yourself, who will be, i doubt not, as attentive to my interest as i should be myself. you have wit, discretion, and fidelity, which are all that are wanting, provided you will be so kind as to undertake such a good office. in that case i shall have only to beg of you not to neglect attending her morning and evening, to be the first with her and the last to leave her. this will induce her to repose a confidence and open her mind to you.

“to make her the more ready to do this, i shall take every opportunity, to commend your good sense and understanding, and to tell her that i shall take it kind in her to leave off treating you as a child, which, i shall say, will contribute to her own comfort and satisfaction. i am well convinced that she will listen to my advice. do you speak to her with the same confidence as you do to me, and be assured that she will approve of it. it will conduce to your own happiness to obtain her favour. you may do yourself service whilst you are labouring for my interest; and you may rest satisfied that, after god, i shall think i owe all the good fortune which may befall me to yourself.”

this was entirely a new kind of language to me. i had hitherto thought of nothing but amusements, of dancing, hunting, and the like diversions; nay, i had never yet discovered any inclination of setting myself off to advantage by dress, and exciting an admiration of my person and figure. i had no ambition of any kind, and had been so strictly brought up under the queen my mother that i scarcely durst speak before her; and if she chanced to turn her eyes towards me i trembled, for fear that i had done something to displease her. at the conclusion of my brother’s harangue, i was half inclined to reply to him in the words of moses, when he was spoken to from the burning bush: “who am i, that i should go unto pharaoh? send, i pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.”

however, his words inspired me with resolution and powers i did not think myself possessed of before. i had naturally a degree of courage, and, as soon as i recovered from my astonishment, i found i was quite an altered person. his address pleased me, and wrought in me a confidence in myself; and i found i was become of more consequence than i had ever conceived i had been. accordingly, i replied to him thus: “brother, if god grant me the power of speaking to the queen our mother as i have the will to do, nothing can be wanting for your service, and you may expect to derive all the good you hope from it, and from my solicitude and attention for your interest. with respect to my undertaking such a matter for you, you will soon perceive that i shall sacrifice all the pleasures in this world to my watchfulness for your service. you may perfectly rely on me, as there is no one that honours or regards you more than i do. be well assured that i shall act for you with the queen my mother as zealously as you would for yourself.”

these sentiments were more strongly impressed upon my mind than the words i made use of were capable of conveying an idea of. this will appear more fully in my following letters.

as soon as we were returned from walking, the queen my mother retired with me into her closet, and addressed the following words to me: “your brother has been relating the conversation you have had together; he considers you no longer as a child, neither shall i. it will be a great comfort to me to converse with you as i would with your brother. for the future you will freely speak your mind, and have no apprehensions of taking too great a liberty, for it is what i wish.” these words gave me a pleasure then which i am now unable to express. i felt a satisfaction and a joy which nothing before had ever caused me to feel. i now considered the pastimes of my childhood as vain amusements. i shunned the society of my former companions of the same age. i disliked dancing and hunting, which i thought beneath my attention. i strictly complied with her agreeable injunction, and never missed being with her at her rising in the morning and going to rest at night. she did me the honour, sometimes, to hold me in conversation for two and three hours at a time. god was so gracious with me that i gave her great satisfaction; and she thought she could not sufficiently praise me to those ladies who were about her. i spoke of my brother’s affairs to her, and he was constantly apprised by me of her sentiments and opinion; so that he had every reason to suppose i was firmly attached to his interest.